The Marks of Revival
Acts 2
If there is anything that the church, and indeed the world, desperately needs today it is a real heaven sent, Holy Ghost empowered movement of God. We need it desperately. We need it immediately. We need it personally.
As Dr. Martin Lloyd-Jones, the great preacher from Wales once said, "I am profoundly convinced that the greatest need in the world today is a revival in the Church of God."
Now, if that was true over half of a century ago, how much more true must it be today? The modern church, the American church, this church, desperately needs a fresh touch from God, a fresh outpouring of His Spirit, a holy fired started that will consume this place and spread to our homes and neighborhoods and schools and city and state and nation and ultimately the world. We need revival in our time.
Why is it that we have so much potential and resources and personnel and churches and Bibles, and yet so little seems to be happening that could not be explained unless God did it? Well, I think we can find the answer in Acts chapter 2.
Acts 2:1-4
I love that, don't you? Fire to burn, wind to spread it and tongues to tell about it. This was a church on fire. It was a church that was set on fire by the Holy Spirit of God.
And what you have here is one of the greatest pictures in all of the Bible that shows us what happens when revival comes. Fire burns. Fire consumes. Fire attracts. Fire transforms. And that's exactly what will take place in this place when, and if, revival comes.
Vance Havner, "We are not going to move this world by criticism of it or conformity to it, but by the combustion within it of lives ignited by the Spirit of God."
Don’t you long to be part of an unusual church? Where it’s not just ordinary and expected and monotonous? I'm no longer satisfied with being part of an ordinary church. I want to be a part of an extraordinary church. I want God to change us from a monotonous church into a miraculous church. I want Him to start with the pulpit and move to the pew. I want Him to change this pastor and then change His people, because if God will set this church on fire, it will touch and transform this entire town.
I want us to be like the little town where the church caught fire on night, and everybody in town, including the town drunk were out there watching that old building burn. The pastor caught sight of this old drunk and it just irritated him to death that we would be out there gawking. So he said, “Why is it you’re out here when you’ve never even darkened the doors to attend?” The old drunk said, “IT’s the first time I ever saw the church on fire!”
Isn’t that a shame that a physical church fire can attract and affect the lives of people all over town, but the truth of the matter is they’ve never seen the spiritual fire of God burning within us?
Can you imagine what it would be like if a spiritual church fire was to break out? What do you think could happen if God were to start a revival fire in this part of His body called Trinity Baptist Church? When revival comes it attracts and it affects and it changes and it convicts and it converts and nobody near it or around it will ever be the same. That's what happens when revival comes.
Let's just look at the effects of revival this morning and begin to pray for God to pour our revival fire on this church, His church, in our time. First of all,
1. Peter Preached Jesus Boldly.
Verses 3-14
Isn't that just like the world? God does something supernatural and they can't understand it, so they say, "O, they must be drunk."
I'll go ahead and warn you. If God does something supernatural in this church, there will be those in this area, maybe even some in this church, who will try to explain it away by saying something like, "O, that's just emotion. That's just manipulation. They really don't mean it." Listen, you'd better be very careful about downplaying or ridiculing the movement of God.
So, what did Peter do? He began to preach.
As a matter of fact, what you have in these next few verses is the first Christian sermon. Now, I'm going to tell you what he preached in just a moment, because it was a great sermon, but let me just talk to you for a moment.
We are living in a day when many people and even some pastors are trying to do away with or downplay the importance and the primacy of preaching. Some churches emphasize their home groups. Other churches emphasize their drama ministry or their music ministry or their children's ministry, and all of these things, in their place can be good and helpful in ministering and mentoring the people in the church and reaching people outside this church.
But these things must never and can never replace the man of God preaching the Word of God in the power of the Spirit of God to the people of God.
There is a reason that Baptist churches put their pulpit front and center in their buildings, and not on the side like in some other denominations. That is intentional; it is deliberately done to show the place that preaching is to have in this place. It is the center of everything that we do.
The first event of church history was the preaching of Peter, which by the way led to 3,000 people getting saved and the church being sent out into the entire world. Try doing that through interpretive dance or a motivational talk.
Now, what did he preach? This is one of the, if not the greatest sermon preached since the beginning of the church. So, what did Peter preach on the day of Pentecost? Watch this.
He preached Jesus' . . .
- Crucifixion. Verses 22-23
- Resurrection. Verse 24; 32
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- Exaltation. Verse 33; 36
- Invitation. Verses 37-40
2. The People Received The Word Gladly.
Peter preached the Word and the people received the Word. And what you have in these following verses are the eight characteristics of a revived church. We've been talking about the biblical meaning of revival.
Remember I said to you that revival is the sovereign, supernatural movement of God among his people, that comes about as a direct result of their prayer, repentance and holiness, that results in a fresh walk with the Lord among believers and the drawing of the lost to Christ.
Then we talked about the method of revival found in 2 Chronicles 7:14. This morning we discovered the means of revival. It happens when the Holy Spirit is flowing in and through our lives. And right here we have the wonderful marks of revival.
This is what will happen in this place when revival comes. This is the kind of church this church will become when we are purged and purified by the revival fire of God. Let me just give you the eight characteristics of a revived church.
First, it was an obedient church.
Why do I say that it was an obedient church? Because the very first thing they did after they received the Word and were saved was obey the Lord Jesus' command to be baptized. Baptism is the first step of obedience. And there is no way that a person is going to grow in their relationship with Christ if they neglect and reject His first command.
The very first thing that will happen in a church when revival falls is this: people will obey the Word of God. They won't try and debate the Word or dilute the Word, they'll simply and gladly say like Simon Peter did when Jesus told him to go out deeper and drop his nets, "Master, we have toiled all night and caught nothing; nevertheless at Your word I will let down the net."
Second, it was a committed church.
Verse
In other words, they had a steady commitment. They weren't hot one week and cold the next. They weren't on one week and off the next. They were steady. They were steadfast. You could count on them.
And let me insert this. It is significant to see to what they were committed. Luke tells us right off the bat that they were committed to the apostles' teaching. They loved to hear the Word of God taught. Then they were committed to fellowship. This was the original bible fellowship time.
Let me make it real clear and put it in layman's terminology. They showed up weekly and early and eagerly for Sunday School. You didn't have to call and coax them. You didn't have to write them letters to remind them. They were going to beat the teacher there. And they reason is because they realized how important it was for them and those around them to be committed to bible fellowship.
Third, it was a Christ-centered church.
That's literally what the Bible means when it talks about the "breaking of bread." It's talking about the Lord's Supper, and Christ was the center and the circumference, He was the foundation and the focus of this church. This was a Jesus church.
Fourth, it was a praying church. They not only believed in the power of prayer, they bathed everything and anything that they did in prayer. They prayed corporately. They prayed individually. They prayed daily. They prayed fervently.
Fifth, it was an empowered church.
Verse 43
I told you last week about Evan Roberts and the Welch Revivals. There is a story told of Evan Roberts that tells about him preaching in a small village when a man came to him one day and asked Evan Roberts to come pray for his wife. This man was an unbeliever, but his wife had been sick and on her death bed really for years, and so out of desperation he went and found Evan Roberts and asked him to come after the service to pray for his wife.
After the service that night, Evan Roberts and a few of the men went to that little home and prayed for that sick woman, but nothing happened. Nothing at all. But the next morning, for the first time in years, she got up, got dressed and went down to the market to go shopping, with all of the town following behind her.
A praying church, and
Sixth, it was a giving church.
Verses 44-45
You see, unlike a lot of church members I know, they had not only gave their heart to Jesus, they gave everything to Jesus.
Charles Finney, the great revivalist said, "If you want to know how mean a man really is, go at him with an offering plate."
Seventh, it was a happy church.
Verse 46-47a
Do you want to know what was different about this church? They were satisfied with Jesus.
And eighth, it was a respected church.
Verse 47b, ". . .and having favor with all of the people."
It meant something to be a part of this church. The community saw something different, something good, something powerful about this church.
They saw the hand of God upon these people and as a result, it was a respected church.
Now, what was the result of all of this?
3. The Lord Added To The Church Daily.
Think about it. What did revival do in their lives? What did revival do in their church? Revival turned a cowardly preacher into a courageous preacher. Revival turned took a church that huddled in an upper room and sent them out into the street proclaiming the good news of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
And it reached the world with the gospel.
Revival changed them and they changed the world forever.
Perhaps the best way to understand the marks of revival is seeing how we and our church look without them.
The first step in revival is acknowledging the absence of it. . . .
