Revival Sermon: To Know Him
A Sermon on Genesis 26:17-18
Scripture
17¶ And Isaac departed thence, and pitched his tent in the valley of Gerar, and dwelt there. 18And Isaac digged again the wells of water, which they had digged in the days of Abraham his father; for the Philistines had stopped them after the death of Abraham: and …
Sermon Description
Christians should pray Paul’s prayer in Ephesians 3:16–19 for themselves and for the church. In this sermon on Genesis 26:17–18 titled “Revival Sermon: To Know Him,” Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones explains how today’s church is like the Laodicean church, thinking they are rich when they are poor. All are blind to their true spiritual state. But, as Dr. Lloyd-Jones states, “we must have a true concern for the glory of God.” Preliminary to revival is a thirst for God. Dr. Lloyd-Jones reveals the church’s need for vital living water, much like the need of water Isaac had from the wells of Abraham. The church must be careful of serious hindrances to that flow of water such as dead orthodoxy, and the failure to seek God, to know God, and to apply the truth. Christians must also examine themselves in light of Scripture. There is a right and a wrong way of self-examination and one’s orthodoxy determines which way they will go. The Christian should never be depressed or miserable, but some Christians are because of a wrong self-examination. When a person truly knows Christ, their sins will drive them to Him, not further from Him. Dr. Lloyd-Jones concludes that this comes with a desperate need for prayer, for a person who is burdened is one who prays.
Sermon Breakdown
- The church today needs revival and the life of the spirit. We must face and remove hindrances to revival.
- A failure to believe essential Christian truths (lack of orthodoxy) hinders revival. Those God uses in revival believe cardinal Christian doctrines.
- Faulty or "dead" orthodoxy also hinders revival. Dead orthodoxy manifests in:
- General contentment and complacency.
- Fear and dislike of "enthusiasm" and quenching the Spirit.
- Failure to apply truth. We may listen to/read truth but never apply it. This is a great danger. We get superficial disturbances but never face the real situation.
- Failure to meditate on and think deeply about truth. We are too busy with activities. The test of depth and understanding is meditation.
- Lack of self-examination. We rarely examine ourselves in light of Scripture. Revivalists were astonished at themselves which led them to God.
- Wrong kind of self-examination (morbid introspection) can also hinder. We must examine ourselves according to Scripture which leads to good results.
- Failure to realize the glorious possibilities of the Christian life and our own poverty. We fail to realize what Paul describes in Ephesians 3 - the power of the Spirit, Christ dwelling in our hearts, being filled with the fullness of God. We are like the Laodiceans, thinking we are rich but are poor, blind and naked.
- Concern for our own happiness rather than knowing God. We want to be free of problems rather than know "the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings."
- Excluding experience and taking truth by faith alone. Faith is essential but should lead to experience of God. We are meant to know, not just believe, God.
- Lack of concern for God's glory. We are not grieved over how men fail to glorify God. The psalmists and revivalists were grieved over this.
- Lack of concern for lost souls. Do we have a "burden for souls"? If we believed people were dishonoring God and going to hell, it would burden us. But we are too busy to think about it.
- Lack of urgent, expectant prayer. True prayer comes from knowing God, zeal for His name, and compassion for souls. Whipped up or organized prayer is not real prayer.
Sermon Q&A
Lloyd-Jones Sermon Questions: Dead Orthodoxy and Revival
What does Martyn Lloyd-Jones identify as the wells that need to be "dug again" in the Christian church?
According to Lloyd-Jones, the wells that need to be dug again are the sources of "vital living water" - the life of the Spirit. He uses the story of Isaac re-digging Abraham's wells (Genesis 26:17-18) as a metaphor for the church needing to rediscover spiritual vitality. Modern "Philistines" have stopped these wells, creating hindrances to revival that must be identified and removed before we can expect God to send revival.
What is "dead orthodoxy" according to Lloyd-Jones and why is it dangerous?
Dead orthodoxy, according to Lloyd-Jones, is when Christians hold correct theological beliefs but lack spiritual vitality. It's dangerous because while being orthodox is essential, "to be orthodox alone is not enough." Dead orthodoxy becomes "not only useless but is even an obstacle" to revival. It manifests as contentment with superficial faith, fear of enthusiasm, failure to apply truth, and quenching the Spirit. This condition prevents Christians from experiencing God's power and presence.
How does Lloyd-Jones describe the failure to apply truth in Christian life?
Lloyd-Jones describes the failure to apply truth as "one of the most terrible dangers in connection with the christian life." Christians may listen to sermons or read Scripture and feel temporary conviction but never act on it. He says, "We may feel something during the service and we may say, well, now I'm going to deal with that. But then going out of the service we start talking to people... and it's gone." This superficiality leads to a Christianity that lacks depth and transformation.
What role does meditation play in spiritual revival according to Lloyd-Jones?
Lloyd-Jones emphasizes that meditation is "absolutely essential" for spiritual revival. He laments its disappearance from modern Christian practice: "Meditation played such a big part in their [historical Christians'] lives. They would spend hours thinking, meditating, ruminating upon the word. But this is something that has almost disappeared." He warns that being too busy with activities, even church activities, can harm one's soul, making it "superficial and dry and eventually useless." Revival requires taking time for deep spiritual reflection.
What is wrong with both the absence and misapplication of self-examination?
Lloyd-Jones warns against two extremes regarding self-examination. The absence of self-examination leads to superficial Christianity where people never confront their true spiritual condition. However, misapplied self-examination leads to morbidity and false introspection where people become "utterly paralyzed" by constantly dwelling on their unworthiness without moving to the remedy. The proper approach is to allow Scripture to search you, convict you, but then "to look to him and apply again the truth to yourself" through the doctrine of justification by faith.
What are the "glorious possibilities" of the Christian life that Lloyd-Jones says many believers fail to realize?
Lloyd-Jones points to Ephesians 3 and Philippians 3 to describe the glorious possibilities believers often miss: knowing Christ deeply, experiencing "the power of his resurrection," being "filled with all the fullness of God," and comprehending "the breadth and length and depth and height" of Christ's love. He laments that modern Christians rarely speak of intimate experiences with God - "manifestations of his love," "gracious visitation of the Spirit," or being "overwhelmed by a sense of the nearness" of Christ that historical Christians frequently described.
How does Lloyd-Jones compare modern Christians to the Laodicean church?
Lloyd-Jones says modern Christians, even evangelicals, are like the Laodiceans who said "I am rich and increased with goods and have need of nothing" but were actually "wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked." He warns that we evaluate ourselves by comparing to those who are "obviously wrong" rather than by biblical standards, leading to false contentment. We're "blind to our true spiritual state" and measure ourselves by activities rather than by our knowledge of God.
What does Lloyd-Jones identify as the true test of Christian growth?
The true test of Christian growth is not busyness or activity but knowledge of God. Lloyd-Jones states: "The test of a Christian is not his busyness and his activity. It is his knowledge of God. It is his knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ." He critiques Christians who are "turning round and round in a circle" rather than "pressing forward toward the mark" like Paul, who desired to know Christ more deeply regardless of his past achievements. True Christianity is seeking God himself rather than merely working for him.
What does it mean to have a "burden for souls" according to Lloyd-Jones?
Having a "burden for souls" goes beyond supporting missions or being annoyed by sin. It means having "a grief in your heart and in your mind because of the state of the unbeliever." Lloyd-Jones asks, "Does the thing press upon us?" He suggests that if we truly believed people were dishonoring God and headed for hell, we would feel a profound burden that drives us to prayer. He notes that many Christians will attend large meetings but avoid prayer meetings, revealing a lack of genuine burden.
What does Lloyd-Jones identify as the "essential preliminary to revival"?
The essential preliminary to revival is "a thirst for God, a thirst, a living thirst for a knowledge of the living God, and a longing and a burning desire to see him acting, manifesting himself and his power and rising and scattering his enemy." Lloyd-Jones emphasizes that revival has always been preceded by people who realize their spiritual poverty, who are no longer content with superficial knowledge of God, and who have a deep desire to see God's glory manifested in power.
Revival Sermons
Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones
Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones (1899-1981) was a Welsh evangelical minister who preached and taught in the Reformed tradition. His principal ministry was at Westminster Chapel, in central London, from 1939-1968, where he delivered multi-year expositions on books of the bible such as Romans, Ephesians and the Gospel of John. In addition to the MLJ Trust’s collection of 1,600 of these sermons in audio format, most of these great sermon series are available in book form (including a 14 volume collection of the Romans sermons), as are other series such as "Spiritual Depression", "Studies in the Sermon on the Mount" and "Great Biblical Doctrines". He is considered by many evangelical leaders today to be an authority on biblical truth and the sufficiency of Scripture.