I. Introduction
-- turn in Bibles to 2 Chronicles
7:13
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, 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 I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their
sin and will heal their land.
-- in his book, The Light and the
Glory, Peter Marshall noted that when planes fly leave America on a
transatlantic flight, the navigator plots the planes projected course and makes
a neat dot with a circle around it on the map -- he labels that point PNR --
the point of no return
-- for you see, once that point is
passed, it would take more fuel than the plane has to turn around and go back
to its point of departure -- there’s no way for the plane to go home again
-- this morning, like so many other
churches in our community and in our nation, we gather in a sanctuary that is
mostly empty -- we gather in a denomination that is torn and divided and losing
members -- we gather in a nation that is rapidly turning from our moral and
ethical foundations -- we gather in a world where plague and pestilence --
crime and violence and war -- are now the norm
-- but still, we gather together in
a place that has not reached PNR -- for with our God, there is always hope --
hope for renewal -- hope for restoration -- hope for revival
-- if -- if we will only
remember our God and seek His face again
-- last week, I shared with you a word
from God that I had received in response to my prayers for this church -- that
revival and restoration of this church and of this nation would only come in
response to our seeking God again -- to making Him the center of our worship,
our praise, our lives
-- and then we turned together and
studied the transfiguration of Jesus -- and noted how the chosen three
disciples -- Peter, James, and John -- were given a glimpse of Jesus in His
glory to encourage them -- to revive their hearts -- to allow them to see what
they were ultimately striving to achieve -- we talked about how knowing what it
is that we are hoping and longing for gives us the strength and determination
to keep on striving until the very end
-- if we are going to survive -- if
we are going to restore and revive this church and our community and our nation
-- then we have to make a stand -- we have to choose to seek the face of God
and prioritize God in our lives
-- so, I wanted us to spend some
time this morning looking at what it means to seek God by looking at one of the
greatest promises given by God to His people -- 2 Chronicles 7:13-14
II. Context of 2 Chronicles 7:13-14
-- before we turn to the scriptures
again to look at these verses, let me give you the context so you can better
understand where the nation of Israel was at the time God spoke these words
-- as you probably remember, God had
rescued the nation of Israel from slavery in Egypt -- He had brought them
through the Red Sea and the wilderness and into the Promised Land -- a journey
of over 40 years brought about by their own sin
-- and even though God finally
brought the nation into the Promised Land -- even though He gave them victory
after victory and established them in the land He had promised to Abraham, the
people continued to follow their own paths and turn away from God and from His
chosen leaders -- they continued to turn to idols and to worship idols in the
high places -- they continued to sin and disobey God in all their ways
-- as the Book of Judges says,
“Everyone did what was right in their own eyes” -- in other words, they did
what they wanted to do -- they justified their sins -- and so, God allowed them
to realize the consequences of their actions so they would seek Him again -- He
would raise up a judge to lead them back to Him again -- and they would return
for a time, but then stray again -- this went on again and again and again
-- finally, the people clamored for
a king so they could be like the other nations around them -- and God gave them
what they wanted and appointed Saul as their first king -- Saul was not a good
king -- he burdened the people with taxes -- he led them into war -- he caused
strife and division and continued to lead the nation into sin and idolatry
-- so, God finally anointed a man
after His own heart to be their leader -- David was raised up to be king --
uniting the nation and strengthening the borders and leading the people to seek
God’s face so that revival and restoration of the nation was realized
-- there was one more thing David
longed to do -- and that was to build a permanent temple for the Lord in
Jerusalem -- but God would not allow him to do so because David was a warrior
-- instead, the privilege of building the temple passed to David’s son,
Solomon, who would follow him as the next king of Israel
-- as 2 Chronicles 7 opens, we see
the temple has been completed -- the people have dedicated it and sanctified it
to the Lord -- and the Shekinah glory of the Lord has fallen on the
temple, filling it with His presence -- revival was finally realized -- God had
returned to Israel
-- after the dedication of the
temple, the Lord appeared to Solomon at night and gave him the promise that we
read here in 2 Chronicles 7:13-14 -- the promise that He would always hear and
forgive and restore if the people would return to Him and seek His face
III. Scripture Lesson (2 Chronicles 7:13-14)
-- let’s look at these verses
together now and see what we can learn from them about restoring our land by seeking
God’s face as the Israelites did in the days of Solomon
-- look at 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,
-- a couple of years ago, I made the
decision to quit watching and reading the news -- I was getting overwhelmed
with the negative information that was constantly coming my way -- I still like
to watch the local news, mostly to get the weather -- but I try to stay away
from the national and international news
-- However, I do still read the
major headlines on a news aggregator from time to time just to keep somewhat
current -- to know what is going on -- I just don’t go from site to site
reading the stories or watching the news on Fox News or CNN any longer -- I
don’t immerse myself in the news as I used to
-- so, as I was preparing for this
message, I turned to a site to see the headlines -- and it looked like someone
had just printed this very verse on the screen
-- I saw headlines about natural
disasters -- floods in the southeast -- drought in other parts of the world --
crippling winter storms
-- I saw headlines about locusts, of
all things -- massive swarms of locusts in Africa and the Middle East and even
the border of China
-- but the major story, of course,
was that of the coronavirus -- a modern-day plague that is sweeping across the
globe with unknown consequences
-- if you ever doubted whether God
still speaks today -- if you ever doubted whether He moves and acts in our day
to get our attention and to draw us back to Him -- all you have to do is look
at the headlines
-- here in verse 13, the Lord tells
Solomon that there will come a time when the heavens will be shut up and
drought will happen -- when natural disasters will come -- there will be a time
when locusts come to devour the land -- there will be a time when plague and
pestilence and disease comes among the people of God
-- God doesn’t say, “if” -- He says,
“when” -- these things are going to happen -- these things are happening -- and
the Bible makes it clear that God allows these events to occur when the people
have turned away from Him -- when they have chosen to follow their own path and
not His
-- now don’t leave here and go out
and tell everyone that I said the coronavirus is God’s judgment on the world --
that’s not what I’m saying -- what I am saying is that God allows us to suffer
the consequences of turning away from Him -- and that the Bible says that some
of the consequences of doing so include drought and plague and pestilence
-- but God allows this to happen as
part of His prevenient grace -- it is not a punishment -- it is not God’s wrath
-- but God’s grace that uses people and places and things such as these -- to
get our attention -- to call us back to Him -- to remind us of our need for a
Savior in our lives
-- so, God tells Solomon here that
these things are going to happen and then He tells Solomon what the people
should do in response
-- 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 I will hear from heaven, and
I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.
-- when drought and plague and
pestilence come -- when violence and war result from man’s sinful nature --
when immorality and disobedience to God’s laws are the norm -- then it is a
signal for God’s people to return to Him and to seek his face so that God might
hear our prayers and forgive our sins and heal our land
-- there are a few things here I
want you to see this morning
-- first, notice that the call to
return is to God’s people -- to those who are called by His name
-- revival and restoration of our
homes and our churches and our land begin with God’s people -- it doesn’t begin
in Atlanta -- it doesn’t begin in Washington -- it doesn’t begin in Hollywood
-- it begins when God’s people cry out to Him and seek His face
-- the Bible speaks of sacred
assemblies -- of times when God’s people would gather together to seek God’s
face and to repent of their sins and the sins of the nation and to ask for
forgiveness and healing and restoration
-- we need a sacred assembly in our
country again -- but it can start with just one heart -- with just one church
-- a couple of years ago, I told you
about a revival that began at Asbury College in Wilmore, Kentucky -- the
students there were having their regular morning chapel service -- but instead
of preaching, the leader that morning gave his testimony and encouraged the
students to come forward and talk about their own Christian experiences
-- one student came -- and then
another and another -- the entire altar filled up -- and students began to
confess their sins and offer forgiveness to others for wrongs that had been
done and offer their lives back to God
-- this wasn’t a normal chapel
service -- everyone could sense that -- everyone knew that God was truly there
-- the service was supposed to last
50 minutes -- instead, it went on non-stop for 185 hours -- 24 hours a day --
as students and faculty poured into the chapel and turned back to God with
their whole hearts
-- by that summer, the revival had
spread to more than 130 other colleges and seminaries and scores of churches --
there were reports of revivals occurring from New York to California and even
as far away as South America
-- and it all began with one person
giving his testimony and repenting of his sins
-- revival and restoration of this
nation can begin here -- with you and with me
-- notice what else God tells
Solomon here -- when the consequences of their sins and the nations sins are
seen, then God’s people -- those who are called by His name -- are to humble
themselves -- to pray -- to seek His face -- and to turn from their wicked ways
-- in order to bring about healing and restoration and revival
-- four things:
-- humble themselves -- to remember
there is a God and we are not Him -- to realize that we are not in charge --
that we are under God -- that we need Him for everything for He is our all in
all -- it is God who gives us the very breath that is in our bodies -- it is
God who gives us all that we are and all that we have -- to humble yourself
means that you take yourself off the throne, and put God back where He deserves
to be
-- to pray -- to pray bold prayers
of forgiveness and restoration -- to pray God’s presence and healing in our
lives and in our land -- this is more than just praying the Lord’s prayer once
a day -- more than just saying a blessing before a meal -- this is continually
prayer for God to move and act in our lives and in our nation -- this is a
prayer for God’s presence to come and fill us as He filled the temple in
Solomon’s day -- this is a prayer for God’s presence to permeate this land and
to restore the decay we have allowed to happen
-- to seek God’s face
-- you hear a lot about “seeker-friendly”
churches -- and, when you hear that, what they mean is churches that are
friendly to unbelievers who are searching for God -- who are feeling a call to
come to Jesus
-- but when the Bible speaks of
seeking God’s face, it does not mean the same thing -- over 90% of the
references to seeking God in the Bible are not directed towards unbelievers,
but believers -- the Bible constantly urges us to seek God’s face
-- to seek God’s face as we are told
here means that we draw our lives into alignment with God and His will and His
ways -- it literally means to seek God’s presence -- as John Piper wrote, to be
before the face of God is to be in His presence
-- to seek God’s face means we set
our hearts and our minds on Him constantly
-- you seek God with your mind: What you read -- the information you take in
-- your thoughts -- your meditations
-- you seek God with your heart and
soul: that means prayer, relationship,
time with God
-- you seek God with your
strength: that means obedience to God’s
holy commands; living in righteousness; holiness of life
-- and, finally, after we humbles
ourselves and pray and seek God’s face, we are told to turn from our wicked
ways so that God will hear us from heaven
-- to turn from our wicked ways
means we repent -- we turn around -- we begin following Him rather than
following the ways of the world
-- repentance always leads to
obedience to God’s commands -- there are only two ways to go in this world --
you can either go with God or you can go away from God -- repentance is a
choice to follow Him
-- and, if we do these four things,
God promises to hear us from heaven -- to forgive our sins and to heal our land
-- to bring revival and renewal and restoration to our homes and our churches
and our country
-- notice that God doesn’t promise
to send rain in a time of drought or to remove the locusts or the plagues -- we
still may suffer from the consequences of our sins and actions -- but He does
promise healing -- healing of hearts -- healing of minds -- healing of souls --
healing of the spiritual condition of the nation
-- we need a revival -- that word
literally means to come to life again -- we need restoration and healing in our
land -- we need God back on the throne in America again
-- and it all begins with us --
revival doesn’t begin on the steps of the capitol building -- it beings in our
hearts as we cry out to God and humble ourselves and pray and seek His face and
turn from our wicked ways -- as we do that, healing will begin and will spread
like a wildfire
-- it will go from person to person
-- from home to home -- from heart to heart -- until our church is revived and
the pews are filled again -- until our nation is revived and we have exalted
God in our land again
-- I truly believe God is calling us
today -- I truly believe we are not passed the PNR -- the point of no return --
I truly believe there is hope and healing for this church and this nation
-- but, it has to start somewhere --
and that somewhere is you -- and me
-- let’s pray
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