Turn your Bible, please, to Hosea for just a few minutes. If you will, in your Bible, Hosea, the Old Testament prophet. Hosea, I'd like to read a text in chapter six, please. Lottie Moon said this 100 years ago. She said, it's odd that a million Baptists can furnish only three missionaries for all of China. She said, odd that with 500 preachers in the state of Virginia, we must rely on a Presbyterian to fill a Baptist's bull pit. She said, I wonder how these things look in heaven. They look mighty queer here in China. You've heard of Lottie Moon, her missionary work. Even back then, a hundred years ago, Only three out of a million went to the mission field. Three out of a million. That's not very many, is it? It's about that same today. And that's something to pray about. Always remember that analogy of the pole and the nine men on one end and the one man on the other end. That's the guy that needs help. When we were on the mission field, there was nobody to fellowship with. The closest church we could fellowship with was 90 miles away. 90 miles, that's, where's that? 30 miles below Charlotte. From here, closest church, so there's a great need. That's why I'm saying there's a great need everywhere. Invite you to stand, if you will, and enable. for the reading of God's word this evening, Hosea chapter six, verses one and two. We'll be thinking about the subject of revival for a few services as we prepare our hearts for the upcoming meeting. The word of God says in Hosea six, 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. This is a great revival text. There are many in the Bible. It is scriptural to say that the God of the Bible is the God of revival. He's the God of salvation. He's also the God of renewal, the God of refreshing. Revive means to live again. RE means again. And so revival means to live again. Now you have to first be vived before you can ever be revived. You got to live the first time before you can ever live again, which means you got to be saved to experience revival, renewal, and of course it's repentance first, and that leads eventually to rejoicing. But here's a text that shows us the God of revival. In Hosea's day, the people have been chastised. Notice it says they've been torn, they've been smitten. But God here is ready to forgive them. He's ready. to restore them. It says He will heal, He will bind up, He will revive, He will raise up. Those are all wonderful promises that God will stir His people, awaken His people, visit His people, and give them another opportunity. Amen. God's not just the God of a second chance. He's the God of a third chance and a thousandth chance. Amen. And if you've been saved very long, you know that and you've been there. So I just want to say a few things quickly about revival as we introduce the subject. Their part here is in verse 1, come, let's return to the Lord. Revival means God's people returning unto Him. It means we've left Him. There's been declension. We've gone backwards instead of forwards. We don't like that word backslide, but that's a Bible word, and it just means sliding backwards instead of sliding forwards. You see, everything takes maintenance, doesn't it? You don't have any vehicle, but that needs maintenance. Your health needs maintenance. Your spiritual health needs maintenance. Everything is in a state of deterioration, degeneration. And that's why we have to examine ourselves all the time. Amen. We do it for our health. Don't we have checkups? Don't we have checkups? Sure, and revival is a spiritual checkup, a tune-up, saying, Lord, is there anything in my life that shouldn't be there? Amen. Show me, Lord, and I'll confess it. Is there anything, Lord, that's not there that needs to be there? Lord, you just shine your light on me. I'm ready for the exam. Amen. Most of the time we say, Lord, check out somebody else. Right? Huh? Sure. One man said to the other, I was up all night confessing sins. And the other man said, oh really? He said, yeah, yours. That's the way we are. That's why we are a whole lot easier to confess somebody else's than our own, isn't it? Sure. It happened one time at a military camp. The officer stood in front of one of his soldiers. One of the soldiers had a button unbuttoned. You know, you don't do that. And the officer just stood there. just stood there. And the officer also had a button unbuttoned, and the soldier did the wrong thing. He reached up higher and buttoned the officer's button. That's probably the end of him. But it's a whole lot easier to see it in somebody else, isn't it? Oh, so-and-so, their backs slid. Maybe they are and maybe they're not. How do you know? Huh? It's going to keep us busy keeping our own doorstep swept, keeping our own self right. We're trying to be God. You can't handle it. Amen. I know some people, they think they're God. They really do. They act like it. They talk like it. They know everything about everybody. Yeah. The author said he preached for the greatest preachers in America. And somebody said, how do you know? He said, because they told me they was. That's the way people are, isn't it? Yeah. Revival is me and you getting low and saying, Lord, it's me standing in the need of prayer. It's me, Lord. Lord, how do you see me? not how do I see myself or how do other people see me. So we've got to acknowledge. So number one, it's a gracious work of God because God's the one we've sinned against. He's the one that thank God also forgives and forgets. He's the one that knows all about us. We need to be right with everybody, but number one, we need to be right with God, and if we're not right with God, nothing else will really work out, will it? You ever notice that? I speak often to that family, they always looked out their kitchen window, and they said, oh, look at the neighbor's house, it's so dirty. Look at their neighbor's car, it's so dirty. The neighbor's dog's dirty and everything was so dirty. But you know what? It wasn't the neighbor at all. They just washed their window one day and everything was fine. It wasn't the neighbor. You know, if you get right with God, it'll help your outlook. It'll help your attitude. Amen. I believe that. So we need to live again sometimes. We need God to heal us. We need God to bind us up, take off that hand of chastisement. You know, it ain't no fun to be chastised. I'm glad God loves us enough to do it, but you don't want to live that way all the time. Amen. When something happens to you, you ought to get in God's presence and say, Lord, was that a temptation? Was that the devil trying to make me sin? Or, Lord, was that you chastising me, Lord? Is there something wrong in my life? And that's your discipline in my life, to get my attention. Lord, what was that? Was that to correct me or perfect me? Amen. The Lord will talk to you. Or, Lord, is that just a trial to strengthen my faith? Everything's fine, but Lord, you're making me a better Christian than I already was, if I'll respond rightly. And when things happen in your life, it's either the devil trying to tear you down, or it's either God chastening you because you're his child and he loves you. or it's God trying you, perfecting you with the fire, sharpening you. Amen. So get in God's presence and ask him about it. So the God of the Bible is the God of revival. He'll restore you. You know what they say when they take these old cars and fix them up and make them look fantastic? They say it got restored. Restored. And I tell you what, they can do amazing things, can't they? Haven't you seen them driving down the road, pulling one on a big, pulling one? And it looks like it's been in a fire. It looks terrible, just the shell of an old car. And then through diligence and great skill, why that thing, look, it's painted and got original parts and it looks, as good as the day it was invented. It got restored. You know, God can do that. Amen. I'm thinking of a Christian I know, he was thoroughly defeated, humiliated, disgusted, brought up in a terrible home situation, had bad health, backslid on the Lord, everything in his life. It looked like he was going to end up a zero. But, the God of revival, restored him, forgave him, blessed him. He's standing in the pulpit tonight, pastor in a Baptist church and doing fantastic. That's the God of restoration. That's the God of revival. You see, just because you're knocked down don't mean you're knocked out. Amen. That's right. The second thing about revival is it's never forced, never imposed. You never had a revival in your life that you didn't want. Amen. It's got to be sought, desired, thirsted for. That's why most people can... If you can take it or leave it, you'll leave it. God didn't force you to get saved. And He's not going to force you to live for Him. And He's not going to stir and force you to experience personal revival. No, you have to say, Lord, pour the water upon my thirsty soul. Lord, I need a closer walk with You. Lord, I'm sick and tired of being sick and tired. I'm sick and tired of being a cold, careless, lax, loose, half-time Christian. I'm tired of that way of living. Amen. If you get serious with God, He'll get serious with you. Revival's never imposed. It's got to be yearned for. There are men in the Bible, they prayed for it, they yearned for it. Oh, that thou wouldest revive us again, the psalmist said, that thy people may rejoice in thee. Habakkuk said, Lord, revive thy work, rekindle thy work. Lord, you've done it before, do it again. Do you know if you've ever been closer to God than you are tonight? You must be backslidden. Think about it. If you've ever been closer, then you are. Think about that. So when do we need a little reviving? When we don't care about lost people, when we don't even care about our own family. I've seen a lot of people didn't even care about their own family, whether they saved or not. When we've lost ground to the devil, through carelessness and carnality. When do we need revival? When we're going backwards. When we're not holy. When we're not meek. I heard a man one time trying to excuse his anger problem. He said, you got to understand, my grandpa had a short temper. And I thought, man, that's your excuse. Your grandpa is the reason that you blow your fuse? Man, that's what a terrible excuse. Folks, we're all sinners. Quit blaming anything on anybody else. It's your choice. I don't care if your grandpa was Jesse James. It's your choice. So we need revival when we're not urgent, when we're not committed, when we're not clean. I'm thinking of a preacher I knew. His whole ministry for at least 30 years, he ministered or tried to knowing some terrible things he had done. They finally caught up with him. I don't want to tell you the rest of the story. It's too terrible. It's too terrible. Let me just suffice to say and go on. If you play with fire, you will get burnt. There ain't no if about that one. It took 30 years to catch up with him, but when it caught up with him, it caught up with him in a monumental way. God's merciful and God will forgive. and you can drive a nail in a piece of wood and take that nail out, but you can't remove that hole. There's consequences. God will forgive you of cold-blooded murder, but you still might go to prison. So don't let the devil ever tell you, well, go ahead and do whatever you want to do. You know, God will forgive you. That's not the whole story. That's not the whole story. So be careful and don't play with fire, broken glass, poison, or rattlesnakes. Are you a good Christian? When I was a boy, we used to sing that song, are you half as good a Christian as your neighbor thinks you are? How about your obedience? Is it glad, immediate, wholehearted? Last time God had an assignment for you, was it, yes, Lord, whatever you want, I'll do it gladly and immediately. Or was it, Lord, I'm busy. Lord, if you don't mind, could you get back with me later? You may not have said that, but it's our attitude sometimes. We might as well say it. We decline in our self-denial, our Christ-likeness. When was the last time somebody came up to you and said, you've got to be a Christian? I've just been listening to you, watching you, you act like a Christian. You've got to be a Christian. Shouldn't that happen every once in a while? Can't you tell the devil's crowd? Shouldn't you be able to tell a Christian? You say, there's no big sins in my life. There ain't no such thing as big sins, little sins, because there ain't no little God to sin against, which means all sins are big sins because God is a big God. Amen. Years ago, the Mississippi River was almost choked They were afraid it was going to get clogged up and stop, hinder the industry. It was a nightmare, and all it was was just, you know how small a piece of sand is. But you know when 45 billion of them things get together, they can stop the Mississippi River, and they did. And all it takes is a bad attitude and a little bit of gossip and a little bit of envy, and next thing you know, you can't smile, you can't pray, you can't sing, you can't even hardly get to church. Amen or oh me. That's right. So, every day, Lord, search me. Is that not what the psalmist said? Search me, oh Lord, try my heart, see if there's any wicked way in me. and let not any iniquity have the dominion over me. Oh, for the spirit of compassion to prevail in our lives again, the spirit of intercession, testimony, worship. Do you know how we'll know if we had revival? Because, and this happens every time, When the revival is over, God's people will be on a higher level and there'll be a rejoicing that wasn't there before. I've seen it happen over and over. Wilt thou not revive us again that thy people may rejoice in thee? We'll get our joy back. Amen. The psalmist said, Lord, restore the joy. Some of us are saved tonight, but there ain't much joy. There's a leak somewhere. And the world looks at us and says, I hope that ain't catching. I don't want that. I got enough problems as it is. We ought to provoke people to jealousy. The Bible says, amen, amen. Our lives are preaching. You are preaching every minute of your life. You are preaching. That's right. The famous reporter was sent to Africa to find David Livingston. He's the one that finally found him and said, Dr. Livingston, I presume. And he lived, this fellow wasn't a Christian, he was a newspaper reporter, writing about the famous missionary, David Livingston. And he watched Mr. Livingston. And a year later, he said, Mr. Livingston, he said, it wasn't really anything you've said. He said, it's your life. that has persuaded me to be a Christian. Amen. Our lives are preaching some message. Amen. You are preaching a message. Sometimes revival starts with an apology to God and to others. You say, that's hard. Sure is. It'll cost you something. There's a price. It'll cost you something. I was in a priest of revival, and on Thursday night at the end of the service, people stood up and they said, I need to apologize. Need to apologize to the Lord, need to apologize to this church. Amen. That's revival right there. I'm sorry, publicly. Nobody had to beg them. They knew this is something I need to do. Don't do it if God don't tell you to do it, but if He does, It's in order. It's in order. Our text says he will revive. He will pour out. He will visit. Let me tell you about a revival and I'll be done. 1857, six people start praying. and Fulton Street, New York City. And then the next week, there's a few more joined in, praying, a few more. Next thing you know, hundreds, thousands, spread all over the country. They said, wherever you went in America, in every major city, they were having a prayer meeting. Millions of people saved. Started with six people. There were ships out in the harbor. One of them was the North Carolina. And there were four sailors, two of them Baptists, on that ship, New York Harbor, praying for God to save people, praying for revival. There were a thousand sailors on that ship. And more people came to the prayer meeting. People started getting saved. And then almost everybody was saved on that ship, a thousand sailors. They started calling that ship the house of God. And every other ship in New York Harbor, they went to it from the North Carolina, prayed for people and it spread. And guess what happened to all those sailors that left New York Harbor? They went around the world with the gospel. Amen. Way back in the 1850s. By the way, that prepared our nation for the Civil War. If it hadn't been for that, there wouldn't be no America tonight. What can God do? Anything. What's God looking for? Showcase. Somebody standing in the gap. Amen. Somebody draw a circle and say, Lord, revive everything in this circle. Amen. It's not my brother or sister, it's me, oh Lord, standing in the need of prayer. He will revive. I could tell you many, many stories of great revivals, But I'd like to be able to not just say, hey, let me tell you about the revival of the 1730s and the 1790s and the 1850s. I'd like to be able to tell Rosie Jo about a revival in 2025. God can. God can. It's not the sinner's place. It ain't their fault. Revival ain't for sinners. Revival is for the church to get right. And when the church gets right, sinners will be saved. Psalm 51, no question about it. Yeah.