Kings for our reading, 2 Kings, and we shall read part of chapter 3, reading from verse 14. And Elisha said, As the Lord of hosts liveth, before whom I stand surely, were it not that I regard the presence of Jehoshaphat, the king of Judah, I would not look toward thee, nor see thee. But now bring me a minstrel.' And it came to pass, when the minstrel played, that the hand of the Lord came upon him. And he said, saith the Lord, Make this valley full of ditches. For thus saith the Lord, Ye shall not see wind, neither shall ye see rain, yet that valley shall be filled with water, that ye may drink, both ye and your cattle and your And this is but a light thing in the sight of the Lord. He will deliver the Moabites also into your hand. And ye shall smite every fenced city, and every joist city, and shall fell every good tree, and stop all wells of water. and mar every good piece of land with stones. And it came to pass in the morning, when the meat offering was offered, that, behold, there came water by the way of Edom, and the country was filled Shall we bow in a word of prayer? Our gracious God and loving Father, we now bow in thy presence, acknowledging that thou art our God, and reminded of thy word that they that come to thee must believe that thou And that thou art the rewarder of all them that diligently seek thee, my soul, wait thou only upon God, for my expectation is from him Lord, that is the language of my heart as I now linger before thy presence. Thou knowest, Lord, oh, how dependent I am upon thee, and I can but ask that thou wilt draw near, strengthening me in body in mind and in spirit, and cause the life also of Jesus to be made manifest through my mortal flesh. O God, speak in this meeting. Speak in this meeting. speak to my heart, speak to us all. For Jesus' sake. Amen. Now will you turn with me to that short portion which we read together, verse 16, verse 20. And he said, Thus saith the Lord, Make this valley full of ditches. Make this valley full of ditches. There are twenty. And behold, there came water by the way of Edom, and the country was filled with water. Those of you who are familiar with this part of Old Testament story will remember that three kings, the king of Tudor, the king of Israel, and the king of Edom joined forces in battle against the king of Moab. Three armies, I believe fully equipped, and I believe ready for action and anxious to get at the enemy. But according to what we read here, lacking in one thing, the lack of which would make victory impossible. What was it they lacked? They lacked water. Everything else, everything else, I believe they were well-led. I believe they were facing the enemy. He's there in the valley. But lacking in the one thing that would ensure victory. Oh, they lacked water. Now it seems to me that we have there a picture, would I say, a picture of the situation that confronts us at this very hour in this land of yours. Is that true? Everything? Oh, we've got everything. and increased with goods. I believe that that is true. Increased with goods. But would I say this? Lacking in one thing And that is the power of the Holy Ghost. Oh, is it not true that there is at this very moment a poverty that is appalling in America, yes, and in Britain. Oh, there's a need, there's a hunger. We are faced with a desperate situation. Forces are let loose, out to defy every known Christian principle. In fact, they are going as far as to say God's dead. At least in your country. That is the situation. But it would appear that blindness in power is happened to Israel. And many fail to see that nothing, nothing at all can be made a substitute for God. That's a simple thought, but I see a truism, that my dear people we want to face it with honesty and with sincerity. Our need is God. Our crying need is the Holy Ghost. We are hearing today, particularly in Britain, we are hearing a great deal about the Holy Spirit. I believe that there is a hunger growing with us at any rate. And it's quite obvious that the Holy Ghost is working and working mightily just now in the northwest of Scotland, in the islands and also on the mainland. Oh, let me see again. I've said it several times already. We are in the midst of revival again. the Holy Ghost. Ace in operation, and God's people are revived. And ministers feeling the impact of God again are in the midst of it. Oh, thank God for that. But here you have a difficult situation Fully equipped, hitting the enemy, anxious to be at him. But, battled and frustrated because of the situation that prevailed. No water, no water. Now this to me is a suggestive passage of scripture. And as the Lord helps me, I want to direct your attention to at least three or four thoughts. First, this situation relative to the condition of the armies speaks to me of the utter futility of mere human effort in itself. Have you got that? The futility of mere human effort. Armies well equipped. Armies well led, I believe. but frustrated and baffled because of the situation that prevails. But know what? There you are, have it? The utter futility of man's own best endeavor. Oh, my dear people, he needs God. That, to me, is the first thought suggested here. you have this thought that speaks to me of the faith that wins through. The faith that wins through. Get to the digging. This valley will be filled with water. That was a promise, and on the basis of that promise they threw themselves into the endeavour. God has said it. God has said it. There's much that we cannot understand, oh, but God said, get to the digging. And we are going to believe God, though we may not understand it fully. Digging? No sign of water. ye shall not see wind or rain, yet this valley shall be filled." What a promise, what a promise. And then you have here also the fullness that met the need. Water came, and came by the way of And if time will allow me, I shall touch upon the sacrifice that sealed the blessing. It was at the time of the sacrifice that the water came by the way of Eden. Simple thoughts, yet, let me say again, profound in their implications. First of all, then, let's think of the futility of mere human effort. Oh, let me see again here where armies, well equipped, conscious of the enemy, but powerless to meet him. But I would say that this must be said in their favour. They were prepared to face the situation. Oh, they were. They weren't ignorant. They knew the enemy was there. They knew that if they came to grips with the enemy, they would fail. And they are facing it, I believe, with honesty and with sincerity. My dear brother, tell me, have you faced the situation? To begin with, have you faced your own condition? Oh, you've tried, you've organized, you've promised, and already I've heard you saying it can never be the same again. Well, here you have armies, fully prepared, facing the situation, but in themselves powerless. But they were anxious to inquire. And I believe that the kings brought the spirit of inquiry into the situation that confronts it. The spirit of inquiry. Have you asked God, am I right? Rather it begins there. I believe that there are those listening to me now who have been made to face themselves with unqualified honesty, and you are ashamed. Oh, my God, I have failed you. Have you said that? I have been out of touch with you. My prayer periods have been a burden. Oh, brother, if that is the case, you are not praying. A burden? Something dry, something hard. It's just because God is not in it. But you're conscious of it. And I believe you have brought and you're bringing tonight the spirit of inquiry. Oh God, is there an answer? Have you a word for me this evening? They shall seek me, O blessed God, for the word. They shall seek me and shall find me when they search for me with all their heart. Brother, is your heart in it? Your intellect? Yes. Your emotions? Yes. But your intellect and your emotions will not keep you to hell. Strong words, hard words, oh brother. When they seek me with all their heart, they're going to find me. And I pray, O I pray, that before this very meeting ends you'll find God. I wonder if I'm speaking to any here tonight, and as yet you're a stranger to grace and to God. Do you remember what we heard in the hymn, I once was a stranger to grace and to God? of dear Murray MacChain before he was brought under deep conviction through his brother John. He knew that. Remember what he said when his brother died before him? He said this, I've lost a brother. But I found a brother that I'll never lose." You know that Mitchell said that? You'll find that in his biography. But he could say, I once was a stranger. Brother, are you a stranger to grace and to God? that you need God in your life, but refusing to bow before him. Oh, let me quote again, repentance. Repentance is a saving grace for by a sinner out of a true sense of sin and apprehension of the mercy of God doth with grief and hatred turn from it with full purpose of and endeavour after new obedience. Come to my mind just now, an incident during the movings of God on the island of Skye before it broke out so gloriously in Lewis. I'm having a walk out on a country road when I saw a large car making for me. him off the main road and is now following me up this side road. And when the car overtook me, I saw this man stepping out and saying that he wanted to be saved. He said, I heard all about the meeting last night. When Donald Robertson, of all men, was saved. And I need the same Saviour. Then he went on to tell me how he drank a bottle of whisky every day. A proprietor, a wealthy man, but given to drink. And as we knelt by the roadside He said to me, if you can prove to me now that I'll never dishonor God by going back to drink again, I'll accept Jesus now. If you can prove to me that I would never dishonor God. And I looked at the dear man and said to him, you have Quite a number of farmers on your estate?" He said, yes, yes. And I'm sure you have heard some say, he's put the cart before the horse. And that's exactly what you're doing. You want the evidence before you bow before the grace of God. There is a verse that bid you come with boldness to the throne of grace, there to obtain mercy, and then find grace to help in time of need. And you are asking grace to help in time of need before you cry to God for mercy. Oh, the things that people will do, yet the way of salvation so plain. come with boldness, brother. Oh, make this the night of your crying to God. Now, I know that some have the impression that it's a comparatively easy thing to do that, to come to God in penitence and seeking salvation. But I want to tell you, brother, it's the most difficult thing on God's earth. You say, what? I know of hundreds of people who found Jesus by making a decision. Brother, be careful that it's not the devil that helps you to make a decision. We are not ignorant of His devices. And if He can get you to make a decision before you cry to God for mercy, He will help you in your decision until He gets you to hell. Oh, my dear people, we are not ignorant of His devices. I'll tell you what He'll do. He'll make a Sunday school teacher of you. Do you believe that the devil could do that? I believe he's doing it day in and day out. He'll even make an elder of you. And I believe also that he'll make a minister of you. So long as he can get you to live under a self-created delusion, He'll keep you there until you fall down the caverns of death to be doomed and damned forever. Brother, that's the devil! You want to face this. Strive to enter in. Bow before the God who is speaking. And if you have a concern, let me tell you, you have a concern because God has laid his hand on you. Conviction comes from God. Oh, let me say it again, find their basis and their inspiration in the sovereign mercy of God. But for the sovereign mercy of God, oh brother, where would we be? I have often faced that question, faced it not so very long ago on my knees. Oh God, Where would I be tonight if Jesus hadn't met me? Where would I be tonight if in your mercy you didn't visit me? When I was a stranger to grace and to God and I found myself saying, I would be on the way to hell if not in hell itself. Oh, my dear brother, a stranger to saving grace. Oh, I've just come across to bring this word to you. If you're a stranger to grace and to God, flee. Oh, flee to Him for refuge and listen to His gracious voice bidding you come. But let me return to my text. The futility of human effort. They're conscious of it. I believe, dear people, that here are three kings at the end of their tether. At the end of their tether. At the end of all human resources. And God, if we can't get water, we're done. If we can't get water, we're defeated. But I want you to notice that someone that was evidently in touch with God overheard the conversation. Oh, how wonderful the ways of God are. How wonderful. There was a servant there, a servant of one of the kings. And I believe that he was led to speak out. To me it is of interest that God had a man there who had authority to speak, because he knew that the prophet was there. And he goes to the kings and says this, Do you know that Elisha, the son of Shaphat, is here? In other words, kings, don't you know that God is here? Ah, but they were ignorant of that. But through the words spoken by a mere servant The kings were moved to approach the man of God. This, to me, is the beginning of revival. First, a spirit of inquiry. Oh, they're facing the situation, they're conscious of their need, and they're acknowledging And just then God steps in. Oh, my dear people, we've seen this happening again and again. Perhaps a young girl. Oh, I told you the night I spoke about the revival, how God had two young girls that were in touch with God. And through them being in touch with God, prayer meetings began. And one morning, oh bless God, water came by the way of Eden. And the country was filled with water, because God had two young girls that he could trust with revival. I hear people, I believe that. Here was a young man, oh a young man, But you have in this young man a link in the chain of God's provision. When I was thinking of this message last night, when for some reason or other I couldn't And I was listening to others on the grounds here, and I was wondering if they were praying and asking God to pour the spirit of prayer on those who were moving in the grounds. But I tell you, when I lingered in the presence of God, I found myself to say, O God, is this camp mission going to be a link in the chain of your provision for revival? I would like to believe that God is finding a link here. My dear people, this to me is a wonderful place. I'm not saying that because friends are here who have organised it. That's not in my mind. I thank God for them. But my dear people, God is beyond that. And I believe in the wise counsel of God he has ordained. that such gatherings should be held. And I ask, my God, is this a link in your provision? Rather, it could happen. And, oh my God, cause it to happen if that is in line with the mind of your purpose. But again, let me ask, are you, are you in a place where God can trust you? He found a young servant here, a young servant. He is not a king, he is not a commander, he is just a servant to one of the kings. But in touch with heaven. Let me say again, oh, we have seen that happening. I was telling someone today something that I didn't feel led to mention, although I believe you find it in one of my books. When the farmhouse shook, oh, just shook, we were waiting facing bitter opposition from a certain section of the Christian community, who somehow got it into their minds that I was teaching error, because I was proclaiming the baptism of the Holy Ghost as a subsequent experience to regeneration. You may disagree with me. But that was and is a deep-seated conviction of me. A deeper, a deeper, oh, I care not what you call it. I care not. What I am concerned about is the experience of a deeper work with God. A deeper work. And I mention today to the friends who spoke to me, we are in this prayer meeting. And I must acknowledge, my dear people, that I felt dry and barren. Perhaps my physical frame had a little to do with it, I am not sure. I was certainly very unwell at the time. And I find myself somehow out of touch. Father, have you ever felt like that? A dryness, a barrenness? The heavens as blast! Your very prayer is coming back to you. Oh brother, I have known that. I have known that. I know that in many respects I am poor and needy. Poor and needy. But there was a man in that meeting that I was led to believe that he was in a place with God that I wasn't in. It's good, dear people, to have at such times the spirit of discernment and the honesty to acknowledge what is revealed. And I didn't stand up to pray. Oh, I had prayed, but in the midst of barrenness. So I said to this man, John, I want you to pray. I want you to pray." Because I believe the spirit of discernment seemed to indicate to me that this man was in touch with God, he rose, began to pray, and must have prayed for, I'm sure, half an hour. And then began again with the words, God, do you know that your honor is at stake? My, what a statement. Do you know that your honor is at stake? You made a promise to pour water on the thirsty and plants upon the dry ground. God, you know you're not doing it. What a prayer. I tell you, I trembled in my shoes. Oh God, what's coming now? And then that dear man said, There are five ministers in this meeting. Five ministers? And I do not know where one of them stands in your presence. Not even Mr. Campbell. I don't know where he stands. My dear people, I knew. And I am listening. And then that dear man said this, You promised to pour water on the thirsty and floods upon the dry ground, but God you are not doing it. And if I know my own poor heart I think that I can say that I am thirsty for a manifestation of your power in this parish. And now, on the basis of Christ's atonement, I challenge you to fulfill your covenant engagement. Brother, could you do that? Could I do it? Oh, let's be honest, I just couldn't. But I am now listening to God's man. And when John Smith prayed that prayer, Something happened that will go down in the annals of revival, I believe, as long as revival is spoken of. That huge granite farmhouse shook like a leaf. Shook like a leaf. A jug on the sideboard fell onto the floor. A minister beside me said, O Campbell, an earth tremor. An earth tremor. And I said, yes, but I had my own thoughts. I remember Acts chapter 4, how the place shook when they met and prayed together. Pentecost, they say, can never be repeated. Now, dear people, you needn't say that to me. When that dear man stopped praying, in the midst of the shaking and the trembling, I pronounced the benediction at quarter past two in the morning. Open the church door to see the whole place ablaze with God. Men carrying stools, women carrying chairs and asking, is there room for us in the churches? The Arnold Revival, oh bless God, the Arnold Revival broke out. A man was in the place. where God could trust him with revival. It didn't come because Duncan Campbell was there. Oh, perish the thought, perish the thought! It came because there was a man there who could stand in the gap. The drinking house was closed that night, never to be opened again. 14 years after that I was walking through this village. I was asked to go because of someone in great distress. I went. And on my way to this house, I met an old elder. Now I don't think this is in the book, but I met this dear man. And he pointed at the house now boarded up, doors and windows, and said to me, Of course you know that that's the drinking house of this village. It was close that great night that the revival broke out. And last week, fourteen of the men who frequented that den of iniquity were praying in our prayer meeting. My dear people, that's God. That's God at work. Perhaps I ought to mention that that was the night that little Donald MacPhail was saved. What a power! We speak of him today as the Evan Roberts of Lewis. Now a minister of the Church of Scotland in Southern Arabia, and seeing Mohammedans run for Christ. That's happening, my dear people. Oh, that's happening. But it happened because God found a man whom he could trust. Oh, I keep repeating that, dear people. My dear people, we have seen it happening. I believe that what is taking place just now is just simply because God found some people that he could trust. Another generation asked a minister in Edinburgh, could he give any explanation, humanly speaking, for the move among teenagers. He says, yes, I believe I can answer that question. It has sprang from the consistency of the young people that found Jesus in 49. But that's the consistency of young people that found Jesus during the 49 revival. A man, a community, a church! that God can trust. Oh, brother, pastor, are you there? Oh, are you there? I wonder, is your ears and mine open to the cry of a world in need, and to the voice that still speaks from heaven? I believe that God has his people Was it not D. L. Moody who heard someone say that God is waiting for the man, holy, yielded, and through him, something to this effect, send revival? Do you remember what Moody said? Oh God, let me be that man. Let me be that man. Are you saying that? It need not be presumption, but honesty and sincerity. My dear people, oh, let me come back to my own testimony again, so precious to me. I did say something to that effect when God brought that gracious work of grace in my Seventeen years a minister in the barn, oh, I had known revival. I had known the movings of God in the mid of guiled revival. What a moment for five years. But I lost that. Oh, I regret having to say this. and found myself in a barren, barren wilderness. Preaching, yes. Evangelical, yes. Oh, I was Campbell of the midday revival, but they didn't know the Campbell that I knew. How we lack the spirit of discernment. If the leaders of these conventions, if they had the spirit of discernment, they would never have asked me to speak at their conventions. Never. I would never be on a Catholic platform if they knew what I did. No. But they lacked the spirit of discernment. But let me come to that night. I am on the floor of my study. Oh, I tell you I was in distress. I knew that I had failed God. I knew that. But God is gracious. God is merciful. And God sent an angel to my person of my own And through something she said to me, there was a complete yielding of myself again to God, the God that was in me. Oh, the God whose prophecies were infiltrated through me. But God in his mercy followed me. He would not let me go. I believe that. My dear people, that's a wonderful God. I believe, my dear people, in an eternal salvation. You mean to tell me when God gets a hold of you that he's going to leave you? That's not the God that I believe in. He has a hold of me. I sometimes put it like this. Oh, I've mentioned this already. The vessel is marred. Oh, it's marred. God knows that I was marred. But God kept the marred vessel in his hand. I know that he could have thrown the marred vessel on the heap a broken, useless knot. But my God kept it. My God kept it. Oh, He could have thrown it in the heap, but He kept it. Brother, is that your God? And I am now lying there, conscious that the hand that held the vessel is making it again. Making it again. And a voice said, Daddy, whatever it costs, go through with God. Yes, I believe that God has his angels even in the wilderness. Can God spread a table in the wilderness? I believe he can. Oh, I believe he can. And I lay there. God shook me over the pit of hell. And I saw community after community in our highlands, falling down the caverns of death to be damned forever. Oh brother, listen, there's a hell. you ask God to give you a vision. I tell you that was the vision that stirred me to my death, and found me, shortly after that, in the midst of revival. And I think you ought to know that the message of three years was largely repentance, judgment. That was the burden of the message. And let me say this, I believe it's the message that the country needs today. Judgment. Oh, judgment. My dear friend, you know that God's moral attributes are equally balanced. He is just. Oh, he is just. It is true that he is the justifier of all who believe in Jesus. But his moral attributes are equally balanced. He is merciful. Oh, he is merciful. but is also just. Well, I come now to our second thought, the faith that wins through. Listen to the voice of the prophet, make the valleys full of ditches. full of ditches, that, in a situation that appeared hopeless. Just think for a moment. No rain! Oh, drought. The ground is parched. No water for the horse, no water for the cattle, not a sign, nor any indication from heaven. That was the situation. And yet the voice speaks, it's the voice of God, it's the voice of the prophet. Ye shall not see wind, neither shall ye see rain, yet that valley shall be filled with water. That was all, all that was all, and then dig the ditches, make this valley what? This barren valley? dry, no sign of rain and a cloud in the sky. Make this valley full of riches. Yet, though you're not seeing anything to encourage, anything to indicate, Yet that valley shall be filled with water." Who said it? God said it. Oh no, it wasn't the king or the kings. It was God. Now what was the ground of their confidence? What was it that set them known to the big? Nothing but the promise of God. That was all they had. Nothing else, no indication whatsoever. But God said it. Oh God said it. And in the words of David Livingstone, surely the words of a gentleman, of the most honorable order, and there the matter stood. God had made a promise. God had said, The valley shall be filled with water. And the soldier said, That's good enough. We'll go to the day. Get this clear. The same God who said that on that occasion is the God who is in this meeting tonight. The God who is in this meeting. The God who is well aware of the situation that prevails in your community. in the land generally, and God knows that the situation is bad. Oh, we can't expect anything to happen. We can't see a way. Neither wind nor rain. No, we can't see. We may talk about revival and pray about revival and hold special meetings for revival. No, God, we're in a barren situation. Ah, but God is saying, you listen to this? God is saying, I will pour water on the and floats upon the dry ground, O precious, precious promise. Or again, if my people, by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face, turned from their wicked ways, I in heaven will hear, will come and heal that land. My dear people, God said that! God said that. Are you prepared to believe him and go to the digging? What? In face of the appalling situation that prevails in America today? Could this happen? Bless God it can happen. If I didn't believe that, I don't think I would be here tonight. I don't think so. I don't think that I would agree to come back to America next year. I don't think so. But my dear people, I believe it. Oh, I believe it. And because I believe it, I say, brother, get to the digging. You have a promise. And the promise is a promise from God. So I see them now agitated. I sometimes wonder if every soldier had an implement built for the purpose of digging. I can't believe that they all had that. But I do believe that they would have swords and spears. And I can visualize the soldier taking his sword and saying to a comrade, I haven't a spade or a pick, but I've got a spear, I've got a sword and I'll do what I can with what I've got. Now my dear brother, you know that a sword cuts, a spear injures. And it may be necessary for you to face this truth that across the will of nature leads on the path of God, not where the flesh delights at the feet of Jesus It will mean for you the way of death. It may mean for you a cutting if you are going to engage in the devil. The digging may involve a cost. A cost. If any man will come after me, let him deny himself. And I believe digging here means self-denial. forgetting myself in a desire to prepare the way for God. But I think one could believe that at least two things were essential if the digging was to succeed. If ditches were to be provided for the water that was coming fast, they would have to break through the dry crust. Oh, I tell you it was dry. It was dry. And that dry crust must be broken. Now I can well believe that there could be boulders that had to be removed, stones that had to be shifted. And brother, you may face such. You are troubled about your own dryness tonight, aren't you? Well brother, I believe it's the will and purpose of God that that dry crust should be broken. And I can only think of one way in which that can happen and that is get on your knees. Get on your knees this whole God. Oh brother do you pray, do you pray? God I want to dig the ditches. God will you prepare me. Oh will you prepare me. Will you, in answer to my pleadings, my sincerity and my honesty and manliness demand that? Will you break the cross? Of course you know brother, only God can do it. Only God can do it. Tell me, are you in touch with a God who can do it? Oh, the mother of faking among people today, on what constitutes sincerity in Christian experience. Oh, shall we pray to man. God may break us. Sacrifices, is that what we were on last night? The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit. Dear brother, I would like to see more brokenness in those of me. I would. Somehow we discover that we are strangers to the tears. You must have read what General Booth said to his early soldiers who were finding things hard in a certain community. And they wrote to the General telling of the difficulties that they were up against. And you know what he wrote to them? Comrades, try it here. pride here, brokenness, in the presence of God. May I ask if your life has got to be removed? Anything? Oh, anything I needn't tell you about it. God is speaking at the ear of your guilty soul and putting his hand on something. And saying to you, it's got to be removed. It's got to be removed. Maybe an association that is not healthy. It's got to be removed. You know what a minister said to me not so very long ago at a big commission, convened by ministers for ministers. You know what he said to me? President Campbell, I'm scared stiff I be found out. Scared stiff I be found out. There's something wrong in his life. Oh, there was something wrong beneath life, an association that wasn't healthy. And I said to that dear young man, there's only one thing you can do, remove the stool. Remove the stool. Make an honest breast of it. You need not talk about revival until that happens. Now I don't know what it is, but you know. And I want to ask, in the closing minutes of this meeting, are you prepared to let it go and let God do his own work? O that God may take away the idols, stones that must be removed. I believe that it is true that I can count upon God to set power loose in my life. when I am ready to let something loose of his. I believe that. I think of the hurtful habits. Oh, there are hurtful habits. I think of the crippling compromise. I think of the unsurrendered ambition that I have been clinging to. And God comes tonight and he says, let it go. Oh, let it go, however it may cost. That, of course, is if you have a burden for a rival. If you long to see God honoured again in our day and generation, rather, in view of that, is it worth holding on to anything? Is it? Oh, let me see again. Let go, let go. The stone must be removed if the ditches are to be done. And prepare for the water that is coming by the way of Eden. Thus there was a word that speaks to me of the fullness that met the need. The water came by the way of Eden. And the ditches are filled with water. Now you know that Eden speaks to us of conflict, but it also speaks to us of conquest.