In this sermon, the preacher shares a story about Mr. Finney and a little girl who taught him a valuable lesson about revival. The preacher emphasizes that revival is not just about external excitement or church growth, but about a deep spiritual transformation. He uses the analogy of digging ditches to illustrate the importance of obedience to God and sincere devotion. The preacher also references Luke 6:47, where Jesus teaches about building a house on a solid foundation, emphasizing the need to dig deep and build our lives on the rock of God's word.

How deep is your digging? The Bible speaks, and we just take a quick look at the portion in the New Testament where our Lord uses the illustration verse 47 of Luke 7 Whosoever cometh to me, and heareth my sayings, and doeth them, I will show you him to whom he is like. He is like a man which built a house and digged deep Luke 6 Luke 6, yeah Luke 6, 47 Sorry about that Luke 6, 27 He is like a man which built a house and digged deep and laid the foundation on a rock and when the flood arose and the stream beat vehemently upon that house and could not shake it for it was founded upon a rock I think one of the problems of our buildings today is that we built on sand the outside of the building looks exactly the same you know, you can have two houses look the same but it's what we are built on that counts and the picture here is digging deep we speak of deep experiences so that's good but digging is saying we are going to remove everything that stands between us and the rock and too often those little things get in the way people dig some hmm we used to have an old song it was one time in the old Methodist hymn book, rather a trite one it says you better dig deeper you know if you have carnal spells and so on you better dig deeper brother you have to dig a little deeper yet and you say well that's a trite thing but the Lord Jesus used that he used this because it's an illustration that all of us can understand digging is to get rid of the dirt digging is to get rid of everything that stands between me and the solid rock now we might say yes, well I've repented of my sins and that's a good start of the digging we don't stop there until we are grounded rooted, established the Bible speaks of that we are to be established in love we are to be established in the things of God and when you find that your own experience is you may not, I don't mean you're backsliding but you're wobbling sometimes you're hot for God and sometimes you find yourself cool and you're like the people on lukewarm and then sometimes you lose your first love and you're in a very bad state you need to dig deeper because if we dig deeper we can have a firm consistent stand Orvit said someone, we need revival but revival won't come by digging the other fellows plot, it has to dig your own and actually some of the great events in the history happened by men who themselves were revived despite the people around them you know Elijah did he see revival? no he didn't he saw an answer to the prayer he saw the people cry out oh yes the Lord is God but they didn't follow it but he himself had found such a place in God that he joined Enoch as among those whom the Lord just didn't bother with the death, he just took him dig deep I would like for us then to go to the Old Testament and we'll draw a further lesson using the thought of digging second Kings the third chapter and we'll begin perhaps with Kings 7 verse King Jehoram went out of Samaria the same time and numbered all Israel and he went and sent to Jehoshaphat the king of Judah saying the king of Moab hath rebelled against me wilt thou go with me against Moab to battle and he said I will go up I am as thou art my people as thy people and my horses as thy horses one of the biggest mistakes because although they had similar background they were not the same and one of the great tragedies today is a great call for unity at the cost of principle now Jehoshaphat's principle was far different than Jehoram's the one had come, his mother was a very evil woman had brought evil into Israel but Jehoshaphat says to him oh I'm just the same as you we're both background, we're both Israelites we're both coming from the law of Moses, well sure I'll go up with you, we need to be careful who we choose to line ourselves up with and yet that is so often the picture today that the great curse of the church is the compromise and the conformity and the carelessness, the three C's I'm not speaking about a congregational church either compromise conformity, carelessness and they're just like Jehoshaphat saying oh yes sure we can go up, we'll overlook these things these things don't count but they did count and if you read further now we were and he said and he went to Jehoshaphat alright and he said which way shall we go up and he answered the way to the wilderness of Edom so the king of Israel went and the king of Judah and the king of Edom and they fetched a compass of seven days journey and there was no water for the host for the cattle that followed them and the king of Israel said alas that the Lord hath called these three kings together to deliver them into the hand of Moab you should have thought of that earlier shouldn't you but that's exactly what happens it wasn't that the Lord had called them it was they had placed themselves there and when we talk about we try to say what's wrong with things we have to say the big wrong is that people have placed themselves there they went there not by the direction of God but by their own thoughts they fetched a compass they made a circle it was just like saying they made a compromise they had formed up three kings here not one of them had common worship of a true living God Jehoshaphat was probably the closest but here they were they had compromised together and they said oh we're going to do this we'll support the king of Israel because Moab rebelled now God had a hand in this and so but when they said the Lord brought us up here to destroy us but then he said Jehoshaphat said is there not a prophet of the Lord that we may inquire of the Lord by him and one of the king of Israel's servants answered and said here is Elisha the son of Shaphat who poured water on the hands of Elijah and Jehoshaphat said the word of the Lord is with him so the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat and the king of Edom went down to him and Elisha said unto the king of Israel what do I do to you get thee to the prophets of thy father and to the prophets thy mother and the king of Israel said unto him nay for the Lord has called these three kings together to deliver them into the hand of Moab and Elisha said as the Lord of hosts did it before whom I stand surely were it not that I regard the presence of Jehoshaphat the king of Judah I would not look toward thee nor see thee now bring me a minstrel and it came to pass when the minstrel played that the hand of the Lord came upon him it wasn't automatic the minstrel playing playing represented praise and praise does work so often we think of we forget that in our prayer we combine it with praise and we say what for I mean we're all stuck how do you praise God in that condition we have to learn in our Christian life to praise God for who He is and it's apart from what He does and even when our lives are in the most difficult situations we still praise Him and even when it seems that everything may go against you you still bless the name of the Lord you see that's what comes big and deep because you get rid of the things and the I've heard of people saying they prayed to God and they said oh Lord I feel like quitting this has happened to me why did you do this we don't deserve anything God doesn't deserve anything no all we deserve every one of us deserves apart from God's grace we all deserve hell and not one of us even deserves the favor or the kindness of God to keep us alive here on earth and yet God has done so and so we have a right we should praise Him just for even our existence we should praise Him even more for the grace He has restored upon us well this is illustrated by Him giving praise and then when He gave praise to God the praise isn't just the person shouting hallelujah or amen it's something that you combine in prayer, did you notice that in the examples of prayer in the Bible you know the first part of the prayer was giving glory to God even before you made a petition you announced who you were praying to you gave glory to the one you worshipped and so this was an illustration sometimes even in our hymns we sing, we sing them so lightly you know I know people sing hymns and they might as well sing camp down races five mile long doodah it wouldn't make much difference because the words don't get in the songs should express something of our heart we have hymns that people sing take my life and let it be they have no more idea of the Lord taking their life and let it be than flying to the moon people if we're to hear from God we have to say Lord make us sincere now sincere means cut away from everything that's fraud here he was and when he prayed the hand of the Lord came upon him and then he said thus saith the Lord make this valley full of bitches for thus saith the Lord ye shall not see wind neither shall ye see rain yet that valley shall be filled with water that ye may drink both ye and your cattle and your beasts and this is but a light thing in the sight of the Lord he will deliver the Moabites also into your hand and ye shall smite every fenced city and every choice city and shall fell every good tree and stop all the wells of water and mar every good piece of land with stones and it came to pass in the morning when the meat offering was offered that behold there came water from the way of Edom and the country was filled with water and when all the Moabites heard the kings would come up to fight against them they gathered all that were able to put on armor and upward and stood on the border and they rose up early in the morning and the sun shone upon the water and the Moabites saw the water on the other side as red as blood and they said ha this blood this is blood the kings are surely slain and they have smitten one another now therefore Moab to the spoil and when they came to the camp of Israel the Israelites rose up and smote the Moabites so that they fled before them but they went forward smiting the Moabites even in their country and they beat down the cities and on every good piece of land cast every man his stone and filled it they stopped all the wells of water felled all the good trees and so it goes forth and that will pause there for a moment what happened here first of all they were told to make the valley full of ditches the word full means complete it wasn't just making a little ditch in one corner but they would make this valley completely full of ditches and it was God wasn't making it a high place to them the low place was to go even lower dig the ditches now they were not told to dig little trenches the word ditches here suggests something of size they would have put work into it they would have actually obeyed God in digging out the dirt we talk about spiritual gain in our life but before there can be the fullness of God in our life we have to dig out the dirt he doesn't ask you to have a gold cup or something like that you may be an earthen vessel but he wants that vessel dug out emptied so that he can fill it they digged out the valley and then the water came, the water was sufficient for all of them the water represented something to them God was at work now let me go back and let's take a little look at this and can we take a lesson out of it in a spiritual sense for ourselves what I'm saying now is not, I'm not saying that this was given, written for this meaning, I'm not saying this means that but I'm saying that we are going to draw from this illustration, from this story a spiritual lesson God didn't write these stories for nothing for us but to dig out the valley to make this full of ditches so pictures a work of cleansing in our hearts we have to say Lord, dig with us deeply and the digging you say but that's man's work, no not exactly the digging represents something of where a believer saying I want God's fullness he repents of everything he turns from everything that would hinder, he removes it he doesn't remove it in the sense of a little shallow thing perhaps one of the reasons that we get so little from the Lord is we haven't dug very deep the Bible said that the man who built his house dug deep until he struck a rock, until he got a foundation too often we're satisfied with digging until we feel good or dig until we look like Christians but God wants us to dig deeply and as Christians we should dig so deep that there's nothing between us and the Lord the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from all sin this valley represents that the thing was wrong, if they left anything there that was instead of digging a ditch, if they left it there they'd be disobeying God if they left it there it would be wrong it would be a sinful thing if we leave the thing in our heart that hinders us we're committing a wrong against our heavenly Father who has invited us for a cleansing, who has made provision for it and he wants us to dig deeply all right they dug deeply and then the water came in the fullness of the blessing comes into these vessels it says this treasure we have in earthen vessels now some are too worried about whether the vessels are made of gold or silver, that isn't what God is worried about all he wants is that he has all of you you are to be an empty earthen vessel in which he can pour his fullness he's not seeking that you be gold or something, if you are God bless you but most of us aren't, we're just common people but into the common life and into the common Christian he can pour the fullness of his blessing the water is always a picture of the Holy Spirit and when the Lord speaks of empty earthen vessels, they weren't just put because they were empty and earthen, he said this treasure we have in them, what treasure the fullness of the spirit the presence of the spirit, the power of the spirit the purity and holiness of God, dwelt within that earthen vessel this treasure you and I can have, this treasure is the provision of Calvary for the believer that he can enjoy all the fullness that God has given him oh says someone, I was filled with the spirit so many years back don't worry about that God has made an open ended promise to you what did Paul pray he says he prayed that you might be filled with all the fullness of God well that takes everything off doesn't it you might say well I've been filled with God he said be filled with all the fullness of God it suggests that there is no limit in grace to what God can do and use in our life if we are fully surrendered to him now the water that was in this what does water represent well of course it represents the wash in the water by the word when a person is converted but it has a greater meaning water was a type of the Holy Spirit it was clean water water had with it it met the need the great need of the church the great need of you and I as Christians is that fullness that will satisfy the hunger and thirst of our soul the Lord Jesus himself said blessed are they who hunger and thirst after righteousness what they shall be filled they shall be satisfied trouble is to be very honest we have too many that we have a dualism to us there is a thirsting for life's pleasure there is adorning rich and gay like the old hymn said but we've got to find the richer treasure which means all of that is done away and we say Lord we hunger and thirst for the one thing this one thing I do this one thing I put ahead now let's go back to the Old Testament illustration so here's the water they were refreshed the moabites got up and when they looked at the water did they see water no they saw blood that's an interesting thing do you remember what the Lord Jesus said about the Holy Spirit he said and this is something that we should always keep up here he shall glorify me the work of the Holy Spirit is not that he brings glory through gifts no no he may give gifts that's the material it's not that he brings glory through something great that is done he glorifies our Lord Jesus we've never seen a picture of the spirit we never will but we know that our savior is glorified through him now if any work claiming to be a work of the Holy Spirit does not bring glory to our Lord Jesus Christ it is a false work it is false in the measure that it does not glorify him that's why tragically so many of our American media speakers and evangelists get themselves in trouble because they want a program that glorifies the speaker or that glorifies his gifts or that glorifies some results but Jesus said the Holy Spirit he shall glorify me so these fellows they're standing and they look and of course to them that spelt the blood and to them blood was these men were defeated to the world around us the fact that we believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and his sacrifice on the cross and the fact that his shed blood cleanses from all sin that's a defeated that's a negative outlook but in that what they call defeat lies the real victory of the believer we are conquerors to that blood we are victorious to that blood we come in the name of our Savior and we are made conquerors you remember another illustration in the Bible a very similar one the first miracle our Savior did was he had he told them to fill these water pots with water and they said fill them the word is to fill them to the brim there was to be complete obedience they were to be completely filled God wants you and I to be completely possessed by him nothing in there that is unlike him that may take a little digging but it has to be get the hell out you know and so they were filled to the brim now when they poured them out did they come out water no they came out the fruit of the vine the cup and they rejoiced they said oh this is the best the best God always keeps his best for the last you know that he's got his best for you and I but you notice this when they poured that out it wasn't the water that was honored it was the thing that represented the blood it was as though in one sense that water was a picture of a physical thing of the Holy Spirit he's often illustrated by water the other was the physical illustration of our Savior's shed blood in fact he did that when he passed around the cup what was it? it was the fruit of the vine and the grape juice and so here as it was poured out of that wedding piece they had here sort of like a physical illustration of what he said later that of the Holy Spirit he shall glorify me he represented by the water represented that water is a type of the Spirit born of water and of the Spirit but when it was poured out it didn't bring honor to the Spirit, it didn't bring honor to the person pouring either it brought honor to the Lord himself one of our great problems in our society is two-fold we as Christians don't dig deep enough we haven't dug until we strike a rock they used to say well one fellow said they said how do you know when you strike a rock? we dug down and things were pretty hard he said well it's pretty hard here he said what do you see? nothing just hard surface he said go deeper then he said oh he said the sparks are flying he said you struck the rock and when in our life the spark of the Spirit is shining forth we've struck something we can say Lord we've struck the rock but into that into that thing like just like a well we can pour the water hunger and thirst after righteousness I'll give you a few different pictures here here's the armies God had mercy on them he said you dig ditches even the Israelite king who was not serving God as he should and the other ones who had maybe some compromise when they started digging in obedience to God, God met with them and when we start in obedience to God, God meets with us Revival isn't just an excitement of good feelings and bigger numbers in churches and things happening on the outside it's all of that but what it is and I remember Duncan Campbell saying this when somebody we had him for three weeks in Seattle as our guest in the home and we had him speaking for a large gathering we got hold of a large Lutheran church for that and he was asked I had him meet the ministers, some ministers they were very formal ministers one was an Episcopal minister and they said Mr. Campbell how do you define revival and he said revival is the beginning of a new obedience to God that's what those folks did, they dug a ditch they made their they made a beginning of a new obedience to God and God visited them and in that gathering of ministers Mr. Campbell said is there anyone else, any other questions the Episcopal minister said I have no more questions I have a confession he said I have never experienced the cleansing promised in the scripture where it says how much more shall the blood of Christ purge your conscience from dead works, he said that I have never experienced and he said I want prayer that dear man when he went back to his church on Sunday some of his people came to our weeknight services Sunday morning one of the virgins got up and confessed how God had met with him God meets with us, you notice it was down in the depths because God God's work is inside we sometimes think that the work has to be outside our idea the idea of a revival is let's pitch a tent or have a tent and call in whoever if only so and so are here but God's work is in the inside and if he can do that work on the inside of us he can revive us well I'm reminded of Myrtle Campbell I think some of you knew him before he passed on Myrtle told me of a dream he had and he dreamt that he was in Swift Current and the congregation there they were out instead of in the service they were out picnicking you know how terrible this is and then he met Mr. Finney coming down Mr. Finney was an older man being helped along by a younger lady a niece and he said Mr. Finney would you would you come and hold some meetings if you could come I believe we'd have a revival and then Mr. Finney said well I'm pretty old now you know of course he's long gone but you know how dreams do they get a little confused and he said I'm pretty old and he said well please come and so Mr. Finney said well yes I think I can do it and then the little girl said no uncle you can't do that no no I'm sorry and as she's leading Mr. Finney away he starts and crying he said there goes my revival and then he heard the voice this is in a dream the voice speaks from him he said I'm the Lord I am the one that gives revival well he woke right then shouting his wife said what happened he just he woke himself up just shouting hallelujah because God had blessed him something we all know of course but when that rips us as a revelation from God that's the that's the key now we have to say to ourselves how deep is our ditch how full does that ditch get your water pot is it filled to the brim and if you pour it out you'll see God honored through our Lord Jesus God bless