OH GOD REVIVE US! (PART 2)
Psalm 51; 2 Chronicles 7:14
30 January 2005
Prayer
Audio reading of Psalm 51 (NIV)
Together Read 2 Chronicles 7:14 (NIV) front of bulletin
Confession, Forgiveness, Restitution guidelines
Revive Us O Lord (slide)
INTRODUCTION
This morning I want to complete the sermon I began last week on the topic of revival, focusing primarily on text of 2 Chronicles 7:14.
But let us first begin by recapping the first part of this message from last Sunday
Revival as I mentioned deals specifically with Christians. And revival may be defined as a renewed conviction of sin and repentance followed by an intense desire to live in obedience to God.
Revival literally means to bring back to life something that is dead or dying. It is a face-to-face meeting with God, a God who is holy, righteous, powerful, a God who is to be feared.
1. IF MY PEOPLE WHO ARE CALLED BY NAME
Now in the first part of this verse it says, “If my people who are called by my name.” God spoke to the people of Israel and said to them IF indicating there was a choice to be made. They could either serve God and be blessed or choose to serve other gods and be cursed.
He was offering them life, peace, prosperity or death, war, poverty and misery. The Israelites were faced with a choice, God’s will or theirs.
Likewise we today, as the children of God are confronted with the reality of choosing life in Christ and obeying His commands or going our own way and paying the price. We face the choice between right and wrong, between good and evil, between obeying God or disobeying Him.
2. WILL HUMBLE THEMSELVES
Next we went on in the verse to see that the Israelites, the children of God were challenged to humble themselves by confessing to Him the fact that they had sinned, they had chosen their own way above His. They were to submit to Him, to His will, to His plans.
And like the Israelites we too are to humble ourselves, to admit our failures, our shortcomings, our sins, because humility is the opposite of pride, recognizing who we are and who God is.
As I mentioned, it means saying, “I’m sorry, “I was wrong,” “I’m part of the problem.” You choose to be the first one to go to someone else not pointing the finger at them.
3. AND PRAY
Then we went on to examine God’s command that the people of Israel were to pray to Him but to first humble themselves, to deal with their sin before they prayed to God.
Further, the Israelites humbled themselves and were to pray both privately and publicly to God taking opportunities to bring their requests to God individually and corporately.
And I mentioned, we too as the people of God at Calvary Community Church are called to come to Him privately and publicly to ask, seek, to cry out to Him that He would have His will, His way in our lives, our church, our community and country.
I also again want to challenge us that If we don’t pray, I believe it is not because we are too busy, or we have too much to do, but rather because we lack the humility to recognize how much we truly need God.
As it says in Zechariah 4:6, “… ‘Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit, says the Lord Almighty.” Because God’s Spirit moves in response to the prayers of His people, recognizing that our battle is ultimately spiritual in nature not physical.
4. AND SEEK MY FACE
We then went on to the next portion of 2 Chronicles 7:14, which says that the people of Israel were to seek the face of God. And so I spoke about what it means to seek the face of God using the example in Luke 11 of the story of a man whose friend comes to visit him but the man has nothing to offer his guest. And because of this man’s persistence to obtain this food, he gets what he wants from his neighbor, even in the middle of the night.
And likewise I went on to say that we are to petition, to call out, to seek the face of God because He can help us in ways that no one else can. And we must seek Him with all our heart, soul and mind, more than we seek our will to be done.
5. AND TURN FROM THEIR WICKED WAYS
The last part of this verse we looked at last Sunday, God called the Israelites to turn from, to leave behind their wicked ways. If they wanted God’s blessings they would have to choose to stop sinning against God.
We likewise as the people of God are called to no longer continue in sin such as sexual immorality (including adultery, living together before marriage (fornication), homosexuality and pornography). We are not to participate in gluttony, greed, gossip, division, quarreling, jealousy, slander, arrogance, apathy and so on. These are unacceptable for those who claim to be followers of Christ.
And we were reminded that we are a new creation, yet we must realize a tension exists between our new nature, who we are in Christ, and our old nature, our sinful self which still strives to take control back again (Galatians 5:17). We must not let that happen, rather we must turn from our wicked ways.
FIRST CONCLUSION
And so that concludes last Sunday’s sermon, the human side so to speak of 2 Chronicles 7:14. If you weren’t here last Sunday you may want to obtain a tape of the message from the church office. And now we will look at the second half of that verse. We will look at God’s side, His response if we will but humble ourselves, and pray and seek His face and turn from our wicked ways.
6. THEN WILL I HEAR FROM HEAVEN
Scripture goes on to say that if the Israelites, God’s people, were sincere, serious about this enough to humble themselves, pray, seek His face and turn from their wicked ways, then He was willing to hear from them.
Often the reason that it seems that God does not hear us is not because He is deaf. For He knows and hears everything we will say even before we say it. Rather He seems to not hear us because I believe we many times are not serious in our attempt to reach Him.
We would like God to hear us, but if He doesn’t, well that’s not the end of the world. And yet the truth is we need to want God to hear us such that we’ll do whatever He requires of us to make that possible. As it says in Psalm 42:1, “As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God.”
If we want God to hear us, we truly have to long after Him more than we long for anything else.
We as followers of Christ must so want God that He becomes our sole desire, our heart’s longing because the truth is that for some, perhaps a number of us, its not that we don’t want a relationship with God, we do, but we want many other things as well. Sort of like Jesus Plus, Jesus plus money, Jesus plus status, Jesus plus a good job, health or whatever you like. Yes our desire for other things, often strongly competes with God who is jealous for our love alone.
How about you? Have you met God’s conditions for His hearing you? Do you so long for Him to hear you such that you will do whatever He wants of you? Or have you perhaps felt that God is not listening to you, as though He were deaf to your cries, your pleas? I hope that each of us can know for sure that God hears us when we call on Him. Because isn’t it great when you know God has heard from you, when you know He will respond to your request, when God tells you that this or that will happen because He has heard your request from Heaven.
I think of the privilege I had of having God hear me. It was when I was living in South Africa and I was seeking God’s will as to my future. At the time I was a research forester. I was coming to the end of my government contract and I had been asked to become a permanent employee but I was unsure if that was God’s will.
My wife Mandy and I prayed that whatever God wanted we would do. I enjoyed my work tremendously. I found it very fulfilling and I had no desire to leave but at the same time I wanted to be obedient to whatever God may have for us.
By the way, sometimes we don’t hear God’s answer because we don’t want to do whatever He wants us to do. We already have our minds made up and so we pray over things instead of praying through them.
Now unknown to me God had already begun to answer our prayers two years prior (isn’t that amazing!), because while attending a missions conference, somewhat like MissionsFest, God has shown Mandy through the Peace Child film by Don Richardson that He wanted us to go to Prairie Bible Institute. She didn’t tell me, she was waiting for God to confirm that to me.
When I prayed two years later now at the end of my contract, God (and you’ll be surprised about this) told me to leave the room I was in and go to the washroom! And there I had a clear conviction that God wanted me to do 3 things: 1. Finish my forestry contract. 2. Move to Canada. And 3. Go to Prairie Bible Institute.
So the next morning I told Mandy about it before going to work. And that very same morning the director of the South African Forestry Research Institute came over 2000 kilometers from the capital city of Pretoria to visit me. And one of his items of business was to ask me to consider moving there to do the work I had always wanted to do and loved doing.
I was both elated and deflated all at the same time. Here was the opportunity of a lifetime! On the one hand I had the opportunity to be trained and to serve the Lord in full time Christian service. On the other hand I had the opportunity to serve myself in the work I really loved. Yet I know without doubt what God wanted and He was making His will perfectly clear.
It reminds me of the verse in Joshua 24:15, “choose today whom you will serve.” I thank God that He heard and answered me and that He gave me the grace to be obedient to Him for I do not regret my decision, even to this day.
7. AND WILL FORGIVE THEIR SIN
Next we go on to God’s promise to forgive the sins of the Israelites indicting that He will pardon His people for their idolatry, their witchcraft, their rebellion, their rejection of His legitimate ownership of the lives. For it says in Psalm 130: 3,4, “If you O Lord kept a record of sin, O Lord who could stand? But with you there is forgiveness.”
I want to point out that God wasn’t telling the Israelites that they had to do good works, good things to earn His forgiveness to make up for all the wrong they had done. No there was nothing they could do to earn God’s forgiveness.
By the way, do you realize that Christians who continue in hidden sin often find that their guilt causes them to be driven in their Christianity, to somehow try to make up for what they have done wrong or what they are still doing wrong. No amount of good works can make up for our past or present disobedience.
Yes, it is important for us to understand. I don’t want any of us to leave here today thinking that I teach salvation by works, that you have to work your way to heaven, to do things to receive the forgiveness of God. Because in no way can we earn God’s forgiveness, His favor, salvation from sin.
As is says in Ephesians 2:8,9, “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith, and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God, not by works so that no one can boast.”
It is faith in Christ’s finished work on the cross that saves us, that sets us free from the punishment of our sins and gives us power over sin. It is faith through grace. Grace being God’s unmerited, undeserved favor upon us all. Yes Christ paid the price that we could never pay ourselves for our sins.
We must also remember that Christ’s sacrifice for our sins applied to the Israelites as well. For Scripture speaks of Christ as the “Lamb of God that was slain from the creation of the world.” In other words, Jesus’ sacrifice was counted effective from the beginning of time, even before any of us sinned. Yes, God had a plan long before anything had even happened.
We need to also understand that although God forgave the people of Israel for this sins, it did not mean that there were not consequences for their actions. I think that often, especially in our church circles, we assume that God’s forgiveness means that is where it ends. That we have no further responsibility for sins we have committed, that we are off Scot free and that is true so to speak in terms of our relationship with God.
But if you look at Exodus 21 and 22 you will see that God still required that those who sinned make restitution where appropriate. In other words God required that the Israelites not only be in right relationship with Him, but also with each other. That one’s repentance, turning from sin should be demonstrated practically by making matters right with people they sinned against.
Yes, in response to our request for forgiveness God may want, He may require us to go further than we want so that we may experience the fullness of complete release from our sins not just in heaven but here on earth as well.
This reminds me of an incident I experienced while also working in South Africa. I had been working on a research project but had made a significant error early on in the project. Instead of coming clean I unfortunately chose to try and cover my mistake.
It wasn’t too long before my conscience really began to bother me. I knew it was wrong to hide the error because the results of the project would be worthless. So I confessed this sin to God and asked His forgiveness and I received it.
But I also knew God wasn’t going to let it rest there. No matter how hard I tried I couldn’t shake the feeling that I had to let my supervisor know. So I fought with God, begged Him, “Isn’t my confession to you good enough?” The answer was clearly “no.” I was forgiven, but God wanted me to deal with my sin fully.
You see, God knew my heart. Jeremiah 17:9 says, “The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure ...” God knew I didn’t want to admit my mistake to anyone. I wanted to look competent, and capable yet I needed to admit what I had done.
I had sinned in trying to hide the fact and I needed to acknowledge that. Then one night it was as though the hammer came down. I literally felt that if I were to fall asleep that night, if I did not resolve the matter as God told me to, I would wake up in hell.
For those of us who believe in “once you’re saved, you’re always saved,” this thought is quite uncomfortable. Yet it reminds me of the story of Jonathan Edwards, a revival preacher in the United States. He gave a sermon which you may have heard about, entitled, “Sinners In The Hands Of An Angry God.” It is said that as he preached this sermon, people literally held on to the pillars in the church for fear they would descend into hell.
I know that feeling, it is the most awful feeling I have ever experienced in my life. So after struggling all evening under this conviction I wrote the letter to my supervisor. I confessed my sin to him, acknowledging my mistake and asking for his forgiveness. I went to bed and the next morning I was quick to mail that letter.
I believe we do not take our sin seriously enough because we have lost sight of the holiness of God, yet His holiness is as much part of Him as His love.
And though not as dramatic, the story of Zacchaeus in the gospel of Luke 19 illustrates the same idea. Not only did he confess, admit his sin, he also repented, turned away from it and made restitution. He made right as best as he could, the things he did wrong. He gave back or gave away the money he stole.
When we surrender to God and seek His forgiveness we must understand that we cannot dictate the terms of surrender. We must unconditionally surrender to God and follow His direction, just like in World War II when the nation of Japan surrendered unconditionally to the Allied forces.
God is in control. He calls the shots. God treats us not as a defeated enemy, not as a slave but as sons and daughters. And how He longs to forgive and embrace us. He stands like the father of the prodigal son, looking down the road of life, longing for us to come to be forgiven.
As it says in Romans 4:7,8 “Blessed are they whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord will never count against him.”
And Psalm 103:10,11 says of God, “ He does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him;”
God’s forgiveness is total. He throws our sin into the depths of the sea and puts up a no fishing sign. How wonderful! Amen! Remember that there is more grace in God’s heart than there is sin your past!
8. AND WILL HEAR THEIR LAND
Lastly we look at the final words of 2 Chronicles 7:14. It says, “and I will heal their land.” When the Israelites fulfilled God’s requirements of them not only did He promise to hear them, and forgive them, He also promised to heal their land.
His intention was to restore and return them to their inheritance, to bring peace and security and His presence to the land of Israel. For we know that when they disobeyed God, disaster and calamity plagued them. This was not God’s desire for them.
Indeed it was God’s will that the foreign nations along with their religions would no longer have domination over the land of Israel so that the spiritual life of the Israelites could be renewed, serving the one and only true God who could indeed heal them spiritually, emotionally and physically.
This was important because back in Genesis 12:3 Abraham was told by God that through him God would make Israel into a great nation. It would be a nation that would be a blessing to all nations of the world. It would be a nation through which the message of God and His love for all people could be expressed, lived out for all to hear and see. Israel couldn’t be that blessing unless she herself was revived.
Today the church, the body of Christ, each one and all of us together are also called to be a blessing to the people, the nations of the world. We are to be a godly influence in our homes, our community, our country, our world that we live in. We are to demonstrate by what we say and do that we love Jesus Christ. And only we can fulfill this mandate, if like the Israelites of old we have humbled ourselves, if we are a praying people, if we truly seek god’s face and if we have turned from our wicked ways.
This reminds me of a story, again from South Africa. A group of Christians seemed powerless to make any difference for God. No matter how they preached, what they did, it didn’t seem to have any effect on the Zulu people, the tribe these Christians were among.
They were at the point of giving up, of throwing in the towel when they determined that God should show them what was wrong. Why did they have no power? Why was the message of the gospel scorned and laughed at?
As they sought God in prayer He began to reveal their lives to them. Some of these Christians had been involved in adultery, some in theft, some in gossip, some in lying, some were arrogant, proud and unbending. So God began to reveal to them their inner lives. And some of them even felt a burning sensation on their lips, hands, and feet as God showed them their sins and his judgement on those sins.
Recognizing the hand of God and His anger at their wicked ways, they confessed their sins, asked God’s forgiveness and were forgiven. They made matters right where possible and then continued to pray and wait upon God for whatever He would want them to do.
Within a short time God began working in such a powerful way that instead of having to go out and preach the good news of Jesus Christ, people started coming to them and in large numbers. Many witch doctors came and turned away, repented of their sins.
Previously the Christians had been spat on by these men who knew that the Christians had no power to help them be set free from their sins. For you see, in Africa, when the gospel comes, it comes in power because the power of Satan is very evident in the lives of people there. They won’t surrender to Christ unless they are convinced that God is stronger than Satan.
And as far as I know, to this day that group of Christians are still making a significant difference in the country of South Africa bringing the healing power of Jesus Christ to the spiritual, emotional and physical needs of that nation.
And in our land we need healing too. While we may see ourselves being very different from the people of Africa, the truth is we are all very much the same. We are all subject to the same struggles, temptations and desires. We are perhaps a little more sophisticated or so we think, we have a few more toys, but people are people wherever they live and whoever they are.
Our nation, Canada needs healing from the philosophies, the false ways of thinking that have overtaken us. One of the biggest of these is the belief that we are the product not of God’s creative power but of a gradual impersonal process, implying that life has no purpose or plan. Along with it, the thinking has come that we are responsible to no one but ourselves.
And as a result all sorts of immorality (including now same sex marriage), abortion, materialism (love of money and possessions) and a host of other evils have taken root deeply in our nation. These and many more are all signs that our land desperately needs healing. It is a healing that can only come through the people of God, the church, you and me and that by the power of God in us.
Whether you believe it or not. proplr are looking for a savior. They are looking, longing for God. There is a quest for spirituality, for a connection to the supernatural, to God and this is at an all time high in Canada. Yet we as the church of Jesus Christ seem somehow incapable of reaching them, winning them with the good news of Christ, meeting their spiritual needs. This need not continue to be unmet because the gospel is more than powerful enough to meet every need. Amen.
Yes, we as the church, all of us, you and I will have to be set free from our sins if our country, our province, our city, our community of Millwoods is to have any hope of being set free from the sins that bind them. Because there is no other answer to our pressing needs other than a vibrant personal relationship with Jesus Christ. And God has called us, the people of God to be messengers of that truth.
SECOND CONCLUSION
In conclusion, the choice is ours, the choice is yours. God won’t force us, we must make up our minds. The nation of Israel vacillated between good and evil. They swayed back and forth between obeying and disobeying God so that in the end they were finally removed from the land. Will that be our destiny?
What about us, what about you, what about me? What are we going to do personally and corporately? Are we going to choose life or death. Revival in our lives will not be easy, but is there a better alternative? Until we as the people of God put our house in order under the authority of God, we will never be all that God has meant us to be.
I challenge you today to seek God, to have revival personally and for our congregation. Let us humble ourselves, pray, seek His face and turn from our wicked ways so that God may do a new work among us individually and together here at Calvary Community Church.
Song – Hear From Heaven (from Today CD by Brian Doerkson
