THE WAY TO PERSONAL REVIVAL
1 John 1:5-7
Morning Meditation 5/25/17
Verse 5-7 says, “This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth: But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.”
For years I read about revival. The revival in Wales in 1904 was one of my favorites to read. Then I got hold of a little book on revival by Duncan Campbell where he told about the revival in the New Hebrides. My heart hungered to see something like that happen. It still does. But I have discovered that revival is utterly dependent on God’s sovereignty. God may not choose to give that kind of a revival. The time may not be right. There have not been many of those kinds of revival in the last 2000 years.
Then I got hold of a little book called The Calvary Road by Roy Hession and I must tell you the message of this book put revival in my reach. It was not only possible, it was necessary. It is the normal Christian life. There is no formula in that book. It is simple in presenting the Christian’s need to take the place of the sinner before the cross and take the provision of His forgiveness and walk in brokenness before the throne of grace.
That truth set me free. I’m not telling you I have arrived as Paul said in Philippians 3:12-14, “Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus. Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.”
I believe the secret of personal revival is set forth in the text. Let’s notice first,
IF WE WANT PERSONAL REVIVAL WE MUST BE WILLING TO COME TO THE LIGHT
John says, “God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.”
A SUMMARY OF THE DOCTRINE OF DARKNESS
1.Darkness is put for sin and the world system that is alienated from God; John 1:5.
2.The unsaved are said to love darkness rather than light; John 3:19.
3.Jesus came as the Light of the world to lead men out of darkness; John 8:12; 12:35.
4.The preaching of the gospel opens mens eyes and turns them from darkness to light; Acts 26:18.
5.Believers are not to have fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness; Eph. 5:11; 1 Cor. 6:14-18.
6.The believer is at war with Satan and the demonic forces of this world; Eph. 6:12-18; 2 Cor. 10:4-5.
7.The believer has been called out of darkness to walk into the light; 1 Pet. 2:9.
The believer in need of personal revival has for some reason, maybe unknown to him, fallen back into the darkness of this world. First, let me say I believe everyone who is saved has a personal relationship with Christ and is filled with the Holy Spirit at the point of salvation (Eph. 1:13). That joy may last for weeks or months. It is possible for it to last the rest of one’s life but not probable. Most of the time that initial joy, that overflow dies down, and the believer is left wondering what happened? He knows he is saved but does not know how to recapture that experience. This is what we called personal revival. It is recapturing that experience and walking in the overflow of a continuous fellowship with the risen Christ.
In order to have personal revival one must be willing to come to the light. One cannot walk in darkness and have fellowship with God at the same time. Strong language is used by John in this passage. He says, “If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth.” There is no way for personal revival to come without coming to the light. There is a fear of the light for the one in darkness. Just remember, the One to whom you come is Jesus who loves you and died for you on the cross. His mediatorial throne is a throne of grace. Hebrews 4:15-16 says, “For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.”
There is no other way to personal revival. I will not deal with the other ways that Christians try to recapture that initial experience. That will have to be dealt with at another time. We must come to the light. The next thing that must happen is,
IF WE WANT PERSONAL REVIVAL WE MUST BE WILLING TO DEAL WITH WHAT THE LIGHT REVEALS
The light exposes all the things that the darkness tried to keep from sight. When we come to the light, we begin to see that the problem is not with others it is with us. Others may do wrong but our wrong reactions to their wrong is as wrong as their wrong. Out walk with the Lord does not depend on others being right. It is a personal fellowship between the believer and his Lord.
Our text deals with those who “say” they have fellowship with Him. The words “if we say” translate “epo” and is an aorist active subjunctive verb. The aorist tense means to make a statement at a point of time. John is saying that it is wrong to even make a statement that we have fellowship with Him while we walk in darkness. Ones concept of God is totally wrong to make such a statement. God is light and in Him is no darkness at all. To suggest that God would have fellowship with one in darkness is to make Him less that what He is, i.e., HOLY.
There must be a reconciling factor for a holy God to fellowship with a sinning saint. It is the blood of Jesus. Just as we came to God through Jesus as a broken bankrupt sinner when we were saved, we must return to Him and the blood He shed for restoration.
What is coming to the light? It is coming to Him and allowing Him to deal with us concerning our sins. The light reveals what is wrong. We may have been blaming others for our sad condition. We may have gone from grace to works as some of the Christians in the churches of Galatia did (Gal. 3:1-3). For whatever reason, we do not enjoy the fellowship with the Lord we once had. One thing is for sure. We must come to the light and deal with what the light reveals because this is the way of cleansing. Holiness comes by way of cleansing. Roy Hession used to say, “You can’t be more right with God than the blood makes you.” At the point we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9).
There are two things said in this verse that stand out. God is “faithful” and “just.” This means first that God always keeps His word. If He tells you He will forgive you for the asking, you can count on Him being faithful to His promise. Second, He is just in doing it. I said before that God cannot fellowship with the darkness. God cannot give up His holiness to fellowship with the sinning saint. There has to be a way that God can be JUST in His fellowship with us. That way is the way of the blood of Christ. We must come to the light and agree with God (this is what the word confess means) about out sins. At the point that we agree with God about our sins, the blood cleanses and God is Just and the Justifier of him who believes in Christ (Rom. 3:26). We are gloriously restored to fellowship. Then next,
IF WE WANT PERSONAL REVIVAL WE MUST BE WILLING TO WALK IN THE LIGHT
Not only must we be willing to come to the light, and to deal with what the light reveals, but we must also walk in the light. What is it to walk in the light? It is to walk with transparency. It is a willingness to allow ones whole life to be under the spotlight of the Word of God. It is a willingness to confess sins in thought and deed on the spot and allow the blood to keep on cleansing us from sins as they come up. I am not talking about open confession before others. Sometimes that may be necessary where one has offended another party. That should certainly be dealt with. But we must cease to act like God is in the dark about what we are doing wrong. We must cease to profess that we have fellowship with Him when we have known sins in our lives that we are tolerating. We must come out with it. We must say, “God you are right. That is wrong and I confess it.” At that point He forgives you and His forgiveness also restores you.
God forgets what He forgives. Hebrews 10:17 says, “And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more.” Do you have a problem wanting to confess the same sin over again after He has promised to be “faithful and just” to forgive you and cleanse you from ALL UNRIGHTEOUSNESS? If God forgets what He forgives, who brings it back up? May I suggest two things? First, Satan will tell you that God didn’t really forgive you of the wrong. So he brings it back up to accuse God of lying. Second, unbelief in the truth of the verse. It is possible for a believer to be an unbelieving believer. Israel had enough faith to get them out of Egypt (this is salvation) but not enough to get them into Canaan (this is the life of victory). Examine your faith. Do you believe God means what He says? If so, listen to what He says, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” If you have been doubting what God says confess the doubt as sin and start believing Him.
There is a little chorus Roy Hession taught us:
It is surely sufficient for me,
It is surely sufficient for me
If the blood of Christ is sufficient for God,
It is surely sufficient for me.
Is the blood of Christ sufficient for you? If God is willing to rest His case against you, and forgive you of all your sins because of the blood of His dear Son, shouldn’t it be sufficient for you? What kind of value do you put on the blood’s power to make you right? Are you trying to get into the light a different way? I will tell you now, it won’t work. You cannot work you way into the light. Your denomination can’t get you into the light. Only truth with set you free. We have to be honest with God.. We must confess to Him what He already knows and start treating Him like God. Faith treats God like He is who He claims to be. That He has done for us what He has said in His Word. Faith takes the truth of the Bible as the Word of the invisible God to us today, and reckons it to be true. Then our experience with Him will be fellowship as we come to the light, deal with what the light reveals, and walk in the light so that there is continual fellowship and overflow.
May the Lord bless these words to our hearts.
In Christ
Bro. White
