Introduction: This is the 4th of July Holiday weekend, and by the looks of our attendance today, several families must be out of town. The 4th of July is when we celebrate the fact that we as a nation won our Independence from the British. Our forefathers feared God and founded this nation on Christian principles. As a result God has blessed this nation beyond anyone’s imagination, and yet today we as a nation are so far away from God that we are on the verge of experiencing His Wrath and Judgment. Over 200 years ago, Thomas Jefferson, one of our founding fathers said, “Indeed, I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just and that His justice cannot sleep forever.” Billy Graham once said, “If God does not judge America, He may have to apologize to Sodom and Gomorrah.”
In many respects America is no longer “One nation under God,” but instead we are a nation of many gods. In an attempt to keep from offending anyone, we have become a multi-lingual, multi-cultural and polytheistic society. In fact it seems to me that many American’s are more tolerant of other religions than they are of Christianity.
I read in this week’s Western Recorder about a High School Student named Brittany McComb from Las Vegas, Nevada. Brittany was one of three valedictorian’s in her High School graduating class. School policy required her to give a copy of her speech to school officials to be approved before being able to give the speech during the graduation ceremony. When the school officials read her speech they edited it by taking out six references that she had made to God and to two passages of scripture. However, like Peter and John, Brittany decided that she should obey God rather than men. So when she stood to deliver her valedictorian’s address she went ahead and delivered the speech the way she had written it. When school officials realized that she had deviated from their pre-approved speech, and was talking about God, they turned her microphone off, and refused to turn it back on, even though the graduates and their families pleaded with them to do so.
If I’ve said this before but I’m going to say it again, what we need in America today more than anything else is a Revival and Spiritual Awakening of Biblical proportions. The only hope we as a nation have of making it through the 21st Century is to repent of our sins and turn back to God. If we do, I believe He will keep His word, and will heal our land. But if we don’t I believe He will bring America to her knees just like he did the Roman Empire, and more recently, the Soviet Union.
This morning I want us to look at 2 Chronicles 7:13-14 for our text.
Most of us are very familiar with verse 14, and we often read it or quote it when we talk about revival. But we aren’t as familiar with the 13th verse. In this thirteenth verse God informs King Solomon that He will use the weather or even insects like locusts to discipline His people and try to get them to repent of their sins.
I believe that’s what God has been trying to do in the United States for over a decade now. But unfortunately we still haven’t made the connection. It’s much easier to blame the increase in the number of Hurricanes on Global Warming or El Nino, than it is to believe that we are experiencing the discipline of God. It’s much easier for us to blame Osama Bin Laden and the terrorists for September 11, 2001 than to believe that God has taken away His protective Hand from our nation. It’s much easier to blame the threat of “Bird Flu” on the government than to believe that God may be trying to get our attention.
Despite all of the negative things going on in our nation and around the world I believe God wants to Bless America. But I’m not talking about a material or economic blessing; I’m talking about a spiritual blessing. I believe He wants to send another great revival, but unfortunately He can’t do it unless we His people wake up, and realize that our sins, and our refusal to repent of those sins, are why we as a nation have not experienced a great outpouring of the Holy Spirit since 1858.
The church in America has fallen asleep and doesn’t even realize it. Satan has successfully lulled us to sleep and most of us are oblivious to the seriousness of the situation. We have no idea how close we are to the “Coming of the Lord.” The Apostle Paul chastised the church in Rome for the same thing. In Romans 13:11-14 he wrote: “Love does no harm to its neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law. And do this, understanding the present time. The hour has come for you to wake up from your slumber, because our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed. The night is nearly over; the day is almost here. So let us put aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light.
Let us behave decently, as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and debauchery, not in dissension and jealousy. Rather, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the sinful nature.
It’s much easier to blame Homosexuals, drug addicts, prostitutes and those who perform abortions for the lack of morality in America today than to realize the cold hard truth that we “God’s people” are the ones responsible for the moral condition of our nation today. Look with me again at our text it says, “If my people, who are called by my name will humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways…”
God wants to bless America. He wants to send another Great Revival upon our Land, but He can’t do it unless we, “His People” wake up and repent of our sins.
Have you ever slept through your alarm, or hit the snooze button too many times and been late to school or missed an important meeting or something like that. Well, in reality, I believe the Church in America is asleep; despite the fact that God keeps trying to wake us up, we keep hitting the snooze button.
On September 11, 2001, the alarm clock went off, and we woke up for a few seconds, then we hit the snooze alarm, and went back to sleep. The day after Christmas 2004 the alarm went off again when the Tsunami struck Indonesia, Thailand, and Malaysia. But once again, we hit the snooze button and went back to sleep. The alarm sounded again on August 29, 2005 as Hurricane Katrina, came ashore just east of New Orleans, Louisiana. We sat up for a minute, stretched, rubbed our eyes, then hit the snooze button put our pillow over our heads and went back to sleep.
Listen to what Ann Graham Lotz says in her book, “I saw the Lord.” She writes:
“Hurricane Katrina was a resounding wake-up call, not just to New Orleans and the Gulf coast, but to this entire nation. Wake up, America! Disaster can strike at any moment! Your unprecedented prosperity, your advanced technology, your shock-and-awe military do not guarantee you immunity from death, disease, despair, and sudden devastation. God’s past blessings do not mean that He will keep you safe at the present or in the future. Your hope is not in the local or state or federal government. Your hope is in the Lord alone. With all your know-how and your go-to-it innovative, creative ideas, you cannot predict the future or secure your future. God holds your future, and you need to get right with Him.”
Her father, Billy Graham couldn’t have said it any better. We are the only remaining superpower. We won the cold-war without having to fire a single shot. Our military along with their specialized weapons systems have proven themselves to be the best trained and most effective army in the world. Yet we still haven’t been able to find Osama Bin Laden, and we are still struggling to win the War on Terrorism. In my opinion we need to learn the lesson the nation of Israel learned during the reign of King David. In Psalm 27:1 David wrote: “Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the LORD our God.” Psalm 20:7
You see David was a warrior he had fought and won many battles. To his credit he realized that those victories were not the result of His great military mind, or because his army was superior to that of his enemies. He knew that God was the one that was responsible for giving them the Victory. That He had fought and won the battle for them. We need to learn that lesson. We need to remind our leaders of Psalm 33:12 which says, “Blessed is the Nation whose God is the Lord.”
We need to wake up! We need to realize that time is running out. We need to understand that even though God is a loving and patient God that His patience with us is wearing thin. We have a job to do, and we need to wake up and get busy before it’s too late.
The Lord Jesus Christ appeared to The Apostle John on the Island of Patmus and gave him a message to pass on to the 7 Churches of Asia Minor. He praised some for their faithfulness, and their perseverance. But He also had words of condemnation for many of them. Some had forsaken their love for Him. Others had allowed false teachers to influence them. Still others were neither hot nor cold. Perhaps the harshest criticism the Lord gave was to the church at Sardis. Listen to what He says in Revelation 3:1-3.
"To the angel of the church in Sardis write: These are the words of him who holds the seven spirits of God and the seven stars. I know your deeds; you have a reputation of being alive, but you are dead. Wake up! Strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have not found your deeds complete in the sight of my God. Remember, therefore, what you have received and heard; obey it, and repent. But if you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what time I will come to you.”
I believe this is God’s word for us today. I believe we as a church need to wake up and strengthen what remains. I believe each and every one of us here today needs to humble ourselves before God, and seek His face. I believe we need to get on our knees and repent of our sins, and ask for forgiveness. You may not think there’s anything that you need to repent of. But let me remind you of what 1 John 1:8 says. It says, “If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.”
God wants to bless us, He wants to send revival to Sulphur Spring Baptist Church, but He can’t do it unless we repent. We have got to realize that in order for this church to experience a true Revival that each individual member of this congregation needs to experience a personal revival. That’s my prayer; that each one of you here this morning, will renew your relationship with the Lord and have a fresh encounter with Him.
