We Need an Old-Fashioned Revival
by Dr. Lee Roberson
Dr. Lee Roberson was pastor at Highland Park Baptist Church in Chattanooga, Tennessee for over 40 years and founder of Tennessee Temple University. He ws 97 years old when he graduated to Heaven in 2007.
“And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write; These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God; I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot. So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth. ... As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent.” (Revelation 3:14-16, 19)
Chastening. That belongs to the child of God. He’s talking to us, to the churches, that we be revived and serve and do what God says. This church of Laodicea is a picture of this day -- lukewarm, not hot nor cold, but lukewarm.
I’ve been preaching for 70 years. That’s a good long while. I began at 18 years of age, called of God to preach at the old Cedar Creek Baptist Church. I was ordained at 20 and have been pastoring and working and building churches ever since. I thank the Lord for all of it. I wouldn’t change my calling. If I had to live my life over again, I’d choose the same thing. God called me, and I’ve been happy all the way through, never have changed one single particle from 18 years of age, perfectly happy in the thing that God said. That’s good for a preacher. Preachers need to be happy in the call of God, and stay with it all the time.
At Highland Park where I ministered for 40 years and six months, we had the joy of baptizing 61,000 people. That’s about 1,500 per year. God has been good.
I confess, dear friends, that I’m old fashioned. I don’t make any apology. I believe in the American flag. I like to see it flying. I believe in prayer, prayer at football games, basketball games, pray anywhere. You ought to pray everywhere. I believe in all that.
I like old fashioned things. I like old fashioned stores, and clerks, and offices, and secretaries, and type writers. I’m old fashioned about a lot of things. Remember the old days, you walk into the store and the clerk would meet you and say, “What can I do for you?” They don’t do that now. You go in and look and search around. Then if you find something you want to buy, you have to find the clerk.
I even like old fashioned gas stations. You drive your car in, and a young fella comes running out the front door with a rag in his hand. They wipe off the windshields, front and back, and then open up the hood and check the water and the oil, and then check the tires, and then put the gas in, and you pay him. When you got through he’d say, “Thank you, sir, come back again.” They don’t do that now. Now you drive in, put in your own gas. Half would go in the tank and half would go on your hands. Nobody wipes off the windshield. Nobody checks the water and oil. They don’t do a thing for you. Then you go in and pay the girl in the window and she’s always mad. I’ve never understood that. They ought to be happy. They’re getting your money. I’m old fashioned.
I like old fashioned preaching hours, Sunday morning, Sunday night, and Wednesday night. You’ll forgive me -- I don’t even care about junior churches. You can have them. I went 40 years and six months at Highland Park, never had a junior church. Every child, 35 buses, all of them came to church. Sunday morning, Sunday night, four or five thousand people in prayer meeting Wednesday night, they came to church. We brought them. Everyone came. My wife had the nursery. All the little ones under four years of age, she had them. Often more than 400 babies in the nursery at one time. Everybody else came to church. I like old fashioned preaching hours. I like old fashioned songs about the cross, about the blood, about Heaven. I still like the old fashioned way of doing it now.
Let me list a few things. I like first century preaching. I read the book of Acts. I preach on Heaven, Hell, salvation, and the work of the church. I like first century obedience and baptism and worship and tithing and faithfulness to the Lord. I like first century consecration, living for God and serving God every hour.
I like first century joy. They rejoiced in the Lord and praised God. Even when the hardships came, they still rejoiced. Even in jail, they rejoiced and praised God. They sang in jail even, Paul and Silas, and the earthquake came, and they were released. The shortest verse in the Bible is “Rejoice evermore.” (I Thessalonians 5:16) You thought the shortest verse was “Jesus wept.” You’re wrong. The shortest verse is “Rejoice evermore.” If you had Greek in the Southern Baptist Seminary, you’d know that. I had three years of Greek under A.T. Robertson, the famous Greek scholar. In the Greek “Jesus wept.” takes three words to say it. “Rejoice evermore.” takes two little words. I like first century joy.
I like first century empowering, the power of the Holy Spirit in Acts chapter two, the Holy Spirit filling people. Most people know nothing at all about the work of the Holy Spirit. The average man knows nothing about the matter of being filled with the Spirit of God, and yet that’s in the Word of God. They were filled with the Holy Spirit.
The average Christian knows nothing about dying to self. Do you? Paul said, “...I die daily.” Paul said, “Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.” (Romans 6:11) Jesus said, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.” (John 12:24) If you’re going to bear fruit, you’ve got to die, die to self, die to your opinions, die to your criticism, die to your compliments, die to everything. You reckon yourself to be dead.
The only way for Dr. Corle to keep on going is to die. He couldn’t exist in that situation. They’ll criticize the man who preaches the way he preaches. They’ll criticize him every time. Sure, but wait a minute. That doesn’t bother him a bit if he’s dead. When you’re dead, you can take it. I like the first century empowering, filled with the Holy Spirit.
I like the first century anticipation for the Rapture. They looked for the coming of Christ. He said, “I will come again.” “And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.” (John 14:3) They were waiting and watching for the coming of our Saviour.
I like first century witnessing. Jesus said, “Go,” and they went. “And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.” (Mark 16:15) He said, “Witness,” and they witnessed. “But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.” (Acts 1:8) They did the job. This is what we must have.
My dear friend, here is our need today. We desperately need to get back to the plain Bible principles of the Word of God. This is what God is saying to us. But here’s the trouble. We’re nice, but we’re lukewarm. We’re neither hot nor cold, and that’s not good. We’re failing because of that lukewarmness.
For years I pastored and preached three times a week. Then I retired and preached three times a day. In the last seven years, I have preached to more than 800 different churches. Many of them are fine, wonderful churches, but many of them are lukewarm. They’re not happy. They don’t rejoice in people being saved. They have no program for winning souls. They’ve given it up all together. They’ve turned away. They’re lukewarm.
They have big buildings, but they’re empty. They’re empty Sunday night, empty Wednesday night, nothing going on, big buildings, and big offerings. Some Southern Baptist churches run $150,000 every Sunday in the offering. They’ve got the money, but they’re not doing the job. You can’t do it with gymnasiums, picnics, and parties. You do it by preaching, winning souls, and baptizing converts. They have big plans. They’re building churches, not in town, but on the edge of town, get a lot of land, put up multi-million dollar buildings, but they’re failing. We’re not doing the job.
In America, we have 21,000 ordained women in the ministry. You can have them. That does not agree with the Bible. Southern Baptists have them. This is the condition, a lukewarmness in this day and time.
I had a nice fella come to me years ago in Birmingham, Alabama, when I was pastor there. He said, “Brother Roberson, I know your ministry. I’m a Presbyterian preacher. I want your advice and help about some things. I’m just starting out. I want to build an independent, Presbyterian church.”
I told him, “I love Presbyterians. I’d like to baptize everyone of them.” He didn’t take to that very well, but I said, “Go ahead.”
He said, “I believe the Bible like you do. We differ on just a few things, but I believe the Word of God. I’m going to build a Presbyterian church in this city that’s going to be something.” A young, vigorous fellow. We talked and prayed together and he left. He went downtown and rented a garage in the back of a house and began a church. It would seat 15 or 20 people. I kept up with him for awhile. Then I moved to Chattanooga and lost track of him all together.
Years went by and I was driving through Alabama. I picked up the Birmingham Post, the newspaper. On the front page was a big picture of a beautiful big church and a lovely auditorium. The article was about the dedication of the new church that cost 32 million dollars just to build. They were talking about the greatness of the church.
I looked at the picture. I saw a man that was sitting on the platform in that beautiful picture. Then I looked at it again. Across the platform were dancing about 12 or 15 girls. The article on page one of the Birmingham Post began like this, “The dedication of the so and so Presbyterian church yesterday began with a dance.” Those were the exact words. A dance!
I thought to myself, “That’s the fella who came to see me years ago. He was going to build a church.” He said, “I believe just like you believe, fundamental, strong, believe the Word of God.” But wait a minute. Somebody got a hold of him. Some wealth got hold of him. Some big men got a hold of him. They gave the money to build that big church, and he compromised his position. If I’d see him today he’d say, “I’m still fundamental, but there are certain things you have to do now to stay on the good side of people.” He had changed a whole lot. Change is going on everywhere.
The answer for our churches, our homes, in all we’re doing, is found in II Chronicles 7:14. “If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.” The need is revival, a stirring of our hearts, getting back to the Word of God, back to the principles of the Word of God, back to the teaching, back to the practice of the early Christians. What do we need in these lukewarm days?
#1. WE NEED DEDICATION.
The Bible says, “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.” (Romans 12:1-2) Give yourself to God, a holy dedication unto God, a dedication to our Lord. Say, “He’s first.” It’s hard to get people to say that. They want to keep themselves first and family first and business first and school first and entertainment first, but you better say, “God first.” This is our need -- to drive upon our people the great need of putting God first.
I used to preach to my people at Highland Park on the matter of going to church. I had a motto and put it up every year, “Three to Thrive.” Sunday morning, Sunday night, and Wednesday night, just keep on driving for three great services every week. Dedication to our Lord, a dedication to the Book, the holy Word of God and say, “This I believe and this I preach.” A dedication to our task of going out and reaching people and bringing souls to our Saviour. There needs to be dedication.
#2. WE NEED CONVICTIONS.
Folks will think you’re a little strange. You deacons, have convictions. You wives and Sunday school teachers, all of you should have convictions. Just stand for something. Say, “This is what I believe.” Conviction about the Word of God, this is God’s holy, inerrant Word given unto us. Don’t vary one single bit.
People ask me everywhere. They know that I had senior Greek under the famous A.T. Robertson in the Southern Baptist seminary. I read the New Testament through in the Greek language, every bit of it. They asked me, “What do you believe?” I believe the Word of God, just like you do, the King James Version. I preach from it. I stand with it. I make no variation at all. No one shakes me. No one moves me. I say, “This is it. This is what I preach, and this is what I believe.” So I hold to it.
Then conviction about Christian behavior, how we should live, how we should conduct ourselves. It’s not easy in this day. It never has been easy. This is the day when people are loose in their thinking. That’s caused by wide spread use of television. Television is the greatest harm that America ever had. Television causes people to look in the wrong direction, to think the wrong way, and to open up their minds to the evil things of this world. I tell my young people, “If there is even a question about a thing, don’t do it.” If you’ve got a question on something, just say, “No sir, we don’t do this at all.”
You must have some definite convictions. They’ll say that you’re crazy. They’ll say that you’re going to kill the church when you have convictions, but you’ll not kill it. It will thrive. It will keep on going. God will keep on blessing you.
I went to Highland Park in 1942. I was in Alabama for five years, and enjoyed the ministry of the First Baptist Church in Fairfield. I was called to Chattanooga. I prayed about the matter and felt led to go. I’d been there just a few weeks. The Sunday school was small, maybe 150. We owned one single building. We own 55 acres now, and scores of buildings, all of them paid for.
We began back in that day with just a handful of folks. I preached, and I knew I had some trouble. I could sense the world was in there. I soon discovered the pastor before me would take his young people to the movies on Saturday night. Thirty or 40 of them would go to the movies and he paid the way for all of them. It was a popular thing to do.
The people of the church had no conviction about anything, how they dressed, how they behaved, where they went, and they didn’t know a thing about it. One Sunday morning I had to go down in the basement and found it was empty. That’s where the intermediates met, the young people 13-16. I said, “There is something wrong. Where are the young people?”
“Well, they’ve gone up to Lake Chickamauga. They take this day for a picnic.” Sunday, the Lord’s day!“ They go up early, have lunch up there, and stay all day long. They have a good time at the lake.
I said, “On Sunday, on the Lord’s day?”
“Oh, yes, the teachers go with them. The department superintendent is there. They’re all up there.”
I said, “That’s the last time. Never, never again!” Oh, brother, it caused problems. Mothers and fathers and children got upset about the thing.
They said, “This will never do. You’re ruining the church. You’ll kill it all. Overnight it will be gone.”
I said, “No, this is the end of it all.” One man got mad. He was a big leader and he walked out with his family, left us and joined the Episcopal church. Good for him. Others got angry, but some woke up. The little lady who was in charge of it, Mrs. Goode, oh, what a lady, one of these dignified, aristocratic Virginians. She came from Virginia and was very wealthy. She was in charge of it all. She had gone with them for years in the same program.
I said, “This will never do, never again. This is the Lord’s day and we’re going to be doing God’s business on the Lord’s day, not anything else.”
So she came to me and she said, “Pastor, I didn’t know that was wrong. No one ever told us.”
I said, “You know it now.”
She said, “Yes, I do know it. That will change my whole life,” and it did. That little dignified Virginia aristocrat, wealthy as she could be, she became a fighter for the Gospel of Christ. She stood for right all the time. She said, “This is right. We stand with the pastor and for the Word of God.” She stayed that way.
When she came to die, she asked me to come by her home and said, “I’m not going to be here long. I’m getting weaker and am not going to make it. I want you to sign my will. I know that’s not orthodox, but sign the thing anyway. I want you to know that your school and your church gets everything I’ve got. I want it all to go to you.” A magnificent big home located on the golf course of Chattanooga. She said, “Sign the will.” It didn’t mean anything, but I signed the thing. Sure enough, she had it made out and every single penny came to Highland Park Baptist Church and Tennessee Temple University, hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Stand for convictions, and though sometimes you may feel a little lonely, you stand fast and wait on God and He’ll see you through. Whatever you do, do it kindly and lovingly. Let people know what you believe and love them at the same time and pray for them, but you stand for your convictions.
#3. WE NEED A VISION.
Without a vision the people perish. Get a vision. I established chapels around the city until we had 75 chapels, extension points where my boys preached on Sunday all around that area. They were wonderful things. I’ve been seeing Louisville, and New Albany, and Jeffersonville and began thinking what you’d do if you had a great chapel program here and train 75 to 100 preachers in your school week after week, year after year. Send them out to preach on Sunday in these places where you can’t get them out here, give them the Gospel. Get a vision of your city. Get a vision of your town. Get a vision where you are. Don’t settle down and say, “Well, it can’t be done.” But say, “Yes, it can be done,” and get the vision God wants you to have.
Sometimes you don’t get much support on that. In my travels I meet so many, like one fellow who met me at the airport. He said, “Brother Roberson, glad to have you here. We can’t do much. We are encircled by Catholics. There are Catholics everywhere. The crowd is small. Folks don’t come. Everywhere you go there are Catholics. We’ve just about given up, but we’re glad to have you.” That’s a good way to start off, you know. That excites you. I was there Monday and Tuesday.
On Tuesday I said, “Pastor, let’s go out and visit a little bit and talk to some folks.”
He said, “It won’t do any good. They’re all Catholics.”
I said, “Let’s go anyway.” We went and knocked on doors. We didn’t find a single Catholic, not a one. I said, “What about that?”
He said, “Well, I didn’t know that.”
I said, “You haven’t been out?”
He said, “No, sir, I never have been out. People told me they were all Catholics.” You’d better find out. There may be prospects right next door to your church, right down the street from you. You’d better go and visit and see the people there and get a vision of this lost world.
Don’t turn away from world wide missions. God will bless a missionary church because missions is emphasized in Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, the book of the Acts, and all the way through the Bible.
You must be missionary minded, and you’ll find that God will bless you. We began in Highland Park with one missionary back in 1942. I got a vision and began adding them on until we had 565 missionaries we supported. The last year I was there, my 40th year, the mission program alone cost one million, five hundred thousand dollars for one year, nothing but missions. We gave it and rejoiced in it.
Get a vision of the lost world and win souls and send out missionaries and do the job. Get a vision for your area, the area around you, and what can you do, and how many people are here to be reached. Then say, “Dear Lord, let us do our best in reaching souls with the Gospel of Christ.”
#4. WE NEED A REVIVAL.
Revival is a return to the fundamentals. A revival is a return of the individual to his day of salvation. My dear friend, the day that should excite you and mean more to you than any other day is the day you came to know the Lord Jesus Christ. You’ve passed from death unto life. You became a child of God. You received the Holy Spirit when you got saved. You received an understanding of the Word of God by the Holy Spirit when the Author moved in. Your name is written down in Heaven. All this happened in your coming to Christ.
A revival is when we come back to that initial fire and zeal and compassion and urge and happiness and joy that we had on the day we got saved. Excuse me. I don’t think much of this business of walking down the aisle and just shaking hands with the preacher and saying, “I want to join the church.” Maybe nothing is said about salvation at all. Even though you’re coming as a sinner, that happens over and over again in some places. I could tell you about many of them.
I was up north in a place and had 11 people saved one Sunday morning. I preached and gave an invitation. Eleven of them happily came forward. I led some to the Lord myself. Others dealt with them. I finished the service and had all 11 line up in the front. I said, “Let’s come and shake hands with these 11 new converts.” They lined up there in the front. I said, “Isn’t this a great hour? People were saved. Eleven souls saved here on this Sunday morning.” I was so happy about it.
I stepped back and the pastor walked up, a Baptist pastor. He said, “You 11 people go back to your seats. We’ll come and talk to you next week. I’ll send my deacons out to visit with you in your homes.”
I said, “Pastor, they just got saved.”
He said, “We don’t do it that way here.”
I said, “On the day of Pentecost, they did. Three thousand got saved and baptized there.”
He said, “We don’t do it that way here. My deacons go deal with them carefully.” I think he better deal with his deacons, too. Don’t you think so?
No, my dear friend, a revival, a stirring of hearts, and getting people to the Lord, and rejoicing in revival, and rejoicing when people are saved. My dear friend, they ought to shout and rejoice if only one got saved. Some of you smaller churches where you don’t have as much population, if you have one saved, then make a whole lot out of it. I mean, rejoice and praise God and say, “We had this boy saved, or this girl saved, or this adult saved.” It may be a poor old bum from the mission downtown, but if he got converted, praise God for it. Revival is returning to the zeal of the day of your salvation, a return to that place and that happiness and that joy that you had when you were saved.
I was born again in Louisville, Kentucky. I went to a little Sunday school class at Cedar Creek Baptist Church. Mrs. Daisy Hawes taught the lesson. The first Sunday she got before the class and said, “How many of you boys are saved?” They raised their hands. I didn’t raise my hand. I didn’t know a thing about it. I never owned a Bible at that time, 14 years old. She looked at me when I didn’t raise my hand. She just opened her Bible up to John 3 and began telling me how to be saved. John 3:16, John 3:18, John 3:36, she just went down the line.
I had never heard it before so I got mad and left. I was a big smart aleck and thought I knew everything. I just walked out. The next Sunday morning, the same boy came by to get me, Claude Martin. He said, “Let’s go back to Sunday school.”
I said, “No, I went last Sunday and didn’t like it. I didn’t like the teacher.”
He said, “Come on, go. It won’t hurt you at all.” He begged me and begged me till I went with him.
She came in the second Sunday morning and did the same thing again. “How many of you boys are saved?” They raised their hands. I couldn’t raise mine. She looked at me and took the Bible and told me how to be saved, just as plain and direct as she could.
I couldn’t get away that Sunday morning so I sat there and listened all the way through it, and then I went home. We lived near Fern Creek, one mile away, on a little nine acre farm. I never had a Bible in hand, but I had heard the Bible. “So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” (Romans 10:17) I had heard the Word of God, and she gave it to me.
On a Wednesday after that second Sunday, I got on my knees in our little four room house, out at Fern Creek, no electric lights, no carpets on the floor. I know more about poverty than any one of you would ever know. I’ve been through all of it a long time ago. On that Wednesday I got on my knees beside my little cot, didn’t have a bed, and I got saved. I stood to my feet and I knew I was born again. I knew Christ was my Saviour. I knew He died for me. I believed it with all of my heart. I’ve never had a doubt from that day to this. You can have your doubts if you want to. I’ve never had one. I know He saved me. I knew it securely and it’s settled once and for all.
The next Sunday morning this boy came by in his old Model T Ford car to take me to Sunday school. He thought I was going to argue with him and say I wouldn’t go. I fooled him. I came running out the front door. I had on the best clothes I owned, a suit of clothes given to me second hand. I had on a shirt made out of a flour sack by my mother. I had on old shoes that somebody gave me. I had my tie on and got in the car. He didn’t know what to say. The Sunday before I was dressed in old farm clothes. Now I’m dressed up in the best I had.
I got to church, walked into class. The teacher said, “How many of you boys are saved?” I shot my hand up in the air. She looked at me and smiled, and went on and gave the same message to somebody else on the other side of the room, every Sunday.
How many of you teach a Sunday school class? Give the Gospel every Sunday. She gave it every Sunday for 35 years. That’s how she would begin every class. I raised my hand. She praised God and went on and gave the lesson.
She finished teaching. The boys said to me that we could go home. I said, “No, we go to church.” I never had been to church in my life. I didn’t know a thing about church. I said, “I want to go to church. I’ve been saved.” I walked in the big, old, round church, the old Cedar Creek Church. We sat way back in the back with a bunch of boys. The preacher preached an hour and a half. My first sermon, an hour and a half long, I thought they were all that long. He said, “If you’re saved or want to be saved, come down the aisle.”
I walked down the aisle just as straight as I could. I said, “Sir, I got saved last Wednesday.”
He said, “You’ll have to show me about that.” We sat on the front row and he took his Bible and began dealing with me. He said, “You know, I believe you are saved.”
I said, “Sir, I know I am. I put my faith in Christ and I know I was saved.”
He said, “Thank you. That’s good enough. Bless you.” When he stood up a man and woman sat in back of him. The man said, “Sir, we’d like to get saved, too.” He turned and took his Bible and led them to the Lord. Who were they? My mother and father. I didn’t even know they were there.
My wife and I drove out to the Rest Haven Cemetery last Sunday afternoon. We were just standing there for a few moments beside the grave of my father, and I thought of that Sunday morning when he got born again. He had been as rough as he could be. He used bad language. He had a grape vineyard, made wine for people to come and drink. But when he got saved everything completely changed. I was saved first, then he was saved. My mother was saved. Christ came into our home.
Revival is returning to that fire, that fervor of the day you accepted Jesus. Don’t get dignified. Excite your own soul. Say, “Oh, God, let me be my best.”
Be a soulwinner. You can win a soul when you get saved. When you’re born again, that’s the time to begin. You don’t have to take any classes. You don’t have to have any books, just go on out and win people. A witness is one that tells what he knows. Just tell what you know.
I had a man saved in Highland Park one Sunday morning, a big, tall young man came down the aisle, over six feet. I led him to the Lord and he sat there on the front row. He said, “Pastor, could I be baptized?”
I said, “Sure, if you want to be. Go back right now.” We baptized him the same service. When he came out of the water I said, “Are you married?”
He said, “Oh, yes.”
I said, “Is your wife saved?”
He said, “No, she’s not saved.”
I said, “Listen, I’ll come this afternoon with my Bible in hand. We’ll lead your wife to the Lord.”
He said, “No, you won’t. I’ll do it myself.”
I said, “Sir, just wait a minute. You just got saved.”
He said, “I know I did. I’m going to tell her just what happened to me. You let me do it.”
I said, “All right, God bless you.” I prayed with him, and he left.
I came back Sunday night. The old church seated 3,500 people, packed and jammed. Right in the back row stood this big, tall fellow towering over everybody. I said, “There he is -- no wife with him. I know what he’s going to do. I’m going to preach the sermon and give an invitation. He’s going to walk down the aisle, come up to me and say, ‘I’ve failed. You better come and see my wife tomorrow.’” I preached my sermon and gave an invitation. When I did, that fella moved from the back and started down the aisle. The crowd was standing and singing. But when he turned the corner, by his side was a little, short lady, and he was a big, tall fella.
He said, “This is my wife. I led her to the Lord this afternoon. She’s saved.” I baptized her and the two of them began living for Christ. That’s the thing you’ve got to get, that joy, that excitement of winning people to Christ, leading people to the Lord and leading them on to do what God says.
I went to hold a meeting at First Baptist Church in Largo, Florida. Right on the front row sat a boy about 14 years of age, a rather large lad. He was sitting there with old, rough overalls on, a blue shirt. I never will forget it. He was barefooted, not a shoe, not a sock. I preached the sermon and started the invitation. When I did, he got up and walked back. I said, “Well, I know what he’s going to do, go on home.” I’ve seen young fellas come and sit on the front row. When you finish preaching, they just quietly get up and walk out, ready to go home.
But I was wrong. In a few moments, down the aisle came this barefoot boy with a young man in back of him about 19 or 20 years of age. He walked down to the front and the barefoot boy said, “Preacher, this man wants to be saved.”
I turned to the big man and I said, “Is that right?”
He said, “Yes, sir.”
I said, “Who’s been talking to you?”
He said, “Nick,” he pointed to the barefoot boy.
I said, “You mean that barefoot boy has been talking to you about Christ?”
He said, “Yes, sir, and I’d like to get saved.” I led him to the Lord. The meeting began that night and went on for 10 days. Every single night that boy brought somebody forward.
I said, “Pastor, who is that boy?”
He said, “Brother Roberson, you won’t believe it. He’s only been saved two weeks before the meeting started. Nothing can stop him. He talks about Christ everywhere. He brings people to church. You watch him. He keeps on coming. His mother and father are drunkards, never come to church, unsaved, wicked people. He’s praying and working with them all the time, but he goes out every day witnessing to people.” For 10 days he brought them down the aisle, single people, married folks, families came. That barefoot boy brought them. His name was Nick.
It came to the last night. They gave me a love offering as they do in revivals. I took the envelope that came. They handed them all to me. A note was from this boy. He said, “Dear Brother Roberson, I’ve enjoyed the meeting so very much. I’ve never been in one like this before.” You know how boys write. He hadn’t been saved but two weeks. He said, “This has been such a blessing. I don’t have any money. I don’t have a job. My mother and father won’t give me anything so I don’t have anything, but thank you for letting me help you.” He signed his name Nick. I put it away and kept the note for a long time. I’ve got it somewhere now I’m sure. I thank God for that boy. That was Thursday night.
On Friday morning I was having breakfast with the pastor and his wife on the back porch of their Florida home at daybreak. The doorbell rang, and the pastor’s wife went to the door. In a few moments she came back. Walking with her was Nick in the blue overalls, blue shirt, and barefooted. He was carrying in his arm a big, brown, paper sack. He walked up to the table and stood there a moment. He was so embarrassed. He looked at me and said, “Brother Roberson, did you get my note?”
I said, “Yes, I did. I want to thank you for it. That was good, Nick. You’ve been a blessing to me. Thank you so much.” He stood there embarrassed. Then he opened up the brown sack and reached inside and pulled out another smaller brown sack.
He said, “I don’t have any money, but I did want to give you something.” He handed me that brown sack. I opened the thing, looked inside it, a sack full of radishes. I couldn’t think of anything I needed less than radishes.
I said, “Thank you, Nick. Thank you so much.” I thought he was ready to leave. That was all he was going to do, but I was wrong. He stood there, waited a while and then opened the sack again.
He said, “Sir, I wish I could give something more, but I don’t have anything, but I want to give you something.” He reached in his sack and pulled out an old fashioned quart jar and put it in my hand. It was moist on the outside and full of dewberries. He had picked them early in the morning. Being a country boy, I couldn’t help it. I took the jar in my hand with the dewberries, with the moisture on the outside of it, looked down at his feet. I was right. All across his feet were scratches where he had gone out in the briars somewhere to pick those berries and got them ready to bring to me that morning.
I’m sure I have forgotten 10,000 things that have been given to me in these many years as a preacher, but I haven’t ever forgotten that jar of dewberries. Isn’t that strange? A little boy 14 years old, who let God use him, just like He would use you if you’ll let Him.
Friends, we need an old fashioned revival.
Chastening. That belongs to the child of God. He’s talking to us, to the churches, that we be revived and serve and do what God says. This church of Laodicea is a picture of this day -- lukewarm, not hot nor cold, but lukewarm.
I’ve been preaching for 70 years. That’s a good long while. I began at 18 years of age, called of God to preach at the old Cedar Creek Baptist Church. I was ordained at 20 and have been pastoring and working and building churches ever since. I thank the Lord for all of it. I wouldn’t change my calling. If I had to live my life over again, I’d choose the same thing. God called me, and I’ve been happy all the way through, never have changed one single particle from 18 years of age, perfectly happy in the thing that God said. That’s good for a preacher. Preachers need to be happy in the call of God, and stay with it all the time.
At Highland Park where I ministered for 40 years and six months, we had the joy of baptizing 61,000 people. That’s about 1,500 per year. God has been good.
I confess, dear friends, that I’m old fashioned. I don’t make any apology. I believe in the American flag. I like to see it flying. I believe in prayer, prayer at football games, basketball games, pray anywhere. You ought to pray everywhere. I believe in all that.
I like old fashioned things. I like old fashioned stores, and clerks, and offices, and secretaries, and type writers. I’m old fashioned about a lot of things. Remember the old days, you walk into the store and the clerk would meet you and say, “What can I do for you?” They don’t do that now. You go in and look and search around. Then if you find something you want to buy, you have to find the clerk.
I even like old fashioned gas stations. You drive your car in, and a young fella comes running out the front door with a rag in his hand. They wipe off the windshields, front and back, and then open up the hood and check the water and the oil, and then check the tires, and then put the gas in, and you pay him. When you got through he’d say, “Thank you, sir, come back again.” They don’t do that now. Now you drive in, put in your own gas. Half would go in the tank and half would go on your hands. Nobody wipes off the windshield. Nobody checks the water and oil. They don’t do a thing for you. Then you go in and pay the girl in the window and she’s always mad. I’ve never understood that. They ought to be happy. They’re getting your money. I’m old fashioned.
I like old fashioned preaching hours, Sunday morning, Sunday night, and Wednesday night. You’ll forgive me -- I don’t even care about junior churches. You can have them. I went 40 years and six months at Highland Park, never had a junior church. Every child, 35 buses, all of them came to church. Sunday morning, Sunday night, four or five thousand people in prayer meeting Wednesday night, they came to church. We brought them. Everyone came. My wife had the nursery. All the little ones under four years of age, she had them. Often more than 400 babies in the nursery at one time. Everybody else came to church. I like old fashioned preaching hours. I like old fashioned songs about the cross, about the blood, about Heaven. I still like the old fashioned way of doing it now.
Let me list a few things. I like first century preaching. I read the book of Acts. I preach on Heaven, Hell, salvation, and the work of the church. I like first century obedience and baptism and worship and tithing and faithfulness to the Lord. I like first century consecration, living for God and serving God every hour.
I like first century joy. They rejoiced in the Lord and praised God. Even when the hardships came, they still rejoiced. Even in jail, they rejoiced and praised God. They sang in jail even, Paul and Silas, and the earthquake came, and they were released. The shortest verse in the Bible is “Rejoice evermore.” (I Thessalonians 5:16) You thought the shortest verse was “Jesus wept.” You’re wrong. The shortest verse is “Rejoice evermore.” If you had Greek in the Southern Baptist Seminary, you’d know that. I had three years of Greek under A.T. Robertson, the famous Greek scholar. In the Greek “Jesus wept.” takes three words to say it. “Rejoice evermore.” takes two little words. I like first century joy.
I like first century empowering, the power of the Holy Spirit in Acts chapter two, the Holy Spirit filling people. Most people know nothing at all about the work of the Holy Spirit. The average man knows nothing about the matter of being filled with the Spirit of God, and yet that’s in the Word of God. They were filled with the Holy Spirit.
The average Christian knows nothing about dying to self. Do you? Paul said, “...I die daily.” Paul said, “Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.” (Romans 6:11) Jesus said, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.” (John 12:24) If you’re going to bear fruit, you’ve got to die, die to self, die to your opinions, die to your criticism, die to your compliments, die to everything. You reckon yourself to be dead.
The only way for Dr. Corle to keep on going is to die. He couldn’t exist in that situation. They’ll criticize the man who preaches the way he preaches. They’ll criticize him every time. Sure, but wait a minute. That doesn’t bother him a bit if he’s dead. When you’re dead, you can take it. I like the first century empowering, filled with the Holy Spirit.
I like the first century anticipation for the Rapture. They looked for the coming of Christ. He said, “I will come again.” “And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.” (John 14:3) They were waiting and watching for the coming of our Saviour.
I like first century witnessing. Jesus said, “Go,” and they went. “And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.” (Mark 16:15) He said, “Witness,” and they witnessed. “But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.” (Acts 1:8) They did the job. This is what we must have.
My dear friend, here is our need today. We desperately need to get back to the plain Bible principles of the Word of God. This is what God is saying to us. But here’s the trouble. We’re nice, but we’re lukewarm. We’re neither hot nor cold, and that’s not good. We’re failing because of that lukewarmness.
For years I pastored and preached three times a week. Then I retired and preached three times a day. In the last seven years, I have preached to more than 800 different churches. Many of them are fine, wonderful churches, but many of them are lukewarm. They’re not happy. They don’t rejoice in people being saved. They have no program for winning souls. They’ve given it up all together. They’ve turned away. They’re lukewarm.
They have big buildings, but they’re empty. They’re empty Sunday night, empty Wednesday night, nothing going on, big buildings, and big offerings. Some Southern Baptist churches run $150,000 every Sunday in the offering. They’ve got the money, but they’re not doing the job. You can’t do it with gymnasiums, picnics, and parties. You do it by preaching, winning souls, and baptizing converts. They have big plans. They’re building churches, not in town, but on the edge of town, get a lot of land, put up multi-million dollar buildings, but they’re failing. We’re not doing the job.
In America, we have 21,000 ordained women in the ministry. You can have them. That does not agree with the Bible. Southern Baptists have them. This is the condition, a lukewarmness in this day and time.
I had a nice fella come to me years ago in Birmingham, Alabama, when I was pastor there. He said, “Brother Roberson, I know your ministry. I’m a Presbyterian preacher. I want your advice and help about some things. I’m just starting out. I want to build an independent, Presbyterian church.”
I told him, “I love Presbyterians. I’d like to baptize everyone of them.” He didn’t take to that very well, but I said, “Go ahead.”
He said, “I believe the Bible like you do. We differ on just a few things, but I believe the Word of God. I’m going to build a Presbyterian church in this city that’s going to be something.” A young, vigorous fellow. We talked and prayed together and he left. He went downtown and rented a garage in the back of a house and began a church. It would seat 15 or 20 people. I kept up with him for awhile. Then I moved to Chattanooga and lost track of him all together.
Years went by and I was driving through Alabama. I picked up the Birmingham Post, the newspaper. On the front page was a big picture of a beautiful big church and a lovely auditorium. The article was about the dedication of the new church that cost 32 million dollars just to build. They were talking about the greatness of the church.
I looked at the picture. I saw a man that was sitting on the platform in that beautiful picture. Then I looked at it again. Across the platform were dancing about 12 or 15 girls. The article on page one of the Birmingham Post began like this, “The dedication of the so and so Presbyterian church yesterday began with a dance.” Those were the exact words. A dance!
I thought to myself, “That’s the fella who came to see me years ago. He was going to build a church.” He said, “I believe just like you believe, fundamental, strong, believe the Word of God.” But wait a minute. Somebody got a hold of him. Some wealth got hold of him. Some big men got a hold of him. They gave the money to build that big church, and he compromised his position. If I’d see him today he’d say, “I’m still fundamental, but there are certain things you have to do now to stay on the good side of people.” He had changed a whole lot. Change is going on everywhere.
The answer for our churches, our homes, in all we’re doing, is found in II Chronicles 7:14. “If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.” The need is revival, a stirring of our hearts, getting back to the Word of God, back to the principles of the Word of God, back to the teaching, back to the practice of the early Christians. What do we need in these lukewarm days?
#1. WE NEED DEDICATION.
The Bible says, “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.” (Romans 12:1-2) Give yourself to God, a holy dedication unto God, a dedication to our Lord. Say, “He’s first.” It’s hard to get people to say that. They want to keep themselves first and family first and business first and school first and entertainment first, but you better say, “God first.” This is our need -- to drive upon our people the great need of putting God first.
I used to preach to my people at Highland Park on the matter of going to church. I had a motto and put it up every year, “Three to Thrive.” Sunday morning, Sunday night, and Wednesday night, just keep on driving for three great services every week. Dedication to our Lord, a dedication to the Book, the holy Word of God and say, “This I believe and this I preach.” A dedication to our task of going out and reaching people and bringing souls to our Saviour. There needs to be dedication.
#2. WE NEED CONVICTIONS.
Folks will think you’re a little strange. You deacons, have convictions. You wives and Sunday school teachers, all of you should have convictions. Just stand for something. Say, “This is what I believe.” Conviction about the Word of God, this is God’s holy, inerrant Word given unto us. Don’t vary one single bit.
People ask me everywhere. They know that I had senior Greek under the famous A.T. Robertson in the Southern Baptist seminary. I read the New Testament through in the Greek language, every bit of it. They asked me, “What do you believe?” I believe the Word of God, just like you do, the King James Version. I preach from it. I stand with it. I make no variation at all. No one shakes me. No one moves me. I say, “This is it. This is what I preach, and this is what I believe.” So I hold to it.
Then conviction about Christian behavior, how we should live, how we should conduct ourselves. It’s not easy in this day. It never has been easy. This is the day when people are loose in their thinking. That’s caused by wide spread use of television. Television is the greatest harm that America ever had. Television causes people to look in the wrong direction, to think the wrong way, and to open up their minds to the evil things of this world. I tell my young people, “If there is even a question about a thing, don’t do it.” If you’ve got a question on something, just say, “No sir, we don’t do this at all.”
You must have some definite convictions. They’ll say that you’re crazy. They’ll say that you’re going to kill the church when you have convictions, but you’ll not kill it. It will thrive. It will keep on going. God will keep on blessing you.
I went to Highland Park in 1942. I was in Alabama for five years, and enjoyed the ministry of the First Baptist Church in Fairfield. I was called to Chattanooga. I prayed about the matter and felt led to go. I’d been there just a few weeks. The Sunday school was small, maybe 150. We owned one single building. We own 55 acres now, and scores of buildings, all of them paid for.
We began back in that day with just a handful of folks. I preached, and I knew I had some trouble. I could sense the world was in there. I soon discovered the pastor before me would take his young people to the movies on Saturday night. Thirty or 40 of them would go to the movies and he paid the way for all of them. It was a popular thing to do.
The people of the church had no conviction about anything, how they dressed, how they behaved, where they went, and they didn’t know a thing about it. One Sunday morning I had to go down in the basement and found it was empty. That’s where the intermediates met, the young people 13-16. I said, “There is something wrong. Where are the young people?”
“Well, they’ve gone up to Lake Chickamauga. They take this day for a picnic.” Sunday, the Lord’s day!“ They go up early, have lunch up there, and stay all day long. They have a good time at the lake.
I said, “On Sunday, on the Lord’s day?”
“Oh, yes, the teachers go with them. The department superintendent is there. They’re all up there.”
I said, “That’s the last time. Never, never again!” Oh, brother, it caused problems. Mothers and fathers and children got upset about the thing.
They said, “This will never do. You’re ruining the church. You’ll kill it all. Overnight it will be gone.”
I said, “No, this is the end of it all.” One man got mad. He was a big leader and he walked out with his family, left us and joined the Episcopal church. Good for him. Others got angry, but some woke up. The little lady who was in charge of it, Mrs. Goode, oh, what a lady, one of these dignified, aristocratic Virginians. She came from Virginia and was very wealthy. She was in charge of it all. She had gone with them for years in the same program.
I said, “This will never do, never again. This is the Lord’s day and we’re going to be doing God’s business on the Lord’s day, not anything else.”
So she came to me and she said, “Pastor, I didn’t know that was wrong. No one ever told us.”
I said, “You know it now.”
She said, “Yes, I do know it. That will change my whole life,” and it did. That little dignified Virginia aristocrat, wealthy as she could be, she became a fighter for the Gospel of Christ. She stood for right all the time. She said, “This is right. We stand with the pastor and for the Word of God.” She stayed that way.
When she came to die, she asked me to come by her home and said, “I’m not going to be here long. I’m getting weaker and am not going to make it. I want you to sign my will. I know that’s not orthodox, but sign the thing anyway. I want you to know that your school and your church gets everything I’ve got. I want it all to go to you.” A magnificent big home located on the golf course of Chattanooga. She said, “Sign the will.” It didn’t mean anything, but I signed the thing. Sure enough, she had it made out and every single penny came to Highland Park Baptist Church and Tennessee Temple University, hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Stand for convictions, and though sometimes you may feel a little lonely, you stand fast and wait on God and He’ll see you through. Whatever you do, do it kindly and lovingly. Let people know what you believe and love them at the same time and pray for them, but you stand for your convictions.
#3. WE NEED A VISION.
Without a vision the people perish. Get a vision. I established chapels around the city until we had 75 chapels, extension points where my boys preached on Sunday all around that area. They were wonderful things. I’ve been seeing Louisville, and New Albany, and Jeffersonville and began thinking what you’d do if you had a great chapel program here and train 75 to 100 preachers in your school week after week, year after year. Send them out to preach on Sunday in these places where you can’t get them out here, give them the Gospel. Get a vision of your city. Get a vision of your town. Get a vision where you are. Don’t settle down and say, “Well, it can’t be done.” But say, “Yes, it can be done,” and get the vision God wants you to have.
Sometimes you don’t get much support on that. In my travels I meet so many, like one fellow who met me at the airport. He said, “Brother Roberson, glad to have you here. We can’t do much. We are encircled by Catholics. There are Catholics everywhere. The crowd is small. Folks don’t come. Everywhere you go there are Catholics. We’ve just about given up, but we’re glad to have you.” That’s a good way to start off, you know. That excites you. I was there Monday and Tuesday.
On Tuesday I said, “Pastor, let’s go out and visit a little bit and talk to some folks.”
He said, “It won’t do any good. They’re all Catholics.”
I said, “Let’s go anyway.” We went and knocked on doors. We didn’t find a single Catholic, not a one. I said, “What about that?”
He said, “Well, I didn’t know that.”
I said, “You haven’t been out?”
He said, “No, sir, I never have been out. People told me they were all Catholics.” You’d better find out. There may be prospects right next door to your church, right down the street from you. You’d better go and visit and see the people there and get a vision of this lost world.
Don’t turn away from world wide missions. God will bless a missionary church because missions is emphasized in Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, the book of the Acts, and all the way through the Bible.
You must be missionary minded, and you’ll find that God will bless you. We began in Highland Park with one missionary back in 1942. I got a vision and began adding them on until we had 565 missionaries we supported. The last year I was there, my 40th year, the mission program alone cost one million, five hundred thousand dollars for one year, nothing but missions. We gave it and rejoiced in it.
Get a vision of the lost world and win souls and send out missionaries and do the job. Get a vision for your area, the area around you, and what can you do, and how many people are here to be reached. Then say, “Dear Lord, let us do our best in reaching souls with the Gospel of Christ.”
#4. WE NEED A REVIVAL.
Revival is a return to the fundamentals. A revival is a return of the individual to his day of salvation. My dear friend, the day that should excite you and mean more to you than any other day is the day you came to know the Lord Jesus Christ. You’ve passed from death unto life. You became a child of God. You received the Holy Spirit when you got saved. You received an understanding of the Word of God by the Holy Spirit when the Author moved in. Your name is written down in Heaven. All this happened in your coming to Christ.
A revival is when we come back to that initial fire and zeal and compassion and urge and happiness and joy that we had on the day we got saved. Excuse me. I don’t think much of this business of walking down the aisle and just shaking hands with the preacher and saying, “I want to join the church.” Maybe nothing is said about salvation at all. Even though you’re coming as a sinner, that happens over and over again in some places. I could tell you about many of them.
I was up north in a place and had 11 people saved one Sunday morning. I preached and gave an invitation. Eleven of them happily came forward. I led some to the Lord myself. Others dealt with them. I finished the service and had all 11 line up in the front. I said, “Let’s come and shake hands with these 11 new converts.” They lined up there in the front. I said, “Isn’t this a great hour? People were saved. Eleven souls saved here on this Sunday morning.” I was so happy about it.
I stepped back and the pastor walked up, a Baptist pastor. He said, “You 11 people go back to your seats. We’ll come and talk to you next week. I’ll send my deacons out to visit with you in your homes.”
I said, “Pastor, they just got saved.”
He said, “We don’t do it that way here.”
I said, “On the day of Pentecost, they did. Three thousand got saved and baptized there.”
He said, “We don’t do it that way here. My deacons go deal with them carefully.” I think he better deal with his deacons, too. Don’t you think so?
No, my dear friend, a revival, a stirring of hearts, and getting people to the Lord, and rejoicing in revival, and rejoicing when people are saved. My dear friend, they ought to shout and rejoice if only one got saved. Some of you smaller churches where you don’t have as much population, if you have one saved, then make a whole lot out of it. I mean, rejoice and praise God and say, “We had this boy saved, or this girl saved, or this adult saved.” It may be a poor old bum from the mission downtown, but if he got converted, praise God for it. Revival is returning to the zeal of the day of your salvation, a return to that place and that happiness and that joy that you had when you were saved.
I was born again in Louisville, Kentucky. I went to a little Sunday school class at Cedar Creek Baptist Church. Mrs. Daisy Hawes taught the lesson. The first Sunday she got before the class and said, “How many of you boys are saved?” They raised their hands. I didn’t raise my hand. I didn’t know a thing about it. I never owned a Bible at that time, 14 years old. She looked at me when I didn’t raise my hand. She just opened her Bible up to John 3 and began telling me how to be saved. John 3:16, John 3:18, John 3:36, she just went down the line.
I had never heard it before so I got mad and left. I was a big smart aleck and thought I knew everything. I just walked out. The next Sunday morning, the same boy came by to get me, Claude Martin. He said, “Let’s go back to Sunday school.”
I said, “No, I went last Sunday and didn’t like it. I didn’t like the teacher.”
He said, “Come on, go. It won’t hurt you at all.” He begged me and begged me till I went with him.
She came in the second Sunday morning and did the same thing again. “How many of you boys are saved?” They raised their hands. I couldn’t raise mine. She looked at me and took the Bible and told me how to be saved, just as plain and direct as she could.
I couldn’t get away that Sunday morning so I sat there and listened all the way through it, and then I went home. We lived near Fern Creek, one mile away, on a little nine acre farm. I never had a Bible in hand, but I had heard the Bible. “So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” (Romans 10:17) I had heard the Word of God, and she gave it to me.
On a Wednesday after that second Sunday, I got on my knees in our little four room house, out at Fern Creek, no electric lights, no carpets on the floor. I know more about poverty than any one of you would ever know. I’ve been through all of it a long time ago. On that Wednesday I got on my knees beside my little cot, didn’t have a bed, and I got saved. I stood to my feet and I knew I was born again. I knew Christ was my Saviour. I knew He died for me. I believed it with all of my heart. I’ve never had a doubt from that day to this. You can have your doubts if you want to. I’ve never had one. I know He saved me. I knew it securely and it’s settled once and for all.
The next Sunday morning this boy came by in his old Model T Ford car to take me to Sunday school. He thought I was going to argue with him and say I wouldn’t go. I fooled him. I came running out the front door. I had on the best clothes I owned, a suit of clothes given to me second hand. I had on a shirt made out of a flour sack by my mother. I had on old shoes that somebody gave me. I had my tie on and got in the car. He didn’t know what to say. The Sunday before I was dressed in old farm clothes. Now I’m dressed up in the best I had.
I got to church, walked into class. The teacher said, “How many of you boys are saved?” I shot my hand up in the air. She looked at me and smiled, and went on and gave the same message to somebody else on the other side of the room, every Sunday.
How many of you teach a Sunday school class? Give the Gospel every Sunday. She gave it every Sunday for 35 years. That’s how she would begin every class. I raised my hand. She praised God and went on and gave the lesson.
She finished teaching. The boys said to me that we could go home. I said, “No, we go to church.” I never had been to church in my life. I didn’t know a thing about church. I said, “I want to go to church. I’ve been saved.” I walked in the big, old, round church, the old Cedar Creek Church. We sat way back in the back with a bunch of boys. The preacher preached an hour and a half. My first sermon, an hour and a half long, I thought they were all that long. He said, “If you’re saved or want to be saved, come down the aisle.”
I walked down the aisle just as straight as I could. I said, “Sir, I got saved last Wednesday.”
He said, “You’ll have to show me about that.” We sat on the front row and he took his Bible and began dealing with me. He said, “You know, I believe you are saved.”
I said, “Sir, I know I am. I put my faith in Christ and I know I was saved.”
He said, “Thank you. That’s good enough. Bless you.” When he stood up a man and woman sat in back of him. The man said, “Sir, we’d like to get saved, too.” He turned and took his Bible and led them to the Lord. Who were they? My mother and father. I didn’t even know they were there.
My wife and I drove out to the Rest Haven Cemetery last Sunday afternoon. We were just standing there for a few moments beside the grave of my father, and I thought of that Sunday morning when he got born again. He had been as rough as he could be. He used bad language. He had a grape vineyard, made wine for people to come and drink. But when he got saved everything completely changed. I was saved first, then he was saved. My mother was saved. Christ came into our home.
Revival is returning to that fire, that fervor of the day you accepted Jesus. Don’t get dignified. Excite your own soul. Say, “Oh, God, let me be my best.”
Be a soulwinner. You can win a soul when you get saved. When you’re born again, that’s the time to begin. You don’t have to take any classes. You don’t have to have any books, just go on out and win people. A witness is one that tells what he knows. Just tell what you know.
I had a man saved in Highland Park one Sunday morning, a big, tall young man came down the aisle, over six feet. I led him to the Lord and he sat there on the front row. He said, “Pastor, could I be baptized?”
I said, “Sure, if you want to be. Go back right now.” We baptized him the same service. When he came out of the water I said, “Are you married?”
He said, “Oh, yes.”
I said, “Is your wife saved?”
He said, “No, she’s not saved.”
I said, “Listen, I’ll come this afternoon with my Bible in hand. We’ll lead your wife to the Lord.”
He said, “No, you won’t. I’ll do it myself.”
I said, “Sir, just wait a minute. You just got saved.”
He said, “I know I did. I’m going to tell her just what happened to me. You let me do it.”
I said, “All right, God bless you.” I prayed with him, and he left.
I came back Sunday night. The old church seated 3,500 people, packed and jammed. Right in the back row stood this big, tall fellow towering over everybody. I said, “There he is -- no wife with him. I know what he’s going to do. I’m going to preach the sermon and give an invitation. He’s going to walk down the aisle, come up to me and say, ‘I’ve failed. You better come and see my wife tomorrow.’” I preached my sermon and gave an invitation. When I did, that fella moved from the back and started down the aisle. The crowd was standing and singing. But when he turned the corner, by his side was a little, short lady, and he was a big, tall fella.
He said, “This is my wife. I led her to the Lord this afternoon. She’s saved.” I baptized her and the two of them began living for Christ. That’s the thing you’ve got to get, that joy, that excitement of winning people to Christ, leading people to the Lord and leading them on to do what God says.
I went to hold a meeting at First Baptist Church in Largo, Florida. Right on the front row sat a boy about 14 years of age, a rather large lad. He was sitting there with old, rough overalls on, a blue shirt. I never will forget it. He was barefooted, not a shoe, not a sock. I preached the sermon and started the invitation. When I did, he got up and walked back. I said, “Well, I know what he’s going to do, go on home.” I’ve seen young fellas come and sit on the front row. When you finish preaching, they just quietly get up and walk out, ready to go home.
But I was wrong. In a few moments, down the aisle came this barefoot boy with a young man in back of him about 19 or 20 years of age. He walked down to the front and the barefoot boy said, “Preacher, this man wants to be saved.”
I turned to the big man and I said, “Is that right?”
He said, “Yes, sir.”
I said, “Who’s been talking to you?”
He said, “Nick,” he pointed to the barefoot boy.
I said, “You mean that barefoot boy has been talking to you about Christ?”
He said, “Yes, sir, and I’d like to get saved.” I led him to the Lord. The meeting began that night and went on for 10 days. Every single night that boy brought somebody forward.
I said, “Pastor, who is that boy?”
He said, “Brother Roberson, you won’t believe it. He’s only been saved two weeks before the meeting started. Nothing can stop him. He talks about Christ everywhere. He brings people to church. You watch him. He keeps on coming. His mother and father are drunkards, never come to church, unsaved, wicked people. He’s praying and working with them all the time, but he goes out every day witnessing to people.” For 10 days he brought them down the aisle, single people, married folks, families came. That barefoot boy brought them. His name was Nick.
It came to the last night. They gave me a love offering as they do in revivals. I took the envelope that came. They handed them all to me. A note was from this boy. He said, “Dear Brother Roberson, I’ve enjoyed the meeting so very much. I’ve never been in one like this before.” You know how boys write. He hadn’t been saved but two weeks. He said, “This has been such a blessing. I don’t have any money. I don’t have a job. My mother and father won’t give me anything so I don’t have anything, but thank you for letting me help you.” He signed his name Nick. I put it away and kept the note for a long time. I’ve got it somewhere now I’m sure. I thank God for that boy. That was Thursday night.
On Friday morning I was having breakfast with the pastor and his wife on the back porch of their Florida home at daybreak. The doorbell rang, and the pastor’s wife went to the door. In a few moments she came back. Walking with her was Nick in the blue overalls, blue shirt, and barefooted. He was carrying in his arm a big, brown, paper sack. He walked up to the table and stood there a moment. He was so embarrassed. He looked at me and said, “Brother Roberson, did you get my note?”
I said, “Yes, I did. I want to thank you for it. That was good, Nick. You’ve been a blessing to me. Thank you so much.” He stood there embarrassed. Then he opened up the brown sack and reached inside and pulled out another smaller brown sack.
He said, “I don’t have any money, but I did want to give you something.” He handed me that brown sack. I opened the thing, looked inside it, a sack full of radishes. I couldn’t think of anything I needed less than radishes.
I said, “Thank you, Nick. Thank you so much.” I thought he was ready to leave. That was all he was going to do, but I was wrong. He stood there, waited a while and then opened the sack again.
He said, “Sir, I wish I could give something more, but I don’t have anything, but I want to give you something.” He reached in his sack and pulled out an old fashioned quart jar and put it in my hand. It was moist on the outside and full of dewberries. He had picked them early in the morning. Being a country boy, I couldn’t help it. I took the jar in my hand with the dewberries, with the moisture on the outside of it, looked down at his feet. I was right. All across his feet were scratches where he had gone out in the briars somewhere to pick those berries and got them ready to bring to me that morning.
I’m sure I have forgotten 10,000 things that have been given to me in these many years as a preacher, but I haven’t ever forgotten that jar of dewberries. Isn’t that strange? A little boy 14 years old, who let God use him, just like He would use you if you’ll let Him.
Friends, we need an old fashioned revival.