II Chronicles 7:14
The average age of the great civilizations in history have been two hundred years. That being true, that means that America is living on borrowed time, and that I do believe to be true. America is a sin sick nation. Since 1960 there has been: - A 560% increase in violent crime - More than a 400% increase in illegitmate births - A quadrupling in divorces - A tripling of the percentage of children living in single parent homes - More than a 200% increase in the teenage suicide rate - A drop of 75 points in the average SAT scores of high school students.
Today, 30% of all births and 68% of black births are illegitimate. Even though the United States has only six percent of the world’s population, we have 80% of the divorces. We lead the industrialized world in murder, rape, and violent crime. Eighty percent of all of the whiskey consumed in the world is consumed by Americans.
We have become a nation where the criminal is upheld, the victim is harassed, and where evil is called good, and good is called evil. We have become a nation where the life of the snail darter has become more valued than the baby in the womb. We have said, loudly and clearly, by the people we have placed in the highest offices of our nation, “Our character doesn’t matter, why should yours?”
We are a nation that is marked by moral regression, sexual revolution, and spiritual rebellion. I predict that before America is conquered from without, she is going to corrode from within. America will not die by homicide, she’s going to die by suicide. We will not ultimately be destroyed by what someone else will do to us, but what we do to ourselves.
Hear me, and hear me well. America’s biggest problem is not inflation, interest rates, budget deficits, or even crime or even the terrorists Her biggest problem is sin.
America’s greatest enemy is not Iraq, Iran, North Korea, Cuba, nor Russia. America’s greatest enemy is herself.
America’s biggest threat is not nuclear proliferation, terrorism, communism, or humanism. America’s biggest threat is God.
America’s only hope is not in better government, new political leadership, balanced budgets, nuclear missiles, or dollar bills. America’s only hope is revival.
I want you to see in one of the most powerful verses in all of the Bible, God’s spiritual tonic for a sick nation.
Charles G. Finney, the greatest revival preacher in American history, said, “All ministers should be revival ministers, and all preaching should be revival preaching.” Even if we get osama bin laden and win the war we still have a problem it is sin and we need revival.
I. The PERSON Desiring Revival… God has a desire to see us have revival This verse is a specific prescription to a special people. “If My people, who are called by My name.”
A. THE PEOPLE ….. I have already said that our only hope of survival is revival. But having said that, I want to now say that revival must begin with the people of God, because that is where the judgment of God will begin. (I Peter 4:17) For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God? But the church is not depending on America to get right. America is depending on the church to get right.
B. THE PROBLEM…. You see, our biggest problem is that we have more of the world in the church than we have of the church in the world. I would much rather look for the church and find it in the world, than to look for the world and find it in the church. Jesus didn’t pray that the Father would take the church out of the world, but that He would take the world out of the church. It’s not pagan America that needs revival. It’s not the baby-killing abortionist that needs revival. It’s not the liquor-selling bartender that needs revival. It’s not the loose-living prostitute that needs revival. It is the lazy, lifeless, lukewarm church that needs revival. “If My people, who are called by My name.”
I. The PERSON Desiring Revival
II. The PRIDELESS Direction of Revival God’s people who desire revival are to “humble themselves.” The word humble literally means “to bend the knee.” Humility is the one essential ingredient of revival. You see, the reason why we don’t have revival in America is because we haven’t gotten low enough. (Psa. 34:18) The LORD is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit.
In Proverbs 6 we are told of seven things that God hates. The very first thing is “a proud look.” You see, the reason why we don’t have more faith in God in America is because there is not more fear of God in America.
We reek with pride, and the stench of our self-sufficiency is a nauseating odor to the nostrils of God.
We are too good to hang The Ten Commandments on the walls of our state houses. We are too wise to hang The Ten Commandments on the halls of our schoolhouses. We are too just to hang The Ten Commandments on the walls of our courthouses.
Pride leads to disregarding, dismissing, and disobeying the word of God. Listen to what Paul said in I Timothy 6:3-4 If any man teach otherwise, and consent not to wholesome words, even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to the doctrine which is according to godliness; He is proud, knowing nothing, but doting about questions and strifes of words, whereof cometh envy, strife, railings, evil surmisings, It is because of pride that we can’t get along and we have fights and arguments. Solomon said in Proverbs 13:10, “By pride comes only contention.” It was pride that got Adam and Eve kicked out of the garden of Eden. It was pride that got Satan kicked out of heaven. Because pride is that attitude that says, “We don’t need God.” I was reading about Muhammad Ali. He got on an airplane not too long ago and was standing up in the aisle, talking and laughing and entertaining the passengers. Finally, the stewardess came back to him and said, “Mr. Ali, you’ll have to take a seat and fasten your seat belt because the plane is about to take off.” Well, Mohammed Ali looked at her with a snarl, and said, “Honey, superman don’t need no seat belt.” She looked at him and said, “Yeah, and superman don’t need no airplane either. Now sit down and buckle up.” Well, pride says, “We don’t need God.” Humility says, “I don’t need anything but God. I remind you that God sends no one away empty except those who are full of themselves.
I. The person Desiring Revival
II. The prideless Direction for Revival
III. The plain Demands for revival The next step for God’s people is to “pray.” Prayer is the Christian’s hot line to heaven, and it is so tragic that we don’t use it more than we do. It is pride that causes us to be prayerless, because the man who does not pray is the man who says, “I can do just fine without God. I don’t need to call on Him, He needs to call on me.”
We think that revival comes more from organizing than it does from agonizing. . Leonard Ravenhill has well said, “The church is dying on its feet because it’s not living on its knees.” Now you can pray without having revival, but you cannot have revival without praying. As we pray, we ought to “seek His face.” The word seek there literally means “to search out, to look for with intensity.” So much of our praying is antiseptic, formal, repetitious, long-winded. MATT 6:5-7 And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. 6 But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly. 7 But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking. (NOTICE)
A. THE PRETENSE THAT WE ARE TO SHUN WHEN WE PRAY ! V 5
B. THE PRIVACY THAT WE ARE TO SEEK WHEN WE PRAY ! V 6
C. THE PETITIONS THAT WE ARE TO SPEAK WHEN WE PRAY ! V 7 Notice we are to “seek His face.” We are looking for solutions to our problems when we ought to be looking to God. And pray!
We say we need to stop teenage pregnancy. So what is our solution? - hand out condoms and open abortion clinics. NO IT IS PRAYER
We say we need to balance the budget. So what is our solution? - raise taxes. NO IT IS PRAYER
We say we need to reform health care. So what is our solution? - let the government take over one-seventh of our economy in socialized medicine. NO IT IS PRAYER We say we need to stop Aids. So what is our solution? - practice “safe” sex. NO IT IS PRAYER Our problem is, we are living in a nation that’s more interested in gold than it is in God, more interested in riches than it is in righteousness, more interested in health than it is in holiness, more interested in prosperity than it is in purity.
I. The PERSON Desiring Revival
II. The PRIDELESS Directions for Revival
III. The PLAIN Demands for revival
IV. The Purity That Demonstrates Revival Prayer alone does not move the heart of a holy God. It must be sincere prayer that flows from a broken heart over sin. It is not enough for God’s people to “humble themselves and pray and to seek God’s face.” They must also “turn from their wicked ways.” Listen carefully, prayer without repentance is a waste of time. Psalm 66:18 says, “If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear.” A recent Gallup Poll said that nine out of ten Americans pray every day. That sounds good, but I’m afraid much of our prayers are more like rubber balls that bounce off concrete than bullets that pierce through velvet. Listen to Isaiah 59:1-2: Behold, the LORD’S hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear: 2 But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear. The only obstacle to revival is sin:
A.unconfessed,
B.unjudged,
C.unforgiven sin. Likewise, there is only one solution to sin. It is not remorse, regret, or recommitment. It is repentance.
I. The PERSON Desiring Revival
II. The PRIDELESS Directions for Revival
III. The PLAIN Demands for revival
IV. The Purity That Demonstrates Revival
V. The Promise That Delivers Revival “Then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin, and heal their land.” Now there you have God’s definition of revival. Revival is when God hears and God heals. We have two choices. We face two prospects. Either God hears and God heals, or God confronts and God condemns. I want to give you some wonderful news. God is far more ready to send revival than we are to receive it.
A. First we are promised God’s favor. “Then will I hear from heaven.” The word hear means “to listen to a point where you are moved to action.” When God hears, God heeds.
B. Then we are promised God’s fruitfulness. “And I will heal their land.” The word heal is the Hebrew word “Rapha.” That’s a good word to end on because we are sick, and in need of a healing that only the Great Physician can give. Woodrow Wilson’s last words to the America people were these: “Our civilization cannot survive materially unless it is redeemed spiritually.” Nobody could have put it better than William Bennett who said, “Material gains will not be enough here. If we achieve full employment, and greater economic growth–if we have city of gold and alabaster–but our children have not learned how to walk in goodness, justice, and mercy, then the American experiment, no matter how gilded, will have failed.” We’ve been given a spiritual tonic for a sick nation. It will make sick Christians well, and weak churches strong. If this sick nation, called The United States of America, is not admitted into “The Intensive Care Unit of Heaven” and operated on by The Great Physician, this nation will die. But it doesn’t have to because “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 forgive their sin and heal their land.”
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