Rivers of Revival | Part 1

From the Love Worth Finding studios in Memphis, Tennessee, I'm Byron Tyler, here with the CEO of Love Worth Finding, Kerry Vaughn. Kerry, today Adrian Rodgers, a message rivers of revival. Great sermon and great time of year for this message. You know, you still have time if you're listening today and you want to give to Love Worth Finding, or maybe you've not had the opportunity to make your calendar year-end gift. We just want to thank you in advance for doing that. I want to point you to the way that we've done it. You can go to our website, lwf.org.

Always time to give, always time to partner with Love Worth Finding. Well, the LWF listening family has been so faithful in 2020, and we can't thank you enough for continuing to give, because we're able to get responses like this. Listening to Pastor Rodgers sounds like listening to your father. You can tell he really cares and wants everyone to know God's Word. His messages are still so relevant.

It's like he's living through the what's going on in our world today. Oh, yeah, it's timeless truths, right? It's Isaiah 55 11. My word will not return void, but it will accomplish that which I please.

I mean, that is the ministry of Love Worth Finding. Kerry, people often ask the question, how can I experience revival in my own life? Imagine a man who has been stranded in the desert for several days without food or water. With great difficulty, he makes his way back to civilization. At the edge of town, someone offers to him transportation, maybe housing, money. But the man who has survived in the desert cries out, give me water. Please just give me water. His lips are parched and bleeding. His tongue is swollen.

He knows he has to have water and food or he's going to die. And I think we have to get to that point spiritually, don't we? As Matthew 5 6 says, blessed are they who hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled. Absolutely.

That's wonderful. And I think, you know, are we tenacious? Are we assertive? Are we aggressive about the things of God? Do we go for God? Right. Where's the faith and fervency that we chase after God? Daniel said it this way, that I set my face towards God. Right.

That's a little bit different than just praying, setting your face towards God. But that's what we're talking about. There is a there is an eagerness. Right.

And you can't get enough. And that's what this message talks about. And that reminds me of Adrian Rogers saying revival never begins without God's people humbling themselves. That's exactly right. And I think revival can begin in us. Right. I mean, I think sometimes we look at other people or other organizations or other countries.

I think it starts in us. And humility has to be a big part of that. Well, with Rivers of Revival, here's Adrian Rogers. Turn to the Old Testament, Ezekiel 47. The title of the message today is Rivers of Revival. Now, we're praying for, planning for, hoping for, and looking for revival. We're expecting God to do something supernatural in our midst, not only corporately as a church, but in your life and in your home and with your associates. Now, there are three categories of people in every church, at least three. There are those who make things happen. Then there are those who watch things happen. And then there are those who don't even know anything is happening.

Now, I'm afraid that we have all three groups here today. There are those here today who say, Oh, God, begin a mighty revival and send it through me. There are others who will come Sunday by Sunday and say, I wonder how it's going.

You'll say, Well, that one's good. Are they doing thus and such? And you become a Sunday morning spectator thinking that perhaps some way you've done God a wild favor by getting here. You call this the service. This is not the service, the service when you walk out those doors and begin to serve the Lord. This is just getting ready to serve the Lord. And then there'll be some who will not have a clue. They've come here this morning and for appearances because somebody invited them or out of habit. But they really will not understand what is going on. We're talking about rivers of revival.

And I want you to be in that first category in a moment. We're going to read some scripture from Ezekiel chapter forty seven. But I want to set up the scripture by giving you a passage in the New Testament. Now, I'm not going to ask you to turn to that. Of course, you can if you want to in John chapter seven, verse thirty seven and following.

But here's what happened. There was a feast of the Jews called the Feast of Tabernacles. It was the tenth feast in the Jewish year and it was a feast of great joy, great exhilaration. And the climax of that feast, the last day of that feast, the priest would go down to a pool called the Pool of Siloam. He would take a golden flask, fill it with water, go back to the temple there by the altar. He would pour out the water by the altar and the people would begin to shout and to praise God. The trumpets would sound. The Talmud said, He who has not seen rejoicing at the drawing of the water has never seen rejoicing.

They were exhilarated. Now, right in the middle of all of this was Jesus Christ. Now, all of these Old Testament symbols were about Christ.

Now, learn that. All of these Old Testament symbols, these feasts, all of it, it's about Jesus. And there he was, the water of life, standing in their midst. They didn't recognize him.

They didn't know who he was. And so the Bible says in John chapter seven, verses thirty seven and following, in the midst of the feast. Listen, Jesus stood and cried. Now, he had to speak with a voice loud enough that all the multitudes could hear him. Jesus stood and shouted. That's what it means.

And here's what he said. If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink. As they were pouring out that sparkling water, it all symbolized the Lord Jesus Christ.

But Jesus knew that these people who were full of exhilaration, these people who were full of religious fervor, these people who were full of excitement, would go back to the same old fears, the same old foibles, the same old failures, and after the enthusiasm of the moment had died, they would go back to their old way of life. Jesus understood that what they need is not to come to a service and get their cup filled, but to become a river of living water. You know, people go from Bible conference to Bible conference to get the cup filled. Well, you don't have to keep going to get your cup filled if you've got a river inside of you. Jesus said, out of his innermost being shall flow a river of living water.

I mean, it makes it clear. He's speaking of the Holy Spirit. Now, you, friend, are to be a river of revival, a one man, a one woman, a one boy, a one girl, a river of revival. Revival power is to be flowing through you. Now, Jesus said, as the Scripture has said, out of his innermost being shall flow rivers of living water.

We don't find that exact text in the Old Testament, but we find the illustration in the Old Testament, and it is in Ezekiel chapter 47, and so I want you to begin reading with me from the Word of God, and we're going to read the first five verses. Afterward, he brought me again unto the door of the house. Now, the house he's speaking of is the temple. And behold, the waters issued out from under the threshold of the house eastward, for the forefront of the house stood toward the east, and the waters came down from the right side of the house, at the south side of the altar. Then brought he me out of the way of the gate northward, and led me about the way without unto the utter gate, by the way that looketh eastward. And behold, there ran out waters on the right side. And when the man that had the line in his hand went forth eastward, he measured a thousand cubits, and he brought me through the waters.

The waters were to the ankles. Again he measured a thousand, and brought me through the waters, and the waters were to the knees. Again he measured a thousand and brought me through the waters, and the waters were to the loins. Afterward he measured a thousand, And it was a river that I could not pass over, for the waters were risen, waters to swim in, a river that could not be passed over."

Now, that may sound very convoluted and difficult, but we're going to break it down a little bit and you're going to find out that it applies to you personally because Jesus said if you thirst and come to him, out of you will flow a river of living water. Now, the illustration here in Ezekiel is the temple of God, the Old Testament temple. Now, he's using supernatural symbolism here about something that is happening from the temple. He's not talking about the literal temple here.

There is a greater spiritual lesson. Now, what you need to understand is, friend, you are a temple of God. The Old Testament temple was only an illustration of the Christian. You see, listen, in the Old Testament, God had a temple for his people. In the New Testament, he has a people for his temple. You are the temple of God. That's what Paul had to say in 1 Corinthians 6, verse 19.

What? Don't you know that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost who dwells in you? That's what Jesus was talking about. Out of his innermost being, out of the temple will flow rivers of living water. There is a river of revival that should be flowing through me. As I studied this and prayed over it, I thought, dear God, make my life a river of revival. Lord, I want to be a river of refreshment to those who are around me.

I don't want anybody to come in contact with me, but what that somehow they're touched with me. Now, I want us to notice three major thoughts this morning. And first of all, I want us to notice what I'm going to call the mysterious source of the river. The mysterious source of the river. This river comes, first of all, from under the threshold.

Look, if you will, in verse 1, Ezekiel 47, verse 1, and you'll find out that this river comes from under the threshold. Now, how high is the threshold? Well, about that high. And the water flows out from under the threshold.

Now, what's the idea? It's about as low as you can get. Under the threshold. Now, you are the temple, and this water is to be flowing out of you from under the threshold. This river has a humble source. Listen to me, church. Revival never begins without God's people humbling themselves. God's people on their face before God. Let me ask you a question. Have you really, honestly, truly been broken and humbled before God?

Are you right now? We strut into the presence of God. We sit heady high-minded and unbent and unbroken. Sometimes we pray, oh, Lord, humble me. I wouldn't pray that for myself. I want to humble myself before God.

That's what the Bible says, humble yourselves before God, and he will lift you up. This river comes from a humble source, and it comes from a holy source. It flows past the altar.

You see it there in the Word of God? It flows right past the altar. Now, what is the altar? The altar was a place where the blood was shed. What does that blood shed in the Old Testament speak of? The blood of Jesus Christ. 1 John 1, verse 9, for the blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, cleanses us from all sin. You see, if you want to be a river of blessing, you've got to be humble and you've got to be holy.

Again, I want to ask you this question. Not only are you humble this morning, but are you holy? That seems to be a word that we don't like anymore, holy, holier than thou, holy Joe.

And it's a sort of pejorative, but it's not taken out of the Word of God. We are to be holy, and the only way to be holy is to let your water flow past the altar for cleansing. And let it be a holy flow, and then it's a heated flow. If you look there in the Bible again, you'll find out that the waters float out toward the east.

The east is where the sun would come up and heat the morning chill. And it flowed from the south side of the altar. That's the sunny side of the altar. Again, if we do business with God, we're going to have to say, well, God, give me a hot heart.

Give me a concern. Lord, may this river that flows out of me may come from a sunny side of my disposition. You know, people come to a church like this and they want to know, do we really love Jesus? Can they see it? Can they sense it? I'm talking about a holy glow.

I'm talking a warm-hearted flow that comes out of us. Bobby Burns was a noted Scotch poet. He got depressed one day, and he felt, I need to go to church. I need to get my spirits lifted. And he found a little church and walked in, and it was deader than last Tuesday. There was no joy, no victory, no shouts, no warmth, no welcome.

He just felt further depressed. He opened the hymn book and scribbled these words on the inside cover. As cold a wind as ever blue, as cold a church and in it but few, as cold a minister as ever spack, you'll all be hot ere I come back. Now, this is the mysterious source of the river. It comes from under the threshold. It goes past the altar. It comes from the sunny side, and the river is this wonderful river. It's mysterious.

Here's the second thing. I want you to notice what I'm going to call the marked course of the river. Let's see where the river flows in Ezekiel 47, 2 through 5. And he brought me out by the way of the gate northward, and led me about the way without, unto the utter gate by the way that looketh eastward. And behold, there ran out waters on the right side. And when the man that had the line in his hand went forth eastward, he measured a thousand cubits, and he brought me through the waters. The waters were to the ankles. Again he measured a thousand and brought me through the waters. The waters were to the knees. Again he measured a thousand and brought me through the waters. The waters were to the loins, that is the waist. And afterward he measured a thousand, and there was a river that I could not pass over. For the waters were risen, waters to swim in that could not be passed over. river.

Now, what is happening? This humble flow, this holy flow, this heated flow that comes out, it becomes an ever deepening, ever enlarging river. It's a supernatural river because there are no tributaries. The Mississippi River is a mighty river because though it starts with a trickle, there are many tributaries that come into the Mississippi. But this river has no tributaries and yet it supernaturally begins to grow in width and it grows in depth. And there's a man with a measuring line and he begins to measure the river and sound it for depth.

And he's doing it in about 500 yard increments. And he measures 500 yards and the water now is cascading enough that a man could wade in it and get up ankle deep. That speaks to me of walking in the Spirit. And then the water gets deeper.

It gets to the knees. That speaks to me of praying in the Spirit. Then another 500 yards, the water begins to deepen and the water is waisty. That speaks of strength in the Spirit. The loins are spoken of in the Bible as the center of your strength and it is today for a wrestler. And the water is up here to the thighs and the loins.

And then finally, 500 more yards and the river is so deep, the waters are so forceful, you couldn't pass through it. Just waters that you're swept up in, waters that you're carried along by. I'm not talking about false enthusiasm.

The Spirit of the prophet is subject unto the prophet. Some people say, well, I was just swept away. I'm not talking about that kind of being swept away.

I'm talking about a genuine Holy Spirit control of your life where you step into the water of revival or the water of revival is flowing out of you. It is getting ever wider, ever deeper what a mighty force this river is. You know, you can't stop a river. If you dam it up, what will happen? Well, it'll just rise up and overflow the dam in the countryside. You throw rocks into the river.

What does it care? You cannot stop a river. The only place that you can stop a river is at its source. And ladies and gentlemen, the only thing that can stop the river of revival in your life, listen now, is you.

Did you hear that? The only thing that can stop the river of revival in your life is you. Nobody can stop a river unless they stop it at the source. This is a supernatural river. Jesus said, out of his innermost beings shall flow rivers of living water. And where do the waters flow?

First of all, they flow to the depressed places. The water starts up here at the temple and verse 8 tells us that these waters go down into the desert and into the sea. They go down, down, down.

The temple mount, 2,700 feet above sea level. But as you turn eastward, the topography changes and you go down and down and down. And about that time the God will say, we've just gotten below sea level.

Everybody close the windows of the bus. And you go down and down and down and down. And finally, you come to the lowest place on the face of the earth, right there at the Dead Sea, 1,300 feet below sea level. These waters go from the mountain place down into the depressed places. We live in a land of depressed people. There are people today who are up against it. They don't know what to do. The people who have loved ones who are sick, the people who are out of work, the people who are having domestic scraps, the people who are having wayward children. There are people who are confused and perplexed and unsatisfied and fearful. They are depressed.

And it's not going to do you any good just to say, buck up, do better. There needs to be such a supernatural river flowing out of you into those depressed places that you will be a river of revival to these people. But not only does the river flow into the depressed places, it flows into the desert places. Now, the Bible says there in verse 8, these waters go down to the desert.

That's the Judean desert, the Arabah. Nothing much grows there. A few little scrubby things, but there's no real fruit. There's no real flower. There's no real succulents. There's no real fruitfulness there.

And there's so many who are not depressed, but they're living desert lives, parched lives. They don't know the joy that you know. They don't know joy unspeakable and full of glory.

They don't have the answers to life that you have. You know, it dawned on me the other day, Adrian, you are always looking at life through the lens of the Bible and through Jesus Christ. And then I had to stop and say, what would it be like if you did not have the ability to see life through the lens of the Bible and through Jesus Christ? Friend, I'm not saying that you ought to get drunk. But I tell you what, if I didn't know Jesus, I think I'd get drunk and stay drunk.

Now, don't say the pastor thinks he's going to get drunk. But what I'm saying is this, what hope is there? What future is there?

How are you going to put all this puzzle together? All you have hope is, is getting sicker and sicker and sicker and then going into the ground dying and rotting. Desert, dryness, fruitlessness. And not only do the waters go down to the depressed places and the desert places and the dry places, these waters go down to the deadly places. Verse 8 says, they flow into the sea. Now that sea is the sea I told you about a little while ago. It's the Dead Sea. No fish in there because it is a deadly place.

Now friend, not only are there people around us who are depressed, and not only are there people around us who are dry, but there are people around us who are dying and going to hell. There is a place of death. I'm not talking about overseas.

I'm talking about next door. I'm talking about the people that you work with. They are living a life of death. The wages of sin is death. The soul that sinneth it shall surely die.

She that liveth in pleasure is dead while she lives. How are these people going to have life? A river of life has to flow out of you. Do you care? Does it make any difference to you that souls are dying?

People are slipping out through the jaws of death into a Christless eternity and many of them are dead while they live. Do you care? Is there something about your life that will help to change their life? Will you touch their life? This is the force of the river.

It flows into the deadly places. And with that, we'll end today's portion of this important message, Rivers of Revival. You'll hear Part 2 tomorrow. I hope you can join us then. In the meantime, maybe you have a prayer request you'd like to share. At Love Worth Finding, it's one of our greatest honors to come alongside you and pray with you. If you can, go to the website homepage, lwf.org slash radio, and scroll down to find our prayer wall. You'll find the option to either submit a request or pray for others. This resource is one of our favorite ways to keep the ministry and the community praying continually for one another's needs.

We can't wait to hear from you. Again, lwf.org slash radio, and scroll down to our prayer wall. Well, thanks for studying in God's Word with us today. Remember these words from Pastor Rogers, revival never begins without God's people humbling themselves. Are you preparing yourself for God to start a revival in you? We hope you'll join us for the conclusion of this powerful message tomorrow, right here on Love Worth Finding.