The Man of Revival

We are in part two of the Evangelism Awakening Revival Institutes, and if you turn in your handouts to session one, the Man of Revival, in the book of Amos, God would speak to his prophet Amos by asking him questions. God would show Amos a vision of a plum line or a basket of summer fruit and then ask, Amos, what seest thou? Then God would wait for Amos to respond, and when he did, God would then go on to explain the meaning of the vision. The plum line revealed how far the people of God had strayed away from God in sin.

The basket of summer fruit meant that Israel was ripe for judgment. Amos had to see and comprehend how God was dealing with his people. In Amos 3.3, God asks Amos a critical question.

He asks, can two walk together except they be agreed? This got Amos to thinking, and it will get us to thinking as well, friends. Can we walk with God if our personal life is not in harmony with him? Of course not. Can two friends walk together if there is a bone of contention between them? Of course not.

There must be harmony in a relationship for that relationship to have intimacy. Our session today will examine the man God uses, the man of revival. How can mortal man walk with Almighty God unless Almighty God is in mortal man? The man of revival must pursue a life of holiness unto the Lord.

God's glory must be his first priority. The man of revival must be a man who walks under the discipline of the Holy Spirit, and he must be filled with the Holy Spirit. Go examine the life of John Wesley and the life of George Whitefield, and you will find two men who lived sacrificially for God in eternity.

They were holy men who were wholly sold out to Christ Jesus, and they shook a continent in revival for God. John Wesley cried, give me 100 men who fear nothing but God and hate nothing but sin, and I will shake the gates of hell, and he did just that. The man of revival is familiar with the life of consecration unto God.

He is deeply familiar with the cost and sacrifice and following a crucified Savior. He lives his life in absolute surrender to the lordship of Jesus Christ. Two men that I knew always made me thirsty to be more like Jesus because of their holy walk with God.

Every time I was with Adrian Rogers, he made me think of Jesus because when I was with him, I really felt like I was with Jesus. Adrian Rogers used to say, we need God called men who will take the book of God and preach the son of God with the anointing of the spirit of God. Well, it was a rainy night in Memphis, and I had just dropped my family off at a local restaurant while I parked the car.

I made my way in the parking lot beneath an umbrella in the pouring rain, and as soon as I stepped into the restaurant, there was a figure standing inside with his arms outstretched, and he threw his arms around me as he greeted me in a deep booming voice, Ernesto. It was Adrian Rogers, and he hugged me, and I felt as if for a moment I had stepped into heaven, and Jesus was hugging me. I'm not kidding, friends.

Adrian Rogers always reminded me of Jesus because of his close walk with him. The other man who always inspired me to be more Christ-like was Stephen Olford, who was a man who had a mantle of authority whenever he preached, and his life of holiness was reflected in his demeanor. I love the following story about him.

A church in Dallas had invited Stephen Olford to come preach, and the pastor of the church told his intern to go pick up Dr. Olford at the airport, and then the intern asked to see a photo of Stephen Olford so he would recognize him. No need for that, said the pastor. Just go to the airport terminal and look for a man who has God all over him, and the young intern did just that, and as soon as he saw Stephen Olford with his coat draped over his arm and briefcase in hand, he knew it was him by his holy demeanor.

The man of revival must be entirely sold out to God. At the funeral of Stephen Olford, I was talking to Adrian Rogers, who conducted his funeral, and he stood facing me with his arms crossed on his chest, and he asked me a question. He asked, Do you know what bothers me? I said, No, Dr. Rogers, what bothers you? He said, What bothers me is I see God calling up men like Sidlow Baxter and Stephen Olford, and I look around, and I don't see any comeuppers, and Adrian Rogers was right.

A few men in ministry today aren't Adrian Rogers or Stephen Olford, but if you want to be used of God in revival, then you must be a man of revival. You must learn all you can on the subject of revival, and you must live your life in subjection to God. He will not accept a divided heart.

He will not tolerate sin. The instrument of revival must be a clear and clean channel for God to flow through as a means of blessings to others. Stephen Olford kept a framed quote on the wall of his study by Robert Murray McChain, and it read, Lord, make me as holy as a saved sinner can be, so the man of revival will have a life of consecration unto God.

Secondly, the man of revival must be a man of prayer. J. Sidlow Baxter said that the habit of regular lingering prayer, more than anything else, makes any Christian a dangerous holy weapon in the hand of God. In the book of Joel, we read, and rend your heart, and not your garments, and turn unto the Lord your God.

Seeking God in desperate, burdened prayer is the key to revival. Praying Payson of Portland wrote in his diary, the best means of keeping near to God is in the closet. Here the battle is won or lost, and I like what Donald Gray Barnhouse said when he said, The man who is to thunder in the court of Pharaoh with an imperious, thus saith the Lord, must first stand barefooted before the burning bush and his true friends.

A life of prayer is the common denominator of men and women used of God to bring glory to his name. The prophet Hosea places great emphasis on seeking God in prayer. Sow to yourselves in righteousness, reap in mercy, break up your fallow ground, for it is time to seek the Lord, till he come and rain righteousness upon you.

God gets serious with those who get serious with him. Again in Hosea, God declares, For I desired mercy, and not sacrifice, and the knowledge of God, more than burnt offerings. But today in our churches, there is a lack of fervent burden praying.

The standards have fallen. The weekly prayer meeting is replaced by Bible studies or social cell groups. And if we do pray at all, our prayers are self-absorbed, merely listing our needs before God.

I want to quote you a man of revival that I knew, Colin Peckham, who wrote, Burdened, broken, bold praying is the nerve center of revival. There is a price to be paid, a price of curbed freedom, of resolute concentration, of agonizing supplication. Intercession costs.

There is a burden, a passion, an agony, and yes, glory. The breaking through of God in a meeting, the evidence of his felt presence is everything, and to get that costs everything. True intercession is sacrifice.

When last did we pray with broken hearts? When last did we feel that pain-filled fellowship of the pierced hand? Oh, how we need the refreshing breath of the Spirit, where glowing coals are fanned into a white-hot flame. Revival is a many-splendorous thing, but at its heart, it is the revelation of the holy presence of God. Well, I agree with that assessment.

The two primary elements of any man of revival are a life of consecration to God and a life of prayer unto God. Those two doorposts that swing together, those are the two doorposts that make an intimate walk with God, and as we study revival, we must not overlook the human instruments of revival to examine their lives and learn from them. Well, this ends our session today.

We will prepare for session two of part two.