Revival - Humble Ourselves

IF MY PEOPLE WILL HUMBLE THEMSELVES

II Chronicles 7:14

INTRODUCTION: This fall we will be studying about revival. Eventually we will study some of the great revivals that took place in the Bible, but we are taking a few weeks to learn more about what revival is and how it comes. That’s why in a moment we will be looking at II Chronicles 7:14. But first I want to begin by reminding you what is meant when we talk about revival. As we said last week, Revival does not come by design. God can not be manipulated to send revival. It is cannot be orchestrated or produced by the flesh. Revival is not the church deciding to do something. It is God deciding to do something to his church. Revival comes at the sovereign, gracious decision of God to send a fresh movement of His Spirit among his people. Revival is God moving and that is hard to explain. In 1803 a strange event took place in the hills of Kentucky. 25,000 people went out to hear preaching at a place called Cane Ridge where preachers stood on stumps and proclaim the righteousness of God. People became so overwhelmed with their conviction of sin that they fell to the ground and thousands were brought to the Lord. The reason I bring this up is because Cain Ridge was led by Barton W. Stone, who is considered to be one of the founders of the Churches of Christ in America. And maybe you didn’t know it, but the churches of Christ grew out of revival, out of the second great awaking in America. We were birthed in the mist of a revival and you cannot explain the revival that started the Churches of Christ. I wonder if Cain Ridge happened today, how many of us would even go. Revival is a gracious move of the spirit that brings renewal to the church. That is why I say revival can’t be bought. You can’t package it, you can’t come up with a formula, you can’t buy it in a kit or the church would have already have it. Revival can’t be bought, instead must be sought. Also from last week, revival will not come unless it is desired. It is an invasion from heaven at the request of the saints on earth. Now, I say again you can’t obligate God. You cannot make God do anything. But Church we must be remember that God wants to revive his people more than they want revival. God longs to send revival to his church. He is waiting for his church to seek it and He tells us how in II Chronicles 7:14. READ TEXT This verse is so critical that it will take 3 sermons to understand what God is looking for before he grants revival. God says, "If…then." If you will humble yourself, seek my face, turn from your wicked ways, I will hear, I will forgive, I will heal. So the very first thing that God says He is looking for, the first thing He must see before He sends revival is Humility. There are several things I have learned about Humility.

{The first thing is that…}

I. HUMILITY IS AN INTENTIONAL UNDERTAKING

A. God chooses to fill empty vessels. What we are going to see over and over again this Fall is that God will not send revival until his people humble themselves. God can not fill people with the Spirit if they are already full of themselves, and there is a real danger in the church of having a sufficient spirit. That is why we don’t see many revivals; a sufficient, satisfied spirit.

B. One of the great personal revivals in the Old Testament was with a King named Manasseh. There were few Kings more evil than Manasseh and God brought judgement upon him just as He promised. The Babylonians came and literally put a hook in his nose and drug him to Babylon. But look what happened to this man in II Chronicles 33.

1. "In his distress he sought the favor of the LORD his God and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers. And when he prayed to him, the LORD was moved by his entreaty and listened to his plea; so he brought him back to Jerusalem and to his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that the LORD is God." You will find this over and over again in the Old Testament.

2. When we humble ourselves God promises to hear and respond, and he never breaks that promise. You will never find a time in the Bible when men humbled themselves before God that he did not hear and respond. And we need to realize that God puts the responsibility to humble ourselves on us. The command is not to feel humble, not to praise humility, not to act humbly, but to intentionally humble ourselves.