“Has There Been Anything Like This”
Introduction:
Revive us again; Fill each heart with thy love
May each soul be rekindled with fire from above
Hallelujah, thine the glory
Hallelujah, amen
Hallelujah thine the glory
Revive us again
In just two weeks we come to a time of revival here at Oak Grove. Churches all across the country dedicate a week out of the year in an attempt to spiritually revive their congregations. I hope that over these next two weeks we can prepare our hearts to be revived. I think that many times a revival preacher will get up and preach and nothing changes in people’s lives. Many good sermons are brought and the faithful are edified, but those needing to be revived do not make an effort to be changed. That mainly comes because we sometimes expect God to do the reviving for us. Sometimes though we must make an effort to be revived and make steps in our own lives to be changed. As we read of revivals in the Old Testament we see a conscious effort on God’s people to be changed. When David wanted to be revived spiritually he prayed, “Create in me a clean heart, oh God and renew a right Spirit within me. Cast me not away from thy presence oh Lord, and take not thy Holy Spirit from me, restore unto me the joy of my salvation, and renew a right spirit within me.” Is there anyone here who does not want to be revived? We as a church and we as individuals are yearning for a revival.
Perhaps you remember a time in your life in which you felt really close to God. You may remember a time that you were living faithfully to God. Perhaps today you miss those times and need to be revived. What I hope to do is to impress upon you that we need a revival, and to encourage you of the great need individually to be open to God’s Word.
During the time of the prophet Jeremiah Israel was in great need of revival. The people of God had fallen into sin and forsaken God once more, and Jeremiah was the revival preacher for the week. Jeremiah brings up several things in chapter two that remind me of the world in which we live. I wonder sometimes if God was to send a messenger to us what would he say and what would he tell us to do, where have we failed? The main question that is asked through Jeremiah that impacted me is, “has there been anything like this?” Jeremiah says the immorality and how people had turned on God and wanted to know if this was as bad as it gets. I don’t know about you, but as I look at think world I wonder, has there been anything like this? I think that we have out done the people in Jeremiah’s time and we need to come back to God, we need a revival. God told the Israelites that he was taking each of them individually to court. God is going to take us each to court in a way, and I wonder what he may rule. We need revival and we need to change, but are we willing to change and to grow in our faith. Or are we going to here message after message without applying God’s Word to our life.
Text: Jeremiah 2:4-13
I. Has There Been Anything Like This in the Nation
The people of God in the Old Testament made up a nation. As they settled in the land in which they were promised they became a mighty and powerful nation. Israel as a nation held God at the center of all that they did. While Israel was different in many ways from modern day America, one can see many similarities in the faults in which God found in ancient Israel and faults of modern day America. I wonder as Jeremiah wondered about his nation, has there ever been anything like this? Surely people for many centuries thought that they were living in the worst times ever. I wonder though could we claim to be in the worst and most immoral and ungodly generation in history. A lot of times you will hear people who have been around for a while sit and talk about how things have digressed. You hear those people saying, when I was young that would have been unheard of. I know that Sodom and Gomorrah were extremely wicked and immoral; they were an abomination to God. I know that Israel constantly fell into idolatry and forsook God many times. I know that ancient Rome was extremely immoral, and that immorality led to its fall. Knowing all that and knowing the way things are now, I cannot help, but to wonder has there ever been anything like this?
It seems that as I look around America I see that God has been forsaken. It is not longer a popular thing in society to be a Christian. Day in and day out you can see on the news things that seem to indicate the immorality of our nation. We as a nation have out killed Hitler with abortion, we have out killed all of the Caesar’s of Rome, has there ever been anything like this? Sometimes I wonder as we all do at times, how long will God hold back, how long will God relent his wrath on a nation for their immorality.
There came several times in Israel’s history where God became angry with their sin and wanted to poor out his wrath on them.
Jeremiah 2:11
Jeremiah was basically saying that other nations do not so quickly turn their backs on their gods. The Egyptians were faithful to their gods, and they aren’t even real Gods, but Israel who serves the one True God was unfaithful.
It amazes me to look across the world and see all of these other religions. Most of the time these people are dedicated to their false gods, but we as a people who serve the one True God so quickly turn on him.
I have a solution to the nation’s problems and immorality. America needs revival. Not just a weeklong revival meeting at Oak Grove Christian church, but a revival that spreads like wildfire across the country. We need to do something to change the way in which we as a nation are headed. We can complain all day long about America’s problems, but the truth is America needs revival and revival starts with us here. God’s Word will never change the nation if we ourselves cannot be changed. I am convinced that we can make a difference in the world, if only we will be revived. So has there ever been anything like this in the nation? Perhaps not, but the solution is not just to sit back and to complain about the increase of immorality, the answer is for us to stand up as Christians and make an impact on the world. Not only do I have a solution for the problem in America, I know why America is the way it is. It is because Christians have not been the salt and the light. Many times you will hear people assume that one person cannot make a difference, but with a church full of people thinking like that the church will loose its affect on the world. America is so immoral now because Christians have not taken a stand, Christians have let things slide, and Christians have not effectively impacted and reached the lost people in America. Has there ever been anything like this in the church today? Perhaps we are living in wicked times, perhaps America is standing in God’s judgment, but we as Christians need to spread revival across this land.
II. Has There Been Anything Like This individually
I wonder also has there ever been anything like this individually? Surely we can look at the immorality of the nation, but when it comes down to it the problem is with each individual. We all surely can put ourselves into this category as well. We all need revival. We all need to be changed regularly. Jeremiah as he preached was disgusted with individuals within Israel. He pointed out their sins and I believe that the same message needs to be brought to individuals today.
a. The Priests
First Jeremiah through the inspiration of God spoke of the sins of the priests of his day. He pointed out that they did not ask, “Where is the Lord?” You may be thinking that does not sound like a serious sin, but when people fail o be concerned with God’s presence there is no hope for a godly lifestyle. The priests were the people who were supposed to be the most concerned with God’s presence. In the Old Testament times the priest were the ones who interceded for other people, the priests were the only ones allowed in the presence of God, and the priests worked for the people’s forgiveness of sins. They were the ones who were supposed to carry around the Ark of the Covenant, which was symbolic of God’s presence. It was a sad thing that they stopped be concerned about God’s presence. With their lack of concern about where God was all of the people suffered.
The priests today also should be concerned with God’s presence. The priest is not just the preacher and ministers, but the Bible tells us that we are all priests. That means that we all should be concerned about God’s presence. I wonder sometimes if individuals today are asking the question, “where is the Lord?” We encounter God’s presence in two different ways than the priests of the Old Testament. First, we encounter God’s presence in each of our own lives. If we have been obedient to the Lord we have been given the gift of the Holy Spirit to indwell us. With God’s presence with us all the time, how ought we to live? Secondly, we encounter God’s presence when we are gathered together in the name of Jesus. Jesus promised that wherever two or three are gathered there I am also. Shouldn’t we do whatever we can do be in God’s presence? It should be the most exciting thing for us to come into the presence of God, but for many people they do what they can do avoid being in God’s presence. I wonder if the priests of today are not asking where is the Lord? I hope and I pray that we seek to be in God’s presence on a regular basis. The priests during Jeremiah’s ministry needed revival and we as priests of the New Covenant need revival as well and we need to be concerned about God’s presence in our lives
b. The Handlers of the Word
Those who dealt with the Law or as some versions say the handlers of the Word did not know Him. God reveals His character through His Word. We can learn about God through His Word. It is an awesome thing that we can know God because we have access to His Word. We have hundreds of Bibles at our fingertips and the ability to learn about who God is and how we can be saved from our sins, but yet many people today are not concerned with God’s Word. It is not a good thing obviously when we do not know God, but it is even worse that we do not know God because he has given us the opportunity to know Him. We need to make sure that we spend time reading God’s Word on a daily basis. I hear a lot of times people saying that they want to know God, but those people never read the Bible. If you want to know Him read his revelation to you. You cannot grow in your faith if you do not read the Bible. You cannot understand God without regularly reading His Word. Coming to church on Sunday and hearing a message from God’s Word does not teach you who God is. We each individually need to build a relationship with God and it begins right here by opening up his Word and reading about Him. The Handlers of the Word need a revival, we need a revival of getting back to the Word. Just think what God can do with a group of people concerned about His presence and wanting to know him, and with people who daily seek to know Him through His Word. A revival will spread across this World, but it starts with us, the handlers of God’s Word spending time getting to know God.
c. Leaders
In Jeremiah’s time the leaders rebelled against God. I am sure this was part of the reason Jeremiah wondered if there had ever been anything like this before. We know that the leaders rebelling are nothing new in Israel’s history. Aaron who was significant in leading Israel out of Egypt rebelled against God several times. When Moses was on Mt. Sinai receiving the Law, Aaron was at the foot of the mountain making a golden calf for Israel to worship. It is a serious thing though when leaders rebel against God. Leaders are supposed to be the example. We need good leaders in the church as a whole today, people who can be followed. We need people who can say follow me as I follow Christ. I wonder though as I look across the world as whole if the leaders are not rebelling against God. You hear stories regularly of church leaders falling into great sins. We need a revival among the leaders of the church. Has there very been anything like this, where there are so many leaders rebelling against God? We need to be the one’s who are different. Not only do the elders need to be good leaders who set an example, but also we all need to strive to be a good leader and example to the rest of the world. We need people who will rise up and fill the shoes of the leaders who will go on to meet the Lord. We need a revival church. I am not trying to depress you and make you feel that all leaders are bad, because that definitely is not the case, but I am trying to impress upon you the severity of the condition of the world and the need for change and revival, and hopefully we will want to do something about the problems among individuals and revival will start with us and spread throughout the World.
d. Prophets
Fourthly Jeremiah pointed out the fault of the prophets of his day. He said that they prophesied by Baal, which was a pagan god of that time and followed after worthless idols. The prophets of that day were equivalent to the preachers. Basically what he was saying is that there were a bunch of liberal, compromising, false teaching preachers around. I do not think that there is anything different I today’s world. Sure you don’t often hear of a preacher bowing down to a golden image of a cow, but the do follow worthless idols. Many preachers of our day are willing to compromise the truth for popularity, many preachers put God second in their lives to other things. None of us are tempted to worship idols, but an idol is not just a golden statue, an idol is anything in our lives before God. We all must make sure that we do not have worthless idols in our lives. Basically what I hope that we have learned is that in every aspect of life we need revival. We need revival from the members to the preachers. We need revival from the elders to the deacons. We need revival as individuals. I hope that we will be revived by God’s Word and that revival will spread from here all through Asheville and the USA. If we as individuals are revived the church will grow and souls will come to know Jesus, but it all starts with us each individually. Many times we sit and wait for someone else to make the first move, many times we expect God to magically cause a revival, but we must realize that we must get up, get in God’s Word and work to bring people to Jesus. If you want to see revival then bring people to church, tell the Lost about Jesus and let you own life be transformed.
III. Has There Been Anything Like This in the Church
As I look across the church of Christ as a whole I wonder if there has ever been anything like this? Churches compromising on essential doctrine, immorality accepted in the church in the name of political correctness. Has there ever been anything like this? God said that he was brining charges against the church of the Old Testament. First I believe he would charge them with not impacting the world. One of the roles that Israel had was to model to the world a godly nation and they failed at doing that. I wonder sometimes if we fail to model to the world godly people. We as Christians are expected to be different.
I Peter 2:11-12
When we act differently people are draw to God. I said before that one reason the immorality of the world is because of the immorality in the church. We though are called to be good example and to show people Christ in our lives. If the church fails to do that then the church fails. If you cannot be a good example to the world, then coming to church Sunday after Sunday is pointless. We come to church to be encouraged and we go into the world to be a good example and witness for Jesus Christ. The second charge I believe that God will make against the church is forsaking him and following after other things
Jeremiah 2:11-13
Many people in the church leave behind God and follow after their own gods, or as Jeremiah says leave the living waters and dig their own cisterns. Perhaps today there is someone trying to dig their own cistern, trying to make it through life without God. God is the living water and all who come to Jesus will never thirst again. Many people though try to make it alone and follow after their own gods. Sometimes people see following God as a burden and they think they can make it on their own merit. God is taking us to court. He is brining charges against us all. How will you be found Church? What will God’s verdict of you be? The court that God is bringing us to is not a court like we have today, but it is His judgment seat. We are told that we must all appear before His judgment seat, and Jeremiah says that those charges are for you and your children and all who are far off.
We though have a way out. We have a way to insure our innocence. In Acts 2:38 we learn that the promise of forgiveness of sins and the Holy Spirit is for you and your children and all who are far off.
The church needs revival, we as individuals need revival, and we as a nation need revival, but that revival starts right here at Oak Grove Christian Church. That revival starts when we leave here this afternoon and decide how we are going to apply God’s Word to our lives and how we are going to impact the world.
Conclusion:
We are only here for a short time on this Earth and I hope that we each will have an impact. When it comes down to it, nothing in this world matters except what you do for Jesus. God does not care how many hours you worked, how much money you made, how many Christian conventions you went to or even how many times you went to church and Sunday school. He cares what you do with His Word. He cares if you impact people. We are called to be witnesses of Jesus Christ. If we believe that Jesus saves, then we need revival. We need to commit ourselves to change. We need to commit ourselves to reaching the Lost. I want to encourage you to do a few things. First, invite a friend or family member to revival in a few weeks. Secondly, come each night and hear God’s Word proclaimed, and third in the next six months set a goal to bring someone to Jesus. How awesome would it be if each individual in here won someone to Jesus in the next six months? This building would be packed full in a hurry if we did that. Let’s see if we can do that because that is what revival is all about, that what this life is all about. Let’s not make excuses, because we all know a lost person. Perhaps in your homes, schools or work, but make an effort in the next six months to bring one person to Jesus. I am going to do something a little unconventional. I am going to ask that you write on the inside of your Bibles somewhere a name of a lost person, and I want you to pray every day for that person’s salvation, pray for an open door, and be bold and tell them about Jesus. Make an effort to reach them. Don’t just write a name down to shut me up, but write it down because you care about the eternal state. Don’t just write it down and do nothing, write it down and tell them about Jesus. If we each brought one person to Jesus we would be able to say in a good way, has there ever been anything like this?
