nee Havner
a i Ideality ‘ 7 ttea*t& though it were normal. The New Testament sets a high standard for church-members and it is not imperfection! But if a preacher preaches that standard, he will soon hear somebody complain: “Nobody could be that good. According to that preaching, there isn’t a Christian in town!”
to which our hearts are unresponsive suddenly become living. Whereas mind and conscience may assent to truth, when revival comes, obedience to the truth is the one thing that matters.” There is no substitute for a real work of God that convicts Christians of sins of omission, commission, dis position . . . and permission, the things we tolerate as well as the things we practice. A genuine revival causes Christians to stop doing what they should not do and to start doing what they should do. We are afraid to deal with sins in the church today. We call it the negative approach, we say that it encourages morbid introspec tion. We say that it causes more trouble than it cures. According to our reasoning, Israel should not have dealt with Achan, Paul should not have pointed out Jezebel in Thyatira. We accept the status quo in our church life. It may be true that most church members do not intend to be any better, and that they are not interested in revival, in the deeper Christian life, in the souls of men. Three-fourths of the members of the average church do not think that a revival meeting is worth attending. But shall we resign ourselves to such a situation and lower our standards! It is equally true that most sinners will not receive the Gospel but we preach it anyway. Just because we face, on Sunday mornings, hundreds of church people who refuse the Lordship of Christ and who live at terms with the world, the flesh and the devil there is no reason for our revising our message. It is all the more reason for crying aloud and sparing not. This is no day for trumpets with an uncertain sound. I read of a battle in which the flag was carried far in advance of the lagging troops. An officer enquired of his superior, “ Shall we bring the flag back to the regiment?” “No!” came the thunderous reply, “Make the regiment catch up with the flag!” The New Testament standard is far ahead of most church-members today, but it is up to us to catch up with the flag. We have reached a crossroad. Shall we accept present conditions and adjust to the low level of our church life or shall we advance to the Scriptural level, calling not only for a regenerated but also for a dedicated member ship? Such a stand might mean dropping statistically below some other religious body that would rather be bigger than better? The ground we might lose statistically would be gained spiritually. It might even be, as in the early church when sin was dealt with in the case of Ananias and Sapphira, that while some would fear to join such a church, multitudes might be added to the Lord. Of course, such a revival can come only by the work of the Holy Spirit. Carnal probing into people’s lives, harsh denunciations from the pulpit, efforts to force conviction and confession of sin, will do more harm than good. But just because it is dangerous when attempted without the Holy Spirit we are not excused from under taking it at all. Nor can we shirk the responsibility by saying that revival is entirely the work of the Holy Spirit. We are His agents and we have the responsibility of cooperating. ( Concluded on Page 48)
True revival is a return to normal, healthy New Testa ment Christianity. Most church-members are satisfied to be sick and sub-normal. When they are exhorted to return to normal, they act as though the normal were abnormal. Not only are millions of church-members unsaved but multitudes more, if they are believers at all, certainly are not disciples. Between making believers of unbeliev ers and disciples of believers, we have plenty of work cut out for us on any Sunday morning among church mem bers alone. Evangelistic campaigns to reach the great masses of unchurched are great and glorious undertakings but revival like judgment must begin at the house of God. In Revelation our Lord called upon five of the seven churches in Asia to repent. It was His last message to the churches and it is the last thing the churches are willing to do. We will go to conventions, put on drives, tithe, and go church-visiting; we will not repent. Instead, we build gigantic religious empires, majoring on size instead of sort. It is possible to do amazing things by organization and promotion and still not have revival. It is possible to build hundreds of new churches, to take in thousands of new members, and to raise millions of dollars without having revival. It can be done by American efficiency methods under religious auspices. That being true, many will ask, “ Then why have revivals? Is THAT not re vival?” No, it simply means that we have filled churches, for the most part, with a multitude of Sunday-moming Christians, professing Christ as Saviour without obeying Him as Lord. It is quantitative but not qualitative. The best definition of revival I have read was given by Charles G. Finney. He said: “ Revival is the renewal of first love of Christians resulting in the conversion of sinners to God. It presupposes that the chinch is back slidden and it means conviction of sin and a searching of heart among God’s people. Revival is nothing less than a new beginning of obedience to God, a breaking of heart and getting down in the dust before Him with deep humility and forsaking of sin. A revival breaks the power of the world and of sin over Christians. The charm of the world is broken and the power of sin is overcome. Truths
Dr. Havner’s helpful articles appear from time to time in the pages of “ The King’s Business” . Regular readers will be glad to learn that other stimulating messages are scheduled for release in future issues.
JULY. 1959
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