WZYN Productions introduces Treasured Heritage, a broadcast which features a pulpit giant from yesteryear. Today we spotlight Tom Malone with a Bible message entitled Biblical Revival. There are some few verses in the Bible that use the word revival. Some of them do not use it in the way in which we use the word today. But I want to read a few of these verses. For instance, Psalm chapter 85 and verse 6. We read what I believe to be a great prayer from the heart of the people of God. Will thou not revive us again that thy people may rejoice in thee? Then in the back of chapter 3 and verse 2, O Lord, revive thy work in the midst of the years. In the midst of the years make known, in wrath remember mercy. Jeremiah chapter 4 and verse 3. I think another great text on the subject of revival. Break up your fallow ground and sow not among thorns. Hosea chapter 10 and verse 12. Sow to yourselves in righteousness, reap in mercy. Break up your fallow ground, for it is time to seek the Lord till he come and reign righteousness upon you." And then the great classic verse in the Bible that I think gives the formula for revival, though the word revival is not found in this verse, 2 Chronicles 7 and verse 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 heal their land." Now when we come tonight to think of the subject of biblical revival, I must say to you first of all that the teaching of the Bible on the subject of revival will be contrary to many traditions and beliefs that people have about revival. When you come to the Bible definition of the subject of revival, It seems to me that there's one tremendous word that defines revival in the Bible more than any other word, and that's the word restoration. For revival is to make live again, or to give a new life to. I believe with all of my heart tonight that that is our greatest need in the churches of America and across the world, is a new life, a new restoration. to biblical truths and biblical practices, and a biblical revival will be just that, a restoration. You know, David in Psalm 51, I think, was seeking a revival. It's one of the great penitential psalms when a man faces his sin. One of God's chosen men came to grip with the reality of the condition of his own heart. and came to grip with the reality of the tremendous need of revival and restoration in his own life. That revival could not come until David faced his sin. And David cried what I believe every Christian must cry before revival can come. He said, my sin is ever before me. He begged for cleansing, for washing. And then out of the depths of his heart, this great Christian cried, Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation. That's what revival is. I will not come to you tonight to bring you a resume of what has been called revival in the history of the church. But a biblical revival, we must find the definition of it in the Word of God. I could talk to you tonight about such great revivals and religious movements as revival under Savannah Rollin, Revival under Martin Luther? Revival under Tinney? Revival under Moody? But what tonight does the Bible say? The blessed word of God, which is the rule of practice for every Christian. What does it say about the way to have a revival? I do not believe there's any other kind worth the mention in the time that it takes to discuss it. We need tonight, as never before, it seems to me, in the history of the church of our Lord Jesus Christ, a revival according to the Word of God. You know, when people talk about revival today, they talk about it, I think, according to tradition. For instance, if there was to be a revival in the average Baptist church, or a meeting, I should say, folk would start off with cottage prayer meetings. They would start off with publicity. They would start off with a series of announcements. But when you study the great biblical revivals that have taken place, they do not start that way. That is traditional, but is not biblical. For instance, we are told that the great Welsh revival started, first of all, with a confession of sin. There can be no revival That does not start that way. Secondly, in that great revival, there was a sense of obedience to the ministry of the Holy Spirit in the life of the individual believer. Thirdly, there was in that great biblical revival, a tremendous burden for the lost souls of men and women. And then the very last thing, not the first, was a great sense of prevailing and intercessory prayer. Now when we come to the Bible to find pictures of revival, I think I find it in a very strange and unusual place. The other day I said to my two associate pastors, where do you think is the first instance in the Bible of a great revival, a great restoration? Where do you think it is in the Bible? They looked at me and grinned a little bit. but neither one came forth with an answer. And I said to them, and I say to you tonight, I believe that the opening statements of the Bible, you find the first picture of revival in the Word of God. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth, and the earth became without form and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep, and the spirit of God moved upon the waters. I think you find in these opening statements of Genesis, which is the seed plot of the Bible, the fountainhead of all scriptural truth, I think you find God's first picture in all of the word of a great revival. From this tonight I gather three facts. First of all, the need of revival or the chaotic state. No one would argue tonight but what we are in a chaotic state and there is a need of revival. More than we need a more polished and educated ministry, more than we need better equipment, more than we need more publicity, more than we need anything tonight, surely the greatest need of this hour is the need of revival. You find here a chaotic state out of which God brought beautiful order and restoration. That chaotic state was characterized by the absence and presence of four different things. I think the need of revival tonight in our churches and in the Lord's church at large can be summed up by these four things. First of all, there was the absence of light and the presence of darkness. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth, and the earth became without form and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep. My friends, some of us tonight who run in the right circles, that is in Bible-believing circles, some of us tonight who associate with people who are in evangelistic churches, who see a little taste and touch of revival constantly and all the time. I'm afraid do not see the picture of the tremendous need of revival in our land. There is an absence of light tonight. There is a drought of preaching of the Word of God. For every preacher there is who is shedding light tonight, there are dozens of them who are spreading darkness. And in the beginning, There was the absence of light and the presence of darkness. I would remind you tonight, Jesus talked of this a great deal. He said, ye are the light of the world. I would press that upon you tonight and may God burn it upon our hearts. Christians are the only light this world will ever see. If this world does not see the light of the gospel in the people of God and the church of our Lord Jesus Christ, they will never see it anywhere. A few months ago in Emmanuel Baptist Church, where thank God for these 26 years, we have seen a touch of revival and constant evangelism and many thousands of people saved. After a wonderful service where people had been saved and baptized and joined the church, a young man said to me, Dr. Malone, is this revival? Maybe I was a little bit light in my answer. I said, I'm not sure, but if it isn't, it's about the closest thing I've ever seen. But he looked at me and said, but Dr. Malone, I want to know if this is revival. I want to know with all of my heart if what I'm seeing is revival. And I said to him, young man, why are you so concerned Why are you so interested in whether or not this be revival? This young man said, I've never seen revival in my lifetime. And he said, Dr. Malone, with all of my heart, I would like to know that one time in my life I am seeing a real, old-fashioned, biblical revival. My friends, tonight, the absence of light in the church of Jesus Christ and the presence of darkness, the darkness of apostasy, the darkness of liberalism, the darkness of compromise, the darkness of worldly living, is a proof tonight we need revival. God's holy word says, let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works. Glorify your Father which is in heaven. I would remind you tonight that God said to his people, for you were sometimes darkness, but now you like in the Lord walk as children of light. It's been said in a thousand different ways by hundreds who could say it better than I, but there are many of God's people tonight who are not walking as children of light. There will never be a revival. till God's people walk in the light of this book as the church has been ordered to walk. I read in the word of God, walk as children of light. So there was the absence of light. Now, I'm not a theologian, but I would be technical just long enough to say that in these opening verses of the Bible, you do not read of new creation. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. Following that, there were only two things created afterwards. There was created humankind and created living things. In the beginning, God created the light. But a great cataclysmic judgment came, and the light was obscured and pushed back into oblivion and confusion. And then God on this morning of great revival said, let there be light. Let there be light tonight. Let there be light in the ministry. Let there be light in the church. Let there be light in our nation spiritually. Let there be light socially tonight. Let there be light on every mission field. The absence of light in presence of darkness is a proof we need revival tonight. The ignorance of the gospel, the ignorance of God's word, the ignorance of the plan of salvation on the part of multiplied millions of people in the churches of America tonight indicate we need a revival. People used to sing an old-fashioned spiritual song, hold out the light, let it shine around the world. That we must do before there can be a revival. I notice in the second place, in this chaotic state out of which God brought beautiful restoration, there was the absence of life and the presence of death. How true that is of the state of the religious life, if I may use that expression, in America tonight. It reminds me of what Ezekiel saw in Ezekiel chapter 37, when the Lord lifted him up in the Spirit and took him out. into a valley of dry bones and ask him this most challenging question. He said, son of man, can these bones live? I ask you tonight, as Christian leaders, as preachers, as people of God, can you believe tonight that these bones can live? And old-fashioned revival from God in heaven can come to our churches and to his church once again. Can these bones live? I read of these bones where the Word of God said they were very dry. I read where it says, but there was no breath in them. What a picture tonight of much of the ministry. What a picture tonight, men and women, of most of the church. There's no breath of God, no spiritual power. But then I read these words, our bones are dried, our hope is lost, we're cut off, they said. And then God made these bones live. The absence of life and the presence of death. The average church tonight in America is absolutely dead, to say the least. There is no life in it. There is no new life being born into it. Can these bones live? The challenge of revival. And I go on to say that in this great cataclysmic judgment in the beginning of the Bible, out of which God brought wonderful, beautiful harmony and revival, there was the absence of righteousness and the presence of evil. I think there is a famine of righteousness in America tonight. such social disease and sin as the world has ever seen. I recently read where a statesman abroad, a preacher abroad said, no person born since World War I has witnessed a widespread revival with Pentecostal power. Now some of you tonight are saying, well now preacher, that's not true. We've had revival in our church, but I will read it again. No person born since World War I has witnessed a great revival with Pentecostal power. I believe that's true. That's not complementary to this generation of Christians tonight, that in the last 50 years there has been no widespread revival of Pentecostal power. You see this in evidence in the home life of America. I have people up and down this country say to me, Brother Malone, do you not think it a tragedy that the Bible has been taken from the school? I know a greater tragedy than that. And that is that the Bible has been taken from the homes of America. And the first institution God ever made was not a church, nor an educational institution. But the first institution God ever blessed in the Bible was a home, my friend. And until revival comes back to the homes of the people of God in America, it will never come anywhere else. In our home life in America, there is no godly example. Like God said of Abraham, I know Abraham, that he will command his children after him. No godly example, no discipline. And in many instances, no love. We need a revival in the homes of America. You come to the church life of America, and there you find again this same situation. A lack of standards, a lack of preaching that rebukes, a lack of separation, a revival is needed in the churches. A revival is needed tonight in the ministry, because much of the ministry has no power, no individuality, and no influence. So you see a revival, a need of revival in the absence of life and the presence of death. I see in this verse, and I'm laying a predicate for some remarks, an absence of fruitfulness and a presence of barrenness. In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth, and the earth became without form and bored, and darkness was upon the face of the deep, and the Spirit of God moved upon the waters. There is the absence of fruitfulness and the presence of barrenness. I'm not going to say to you tonight that a biblical revival is the same as evangelism. But I am going to say to you tonight, where there is a revival that is scriptural, there will be evangelism and productivity in the church. The early church of the New Testament was marked by its fruitfulness. Not only were people saved, but preachers were called. Not only were preachers called, but missionaries were sent out. And the absence of fruitfulness and the lack of evangelism in churches in America tonight is a certain evidence of the need of revival. I hear many of my fundamentalist brethren say, we are sound in the faith. We stand for the faith once for all delivered to the saints. But many of our fundamental brethren tonight are satisfied in their churches without seeing lost men and women reach for Jesus Christ. Revival is not evangelism. But where there is revival, there will always be productivity and evangelism. I would remind you tonight the first commandment God ever gave to a human being, and He's never changed it for a Christian. is to be fruitful and multiply. And that, my friend, is the commandment that comes down to every believer tonight. Reproduce yourself by winning someone else out of darkness into light, getting some soul saved. So you see, the chaotic state or the need of revival is pictured here by the absence of fruitfulness and the presence of barrenness. I would like for you to see tonight what I believe to be an important truth out of the Word of God on the subject of revival. And that is, men and women, the enemy of revival and the counterfeit substitute. I think it goes right in with the opening statements of the Bible. All of you theologians tonight know, and I'm not one, that between Genesis 1-1, And Genesis 1-2, a great cataclysmic judgment took place. What was that judgment? Bible students believe it was the fall of an archangel from heaven. Only three archangels mentioned in the Bible, Michael and Gabriel and Lucifer. Lucifer, the bright and shining one, full of wisdom and beauty, one day lifted up against the infinite God five I-wills, the last of which is one of the most subtle statements to be found in all of the Word of God. For His last I-will was, I will be like the Most High. And the greatest imitator this world has ever known is the enemy of revival, Lucifer, the fallen archangel, the devil, the dragon, the enemy of revival, who said, I will be like God. It's a full Bible study within itself, his imitation of God. He has imitated the Trinity, God, the Father, God, the Son, God, the Holy Ghost. He has sought to imitate Satan himself. the Antichrist, and the false prophet. He has imitated the gospel. Whereas you and I tonight, with all of our hearts, preach a gospel of it is done at Calvary. This world is filled tonight with preachers who preach a gospel of do and be saved. Whereas tonight, our gospel from this Bible is a gospel of the pure unmerited favor of God, God's grace. The imitator tonight has his preachers who preach a gospel of works. He has imitated the ministry and in the most subtle way imaginable. I read where Paul wrote to the believers at Corinth and said that Satan is able to transform himself into an angel of light. He is pictured in the Bible as a roaring lion and an angel of light. Now I'm very serious when I say to you tonight, if a roaring lion came down one of these aisles, I would know just exactly what to do. I would very unselfishly say every man for himself and seek the highest place in this building. I'd know just exactly what to do and I would recognize him for what he is. But if an angel of light were to come to this conference tonight. He would deceive many of us as he deceived Adam and Eve in the garden. He has imitated the plan of salvation. He has imitated revival itself. He proposes to people some so-called great healing campaign where thousands gather and it's announced as a revival. I humbly submit to you tonight that is not revival. He has pawned off on this generation of Christians the greatest ecumenical program and hodgepodge of death in the pot that the world has ever known. And folks are saying tonight, why what great revival? I humbly submit to you tonight, that is not revival. Satan through the centuries has pawned off on the church even some good things. and made them believe that it's revival, such as religious reform and religious movements which are not biblical revival. I read one time some years ago about experts in the field of counterfeit, and how these experts were able to determine, for instance, whether a $10 bill were real and genuine, government-made money, or whether it were counterfeit. And I read where someone asked them the question, do you spend a great deal of your time studying the counterfeit? And the answer was no. We spend 95% of our time studying the real thing. And when the counterfeit comes, we recognize it immediately. God help us tonight to see the difference between Satan's substitute for revival and biblical revival as it's set forth in the Word of God. I want, if I can tonight, to give you what I honestly believe to be the formula for revival. And I must say to you tonight, it is not easy. I must say to you tonight that any preacher, whoever dares to preach on this subject, if he has the least bit of conscience, must face his own heart and soul. as to the formula of revival. I remember a few years ago when Emmanuel Baptist Church was born in a little tavern by the side of the road on a dance floor. When that building was purchased, there was a safe left in it. I needed anything in this world more than I needed a safe. I borrowed $100 to pay down on the building. And the money I had could be easily kept in the very bottom recesses of one of my pockets. I didn't need a safe, but there was one there. And one day, curiosity got the best of me, and I said, I wonder what's in it. I took a chair and sat in front of it and began to dial the numbers and seek the formula. After 30 or 40 minutes of frustration, no door was open. and I'd achieved no success whatsoever. I went to the phone and called the realtor from whom we had bought the building and asked him, do you have a formula for this big heavy iron safe that's in this building? How can I get that door open? He said, just a minute, Mr. Malone. And he gave me four numbers, one to the left, then to the right, third to the left, and back to the right. You try that, he said, and that door would open. I believe tonight. There's many a Christian trying the wrong reform formula and the counterfeit formula for revival. But I believe God in this blessed book has laid down for his people anywhere, anytime, a formula for revival that will always work. Now, my friend, it will not be easy. In 2 Chronicles 7 and verse 14, we read, if my people, that's where revival starts. It doesn't start by seeing how many of the unsaved we can get in. That may be good, but it's not biblical revival. If, my people, there must be a work, a moving of the Spirit of God on the church of Jesus Christ if there's to be a revival. There must be a deep, mysterious, sovereign, powerful work of the Holy Ghost in the hearts of men and women. who are saved if there's to be a revival. I often think of the humorous little story of in a small town, there was the town infidel who always bragged about his unbelief. One day a fire broke out in the little community church and the infidel and a Baptist deacon were running side by side to get to the church to put out the fire. And the deacon turned to the unbeliever and said, This is the first time I've ever seen you running to go to church." And the infidel replied, this is the first time I've ever seen the church on fire. And I'm saying to you tonight that the people of many of our communities in America have never one time seen a church on fire for God. Revival must start with Christians. Then the second thing in this formula for revival is one of the least used and least practiced words that I know of. If my people which are called by my name shall humble themselves. And I submit to you tonight that pride and proudness in the lives of the people of God is sure to prevent revival. Or you say, what does it mean to be humble? I think it means far more than the modern-day usage of the word. To be humble in the Bible, the early Christians, it meant to lie prostrate before God, literally spiritually undone at the seams, tremendously conscious of their needs. It was to be poured out like water upon the ground. It was to literally be prostrate before God, conscious of the heart's need of a work of God. That's why the psalmist said the sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, a broken and contrite heart. Oh, God, thou will not despise. Oh, God, tonight, give us a broken heart because of the need of revival in America. I submit to you a third thing without which there can be no revival, and that's inaccessory, prevailing, heart-searching prayer. You remember another great revival in the New Testament that took place on the day of Pentecost? And it began something like this. The people were in one accord, in one place, in one accord. I do not believe there can be a revival without prayer. And I do not believe there can be effective prayer without confession of sin and humility in the first place. Every revival this nation or this world has ever known that resembled a biblical revival was closely associated with prayer. The fourth thing in this great revival formula, God said, seek my face. How the church tonight needs once again to turn and look into the face of the Lord and seek his favor and seek his blessing. and seek his power. God said, my people must seek my face. Then God said, my people must turn from their wicked ways. The average Christian tonight is trying to be popular rather than peculiar. God Almighty says, his people must turn from their wicked ways. I would to God with all the victory and blessing and enjoyment that may come from this meeting, there will be a great forsaking of sin, holy resolutions in our heart to God that our lives will be clean. The psalmist said, if I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me. And I propose to you tonight, ladies and gentlemen, that unless there is a confessing of sin on the part of the church in our generation, This generation will never see a biblical revival. Then God said, I will forgive and heal their land. I've seen, thank God tonight, if I know my heart, I very humbly submit to you. I have seen little touches of revival. I saw it shortly after I was called to preach in 1935, saved and called to preach. I saw it in a little fundamental school called Bob Jones College at that time in Cleveland, Tennessee. where I went as a preacher boy and was working my way through school. And one night, walking in the darkness in the wee hours of the morning, around that building, the buildings, with a flashlight in my hand, all of a sudden, there began a peculiar, mysterious, sovereign work of God in my own heart. Such a consciousness of sin, such a deep hunger and thirsting for God's fullness, and his righteousness, and all of a sudden, not knowing hardly what I was doing, I turned and went into a little room, I think called the green room, where the dramatic players used it under the auditorium. I'd never been in that room before. I'd never had occasion to go there and knew not why I went. But when I opened the door of that room in the wee hours of the night, There were three or four young preachers down on their face and such weeping and sobbing as I've never heard. I fell on my face in the floor and began to weep over the sins of my heart and begged God for power. There are some here tonight who will remember that the next two or three days in that little fundamental college at that time, there were no classes. There was no routine. There was no going along in the same order. Everything was changed. We met in the auditorium hours at a time. And I saw young people get up and go all the way across that auditorium, put their arms about someone and weepingly say, I've wronged you. I've lied about you. I've hated you. I've been envious of you. I've been jealous of you. I beg you to forgive me. I saw young people stand and admit they had never been saved. I saw them stand and openly beg for forgiveness for their sins. I saw a touch of revival. I would to God it may happen in our hearts tonight. It only will come when there is a turning from sin and a seeking with all of our heart the holy face of God. In closing, I say to you tonight there are three tremendous areas in which we must have this revival, we need it first of all in the ministry. When Paul wrote to Timothy, he said, Wherefore I put thee in remembrance, that thou stir up the gift which is in thee. The ministry tonight needs a stirring from God. I was raised on a little farm down in North Alabama, and I learned a lot of lessons. At the time, I did not know they were lessons. I thought it was some strange punishment of God upon my life. But I later found out there were lessons, many of them. I was raised by a wonderful old set of grandparents, both who lived to be 91 and a half. So most unusual things about those great people. They were in their 70th wedding year before the first one died. They believed in productivity. For my grandfather left 109 living descendants, of which I am one. He was the greatest psychologist I ever knew. And he never had but about a third grade education. He knew how to keep boys out of trouble. And it was a little old ugly word he often used called work. It started at four o'clock in the morning and never ended until after dark. And he used to say to my brother and I after we were through the work and the chores, you can go anywhere you want to and do anything you want to do. The only thing I wanted to do was to crawl to the old country home, wash my feet in an old-fashioned wash pan, and get in bed just as quick as I could. Because it seemed like the twinkling of an eye from the time I hit the old-fashioned feather bed until I heard about four o'clock in the darkness of the morning my name. Folks say, anybody likes to hear their name. That's a lie, my friends. Four o'clock in the morning. Tom! There was a whole book in that. It meant, boy, get out of that bed or I'll be in there after you in a minute. It meant, boy, build that fire, start toting that water. The day's going to start. You know, some folks think it's warm all over the South. But my dear friends, I have nearly frozen to death in North Alabama. Oh, that house. There were cracks in the floor. We never swept anything out the door. Through the floor it went. And the chickens come under the house and eat it. The crumbs, anything you swept through the floor. And the walls that you could You could look out and see the sun shining by day and the moon by night. You could lie in your bed at night and look up through little holes in it. And when it rained, there were pots and pans everywhere. My job was to build a fire at four o'clock in the morning. Such cold nights, you burn on one side and freeze on the other, and it was a turning process all the evening to survive. And at four o'clock in the morning, my grandfather used to say, Tom, that means I want a fire going, son. And I learned that there's something I had to do if I was going to build a fire quickly at four o'clock in the morning. At night, while the big logs were on the old-fashioned fire, the big old back stick and then the front log smaller and get it going good. And just before bedtime, take the shovel and with the ashes, cover it all up and smolder down the flames. and let it smolder all night long. The next morning when you'd come into that darkened room, there seemed not to be one bit of fire or energy there. Take the old-fashioned poker and begin to stir in those ashes, and turn up the big live coals, and the heat began to come. Then the pine knots, and then the other logs, and after a while there was the crackling and roaring of a fire that gave its energy and its light and its warmth. My friends, too long! The fire of God has been covered up in the ashes and filth of sin in the ministry. Like Paul said, stir up the gift of God that's within you. We need tonight a revival from God that will stir the ministry of America. And unless the ministry has a revival, the church will never see one. I believe with all my soul tonight that a revival must come in our pulpits before it will ever come in our pews. We need a revival in the home. Oh, God, tonight, how we need to restore the old-fashioned family altar, godly example, discipline of children, service for God. And as the Bible says, show piety first at home. We need a revival. And if I may use the word, and it's not a good one, in the laity of the church. In the church membership, we need a revival. You know, in Acts chapter 2 and verse 42, we read then there were about 3,000 souls saved. After the great sermon that Peter preached, we read there were 3,000 souls saved, verse 41, and then they continued steadfastly in four things. In the apostles' teaching and in fellowship You know, my friends, a lot of God's people seemingly have lost the hunger for fellowship. That's why so many professing Christians are in every place except the Lord's house, on the Lord's day, and in the breaking of bread, and in prayer. Then I come to the close of this great chapter on revival, and it says, and the Lord added to the church daily, such as should be said. When revival comes, the people of God will be enthusiastic, and right, and holy, and warm, and fervent, and tender, and souls will be saved. A few years ago I had the privilege to visit the Bible lands and came back through London, England, and I went out to Wesley's Chapel. and climbed that little circular stairway, and some of you have been there and stood high in that pulpit like the old-fashioned Western people used to use. And I thought of a colored man of whom I have read, a colored preacher that one time visited the Westlake Chapel and climbed that little circular stairway and got in that pulpit and stood with his black, beautiful face, lift toward heaven, and sobbing and shaking with the big tears streaming down his face. He said, Lord, do it again. Do it again. And what he meant was, Lord, can't we have revivals like Wesley had? Lord, do it again. Until thousands will be saved. The church will be restored. Until evangelism will live again. Lord, do it again. Oh, from every ransomed heart tonight, may we earnestly pray, Lord, do it again. You have just enjoyed WZYN's treasured heritage. If you found the preaching broadcast to be a blessing, just visit our sermon vault at WZYN.org to download thousands of Bible messages on demand.