Acts 2:1-4, 14, 17, 22-23, 32-33, 41
When the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance…
Peter, standing up with the eleven, lifted up his voice, and said…this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel; and it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upoon all flesh…Ye men of Israel, hear these words; Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs, which God did by him in the midst of you, as ye yourselves also know: Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain…This Jesus hath God raised up, whereof we all are witnesses. Therefore being by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, he hath shed forth this, which ye now see and hear…
Then they that gladly received his word were baptized: and the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls.
CHARLES SIMEON (1759-1836): Marvellous, beyond conception, was the miracle wrought on the day of Pentecost; when a company of illiterate fishermen were enabled, in one moment, to speak a great diversity of languages, with as much ease and fluency and propriety as their own native tongue.
G. CAMPBELL MORGAN (1863-1945): This produced an effect on the city which called forth the first recorded address in the power of Pentecost. It is arresting to see in that address how the apostle first referred to the Old Testament Scriptures, and, second, showed how all their predictions were fulfilled in Jesus of Nazareth. The result of this message was immediate and glorious. Under conviction produced by the Holy Spirit, the people asked, “What shall we do?” Peter replied, by giving clear instructions, and by testimony and exhortation, until about 3,000 souls were added to the church.
C. H. SPURGEON (1834-1892): We cannot too often read the story of that wondrous outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost; and let us never read it without asking the Lord to manifest in our midst the fullness of the Spirit’s power.
CHARLES SIMEON: The Christian Church—this is at a low ebb, and greatly needs a revival. Where are the Pentecostal effusions of the Spirit, and the simultaneous conversions of thousands unto God? In great and extensive countries, where religion once flourished, the very name of Christ is now scarcely known.
ALEXANDER MacLAREN (1826-1910): I do not suppose that any man can look thoughtfully and dispassionately on the condition, say, for instance, of Manchester, or of any of our great towns, and mark how the populace knows nothing and cares nothing about us and our Christianity, and never comes into our places of worship, and has no share in our hopes any more than if they lived in Central Africa.
MARTYN LLOYD-JONES (1899-1981): I do not hesitate to assert this―that the only hope of the church lies in revival…I see no hope whatsoever in any other movement, or organization, or any other kind of effort. The one supreme need of the church is revival.
C. H. MACKINTOSH (1820-1896): A revival of true, vital godliness in the souls of believers, or an increased number of conversions, is the work of God’s Spirit. Strictly speaking, He is the only Revivalist.
MARTYN LLOYD-JONES: Revival is always His work―A revival, I would say, is a repetition in some degree or in some measure of that which happened on the Day of Pentecost in Jerusalem. It is a pouring out, or a pouring forth of the Spirit of God upon a number of people at the same time.
C. H. SPURGEON: I fancy that if God were to give us Pentecostal blessings, it would be seen that many of us are by no means ready to receive them. Suppose there were 3,000 persons converted in one day here, most of the churches round here would say, “There is a shocking state of excitement over at the Tabernacle. It is really dreadful!” The very ‘sound’ Brethren would feel that we had gone off into Arminianism, or some other error and I expect some of you would say, very dolefully, “Oh, dear! Dear! Dear! Dear! We do hope they will all stand.” The first thought that would be excited in many Christian minds would be one of suspicion!―there is not one in a hundred who would think it was true! And we ministers would be very much of the same mind.
MARTYN LLOYD-JONES: My friends, when the next revival comes, it come as a surprise to everybody, and especially to those who have been trying to organize it.
C. H. MACKINTOSH: Let us not fold our arms and vainly say, “The time is not come.” Let us not yield to that pernicious offshoot of a one-sided theology, which is rightly called fatalism, and say, “God is sovereign, and He works according to His own will. We must wait His time. Human effort is in vain. We cannot get up a revival.”
C. H. SPURGEON: I was preaching in Bedford, and I prayed that God would bless the sermon and give me at least some few souls that afternoon. When I had done, there was an old Wesleyan Brother there who gave me a good scolding, which I richly deserved. He said to me, “I did not say, ‘Amen,’ when you were asking for a few souls to be converted, for I thought you were limiting the Holy One of Israel! Why did you not pray with all your heart for all of them to be saved? I did,” he added, “and that was why I did not say, ‘Amen,’ to your narrow prayer.” It is often the case that we preachers do not honour God by believing that He will give great blessings and, therefore, He does not honour us by giving those great blessings! But if we maintained a closer adherence to the Truth of God and had a firmer confidence that God’s Word shall never return unto Him void, He would do far greater things by us than He has ever yet done!
C. H. MACKINTOSH: Let us seek to get together according to God; to come as one man and prostrate ourselves before the mercy-seat, and perseveringly wait upon our God for the revival of His work.
CHARLES SIMEON: We want to see the lighting down of His arm amongst us; and such displays of His power and glory as when He “shook the room where His people were assembled, and filled them all with the Holy Ghost,” and with power, Acts 4:31-33. We are looking for “times of refreshing from the presence of the Lord,” Acts 3:19. And for these we should be earnestly pleading with God in prayer; saying, with the prophet, “O that thou wouldest rend the heavens, and come down; that the mountains might flow down at thy presence,” Isaiah 64:1!
ROBERT HAWKER (1753-1827): Oh! blessed Pentecost of a blessed God! Lord! grant in this latter day of thy Church a renewed Pentecost to manifest Thy glory!
CHARLES SIMEON: “Wilt thou not revive us again: that thy people may rejoice in thee?” Psalm 85:6. But the petition may be offered also, for our own souls in particular—Who amongst us does not need to offer it? We are but too apt, all of us, to experience changes in the divine life—how often do we see reason to deplore the loss of those ardent affections which once glowed in our souls! so that we have need particularly to cry, “O Lord, revive Thy work in the midst of my years!”
