The Counterfeit Revival - Part 2

And probably there were some doubts, but when they came the next morning, again, what did they see? Not only Dagon was prostrate, but his hip was off, his arms were off, he was just a trunk, useless. What does that mean? When the Lord Jesus was on the cross, he not only dealt with sin, he met all the powers of Satan, and he stripped them from him. But that's the meaning of the word, cast them down. And when he said, finished on the cross, this is what the writer to the Hebrew says, he by death destroyed him that had the power of death, even the devil. And that means that the Lord Jesus is victorious. And therefore, we quote his words, in John 12, now is the judgment of this world. Now shall the prince of this world be cast out, and I, if I be lifted up, I will draw all to me. And then in the revelation, do you remember, they overcame him by the blood of the lamb and by the word of their testimony. What does that mean? Here was a group of people in the midst of tribulation, and notice what they were doing. They were appropriating the victory of the cross. Beloved, I wish we would do that. You see, the Lord Jesus has given us the victory. He's gone through principalities and powers. On the cross, he made a show of them openly, and he's taken back to him all the spoils of Calvary. And there is our man at God's right hand with all authority and with all power. Dagon was defeated, but Israel didn't know that. They were in the doldrums, but more. Now, wherever they took the ark, God brought judgment. And first of all, he gave them hemorrhoids. What was that? Cancer in the prostate that we have today. And then secondly, mice. And the word should be translated, as you know, rats that bring all the disease. And therefore, God was judging them. It went first of all from Ashdod, then it went right into all the five cities, bringing judgment. Israel didn't know it, but hallelujah, God was winning all the battles in his sovereignty. And Israel was in defeat, but now when we come to the seventh chapter, we see the characteristics of true revival, and we're going to read it together and make a few comments. And the men of Cargath-durin came and fetched up the ark of the Lord and brought it into the house of Abimadab in the hill and sanctified Eliezer his son to keep the ark of the Lord. Now, this was an emergency place. No longer could it be kept at Shiloh because of sin there, and God had judged it. And it came to pass while the ark abode in Cargath-durin that the time was long, for it was 20 years, and all the house of Israel lamented after the Lord. Now, that is the true sign, the initial sign of revival. Notice, it was 20 years, and all the house of Israel lamented after the Lord. Now, what does it mean to lament after the Lord? First of all, they looked around them and they saw that they were slaves to the Philistines. Think of that. They had been delivered from slavery. They had been taken across the Red Sea. They had been taken right away through the wilderness. Joshua led them right the way through Canaan, and they were always victorious. But now they were slaves to the Philistines, and they looked around and said, we shouldn't be slaves. Would there be someone here tonight, and you feel that you are in slavery to the flesh? The besetting sin has got you. You've struggled with it. You hate it. You loathe it. Well, tomorrow I'm going to give you some deliverance ministry. That's the way back. Oh, we need that. Secondly, when you look at your local church, does it seem to be in bondage? Is there the glorious liberty of the Spirit in our prayers, in our worship? That is a peer that we're in slavery. Now, we must deal with that tomorrow as we speak on the empowerment of the Spirit. That's vital. But can you see they were in slavery? Then as they lamented after the Lord, they would remember the time when the tabernacle would be pitched. And in that temple, there would be a sign of the Shekinah. And in the daytime, that Shekinah was like a great massive cloud that probably covered the whole of the camp. Then they will remember the time at nighttime, it was like a pillar of fire. And probably that was the thing that kept the enemy away. But it was an end sign that God was among them. And they would say, where is God now? We're all defeated. Where's the presence of God? Where's the presidency of the Holy Spirit? Where's the power? Then they will remember the time when the Joshua took the children of Israel through the land of Canaan. And all the wars were called the wars of the Lord. The only time you get that in the Bible, that's in Joshua. Now why? He saw a man with a flaming sword, and he didn't know whether he was for them or against them. And he went up in his innocency and said, are you for us, against us? He said, neither. I'm the cutting of the Lord of hosts. It was the Lord Jehovah. He had come to take over. And when you read the book of Joshua, you will find this, every single victory was won supernaturally. Every one. With the exception of one case when they fought Ai and they were defeated because some man was covering sin. You see the captain of the Lord of hosts was going before them and they were moving in the wake of the captain of the Lord of hosts and he was gaining the victory and they were just following in the wake of that glorious victory. They would remember that and they would look around and say, why are we in captivity? And then they lamented after the Lord because they wanted to know him. And they were saying this, we are tired of all this defeat. We are tired of all this deadness. Somehow we can't live until God comes among us. And they were burdened. They lamented for the Lord. That's the initial desire of revival. And thank God, after 40 years of decline and barrenness, all over England and Scotland, there are groups who are hungering for God like that. That's why God's moving. Beloved, are we hungering for the Lord?