The lostness of man.
The first is His awareness of the lostness of mankind. Jesus said, "The Son of man is come to seek and save that which is lost." In the Scriptures we continually see Him seeking out the hurting, afflicted, and tormented. Jesus had one goal for His life. He came to redeem lost humanity to Himself.

The revived church is always awakened to the lostness of man. That awareness always motivates the church with compassion to pray and witness as never before. During one of my most recent visits to Romania, the pastor of a large congregation exhorted me. "The doctrine of hell and man's eternal separation from God is very important to us in Romania. It is a motivating force in the revival movement."

One of my dearest friends in Romania challenged me even more. "Sammy, you preachers from the West very seldom preach on the subject of hell. As a result, I sense a lack of urgency in your message."

I didn't want to admit it, but he was telling the truth. When I became a Christian in the mid-sixties, I was challenged by an ungodly hippie stoned on psychedelic drugs. I witnessed to him, and he said, "If I believed what you are telling me, I would crawl on my hands and knees and beg people to give their hearts to Jesus. I wouldn't be able to sleep until I had told somebody about Jesus.'

The hippie's challenge struck deep in my heart, and God set me aflame for souls. My wife and I went to ghettos and drug hangouts to bring people to Jesus. Our hearts broke over the lostness of these young people. However, in the process of growing a family, building a home, and becoming a successful pastor, I lost sight of the lostness of man.

It took my Romanian friend to again challenge me with this truth. My friend encouraged me to re-read Jonathan Edwards's sermon "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God."

He reminded me of my own heritage. "Sammy, your nation was born during a great awakening. And the preachers and lay people believed that man really is lost and that hell is the eternal destiny of lost man."

When I returned to the States, I read again Edwards's sermon. The Holy Spirit quickened my heart:

If we knew that there was one person, but one of those that we know who was to be the subject of this misery, what an awful thing it would be to think of! If we knew who it was, what an awful sight would it be to see such a person! How might every Christian lift up a lamentable and bitter cry over him! But alas, instead of one, how many is it will remember these solemn reflections in hell! Some may be in hell in a very short time, before this year is out. And it would be no wonder if some who are now in health, quiet and secure, should be there before tomorrow morning.

We cannot afford to sit in our comfortable pews, sing a few songs, and amen the preacher. The world is going to hell! We must break out of our comfort zones. We attend seminars and have fellowship and enjoy Bible study groups, but we forget that outside there is a lost humanity.

I think many Christians believe there are three categories of people: The saved, those who have believed in Jesus and received Him as Lord and Savior; the lost, those who have rejected Jesus; and the safe, good people who have not openly rejected Jesus Christ but have not accepted Him either. They are not saved, but they are not really lost.

This is error! All are lost without Jesus. If there were a "safe" category, then we should never tell anyone about Jesus. The moment they hear about Jesus and reject Him, they move into the "lost" category.

When we understand that all people are lost for eternity without Jesus, then our attitude about witnessing changes. The only hope for mankind lies in who Jesus is and what He has done for us. We must tell them that to escape the judgment to come, they must trust Jesus. The more we avail our lives to Jesus, the more we will set about "to seek and save that which is lost."

The love of God.
The truth of the cross must become the most precious truth to us. On the cross we see that the wrath of God and the love of God come together. On the cross Jesus took the wrath of God on Himself because he loved a lost humanity. He took the punishment for our sin to satisfy God's justice. Oh, how He loves us!

It is that kind of love that makes us a unique breed of revolutionaries, revolutionaries of love. Divine love motivates us. It is that love that flows form the cross. It is the grace that pours out of the heart of God that enables us to love even our enemies.

When I attended the Communist Youth World Festival in the early 70s, I was often challenged by young atheists,. They claimed they were committed to the masses of the world. I asked them, "Do you love Richard Nixon?"

Words of hate and anger came out as they screamed, "He's a filthy capitalist! He must be destroyed."

I would quickly respond, "That's the problem. The Communists love the Communists; the capitalists love the capitalists. The Jews love the Jews, and the Arabs love the Arabs. The blacks love the blacks, and the whites love the whites. The problem is that each hates his enemies. The Scripture says god demonstrates His own love toward us in that "while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.'

The Communists didn't know how to respond to that. They had come up against a true revolutionary love, the love of the Father for a lost world. Even though the world hates us, we can love the world with the revolutionary love of the Father.

The awakened church will always have the world on her heart, because the world is on the heart of the Father. God didn't love just a particular generation, or a Western culture, but "He so love d the world that He gave His only begotten Son."

It's estimated that by 1990 there will be more than 5 billion people in the world. It's also estimated that by the middle of the next century there will be 9 billion inhabitants on planet earth. Most of theses will be born in Third World countries. Heaven and hell will be at stake with every one.

When the love of the Father breaks our hearts for such a massive humanity, then we will move into world evangelism. We will move with unprecedented power and force to win the 500 million Buddhists to Jesus. We will cry to God for the 800 million Muslims. We will find a way through the Iron and Bamboo Curtains to win the more than 1 billion people entrapped by atheism.

R.A. Torrey, speaking of John 3:16, expressed beautifully the love of the Father for a lost world:

Love is the consuming, absorbing desire for the delight in another's highest good. Real love is entirely unselfish. It loses utterly of self-interest and sets itself to seeking the interest of the person loved. This was God's attitude toward the world. He loved the world, really loved it.

When we're awakened by the love of the Father for the world, entertainment, fellowship, and getting ahead in life will no longer take priority. Our money, our time, and our very lives will be spent to reach the lost. The love of God is not passive; it is actively seeking to bless and save mankind.

It's that kind of love that will cause the lost to respond in faith to wonderful Jesus. When the communist leaders began to harass and threaten me at the Communist Youth World Festival, the Father spoke to my heart. He said, "Love them with My love."

One man threatened to beat me. I told him, "I pray that every drop of my blood will remind you of the blood of Jesus that was shed for you. I love you." He became angry and left. Immediately two university students told me they wanted to know that kind of love. After I explained the way of salvation, they gave their hearts to Jesus. The revolutionary love of God can change the world.

The glory of God.
The one final motivation for witnessing of Jesus is the highest of all motivations. It is ultimately the purpose in spiritual awakening: the glory of God.

Revival is the manifest presence of the glory of God. Those who are to experience the glory of God are those who seek nothing but God's glory. When Jesus ministered, he had but one motivation: the glory of the Father.

One reason for the outpouring of God's Spirit in parts of Eastern Europe is the lack of superstars. It's unlikely that anyone will ever be known as an outstanding evangelist, Christian athlete, or leader of an evangelistic movement in a communist country. The Communists would never permit it. The target to persecution is always among the outstanding leaders. From one perspective this has caused tremendous problems within the church in Eastern Europe.

On the other hand, it's a tremendous blessing because it forces the church to become a people movement rather than a personality movement. It's not the professional pastor who must be the soul winner and evangelist. Everyone must be a soul winner and evangelist.

Recently, I was in Romania. My friend from Oradea, the medical doctor who prayed for Billy Graham's crusade in Romania, served as my interpreter. The pastor of the church where I was preaching wanted to introduce me to his youth choir. After the introduction, he asked the youth, "How many of you became Christians three weeks ago?"

All but two of the forty youth raised their hands. My doctor friend had led them to Jesus three weeks prior to my arrival. My friend is a soul winner and witness of Jesus. He is quite often bewildered by Western lay people who don't preach or win souls. The great revivals of the past have always been movement of the Spirit of God touching not only the professional clergy but also the lay people. Every man, woman, boy, and girl realizes his responsibility to glorify the Father by bearing much fruit.