"WHAT REVENGE!

"
THE THEOLOGY AND THE THUNDER OF REVIVAL

"For though I made you sorry with a letter, I do not repent, though I did repent: for I perceive that the same epistle hath made you sorry, though it were but for a season. Now I rejoice, not that ye were made sorry, but that ye sorrowed to repentance: for ye were made sorry after a godly manner, that ye might receive damage by us in nothing. For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world worketh death. For behold this selfsame thing, that ye sorrowed after a godly sort, what carefulness it wrought in you, yea, what fear, yea, what clearing of yourselves, yea, what indignation, yea, what fear, yea, what vehement desire, yea, what zeal, yea, what revenge! in all things ye have approved yourselves to be clear in this matter."

II Corinthians 7: 8 - 11

EVENGE! The word grates upon our ears. We stumble over it. Like an inverted puzzle piece, it runs entirely contrary to our whole understanding of Biblical doctrine. It doesn't fit.

After all, isn't the Bible all about love and kindness? Shouldn't Paul be talking to us here about grace and forgiveness and compassion? Isn't that what Scripture is all about? What is this word "revenge" doing in the text? The whole thing just seems so utterly unchristian, so heathenish. It shouldn't be there, we think. We would prefer softer words, a more genteel, more polite vocabulary, a more

politically correct terminology. And if we don't actually verbalize statements like that, we imply them by our practice and methodology.

Yet this is exactly the word that the Apostle Paul uses. Writing to us under the inspiring control of the Holy Ghost, and with full Apostolic authority, he speaks to us in terms that upset the entire apple cart of modern theology. He speaks to us of revenge.

Now my purpose here is not to inject the Bible with some sort of Shakespearean theme. We are discussing Paul's second epistle to the church at Corinth, not Hamlet. But I want to make the point at the very outset, that our ideas of God and of the Bible are oftentimes entirely misguided and false and based more upon popular myths and shallow sentimentalism than upon the actual testimony of Scripture, and that God often acts and speaks in a way that is thoroughly at odds with our preconceptions about him.

Take, for instance, the Biblical narratives of Christ cleansing the Temple with a whip. We dislike that depiction of Jesus. Modern society dislikes it. The modern church dislikes it. Modern religious conservatives dislike it. Modern Evangelicals and Fundamentalists dislike it. We dislike Mark's account of Christ's righteous anger over apostasy (Mark 3: 5) or Matthew's recital of his piercing rebukes of corruption (Matthew 23: 13 - 39). We prefer the portrayals of a passive Anglicanized Christ laying a soft, gentle, lily-white hand upon the head of a small child, gazing complacently upon him or her with a sad but sweet expression of tenderness that suggests both effeminacy or naivety or both. But that is not the Jesus that Scripture portrays for us. The Scriptures present us with a very different description, and, as a result, it is necessary for us to correct our thinking about God and to bring it into alignment with what Scripture actually teaches.

Now the Apostle Paul here uses this word "revenge" that goes entirely contrary to our accustomed way of thinking. And he uses this word in reference to something that we would not tend to connect it with, and that is the subject of revival. If we reread the passage here, and especially if we understand it in reference to its background in I Corinthians 5, we realize that what the Apostle Paul has briefly described is a revival. This carnal Corinthian church, having been infected with grievous corruption and compromise of the most abominable character had been brought under mighty conviction by Paul's first epistle and had responded passionately with brokenhearted repentance - "godly sorrow" Paul calls it, and a willingness to obey zealously the complete body of instructions that the Apostle Paul had given in order to correct their wickedness and restore communion with the Lord. And the satisfaction of the Apostle Paul expressed in his commendation reflects God's satisfaction with their surrendered and

obedient response. This is a picture of revival. This is what revival looks like. In the midst of the radically depraved Roman Empire, the church at Corinth had experienced a taste of revival.

I. THE REVIVAL PRAYERS

Now this passage has so much relevance to us today because so many Christians are crying out for revival. Believers all across the United States of America are praying for it. There is a renewed interest in the subject and a great deal of preaching and teaching is being done upon it. Books are being written and published about it. Conferences and special meetings are being organized. People are discussing it. And so we are in a position to learn from the example of the Corinthian church and to apply its example to our own lives and churches.

Let me briefly note here that God is pleased when his children seek revival. The Apostle Paul's inspired tone here is one of joy and pleasure in response to the Corinthians' efforts, and this is always the case when believers lift up the prayer of faith for revival. Many people seem to believe that God is indifferent to this whole matter, and that he has no real willingness to give his people what they are asking him for. But this runs entirely contrary to the whole testimony of Scripture and the Scriptural doctrine of the adoption of sons. The teachings of Scripture throughout assure us that God is willing to hear and answer the prayers of his children and to give them good things. This includes revival.

You remember of course what the Apostle Paul says in the seventh of Romans. He had been wrestling with this problem of sin in his life, the old carnal nature getting the victory over his best desires and intentions to live righteously. He cries out in an agony of heart and mind over the wickedness of his inherent depravity and tells us that he finds a law of sin and death present with him, even when he would do good. If anyone needed revival, it was the Apostle Paul living in a condition of spiritual defeat.

Then he tells us in the eighth of Romans about another law, the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus, that had made him free from the law of sin and death (Romans 8: 2). He informs us about the wonderful truth now realized since the day of Pentecost, that we who are justified by grace through faith in the suffering, shed blood, death and bodily resurrection of our of our Lord Jesus Christ (Romans 3: 21 - 5: 21), have received the Spirit of Adoption in a unique sense not experienced by the Old Testament saints. And he connects this with our prayer life, explaining to us that the Holy Ghost makes intercession for the heirs of promise "with groanings which cannot be uttered."

Now this doctrine of the Spirit of Adoption and its relationship to our prayer life has reference to the teachings of Christ about prayer. The Lord's Prayer itself reminds us that the Holy Ghost is the Spirit of Adoption that God has given us and that we have received by grace through faith and that brings us into a familial relationship with God as our Heavenly Father. If Christ had not been incarnated through the virgin birth, we could not have received the adoption of sons and we could not rightly call God our Heavenly Father.

Conversely, because of the truth of the incarnation and of Christ's crucifixion, resurrection and ascension, we have received the adoption of sons and the gift of the Holy Ghost by grace through faith (Galatians 4: 4 - 5; Acts 2: 38), and have a right to cry out "Abba, Father" in prayer to God (Romans 8: 15). And the teachings of Christ about prayer uniformly instruct us that God gives good gifts to those believers that ask in faith, believing that they will receive (Matthew 7: 11; 21: 21). They do not depict a God who begrudges his children of blessings. The whole body of Christ's doctrine about prayer and the implications derived from the doctrine of the adoption of sons assure us of this new and unique relationship with God as our Heavenly Father and his willingness to hear and answer our prayers as his children.

And this has implications for revival. If our Heavenly Father is willing to hear and answer our prayers and to give good things to those that ask, it defies logic and the very Word of God itself to suppose that our Heavenly Father would begrudge us this most necessary blessing. The whole doctrine of the Gospel, of the incarnation, of the crucifixion, bodily resurrection and ascension of our Saviour and of Christ's Session in Heaven as our Great High Priest, and of his shedding abroad the Spirit of Adoption into our hearts unite to assure us that our Heavenly Father hears and answers the believing prayers of his beloved children and will send them the revival so desperately needed and petitioned for.

II. THE REVIVAL PROHIBITIONS

A. REVIVAL PROHIBITED BY DOUBT
But if our Heavenly Father is willing to hear and answer our prayers, then why don't we see revival? The answer, of course, is unbelief. We don't get the answers to prayer that we long for and pray for so earnestly because of our unbelief.

You remember what the author of Hebrews says in the third and fourth chapters of that book. He describes how the Israelite people in the wilderness under Moses' leadership had grieved the Holy Ghost. He quotes from the book of Psalms and describes how the Holy Ghost had been infuriated, actually outraged by those physical descendents of Abraham. Consequently, even though they were Abraham's physical seed, they did not inherit the blessing. They were utterly excluded from the promises. In fact, they had so angered the Holy Ghost that he actually swore an oath in holy wrath and degreed their total exclusion from the Covenant promises, in spite of their biological relationship to Abraham (Hebrews 3: 7 - 4: 7). Then he goes on to warn us against imitating "the same example of unbelief."

You see, we really don't understand just how deeply unbelief grieves and provokes the Holy Ghost and undermines our fellowship with him. There certainly isn't much preaching or teaching on this subject. But the Scriptures make it abundantly clear that unbelief is an outrage and an affront to him and that it hinders our ability to get answers to prayer. The Lord Jesus Christ, in his earthly ministry, often attributed spiritual failure and the absence of spiritual blessings and success to unbelief.

And this applies to our pleas for revival. We may cry out earnestly for revival, but if we fail to do so in faith, we cannot expect to get results. We must pray believingly, with conviction, confident and assured in the love and promises of our Heavenly Father and in his ability and willingness to grant our petition (Mark 11: 24). If we fail to pray in this manner, we will only grieve God's Holy Spirit.

B. REVIVAL PROHIBITED BY DEFINITIONS

Another reason that we do not enjoy revival is that we have a misguided definition of revival. We have certain preconceived ideas about what a revival will look like and consequently we expect something that is actually contrary to the Word of God. So when revival does come, we miss it or even try to suppress it, because we have been looking for something else.

By that I mean that we fail to take into account the doctrine of progressive sanctification. We expect to see these decisions being made in a very spiritually mature manner with Christians exhibiting a thorough knowledge of a fully-developed and well-grounded system of Biblical orthodoxy and orthopraxy. But in revival, we can expect to see just the opposite oftentimes.

In other words, when an individual has been comatose in a vegetative state for a lengthy period of time, we can naturally anticipate a period during which the body undergoes a transitional rehabilitation process. Perhaps a very dramatic and remarkable awakening took place. Perhaps the individual's eyes opened in a very sudden and unexpected manner to the amazement of all those around. Perhaps he or she suddenly began to speak loudly or to cry out after a protracted season of incapacitation. Though all of this may be true, no matter how dramatic this awakening is, we will naturally realize that the awakened person will need time to readjust, to reorient themselves, to catch up on affairs and events and to regain the physical strength to function normally.

The same is true in revival. We cannot expect a revived person or a revived church to immediately think and act just as though it had really been healthy and vigorous all along. This certainly was not true of the church at Corinth. Although God had clearly been at work and although they had certainly had a taste of revival, we realize that other problems till remained to be corrected there. Even so, wherever a mighty work of revival may take place, wherever a great awakening may occur, we must anticipate the reality that some time - perhaps a lengthy period of time - of spiritual development and growth must pass before complete Biblical health and normality is exhibited again. We may quite naturally expect a period of spiritual reorientation and rehabilitation. We may expect a revived believer or a revived church to have questions about God and about the Bible and to want to explore areas that never interested him or her or it during their backslidden condition. In the past, periods of revival have sparked a renewed interest in the doctrine of salvation or of the Holy Spirit or of the Kingdom, and sometimes people have, in those transitional periods of spiritual immaturity and rehabilitation, developed wrong ideas about these things. We must be prepared for that. We must be prepared to help revived believers as they relearn how to walk in the Spirit. If they fall at times after the revival or if they seem spiritually confused or incoherent about doctrine at first, or if they do not align just exactly with everything that we believe or practice, we cannot simply dismiss it all and say that revival hasn't taken place. We must anticipate these things and allow the Biblical principle of progressive sanctification to follow its proper course as the Holy Ghost changes the awakened believer or church from glory to glory and conforms them to Christ's image.

The problem arises when those Christians who should be mature and involved and offering support in the wake of revival expect too much and develop a critical attitude because they have forgotten about the doctrine of progressive sanctification and failed to anticipate this transitional rehabilitation period. As a result, they not only fail to assist in the work of revival, they actually antagonize the revived believers or churches and seek to suppress the revival. This happened in the American Colonies during the Great Awakening, and it could easily happen in our own time even in the very face of a mighty revival, all because we have had a wrong definition and wrong expectations of revival.

C. REVIVAL PROHIBITED BY DETACHMENT

But the greatest hindrance to revival today is the problem of detachment. Many Christians who talk about revival do not actually desire revival. I used that word "desire" very specifically, because I have reference to the heart. There are many people today talking about revival and about "the old paths" and so forth, who have no real desire, no real passion for revival. Everything with them is academic and intellectual, and they can discuss certain historic events or personalities or documents at great length and with great expertise, but their whole approach is so entirely detached and indifferent that it is obvious that their interest goes no further than the repetition of certain popular phrases and statements, certain catchphrases and keywords that circulate within their ecclesiastical circle.

We see this among the independent Fundamental Baptists. Independent Fundamental Baptists can talk about the Trail of Blood and the great Anabaptist martyrs who suffered in Europe and in the American Colonies, and it is obvious that they are thoroughgoing experts on Baptist history. They can tell you about the Montanists and the Donatists and the Paulicians and the Bogomils and the Cathari and the Waldensians and the Lollards and John Oldcastle and Balthasar Hubmaier and Menno Simons and Dirk Philips and Roger Williams and John Clark and Obediah Holmes and John Gano and John Leland. And if you bring up the subject of "the old paths," this is what you will hear.

On the other hand, the Neo-Calvinists and the Neo-Puritans are often experts about the Protestant Reformation, and the Ninety-five Theses and Calvin's Institutes of the Christian Religion and the Synod of Dort and the Westminster Confession and the Westminster Shorter Catechism and the London Baptist Confession. They can discuss pre-Dortian Calvinism and post-Dortian Calvinism and Supralapsarian Calvinism and Infralapsarian Calvinism and Amyraldism and Baxterianism and Armenianism and Pelagianism and Socinianism. They can tell you all about Augustine and Martin Luther and John Calvin and John Knox and Richard Baxter and John Owen and Thomas Watson and Richard Sibbes and John Bunyan and Benjamin Keach and John Gill and Charles Spurgeon. And if you ask them about "the old paths", this is what you will get.

The same thing is true in relation to the text issue. There are those who are experts on the subject of the Greek text. They can discuss the Textus Receptus and the Critical Text. They can tell you about the Western Text and the Syrian Text, the Alexandrian Text and the Antiochene Text. They can tell you all about Erasmus of Rotterdam and about Beza and about Westcott and Hort and the Nestle-Aland Text and the United Bible Society. They can tell you about Codices Aleph and Alexandrinus, Codices Vaticanus and Sinaiticus and Bezae. Perhaps they know something about the Cyrillo-Methodian Text or Codex Teplensis. And if you ask them about "the old paths", this is what you will get.

Now all of this is good in its proper place, and I sincerely encourage everyone to be well informed about these various subjects. But the danger in all of this is that one can become entirely caught up in these topics and in parroting a certain ecclesiastical vocabulary, while in reality it is nothing more than an intellectual hobby that has become a substitute for genuine passion for revival. One can feel quite spiritual because he or she knows certain things and can discuss them extensively, when, in reality, they have missed the very essence of what these various personalities or documents really had to say and what they really stood for. Simply talking about the men and women who witnessed great revivals in the past does not equate to experiencing revival for ourselves. We cannot have second-hand revival. But it is entirely possible to be thoroughly knowledgeable about these academic subjects, and entirely detached and indifferent in our hearts to what is going on around us in society and in the church and to our desperate need for revival. And this is what is happening today among Fundamentalists and Evangelicals.

It is needful to point out that this detachment is being fostered to a great extent under the guise of "balance". All around us, we hear people chanting this word like a mantra. They are advocating this sort of "Christian moderate" approach to everything. Less than a generation ago, we heard much about being "all out for Christ" and "on fire for God", but all of that is out now. The current wave of Christianity offers us nothing more than the monotonously ubiquitous and equally ambiguous fixation upon the subjective concept of "balance". Wherever we turn, "balance" is simultaneously both the current catchphrase and the new grand theme of the Christian faith and believers everywhere are singing its praises with all of the hearty gusto of genuinely adoring worship.

There's even this subtle air of superiority about it all. There's this unspoken suggestion that somehow we've reached some new pinnacle of advanced Christianity because we can chatter endlessly about "balance". Never mind the subjectivity involved or the fact that it remains unclear in exactly what ways we have become so much more "balanced" today than were those previous generations of ministers, missionaries and martyrs who were so tragically misguided and stunted in their comprehension and application of real Biblical spirituality. "Balance" is now the badge that outshines the bygone blood and Biblicism of those sadly benighted believers. And it is worn with pride.

Still, the subject remains unclear. We've apparently arrived at some kind of tremendous landmark of spirituality with all of this, but a real sense of ambiguity remains, hanging like a mist over everything. It is still uncertain as to where this grand achievement is actually anchored. For while our forefathers successfully harmonized the thunderous rebukes of Mount Sinai that pierced and convicted hearts of sin with the healing oil and wine of Calvary that bound up the broken and consoled the wounded, the "balanced" Christian of today never actually rebukes anyone or anything, and certainly not with any severity or sternness. Nor do we witness today the earnest tears or pleading prayers that characterized the weeping Whitefields and the burdened Brainerds of yesteryear. In short, there is in this "balance"

neither fervent indignation over sin and wickedness, nor yet the yearning, brokenhearted compassion that longs and lives for the lost. It is the most astonishingly empty balance that the world has ever seen, a lopsided balance entirely fixated upon being "gracious" - that is to say, diplomatic - while completely ignoring the duty of sharp (Titus 1: 10 - 14) and public (I Timothy 5: 20) rebuke commanded by Scripture. In short, it is no balance at all. It is merely political correctness rooted in a shallow self-absorption disinterested in anything beyond the appeasing approach that makes for a comfortable Christianity. It is lukewarmness. It is mediocrity. It is indifference. It is detachment. And it is the greatest enemy to revival that the church is facing today.

III. THE REVIVAL PRICE

It is the greatest enemy to revival, because revival comes with a price tag. At its most foundational level, the price of revival is blood, the precious blood of the Lamb. Were it not for the Lamb of God that taketh away the sins of the world, revival would be out of the question because regeneration itself would be impossible. The possibility of the adoption of sons depended entirely upon the incarnation of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ and upon his unspeakable gift upon the cross of Calvary and subsequent bodily resurrection to secure our redemption with his precious blood (Galatians 4: 3 - 5). The price of revival from the foundation of the world has been blood, the precious blood of the Lamb.

But the price of revival has been blood in other respects as well, in a sense distinct from the precious blood of Christ's atonement. It has been the price paid by our Baptist forefathers throughout the Dark Ages and by those godly Protestant martyrs who died to make the Word of God available in our own language. It has been the price paid by godly missionaries who surrendered to the call of God amidst the mighty movings of God's Holy Spirit. It was the price paid by Peter of Bruis and Henry of Lausanne in the fabled Occitanian kingdom of Southern Gaul. It was the price paid by Balthasar Hubmaier in the penal flames of Vienna. It was the price paid by William Tyndale at the stake in Belgium. It was the price paid John and Betty Stam as they died on the distant mission field of China. It was the price paid by Jim Elliot and Nate Saint at spear-point among the Auca Indians of Ecuador. It was the price paid by David Brainerd as he knelt praying in the snow until his knees bled and as he lay at last dying of tuberculosis after consuming himself in the cause of Christ.

It should be pointed out that literal blood will not always be the price of revival on the individual level. But there will be a price. Revival will come at a cost. There will be sacrifice and there will be suffering as a result of revival. It is impossible to have revival without taking up one's cross, without bearing the

reproach of Christ outside the camp of popular acceptance and social approval (Hebrews 13: 13). The resolutions to live a godly life that will result from any true revival will inevitably attract the persecution of the lost world around us, and possibly even of backslidden believers (II Timothy 3: 12). If they have called the Master of the house Beelzebub, the servants should expect nothing better (Matthew 10: 25).

Now this is what the Apostle Paul praised so warmly in II Corinthians 7. He didn't praise the Corinthian believers because they were so "balanced". He says nothing about that at all. He doesn't even bring it up. He doesn't mention it. He passes right over it. He doesn't say "what balance!" He says "what vehement desire! what zeal! what revenge!" What has thrilled his heart, what has captured his attention about these believers and what he is so excited about is that this revival that they had experienced came with such an intensity, such a fervent passion! They were enflamed with not only a willingness, but an actual yearning to mend their ways and to renew their broken fellowship with the Lord! And this was true to such a degree that they were willing to pay whatever price that obedience demanded. There was nothing halfhearted or indifferent about this revival at Corinth.

But this so-called "balance" is the enemy to revival because it discourages the believer from taking such great steps of faith, from stepping out from the status quo and attempting great things for God and from having that willingness to obey the Lord, no matter what the cost. It seeks to suppress that passionate spirit, implying that such behavior is unchristian, unbiblical and unacceptable. It seeks to subdue any tendency that is deemed "abnormal" or that threatens to rock the boat or upset the current religious order or hierarchy. It fosters the idea that a Christian should seek to fit in, not stand out. It's unspoken message is essentially the opposite of the Apostle Paul's message to the Corinthian church. "Just settle down," it says. "Just relax. Don't be too extreme. Don't be too radical. Just take it easy. Just fit in with everyone else."

IV. THE REVIVAL PROMISES

But, God be praised, we have God's promises that revival is available to us today. The whole doctrine of soteriology assures us that we can have revival. We can have revival because God has predestined us "to be conformed to the image of his Son" (Romans 8: 29 - 30), and has promised to continue performing this glorifying, transforming work "until the day of Jesus Christ" (Philippians 1: 6), even if it means chastisement (Hebrews 12: 5 - 11). Therefore we can go "boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help" amidst these times of trouble (Hebrews 4: 16), knowing that our

petitions are founded not upon our own selfish desires, impulses or ideas, but upon the precious blood of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

V. THE REVIVAL POWER

It's worth noticing the power associated with God's promises of revival. The current attitude of despair, the spirit of unbelief which is grieving and provoking to God's Holy Spirit is that we can't have revival because the times are just too bad, the days are just too dark. Now this is nothing more than to say that our circumstances are greater than our God and greater than the promises of his Word and greater than the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ and greater than the power of his resurrection. It essentially says that God is simply unable.

But that conflicts entirely with the testimony of Scripture. God's Word never suggests the idea that our circumstances could ever be greater than our God. In fact, it assures of the exact opposite. It says that the Lord Jesus Christ "is able even to subdue all things unto himself" (Philippians 3: 21).

Notice first of all, Christ's omnipotence, his ability. He is able. All power has been given unto him in heaven and earth (Matthew 28: 18).

Secondly, notice his universal Sovereignty. He is able to subdue all things unto himself. Nothing is excluded from his dominion. " All things" must bow before his scepter, the rod of iron with which he will smite the nations and dash them to pieces like a potter's vessel (Psalm 2: 6 - 12; Revelation 12: 5). He sits exalted by God the Father over "all things", whether things in heaven or in earth or things under the earth. Nothing exceeds his universal jurisdiction.

The church at Corinth gives us a wonderful example of this. If anyone could have thrown up their hands in despair and said, "Our circumstances are just too bad", it was the people of this church. They lived under the tyrannical dominion of the monstrous Roman Emperor, Nero. They lived amidst an atmosphere of unbridled licentiousness, pornography and prostitution. They lived in a context of Satanic power, pagan superstition and orgiastic heathen rituals. They lived against the backdrop of Roman brutality and the unspeakable atrocities of the Coliseum. And yet they tasted revival. They found that the Lord Jesus Christ, in his majestic Sovereignty and unfathomable omnipotence, far

exceeded in mighty power the challenges that they faced in their wicked society. They found that he was able. Able to pierce the hardest of hearts. Able to grant complete and total forgiveness. Able to give grace for restoration. Able to empower them for a life of ongoing spiritual victory.

"What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us? He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?.... Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us."

"Thanks be unto God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ."

"Now thanks be unto God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest the savour of his knowledge by us in every place."

"For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith. Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God?"

"And I say unto thee, that thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it."

"And the God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly."

VI. THE REVIVAL PURSUIT

Beloved, "it is now high time for us to awaken out of sleep" (Romans 13: 11). Let us follow the example of the Corinthian church in this matter. They lived amidst difficult circumstances, just as we do. As corrupt as our civil and political context is, it does not exceed the horrors of a Nero. As perverse and pornographic as our society has become, it does not exceed the atmosphere of pornography and

prostitution amidst which the Corinthians lived. As depraved and blind and utterly ignorant as our world may be, it does exceed the Satanic paganism, orgiastic ritualism and perverse mythology that permeated the very fabric of Corinthian culture. As violent and as totalitarian as our nation has become, it does not exceed the extreme barbarity and the atrocious cruelties of the Roman Coliseum.

What excuse do we have? I say again with the Apostle Paul, "it is now high time for us to awaken out of sleep." Let us pray in faith, claiming God's promises for revival. Let us preach the Word of God anew and afresh with that same vehement passion and zeal which characterized the mighty men of old who won the laurels of a race well run, a fight well fought. Let us humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God and the convicting ministry of God's Holy Spirit (I Peter5: 6 - 7). Let us cleanse our hands and purify our hearts (James 4: 8). Let us claim the victory promised to us in the Word of God, and rejoice with utmost satisfaction as our God furthers his kingdom through us, wreaking vengeance on the unclean spirit world and bruising Satan under our feet (Romans 16: 20). That, Beloved, is sweet revenge.