After an introduction like that, I can hardly wait to hear me. Brother Beal asked me if I had a message for this morning. I said, well, I thought I'd give a little talk. I want to say this. This place means more to me than any place on the face of this earth. I've had the privilege of starting two churches, pastoring another one, pastoring churches. I've been preaching and teaching the word of God for 56 years. and I still get nervous. I haven't arrived. Jesus is waiting for me up yonder, and I'll get there one of these days. I don't know when. If you can put up with me, I'll stick around, you know, but if you think it's done, I'll leave. Let's pray, please. Father, I thank you so much that you've made it plain in your word that I am incapable of anything in my flesh. that will please you or minister to the hearts and the lives of these precious people before me and behind me. And I commit myself to you now. I ask you by right now, Lord God, that you would show me anything in my life that would hinder the Holy Spirit from speaking through these lips of clay I ask Spirit of God that you would move in this congregation in a mighty way. Dear Lord, I thank you so much that you taught me so many years ago that I can't, but you can, And all I need to do is to thank you and submit. Have your way now, I pray in Jesus' name. Amen. Open your Bibles, please, to 1 Samuel. 1 Samuel chapter 7. 1 Samuel chapter 7. And I want to read the first eight verses of 1 Samuel chapter 7. And the men of Kiriath-Jerim came and fetched up the Ark. I like that word fetched. I used to hear that from my grandparents a long time ago. They fetched water and fetched this and fetched other things. The men of Kiriath-Jerim came and fetched up the Ark of the Lord and brought it into the house of Abinadab in the hill and sanctified Eliezer, his son, to keep the Ark of the Lord. And it came to pass, while the ark abode in Curiath Urim, that the time was long, for it was twenty years, and all the house of Israel lamented after the Lord. And Samuel spake unto all the house of Israel, saying, If you do return unto the Lord with all your hearts, then put away the strange gods and ashtoreths from among you, and prepare your hearts unto the Lord, and serve him only. And He will deliver you out of the hand of the Philistines. Then the children of Israel did put away Balaam and Ashtoreth and served the Lord only. And Samuel said, Gather all Israel to Mizpah and I will pray for you unto the Lord. And they gathered together to Mizpah and drew water and poured it out before the Lord and fasted on that day and said, said there, We have sinned against the Lord. And Samuel judged the children of Israel amidst them. And when the Philistines heard that the children of Israel were gathered together amidst them, the lords of the Philistines went up against Israel. And when the children of Israel heard it, they were afraid of the Philistines. And the children of Israel said to Samuel, Come, cease not to cry unto the Lord. our God for us, that he will save us out of the hand of the Philistines. Israel was a shambles, spiritually, morally, and politically. All the priests were dead. The Ark of the Covenant, which was the symbol of God's presence, was gone. They had lost 34,000 soldiers in two battles. America is a shambles, spiritually, morally. I don't think there's any question that it shambles politically. All you got to do is look at the candidates. We haven't won a war since World War II. We've lost a lot of good men in Korea and Vietnam, Afghanistan, Iraq, you name it. We've lost. That never happened before in the history of the United States of America. America is a shambles. Israel needed revival. America does not need revival. America needs salvation. The church needs revival. And I remind you that we are the church. You and I need revival. We need to get our hearts right with God so that we can in turn take the gospel to the lost and wicked lost world of America and the world. It's a great time for God to step in. to history and to perform a miracle. But God could not do anything for the Israelites until they realized where they were and what they needed to do. And God, may I remind you that God cannot do anything for America until you and I come to the place of realizing where we are and what we need to do. Psalm 78 and verse 41 says, Yea, they tempted God I'm sorry, they turned back and tempted God and limited the Holy One of Israel. Wait a minute. Isn't God sovereign? Yes, God is sovereign, but in His sovereignty, He allows us to limit Him. As it was with Israel, so it is with us. Listen to me, beloved. God's standard of holiness has not changed, and it will never change. America needs salvation, but that's not going to happen until the church gets revived. and we here at ABC are a part of that church. We need to come to the realization, listen to me, I'm talking to the faculty and the staff and the administration as well as the students and as well as me. We need to come to the realization of where we are and what we need and how we can have it. 2 Chronicles chapter 7 and verse 14, you know the verse I'm sure. If my people, that's you and me, I realize it was spoken to Israel, but it's you and me because we are the people of God. If my people which are called by a name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways. Then will I hear from heaven, and will heal their land." Do you think our land needs healing? You can't read the newspaper. You can't listen to the news. And I guess, watch it, I guess. You can't look at that and say, oh, we're fine. Our land needs healing. Our land needs healing from the message that we're going to give them. if our lives have been changed. I think that we'll only see our land healed as we follow the example of Israel in this passage that we've looked at in 1 Samuel. I want you to notice there must first be conviction. Look please at verse 2. It came to pass, while the Ark abode in Curia theorem, that the time was long, for it was twenty years, and all the house of Israel lamented after the Lord. For twenty years they were without the Ark. Listen, twenty years without celebrating the Day of Atonement. Twenty years of religion, but no reality. How long does it take for an individual, how long does it take for a church, how long does it take for a nation, how long does it take for a college, a Bible college, to get sick of their condition? The word lamented here in this verse. They lamented after the Lord. It means mourning. It means wailing. It means weeping. The people came to a place of deep contrition over their neglect of God and his house. How did this come about? How did they come to the place where they began to lament, where they began to recognize that there were some things in their lives that needed to be taken care of? I think that probably verses 15 through 17 gives us the answer to that, and verses 15 through 17 it tells us And Samuel judged Israel all the days of his life. And he went from year to year in circuit to Bethel, and to Gilgal, and to Mizpah, and judged Israel in all these places. And his return was to Ramah, for there was his house. And there he judged Israel, and there he built an altar unto the Lord. I think the answer, I know that the answer, the only answer, the only answer in my life, the only answer over the years in my life, that have brought me to the place of realizing my condition and my need for change has been the Word of God. The preaching of the Word of God. It's the only thing that will do anything for you. The Word of God is living and powerful, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even dividing us under, soul and the spirit and the joints and the marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and the intents of the heart. The Bible will tell you what's wrong with you. I know. 2 Timothy chapter 4 and verse 2 says preach the word, be instant in season, out of season. Be instant in season means preach it when you can, every opportunity that you have, and out of season means when you can't, you make opportunities. Do you know why we haven't had revival? because we've closed our ears to God's convicting word. In the book of Amos, I read that there's coming a time when, and the time is now, when there'll be a famine, not a famine of the word, but a famine of hearing the word. We have closed our ears to the preaching of the word of God. Dr. Beale, I see an entirely different attitude today in classes and in chapel than we saw 20 years ago. We've closed our ears to God's Word. We've had meetings. We've had preaching. But that's what it's been, just meetings, just preaching. And in class, we take notes and we stick them in our Bible or wherever it is that we put them and forget about them. We sit in a preaching meeting and our mind is elsewhere. We can hardly wait for it to get over so that we can get on to the next event that we have planned for our lives with no regard for God's word as it's been preached to us. Amen? We need to weep over our sin. I wonder how long it has been since you have wept over a lost soul. I have a brother. He's 10 years younger than me. I talked with him many years ago about trusting Christ as a Savior. He told me he wanted nothing to do with it, to keep my mouth shut about it and so forth. I've wept over Bill many times. I can't stand the thought of one of my loved ones burning forever. A few weeks ago, one of my brothers died, and I called my sister and sister-in-law and talked with them. My sister told me that Bill doesn't believe anything, wants nothing to do, he's just mean and ugly and so forth. I said, well, Pearl, all I can do is pray. That's what I've been doing. I've been praying for him for years now. I've been praying for him. Yesterday evening I called my sister again to find out how things were going. She told me, Bill has changed. She didn't say he's saved, he's not saved yet, but he's changed. He's open to something. I'm praying for him. How long has it been since you've wept over a lost loved one? How long has it been since you wept over your attitude towards his book, towards his people, towards his house? How much longer will it be? There can be no revival until there is genuine mourning over our sin. And then conviction, of course, genuine Holy Spirit conviction in your heart and your life will result in repentance. Now repentance is a change of mind. It's a positive and negative attitude and positive and negative side to this matter of repentance. You'll notice please, in verse 3, And Samuel spake unto all the house of Israel, saying, If you do return unto the LORD with all your hearts, then put away the strange gods and Ashtoreth from among you, and prepare your hearts unto the LORD, and serve him only. And he will deliver you out of the hand of the Philistines. You'll notice please, the positive aspect of it, is to turn to the Lord. Return unto the Lord. They had turned from the Lord, first to follow their own ways. But in following our own ways, it's not long before we begin worshiping false gods. the Baals and the Ashtoreths, the male and female gods of the Sidonians. There, listen to me, there is never a turn from God directly to idols. It doesn't happen directly. It's not, well I think I'm going to start worshipping Baal and Ashtoreth. I don't know what your Baal and your Ashtoreth is. But what are you worshiping? It's a slow process. Here a little, there a little. Soon you're going into the idol's temple. So the positive aspect of it is to turn, return to God, the true God, the one and only God. But the negative aspect of it, notice please, is to put away the strange gods, put away the strange gods which are among you. 1 Thessalonians chapter 1 and verse 9, Paul said concerning these people, what a testimony they had, how you turned to God from idols. Too often we turn from idols, we don't turn to God. Repentance is positive and negative. Put away the strange gods from among you. William Cowper, in his hymn, Oh for a Closer Walk with God, William Cowper wrote, in the third verse, wrote this, The dearest idol I have known, whatever that idol be, Help me to tear it from thy throne and worship only thee. We need to turn from idols to God, to the living and true God. Repentance means a change of mind, an about face, a turn to God, a turn from idols. Would you look with me please at Joel chapter 2? Joel chapter 2. In Joel chapter 2. Verses 12 and 13, Therefore also now, saith the Lord, turn ye even to me with all your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning, and rend your garments, and turn unto the Lord your God. For He is gracious, and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repenteth him of the evil. One of my most favorite, I guess, I don't know if that's good English or not, but you can correct me later. One of my most favorite passages in the scripture most favorite parable that the Lord Jesus told was the parable of the prodigal son in Luke chapter 15. Would you turn there with me please? Luke chapter 15. I like what I see here and it just, it stirs my heart so. You know the story. The younger son said, give me what belongs to me. And he went off to the big city and spent all that he had. And when everything was gone, and he lost his friends, and incidentally, when the money's all gone, your friends are gone too. And not many days after, the younger son, I'm sorry, verse 14, and when he had spent all, There arose a mighty famine in the land, and he began to be in want, and he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country, and he went and he sent him into the fields to feed swine. Can you imagine a Jewish boy taking care of pigs? He would have fain, he would fain have filled his belly with the husks that the swine did eat, and no man gave unto him, starving to death in the pig pen. But notice please, verse 17, when he came to himself, oh when he came to himself, he said, how many hired servants of my father's have bread enough and despair and I perish from hunger, excuse me, I will arise and go to my Father, and I will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven and before thee, and am no more worthy to be called thy son. Make me as one of thy servants. Now he had a great idea there, but it didn't stop with just the thought. You'll notice that it says in verse 20, And he arose and came to his father. And his father said, You stink. Get away from me. No, no. Anyways, he got a great way off. His father saw him, had compassion. Thank you, Lord. Thank you, Lord. Had compassion and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him. That's true repentance. That's true contrition. You'll notice, please, that not only did the prodigal come to himself, saw where he was, and repented, changed his mind about what was going on in his life, but thirdly, and we find this in the 7th of 1 Samuel, confession. Confession of sin. Look at verse 6. They gathered together to Mizpah and drew water and poured it out before the Lord and fasted on that day and said, and said there, we have sinned against the Lord. Samuel judged the people. Children of Israel and Mizpah. Confession of sin. There needs to be repentance. There needs to be conviction. But all that won't do any good unless There's confession of sin. I'll tell you something, young people. This altar has not seen much in the way of tears in the last year or two. This altar hasn't seen much of bent knees and confession. You notice in verse 6 it says they poured out water, they drew water and poured it out. It signifies genuine purification and dedication. It's a confession of their humility and contrition for sin. They poured out their hearts in repentance before the Lord. It's symbolic of total dedication to the Lord. They fasted. Jesus said, how be it this kind cometh not forth but by prayer and fasting in Matthew chapter 17. There was confession of sin. They had sinned against God. I never read Psalm 51, but what I'm amazed at David's attitude as the Spirit of God has worked in him to bring him to the place of confession, because he had sinned. His first words of confession were, I have sinned against God. When you look at it, he had sinned against the nation. He had sinned against his family. He had sinned against himself. But he realized that all sin is a sin against God. Sin against God. You know, it's interesting, when I read Psalm 51, David prayed, and let's look at that for just a moment, Psalm 51. Psalm 51, David prayed, have mercy upon me, oh God, according to thy loving kindness, according to the multitude of thy tender mercies, blot out my transgressions, wash me throughly from mine sin, from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin, for I acknowledge my transgressions. My sin is ever before me, against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight, that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest, and be clear when thou judgest. Verse 8, Make me to hear joy and gladness, that the bones which thou hast broken may rejoice. Verse 10, create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit in me. Verse 12, restore unto me the joy of thy salvation, and uphold me with thy free spirit. That's David's cry of repentance and confession And when he cried that, notice what happened in verse 13. Then will I teach transgressors thy ways. Sinners shall be converted unto you. You think America needs healing? We need revival before America can hear the gospel. We need revival. And then the final, there is conviction. There must be conviction. There must be repentance. There must be confession. But finally, there must be prayer. I have studied over the years the history of revivals in America. And not a single one of them ever came about without prayer. Earnest, fervent, deep, crying out to God prayer. Not words, but genuine crying out. But that won't happen until we go back to the first points. Conviction. Are you satisfied where you are? Let me ask you a question. Did God bring you to this chapel this morning because you have to be here? Or did God bring you to this chapel this morning so that he could do something in your heart? I say to you, if you came expecting nothing, you'll get nothing. You came expecting God to speak to your heart and your life. If you'll surrender your life and your heart to him, come to him in deep, deep contrition and repentance and confession of sin, you'll experience revival. And when you experience revival, you can then take the gospel to a lost and dying world. that can change America. Let's get revived today. Today, here and now. Would you pray with me? Would you pray something like this with me? Oh God, I need revival. Lord, my heart is cold, has grown cold. I confess to you that I have turned away from you. I have sinned against you. I need to turn from my wicked ways. And right now, I yield to you. I pour out the water. Is that your prayer? Do you mean it? Or is it just words? Father, I thank you so much. For the Word of God, I thank you that it is living and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword. I pray that this morning, as we have looked into the Word and seen what you have said to us, I pray that it will result in a real moving of the Spirit of God in our congregation here at Ambassador Baptist College. Work in my heart, Lord. I thank you that you have. I pray that you'll never stop working the hearts of my dear, beloved family here, and I'll thank you for that. In Christ's name. Our heads bowed and our eyes closed. I wonder, do you need to come and to wet this altar with your tears? As Dr. Bill comes, do what you need to do.