"I remember thee" - GOD

With unspeakable affection God laments for His darling, "I remember thee!". Jeremiah, enamored with the vision, was weeping with God! Do you know the feeling? Jeremiah was divinely-unctionized when he heard the Word of the LORD command him: "GO and CRY in the ears of Jerusalem" (Jer. 2:2)! 

Can you hear it? Can you imagine it? Jeremiah's cracking voice CRYING OUT! His syllables long and enunciated, his tones exuding the emotional trauma of a brokenhearted God! In Jeremiah, the Eternal Father was crying out: "I REMEMBER THEE!". Oh, my reader, are you moved to wonder what God was remembering? 

The Lord was remembering when Israel, through her liberation and exodus from Egypt, was first espoused to the Lord. This "first espousal" to God was holy-romantic in that then, in the heart of Israel, there was no greater love but God! This first espousal made - God - Israel's "first love" (Rev. 2:4). This "first love" was wrought within Israel's heart by God's saving power, not their own, and they, being "constrained" thereto, were led into "first works" (2 Cor. 5:14, Rev. 2:5) which God recalled as, speaking to Israel, "the love of thine espousals, when thou wentest after Me in the wilderness". This love compelled them to GO after God! My reader, what about you? Do you remember how you WENT after GOD? 

Do you remember with what "love", with what "kindness", with what tender affection you, at first, were compelled to GO after GOD? These were the days when you were drawn to Christ by His saving power (John 6:44)! And now, my reader, if you are truly regenerate, let Jonathan Edwards remind you of the love of your espousal, the kindness of your youth, when you first went after God, and in so doing, consider this: does God REMEMBER YOU with lamentation and sorrow because, alas, that is how you were and not how you are!?

the temptation now seemed to lie on that hand, to neglect worldly affairs too much, and to spend too much time in immediate exercise of religion. This was exceedingly misrepresented by reports that were spread in distant parts of the land, as though the people here had wholly thrown by all worldly business, and betook themselves entirely to reading and praying, and such like religious excercises. 

But although people did not ordinarily neglect their worldly business; yet religion was with all sorts the great concern, and the world was a thing only by the bye. The only thing in their view was to get the Kingdom of heaven, and every one appeared pressing into it. The engagedness of their hearts in this great concern could not be hid, it appeared in their very countenances. It then was a dreadful thing amongst us to lie out of Christ, in danger every day of dropping into hell; and what persons' minds were intent upon, was to escape for their lives, and to fly from wrath to come.All would eagerly lay hold of opportunities for their souls; and were wont very often to meet together in private houses, for religious purposes: and such meetings when appointed were greatly thronged." 

"...the town seemed to be full of the presence of God: it never was so full of love, nor of joy, and yet so full of distress, as it was then. There were remarkable tokens of God's presence in almost every house. It was a time of joy in families on account of salvation being brought unto them; parents rejoicing over their children as new born, and husbands over their wives, and wives over their husbands. The goings of God were then seen in the sanctuary, God's day was a delight, and his tabernacles were amiable. Our public assemblies were then beautiful: the congregation was alive in God's service, every one earnestly intent on the public worship, every hearer eager to drink in the words of the minister as they came from his mouth; the assembly in general were, from time to time, in tears while the word was preached; some weeping with sorrow and distress, others with joy and love, others with pity and concern for the souls of their neighbors. 

Our public praises were then greatly enlivened; God was then served in our psalmody, in some measure, in the beauty of holiness. It has been observable, that there has been scarce any part of divine worship, wherein good men amongst us have had grace so drawn forth, and their hearts so lifted up in the ways of God, as in singing his praises. Our congregation excelled all that ever I knew in the external part of the duty before, the men generally carrying regularly, and well, three parts of music, and the women a part by themselves; but now they were evidently wont to sing with unusual elevation of heart and voice, which made the duty pleasant indeed." - Jonathan Edwards

My reader, are such experiences as Edwards described but memories of the past? Memories which were, but are not now? Perhaps God is now looking upon you - His darling - with the lamentable cry: "I remember thee"! My reader, He remembers what you have forgotten! Memories which are now dim, can you remember? Oh, how Great a Light has dimmed! How Bright a Light once shined! - the spiritual sweetness that was once so excellent and life-altering that you "suffered the loss of all things", all worldly things and worldly lusts, counting them as an object of vomitous disgust! And now, that which you did count as "DUNG that you may win Christ" (Php. 3:8) has become enjoyable to your taste! That which was so poisonous to the body and vomitious to the taste is now endurable, delectable, and energizing! What happened? How came this great FALL? 

The world, like a defiled, disease-saturated harlot lingered in your view... do you remember? She lingered long enough that she caught your eye, and then your glance. She turned your head, and then suddenly, your heart! Woe to you, my reader! You became an adulterer against God (James 4:4)! My reader, if God is saying to you, "I remember thee", then you should remember what He is remembering, and so, "Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent" (Rev. 2:5). You have "FALLEN", my reader! And you need help!

In Christ, let Charles Spurgeon remind you of what it is to FALL from God! 
First one must remember, then repent. 

tarries in the poor clay, the rescued man opens his eyes, sits up, and speaks, and those around him rejoice that he has revived. A young girl is in a fainting fit, but after a while she returns to consciousness, and we say, "she revives." The flickering lamp of life in dying men suddenly flames up with unusual brightness at intervals, and those who are watching around the sick bed say of the patient, "he revives"...

A true revival is to be looked for in the church of God...It is a sorrowful fact that many who are spiritually alive greatly need reviving. It is sorrowful because it is a proof of the existence of much spiritual evil. A man in sound health with every part of his body in a vigorous condition does not need reviving. He requires daily sustenance, but reviving would be quite out of place. If he has not yet attained maturity growth will be most desirable, but a hale hearty young man wants no reviving, it would be thrown away upon him. Who thinks of reviving the noonday sun, the ocean at its flood, or the year at its prime? The tree planted by the rivers of water loaded with fruit needs not excite our anxiety for its revival, for its fruitfulness and beauty charm every one. Such should be the constant condition of the sons of God. Feeding and lying down in green pastures and led by the still waters they ought not always to be crying, "my leanness, my leanness, woe unto me." Sustained by gracious promises and enriched out of the fullness which God has treasured up in his dear Son, their souls should prosper and be in health, and their piety ought to need no reviving. They should aspire to a higher blessing, a richer mercy, than a mere revival. They have the nether springs already; they should earnestly cover the upper springs. They should be asking for growth in grace, for increase of strength, for greater success; they should have out-climbed and out-soared the period in which they need to be constantly crying, "Wilt thou not revive us again?" For a church to be constantly needing revival is the indication of much sin, for if it were sound before the Lord it would remain in the condition into which a revival would uplift its members. A church should be a camp of soldiers, not an hospital of invalids. But there is exceedingly much difference between what ought be and what is, and consequently many of God's people are in so sad a state that the very fittest prayer for them is for revival. Some Christians are, spiritually, but barely alive. When a man has been let down into a vat or into a well full of bad air, yea do not wonder when he is drawn up again that he is half-dead, and urgently requires to be revived. Some Christians—to their shame be it spoken!—descend into such worldly company, not upon such unhallowed principles, and become so carnal, that when they are drawn up by God's grace from their backsliding position they want reviving, and even need that their spiritual breath should as it were be breathed into their nostrils afresh by God's Spirit.

When a man starves himself, continuing for a long time without food, when he is day after day without a morsel of bread between his lips, we do not marvel that the surgeon, finding him in extremities, says, "This man has weakened his system, he is too low, and wants reviving." Of course he does, for he has brought himself by low diet into a state of weakness. Are there not hundreds of Christians—shame that it should be so!—who live day after day without feeding upon Bible truth? shall it be added without real spiritual communion with God? they do not even attend the week-night services, and they are indifferent hearers on the Lord's day. Is it remarkable that they want reviving? Is not the fact that they do so greatly need it most dishonorable to themselves and distressing to their truly spiritual brethren?

There is, a condition of mind which is even more sad than either of the two above mentioned; it is a thorough, gradual, but certain decline of all the spiritual powers. Look at that consumptive man whose lungs are decaying, and in whom the vital energy is ebbing; it is painful to see the faintness which suffuses him after exertion, and the general languor which overspreads his weakened frame. Far more sad to the spiritual eye is the spectacle presented by spiritual consumptives who in some quarters meet us on all hands. The eye of faith is dim and overcast, and seldom flashes with holy joy; the spiritual countenance is hollow and sunken with doubts and fears; the tongue of praise is partially paralyzed, and has little to say for Jesus; the spiritual frame is lethargic, and its movements are far from vigorous; the man is not anxious to be doing anything for Christ; a horrible numbness, a dreadful insensibility has come over him; he is in soul like a sluggard in the dog-days, who finds it hard labor to lie in bed and brush away the flies from his face. If these spiritual consumptives hate sin they do it so weakly that one might fear that they loved it still. If they love Jesus, it is so coldly that it is a point of question whether they love at all. If they sing Jehovah's praises it is very sadly, as if hallelujahs were dirges. If they mourn for sin it is only with half-broken hearts, and their grief is shallow and unpractical. If they hear the Word of God they are never stirred by it; enthusiasm is an unknown luxury. If they come across a precious truth they perceive nothing particular in it, any more than the cock in the fable, in the jewel which he found in the farmyard. They throw themselves back upon the enchanted couch of sloth, and while they are covered with rags they dream of riches and great increase of goods. It is a sad, sad thing when Christians fall into this state; then indeed they need reviving, and they must have it, for "the whole head is sick and the whole heart faint." Every lover of souls should intercede for declining professors that the visitations of God may restore them; that the Sun of righteousness may arise upon them with healing beneath his wings.

When revival comes to a people who are in the state thus briefly described, it simply brings them to the condition in which they ought always to have been; it quickens them, gives them new life, stirs the coals of the expiring fire, and puts heavenly breath into the languid lungs. The sickly soul which before was insensible, weak, and sorrowful, grows earnest, vigorous, and happy in the Lord. This is the immediate fruit of revival, and it becomes all of us who are believers to seek this blessing for backsliders, and for ourselves if we are declining in grace.

If revival is confined to living men we may further notice that it must result from the proclamation and the receiving of living truth. We speak of "vital godliness," and vital godliness must subsist upon vital truth. Vital godliness is not revived in Christians by mere excitement, by crowded meetings, by the stamping of the foot, or the knocking of the pulpit cushion, or the delirious bawlings of ignorant zeal; these are the stock in trade of revivals among dead souls, but to revive living saints other means are needed. Intense excitement may produce a revival of the animal, but how can it operate upon the spiritual, for the spiritual demands other food than that which stews in the fleshpots of mere carnal enthusiasm. The Holy Ghost must come into the living heart through living truth, and so bring nutriment and stimulant to the pining spirit, for so only can it be revived. This, then, leads us to the conclusion that if we are to obtain a revival we must go directly to the Holy Ghost for it, and not resort to the machinery of the professional revival-maker. The true vital spark of heavenly flame comes from the Holy Ghost, and the priests of the Lord must beware of strange fire. There is no spiritual vitality in anything except as the Holy Spirit is all in all in the work; and if our vitality has fallen near to zero, we can only have it renewed by him who first kindled it in us. We must go to the cross and look up to the dying Savior, and expect that the Holy Spirit will renew our faith and quicken all our graces. We must feed anew by faith upon the flesh and blood of the Lord Jesus, and so the Holy Ghost will recruit our strength and give us a revival. When men in India sicken in the plains, they climb the hills and breathe the more bracing air of the upper regions; we need to get nearer to God, and to bathe ourselves in heaven, and revived piety will be the sure result.

When a minister obtains this revival he preaches very differently from his former manner. It is very hard work to preach when the head aches and when the body is languid, but it is a much harder task when the soul is unfeeling and lifeless. It is sad, sad work—painfully, dolorously, horribly sad, but saddest of all if we do not feel it to be sad, if we can go on preaching and remain careless concerning the truths we preach, indifferent as to whether men are saved or lost! May God deliver every minister from abiding in such a state! Can there be a more wretched object than a man who preaches in God's name truths which he does not feel, and which he is conscious have never impressed his own heart? To be a mere sign-post, pointing out the road but never moving in it, is a lot against which every tame heart may plead night and day.

Should this revival be granted to deacons and elders what different men it would make of them! Lifeless, lukewarm church officers are of no more value to a church, than a crew of sailors would be to a vessel if they were all fainting and if in their berths when they were wanted to hoist the sails or lower the boats. Church officers who need reviving must be fearful dead weights upon a Christian community. It is incumbent upon all Christians to be thoroughly awake to the interests of Zion, but upon the leaders most of all. Special supplication should be made for beloved brethren in office that they may be full of the Holy Ghost.

Workers in the Sunday-schools, tract distributors, and other laborers for Christ, what different people they become when grace is vigorous from what they are when their life flickers in the socket! Like sickly vegetation in a cellar, all blanched and unhealthy, are workers who have little grace; like willows by the water-courses, like grease with reeds and rushes in well-watered valleys, are the servants of God who live in his presence. It is no wonder that our Lord said, "Because thou art neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth," for when the earnest Christian's heart is full of fire it is sickening to talk with lukewarm people. Have not warm-hearted lovers of Jesus felt when they have been discouraged by doubtful sluggish people, who could see a lion in the way, as if they could put on express speed and run over them? Every earnest minister has known times when he has felt cold hearts to be as intolerable as the drones in the hive are to the working bees. Careless professors are as much out of place as snow in harvest among truly living Christians. As vinegar to the teeth and smoke to the eyes are these sluggards. As well be bound to a dead body as forced into union with lifeless professors; they are a burden, a plague, and an abomination. You turn to one of these cold brethren after a graciously earnest prayer-meeting, and say with holy joy, "What a delightful meeting we have had!" "Yes," he says carelessly and deliberately, as if it were an effort to say so much, "there was a good number of people." How his frostbitten words grate on one's ear! You ask yourself, "Where has the man been? Is he not conscious that the Holy Ghost has been with us?" Does not our Lord speak of these people as being cast out of his mouth, just because he himself is altogether in earnest, and consequently, when he meets with lukewarm people he will not endure them? He says, "I would thou wert cold or hot," either utterly averse to good or in earnest concerning it. It is easy to see his meaning. If you heard an ungodly man blaspheme after an earnest meeting, you would lament it, but you would feel that from such a man it was not a thing to make you vexed, for he has only spoken after his kind, but when you meet with a child of God who is lukewarm, how can you stand that? It is sickening, and makes the inmost spirit feel the horrors of mental nausea.

While a true revival in its essence belongs only to God's people, it always brings with it a blessing for the other sheep who are not yet of the fold. If you drop a stone into a lake the ring widens continually, till the farthest corner of the lake feels the influence. Let the Lord revive a believer and very soon his family, his friends, his neighbors, receive a share of the benefit; for when a Christian is revived, he prays more fervently for sinners. Longing, loving prayer for sinners, is one of the marks of a revival in the renewed heart. Since the blessing is asked for sinners, the blessing comes from him who hears the prayers of his people; and thus the world gains by revival. Soon the revived Christian speaks concerning Jesus and the gospel; he sows good seed, and God's good seed is never lost, for he has said, "It shall not return unto me void." The good seed is sown in the furrows, and in some sinners' hearts God prepares the soil, so that the seed springs up in a glorious harvest. Thus by the zealous conversation of believers another door of mercy opens to men.

When Christians are revived they live more consistently, they make their homes more holy and more happy, and this leads the ungodly to envy them, and to enquire after their secret. Sinners by God's grace long to be like such cheerful happy saints; their mouths water to feast with them upon their hidden manna, and this is another blessing, for it leads men to seek the Savior. If an ungodly man steps into a congregation where all the saints are revived he does not go to sleep under the sermon. The minister will not let him do that, for the hearer perceives that the preacher feels what he is preaching, and has a right to be heard. This is a clear gain, for now the man listens with deep emotion; and above all, the Holy Spirit's power, which the preacher has received in answer to prayer comes upon the hearer's mind; he is convinced of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment to come, and Christians who are on the watch around him hasten to tell him of the Savior, and point him to the redeeming blood, so that though the revival, strictly speaking, is with the people of God, yet the result of it no man can limit. Brethren, let us seek a revival during the present month, that the year may close with showers of blessing, and that the new year may open with abundant benediction. Let us pledge ourselves to form a prayer-union, a sacred band of suppliants, and may God do unto us according to our faith." - C.H. Spurgeon

Will you confess the truth, my reader? Will you cry out..."I have flirted with the world and it took me! I have become a madman, spiritually insane! I have lusted for swines food and consumed the heaven-hated pleasures of the world, when at one time I was gloriously saved, raptured in Divine-love, and utterly satisfied! Oh God! Forgive me! Redeem me yet again!" 

My reader, what you remember now, LAY IT TO HEART! Lay it to heart until holy anguish, "godly sorrow" (2 Cor. 7:10-11), and weeping do prostrate you at the feet of your Jealous Husband - "For thou shalt worship no other god: for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God" (Ex. 34:14). Spurgeon's heart abominated the experience how, for some, the love of God's Bride turns lukewarm, but he was just an ambassador, a written epistle, which exhibited the very heart of God Himself. It is Christ, not Spurgeon, Who cannot endure an adulterous Bride. It is Christ, not Spurgeon, Who will, on the irrevocable high-plane of ETERNITY, vomit and spew out lukewarm Christians into hellfire (Rev. 3:16, Lev. 18:25)! Therefore let us take the more earnest heed! Those sins which Christ will abominate, will you remember them? Will you hate them? Will you answer your Jealous Husband as He sternly CRIES?

"Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God...Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded. Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He shall lift you up." (James 4:4, 4:8-10). 

“A very remarkable thing happened…”, Duncan reports. While kneeling in straw among the barn of a farm house, “The Young Man” arose and read Psalm 24:3-5...

Then "The Young Man" looked at the Church ministers who were gathered there to pray, and he said...

Then "The Young Man" began to pray aloud, and said...

Then the Young Man fell on his knees among the straw, and suddenly, three of the elders fell into a trance! When this happened in the barn, a power was let loose which shook Lewis, Duncan exclaims! The result - “God seemed to be everywhere!” Some of you know these events well, but who knew them more than the God-chosen microphone of the revival, Duncan Campbell? You see, Campbell was branded with a holy poverty, a self-hatred, a confession of sin and a longing, for he knew that he, at that moment in time, was hindering God's gracious flood-tide of revival glory. Campbell, who appeared to be branded with no greater impression, remembered what was upon God's heart the moment that revival broke out. God revealed it to his servant, a prophet, who Duncan does not give a name whereby we might know him, only that he is "The Young Man". When God showed "The Young Man" the secret of revival's absence, revival broke out, and "The Young Man's" words seem to be the entire focus of what Duncan now seeks. Do you remember - Campbell, rich in Scottish ascent, speaks forth the anointed words...

Three Noteworthy Observations

What Actually Happend

The Deciding Message of God

The Most Astonishing and Appalling Conclusion
(The Need For Biblical Reformation)

The Father God, at initial salvation, is He "who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the Kingdom of His dear Son" (Col. 1:13). He hath brought us so nigh, it is not blasphemy to declare, God has "raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus" (Eph. 2:6)! Shocking! We are not there in bodily presence, but through a saving union with Christ we are, spiritually and lawfully, with Him where He is, being enabled to relate to God by and through Christ. In a spiritual and lawful way we are "dead, and [our] life is hid with Christ in God" (Col. 3:3). "Who shall ascend into the hill of the LORD? Or Who shall stand in His holy place" (Ps. 24:3)? This is a question of eternal consequence! And again, "who shall abide in [God's] Tabernacle? Who shall dwell in [God's] holy hill" (Ps. 15:1)? The answer: We, the regenerate, blood-bought, crucified, and resurrected multitude, by the perfection of Christ's sanctifying powers, have already (spiritually and lawfully) "come unto Sion, and unto the city of the Living God, the Heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels" (Heb. 12:22)! We are, in Christ, ascended up Mount Zion and standing in His holy place! In Christ we have been given, instantaneously, suddenly, and miraculously, "clean hands and a pure heart", and all that remains for us to do is - as we have received clean hands and a pure heart, even so, we should walk in them, or in other words, "As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in Him" (Col. 2:6).

To abide in Christ is to, of necessity, abide in "the holiest" place of heaven (Heb. 10:19), and again, staggeringly, upon the very throne of our Lord Jesus Christ (Eph. 2:6)! Accessing the free-powers from this place of POSITIONAL GRACE, we are enabled to have power to overcome the world (1 John 5:4, John 16:33). We are able to overcome the world because, namely - Christ Jesus already overcame it! - and He is above it right now, "Far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in the that which is to come: And hath put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be the head over all things to the Church, which is His body, the fulness of Him that filleth all in all" (Eph. 1:21-23). Therefore in Him - we too! - "tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy" (Lk. 10:19)! "And nothing shall by any means hurt you", the Victor of humanity declares (Lk. 10:19)! Oh saints - reckon it so! - you are already clad in a Divinely manufactured armor, you are, namely, "in the Lord", "in the power of His Might", because of where the grace of God has spiritually and lawfully positioned you! Therefore Satan, who fell from Heaven like lightning, will "flee from you" (Jas. 4:7)! Only one condition remains so that you will be unconquerable in your ability "to stand" (Eph. 6:11, 13)...my reader, by faith you must "put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ" who hath ascended Mount Zion in victory, and there - in Him - stand still and abide (presently and progressively)! Revival is the unfathomable expression of God's power - "the power that worketh in us" (Eph. 3:20) - and when we are rightly related with the Lord we become God's "Divine channel" - "channels only" - through which God's causes His "exceeding greatness" (Eph. 1:19) to rush upon and overflow from us! God's people are lead to this climactic experience by a present-continuous right relationship with God. We must be, as The Young Man said: "rightly related to God". We must be, in other words, savingly related to God, and then nothing will interrupt the floods of revival power! Can you imagine it!? Revival floods which are "exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us" (Eph. 3:20)! 

Duncan Campbell reported the wondrous Revival of the Isle of Lewis to the world. Today, via the internet, these recordings are listened to across the world! Duncan argued that this work of reviving grace was in fulfillment of specific conditions - condition which, when they are met, put God in a holy obligation to perform the promises of His Covenant. These conditions are found in one primary text of scripture in which Campbell continually cites. He affirms to us, as a Divine-witness of revival, that a similar revival can be experienced if indeed, now, we meet these very same conditions outlined by his primary text. Namely, one must meet the conditions of Psalm 24:3-6! 

What I desire for my reader to see is: though other fulfillments of this promise can be shadowed in time, the apex of this passage is finally fulfilled at the final salvation of God’s people, and what is so terrifying is, Duncan preached this text as conditions for Revival merely, but he left the people unaware that these conditions are, biblically and contextually speaking, conditions for final salvation, so the people imagine a revival experience that is eternally insignificant for their own souls, they vainly justify themselves without such manifestations, they do not demonstrate whole-hearted sacrifice to pursue such nearness to God, and they come to believe that revival is only for the salvation of lost souls! But, my reader, God is signifying that these conditions are for the final salvation of regenerate souls! And if the saints will obtain this final standing before God, it is because they have been enabled to initially and present-progressively stand with God on the holy mountain of Zion (Heb. 12:22-23). How does one know if he is presently and progressively standing upon Mount Zion? According to Psalm 24:3-6 & Revelation 14:1-5, you must have – “clean hands,” “a pure heart,” a denial of “vanity” and false swearing, “not defiled with women,” as “virgins,” as one that does “follow the Lamb withersoever He goeth,” having no “guile” in the mouth and “without fault” before the Throne (to be applied in physical and spiritual interpretations where necessary, for example: 2 Cor. 11:2-4, James 1:26-27, 4:4, 2 Cor. 7:1). Are you one of those “who shall ascend the Hill of the LORD” so as to be finally saved? Then you must presently and progressively abide in such a character of blamelessness – personally for sure (Eph. 4:12), and God willing, corporately (Eph. 4:13) - and if the corporate body is enabled to reach this stature of perfection, then at last, the world will see "the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ" manifest through His local Church (Eph. 4:13)! "Take heed therefore how ye hear" (Lk. 8:18). 

"Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded" - James 4:8

A crime against God which renders a man unclean in hands and an impure in heart, is no small sin! God jealously declares, such a man is an "enemy of God" (James 4:4), an "adulterer" (James 4:4), a "sinner" (James 4:8), who needs to set his entire heart upon the only course of hope and reconciliation with God. My reader, restoration does not come by a mere confession of sin, or some "sinners prayer" for backslidden Christians! Nay! God commands such a man to continue in affliction, mourning, weeping, and heaviness for an undetermined amount of time - simply because of the fact that his offended God has called HIM an enemy. God calls such a man to humiliate himself before the eyes of the Lord, if haply, at the time God ordains, the man might be lifted up again into the experiential, present-progressive grace of God! Read the pointed words of God - The Judge - and let us conform ourselves to the Book's narrow way! God has directed us to a sure way of escape, and let us choose it, and not another! 

"Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw nigh to God, and He will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded. Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He shall lift you up." - James 4:7-10

"O LORD, revive Thy work in the midst of the years, in the midst of the years make known; in wrath remember mercy" - Habakkuk 3:2

Qualification: I, of course, do not assert that such a widespread move of God (like the Lewis revival) is a mark that we, His individual people, are savingly related to Christ, but it is a mark that we, as an entire people, are savingly related to Christ (see the promises of Ephesians 4:11-13 in context with John 17:20-26). The bottom line is, we need to reform our ideas and convictions unto the biblical standard of salvation and revival. 

What is the eternal destiny of those who are Spiritually Sleeping? 

In this generation, whose voice but Ian Paisley's is more clearly heard booming in the memory of multiplied thousands of individuals, when he said: 

Paisley is indeed decrying the spiritual lethargy which has paralyzed the Church...and yet, the Church still sleeps! Why?! After listening to "The Revival Hymn", most are gripped with awe. Such unctionized words are able to make the stiffest sleeper flicker with holy alertness and sobriety, and yet it seems, momentarily, the Church rolls over and passes out. God help us! Bear with me, my readers, as I attempt to give an answer. 

"The Revival Hymn" opens up with Ian Paisley's denouncement of spiritual sleep, and all that is heard afterward (from Ravenhill, Campbell, Tozer, etc.) is generally lumped together in the same burden - we need to wake up - but I fear that men are not able to wake up because it is still unclear to them exactly what Spiritual Sleep is. The message of "The Revival Hymn" is clear, but it is so general, so vague, that men are left with the feeling that WIDESPREAD and SWEEPING revival which apprehends the unconverted public is the goal. Revival is an operation of God which happens within the regenerate Church, who, according to Ian Paisley, is largely sleeping - therefore they must be awakened again. Revival is "to be made alive again", and in the metaphor of choice for Paisley it would be rendered, "to be awakened again". If Ian Paisley is right, then we (the regenerate Church) do stand in need of a personal awakening because we have fallen asleep, and at one time, because of our Great Salvation, we WERE awake, watchful, and alive. What about you, my reader, are you sleeping? Do you need personal revival? 

Do you remember how you stayed awake at night, wondering in awe, determining to expend yourself as a seeker after your Lord? Do you remember when you felt as though God was EVERYWHERE, how your heart was scarcely absent from holy love and holy fear? Do you remember when you felt as a beggar, suddenly made rich, and your heart panted with insatiable satisfaction in Christ? Do you remember when you met The King, The Messiah, when your heart energetically shouted His praise? Do you remember when your heart was His harp, when your mind was full of Divinely authored melodies - when they played, they played all throughout your duties, and all throughout your days (Eph. 5:19)? Do you remember how your heart burned, how you were sore amazed, how you longed for men to know Christ's Lordship for the glory of its EXPERIENCE!? Do you remember when you were not so callused, so used to tragedy, when you were indignant to interrupt Satan's mad tyranny over sinners? Do you remember when you were vigilant, exploding with zealous vows and ejaculatory prayers, if haply, God giving you AMAZING grace, the shadow of your vain lifetime would be worth something for eternity? Do you remember when you were awake, and alarmed, because eternity's brightness will SHORTLY bring this whole world of darkened sinners to an unhappy and tormenting halt!? Do you remember when you felt unworthy to "die daily" (1 Cor. 15:31), enthralled to labor (Acts 20:24), and "rich toward God" (Luke 12:21), when the The Great Commission was a hallway of gold with doors of silver!? Do you remember when personal crucifixion was a "reasonable service" to you (Rom. 12:1-2)? Do you remember when religion was a whirlwind of glory in your heart, how that, you knew not how, but that you were taken in the power of its "WIND" (John 3:8)? Do you remember how, at one time, you were at loss for words of how enjoyable God is, and how you excitedly quoted the scripture - "joy UNSPEAKABLE and full of glory" (1 Pet. 1:8)!? "Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent" (Rev. 3:5). 

My reader, what saith the scripture? 
What is the eternal destiny of those who are Spiritually Sleeping? 

Ian Paisley spoke correctly - it was "The Church" which was SLEEPING, and the wake-up call was to them, but since "The Revival Hymn" did not successfully answer such questions like - What is spiritual sleep? How do we tell if we, personally, are spiritually sleeping? And what happens if we don't wake up? - the recording ends with the hearers at a loss for direction. Still drowsy from the long sleep, they become like virgins without oil for their lamplight, and without oil, how will they stay awake in the dark night of this world? "They that were foolish took their lamps, and took no oil with them" (Matt. 25:3). "The Revival Hymn" was like a flash of lightning that aroused multitudes into sudden consciousness, but we need the lights turned on, to stay on, till our eyes adjust to the light. We are too used to the darkness of sin, to iniquity abounding, to the love of many waxing cold, to the wretchedness of night! For most, emotions are seldom invigorated by holy visions of revival! Most are, rather, lost in the entertainment of their finite dreams...sleeping to all that is God, alert and affectionate to all that is vanity! Oh God have mercy!

None of these questions are clearly answered in "The Revival Hymn", so the hearer is left in a condition - not unmoved, but still in bed. The hearer is convicted of sin, but uncertain of the actual sin which needs to be repented of, and consequentially, uncertain of the fruits of righteousness which verify God's Divine acceptance of their repentance. If a man does not know what revival is, he does not know what sinful behavior (in heart or actual deed, in omission or commission) needs to be changed, therefore the hearer leaves with a false sense of security even though personal repentance and personal revival are yet out of hand. God would not give personal peace to the man who lacks personal revival, who is at present, spiritually asleep. God's trumpet-loud CRY to such a man is, "Awake thou that sleepest, and ARISE from THE DEAD, and Christ shall give thee LIGHT" (Eph. 5:14)! Jesus Christ is both Life and Light, and spiritual damnation is both death and darkness - therefore this charge in Ephesians 5:14, also quoted by Ian Paisley, is addressing a matter of eternal consequence in the life of a regenerate believer! Leonard Ravenhill recognized the woeful "false security" which hinders biblical revival. He said, "I believe that one main barrier to revival is false security." My reader, if your lamp has gone out because you have no oil, "go ye rather to them that sell, and buy for yourselves" while you still have time (Matt. 25:9). This is, by interpretation, forsaking foolishness and simplicity; it is learning wisdom and circumspection - to the end that you "make your calling and election SURE" (2 Pet. 1:10). My reader, I beg you, be SURE that you are awake, ready, watching, and received when "The Bridegroom cometh" (Matt. 25:1-13)!

My reader, let's face it! How many listen to "The Revival Hymn", and then walk away with a "false security"? It is because they don't really know what revival is - personally and corporately, and also on what grounds one would be condemned without it (Rev. 2:26, 3:2) or justified with it (James 2:24). "Many of us have no heartsickness for the former glory of the Church because we have never known what true revival is. We stagnate in the status quo and sleep easy at night while our generation moves swiftly to the eternal night of hell. Shame, shame on us!" - Leonard Ravenhill 

"God hath given them the spirit of slumber" - Romans 11:8 

"For the LORD hath poured out upon you the spirit of deep sleep, 
and hath closed your eyes..." - Isaiah 29:10 

My reader, did you know that God can, by Divine decree, put you to sleep? It is one thing for God to, as He said, "pour out of My Spirit upon all flesh", but it is another thing for God to, as Isaiah 29:10 states, "pour out upon you the spirit of deep sleep"! These two are, most certainly, not the same spirit, for one is LIGHT and the other is DARKNESS; one is LIFE and the other is DEATH. Therefore how valuable is the promise, "and Christ shall give thee LIGHT"...but we must meet the condition - "AWAKE thou that SLEEPEST" (Eph. 5:14)! My reader, has Christ given you light? 

When God puts a man to sleep, He sends them an evil spirit, "the spirit of slumber", and henceforth they have "eyes that they should not see, and ears that they should not hear" (Rom. 11:8). How terrifying! My reader, what if God, from Sovereign heights, included you in the number when He said - "Let their eyes be darkened, that they may not see, and bow down their back alway" (Rom. 11:10). My reader, this is a spiritual "FALL" (Rom. 11:11), a spiritual "cut off" (Rom. 11:22), a spiritual blinding (Rom. 11:7), a spiritual "casting away" (Rom. 11:15) if, when a man falls asleep he does not wake up from it! And we are in "The Last Days" - in which it was prophesied, "THEY ALL slumbered and slept" (Matt. 25:5). Do you want to be awake? Do you want to be wise? Do you want to be prepared with an oil-laden lamp for the "midnight" hour of your trial (Matt. 25:6)? My reader, count the cost.

"I am persuaded that these hidden powers and possibilities will be revealed only to humble, prostrate Christians, hungry for God and willing to shout from the housetops what God is saying in these days of religious chaos." - Leonard Ravenhill 

For more on the topic of Spiritual Darkness, alongside other spiritual metaphors which symbolize the need for personal revival, please continue reading in The Condescension of God. 

Related Sermons: "Spiritual Darkness" - by S.M.