This is the final message in our series on 2 Chronicles 7:14. From this promise concerning revival, we see that when God’s people meet the requirements of revival, certain things will result.
1. The upward result - God hears
When God’s people depart from Him, they are disciplined by God by being allowed to experience an absence of His presence.
“You have hidden your face from us and made us waste away because of our sins.” - Isaiah 64:7b (NIV)
But when God’s people repent and return to their first love, then their awareness of God’s presence is restored.
“Come near to God and he will come near to you.” - James 4:8a (NIV)
The sun is thousands of times larger than our planet earth. That is pretty, big! Yet it is interesting what we do when that vast sun is low on the horizon and glaring into our eyes. We simply put up our hand in front of our face and block out the irritating light. Imagine that, our tiny hand can block out the sun! In much the same way, our sin, even those “little” sins, can block our view of God’s presence.
God never forsakes us. But we can forsake Him. When we do, we commit sin, and sin, like our hand, shielding us from the sun’s rays, can keep us from recognizing God’s presence. But when we return to God, we turn from our sin, we confess our sin; and with the sin removed, the glory of God’s presence is once again plain for us to see!
How long has it been since you knew the presence of the Lord in your life? The problem isn’t that God is silent or absent; the problem is that you have allowed things to come between you and your God. Repent of your sin and God’s presence will no longer be absent.
“When you spread out your hands in prayer, I will hide my eyes from you; even if you offer many prayers, I will not listen. Your hands are full of blood; wash and make yourselves clean.
Take your evil deeds out of my sight! Stop doing wrong, learn to do right! Seek justice, encourage the oppressed. Defend the cause of the fatherless, ad the case of the widow.
‘Come now, let us reason together,’ says the LORD. ‘Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool.’” - Isaiah 1:15-18 (NIV)
When revival comes, God’s people confess and repent of their sins. As a result, God hears them and restores to them an awareness of His presence. They return to a place where their prayers once again get past the ceiling. That’s the upward result of revival.
2. The inward result - God forgives
Is there a solution to the guilt of sin? Yes! No matter how great our sin may be which has drawn us away from God, God’s forgiveness is greater!
“Where is another God like you, who pardons the guilt of the remnant, overlooking the sins of his special people? You will not stay angry with your people forever, because you delight in showing unfailing love. Once again you will have compassion on us. You will trample our sins under your feet and throw them into the depths of the ocean!” - Micah 7:18-19 (NLT)
Joke 1: John wrote a letter to his sweetheart, saying: “Dear Sue, it was wonderful to be with you again the other night. By the way, I remember asking you to marry me, but I have forgotten whether you said yes or no.” He received this reply: “Dear John, it was nice to hear from you. I knew that I had said no to someone, but I had forgotten to whom.”
Joke 2: One lady says, “You know, I’m getting really forgetful. This morning, I was standing at the top of the stairs, and I couldn't remember whether I had just come up or was about to go down.”
The second lady says, “You think that’s bad? The other day, I was sitting on the edge of my bed, and I couldn’t remember whether I was going to sleep or had just woken up!”
The third lady smiles smugly. “Well, my memory is just as good as it's always been, knock on
wood,” she says as she raps on the table. Then with a startled look on her face, she asks, “Who’s there?”
Joke 3: Two elderly ladies had been friends for many decades. Over the years they had shared all kinds of activities and adventures. Lately, their activities had been limited to meeting a few times a week to play cards. One day they were playing cards when one looked at the other and said, ‘Now don’t get mad at me . . . I know we’ve been friends for a long time . . . but I just can’t think of your name! I’ve thought and thought, but I can’t remember it. Please tell me what your name is.’ Her friend glared at her. For at least three minutes she just stared and glared at her. Finally she said, ‘How soon do you need to know?’
Forgetfulness can be a funny thing. But when it comes to God forgiving and forgetting our sins, that is a fantastic thing!
“For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.” - Jeremiah 31:34b (NIV)
3. The outward result - God heals
Having brought healing to us, God works to bring healing through us. When revival takes place, God’s people go from being the objects of God’s healing to being the instruments of
God’s healing. Having been restored to a right relationship with their heavenly Father . . .
A. Believers will enter into forgiving relationships with one another.
When revival occurs, we realize that what’s important is not who was right, but who we are - God’s people! As such, we have a task to accomplish and we need each other!
How tragic it will be one day for believers to stand before Christ only to learn of how they hindered God’s work of bringing people to Christ simply because they were intent on proving they were right and the other person was wrong.
A friend of Clara Barton, founder of the American Red Cross, once reminded her of an especially cruel thing that had been done to her years before. But Miss Barton seemed not to recall it. “Don’t you remember it?” her friend asked. “No,” came the reply, “But I distinctly remember forgetting it.”
When God’s people return to Him, they will be focused, not on themselves, but on God and on forwarding His redemptive mission in this world. Therefore, believers will enter into forgiving relationships with one another and . . .
B. Unbelievers will enter into a personal relationship with God.
The words we speak, the songs we sing, the doctrines that we teach, will have their greatest meaning when we practice what we preach.
When revival takes place among God’s people, they will, once again, practice what they preach. Consequently, those without Christ will be drawn to Him.
“Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me away from Your presence and do not take Your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of Your salvation and sustain me with a willing spirit. Then I will teach transgressors Your ways, and sinners will be converted to You.” - Psalm 51:10-13 (NASB)
“Revivals begin with God’s own people; the Holy Spirit touches their heart anew, and gives them new fervor and compassion, and zeal, new light and life, and when He has thus come to you, He next goes forth to the valley of dry bones…Oh, what responsibility this lays on the Church of God! If you grieve Him away from yourselves, or hinder His visit, then the poor perishing world suffers sorely!” - Andrew Bonar
Conclusion: Note the common denominator in all this - God hears, God forgives, God heals - God brings about the results of revival!
We are the recipients of revival, who must meet the requirements of revival, but the promise is that once we do, God will bring about the results of revival.
There is the upward result - God will flood our lives with His presence - He will hear from heaven; There is the inward result - God will fill our lives with His peace - He will forgive our sin; There is the outward result - God will flow through our lives with His power - He will heal our land.
Would you like to see these results? Then let’s seek to meet the requirements so that we might be the recipients of revival!
“We cannot organize revival, but we can set our sails to catch the wind from Heaven when God chooses to blow upon His people once again.” - G. Campbell Morgan
