The Requisite for Revival
2 Chronicles 7:12-14
12 And the Lord appeared to Solomon by night, and said unto him, I have heard thy prayer, and have chosen this place to myself for an house of sacrifice.
13 If I shut up heaven that there be no rain, or if I command the locusts to devour the land, or if I send pestilence among my people;
14 If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.
Introduction: In the first 11 verses of this chapter we have the record of the dedication of Solomon’s temple and the prayer of the king. The Lord’s approval is manifest by the Shekinah descending on the mercy seat in the Holy place. That night the Lord appears to Solomon and instructs the king concerning what should be done in the case of the withholding of God’s blessings presumably due to the disobedience and rebellion of the people.
I. Notice the People of Revival
a. The condition of the people
There is a hymn that declares that we are “prone to wander from the God we love,” and if you know yourself you know this to be true. This is the history of God’s people unfortunately.
b. The choice of the people
God makes a gracious offer to His people that is conditional in nature. Basically He declares that if His people respond to His offer of forgiveness He will restore blessings to their lives. They have a choice and that is true for revival.
II. Notice the Prayer of Revival
“There has never been a revival without prayer, never.” The source of every revival in history, both ancient and modern has been prayer. Someone laid hold on the throne of God and the heavens opened and God showered His people with the blessings of revival.”
Pray Christian Pray !
The horror that occurred on September 11th is indelibly imprinted on all our minds. Our nation in response, is in the process of trying to root out terrorism wherever it exists around the world. However, does the body of Christ realize what the Lord expects from us in response to this national tragedy?
The nation received a wakeup call from hell on September 11th. God was not the author of the attack. The attack was demonic. It was authored and inspired from the pits of hell. It was carried out by men choosing with their free will to do evil "in the name of God." What could be more evil than that! Matthew 6:23 says, "If your light is darkness, how deep will the darkness be!"
This country must make a serious and dramatic course correction. Our politicians standing on the steps of congress singing God bless America is not going to cut it. We want God to bless America but we don’t want to change. We want Him to bless our mess. He’s not going to do it! He wants us to clean up our mess. Don’t we realize that on any busy Saturday in the good old USA, we kill as many babies in abortion clinics as the terrorists did on 9/11. Does God see any difference between the deaths of these babies and the deaths of the people in the twin towers? Does not Jesus weep as deeply over the babies whose brains are sucked out of their skulls in partial birth infanticide as he did over the victims in the WTC.
The October 2001 issue of The Catholic World Report comments on the events of 9/11: "The Islamic zealots who rail against the "Great Satan" (us) speak about the moral decadence of Hollywood and MTV... a regime that promotes sodomy and abortion and urges other countries to do the same. It is enormously significant... that before seizing the American embassy in November 1979, the Iranian mob inspired by Ayatollah Khomeini first sacked the offices of Planned Parenthood in Teheran." What we export is part of the reason they hate us so much.
Joe Burke
For about a month after 9/11 churches all over America experienced a surge in attendance and there was talk of a nationwide revival but within just a few short weeks things returned to their pre 9/11 complacency and conduct of worship. Why did this surge of religious ferver and activity fizzle out? I want to suggest a reason for this failure to launch a real revival. Let’s examine our text this morning…
a. The humility of the people – humble themselves
"Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you" (James 4:10).
Humility is often characterized as genuine gratitude, a lack of arrogance, and a modest view of one’s self. However, the biblical definition of humility goes beyond this. Humility is a critical and continuous emphasis on godliness in the Bible. We are called upon to be humble followers of Christ and trust in the wisdom and salvation of God. True humility is seeing ourselves as we truly are, fallen in sin and helpless without God.
"He leads the humble in what is right, and teaches the humble His way." Psalm 25:9
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b. The hunger of the people – seek my face
The Bible instructs us to seek God's face: "Look to the LORD and his strength; seek his face always" (Psalm 105:4, NIV). But why are we to seek God's face? The answer lies in the translation of the word "face." Different translations translate the word face as "presence." In the ESV, this verse is translated as: "Seek the LORD and his strength; seek his presence continually!"
The Lord wants us to seek to spend time with Him in His presence more than anything else. He promises that we will find Him: "You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart" (Jeremiah 29:13; see also Matthew 7:7–8). When we seek God, we get to know Him and we desire Him more than anything else. Psalm 63:1–3 expresses this strong desire: "O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water. So I have looked upon you in the sanctuary, beholding your power and glory. Because your steadfast love is better than life, my lips will praise you." When we seek God and find Him, it is bound to translate to praising Him.
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III. Notice the Penance of Revival
One may detect two sides to this turning/converting. There is the free sovereign act of God's mercy, and a conscious decision to turn to God (a turning that goes beyond sorrow and contrition).
Bakers Expository Dictionary
It is an “about face” in both mind and actions. The change of actions follows the change of mind in real biblical repentance.
a. The turning from evil
It is more than just being sorry for our sins. Paul makes this clear in his letter to the Corinthians…
2 Corinthians 7: 9 Now I rejoice, not that ye were made sorry, but that ye sorrowed to repentance: for ye were made sorry after a godly manner, that ye might receive damage by us in nothing.
10 For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world worketh death.
11 For behold this selfsame thing, that ye sorrowed after a godly sort, what carefulness it wrought in you, yea, what clearing of yourselves, yea, what indignation, yea, what fear, yea, what vehement desire, yea, what zeal, yea, what revenge! In all things ye have approved yourselves to be clear in this matter.
b. The turning to God
Biblical repentance, contended John Woodbridge, includes five concepts:
1. A change of mind or thinking.
2. A deep sorrow for wrongdoing, the kind that David had following his affair with Bathsheba.
3. The confession of sin.
4. A forsaking of wrongdoing which involves a clean break with what you know to be wrong, and
5. A turning to God, who alone offers pardon and strength to do right.
A wayward son wanting to come back home wrote his father and said, “Dad, if you and Mom can forgive me, please tie a small white flag to the fence out front of the house, and I’ll know it’s OK to come back. But if there is no white flag, I’ll not come in.” To his surprise the lad saw not a white flag, but a white bed sheet flying in the breeze.
Of one thing you can be certain. God is far more willing to extend forgiveness for your wrongdoing than you are to turn from your sin.
IV. Notice the Promise of Revival
a. I will hear – His response
Isaiah 59:2 But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear.
Repentance opens the door to God while sin closes that door. The Bible tells us there are times God does not hear our prayers: when we remain in sin and refuse to repent (Isaiah 1:15); when we fail to heed God’s instruction (Proverbs 28:9); or when we ask out of our own selfish desires instead of righteous, godly motives (James 4:3). The promise of revial is that He will hear from heaven and answer our prayers.
b. I will forgive
UNDERSTANDING FORGIVENESS
How can we understand forgiveness if we haven’t recognized the depth of our sin?
SOURCE: John Henry Newman
We repent in salvation but also as believers post-salvation. It is ongoing because we often need to change our mind about the way we are going. And it isn't just for those that are obviously falling in 'sin'. We may think that we've got it all together and have to repent from our own self-confident reliance and pride and turn from living in our own strength. It is directly linked to forgiveness because when we come to Him we need to 'confess' or 'agree with Him' about our sins. And that means changing our mind about what we are doing... which is repentance. We are changing our mind about our sin (the outward obvious ones as well as those more subtle like pride), acknowledging our wrong ways, and desiring, with His strength to walk in a new way - His way.
So when you come to the Bible, there are lots of verses that speak of repentance as part of salvation (especially in Acts like Acts 2:38; 3:19; 11:18; 17:30; 20:21; 26:20) but we also see some verses directed to Christians after salvation concerning repentance.
c. I will heal
The immediate context of 2 Chronicles 7:14 shows that the verse is tied up with Israel and the temple and the fact that from time to time God might send judgment upon the land in the form of drought, locusts, or pestilence.
A few verses later God says this: “But if you turn away and forsake the decrees and commands I have given you and go off to serve other gods and worship them, then I will uproot Israel from my land, which I have given them, and will reject this temple I have consecrated for my Name. I will make it a byword and an object of ridicule among all peoples. This temple will become a heap of rubble. All who pass by will be appalled and say, ‘Why has the Lord done such a thing to this land and to this temple?’ People will answer, ‘Because they have forsaken the Lord, the God of their ancestors, who brought them out of Egypt, and have embraced other gods, worshiping and serving them—that is why he brought all this disaster on them’” (2 Chronicles 7:19–22).
No doubt Solomon would have recognized this warning as a reiteration of Deuteronomy 28. God had entered into a covenant with Israel and promised to take care of them and cause them to prosper as long as they obeyed Him. He also promised to bring curses upon them if they failed to obey. Because of the covenant relationship, there was a direct correspondence between their obedience and their prosperity, and their disobedience and their hardship. Deuteronomy 28 spells out the blessings for obedience and the curses for disobedience. Again, divine blessing and divine punishment on Israel were conditional on their obedience or disobedience.
We see this blessing and cursing under the Law play out in the book of Judges. Judges chapter 2 is often referred to as “The Cycle of the Judges.” Israel would fall into sin. God would send another nation to judge them. Israel would repent and call upon the Lord. The Lord would raise up a judge to deliver them. They would serve the Lord for a while and then fall back into sin again. And the cycle would continue.
Conclusion: "The one concern of the devil is to keep Christians from praying. He fears nothing from prayerless studies, prayerless work, and prayerless religion. He laughs at our toil, mocks at our wisdom, but trembles when we pray."
Chadwick, Samuel
- Without time for prayer, nothing can be accomplished. - Scroggie
- He who runs from God in the morning will scarcely find Him the rest of the day. - John Bunyan
- When asked how much time he spent in prayer, George Mueller’s reply was, “Hours every day. But I live in the spirit of prayer. I pray as I walk and when I lie down and when I arise. And the answers are always coming.” - Anon
- “If I should neglect prayer but a single day, I should lose a great deal of the fire of faith.” - Martin Luther
# John Stafford tells about an old well that stood outside the front door of their family farm house in New Hampshire. The water from the well was remarkably pure and cold. No matter how hot the summer or how severe the drought, the well was always a source of refreshment and joy. The faithful old well was a big part of his memories of summer vacations at the farmhouse.
The years passed and eventually the farmhouse was modernized. Wiring brought electric lights, and indoor plumbing brought hot and cold running water. The old well was no longer needed, so it was sealed for use in possible future emergencies.
One summer day, years later, John Stafford had a desire for cold, pure water. He unsealed the well and lowered a bucket for a nostalgic taste of the delightful refreshment he remembered. He was shocked to discover that the well that once had survived the severest droughts was bone dry! He asked local residents why their well had gone dry. He learned that wells of that sort were fed by hundreds of tiny underground rivulets which seep a steady flow of water. As long as the water is drawn out of the well, new water will flow in through the rivulets, keeping them open for more to flow. But when the water stops flowing, the rivulets clog with mud and close up. The well dried up not because it was used too much, but because it wasn’t used enough!
Do you see an analogy to worship and developing a daily time of prayer and devotion? The consequence of not drinking deeply of God is to eventually lose the ability to drink at all. Prayerlessness is its own punishment.
