In this sermon, the preacher emphasizes the need for individuals to acknowledge and repent for wasting their lives. He encourages humility and acceptance of wrongdoing, urging listeners to allow God to heal and forgive them. The preacher expresses a deep desire for revival and for God to move powerfully in people's hearts. He emphasizes the importance of preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ without relying on gimmicks or plans, and highlights the need for faithful pastors to continue teaching the Word of God. The sermon also emphasizes the importance of worshiping God and focusing on Christ rather than oneself.

I keep almost preaching a certain sermon, and it's just a good teaching sermon, and I keep getting up to the Lord's Day, and then it's as if I'm supposed to talk about something different. And that's kind of what happened again today. So I will get to this other mystery sermon eventually, and you will see what it is. But today I just felt like I wanted to talk a little bit. Well, turn to Psalm 85. I want to talk a little bit about the Welsh Revival. I've been reading a little bit about it this past week, and it's really touched my heart what God did there. I think there's things we can learn from what happened in that move of God. Psalm 85. Psalm 85. There it is. Let me just read Psalm 85 just as a foundation for things that we're going to look at. Lord, thou hast been favorable unto thy land. Thou hast brought back the captivity of Jacob. Thou hast forgiven the iniquity of thy people. Thou hast covered all their sin. Thou hast taken away all thy wrath. Thou hast turned thyself from the fierceness of thine anger. Turn us, O God, of our salvation, and cause thine anger toward us to cease. Wilt thou be angry with us forever? Wilt thou draw out thine anger to all generations? Wilt thou not revive us again, that thy people may rejoice in thee? Show us thy mercy, O Lord, and grant us thy salvation. I will hear what God the Lord will speak, for he will speak peace unto this people and to his saints, but let them not turn again to folly. Surely his salvation is nigh them that fear him, that glory may dwell in our land. Mercy and truth are met together. Righteousness and peace have kissed each other. Truth shall spring out of the earth, and righteousness shall look down from heaven. Yea, the Lord shall give that which is good, and our land shall yield her increase. Righteousness shall go before him, and shall set us in the way of his steps. Mercy and truth are met together. Righteousness and peace have kissed each other. Truth shall spring out of the earth, and righteousness shall look down from heaven. Wilt thou not revive us again, that thy people may rejoice in thee? The Welsh Revival. God does revive his people from time to time. Just as judgment begins in the house of God, revival must begin in the house of God and does begin in the house of God. God's people need to turn toward him in this day and this age, as they've had to in every day and age, and we need to seek that he would revive us again. In Wales in 1904, there was a great revival. I simply took some testimonies here, and I want to read some of this. First, I want to read from an article, a newspaper of the day, a famous journalist, W.T. Stead, Daily Chronicle, November 13, 1904. I'm just going to read excerpts from this eyewitness account of what God was doing. As springtime precedes summer and seed time harvests, so every great onward step in the social and political progress of Great Britain has ever been preceded by a national revival of religion. The sequence is as unmistakable as it is invariable. This is what we've been looking at in recent weeks, that we think the civil government somehow will be reformed without a revival. It will not. We think that the civil government will respect the Ten Commandments when the church does not. It will not. We think that our government will rule according to the law of God and be righteous and break off ungodly alliances and activity when the church will not. We believe, it seems many do, that our civil government will respect the Constitution when the church doesn't respect the Bible. There'll be no revival or no reformation, I should say, in the government until there's a revival in the church, until we're faithful in the church. We believe that many do, I hope you're not among them, that the government, the civil government will rule righteously and the people will obey it when much of the church government doesn't rule righteously. And when they do, people don't obey it. There's no respect for church government anymore. There's no respect. There's no understanding of what the body of Christ is to be. I love Christ ahead, but I have no interest in building up the body of Christ. Is this possible? Apparently people think it is. We have a problem. The root of the problem is pride and arrogance, recklessness, the I don't care attitude. We have to get back to the basics, to the foundation and begin to obey God in these things. We're in a dangerous time, a very dangerous time. But this journalist goes on to say after attending three prolonged services at Mardy, a village of 5,000 inhabitants, he says it was near what was in Wales, lying on the other side of Ponte Pride. He talks about what he saw. He said there were no advertisements, no brass bands, no posters, no huge tents, all the paraphernalia of the God up job are conspicuous by their absence. No God up job here. You know, not like a Billy Graham crusade, not like some of the things we've seen, not like the purpose driven church nonsense. None of that. These so-called revivals we have where everybody plays out their part. When the pastor finally says, now you can come forward, then they come forward. They're going to accept Christ now. After they sat quietly in their seats with their hands folded through all the preaching, then they come forward. Is that a move of the spirit of God? That's not what we see in revivals of the past. We see people weeping in their seats, kneeling where they are, coming forward without being even asked. He says, neither is there any organization nor is there a director, at least none that is visible to the human eye. In the crowded chapels, they even dispense with the instrumental music. Now, he wasn't saying this was right, but this is what happened in this particular revival. He wasn't saying that's what everyone should do. He says, on Sunday night, no note issued from the organ pipes. They had them, it's just that they weren't used. There was no need, he says, of instrument, for in and around and above and beneath surged the all-pervading thrill and throb of a multitude praying and singing as they prayed. The vast congregations were as soberly sane, as orderly, and at least as reverent as any congregation I ever saw. This was no Brownsville revival. This was no laughing, barking revival. None of this. This was no Benny Hinn appearance, that devil. Going on, it says, tear above tear, from the crowded aisle to the loftiest gallery, sat or stood as necessity dictated, eager hundreds of serious men and thoughtful women, their eyes riveted upon the platform or upon whatever other part of the building was the storm center of the meeting. The Spirit of God was stirring up hearts and minds as a tornado stirs up a natural creation. There was absolutely nothing wild, violent, hysterical, unless it be hysterical for the laboring breast to heave with sobbing that cannot be repressed, and the throat to choke with emotion as a sense of the awful horror and shame of a wasted life suddenly bursts upon the soul. Praise God. It's so much better to know you're wasting your life than to know you've wasted your life. It's so much better to admit that you've wasted part of your life than to know you've wasted all of your life. It's so much better to throw your pride overboard and just accept that you've done wrong, that you lived wrong, and let God heal you, let God build you up, let God forgive you. This is what was happening with these people. On all sides there was a solemn gladness of men and women, first the shame, then the gladness. Unless you have the shame, you'll never have the gladness. Upon whose eyes has dawned the splendor of a new day, the foretaste of whose glories they are enjoying in the quickened sense of human fellowship and a keen glad zest added to their lives. I'll be honest, I'm about to give up on a lot of older men. I know that's not right, but I'm almost ready to start looking to the younger men, the ones that aren't so stubborn, aren't so set in their ways, aren't so unwilling to simply humble themselves before God and be taught by Him and led by Him. But we don't see many young men like that. We don't see many young men around that really want to serve God. I don't know. I guess I haven't heard anyone say since I've been a Christian, I don't know if I've heard any young man say, I want to be a pastor. I want to be a preacher. I want to serve God with everything I have. I feel called. I'm going to follow that leading. I'm going to be an instrument, God willing, of revival in this country. I don't know. Now this is from the Reverend G. Campbell Morgan, who was, I'm told, I don't know much about him, but a famous Christian pastor, churchman, leader in those days. And he went and witnessed this. He came from London where there was no revival. And he witnessed this revival. I think what he has to say is worth looking at. I won't read the whole thing. It's quite long, but I want to read excerpts. And I'll tell you up front why I want to read excerpts, because this man has said things that I feel in my own heart. And some of what he said is he doesn't know what to say. And I just feel the exact same, especially toward the end of this. I just feel totally in harmony with what he's saying and what he's saying he's not able to say and what he's waiting on. Starts out, I'm going to read quite a bit of this, but just excerpts. He says, starts out reading from Joel. He says, for these are not drunken as ye suppose. This is at Pentecost where the Spirit of God was poured out on those obedient men who did exactly what God told them. They waited there in Jerusalem until the Spirit of the Lord poured out upon them and then they went preaching, fearlessly preaching the Kingdom of God and setting up a church and setting up leadership and government and letting no one stop them and not putting their hope in anything except the Word of God, the Spirit of God. And the people of God, in the sense that God has ordained there be a church in this world and that church will carry forward the light of the gospel, that church will birth preachers and evangelists and holy men and women. And we'll have an authority in this earth that God does back up, even if people don't recognize it. And even if in this day and age, everyone wants to do their own thing and do what seems right to them and ignore this, that God has set up the church, the body of Christ, that's to be so powerful in the earth. He says, for these are not drunken as ye suppose, seeing as but the third hour of the day. But this is that which hath been spoken by the prophet Joel. And it shall be in the last days, saith God, I will pour forth of my Spirit upon all flesh and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy and your young men shall see visions and your old men shall dream dreams. Yea, and on my bond servants and on my bond maidens in those days will I pour forth of my Spirit and they shall prophesy. He says he'll pour forth his Spirit on who? Who's he going to pour forth his Spirit on? Those who crack open their Bible and say, yeah, yeah, yeah, I guess I'll see what God has to say about this or the other thing. Or they open up their Bible and say, I'm against so and so or such and such. So I'm going to look for a good verse so I can go out against them. He says, I'm going to pour out my Spirit on my bond servants and my bond maidens. That's who he'll pour out his Spirit on. Those who follow close against Christ. Those who desire to wear his yoke. Those who want to live for him always, all the time. Those who seek to obey him and please him and be like him. That's who he pours his Spirit out on. This pastor, Reverend G. Campbell Morgan says, I have not read these words as a text, but as an introduction to what I desire to say. In other words, he wasn't going to preach just on that. He just wanted an introduction. As God shall help me concerning the most recent manifestation of the Pentecostal power. I refer to the great work of God that is going on in Wales at this time. And I trust that something more than curiosity makes you desire to hear of this work. For I'm not speaking with any intention to satisfy curiosity. I want now in the simplest way to speak to you first, very briefly, and as far as it is possible, of what my own eyes have seen, my own ears heard, and my own heart felt. I do this in order that we may ask finally, what are the lessons God would teach us in this day of his visitation? What were the lessons? Well, it's long. I'm going to read excerpts. He first talks about a meeting he went to. He says, It was a wonderful night, utterly without order, characterized from first to last by the orderliness of the Spirit of God. Should I read that again? It wasn't a typo. He wasn't confused. He said, It was a wonderful night, utterly without order, characterized from first to last by the orderliness of the Spirit of God. What he was saying is, this was no formal sort of situation where, sort of a contrived thing. He does this, he does that. No, he says, The Spirit of God moved through the congregation. He said it was a great mass of people. We made our way through the open door and just managed to get inside and found the chapel crowded from floor to ceiling with a great mass of people. He said it was his holy privilege to come into the center of this wonderful work and movement. And then he describes what he means by no order, without order. But it was orderly because of the Spirit of God. He described how a speaker would go out and speak for a few minutes. And then suddenly, by God's hand, he would stop as if he knew he should stop. And a man would stand up and testify that he had found Christ or that he had just led someone to Christ. And then someone else would stand up and pray on the other side of the room. No prompting, no directing. And then everyone would burst into a hymn. And then someone else would fall on their knees and get saved, profess Christ. And then someone else would testify. And then the speaker would speak. And then they'd sing again. This was the Spirit of God. He said, That which most impressed me, I'm sorry, that which impressed me most, was the congregation. I looked along the gallery of the chapel on my right, and there were three women, and the rest were men, packed solidly in. If you could but for once have seen the men, says there were evidently those who work in the coal mines, with the blue seam that told of their work on their faces, clean and beautiful. He says, Beautiful, did I say? Many of them lit with heaven's own light, radiant with the light that never was on sea and land, great, rough, magnificent, poetic men by nature. But the nature had slumbered long. Today it was awakened, and I looked on many a face, and I knew that men did not see me, did not see Evan Roberts, who was one of the preachers, but they saw the face of God and the eternities. This is what we need to see. We need to look into eternity. We need to stop living for today. We need to ask God to help us to see this new Jerusalem that we're headed for. Maybe we wouldn't live so much for ourselves. Maybe we would abandon ourselves more to God and trust in Him. Maybe we would see this time on earth that we have as our only chance now, when no one forces us, but someone leads us to serve Him against all odds. And in the face of hardship, in the face of mocking, in the face of our own flesh, overcome it by the Spirit. This is what we need to see. He said there were men, great, rough, magnificent, poetic men. They had the light of God on their face. Now this Evan Roberts was one of the preachers, or so bad that he would not miss a prayer meeting. He would not miss a prayer meeting. He would not miss a church service. He would not miss a meeting of God's people. Because he said, what if the Spirit of God moves today? God used that man for revival. Look in your own heart today. What does church mean to you? What does prayer meeting mean to you? What does the meeting of the people of God mean to you? What does it mean? Is it a burden? Or do you want to be there because God might move today? There might be revival today. Evan Roberts would not miss a prayer meeting. He would not miss a church meeting. No doubt he was involved in ministry as well, wanting to tell others about his Savior. He prayed for 11 years and he was there when revival came. The pastor says, G. Campbell Morgan says, I nearly wept tonight over the singing of our last hymn. Mr. Stead was asked if he thought the revival would spread to London. And he said, it depends on whether or not you can sing. This is a newspaper reporter now. This isn't a pastor. But the pastor says he was not so wide of the mark. When these Welshman sing, they sing the words like men who believe them. They sing like they believe these words. Have you heard the words of the hymns we sing? Do you believe them? Then sing them like you believe them. I often think when I'm somewhere and people are singing these great hymns of sacrifice and of faithfulness and of anticipation of the glories of God, and I hear people drag through them doing their duty. And I wonder, do they believe these hymns? Because if they believe these hymns, they would sound like they believe them. He said, he goes on, they abandon themselves to their singing. We sing, talking about his London congregation to whom he's preaching, as though we thought it would not be respectable to be heard by the man next to us. No choir, did I say? Because they had no choir. It was all choir and hymns. I stood and listened in wonder and amazement as that congregation on that night sang hymn after hymn, long hymns, sung through without hymn books. Oh, don't you see it? The Sunday school is having its harvest now. The family altar is having its harvest now. The teaching of hymns in the Bible among these Welsh hills and valleys is having its harvest now. The harvest comes, doesn't it? If we sow with weeping, we harvest with joy. And he says the harvest was coming in. Hymns. Now they weren't singing these little praise songs, these little choruses, song, mindless song after song, chorus after chorus. They were singing the great hymns of faith with theology in them. This is what they were singing. You know, a lot of these praise songs are just to praise men. They sing them because they're fun. If you sing some of these things because they're fun in this contemporary Christian music, you're just singing it to praise yourself. I don't care what you're saying. They're saying, isn't this fun? Praise me. And so they were singing the great hymns. I wish we could sing like they sing. Isaiah 28, 10 says, for precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept, line upon line, line upon line, here a little and there a little. They had taught, there had been faithful pastors teaching and teaching and teaching. We must never give up. Elders, pastors must continue to preach faithfully, not look for gimmicks, gadgets or craftiness, but preach the Word of God. It's not the Word of God that isn't powerful, it's the hearts of men that are hard. We must not abandon the preaching of the Word of God just the way it's written. The Gospel of Jesus Christ is the power of God unto salvation to all who believe. And we must want to worship God. Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, into His courts with praise. Be thankful unto Him and bless His name. Get your eyes off yourself. And I need to get my eyes off myself. Put your eyes on Christ. Some of you have problem upon problem upon problem. It's because we're not putting our eyes on Christ, because we're feeling sorry for ourselves, because we're wallowing around in our own problems, instead of looking to God for the answers. Faithfulness, faithfulness, faithfulness. Be faithful unto death and I will give you the crown of life. The pastor goes on to say, you tell me that the revival originates with Roberts. This is this Evan Roberts, who was the preacher. He says, I tell you that Roberts is a product of the revival. You tell me that it began in an endeavor meeting where a dear girl bore testimony. I tell you that that was the result of a revival breaking out everywhere. He said, if you and I could stand above Wales looking at it, you would see fire breaking out here and there and yonder and somewhere else without any collusion or prearrangement. It is a divine visitation in which God, let me say this reverently, in which God is saying to us, see what I can do without the things you are depending on. See what I can do in answer to a praying people. See what I can do through the simplest who are ready to fall in line and depend wholly and absolutely upon me. This is what God was saying, see what I can do, he said. And this is how revival broke out in Wales. He said, you could see a little fire here and a little fire there and a little fire there and the fire eventually as fires do came together into one holy conflagration. This is what we need to see in our day. This is what we need to see. We need to want to see a little fire break out in our hearts and in the hearts of our family and in the hearts of our churches. This is what we need to see. Stubbornness, pride, self-centeredness, preoccupation with our own problems, materialism, hedonism, selfishness, all these things get in the way and unwillingness to see what the church is supposed to be and say, God, this is a great privilege to build up your body. As we follow the head, we build up the body. We are not cold toward this work that God wants to do through his people, the church of Jesus Christ. What is the character of this revival, Campbell says? It is a church revival. I do not mean by that merely a revival among church members. It is that. It is that. But it is held in church buildings. Now, you may look astonished, but I have been saying for a long time that revival, which is to be permanent in the life of a nation, must be associated with the life of the churches. What I am looking for is that there shall come a revival breaking out in all our regular church life. The meetings are held in the chapels all up and down the valleys. And it began among church members. And when it touches the outside man, it makes him into a church member at once. I am tremendously suspicious of any mission, a revival movement that treats with contempt the church of Christ and affects to despise the churches. And I say to him, Amen. I say to this man, Amen. Everything he is saying, I believe. We are to love Christ and we are to build up his body. We do not just love the head and ignore the body. We are not to be cold and callous and indifferent and reckless toward the body of Christ. The unity of the spirit, a love one for another. And the leaders, the elders, are to be committed to the church God has brought you to, committed, talking to us elders, to build it up, a priority. To be faithful. He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much. If we cannot be faithful, no matter the size of our congregations here, we are not going to be faithful in anything else. And the people, obey them that have rule over you. And submit yourselves, for they watch for your souls, as they must give account that they may do it with joy and not with grief, for that is unprofitable for you. I will not stand before God and say, I did not discipline, I did not disciple, I did not follow out the commands of your scriptures because someone would take it wrong, because someone would use it against me, because someone, somewhere, might say, oh, he is too harsh, he is too this, he is too that. I will fulfill the obligation as God gives me the strength of what I am to do as a minister of the gospel of Jesus Christ. And I call upon our elder to do the same. And those who serve as deacons, have a heart for the church, serve the church, be proactive, look for what needs to be done, all of us together, the church, build it up. And you there in the congregation, submit yourselves. So long as you think the pastor and the elders are in obedience to God, submit yourselves. This is a holy authority he has given them. If you do not believe they are in obedience to God, go, leave, go away. A little leaven leavens a whole lump. Now, he goes on to say, what effect, because I want to see revival. I want to see revival, I want to see revival, in my own heart, in your heart, in the church, in the nation, I want to see revival. We have to set aside our own wants, likes, dislikes, feelings, hurts, whatever it might be, ambitions, and lay it all at the feet of Christ, and follow heart against him, and pray, and work. Now, what effect is this work producing upon men? This is again, this Reverend Campbell. First of all, it is turning Christians everywhere into evangelists. Christians want to evangelize. This is a sign of revival. They want to tell others. They want to tell others about Christ. Truly born again people want to tell others about Christ, their Savior. They have been saved. A truly born again person knows they have been saved. From sin, from death, from hell, from everything they have ever done, though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow. They know they are saved. They know they are headed for heaven. The power of God works powerfully in their life. They trust in the power of the gospel. That is the answer for men. That is the answer for the country. The gospel of Jesus Christ. They are not ashamed. They want to share it. He said, this is an interesting story. This is an encouraging story. He said, there is nothing more remarkable about it than that. I think, he says. People you never expected to see doing this kind of thing are becoming definite personal workers. Let me give you an illustration. A friend of mine went to one of the meetings and he walked down to the meeting with an old friend of his, a deacon of the congregational church. A man whose piety no one doubted. A man who for long years had worked in the life of the church and some of its departments. But a man who never would think of speaking to men about their souls. Although he would not have objected to see someone else doing it. Isn't that where we are today? I mean, how many say, yeah, I don't object. I mean, that's good. Go on out. Do some ministry. Do some ministry. That's great. I'm not called to do that. And of course, we are all called to do more of one thing, less of another. And there are different ways we do things. But we need to have a concern for souls and want to see the gospel spread. It needs to be a priority. He says, as my friend walked down with the deacon, the deacon said to him, I have 18 young men in the athletic class of which I am president. I hope some of them will be at the meeting tonight. This is how he started out. Well, I hope they'll be here. He was there. He was hoping these young men would hear the preacher no doubt share the gospel. Oh, they heard the gospel. He said there was a new manifestation. God was moving by a spirit among them. Within 15 minutes, this man who never shared the gospel, who didn't even like to see the gospel, I mean, I'm sorry, he did like to see the gospel shared. This man liked to see the gospel shared, but he never shared it himself. He hoped someone else would share it. Within 15 minutes, he left his seat and was seen talking to a young man down in front of him. Presently, the deacon rose and said, Thank God for so-and-so giving his full name. He has given his heart to Christ right here. Then in a moment or two, he left him and was with another man. And before that meeting closed, that deacon had led every one of those 18 young men to Jesus Christ who never thought of speaking to men about their souls. Now what if he had never tried? What if he had said, Well, I hope someone shares the gospel. It's not my thing. I don't do it. So you see, this is how it works. The Spirit of God moves on men's hearts. It's the gospel that has the power, but men must be willing to be used in the sharing of it because God has ordained that faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. And so this man, as the Spirit of God worked on his heart, because he was at the meeting, he was there, he knew God was doing something, he wanted to see God do more. God worked on his heart and he shared the gospel. He didn't share the gospel before. It shows that he was wanting to follow hard after Christ. It showed that he was wanting to see people saved. Now, the effect produced upon the converts, I'm skipping way ahead. If any of you want this article, I'll make it available for you. This pastor says that, he says, in two words, I think, cover the whole thing. Vision and virtue. This was the effect of the revival. Vision and virtue. Vision and virtue. What does it say in here? Young men shall see visions. I hope some young men that hear this sermon have some visions. They want to see revival in their day. They want to see God do great things in their day. They decide, I want to serve God. Maybe I want to be a pastor. I want to be a missionary. And young women too, I hope they likewise have some vision. I know I'm not old, but I'm old compared to some. I guess I'm dreaming dreams, aren't I? Well, dreams can come true. It is intensely cheap and easy, he says, it is intensely cheap and easy for cold-blooded men at a distance who know nothing of Celtic fire or spiritual fire to smile at this whole thing, this seeing of visions. But while you smile, these men are seeing visions. Now, he wasn't talking about anything weird. He says, they will tell you crudely of them perhaps, but it is one of those strange things that no man can ever tell of a vision when he sees it, really. They are seeing God. Well, but you say, that will pass. It is passing. The vision is passing out into virtue. And men are paying their debts and abandoning the public house and treating their horses well. Oh, my masters, did you say the next revival would be ethical? It is that, because it is spiritual. And you will never get an ethical revival except in this way. Listen up, those who think that the government is going to reform, if you think abortion is going to stop, if you think any evil in this country will be purged out without a spiritual revival, that begins in the church. Can you continue to stand against those evils, but understand the reality that we must have a spiritual revival here, now, in our day, in the church, to see these evils purged from our land. And he said, vision is merging into virtue. And theatrical companies are packing up and going back because there are no houses in which for them to play. Nobody would let them perform. And on every hand, there is a sweeping down those Welsh valleys, a great clean river. It is a river of God, and men are being cleansed in it, in personal and civic relationships. We are quite willing to appeal to the coming years about this work, but the evidences are already present on every hand. Tradesmen are being startled by men paying debts, even though the statute of limitation has run out. And on it goes. He goes on to talk about the values of the movement. He says, what shall we do? He is talking, again, to his congregation in London about a revival that had not yet come to London. He said, what shall we do if we cannot imitate? But you cannot imitate. You can't make up a revival. You can't manufacture a revival. He says, if we cannot imitate, we can discover the principles. What are they? Let us listen for the Spirit. Confess Christ. Be absolutely at His disposal. Oh, but you say to me, are not we all that? Well, I do not know. I do not know. I agree with him. Are you all of that? I don't know. I don't know. Only you know. And I'll tell you right now, you need to ask God. Are you all of that? Are you listening for the Spirit? Are you confessing Christ? Are you at His disposal? The only way you're going to know is you go before God with a humble heart and throw yourself at His feet and ask Him. Ask Him. And while you're at it, ask Him why He would save a wretch like you or me. Did He save us to serve ourselves or to serve Him? Oh, but you say to me, are not we all that? Well, I do not know. God, help us to find out for ourselves. I think we are in terrible danger of listening to the Spirit and when His voice speaks to us, quenching Him. You say something moved me to speak to that man about his soul, but I do not like to. That is how revival is stopped. Speak to him. Listening to the Spirit, confessing Christ openly, absolutely at His disposal. Now he goes on to say, and I'm taking excerpts, begin to try and teach along that line instead of... He's talking to the leaders, the pastors, the elders, the evangelists. Begin to try and teach along that line instead of treating our congregation as congregations to be instructed ever in holy things. Treat them as men and women that are to be persuaded to holy things and consecration in Jesus Christ. And in order to the doing of all this, what we supremely need is that we ourselves should be at the end of ourselves. That we should dare to abandon ourselves with some amount of passion to our work. What can I say but amen to what he's saying? I've spent hours praying and the very same words, the very same words come to me over and over. We have to be at the end of ourselves. We have to be humble at God's feet. We have to understand where we've been, where we could be, what we are, that there's no good in the flesh, that it's the nature of man to constantly worry about his flesh, to constantly feed his flesh, because if you're in the flesh, you have to feed the flesh. Now, that might be various ways. It might be avoiding any kind of hardship for Christ. It might be avoiding getting things right in your life that you know are wrong. It might be materialism. It might be entertainment. It might be pretending to be something you're not. It might be all sorts of things. The flesh dies. It's the spirit that quickens. We have to be at the end of ourselves. There may be people here today who say, I've been at the end of myself. Well, maybe you haven't. You haven't been at the end of yourself if you're not following hard after Christ. You haven't been to the end of yourself yet. You haven't really. You haven't really. Oh, we have been too icily regular, faultily faultless, splendidly null, he says. What we need is the abandonment of ourselves to the great truths we know so well, to the great forces that indwell. Let us strengthen the things that remain. This is what we need. We know the truth and it's the truth that sets us free. We need to abandon ourselves to the truth. We need to have a total trust in God. We need to start thinking about people other than ourselves. We need to start thinking about the Lord forever and always. Now, I wanted to turn over to Luke 18. I know I wanted to do that. I was going to do it earlier and I forgot. Sometimes when I preach, many times when I preach lately, I just don't know what it is completely that God wants me to share. I feel inept at letting God use me to try to share what the Spirit can do in your life and in my life if we would really come to the end of ourselves and trust God and follow after him. In Luke 18, I'll tell you one of the things that will stop us from truly getting to the end of ourselves and truly following after Christ and winning whatever battles we need to win in our own lives against our own flesh. This passage speaks of something that can get in our way. We often read 1 through 7 as a great encouragement. The widow that goes to the judge, avenge me, my adversary. He keeps going and going and going. He says, hear what the unjust judge saith. In verse 6, the Lord says this, And shall not God avenge his own elect, which cry day and night unto him, though he bear long with them? Praise be to God, that's very encouraging. We continue to go to God. We ask for protection against our enemies, and we have many. We ask for justice in the courts, in the legislatures of our land. We continue to go, we continue to go, we continue to go. And God will execute judgment and justice in his day. Truth and righteousness will meet and kiss in his timing. But this is interesting because he says, I tell you in 8 that he will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth? And then he says, and he spake this parable, Unto certain which trusted in themselves that they were righteous and despised others. Do you see the connection? You see, he says, but will he find faith on the earth? And then he spoke a parable unto certain which trusted in themselves that they were righteous and despised others. Is there any of that in us? It's been in me at times. Two men went up into the temple to pray. The one a Pharisee and the other a publican. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust adulterers, and even as this publican. I fast twice in the week and give tithes of all that I possess. And the publican, now listen. Here's the Pharisee. The thing about these parables is you can apply them in many different instances. And this Pharisee, yes, he trusts in his own righteousness. This is about works righteousness. I understand that. But you also see the arrogance. I'm not like those people. And you may be trusting in your own works more than you realize. Because you're not like those people. You don't run a porn shop. You're not an abortionist. You don't get abortions. You're not pro-homosexual. You're not a statist. You don't have your children in the government schools. You're not like those people. You go to church on Sunday. But have you come to the end of yourself? Are you following hard after Christ? Are you seeking His Spirit to manifest itself in your life? The power of it, I should say. And you're looking forward to a new Jerusalem. And you're saying, God help me in this brief hour I have on earth to serve you. To love you. Now, you may be trusting in your works to stay right with God more than you realize. You need to do these works. But these works don't make you righteous. And you may not be near as righteous as you think you are. And God has spoken this to me many times. I look at what I should have been. And what I should be. And I look at Jesus Christ and His Word. And then I feel like the publican. Suddenly I'm not looking at all these other people. Even though I have to deal with these issues and stand against this wickedness. I'm not looking at them. I'm looking at what I should be. And what I could be even. And what God is willing to make me. Though I'll never be perfect this side of heaven. I feel like this publican. Standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven. But smote upon his breast saying, God be merciful to me a sinner. God has not dealt with us as our sins require. In the sense that He has given us a way to be forgiven of our sins. I tell you this man went down to his house justified rather than the other. For everyone that exalteth himself shall be abased. And he that humbleth himself shall be exalted. We need to humble ourselves. Would we see revival in our land, then we need to humble ourselves. Or we'll simply be abased. God be merciful to me a sinner. Now, this man goes on, this preacher. He says the church of God needs three things. It needs first to set itself to get things out of the way for God. I like that. Get some things out of the way for God. He said to his congregation, I appreciate the almost puzzled look upon some of your faces. What things? And then he said, I do not know. He said all the things that are in his way. Your habit that you know is unholy. Your method of business that will not bear the light of day. Your unforgiving heart towards a Christian member. We can only deal with our own sin in that sense. This man, this brother, as I read this I thought, you're speaking exactly what I'm feeling. We need to get some things out of the way. You need to get some things out of the way in your lives. You ask me what? I say, I don't know. But you do. You do. And God does. And I'm not saying they're so-called horrible, huge sins. I don't know. But don't grade yourself on a curve. Our standard is the righteousness of Christ. And understand that pride and a misplaced loyalty, stubbornness, all these things stand between you and having God manifest His Spirit, the power of His Spirit in your life. He says, I don't know. Your habit that you know is unholy. Your method of business that will not bear the light of day. Your unforgiving heart towards a church member. Oh God, forgive me that I mention anything. You know, you know. They're in God's way, these things. They must be cleared out. That is the first thing. There may be other things in God's way. And he said, any organization in church life does not make for the salvation of men as a fungus growth. And the sooner we drop it off, the better. Amen. Amen. We must never compromise the gospel of Jesus Christ. We must never enter into ungodly alliances that compromise the gospel of Jesus Christ. We must include the gospel of Jesus Christ in all that we do. Anything else is a fungus growth. Drop it off. Scrape it off. Get rid of it. He says, are we ready to put things out of the way for God? And then he goes further on and says, oh, if there's anything, we must be prepared to sweep everything out for God to have highway. That is the attitude the church must be prepared to take. Remember John the Baptist? John the Baptist said, prepare ye the way of the Lord. Make his paths straight. Now, the last paragraph in this message from this pastor, G. Campbell Morgan. He says this. And this is where he really touched a chord with me, especially the last part. But let me read the first part. There is nothing so important as the saving of men. And when the church says that and is ready, God will come. There is nothing so important as the saving of men. And when the church says that and is ready, God will come. This is the most important thing. Nothing else compares to the saving of souls. This is the most important thing. And when we believe that and we're ready, he says, God will come. We need then to wait upon him in earnest, constant prayer. Oh, brothers and sisters, pray, pray alone, pray in secret, pray together and pray out of a sense of London, sin and sorrow. He's talking to his congregation in London. It is so easy to be familiar with these things until they have lost their power to touch us. Oh, the sin and sorrow of London. May God lay it upon our hearts as a burden. And out of that agony, let us begin to pray and go forward. The moment he opens the door and indicates the way. The Bible says much about sorrowing over sin. We see so many abuses of the gospel today. We hear so many attacks upon the deity of Christ coming from Christians. So much denial of the power and the holiness of God. You know, we're going to take shortcuts. We're not going to rely on the word of God and doing it the right way. We're going to take our own shortcuts. We're going to put together our own organizations. We're going to put together our own alliances rather than sorrowing over that very thing because it's sin. Ezekiel had a vision, a vision of God destroying many in Jerusalem. And before the destroyers went out, the Lord said, the Lord sent out a man to put a mark upon the foreheads of men that sigh and that cry for all the abominations that be done in the midst thereof. So yes, we need to sigh and cry for all the filth, the immorality, the death, the rebellion around us. But we also need to understand that God stands ready, stands willing to manifest his power among men. Zephaniah 1.12 And it shall come to pass at that time that I will search Jerusalem with candles and punish the men that are settled on their leaves. They're not doing anything. You know why they're not doing anything? They say in their heart, the Lord will not do good, neither will he do evil. The Lord will not bless, the Lord will not curse, the Lord will not do anything. We can just live out our life any old way. We can just continue down the path we're going on. We can just secure our own salvation. We think we're the captains of our soul, I guess. We'll just go to church, might show up at a prayer meeting occasionally, might do a little ministry, read the Bible when we feel like it, pray when we're in trouble and say, I'm glad I'm not like that man over there because look what I do. And look what he's done. God be merciful unto us. We're sinners. We need to be brought to the end of ourselves. Now, he goes on to say, and this is where he really touched my heart. And as a pastor, I don't know if I can explain this to you. I know I can't. And for months now, I've had things in my heart that I can't even explain. Things that I know that God is willing to do, maybe on the brink of doing, but what is he waiting on? He's waiting on us to come to the end of ourselves, that's what. He's waiting for us to get some things squared away. He's waiting on us to turn all our loyalty and love to him. He says, I do not expect, and especially the young Christians who I say this, I do not expect just the same kind of manifestation God always manifests himself through the natural temperament. When he's talking about, he says it may not happen the same way in London that it happens in Wales. I find this kind of humorous. He says, if you've been over there and seen the different kinds of people, he says God always manifests himself through the natural temperament, and you can never have the poetic fire and fervor of a Celtic revival in London, but you can have a stern, hard, magnificent consecration and results that characterize your own nationality. So it might be a little different here, but it'll still be revival. It'll still be a pouring out of God's spirit. He says, are we ready for God? Now here's where, when I read this, I said, you're speaking what I'm thinking. You're feeling what I felt. You're unable to do what I'm unable to do. This man said, I have talked out of my heart. I have tried to talk of a fire that cannot be described. There's a fire that cannot be described. You have to see it. You have to be there. You have to experience it. We haven't seen it. We haven't been there. Not this kind of a fire, but we want to be there. We want to see it. He said, I have tried to talk out of the tremendous sense that God is abroad, and I talk out of the desire that I cannot express, that somehow, somewhen, somewhere, He may put out His hand and shake this city for the salvation of men. And this is exactly what more and more I feel in my heart. I can't explain it. I can't describe it. I barely can preach it. But we need revival. We need God to move with power in our hearts. But God has to do something to us. We have to do something ourselves. And there's no gimmicks involved. There's no 40-day plan that's going to make any difference. There's no special music. What it is, is we have to understand that we've been polluted, perverted, diverted. By a worldly Christianity. And then we've been confused and convoluted by a Christianity that says it's not worldly, because it stands against certain things, and yet it's too much like the Pharisees saying, I'm not like that man over there. We need to seek God. We need to seek Christ. We need to come to an end of ourselves. We need to look at our own lives. And I'm not just talking about, well, make sure you're not looking at this or saying this. I'm talking about your communion with God. See, there's nothing more important than your communion with God. You and God. You coming before God, because of Christ, by the blood of Jesus, and expressing to Him your thanksgiving to Him. But also your helplessness. And telling Him that before you die, you want to serve Him with power. You want to experience the power of His Holy Spirit working in your lives. You want Him to purge you of all your selfishness, of all your sin, of all your failure, of all your weakness, of all your pride, and make you clean, and make you holy, and fill you with joy, and fill you with the power of His Spirit, and then use you until the day you die. For thus saith the High and Lofty One, and inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy. I dwell in the high and holy place with Him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones. God will revive the spirit of the humble. He will revive the heart of the contrite ones. He will bring down the pride. He will destroy the pride. The prideful ones. It's your choice. It's my choice. Jesus said this, The stone which the builder rejected, the same has become the head of the corner. He said, Whosoever shall fall upon that stone shall be broken. You know, you repent and you believe. But there's a little more to it than that. Shall be broken. There's maybe some pride in us that needs to be broken. There's maybe some love of material things. There's maybe some lack of trust. There's so many things. And we never really understand it until we go to God and He shows us. Your natural mind, even though you're a Christian, you're still in the flesh. The flesh gets in the way and you don't understand some of the things that you need to deal with and get rid of. You don't understand that in some cases you're dealing with things you're doing and it bothers you. But there's some root problems that you need to deal with, like pride. Like not being willing. You just want to be free from something, but you don't want to be a bondservant of Christ. Whosoever shall fall upon that stone shall be broken, but on whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder. Now your choice is, fall on the rock and be broken in pieces, or be ground to powder. That's your choice. There is no in-between. There's nothing in-between. And if Christians will fall on the stone and be broken, then maybe we'll see revival. Then we can say at the end of our life, I fought the good fight. I finished my course. I've kept my faith. Do you ever feel like when you're walking with God, when you fought the good fight, you almost say, I wish I could die right now. Then they could put that on my tombstone. That could be my epitaph. I already did it. It's done. It's not the way it works. Some of us have miles to go before we sleep. And we have many promises to keep. I fought the good fight. I finished my course. I've kept the faith. Psalm 85 6 Wilt thou not revive us again, that thy people may rejoice in thee?