New Testament revival is not first and foremost collective but individualistic, it takes place primarily in the heart of one person by a sovereign act of God Almighty. Before God delivered the nation of Israel He moved in the heart of one man, Moses. God always works in this way to make clear that it is the individual that He cares about, and that men are not saved as part of a crowd but as individuals.
To become a Christian a person must be born again. Jesus said to Nicodemus a religious leader that came to Him, “You must be born again.” (John 3). Much is being said about race during these days, but Biblically there are only 2 races, the race in Adam and the race in Christ. Biblically there are many families (Chinese, European, African, etc.) within the race of Adam but there is only the one race. Romans 3 teaches that all men sin and sin is derived from the one man Adam, hence one and the same race.
According to Romans 5, all men are first born to Adam’s seed and in him they are born in sin, however, those that believe that it is necessary for Christ to die for his or her sin to be saved and receive Him as Lord are born anew to Christ’s seed. Those of Adam’s seed are obstinate and haters of God no matter how “Religious” they may appear to be on the outside. Those of Christ’ seed are given a new heart that pants after God no matter how imperfect they may seem to be.
Revival is a matter of the heart. Only the person that is born again from the heart can obey the Bible in a manner that pleases God, because he is not doing it as a matter of some behavior modification but sincerely with a Christ centered motive. The born again believer at his best wants to please God because of the sacrifice of God’s Son. It is the motivation provided by Christ that pleases God the Father; all man-centered motivations, such as self-justification, fall short of God’s glory.
The Christian is not bigoted against all other religions because of some selfish pride or prejudice, but he humbly understands that apart from God he can do nothing to please Him. The Christian is not saved from the wrath to come by some goodness in himself, but by the sacrificial death and suffering of God in Christ. There is no other religion on earth that proclaims the glory of God as does true Christianity, because it alone exalts Christ as the only Savior of the world.
Let us be clear as to what it means to be a Christian at a time of year that men and women are called to celebrate the birth of Christ into the world. Revival means back to life, and the Christian is brought back to life through faith in the risen Savior. Praise the Lord!
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