THE BEGINNING OF REVIVAL by David Wilkerson

sermonindex Apr 29, 2015

The beginning of true revival comes when a godly company of believers takes on the Lord’s burden for a church or a city trapped in sin. This godly company fasts and prays, pleading with God to begin rebuilding the walls and gates that will protect His people from every enemy.

Once Jerusalem’s walls were rebuilt and its gates set up, gatekeepers and watchmen were appointed to every house. Walls and gates are no good without gatekeepers who know what can or can’t be allowed in. Thus, Nehemiah says, "It came to pass, when the wall was built, and I had set up the doors, and the porters and the singers and the Levites were appointed” (Nehemiah 7:1).

Notice that these gatekeepers were not strictly priests. They were laymen””musicians, porters, people from all walks of life. And they were instructed: "Let not the gates of Jerusalem be opened until the sun be hot; and while they stand by, let them shut the doors, and bar them” (verse 3). God was saying to His people, "My house is going to be a place of light, with no darkness allowed in. Let everyone and everything that enters here be an open book, subject to the light of My Word.”

I say to every elder reading this message, including the elders at Times Square Church: Don’t ever allow yourself to be blinded to God’s Word by your close ties to any minister. You have been appointed by God to be a keeper at the gates of His house. And if anyone brings a gospel into your church that is not according to Scripture, it is your duty to lovingly tell that preacher he is wrong.

As gatekeepers, we are to guard the doors of God’s house in humility””through fasting, prayer and loving concern expressed through the fear of God.

Nehemiah said, "Appoint watches of the inhabitants of Jerusalem, every one in his watch, and every one to be over against his house” (Nehemiah 7:3). According to Nehemiah, guardians were to be appointed not just to the gates of the holy city, but to every home as well. In short, the heads of every household””that is, the parents””were responsible for everything that came into their home.

A

AbideinHim Apr 29, 2015

"The beginning of true revival comes when a godly company of believers takes on the Lord’s burden for a church or a city trapped in sin. This godly company fasts and prays, pleading with God to begin rebuilding the walls and gates that will protect His people from every enemy."

Z

ZekeO Apr 29, 2015

Often wondered about statements like this, and I am sure you may have seen this out in your extensive research on the topic. Why is it so allusive then?

There are hundreds of insights into the nature of revival, but alas no revival.

A

AbideinHim Apr 30, 2015

"Often wondered about statements like this, and I am sure you may have seen this out in your extensive research on the topic. Why is it so allusive then?"

Brother, this is a good question, but when we see in God's word when the conditions for revival have been fufilled, then revival has come.

We can see from revival history that when there has been fervent prayer and repentance on behalf of the church that revival has come.

The problem is with the church. Most churches are not praying for revival, and most churches are not fulfilling the conditons for revival.

It is very sad that it usually takes a major crises in the nation or in the lives of God's people before they will cry out for revival.

The revival historian J. Edwin Orr has many fine teachings on revival history on Sermon Index. Many revivals occured when conditions were at there worse, and God's people began to cry out to God in prayer and intercession. It takes travail to birth a revival.

T

TMK Apr 30, 2015

"The problem is with the church. Most churches are not praying for revival, and most churches are not fulfilling the conditons for revival."

The Hebrides revival started from a couple of old ladies praying. All the churches were not praying.

Obviously if all the churches in the U.S. are fasting and praying and repenting then that IS revival. The question then becomes, what will spark that revival?

I think there is mystery to that and there is no formula.

They say it takes 5% of a population/community learning or doing something to reach a "tipping point" for real change in that community.

Perhaps if 5% of the Christians in America began fasting and praying for revival, something might happen.

D

dolfan Apr 30, 2015

TMK said "I think there is mystery to that and there is no formula."

Amen.

God is a person, not a solution.

A

AbideinHim May 1, 2015

Todd,

I agree with you, 5% of the Church fasting
and praying would be a big improvement.

God only needs a remnant that are in
agreement with Him and will pay the
price to see revival come.

The Holy Spirit has put a burden of prayer
and a spirit of travail on a few intercessors
that have birthed revival in their nations.
The Welsh revival, Hebrides, and Azusa
St. are examples of this.

sermonindex May 1, 2015

I think there is mystery to that and there is no formula.

Wrong.

2 Chron. 7.14 If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.

It is when His people humble themselves and TURN FROM THEIR WICKED WAYS that He will hear tham and it is obvious that they are not doing this, no matter what percentage of believers are praying and seeking His face for revival. There are more than 5% of believers in the UK praying for it but it does not come and did not come with preachers like DW for the same reason.

He did not preach the absolute necessity of walking in holiness, Biblical holiness that is, not the sort that does not bring revival or cause God to hear. That is, the idea that holiness means the desire for holiness and the claim that it comes gradually and cannot be fully obtained int his life.

Many who proclaim this message have come to this site and preached the true gospel but they end up leaving because ears are closed here and the deaf continue in their self righteousness.

The proof of the pudding is in the eating, and nothing is getting eaten here. Just endless speculation as to why revival tarries. Not until at least two who have turned from their sins ie been entirely sanctified, will God hear. God help us.

T

TMK May 1, 2015

Brenda-

Your statement is made to support a certain doctrinal view and has nothing to do with the verse you quoted. There was no "total sanctification" or whatever term you want to use in view in the OT passage you quoted.

Were the hippies in the Jesus Movement in the early 70s totally sanctified?

Even if it only takes two persons like you mention we will be waiting forever because there is no such thing.

sermonindex May 1, 2015

'Healing their land' has obviously a different meaning to you them. Because most hold your view, revival is not happening.

I don't have a clue what you are asking about the Jesus Movement. It does not fill the criteria for a genuine revival so I don't see your point. Revival 'heals the land'.

T

TMK May 1, 2015

Then there has never been a true revival by that standard because no revival that we speak of has healed the land.

It seems as if we are talking about two different things. You are talking about Paradise. I am talking about a region or maybe even just a town or a school turning back to the Lord, as we have seen in the past.

sermonindex May 1, 2015

I see it as being in a smaller measure as pertaining to this life where a region is visited by God and it has often spread quite widely. What we usually see now is one denomination or church which is not like the other true revivals where the emphasis was on holiness not on physical manifestations.

T

TMK May 1, 2015

I guess what I am confused about is that you say holiness is the result of revival (I would agree) but you also state that holiness is *required* for revival.

sermonindex May 1, 2015

It seems to me that revival is brought in because one person is revived themselves ie made holy, and finds another holy person to pray with. Instead of praying for revival, we should each be concentrating on giving of ourselves to Christ to the extent that we will be revived, and then look for the revival of others.

In the OT we had one person telling people to repent which means that hey themselves were in revival.

D

dolfan May 1, 2015

Brenda,

I hear you. But, I respectfully ask you to consider this:

The OT "heal their land" is not an inner Holy Spirit sanctification of the NT kind. It would have been impossible before the death and resurrection of Jesus whose ascension was necessary for the Spirit to be given.

You are correct, of course, that the symptoms of non-revival are plainly in front of us. That does not speak to why we are not revived, though.

You are correct, too, that revival is a repentance from sin to holiness.

TMK actually says what you say--until our hearts and souls are yielded to God and He is pleased to revive and awaken, no formula will see it done.

2 Chronicles 7:14 is not a formula. It is a tautology. It teaches a truth. It is not, though, an equation or a device where we do one thing certainly and we get a certain result. It is not intended to make machinery of the giving of life. It is an instruction that invites and commands Israel in that day to a course of living. We can appropriate that invitation and instruction, but our land is not the issue.

Jesus said that the gospel would be proclaimed to the oikumene -- inhabitants throughout the world. That is happening more now than ever. More inhabitants exist and the number is exponentially increasing in shorter amounts of time. He is calling out people to be a people for Himself. In sheer numbers, the Gospel of the Kingdom is now reaching more of the oikumene than ever.

Is this revival? Is it awakening? You will get a host of opposing answers describing the same thing we all witness.

What of those previously awakened and who are now asleep having left their first love? To say nothing of those teeming numbers of empty professions that never loved Him in truth.

My point is that it is difficult to pin down why God is awakening and reviving some places and not others. What is the percentage of people praying and fasting that triggers God? There is not one, or it is not knowable. He uses Himself as the standard by whom to measure our hearts and to know where His own are in the Earth. We like to use metrics to measure ourselves by, and apparently to measure Him, too. This is why we are so tempted.....mislead, really, by ourselves....to look to results as evidence of what God's process is. We look at numbers of people doing this or that to measure God's activity. We, and our numbers, are unreliable here.

Seek Him with you whole heart, your whole life. Pray for the lost. Petition our God to awaken the dead and revive the church here. I seriously doubt that we are on any cusp of any awakening in Western culture, because I personally believe we are largely reprobate in mind. But, we pray anyway because God is sovereign and He has burdened us in love for our neighbors, in love for Him and to see Him glorified in His creation.

sermonindex May 2, 2015

The OT "heal their land" is not an inner Holy Spirit sanctification of the NT kind. It would have been impossible before the death and resurrection of Jesus whose ascension was necessary for the Spirit to be given.

No I don't go along with that theory. Scripture says that various men in the OT were holy and walked by faith alone, trusting in God for their righteousness and not through the sacrifice of animals. The Spirit was poured out at Pentecost yes but what Christ achieved for us on the cross and regarding the pouring forth is available eternally in my understanding. It is not limited to time.

I believe that 'land' is used symbolically in relation to all of our selves, but it also happens that when real revival occurs the physical land around us is affected in so far as those living near the place of blessing. Yes I know that a revival is quenched by the enemy and the revived often fall away at a later date.

I don't agree that it is not automatic and think that when we meet the criteria the fire will fall. That has often been taught in the past, by those who had actually been entirely sanctified, and not by those who just have an opinion on it which means nothing. So many views but so litle experience today. We need to study those who were in the blessing. Some today claim it but are not in the blessing, like those who are revered on this site eg David Wilkinson and Poonan.

T

TMK May 2, 2015

Brenda you must be perpetually disappointed since those who you say were entirely sanctified are dead.

If there are people who are entirely sanctified today, where are the land-changing revivals?

sermonindex May 2, 2015

Todd

I am not disappointed, I am waiting on the Lord, as it is His battle. The reason that here are no revivals today is that there are none walking in ES.

D

dolfan May 2, 2015

Brenda,

I appreciate anybody who has God's heart in mind, His Word in heart, and does not easily move in anything.

It is a good, biblical and godly way to not be easily swayed by people. It is a childish mind that chases after everything anyone says in the name of Jesus. You are not doing that. I wanted to affirm that in you.

I believe that the bible teaches us to be, and that we can be, entirely sanctified. How? Because His Word says, "this is the will of God, even your sanctification." How are we sanctified? By the truth. John 17:17.
Through Jesus, who became for us sanctification. 1 Cor. 1:30.

While you may reject as theory that our sanctification is only possible in the indwelling Spirit, it is not theory. The Word of God teaches that our sanctified lives are only possible through the indwelling Holy Spirit. Paul elaborates in Romans 15 when he says that he had ministered the gospel to the Gentiles and that they are as on offering from Paul to God and that God sanctified them by the Holy Spirit. The Gentiles were not given the Spirit until Cornelius' family was converted and given the Spirit. Of course, none of this could happen--the Spirit could not be and was not given -- until Christ ascended. John 16:7, Ephesians 4, among others.

It simply was not the case in the OT that men were indwelled by the Holy Spirit and lived so. If you believe it to be the case that they were, I ask you to please make the argument from the Bible and not from your understanding or from the shades of what you have heard or understood.

There is, likewise, no biblical warrant to contend that if we do X, God must and will do Y outside of the specific provisions of His word. Further, if God intends to do Y in response to our X, we should be careful to not overstate reasons for the absence of Y now since God works in time as it pleases Him. We may be slandering....inadvertently!....the patience of God.

Please don't take this as haughty or smarmy. I mean it in love and hope that comes through in my tone.

sermonindex May 2, 2015

Thank you Tim, I don't take your words as smarmy or haughty and appreciate the kind things you said. Scripture tells us that certain men in the OT were holy, that is the men who walked by faith. Job it is said was holy and without sin. That does no mean that they had never sinned but that they obtained entire sanctification and could commune with God face to face and speak His words.

Hebrews 11

"13 All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance, admitting that they were foreigners and strangers on earth. 14 People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own. 15 If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. 16 Instead, they were longing for a better country””a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.

There were others who were tortured, refusing to be released so that they might gain an even better resurrection. 36 Some faced jeers and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. 37 They were put to death by stoning;[e] they were sawed in two; they were killed by the sword. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted and mistreated”” 38 the world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and mountains, living in caves and in holes in the ground.

39 These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised, 40 since God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect."

So it says that these men did not receive the promise of the land which was to come in the NT times but it does say that these men with us were made perfect.

And since the Spirit is poured out, we can see the land being saved but individual men were made holy since the beginning.

I take the testimony of men who lived in revival times to be reliable and when they say that the fire fell when certain conditions were met, well I just believe them because it happened to me like that.