1. I have been praying regularly for revival.  May I ask you to join me?
2. I heard a stirring lecture on the 1904 Welsh revival the other day.  Evan Roberts, the leader of the revival, summed up his message in four parts:
      “1. Confess all known sin.
        2. Deal with and get rid of anything ‘doubtful’ in your life. 
        3. Be ready to obey the Holy Spirit instantly. 
        4. Confess Christ publicly.”
3. James Alexander Stewart, in his book, Preparation for Pentecost, gives 76 Scriptural definitions of revival.
4. We do not have time for all of them, but here are a few:

• Revival is the manifestation of the supernatural.
• Revival is the people of God filled with the awe and majesty of the Shekinah glory.  (Note: the presence of God.)
• Revival is the sovereign, supernatural, spontaneous outworking of God the Holy Spirit.
• Revival is the Church scattered, going everywhere preaching the Word.
• Revival is the saints of God agonizing on behalf of lost souls going to hell.
• Revival is the restoration of the backslider of the thrill, glory, power, and joy of his salvation.
• Revival is the breaking forth of God’s glory.
• Revival is the people of God living in the power of an ungrieved, unquenched Spirit.
• Revival is the Church of God filled with all the fulness of God.
• Revival is walking in the light, and experiencing the power of the blood of Jesus.
• Revival is the Church crowding the Upper Room in mighty conquering, devil-binding intercession.
• Revival is a new beginning in obedience to the voice of the Holy Spirit.
• Revival is the noising abroad of the presence of the living Christ in the midst.
• Revival is an invasion of God into the devil’s territory.
• Revival is our mouth filled with laughter and our tongue with singing.   (Maybe more next Lord’s Day!)

I. THE PROMISE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT (1:8).

1. The revivalist James A. Stewart said, “Revival is the sovereign, supernatural, spontaneous outworking of God the Holy Spirit.”
2. All throughout the four Gospels we see the promise of the Holy Spirit (cf. Luke 11:13; 24:46-49).
3. In Luke 24:49, our Lord refers to “the promise of my Father.” In John 14:16, our Lord said, “And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever.”
4. And in John 15:26, our Lord said, “But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, He shall testify of me.”
5. This is why our Lord refers to the Holy Spirit as “the promise of my Father.”  These Scriptures demonstrate the unity of the Godhead, for in John 16:7 our Lord said that He would send the Holy Spirit.
6. Let us also consider the divine expediency referred to by our Lord in John 16:7.  It was expedient for the disciples that our Lord went back to heaven, for if our Lord did not go away the Comforter would not come (16:7).
7. “Expedient” – Had our Lord remained upon the earth, He would necessarily have been restricted by space and time as are all men. The indwelling of the Holy Spirit in the hearts of born-again believers provides a fellowship with God that is in many ways even closer than the apostles had experienced in the physical presence of Jesus.
8. With Spirit-filled soulwinners spread out all over the world, more souls can be won than when our Lord walked this earth 2,000 years ago.  This is what Jesus meant when He said in John 14:12, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father.” 
9. That is quite a promise!  And it only through the power of the Holy Spirit that we can win souls and do these “greater works.”
10. Power from the Spirit of God is promised in the Great Commission (cf. Matthew 28:18, 19a).
11. “And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore…”
12. This is clearer when we compare Luke 24:49 and Acts 1:8.
13. One of the greatest evangelists of all time was D. L. Moody.  His close friend and associate, R. A. Torrey, wrote a book entitled, Why God Used D. L. Moody.  In the book, Dr. Torrey gives several reasons why God used D. L. Moody – he had assurance of salvation; he believed in the authority of the Bible, etc. 
14. These are the basic requirements and qualities of all good Bible preachers.  But then Torrey goes into great detail about how Moody was filled with the Holy Spirit.
15. Torrey said Moody was always asking Torrey to preach on the Holy Spirit, and Moody himself often preached on the fullness of the Spirit.
16. Moody said, “I have lived long enough to know that if I cannot have the Spirit of God on me to help me to work for Him, I would rather die, than to live just for the sake of living.”
17. Well said!  How many will be honest before God and admit that they are merely living “just for the sake of living”?

II. THE POWER OF PRAYER (1:14; 4:31).

1. Going back to Luke 11:13, let me stress that our Lord is not saying that a Christian needs to pray for the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.  Each and every genuine born again Christian is indwelt by the Holy Spirit.
2. Romans 8:9 says, “Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His.”
3. There are some churches and certain preachers that encourage Christians to “receive the Holy Spirit.”  We need to be careful with our terminology and with our doctrine.  Once a sinner repents and receives Christ, he receives the Holy Spirit.
4. Preachers and soulwinners need to encourage sinners to receive Christ.  Once they receive Christ they will automatically receive the Holy Spirit.
5. Our Lord said in John 3:8 that when a man is saved he is “born of the Spirit.”  That is, he is regenerated by the Holy Spirit and indwelt by the Holy Spirit.
6. He is sanctified by the Holy Spirit and sealed by the Holy Spirit.
7. So what does Luke 11:13 mean?  Here our Lord is referring to the fullness of the Holy Spirit.  The apostle Paul is speaking to Christians in Ephesians 5:18 when he says, “And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit.”
8. We should never tell an unsaved man to be filled with the Spirit.  First he needs to repent and receive Christ as his Saviour, then he should be taught about the power of the Holy Spirit.
9. We must encourage Christians to be filled with the Spirit because whereas all Christians are indwelt; not all Christians are filled.  Unfortunately many Christians are walking in the flesh.
10. You cannot live for God in the flesh. Beloved, we need the fullness of God, the anointing of the Holy Spirit, His enduement, His power from on high, His enabling, His guidance, His direction.
11. We need the Holy Spirit’s power because we are in a battle with the world, the flesh, and the devil (cf. Eph. 6:10-18, esp. vs. 18).
12. Lehman Strauss in his helpful little booklet, Sense and Nonsense About Prayer, said this, “If anyone were to ask me, what was the first great secret of a successful prayer life, I believe I would answer, ‘Praying in the Holy Spirit’”(p. 31).
13. Jude 20 says, “But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost.”
14. We need the power of the Holy Spirit in order to win souls (Luke 24:47-49; Acts 1:8).
15. Think about it – when the apostolic church prayed the place was shaken, they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they spake the Word of God with boldness (Acts 4:31). Nothing seems to be too great, too hard, or too difficult for prayer to do.
16. Prayer opened up the Red Sea.  Prayer brought water from the rock and bread from heaven.
17. Prayer made the sun stand still (Joshua 10:12, 13).  Prayer brought the heathen temple down upon the heads of the Philistines. Prayer brought down fire from the sky on Elijah’s sacrifice. Prayer turned the counsel of Ahithophel to foolishness. Prayer overthrew the army of Sennacherib.
18. Mary Queen of Scots said, “I fear John Knox’s prayers more than an army of 10,000 men.”
19. This is why Jesus said in Luke 18:1, “that men ought always to pray, and not to faint.”
20. This is why the apostle Paul said, “Pray without ceasing” (I Thess. 5:17).
21. And, “Continuing instant in prayer” (Rom. 12:12).
22. And, “Continue in prayer, and watch in the same with thanksgiving” (Col. 4:2).
23. And, “Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit…” (Eph. 6:18).
24. If you study Acts 1 you will note that the apostolic church prayed in the upper room for ten days.  Then the Holy Spirit came with power on the Day of Pentecost.
25. There can be no Pentecostal power without Pentecostal prayer.  J. Wilbur Chapman wrote, “Revivals are born in prayer. When Wesley prayed, England was revived; when Knox prayed, Scotland was refreshed; when the Sunday school teachers of Tannybrook prayed, 11,000 young people were added to the Church in a year. Whole nights of prayer have always been succeeded by whole days of soul-winning.”  (as quoted in E.M. Bounds, PURPOSE IN PRAYER).

III. THE PREACHING OF THE GOSPEL (2:14ff).

1. The subject of Peter’s sermon on the day of Pentecost was the Lord Jesus Christ.  There is no better subject to preach (Acts 2:22).  This was also the subject of Peter’s second sermon (3:13-15), and his third sermon (4:10-12).
2. Have you ever studied Stephen’s sermon?  As soon as he mentioned the crucifixion of Christ the crowd “gnashed on him with their teeth” (7:52-54).
3. The best subject is always the Lord Jesus Christ.  No matter what book we are preaching from, no matter what our subject – we must get to the cross.
4. Some one once asked Spurgeon how he prepared his messages.  He said he first chose a text and then made a beeline for Calvary.
5. And we not only preach Christ died for our sins, we also preach Christ rode from the dead (Acts 2:24).  The resurrection from the dead proves Jesus was the promised Messiah.
6. David prophesied that the Messiah would be raised from the dead (2:25-27).  Peter pointed out that David could not be speaking of himself, but was speaking of the coming Messiah (2:28-31).
7. Peter said, “we are all witnesses” (2:32).  The early disciples all saw the resurrected Saviour. And they went all over the world proclaiming it.
8. By the way, Peter gives here another proof that Jesus rose from the dead: Jesus promised to send the Holy Spirit and He did.  A dead man could not send the Holy Spirit.  But the resurrected and exalted Christ could and did (2:33).
9. Preaching the cross will do little good unless there is a personal application.  Peter said, “Ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain” (Acts 2:23).
10. He did the same thing in his second sermon – “whom ye delivered up, and denied Him in the presence of Pilate, when he was determined to let Him go, But ye denied the Holy One and the Just, and desired a murderer to be granted unto you; And killed the Prince of life…” (Acts 3:13-15).
11. We can preach the cross and sinners may listen, but until there is a personal application, it will not touch their hearts.
12. This is the difference between a speech and a sermon.  There is a difference between a lecture and a message.  The songwriter said, “I’ve a message from the Lord, Hallelujah!”
13. Peter made his application – “whom ye have crucified…” (Acts 2:36).  “Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart, and said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do?” (2:37).
14. This is the conclusion of Peter’s sermon.  He preached Jesus to them.  He made his application – they were guilty sinners. They recognized their sin.  They were under conviction – “pricked in the heart” (2:37).
15. And they asked, “What shall we do?”
16. First, the Bible says to “repent” (2:38).  There can be no genuine conversion without repentance.
17. Genuine repentance produces faith and this is understood here.  True repentance includes saving faith.  The apostle Paul said in Acts 20:21, “repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.”

CONCLUSION:

1. When Bro. Van Gelderen was here on Easter Sunday evening, he referred to several OT Scriptures.  He referred to Joel 2:28 – “And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions.”
2. And he pointed out that this prophecy was not fulfilled on the day of Pentecost.  Acts 2:19, 20 is still future.
3. Bro. Van Gelderen also quoted Ezekiel 39:29 – “Neither will I hide my face any more from them: for I have poured out my Spirit upon the house of Israel, saith the LORD God.”
4. The Hebrew word translated “face” is often translated “presence.” Ezekiel 39:29 equates “poured out my Spirit” with the phrase “Neither will I hide my face (presence) any more.”  In other words, the outpouring of God’s Spirit is the manifestation of the presence of God.
5. In Isaiah 64:1-3 the presence of God is referred to three times.  When Christians sincerely seek God’s presence, genuine revival will take place.
6. Second Chronicles 7:14 says, “If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.”
7. “Seek my face” literally means to “seek God’s presence.”  Seeking revival is seeking God Himself.
8. R. B. Jones wrote about the Welsh revival.   “A sense of the Lord’s presence was everywhere. It pervaded, nay, it created the spiritual atmosphere. It mattered not where one went–the consciousness of the reality and nearness of God followed. Felt, of course, in the Revival gatherings, it was by no means confined to them; it was also felt in the homes, on the streets, in the mines and factories, in the schools, yea, and even in the theatres and drinking saloons. The strange result was that wherever people gathered became a place of awe, and places of amusement and carousal were practically emptied. Many were the instances of men entering public-houses, ordering drinks, and then turning on their heels leaving them on the counters untouched. The sense of the Lord’s presence was such as practically to paralyze the arm that would raise the cup to the lips. Football teams and the like were disbanded; their members finding greater joy in testimony to the Lord’s grace than in games…This all-pervading sense of the presence of God even among the children, may perhaps be further illustrated by a story from Rhos. Someone overheard one little child ask another, ‘Do you know what has happened at Rhos?’ ‘No, I don’t, except that Sunday comes every day now.’ ‘Don’t you know?’ ‘No, I don’t.’ ‘Why, Jesus Christ has come to live in Rhos now!’”