Like a Bear Let Loose

I have a message for you today friends on revival. I know some of you see no need for revival while others recognize the deep need for God to move in our midst today to come and heal our land to come and save our young people today with a great move of his grace upon us. Turn in your Bibles friends to the book of Isaiah.

We'll be in chapter 63 and 64. We'll outdraw out some startling truths for us today as they relate to God, as they relate to his church, as they relate to the nation, and as they relate to ourselves personally. Number one, I want us to see a low spiritual condition that exists among the people of God.

We read in Isaiah 63 19. We are thine thou never's barest rule over. We see a people of God here in a low spiritual condition in a state of lawlessness and disrespect to God.

Is this not our condition today friends? Oh we must be honest with ourselves. If we are to get anywhere with God, God gets serious with those who get serious with him. Number two, the prophet of God recognizes the sad spiritual declension and cries out to God to come and do something about it.

Look at Isaiah 64 and verses 1 through 3. Oh that thou would rent the heavens, that thou wouldest come down, that the mountains might flow down at thy presence, as when the melting fire burneth, the fire causeth the waters to boil, to make thy name known to thine adversaries, that the nations may tremble at thy presence, when thou didst terrible things which we look not for, thou camest down, the mountains flowed down at thy presence. Well what happens? This brings us to our next point. Number three, but God is restrained by something.

What is it? What is holding God back from appearing among his people in revival? He is restrained by something. Number four, the something is a sin among his people. It is the people of God who are restraining God's activity among them because of unrepentant sin.

In Isaiah 63 10 we read, but they rebelled and vexed his Holy Spirit. Therefore he was turned to be their enemy and he fought against them. The remedial judgments of God fall in justice and severity today on the wayward people of God.

Let me ask you friends, why is the church experiencing withdrawn presence of God today? Why are sanctuaries so dry and so barren? Where is the power of God in a meeting in birth of new lives? The sins of the church in America today are provoking sins against the living God of the Bible. They are aggravated sins because we have more accountability to him, yet we provoke him through our grievous and presumptuous sins. The church is a very prideful church.

The church is a very self-reliant church. The church is a very self-absorbed church that has forgotten her purpose and calling to be a light to the world and the salvation of souls. Instead, it's a mean mentality that prevails in the church where churches have become islands unto themselves in prestige and recognition or pursued more than lost souls.

And when the tide goes out, every shrimp has his hole. Whatever the nature of the sin is, it's holding God back from appearing in our midst. God is away and in hiding.

In John 12 36 we read, these things spake Jesus and departed and did hide himself from them. But no more terrifying words can be uttered than that, to have Jesus hide himself from you. What a sense of death, what condemnation, what terrible implications.

We need God to reveal himself in revival at this tragic hour in the most desperate way. But God is restrained by something. He is distant, he is hid away.

Why? It is sin in the heart and lives of the people of God. God help us. Number five, the result of a manifestation of God amidst his people in revival.

Look at verses one through three again, friends. Rend, come down, or the choice word spoken by the prophet. Another prophet comes to my mind, the prophet Elisha, who, although he was God's man, he's mocked by man.

In second Kings chapter two, verse 24, we read, and he went up from thence on to Bethel. And as he was going up by the way, there came forth little children out of the city and mocked him and said unto him, go up that bald head, go up that bald head. Let me pause here, friends, to share a story with you, which will put this in perspective.

A traveling preacher was passing through a certain city and he wanted to go by and visit a historic church that had a long reputation for doing good for the Lord. And when he got in the town, he stopped at a local restaurant to grab some lunch and ask directions to that famous church. The owner of the restaurant was well familiar with that church.

And when the traveling preacher went on and on about all the great things that church had done, the owner of the restaurant looked at him strangely and commented, yes, it used to be that way some time ago. If you want directions to that church, just go up the road a piece and turn right at the next stop sign, then go up a hill and at the top of the hill there will be a sign telling you the way to that church. Well, what does the sign say, asked the traveling preacher.

The man paused and with a sad look said, the sign says, caution, children at play. You see, friends, when the people of God behave like children just playing games, then God leaves us to our own devices. Well, let's return to our text.

And he turned back and looked on them and cursed them in the name of the Lord. And there came forth two she bears out of the wood and tear forty and two children of them. Listen to me, friends.

When God shows up in revival, he is like a bear let loose. You will tremble at his presence. Isaiah sixty four two states this very thing that the nations may tremble at the presence without this terrible things.

Those two enraged she bears tore the hide off those smart, alicky boys who mocked the man of God. In the church today, there are smart alecks who mocked the real divine truths of God. And when God comes in revival, those hypocrites will be his first target that he will tear the bark off of.

The prophet Isaiah draws vivid imagery of a holy, almighty sovereign coming down to earth like a fire that causes waters to boil, mountains to shake, to move and resistance as they flow down as his presence, as he makes his voice to thunder. He makes his name known to his adversaries. God in revival is a terrible sight.

The awful presence of God is like a bear let loose on the wild, tearing and rending and trampling in power all in its path. You say you want revival friend, but I fear you speak in ignorance. Our text says when God shows up, he did terrible things, which we look not for.

Be careful what you pray for that you don't understand. For when God comes in revival, all that you are sitting on will be kicked out from beneath you as God kicks out all false props of man in the church. He will strip you down and rend you and shake you to your very core as he prunes, purges and purifies his bride for his return.

Revived people are a dangerous weapon in the hands of a holy God. Why they could actually do like the early church and go out and turn the world upside down in this latter stage of the Laodicean church age before Christ's return. It's a time of great falling away, a time of great apostasy in the church.

The church in America desperately needs revival before America must inevitably perish from the face of it as nowhere is it mentioned in scripture at the end times. If that doesn't sound a chill down your back, friend, then I'm afraid you're too far gone already. This is a call for the people of God to fall to their faces and to get serious with God and to confess and repent of our grievous sins before God and to seek his face in revival through prayer and humility, to beg him to come and heal our broken land, to heal the broken lives of our young people today.

But will we do it? That is the stirring challenge of this hour. Let us pray.