John 3:27
What We Need Must Come from Heaven
Revival starts next week. Twice a year, we set aside a few extra nights for
some extra services that we dub, REVIVAL SERVICES. Why? The goal is to pull
ourselves apart from the world for a few days—from the television, the rigors
of home life, the daily demands that beckon us—and to concentrate on spiritual
things. Unfortunately, in this day and time, instead of pulling away from the
world, most of us just add the revival services to an already over-crowded list
of activities. As a result, we experience no true revival and we are more
physically and spiritually drained at the end of the week than when it started.
church.
What we need must come from heaven.
Most Christians fail to see how difficult it is to stay close to God in the world
that we live in.
1. I am a Christian.
2. I have been saved for over 37 years.
3. Most of those years, I have pastored a church, read the Bible through
regularly, and been faithful in attendance and service.
4. Typically, I must prepare to speak from the Bible four times each week and
have done so consistently for about 33 of those 37 years.
Yet, I find it difficult to stay close to God.
1. I stay saved.
2. I prepare and preach messages.
3. I read my Bible with some consistence.
4. But I struggle to stay close to God.
What we need must come from heaven.
I confess this to you because I want you to understand that staying close to
God is not being religious in your activities.
1. Staying close to God is having a fresh relationship with God everyday.
2. Staying close to God is feeling the presence of God on you.
3. Staying close to God is experiencing an excitement and joy to be in His
presence.
4. Staying close to God is knowing that God is with you not just because
your head tells you so but because your heart tells you so.
What we need must come from heaven.
So what do we need?
1. What we need to be shown that we are not close to God.
2. What we need to be shown our need to stay close to God.
3. What we need to stay close to God.
I. We need a fresh word from God.
A. Throughout the history of mankind, God has spoken.
1. God spoke to Adam, to Cain, to Noah, to Abraham, to Isaac, to
Jacob, to Moses, to Joshua, to Elijah, to Elisha, to Peter, to
Paul, to John, and to many others.
2. Sometimes God spoke in an audible voice.
3. Today, God seems to speak most often to the heart.
a. Maybe through a sermon…
b. …a song…
c. …an incident.
What we need must come from heaven!
B. Regardless of how God spoke, whenever He did, things happened.
1. When God speaks, man becomes very aware of Him.
a. Mankind has a tendency to forget about God.
(1) Most people live their life as if God does not exist.
(2) That is not to say that most people do not believe in God
because I believe most do.
(3) That is just the way they live.
(4) Today is the Lord’s Day, but most have not thought about
God.
(a) Men will be on the river but not in church.
(b) Ladies will be shopping but not worshipping.
(c) Their children are fulfilling their pleasures and not
the will of God.
(5) Most of these people are not bad people.
(6) They have just forgotten about God.
b. Even Christians forget God; hopefully not in the same way that
a lost person forgets God, but we forget Him none the less.
(1) We forget to adore and love Him.
(2) We forget to spend time with Him.
(3) We forget what He has done for us.
(4) We forget His ownership of us.
(5) We forget our pledge to live for Him.
(6) We forget to serve Him.
(7) God is out of our sight and out of our minds.
What we need must come from heaven!
c. But God speaks, we suddenly become very aware of God.
(1) Like the men on the road to Emmaus. As God spoke to them
their hearts burned within them.
(2) You remember what it was like when God last spoke to you.
(3) You felt the presence of God in your heart.
(a) Maybe you wept.
(b) Maybe you rejoiced.
(c) Maybe you repented.
(d) But the fire that burned within you moved you to do
something.
(e) I know that because when God speaks, you feel some
thing and that some thing moves you to respond.
(4) Feeling His presence, you made some commitments to Him.
(a) For a time, no chore He asked seemed too heavy or
hard.
(b) You started reading your Bible, praying more
regularly, maybe you picked up a few tracts, maybe
you started tithing.
(c) God was real to you and you wanted to please Him.
(6) You felt His presence on you when you prayed, when you
read the Bible, when you drove to work, when you talked
with others—He was there in every aspect of your life.
What we need must come from heaven!
d. \\#1Kings 19:1-18\\ Elijah heard God speak.
(1) Elijah had just completed a great task for God, but some-
where along the way he had lost the fresh word of God’s
voice.
(2) Now, even this mighty, miracle worker of God, was
discouraged, scared, and lonely.
(3) Then God spoke.
(a) Elijah won’t run any more.
(b) Elijah won’t complain.
(c) Elijah won’t hide.
(d) Elijah doesn’t seem discouraged.
(4) The Bible doesn’t tell us, but it appears that receiving
the fresh word from God revived Elijah.
(a) Perhaps the revival was not as dramatic as I am
thinking.
(b) However, according to Unger’s dates, Elijah went on
to minister powerfully for the Lord for another 10
years.
(c) Why? Because Elijah got a fresh word from God.
What we need must come from heaven!
2. When God speaks, man becomes aware of himself.
a. I am reminded of what Isaiah said when he had a vision of the
Lord.
(1) Isaiah wrote the following:
Isaiah 6:5 Then said I, Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of
unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine
eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts.
(2) Isaiah heard a fresh word from God and saw himself as he
really was.
b. Daniel had a similar experience.
Daniel 8:27 And I Daniel fainted, and was sick certain days; afterward I rose
up, and did the king’s business; and I was astonished at the vision, but none
understood it.
c. And John the Apostle.
Rev 1:17 And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead. And he laid his right
hand upon me, saying unto me, Fear not; I am the first and the last:
d. These men had a fresh word from God and suddenly, they realized
somethings about themselves.
(1) They saw themselves as sinners.
(a) Of course, we always are; but somehow, after a period
of time, that doesn’t seem so bad.
(b) After all, everyone is a sinner.
(c) Nobody can undo that.
(d) But then God speaks and we see ourselves anew.
i. We remember the battle we are in.
ii. We realize how hard we must fight.
iii. We determine we will not slumber any longer but
awaken to the challenge to live a victorious
life.
What we need must come from heaven!
(2) They saw themselves unclean.
(a) To be unclean before God is to be useable to God.
(b) When God speaks, we go from the place of not thinking
about Him to wanting to serve Him, but then we see
how unclean we are.
(c) We see the pettiness in our lives, the many ways we
displease Him, the many times He asked of us some
small thing but we failed Him.
(d) As painful as that awareness is, we need it in order
to stay humble and to stay close to God.
What we need must come from heaven!
(3) They saw themselves as being far from God.
(a) As we start to see ourselves, we start to see just
how far from God we really are.
(b) At long last, we begin to see that we were never that
devoted to our Christ.
(c) We begin to wonder that God would love us.
(d) We begin to marvel afresh at His grace and mercy.
(e) Our self-righteousness fades and a spirit of
brokenness replaces it.
(f) A spirit that God can use.
(g) It is pretty easy to become a self-satisfied with
ourselves until we get that fresh word from God;
but after that, even the best of our righteousness
looks like filthy rags.
What we need must come from heaven!
II. We need a fresh appreciation of the Son.
A. It is hard to say but in these times and in this world, even what the
precious Son of God did for us can become "ordinary."
1. That is extremely distasteful to say but you and I know it is true.
2. No one can backslide until they lose sight of how precious Jesus is;
yet, we have all backslide before.
3. Like losing the sound of God’s voice so we can lose the
appreciation of what Jesus has done.
What we need must come from heaven!
B. I don’t understand how that can happen.
1. To lose the appreciation of Jesus leaving the heavens.
2. To lose the appreciation of Jesus leaving His divine attributes.
3. To lose the appreciation of Jesus becoming a human.
4. To lose the appreciation of Jesus walking among sin and sinners.
5. To lose the appreciation of Jesus’ love, mercy, kindness, and
power.
6. To lose the appreciation of Jesus being arrested, beaten, and
mocked.
7. To lose the appreciation of Jesus crucified upon a cross.
8. To lose the appreciation of Jesus, hanging on that cross, bearing
my sins and your sins, suffering in our place, taking our shame!
9. To lose the appreciation of Jesus dying for our sins, paying our
penalty, enduring our hell.
10. To lose the appreciation of being made righteous with His righteous
nature.
11. To lose the appreciation of being adopted into His family.
12. To lose the appreciation of being made a co-heir with the only
begotten Son of God.
13. To lose the appreciation of having a mansion prepared for us in
heaven.
14. To lose the appreciation of being indwelt with the Holy Spirit.
15. To lose the appreciation of being allowed to serve the King of
kings.
C. I don’t understand how that can happen, but I know that it does!
What we need must come from heaven!
1. It has happened to me and some in this very sanctuary are in that
same condition right now!
a. Has it happened to you?
b. How well can you see Jesus right now?
c. How much does what He did for you mean?
d. How real are His stripes to you?
e. Can you hear the thud of the hammer pounding the nails?
f. Can you hear the His grown of pain?
g. Can you see the blood dripping from His broken body?
What we need must come from heaven!
2. We need a fresh appreciation of the living Son of God and what He
has done for us.
D. God knew that it was man’s tendency to lose the appreciation of what
He had done.
1. God told Moses it would happen.
Deuteronomy 4:25 When thou shalt beget children, and children’s children, and
ye shall have remained long in the land, and SHALL corrupt yourselves, and make
a graven image, or the likeness of any thing, and SHALL do evil in the sight of
the LORD thy God, to provoke him to anger:
2. That is the reason, I believe, that the Lord gave us the Lord’s
Supper along with its command, "As oft as ye do this, do it in
remembrance of me."
3. But, for some, even that special service is not enough.
What we need must come from heaven!
I Need Thee, Precious Jesus
by Frederick Whitfield
I need Thee, precious Jesus,
For I am full of sin;
My soul is dark and guilty,
My heart is dead within.
I need the cleansing fountain
Where I can always flee,
The blood of Christ most precious,
The sinner’s perfect plea.
I need Thee, precious Jesus,
For I am very poor;
A stranger and a pilgrim,
I have no earthly store.
I need the love of Jesus
To cheer me on my way,
To guide my doubting footsteps,
To be my strength and stay.
I need Thee, precious Jesus,
I need a friend like Thee,
A friend to soothe and pity,
A friend to care for me.
I need the heart of Jesus
To feel each anxious care,
To tell my every trouble,
And all my sorrows share.
I need Thee, precious Jesus,
I need Thee, day by day,
To fill me with Thy fullness,
To lead me on my way;
I need Thy Holy Spirit,
To teach me what I am,
To show me more of Jesus,
To point me to the Lamb.
I need Thee, precious Jesus,
And hope to see Thee soon,
Encircled with the rainbow
And seated on Thy throne.
There, with Thy blood bought children,
My joy shall ever be,
To sing Thy praises, Jesus,
To gaze, O Lord, on Thee.
http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/I_Need_Thee,_Precious_Jesus
This message is not finished, but I am going to stop. There is one point to be
made from the words preached today. That point is that what we need must come
from heaven.
1. We cannot see ourselves as we are without it.
2. We cannot see our need without it.
3. And we certainly cannot stay close to God without it.
Will you seek heaven?
Will you petition God that heaven might come down?
Will you make yourself available to God?
Will you experience a heaven sent revival?
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