What is true Revival?
3 Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord. To write the same things to you, to me indeed is not irksome, but for you it is safe. 2 Beware of the dogs, beware of the evil workers, beware of the concision: 3 for we are the circumcision, who worship by the Spirit of God, and glory in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh: 4 though I myself might have confidence even in the flesh: if any other man thinketh to have confidence in the flesh, I yet more: 5 circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as touching the law, a Pharisee; 6 as touching zeal, persecuting the church; as touching the righteousness which is in the law, found blameless.
This is a word of warning. All of us, every believer, should beware of dogs, evil workers and the concision. When Paul says we are the circumcision he is saying that we are the ones with the covenant with God. Three criteria for recognizing this: worship by the Spirit of God, glory in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh. There are three ways to spot the ones we need to beware of. First they worship by something other than the spirit of God. They need money, a big band, a huge meeting hall, TV contracts, etc. It may start out pure, but then they come to you and want to help your ministry, help you get a big meeting hall, help you pay for all kinds of things, in return they will be on your board of directors. The second way is they glory in themselves, they glory in the flesh, this is what the "bless me club is" this is what the prosperity gospel is. Finally they have confidence in the flesh. It is hard to believe, but they think you can live fleshly and still be saved. They teach "once saved always saved" and by a few subtle changes to the word of God you would believe it. They say we are "sealed until the day of redemption" whereas a better translation is we are "sealed for the day of redemption". The day of Pentecost was our engagement ceremony. Yes, we have covenant for our wedding, but if we break those vows then there will not be any wedding, at least not for us. This doesn't mean that if you sin you are no longer saved. What it does mean is if you sin you confess, repent, and take the blood of Jesus. You don't have any confidence in the flesh. Someone with a Phd, are they putting their confidence in that? If you were raised in a Christian home, are they putting their confidence in that? I heard a Bible teacher say that children are sanctified by their believing parents, so if you were born into a Christian family you are more sanctified than an unbeliever who walks in off the street, and if your grandparents were Christians you are even more sanctified. It was a caste system in the church and demonstrated a confidence in the flesh. They wear these as little badges, this brother speaks Hebrew, this brother went to this seminary, etc.
7 Howbeit what things were gain to me, these have I counted loss for Christ.
If you want a real revival it begins with this, counting all things loss on account of Christ.
8 Yea verily, and I count all things to be loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but refuse, that I may gain Christ,
You have to have the revelation that all those things you pursued and treasured are "refuse", or "dung". I like the term dung. When you poop something out it used to part of you and it was important, it fed you, could even say it is the reason you are who you are today. But now it is poop. Dogs love to stick their noses in poop. Stay away from it, you will get flys from that poop and unless you properly dispose of it you will be getting sick, vomit and diarrhea. But it is even more interesting, you need to get rid of those things if you want to gain Christ. It is like being constipated and you can't eat. When we are focused on those things it prevents us from taking in Christ, it prevents us from the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord.
9 and be found in him,
Where do people find you during the day. Are you day dreaming like Walter Mitty? Or are you enjoying the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus, some new experience from that day?
not having a righteousness of mine own,
Think of your righteousness as garments that you wear. If you have counted it all loss and discarded as trash all your old garments so that now your righteousness is no longer yours, you are wearing a robe that Jesus gave you. Once I was attacked in a small church. The Pastor was trying to spread some very nasty rumors about me and he was doing it from the podium. For over an hour I would listen to the insinuations and slander. He never said my name but what he was saying could only refer to me. The things he was saying weren't true, but did it matter? The truth was I was a sinner saved by grace and I didn't have my own righteousness. So I ignored it, I never responded, and when my turn came to speak I focused on the word of God. After the meeting I was confronted by the members, "who was the pastor referring to?" I said "I don't know, ask him". The next week he doubled down, new and even uglier accusations and again, I ignored them. I was not about to fight for my righteousness. The fact that those sins didn't apply to me didn't mean they might not apply to someone else. It didn't matter, I was saved by the precious blood of Christ which washed me white as snow. So again, I focused on the word of God and never responded. This sent all the members of the church into a very big problem, someone is lying to them. But I realized this wasn't my problem it was the Lord's. He is my righteousness, so if someone is accusing me of being unrighteous they are actually accusing Him that His blood is not effective. That week an elderly couple moved to this church which had known me since the day I had been baptized. They exposed the lies and the pastor began to flail and sink as the lies were exposed. This is a wonderful thing to have the righteousness of Christ and not have your own righteousness.
even that which is of the law, but that which is through faith in Christ,
That was the lesson the saints learned. Just because this person is the "pastor" and has a wonderful resume, beware. Our righteousness is not of the law, it is through the faith in Christ.
the righteousness which is from God by faith:
It is an impenetrable shield. You are throwing down the filthy rags stained with sin and you are taking up robes that are white as snow, a shield that no flaming dart can penetrate.
10 that I may know him, and the power of his resurrection,
This is true revival to experience the power of His resurrection. The reason they were trying to destroy me was because I had already let them know that the Lord told me He was going to destroy them.
and the fellowship of his sufferings,
We all love the glorious resurrection, but before you get there you must go through suffering and during that time you are in constant prayer and fellowship with the Lord. It doesn't take long before you long for that sweet fellowship of His sufferings again.
becoming conformed unto his death;
A year later I was so happy with the church life, everything was wonderful, but I knew I had to be faithful to the Lord and that meant declaring to the lead elders over the entire region what it was the Lord had against them. It was this very matter of creating a caste system where being the child of Christians gave you a higher status in the church. I knew when I mailed this letter that in a few short days I would be excommunicated, but I had to be faithful to the Lord. The question I asked them was "who is this that his children are so much more important than God's?"
11 if by any means I may attain unto the resurrection from the dead.
I knew they would receive my letter on Friday, that they would all gather before the Friday night meeting and read it, and then after the meeting would call the leaders of our church and discuss having me excommunicated. However, that same day a key elder that this all focused on was diagnosed with terminal cancer and at the same time he was announcing the engagement of his son, which by God's sovereignty made that question all the more cutting. As a result I was not excommunicated. When I had stood up in front of a thousand saints to issue that word from the Lord that He would not let me go until He had utterly destroyed them the vast majority of saints would have given the odds of 1,000:1 against me. But here we were a year later and the Lord had used me as his instrument. That is what genuine revival is, the resurrection from the dead.
