Understanding Revival Through Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones' Sermon

What are the key stages of spiritual revival according to Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones' sermon on Exodus 33?

According to Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, revival comes in distinct stages rather than as a sudden event. Based on his exposition of Exodus 33, these key stages include:

1. Realization of the true position - An awakening to the seriousness of the spiritual situation and the church's condition
2. Genuine repentance - Not just remorse, but a deep godly sorrow that leads to action
3. Recognition that God's presence is more important than any blessing or success
4. Practical demonstration of repentance - Taking tangible steps like the Israelites stripping off their ornaments

As Lloyd-Jones states: "There are, generally speaking, stages and steps in the coming of revival. You will never find practically in all the histories of revival, that the church suddenly, in one move, as it were. In one step, passes from her condition of lifelessness and almost moribun state immediately into a condition of mighty power and revival and influence."

How does Dr. Lloyd-Jones differentiate between remorse and true repentance?

Dr. Lloyd-Jones makes a clear distinction between superficial remorse and genuine repentance:

Remorse is: - Cursory and superficial acknowledgment of wrongdoing - Brief recognition without deep engagement - No lasting change in behavior - "The man who suffers remorse is a man who, in a sense, looks at the facts, but he doesn't spend much time about it"

True repentance involves: - Deep self-examination and hatred of sin - Recognition of how sin appears in God's sight - Practical action to change behavior - "Repentance is something that is so profound that it affects a man's will"

Lloyd-Jones quotes 2 Corinthians 7, where Paul describes true repentance: "What carefulness it wrought in you. Yea, what clearing of yourselves. Yea, what indignation. Yea, what fear. Yea, what vehement desire. Yea, what zeal. Yea, what revenge in all things."

What does Dr. Lloyd-Jones identify as the most serious problem in the church according to this sermon?

Dr. Lloyd-Jones identifies the absence of God's presence as the most serious problem in the church. He emphasizes that external success, prosperity, or activities mean nothing if God Himself is not present among His people.

In his words: "The appalling question I ask is this: Is God in the midst? Is he really amongst us? Are we aware, as we should be, of his glorious presence?"

He points to how the Israelites realized that even the promised land with all its blessings would be worthless without God's presence: "Men and women, when they're truly awakened, begin to realize that there is nothing which is so serious as to be without the presence of God."

Lloyd-Jones laments that the modern church often focuses on outward activities, statistics, and apparent success while missing the essential reality of God's presence: "You can have an outward prosperity and affluence. The church may seem to be doing remarkably well. Good finances, good figures, successes, conversions, enemies defeated. Everything going well... But the appalling question I ask is this: Is God in the midst?"

How does Dr. Lloyd-Jones compare the sin of Israel with the modern church's condition?

Dr. Lloyd-Jones draws direct parallels between Israel's sin of making the golden calf and the condition of the modern church:

1. Creating false gods: Just as Israel fashioned a golden calf, the modern church has created its own version of God
2. "What has been happening for the last hundred years in the so-called new critical attitude to the scripture, has been just a repetition of this very thing"

3. "Man has no longer been receiving the revelation and submitting to it. He has been setting himself as a judge on the revelation"

4. Rebellion against authority: Israel rejected Moses' leadership and God's authority; similarly, the modern church has rejected biblical authority

5. "Philosophy has taken the place of revelation"

6. "Men haven't hesitated and still do to express their opinions on the God of the Old Testament"

7. Moral decline follows theological compromise: Just as Israel's idolatry led to immorality, so too has the church's theological compromise

8. "These clever people who said that they were going to make this new God because the old evangelical religion wasn't ethical... have produced the moral conditions that we have today"
9. "You cannot have morality without godliness"

Lloyd-Jones concludes that the modern church, like Israel, needs to recognize its condition before revival can come.

What practical steps toward revival does Dr. Lloyd-Jones recommend in this sermon?

Dr. Lloyd-Jones outlines several practical steps toward revival:

1. Honest self-examination: "Are you satisfied with the condition of the church? Are you satisfied with your own condition?"

2. Compare ourselves to biblical standards, not worldly ones: "The way to test the condition of the church is to examine her in the light of the New Testament picture of the church"

3. Acknowledge spiritual poverty: Avoid being like the Laodiceans who said "we are rich" while being "poor and wretched and blind"

4. Develop godly sorrow over sin: Not just acknowledging sin but feeling its weight in God's sight

5. Take concrete action: "A man has never repented until he has done in practice what he feels he ought to do"

6. Remove hindrances to God's presence: "Every one of us has got to be stripped of something, every single one of us, without a single exception"

7. Value God's presence above all else: "To realize that nothing matters except my relationship to God"

Lloyd-Jones concludes with this call to action: "Face that question, and it will lead to this true godly sorrow and repentance which will manifest itself in a practical manner. May God have mercy upon us, open our eyes to the situation and give us honest minds and truth in our inward parts."