Hosea 6 verse one, come and let us return unto the Lord, for he hath torn and he will heal us, he hath smitten and he will bind us up. After two days will he revive us, and the third day he'll raise us up and we shall live in his sight. Then shall we know if we follow on to know the Lord, his going forth as prepared as the morning, and he shall come unto us as the rain, as the latter in former reign unto the earth. Preaching on the subject, the God of Revival. The God of Revival. I want you to hear part of a message. Just a few sentences. This preacher said, we are the posterity of godly people. You that are aged can remember 50 years ago when the churches were in their glory. Is there not a sad decay? What a change there's been. Many were converted and willingly declared what God had done for their souls. But the glory is departing. We weep to think about it. Those words are 315 years old. To remind us that we need to seek God in every generation. Every generation needs revival. Whether it's this generation, the one before us, or back in 1702, we all need revival. And I'm glad that the God of the Bible is the God of revival. He's the God of renewal. He's the God of refreshing. In Hosea's day here, the people have been chastised. They've been spiritually torn, it says, and smitten, and the Lord did it. The Lord chastises His people when they need it. But thank God that's not all of it. He says, not only have I chastised you, but I am standing ready to forgive you. I'm ready to reinstate you. I'm ready to heal you and bind you up and revitalize you. But the Lord said, you've got to do your little part and I'll do my big part. The Lord said in verse 1, you've got to return unto me. You've got to acknowledge what you've done. You've got to repent. You can't just come to God and say, if I've done anything wrong. What do you mean if? Be honest about it and name it. If it's not a commission, it's an omission. But it's their choice. So the Lord is the God of revival and I want to say a few things about revival, if I may, from this passage. First of all, it's the work of God. Man can't manufacture it. You see, it's God's work. It's His will. He's the only one that can bestow it. He's the only one that can stir our hearts like we need to be stirred. HE'S THE ONE WE'VE SINNED AGAINST AND SO HE'S THE ONE WE NEED TO CONFESS TO. HE'S THE ONE THAT WE'VE SINNED AGAINST AND HE'S THE ONLY ONE WHO CAN FORGIVE US AND RESTORE US. HE'S THE ONE WHO KNOWS ALL ABOUT US TODAY. HE'S THE ONE WHO CAN HEAL OUR SOULS. HE'S THE ONE WHO CAN CALLS US TO LIVE AGAIN, AND THAT'S WHAT THE WORD REVIVAL MEANS. RE AGAIN, VIVALIVE, TO LIVE AGAIN. DO YOU KNOW WHY A LOT OF CHURCHES NEVER HAVE REVIVAL BY THE WAY? THEY'VE NEVER LIVED THE FIRST TIME. I GUARANTEE YOU CHURCHES THAT DON'T PREACH THE GOSPEL DON'T HAVE REVIVAL. WHY? THEY'VE NEVER LIVED IN THE FIRST PLACE. THEY DON'T KNOW. WHAT YOU'RE TALKING ABOUT. BUT SOMETIMES GOD'S PEOPLE NEED TO LIVE AGAIN. WE DON'T NEED TO BE SAVED AGAIN, BUT WE NEED TO BE STIRRED. WE NEED A CLOSER WALK. WE NEED TO GET BACK ON OUR KNEES IN PRAYER AND SUPPLICATION AND SEEK THE WILL OF GOD. WE NEED TO LIVE AGAIN. AND I'M GLAD GOD CAN DO THAT. I'LL TELL YOU WHAT REVIVAL IS LIKE. IT'S LIKE AN OLD CAR OUT IN THE uh, junk yard and somebody sees it and says, you know, uh, I can restore that. Uh, that car was a great car and it's day. And I know how to, uh, clean that thing up, repainted, uh, get the engine to go on again, uh, reupholster that thing, get a tag, uh, for that year. And you've seen people do it. And isn't it amazing how they do it. and after they get that car that didn't look so good that was on its way of dying and rusting out and now it looks as good or better than it did when they put it on the showcase floor and do you know what they say? They said that car's been restored! That's the same word as revival. I'm glad God can take us out. Some of us this morning are in the junkyard, but God knows how to put life back in us and put the shine back in us, thank God, and restore us and revive us and give us that joy of the Lord that used to bubble in our souls when we first got saved. God can restore you, put you back on the road, amen. The devil's done told you that you're finished, but he lied to you about everything else, too. Revival's God's work. This is as much as salvation is. And whether you're talking about a personal revival or whether you're talking about some sin-killing nationwide intervention, it's got to come down from heaven. It's got to come from God. or we won't have it at all. I'm not interested in a revival we can work up but I am interested in a revival we can pray down and God's ready and willing and able And number two, it follows prayer, earnest prayer. I can't find any word in the Bible or anywhere in the history of the world where they had revival, but they first prayed and recognized their need and realized, Lord, it's gotta come from you. Earnest prayer, I'm not talking about now I lay me down to sleep. I'm talking about prayer so deep you don't even hardly know what to say. You don't know where to begin. Desperate prayer. You see, God does not impose revival. There are many churches that don't want revival and God says, that's fine, I won't bother you. Amen. You put a do not disturb sign on your heart and God will not disturb you. You see, revival must be sought. It must be prayed for. It must be yearned after. It must be longed for. And if you've ever experienced a close walk with God, you know what that's like. And how in the world can you be happy with anything less or anything else once you've tasted? the sweetness of God's fellowship and known his smile upon your life and known what it is to walk in the perfect will of God. Friend, you can't be satisfied with anything else. Revival's gotta be desired. The psalmist prayed, wilt thou not revive us again that thy people may rejoice in thee? Habakkuk, the prophet, prayed, O Lord, revive thy work. Was it not prayer, united and prevailing desperate prayer that preceded Pentecost? That great day, they prayed for 10 days. God used them to preach the gospel out there on the streets of Jerusalem. But first, God had to do a work in them before he could do a work through them. They were weak, they were cowards, they were backslid when Jesus was dying on the cross. All of them but John was afraid. but they prayed and God gave them boldness. And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost and they went out into the streets and looked them in the eyes. The very people just killed Jesus a few weeks before. And Peter said, with wicked hands, you slew him. You're the very ones, you're the murderers of Christ. Folks, they had boldness. God had to revive their hearts and give them courage and faith. And they had revival. Then they went out and did evangelism. That's always God's order. You get people right and everything else will fall in place. You know a lot of churches that is trying to get new members and put people on a dull assignment to get new members. I'm not interested in that and God's not interested in that. And if you get right with God and you'll talk about Jesus, and nobody will have to prime your pump or twist your arm. You just get good and right with God, and next thing you know, you'll be stopping people in the street and saying, excuse me, but do you know him? Amen. 30 years ago, I was walking out of Family Dollar when it used to be below Hardee's. Anybody know what I'm talking about? And there's a black man in front of me. And the Lord said witness to him. I said, Lord, he's walking out the door. The Lord said, walk behind him. And I said, excuse me, sir, and I've never witnessed like this before. I said, excuse me, sir, but do you know my Jesus? AND I STILL REMEMBER THAT BECAUSE IT'S A BLESSING AND WE OUGHT TO HAVE THAT OVERFLOW SO MUCH OF AN INFLOW THERE'S GOT TO BE AN OVERFLOW AND AN OUTFLOW AND IT OUGHT TO BE SPONTANEOUS AND AS FANCE HAVNER SAYS WHY NOT JUST BE A CHRISTIAN? WHY DO WE HAVE TO BE BEGGED TO BE A CHRISTIAN? WE OUGHT TO BE UNSTOPPABLE You say, I don't know what I'd pray about if we prayed for revival. Pray for lost people. Pray for your family. Weep over the sad state of Christianity. Weep over our lack of compassion. You say, I don't feel like praying. Oh my, you need to pray the most when you get there. You really, really need to pray when you don't feel like praying. Number three, revival is regaining lost ground. It's admitting, Lord, I'm not who I used to be. Lord, instead of sliding up, I slid back. Lord, there's been some decline. You know, if we'd just keep on the upward way all the time, we'd never need revival, but that don't happen. Revival means, Lord, there's been some declension. There's been some, Lord, I've taken some steps backward instead of forward. I need to regain some ground. I need to get back my zeal and my zest. It implies that there's occasions of carnality in our lives and even some apathy in that. We just don't care as much as we ought to care. You see, that's honest. That's painful. I don't like to tell God how I am and what I do and don't do. He already knows. And here's something that'll blow your bubble into a million pieces. Half the people you know already know, too. You never can hide your private life. Your public life reveals it all the time. Anybody still with me? Folks, Revival says, Lord, I need to check up. And then, Lord, I need to tune up. Don't we go all the time for an exam for our eyes and our teeth and our hearing and our body? An exam, revival is a spiritual exam coming in before God and saying, is everything okay, Lord? And if not, tell me. Tell me the results of my spiritual biopsy. How do you see me, Lord? And as we used to sing when I was a boy, are we half as good a Christian as our neighbor thinks we are? Oh, the Bible's all about revival. God's the God of revival. Don't tell me revival is dead and gone and you don't wanna hear about it anymore. What are you talking about? What are you talking about? Read the book of 2nd Chronicles, that whole book is revival. That's a handbook on revival, the whole book of 2nd Chronicles. And you know what? Every single time they had a revival, whether it was in the book of Judges or Josiah, Hezekiah, every one of them, it was all exactly the same pattern, wasn't it? They went backwards. and somebody preached to them or taught them and they realized their condition and they repented in confession and humiliation and they forsook their sins and God stirred them and blessed them and rejuvenated them and then there was rejoicing. That was the cycle over and over and over again. And it's still that way tonight. I don't know where you are in that chain between backsliding and rejoicing. Where are you? There's backsliding, chastisement, the word of God, humiliation, forsaken of sin, restitution, rejuvenation, rejoicing. We're all somewhere in those eight spots somewhere. I'd like to get to number eight, wouldn't you? Get out of the backsliding department. That's the way it was in the Bible. Folks, if we're not holy, we need revival. I didn't say you need to get saved again, I said you need revival. If we're not spiritual, if we're not meek, if we're not urgent, if we're not unselfish, then we need revival. If we still think it's all about us, we haven't got very far, have we? If our lives are not marked by self-denial, We need revival. If we're not faithful, if we did not render to God a glad, instant obedience, then we need revival. If people are not getting this mixed up with Jesus, then we need revival. You say, I'm not guilty of nothing, preacher. I'm not doing, I'm not, I hadn't robbed a bank or killed anybody. Well, hallelujah, but it's the little things that'll get you. You never tripped over a mountain, but you have tripped over a molehill. Mr. Moody said in his day, the Mississippi River clogged up. All the industries were threatened. The mouth of the Mississippi was clogged just by sand, sediment, no volcano, no earthquake, no great big boulders, just a gradual buildup. And that's what happens in our Christian lives. We may call them small sins. There are no small sins, but there are sins of the spirit and sins of the body. There are private sins and public. And what we call small sins, private sins, sins of the disposition, the spirit and the soul, they can block everything after a while. So what's the little sins that's blocking your channel? It might just be, it might just be a failure to pray. That would definitely eventually block everything. We need that spirit of prayer to prevail in our lives again. We need revival if we live day by day and hour by hour and face trials and temptations. IN OUR OWN WISDOM, OUR OWN UNDERSTANDING AND DO NOT SEEK THE WILL OF GOD. WE NEED THAT SPIRIT OF INTERCESSION AGAIN THAT SAYS I'LL COME TO ALDERN AND THIS TIME I'LL COME AND PRAY FOR SOMEBODY BESIDE MYSELF. WHEN DID THAT LAST HAPPEN? WE NEED THAT SPIRIT OF WORSHIP IN OUR CHURCHES AGAIN, THAT SPIRIT OF TESTIMONY, THAT CAN'T HELP IT ATTITUDE AGAIN. I WONDER HOW GREAT OUR BURDEN IS. and how large is our heart? Or are we this morning just about shriveled up? Just about shriveled up. I'm closing with another illustration of what God has done, the God of revival. In days past, from the revival of 1857, many Jews were saved in that revival. I found that interesting. You almost never hear of a Jew being saved. Many atheists were saved in that revival, and many sailors, multitude of sailors. The Navy ship, the North Carolina, not the one in Wilmington, that's a World War II, the one before that, because I called and asked them. The Navy ship, North Carolina, was in New York Harbor in 1857. A thousand men on board, most of them lost. There were four men on that ship. who had a burden for all those hundreds of lost sailors and they began to pray, four of them, two of them were Baptist. Four men began to pray. It don't take many, just a few. Four men began to pray and God answered and people started getting saved and when people get saved they want to learn the Bible studies and prayer meetings and almost the whole ship got saved and they started calling that ship the house of God. And the fire spread from ship to ship and that ship went out and the gospel spread around the world and tens of thousands of people were saved. Don't tell me, don't tell me God can't do it. You're too late to tell me that God can't. God has. God can. God will. He said in this text that he would. He'll revive. He'll bless. He'll visit. He'll stir. God can. He's done it before. I don't have time. I could tell you 500 stories from days gone by, but here's what I'd like to tell you the best, that he did it in your day. and mine, that he poured out the Spirit in your day and mine. I'm done. He's the God of revival and it starts with an honest heart. And if we can't be honest, that's it. That's the end of the story. Close the book. If you can't be honest. It might begin with an apology to God. I don't know. I don't know what you need or where you are. Grace was talking to some kids the other day. They're in the second grade. I don't know why they didn't know, but when she told them they had 10 more years of school, they about all had a heart attack. They said, we didn't know it. Nobody ever told us. You mean we got 10 more long, torturous, cruel years? Yes. Some of us, I'll include myself, some of us, we've got a long ways to go. Some of us ain't too much like Jesus. Some of us are too much like the unsaved version. As the old song says, it's not my brother nor my sister, but it's me, oh Lord, standing in the need of prayer. When you get right with God yourself, then maybe you can help somebody else. Not until, not until. He is the God of revival. And it only takes a few. who will pray till revival comes. I gave you the formula Wednesday night, R.A. Torrey. Let a few people get totally right with God and let them pray until revival comes. That was his formula. It worked all over the world. He saw a million people saved. Let a few people get totally right with God and pray till revival comes. What do you need to do today? Stand with me, please. God bless you. Thank you for listening.