The Revival You Need
James 4:7-12
These verses today tell us about "The Revival You Need," and the revival I need. We need national revival. We need a revival in our land. We need church revival. Our church needs a reviving, a quickening, from the Lord in the power of the Holy Spirit. But I'm talking in particular this evening to you personally, to you individually. I want to talk to you one on one about the revival you need.
I am talking about a new experience with God on your part. I'm talking about a drawing close to the Lord, a new consciousness of the presence and the power of God in your life. Wouldn't you like to have a personal revival this evening?
So I want to talk with you a little bit because there are a series of commands in the verses I have read to you which really tell us how to have a personal revival. I'm going to use some words to organize our thoughts. If you're taking notes in your Bible or in your notebook, you can jot down those words which will take us through these verses of scripture and will help us have the revival need.
I. Submission.
The first word I want to use is the word submission. I get the word submission from verse 7 with the opening command there where it says, "Submit yourselves, therefore, to God."
The first step to personal revival is submission. That is contrary to what the world tells us. The world says to assert yourself, but God says to submit yourself. Revival begins by a new submission unto God.
The word is a military word in the original language. It literally means to arrange under. It means to put yourself under the authority of another. What he's saying here is that you and I should place ourselves anew and afresh under the authority of God. The tense of the verb makes it a very definite act. It is a definite, conscious act.
Salvation is a submitting unto the Lord. There is that time in our life when we realize we are sinners and when we realize that Jesus Christ died on the cross and that the Lord wants to be Lord and Savior of our life; and so by repentance and faith we consciously, we definitely submit ourselves to the authority of God in our life.
If you have ever been saved, there's a time when you submitted to God, but there may be the need for a recommitment of your life to God. There is a tendency for us to get away from the Lord. The old hymn writer put it quite well when he said, "Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it. Prone to leave the God I love."
There is somebody in this building tonight that I'm taking to you and you're not as close to God as you used to be. There was a time when your all was on the altar, when you were totally committed to the Lord. But that's not really true of your life this evening. Maybe what you need is a recommitment, a resubmission of your life to the Lord.
What causes that? Why are you not committed to God? Why are you not dedicated to the Lord as you once were?
In the Old Testament they had what they called flesh hooks. Sacrificial animals were laid on the altar to be sacrificed, but there was a tendency for those animals to get off the center of the flame. They had some instruments known as flesh hooks. They would stick those flesh hooks into the flesh of that sacrificial animal and would move it back to the center of the flame.
Maybe the Holy Spirit tonight will put the flesh hooks in your soul. Maybe tonight He will move you back to the center of the flame. Personal revival begins with submission. "Submit yourselves, therefore, to God."
Involved in that submitting to God are the next two commands which are in that verse. The next command says, "Resist the devil, and he will flee from you." Involved in this submitting to God is first of all a counteracting of the attack of the devil. "Resist the devil."
Another word for devil there is the particular word diabolos. It means the slanderer. The devil is very real. The devil exists. The devil is the enemy of your soul, and the devil will fight you and the devil will attack you. The devil dared to take on the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of the living God. If the devil will attack Jesus Christ, what makes you think he won't attack you? Resist the devil. The devil is on the attack, slashing and stabbing and driving and attacking.
When will the devil attack you? I'll tell you when he will. He'll attack you the very moment you submit yourself to God. That's when he'll do it. When was the Lord Jesus Christ tempted of the devil? He was tempted of the devil after His baptism. After the dove came the devil. After the baptism came the battle.
In your life and in my life the devil attacks us in those times when we commit ourselves to the Lord.
There are several verses of scripture that talk about it. Ephesians 6, verse 13, says, "Wherefore, take unto you the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand." First Peter 5, verse 9, says, "Whom resist steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world." Resist the devil.
The devil would have you think that he is irresistible. The devil would have you think that there is just no way you can resist him. Remember Flip Wilson on television? He had a little phrase. Flip would do something and then he would say, "The devil made me do it." We all laughed and we thought that was cute, but the truth of the matter is the devil can't make you do anything that you are not willing to do. Resist the devil.
You ask, "How do you resist the devil?" How did Jesus resist the devil? You go to the temptation experience and you will find that when the devil came attacking the Lord Jesus Christ, every time in those three temptations of the devil against the Lord Jesus Christ, the Bible says that He quoted scripture. He said, "It is written."
He had just come out of a 40-day period of prayer and fasting. So it was by means of the Word of God and prayer that he resisted the devil, and that is exactly how you and I resist the devil. We resist the devil by the Word of God and prayer. That's why it's so important for you, especially young Christians, to get started in a daily prayer time. Begin your day reading the Word of God. Begin your day praying and talking to the Lord. "Submit yourselves, therefore, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you."
Then I want you to notice that it goes with the next command in verse 8. It says, "Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you." Submitting to God not only involves counteracting the attack of the devil, but it also means cultivating the presence of the Lord.
"Draw nigh unto God." The language is so beautiful in the original here. The background of the language is the Old Testament priest who had come before the Lord with an offering. He would draw near to the altar of the Lord. The Bible says that we as believers are to come and draw near unto the Lord. Draw nigh to the Lord. Get close to the Lord.
Of course, there is a sense in which we are never away from the Lord. The Bible teaches the omnipresence of God. That means that God is everywhere. There is nowhere that God is not. God is everywhere. There is a sense in which God is near all the time.
There is another sense in which as believers we have drawn nigh already to God.
Ephesians 2, verse 13, says, "But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ." We have been made nigh, we have been drawn nigh unto the Lord by the precious blood of the Lord Jesus.
Isn't that an awesome thought this evening that we are near unto God?
Yet the Bible says here that we are to draw nigh unto God. What does that mean? It means that we are to cultivate the presence of God in our daily life.
"If you are not as close to God as you used to be, guess who moved?"
Let me ask you a question. Are you as close to God as you used to be tonight? God hasn't moved. "Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you."
What an awesome thought that is, the thought that you and I can have the opportunity to come consciously into the presence of the God of this universe and to experience the presence of God in our life. You and I ought to draw nigh unto God.
You ask, "How do you draw nigh unto God?" You draw nigh unto God exactly the way you resist the devil, with the Word of God and prayer. I come back to it again. That's why every day you should begin your day reading God's Word, cultivating the presence of God. Praying and cultivating the presence of God. God makes a wonderful promise here. He said that if you will draw nigh unto Me, I will draw nigh unto you.
Oh, the sweetness of the closeness of God. I desire for every one of you tonight that you understand what it means to have the presence of God real and manifested in your daily life. The revival you need is a revival of submission as you come into the presence of God again.
II. Purification.
The second word that I want to use is the word purification. If you are going to have the revival you need, then there has to be some purifying. You have to deal with that sin that may have come between you and God.
He says in the middle of verse 8. "Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double-minded." Look at that. He talks about your hands and he talks about your heart.
As we watch these professional football players, it is an amazing thing to me. I'm especially amazed at these receivers. They make some unbelievable catches sometimes. They catch some balls that you don't figure possible to catch.
One of the reasons they have developed that unusual ability to catch is they have developed what is known as hand-eye coordination. In other words, they have learned to coordinate. They keep their eyes on the ball and they follow that ball all the way into their hand. They have tremendous eye-hand coordination.
He's talking in this passage of scripture about heart and hand coordination. Do you notice that?
He says here, "Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double-minded." The hands represent the outward life. That represents your actions. Cleanse your hands, cleanse your outward life, cleanse those actions and habits in your life.
Is there any habit you need to get clean in your life? Is there anything in your life about your daily behavior that needs to be purified?
He says, "Cleanse your hands."
Then he says, "Purify your hearts." That's the inner life, any motive, anything on the inside that causes you to do what you do on the outside. Hands are what you do. Hearts are what you are.
Psalm 24, verses 2 through 4, says, "Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord? Or who shall stand in his holy place? He who hath clean hands, and a pure heart."
He's saying that if you are going to have that revival you need, there needs to be a purification. There needs to be a cleansing of the hands and a cleansing of the heart.
Cleanse means to wash. In the Old Testament they had washing ceremonies. Before they went into the presence of the Lord, the priests had to go to that laver that was filled with water and they had to wash their hands. It was a visual aid. It was a picture that God gave them to teach them that you do not go into the presence of God with dirty hands. God cannot be approached in that way.
We've got to deal with the sin in our life. You cannot have a revival, you cannot be on fire for Jesus if you've got sin in your life.
In verse 9 he says that we are to cleanse ourselves, purify ourselves thoroughly. He says, "Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep; let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness."
Joy and laughter belong in the house of God. There is a place for joy. There is a place for laughter. God's people are a joyful people.
But the Bible also says that there is a time to weep as well as there's a time to mourn.
He's talking now about personal revival. He's talking about getting close to God. He's saying that if you want to get close to God, then you've got to get serious about your sin. You've got to deal with your sin thoroughly. You've got to deal with your sin definitely.
He said, "Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep; let your laugher be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness." Here's the way one writer paraphrases it. "Hit bottom and cry your eyes out. The fun and games are over."
When was the last time you got real serious about your sin? Tell me when was the last time that you became so repentant and so broken over your sin that you wept and you mourned over your sin. Somehow we have the idea that we can sin with impunity and break the heart of God and just move on. We need to get honest before God with our sin. Mourn and weep over our sin.
The third word that has to do with personal revival has to do with the word
III. Disposition.
He talks now about your disposition. He says in verse 10, "Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up."
There needs to be that surrendering to the Lord. There needs to be that humbling of ourselves before the Lord. The Bible says in I Peter 5, verse 6, "Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time."
If you want to have a personal revival, then get humble before the Lord. Bow yourself in the presence of the Lord.
I heard about a tourist who was visiting a chapel somewhere in Europe that was known to have a very unusual, out-of-the-ordinary picture of Jesus. The tourist came to the entrance of the church. He looked and he saw that picture of Jesus, but he couldn't make it out. It didn't make a lot of sense to him. It was not clear to him.
The guide, who was standing there, said to the individual, "Come closer." He walked a littler bit closer, but he still couldn't see it. The guide said, "Get lower." The man bowed down just a little bit, but he still couldn't get it. The guide said, "Come closer and get lower." So he came a little bit closer and he got a little bit lower. The guide said, "Come closer and get lower."
Finally when the man was right there at the picture and when the man was down on his knees looking up at the picture, he was able to see the picture of Jesus in all of its splendor.
Do you know what God is saying to you and to me tonight? God is saying, "Come closer. Get lower. Come closer. Get lower." Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up."
Then notice what he says. He says, "Speak not evil one of another, brethren." Not only surrender to God but he's saying here to straighten up your speech.
If you really have revival, people will know it by the way you start acting. They may not know exactly that it was a revival, but if you really have the personal revival you need, it will affect not only your relationship to God but it will affect your relationship to other people and it will bleed over into the very speech that you use.
He talks about evil speaking. He talks about putting folks down. He's talking about criticism and unkind words. He's talking about gossip and all these kinds of things.
I can pretty well tell when I need a personal revival. When I tend to be critical and when I tend to be unkind, when I tend to be caustic in my remarks and in my evaluations of other people, it's a pretty good sign I need a personal revival in my life.
When you get away from the Lord, you find yourself wanting to talk about people. You find yourself wanting to say things that you ought not to say.
He said, "Speak not evil of one another." Don't talk down on other people.
Then he says next
Verses 11-12
Don't have a judgmental disposition. In other words, don't you pass judgment. You don't know people.
You see people and you don't know exactly why they are doing what they are doing. Don't pass judgment on them. You don't know what's going on in their life. If you were facing what they were facing in their life you might do far worse than they are doing.
God says, "Don't judge one another." There's only one judge. There's only one who knows everything there is to know about all of us, and there is only one judge who is on the throne. When we try to make judgment of other people what we are basically saying is, God, get off the throne now. I'm going to take Your place and I'm going to do Your job for You.
Personal revival. Is God speaking to someone tonight? Is there somebody here who needs to submit? Is there somebody here who needs to purify your life? Is there somebody here and your disposition needs to be changed so that God can bless and God can use you?
We used to sing a hymn. "Lord, send a revival. Lord, send a revival. Lord, send a revival and let it begin in me."
Let's bow our heads in prayer.
