WHAT HINDERS REVIVAL? We have entered into a season where we are collectively praying that the Lord would send His revival fire among us whereby He restores His life in us so that we may once again experience the joy of our salvation and a passion for His person and purposes. Last week we took a diagnostic approach to Luke 7:36-50 to see whether we need a revival or not. We looked at some signs that were present in the lives of two different people and one revealed what a life in need of revival looks like and from the responses I have received from many of you it is indeed the case that we are in need of revival. Hopefully you have joined with me in this time of prayer where we ask the Lord to revive our hearts. As we ask the Lord to revive our hearts we are going to look at some things that can hinder revival among us. Today we are going to look at how Hidden Sin Hinders Revival.
JOSHUA 7:1-13
Asking and Expecting God to Show Up… JOSHUA 7:2-3 Israel had a great desire to see the Lord show up in a big way in their lives. They had seen the Lord show up and show off on their behalf in a big way in their recent past. Think about what the Lord had done…
• The Exodus Out of Egypt. God broke the chains of slavery through plagues.
• The Crossing of the Red Sea. God made a way where there was no way.
• The Provision of Manna from Heaven. God gave food where there was no food.
• The Provision of Quail. God gave meat when the people got tired of bread.
• The Provision of Water from a Rock. God gave water while in the dessert.
After a faithless and complaining generation had passed the Lord raised up another generation that would be allowed to enter the Promised Land.
• The Crossing of the Jordan. God made a way for His people to enter the Promise.
• The Conquest of Jericho. God made a way of victory where there seemed to be none.
NOW, with victory over Jericho still in the rear view mirror, the people stand before the city of Ai in great expectation. The city of Ai is nothing compared to Jericho and the leaders of Israel do not even see it necessary to send the whole army to go out against it. They have seen God do what He did in Jericho and for Him the conquest of Ai is going to be a minor thing. With great anticipation the people of God are waiting to see God show up, show off and show out among them in the conquest of Ai. There was a great desire among the Israelites to see God do something great among them.
REVIVAL IS ASKING GOD TO SHOW UP IN OUR LIVES. Revival is God’s people asking God to show up in their lives in a fresh way that results in a renewal/revival of His people who where almost dead spiritually. Revival is God’s people asking Him to show off in the saving of the lost and the sanctifying of the saved. Revival is God’s people asking Him to stoke the embers of the fire He put in us at the moment of salvation that has nearly been extinguished by the events of life. Therefore, we find ourselves in this story for we, like the Israelites, are asking/expecting God to show up in and among us to revive us again.
When It All Goes Wrong… JOSHUA 7:4-5 Israel was expecting God to show up and show off in and among them but when they went up against Ai in battle they were embarrassingly defeated and those who survived ran back to the camp with their “tails between their legs.” This unexpected defeat did not make sense to the people of Israel. Joshua had led the people in the way God had led him. The leaders had prepared the army just as they should have. The army devised a plan of attack just as they should have. Everything seemed to be in line. They were where they were supposed to be doing what they were supposed to do how they were supposed to do it but suddenly and unexpectedly it was clear that SOMETHING WAS WRONG.
Joshua and the Elders Seek the Lord… JOSHUA 7:6-9 When things do not go as planned Joshua goes before the Lord about it. There is something for us to learn in Joshua’s response. When something in our life does not go as we have planned our first response should not be simply to take another approach. When the defeated army came back Joshua did not meet with the specialists and strategists and devise another plan of attack but went to the Lord to inquire of him. Joshua’s prayer reflects how things look from his perspective. He does not know why it is that they were defeated and turned back by the army of Ai. He is not privy to what has taken place in Jericho. Notice as well that Joshua’s prayer is not simply driven by Israel’s success and prosperity. His concern is not the exaltation of Israel’s name but for God’s! He assumes, and rightly so, that Israel’s defeat would result in the pagans defiling the name of God throughout the land. This is what makes Joshua a great leader. His concern is not for his own fame or the fame of Israel as a nation but the fame of God’s name. IT COULD BE THAT YOUR PLANS ARE NOT SUCEEDING BECAUSE YOU HAVE SELFISH MOTIVES BEHIND THEM!
God Reveals the Problem… JOSHUA 7:1, 10-12 In prayer, God reveals to Joshua the problem. The problem was not with God. The problem was not with the plan they had put together. The problem was not with Ai in that they were stronger than Israel first thought. The problem was within! If you go back a page or two you will find in JOSHUA 6:17-19 that God instructed everything in Jericho was to be destroyed and the only thing spared was Rahab and her family because of the kindness she showed to the spies when they came to the city to scope it out. Even though the Lord had committed everything in Jericho to destruction Achan, one of the men of the army, decided to save for himself some of the gold, silver and fine linens for himself. He saw the value of these items and chose to take them for himself even though the Lord had instructed him not to. Joshua 7 reveals that Achan made every effort to hide his sin because he buried these items under his tent hoping that nobody would be the wiser. Even though Achan was successful in hiding his sin from everybody else he failed in hiding his sin from God. Because Achan had done this God refused to move in a might way for Israel as He had in their recent past. The remainder of this chapter reveals how Achan’s sin was dealt with and chapter 8 opens up with Israel’s conquest of Ai. Israel learns the very hard lesson that hidden sin hinders God’s work in, among and through His people. God was not going to allow this generation of Israelites to easily overlook the importance of sin and faithlessness among them as it was with their ancestors who sinned by not trusting God to deliver them.
Hidden Sin Hinders Revival… As I stated before is that we find ourselves in this story because as we go through this time where we are asking the Lord to send revival to us we are asking Him to show up in a big way in and among us just like the Israelites were asking God to show up in a big way in and among them. The clear teaching of this passage is that hidden sin in the lives of God’s people has serious implications and for the purpose of our series and this message I will say to you that HIDDEN SIN HINDERS REVIVAL. If we are going to genuinely ask God to revive us then we must be willing to deal openly and honestly with our sin. As we think about how hidden sin hinders revival let us consider:
1. What is Sin? The Hebrew, Greek, and Aramaic words used by the Bible authors, from which we derive our English word “sin,” all have the same meaning. By definition, sin is the transgression of God’s will, either by doing what He forbids or failing to do what He requires. I think that we are quick to come to terms with the idea that sin is an issue of commission (doing what we have been instructed not to do) but sin being an issue of omission could be something new for us in our understanding of sin. JAMES 4:17 reveals the issue of the sin of omission. Therefore, sin is a matter both of commission and omission. For instance, in this case God said not to take anything of value in Jericho. Achan committed the sin of commission by doing what God said not to do. At the same time, all things of value were to be destroyed and the items that Achan had taken were not so in that since the sin was one of omission as well.
2. Sin is a serious matter both to God and to the people of God. There is no way that we can walk away from this passage and conclude that sin is not a serious matter both to God and the people of God. There has been a shift both in the culture in general and the Church specifically whereby our language has changed regarding sin. We use terms like vices, issues, struggles, mistakes, etc… all in an effort, consciously or unconsciously, to somehow lesson the reality of what we are dealing with before God. Anytime we intentionally or unintentionally diminish the seriousness of sin in our lives we do so at the expense of Jesus because His sacrifice on our behalf reveals to us loud and clear just how serious sin and when we play down the nature and seriousness of sin then we down play the beauty and value of the cross that Christ bore on our behalf.
3. You cannot hide sin. When we take seriously the matter of sin in our lives we come to the conclusion that we really cannot hide our sin. We may be successful in hiding our sin from others and, when we view sin for anything other than what it is, we show that we are even trying to hide sin from ourselves. We cannot, however, hides sin from God. Nobody in Israel knew of Achan’s actions but God did. Achan had succeeded in hiding his sin from his fellow soldiers, from his neighbors, possibly from his family, from Joseph, etc… yet he could not hide his sin from the all-knowing and all-seeing eyes of the omniscient God of Israel. You cannot hide sin.
4. The repentant find grace. There are two groups I want to address today. First, if you have, for whatever reason, never come to Jesus in faith because you are somehow afraid of His response to your sin hear His words found in JOHN 3:16-17. Jesus came to give grace to those who would come to Him in and with their sin and there is no greater grace we may know than the grace of salvation that He gives. Secondly, if you are a follower of Christ and for whatever reason it may be you find sin to still be active in your life then please understand the same grace that was extended to you by Jesus when you came to Him in the beginning is the same grace He desires to show His own who come to Him in confession and repentance—1 JOHN 1:9. There is no fear to be had when one thinks of coming to Jesus in and with our sin because He has come to save the world and for those whom He saves there is now therefore no condemnation because they are in Christ Jesus!
The repentant find grace when they come to Jesus with their sin.
What will be our response to what we have heard? If you are hear today and you have never genuinely trusted Jesus as Savior and Lord out of fear please know that He longs to show grace to those who come to Him in their sin. If you are hear today and have been praying for the Lord to send His revival in your life and it seems like He is not moving I ask you the question that Achan was asked…
What’s Under Your Tent?
