This sermon delves into the themes of cleansing, sacrifice, brokenness, and offerings as mentioned in the Bible. It reflects on historical periods of great preachers and the need for a revival to restore a sense of God's holiness and the sinfulness of sin. The speaker emphasizes the importance of deep, heartfelt prayer and the transformative power of encountering God's majesty.

He mentions cleansing three times in different words in the first two verses. He mentions sacrifice three times. He mentions brokenness three times. He mentions offerings three times. He prays three prayers. He prays the prayer of a sinner. Have mercy upon me, O God. You know, there was an amazing period in history, in the 1700s. In fact, I gave Melody a little article I'd written a while ago on that period which maybe will be in the newsletter. I don't know if it's classified for that, but anyhow. It was an amazing period. Some of the greatest preachers, they lived in the 1600s. All the towering giants like John Owen, and all that bunch of Puritan preachers that have never, never, never been equal. By the way, the second edition of Refiners Fire is in the press now, so if you don't want one, we've already more than 10,000 orders for it. You better get it. It's got some tremendous, tremendous stuff in it. Preaching with a punch. Preaching with authority. The tragedy of modern Christianity is this. We've lost, even in the church, we've lost our sense of the holiness of God. Come on, be honest. Don't answer all different. Did you come here to meet God this morning? Or did you come to hear a sermon about Him? Can you remember the last time you left the sanctuary and you didn't utter a word for an hour or two? That happened in the Welsh Revival. I didn't witness it, but I did preach in some of the Revival churches, or churches that had Revival, as late as 1949. There were some old ladies there that came to our meetings and said, these are the most impressive meetings since 1904. I said, well, how do you gauge that? Because the last four nights we walked up to the crossroads and then they turn and instead of saying good night, they say, Nostar. Nostar. And suddenly realize we walked all the way from the church in the valley up to here. Mrs. Griffith said last night, have you noticed that not one of us has said a word any night this week after the service? Because we've no sense of the majesty of God, we've no sense of the sinfulness of sin. I've been bowled over for so many mornings this week, between midnight and four o'clock, meditating on a statement that I've read so many times, but it never punched me out like this week. The word of John, when he said, I fell at his feet as dead. I said it with David the other day. And I said, Dave, how often do we get felled, stunned? We come into a gospel meeting as easy as coming to a political meeting and go out as easily. Well, I guess you know, a year, was it just over a year ago, when David was preaching there at the Agape Force conference in Dallas, he suddenly faded out and fell to the ground. And he said, well then, twice, I've had that experience of falling at his feet as dead and all the glory of heaven has been revealed to me. When revival comes, that is something which is regular. In recounting the awesome revival, I guess we call it the Shang-Tung revival, round the turn of the century, Mrs. Jonathan Goforth says, it was awesome to go to church. You would go in the sanctuary, we would stand and sing, and sing, and sing, and sing. And then realize, we'd been singing for six hours. We would go another day, somebody would stand up with an anointing in prayer, be waiting on God all night, and burst out with a torrent of revelation. You hardly dare open your eyes unless you saw God in his majesty. You could feel the vibrations of eternity. One day it was all song and adoration. We were lifted to the third heaven. Next day it was prayer that was awesome. Sometimes it was sobbing, stammering prayer. It was preachers groaning on the floor. It was preachers that couldn't even get down. Burden with guilt, shame. There's an old man right now, 95 years of age in California, and I knew him 50 years ago. He went through that same revival. He said, Len, I know you've given 50 years. Recently he said to me, you've given more than 50 years in praying for revival. I have, about 60 as a matter of fact. But he said, Len, I want to tell you something. When revival comes, the sewers burst. The man you thought was the most holy man in the district gets up and confesses. It's like opening a valve and letting all the impurity out. It's conviction which has been writhing, if you like, in his bosom. Okay. The first day, Mrs. Jonathan Goforth said, it was praise that was unspeakably glorious. The next day it was prayer, which would tear your eyes out, there wasn't a heart out, there wasn't a single dry eye. Everybody groaned in the spirit. The third day she said, not necessarily in this order. You would go. And whether we had sung for six hours or prayed for six, the next day the whole congregation, two or three thousand people would sit and from morning till night not a word was uttered. And you said, that was the most awesome of all. Beyond the awesomeness of singing or the awesomeness of the stillness. Be still and know that I am God. The doctor told you to say, Len, you've got to keep this in mind. As Christians we're activists. We think if we work from morning till night and tumble into bed exhausted, we've served God. Not necessarily. I believe if you and a hundred people an hour are to God, doesn't necessarily satisfy the heart of Jesus. What is the first and greatest commandment? Be a missionary. No, thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and soul and mind and strength. And if you love him, you would serve him. It's the key to the whole thing. David had loved God. And he'd known the mercy of God. He'd known the power of God. Can you imagine him laid back, as we say, on a hillside, the stars twinkling, and he has his guitar. No. Guitars are backslidden harps. He had a harp. And there he's playing his harp. And what's he doing? He's singing, When the heavens declare the glory of God And the firmament showeth his handiwork. I read a statement this week made by, I think, an old Puritan when he said, The most amazing thing in English prose is the 40th chapter of Isaiah. And I've read that over and over and over and over again. It says in that 40th chapter that God, it says, Lit up your eyes and behold the host of the heavens. He calleth every star by name. If I had some, Oh, I have some. I won't put it there. But let me say this. If you put a one there, and then you put 23 zeros behind it, those are broken down zeros, but anyhow. That's a sextillion. A sextillion is one, with 20 zeros behind it. And the scientists say there are 40 sextillions of stars. Now in England and Germany, a sextillion is one with 36 zeros behind it. But then I read more recently that there are estimated 50 billion stars in the Milky Way alone. You know that shaft of light you see in the sky sometimes? 50 billion. And he calls them all by name. Isn't that beautiful? Isaac Watts has a hymn in which he says, He made the stars, those heavenly flames, He counts their numbers, calls their names. His wisdom's vast and knows no bound, A deep where all our thoughts are drowned. What is a creature's skill or force? The spitely man, the warlike horse, The piercing wit, the active limb, All are too mean delights for him. But saints are lovely in his sight. I don't think God fellowships with stars. Or the beautiful countryside or the rocky mountains. He fellowships with individuals. Now David has had a marvellous relationship with God. Okay, let's see him there with his harp again, singing that marvellous 23rd Psalm as only he could sing it. It must have been wonderful. I wish there was a recording of it.