4 November 2012
I. Introduction
-- turn in Bibles to 2 Chronicles 7:11-16
2 Chronicles 7:11-16 (NIV)
11 When Solomon had finished the temple of the LORD and the royal palace, and had succeeded in carrying out all he had in mind to do in the temple of the LORD and in his own palace,
12 the LORD appeared to him at night and said: "I have heard your prayer and have chosen this place for myself as a temple for sacrifices.
13 "When I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or command locusts to devour the land or send a plague among my people,
14 if my people, who are called by my name, will 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.
15 Now my eyes will be open and my ears attentive to the prayers offered in this place.
16 I have chosen and consecrated this temple so that my Name may be there forever. My eyes and my heart will always be there.
-- over the last two weeks, we have been talking about the need for change -- I guess it's a natural thought as we head into an election week here in our country with both candidates for president offering their plans to change our country for the better
-- but I want to impress upon you that there is another voice for change that is calling out in our land -- a better voice calling for the restoration of God in America again
-- a couple of weeks ago, we examined the question of whether God was judging America -- if God was allowing us to experience the many natural and economic disasters that have happened over the last decade so we will hear His voice and respond to His call to make Him Lord of our lives and our country again
-- as I reflect on what we have been going through in this country, I am reminded of what C.S. Lewis wrote: "God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks to us in our conscience, but shouts in our pains: It is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world." (The Problem of Pain, 1940)
-- are these natural and economic disasters nothing more than God calling for His people to return to Him again?
-- and last week in the message, "Risen Church," we talked about the current spiritual state of the church in America -- how we seem to be an empty shell of what Jesus called His church to be -- a church in name alone -- devoid of the power and greatness of God and just going through the motions of religion without truly trusting and relying on God to lead us and do great things through us
-- just last night I read an article in World Magazine (World, November 3, 2012: Minority Report) which pointed out, for the first time in history, the percentage of Protestant Americans has dropped below 50% of the U.S. population -- not because they were converting to other religions -- but because they were turning away from religion and church in greater and greater numbers
-- but, as Russell Moore of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary wrote, the bigger problem is a large percentage of those who remain in church are nominal Christians who aren't truly born-again and who aren't living their lives in faith and trust in Christ
-- we have lost our way as the church of Christ in America
-- in his book, "A Million Miles in a Thousand Years," Donald Miller talks about seeing our lives as a story -- as part of a grand story written by God in which we have a major part
-- he talks about how all great stories have "turns" -- directions in which the character and the plot go to make the story interesting -- to give the story life -- all stories, he says, must have negative turns, in which events rise that divert the characters from reaching their goals -- obstacles that seem to come between them and their destination
-- but, in the end, there must be a positive turn, an event that moves the protagonist towards his ambition -- that propels a character to defy all the odds to obtain their ultimate goal -- to win the race they are running
-- a change -- in their thoughts -- their behaviors -- their actions -- their attitudes -- a change that causes them to truly want to be different -- that allows them to move the mountains in their way and to walk through the storms in order to reach the end
-- we are at this critical juncture in this country -- and as you head to the polls this week -- as you go back to work and school and life tomorrow -- I want you to be aware that this critical point we are at has nothing to do with politics or economics or the security of our country -- it has to do with our spiritual destination and our spiritual destiny -- it has to do with who we are going to be in the eyes of God
-- by all accounts, we need a positive turn -- we need a change -- if we are going to be the men and women that God called us to be -- if we are not going to just be happy at coming to church and warming seats on Sunday mornings -- if we are actually going to do what God called us to do and make a difference in the lives around us
-- we need a change -- and God has shown us here in this passage what it takes to make this change
II. Scripture Lesson (2 Chronicles 7:11-16)
-- this passage from 2 Chronicles occurs just after King Solomon has completed building the temple of God -- for seven years, Solomon had worked to build a permanent place where the people of Israel could meet with their God
-- and when it was finished, Solomon had the Ark of the Covenant brought into the Holy of Holies while the priests offered sacrifices and the people praised God for His goodness and glory -- the presence of the Lord filled the temple as a cloud as He met the people in that place -- and then Solomon prayed a prayer of dedication, setting aside this temple and the people of Israel for God -- promising to serve Him and no one else
-- later that night, God appeared to Solomon in a dream and answered his prayer with the words that we're given here in this passage
-- let's look at this passage again and think about how it might apply to our day and the times in which we are living -- while these words were certainly given for the ancient Israelites, the Bible says that our God is the same yesterday, today, and forever, and the promises that He makes to Solomon here can be the foundation for a spiritual revival in our hearts and our homes and our country
-- so, if you would, look back at verse 11-12
11 When Solomon had finished the temple of the LORD and the royal palace, and had succeeded in carrying out all he had in mind to do in the temple of the LORD and in his own palace,
12 the LORD appeared to him at night and said: "I have heard your prayer and have chosen this place for myself as a temple for sacrifices.
-- I don't think we should rush through these first words that God spoke to Solomon -- I think they're important to consider
-- think about the context of this passage -- the temple stood there empty in Jerusalem for seven years as it was being built -- but God was not there -- His power was not there -- God never graced it with His presence until Solomon prayed
-- we have many churches like this today -- empty of the presence of God because we've not invited Him in
-- churches that exist in name alone are useless -- all of our plans and all of our programs are useless -- unless God directs them and inhabits them -- it is God who chooses us -- it is God who directs our path -- it is God's power that allows us to do great and mighty things -- if God is not in them, then all our strivings will come to naught
-- revival begins when we recognize the emptiness of our lives and pray to be filled
-- verse 13
13 "When I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or command locusts to devour the land or send a plague among my people,
-- why would God allow natural and economic disasters to fall on His people? -- why would He allow them to suffer?
-- the Bible tells us that these events happened when the people turned away from God -- when there was a negative turn in their life that led them to reject God and follow idols -- and it stands to reason that the same would hold true for us
-- as we reject God in our lives and in our country -- as we chase after the idols of self-sufficiency and exalt government and materialism and prosperity in the place of God, God allows natural and economic disasters to fall upon us
-- not to harm us -- as we read a couple of weeks ago in Jeremiah 29:11 -- but to prosper us -- to give us hope and a future as we recognize the direction we are heading and adjust our lives to God and return to Him
-- God tells Solomon here that these things are going to happen -- He doesn't say "if" -- He says "when" -- but He gives the recipe for revival in the next verse
-- verse 14
14 if my people, who are called by my name, will 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.
-- this is the main verse I want you to focus on in this passage -- a familiar verse -- a verse many of us have memorized but few of us have done anything about
-- in this verse, God gives us the four steps to revival -- He tells us what we must do in order to make a positive turn in the story of our lives and our country
-- He begins by saying, "if My people, who are called by My name" -- who is that? -- that's us -- the people of God -- the people saved by His grace
-- regardless of what the politicians are telling us leading up to this election, change in this country is not going to come through the ballot box -- change is only going to come when God's people take responsibility and move into action
-- revival begins with us and no one us
-- next we see the four steps of revival -- I'm not going to go into great detail on these this morning -- but I plan on talking about each of these in messages over the next several weeks
-- step 1 -- if My people will humble themselves -- the very first thing we need to do in order to bring revival to our lives and our homes and our country is to step off the pedestal and put God back on it again
-- step 2 -- turn from their wicked ways -- another word for this: Repent -- make a positive turn towards God and away from sin
-- step 3 -- pray -- how often do we neglect the simple act of prayer? -- how often do we water down our prayer lives to no more than a few moments before a meal or right before bed? -- the words of Solomon's prayer of dedication take up almost four pages in my Bible -- yet we can only give God seconds or minutes in our daily lives as our world collapses around us?
-- step 4 -- seek My face -- look for God -- turn to Him and trust Him and not ourselves -- focus on God and His will and His ways -- not on the things this world says is important
-- and, if we do these four things, God promises that He will hear from heaven and will forgive our sin and heal our land -- why would we not do this? -- why would we not seek revival at this time in our country's history when God promises to act if we just turn back to Him again?
-- verse 15-16
15 Now my eyes will be open and my ears attentive to the prayers offered in this place.
16 I have chosen and consecrated this temple so that my Name may be there forever. My eyes and my heart will always be there
-- do you know what God is saying in these verses? -- I will never leave you or forsake you -- God has not gone away -- God is still on His throne -- and He's crying out to us through His megaphone of pain
-- He's allowing all of these natural and economic disasters to fall upon us -- not because of His wrath -- but because He is calling us home -- He is calling us to return to Him -- to make a change in our lives -- to turn back before it's too late
-- God's eyes are open and His ears are listening -- His Name is with us forever -- His very Spirit dwells within us -- and His heart longs for our presence
III. Closing
-- John MacArthur in his book “Can God Bless America” states that "America wants God's blessing but not God -- Our nation has systematically pushed Him out of the national consciousness -- rejecting biblical morality, ignoring His Word, and relying on the political and entertainment arenas for moral guidance."
-- The result is that we have become a bankrupt nation -- financially, morally and spiritually -- As politicians, economists, and sociologists scramble to find a cure for the nation’s woes, God has provided America with His prescription in His Word (From a sermon by Gerald Flury, A Bankrupt Nation, 8/9/2011)
-- God has promised to hear our prayers, to forgive our sins, and to heal our land -- if we would only do what He has called us to do in 2 Chronicles 7:14
-- but we have known this promise for over 2000 years -- we have had these words since the time of Solomon -- the problem is not in the knowing -- the problem is in the doing and the believing
-- do you believe that God can revive our land? -- do you believe we can make a difference in this country by simply humbling ourselves and turning from our wicked ways and praying and seeking God's face? -- do you believe that God still brings revival? -- do you believe He can bring revival through you?
-- In 1857, four young Irishmen began a weekly prayer meeting in a village school -- The next year, more prayer meetings started and revival was the common theme of the preachers -- and over 100,000 people were converted into the churches of Ireland in what is marked as the beginning of the Ulster revival of 1859
-- this spiritual revival was not contained in the churches, but affected the entire life of the country -- By 1860, crime was reduced to the point where judges had to cancel court because there were no cases to try -- One county in Ireland reported that their jails were empty because no crimes had been committed that year
-- the Ulster Revival was the greatest thing to hit Ireland since the ministry of Saint Patrick -- Services were packed as the people returned to God -- there was an abundance of prayer meetings -- families began to pray together -- Scripture reading was unmatched -- Sunday Schools prospered -- people stood firm for their faith -- giving increased -- vice abated -- and crime was reduced significantly
(Illustration modified from original contributed by Jim Luthy, Sermon Central: http://www.sermoncentral.com/illustrations/scripture/illustrations-on-2-chronicles-7+14.asp)
-- all because four young men decided to turn to God in prayer and ask Him to heal their land -- four young men, empowered by God, turned their country upside-down and sparked the greatest revival in Ireland's history
-- if God can use four men to revive an entire nation, then is there any doubt that He can take the handful of us in this room and heal our country in the same way?
-- God is in the business of reviving people -- of reviving homes -- of reviving nations -- but it all starts with His people on their knees -- humbling themselves, turning from their wicked ways, praying, and seeking His face
-- are you ready to see this country turned upside-down for Jesus? -- are you ready to see God do a mighty move in our land?
-- then let's begin by praying
-- let us pray
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