Last Saturday, my AT&T U-verse modem went out, which meant I have no TV, no internet, no home phone.
It's been that way now for almost a week.
Well, when it first went out, I called AT&T and I spoke with a technician.
It took a while, but I finally got a live person on.
And he walked me through several steps trying to fix it from wherever he was.
Well, he was very patient.
He was very positive as we went through this.
And by the grace of God, so was I.
But he finally came to the conclusion that my modem was dead.
It could not be repaired.
And so he said he would have to order a new one.
Now, as this technician went through his process, there were times when he had to pause because he was running a test.
He was sort of a personable person.
And so he made some small talk.
But he really, during these pauses, he really wanted to talk about the coronavirus.
He asked me about what it was like here.
I asked him about what it was like where he was.
He said in one of our little conversations, he said, I made a mistake last night.
I watched too much news about this.
And he said, I'm going to be honest with you.
I'm afraid.
I am afraid right now.
And so that was some of the things that we talked about over this nearly 30-minute time together.
When we came to the end, he was obviously bothered, concerned about life because of this coronavirus crisis.
And so I asked him, would you like for me to pray for you?
I'd like to pray for you.
He said, you'd like to pray for me?
And I said, yes, I would.
What's your name?
Well, he told me his name.
But before he said anything else, he told me his name.
And he said, would you also pray for my little girl?
Because I am very concerned about her.
I said, I would.
I said, could we pray right now?
He said, let me close my eyes.
So I prayed for him.
I prayed for his little girl.
When I got through with the prayer, I told him.
I called him by name.
I said, I don't know what your religious background is.
But I want to encourage you to put your faith and trust in Jesus Christ.
He is God's son.
And he's promised to take care of all who trust him now, our lives today, and forever.
I then asked him if he had a Bible.
He said, I don't, but my wife does.
My wife goes to church, but I know that I need to as well.
I said, well, I want to encourage you to get your wife's Bible and read the Gospel of John.
I told him where it was located in the New Testament.
And he said that he would.
Well, we were winding it up, and he said, I want to tell you something.
He said, I really didn't want to come to work today.
After all that that I listened to last night, I was just almost panicked.
I was very down.
He said, but you have helped me.
He said, I thank you so much for praying for me and talking with me because it has made a difference.
You have encouraged me.
Now, I was blown away by that.
But, you know, it tells me that God is using the coronavirus crisis to get people's attention all over the world.
This man that I was talking to is in a country in Central America.
And he's concerned.
And he was very open to me talking to him about Jesus, praying for him, even talking to him about reading the Gospel of John.
As I said in my newsletter column this week, and in the email that came out from me,
I don't know what God's purpose is for the coronavirus.
I do not know.
I'm not making any kind of pronouncements.
But, what if God is working through this?
It's his plan to get a lot of people's attention.
And to ultimately lead to a real spiritual awakening.
I think we ought to pray to that end.
I'll share more about that at the end of this service.
But this morning, I want us to think about, before a spiritual awakening can ever take place,
a revival's got to happen in the lives of God's people.
Some people use the phrase spiritual awakening and the word revival basically interchangeably.
They're talking about the same thing.
But most people who write on this subject, they make a distinction between the two.
They would call revival, say revival describes God's work of restoration and renewal among his people.
A revival is for Christians.
A revival is what Christians experience when God moves this way.
Spiritual awakening follows revival, but it touches the lives of many people in a community or a whole area.
In a spiritual awakening, many people will be saved.
But even those who don't become believers, they will know that a revival has taken place in the lives of God's people.
People that they see and know and interact with.
I have no doubt that this present crisis has caused many people to think about their relationship with God.
To do some self-examination.
Probably even to read the Bible when they haven't read it for a long time.
I am confident that it has caused many Christians to wake up.
And to realize that we have fallen far from being the holy people God has called us to be.
And to influence our community.
This morning, I want us to do more than just realize and talk about our spiritual poverty.
This morning, I want us to come back to God on his terms with the prayer that he will do a work of spiritual renewal and revival in us.
You know, one of the best descriptions of God's terms for revival is found in 2 Chronicles 7, verse 14.
Many of you are familiar with that verse.
I want us to study it this morning with the goal, with the prayer that God will work in us individually.
He will give us a true heartfelt desire and spiritual power to do exactly what he says in order to experience revival.
Let's read now 2 Chronicles 7, verse 14.
If my people who are called by my name humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways,
then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.
The first thing we need to understand is that this verse is addressed to God's people.
Look at it.
Let's look at the people who can experience revival.
He says, if my people who are called by my name.
It's very clear, isn't it, that this verse is addressed to God's people.
He actually calls them my people.
He emphasizes in the next phrase that they are my people who are called by my name.
Who are those people?
Who are God's people called by his name?
Well, in this verse, it refers to Jews living under King Solomon's reign.
In the Old Testament in general, Jews are the only people who are called,
and I quote from Deuteronomy 28, are called by the name of the Lord.
In the New Testament, only Christians are called this in Acts chapter 15,
a people for his name.
Here in 2 Chronicles 7, 14, this phrase, my people who are called by my name,
it includes all true believers.
It's addressed to you and me.
Let me be clear.
This verse is not addressed to the United States of America as a nation.
A lot of people have talked about it this way, but that's not correct.
Americans are not God's chosen people.
This verse is describing how God's people must respond to him in order to experience revival.
Now, if enough Christians and churches throughout our country do experience revival,
it will have a powerful effect on our entire country.
It will affect every community.
But this verse is not addressed to our country.
It's addressed to churches.
It's addressed to individual Christians like us.
Let's look now at the prerequisites for experiencing revival.
When you were in high school or college, I'm sure you discovered prerequisites.
There are probably some classes or at least one or two that you wanted to take,
but you found out you couldn't register for them.
You couldn't get in the class until you had the prerequisite.
Maybe you had to be a junior or a senior to get in the class.
Or maybe you had to have a certain GPA.
Maybe you had to take a certain number of courses before you could get in.
Well, if we want to experience revival, God says there are some requirements that we must fulfill first.
Let's look at it.
First, we must humble ourselves.
He says, if my people are called by my name, humble themselves.
That word translated humble originally means or refers to the bending of the knee
or the bending of the neck in subjection to another person.
God calls us, His people, to voluntarily subject ourselves to Him because He is God.
Because we know He is Almighty God, Holy God, and we have dishonored Him by the way that we have sinned against Him,
the way that we have ignored Him, the way that we've disobeyed or even rebelled against Him.
God calls us to be humble, to humble ourselves before Him,
which involves a brokenness, a brokenness over our sins.
It describes a heartfelt sorrow that we have genuinely because we have offended God.
If we're serious about experiencing revival or just personal spiritual renewal,
we've got to get serious about who we are before God.
He's God, we're not.
If we're going to experience revival personally in our church,
we've got to demonstrate genuine humility, brokenness, grief over our sin before God.
This will lead us to the next prerequisite for revival.
We must pray.
It says, if my people are called by my name, pray.
Now, the first way we must pray if we're going to draw close to God is to confess our sins.
God refuses to listen to you and me when we are holding on to some sin that He's convicted us of.
We cannot willfully, intentionally live in disobedience to God and expect Him to hear our prayers.
David, the man who is described as a man after God's own heart, he said this about this matter.
He said, if I had cherished iniquity in my heart, the Lord would not have listened.
We cannot hold on to our sin and expect God to hear us when we pray.
But what the good news is, if we are willing to confess our sins, if we are willing to pray this way,
God is ready and willing to forgive us, to cleanse us, give us a fresh start.
Look at what I hope is a very familiar verse of Scripture to you.
1 John 1.9, if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
Personal confession.
The first order of the day under this heading, we must pray.
But there's more to it here.
Old Testament scholar Walt Kaiser says that the Hebrew word for prayer here focuses on intercessory prayer.
Praying for others.
I want you to listen to how he emphasizes the importance of us praying for one another.
He says, mark it well.
Where intercession goes thin or ceases altogether,
There the saints and the churches drift into spiritual lethargy.
And the forces of evil have a field day in the culture.
It's important that we pray for one another.
It's important that we are true intercessors and not just confessors and certainly not just seekers.
What does it mean to pray like this?
Well, a pastor by the name of S.D. Gordon describes it like this.
True intercession takes the persons and places in the world where evil is assaulting the kingdom of God
and pleads that the strong hand of God might defeat evil.
It prays that the lost might see the glorious offer of grace given by our Lord Jesus
and that they might come to trust Him personally.
The intercession takes the persons and places in the world,
takes us to persons and places in the world where there's evil.
I want you to think about something.
Liberals in Washington, D.C.
who oppose God and the truth of His word
are some of the persons and places in this world
where evil is assaulting the kingdom of God.
Now, I'm not talking politics here.
Don't get excited about this being a liberal bashing time.
But here's what I want to point out.
Anyone who advocates, promotes killing babies in their mother's wombs,
they're evil people.
They're assaulting the kingdom of God,
which is another way of describing the rule of God,
even the word of God.
That replies to Republicans, Democrats, Independents, anyone else.
The killing of a sacred human life
at any time,
the murder of a sacred human life
is evil.
It's moral evil.
And we need to acknowledge that
and we need to oppose that
and we need to pray about that.
Let's think here.
What's our usual response
toward evil and evil people
who oppose God and the truth of His word?
Well,
a lot of times we just get angry, don't we?
We curse, we call names,
or we just seek political or legal solutions.
Now, how often do you really pray
that God would act to defeat evil,
to call sinners to repentance?
How often do you really pray
that God would so work
to advance His kingdom,
His rule,
His authority
in this world
as Jesus taught us to pray?
Let me be clear.
We should be angry about evil.
Wherever it's found,
we should be angry about evil
because God is.
There is nothing wrong
with seeking political and legal solutions
wherever we can.
That's one of the ways
in this country
we can fight against evil.
But,
God has given us
the weapon of prayer.
And we need to use this weapon
in this fight against evil.
And if we don't,
we're never going to defeat it.
It can't be defeated
just because we're angry,
just because we say things
that we really shouldn't say.
And it's never going to be defeated
in the courts
or in the legislature.
We need the power
of God's working through prayer
to stop evil.
That leads us to the next prerequisite.
We must seek God's face.
He says,
if my people who are called by my name
seek my face.
Now,
I hope you understand
that does not literally mean
we need to try to
conjure up
some kind of spirituality
where we actually have a vision
and see God's face.
God told Moses
that no one can see his face
and live
in Exodus chapter 33.
But to seek God's face,
what is being talked about here,
means to seek his presence,
his approval.
It means to
seek to be in his presence,
to enjoy him,
and to experience
the blessings that come
when we please God.
James describes how we do that.
It's in James chapter 4.
He says,
draw near to God
and he'll draw near to you.
Cleanse your hands,
you sinners,
and purify your hearts,
you double-minded.
Now,
think about that.
When we draw near to God,
he draws near to us.
But James points out
that experiencing
closeness to God
has conditions
similar to what we see
here in 2 Chronicles 7, 14.
We must cleanse our hands
and purify our hearts,
he says.
Unclean hands refer to
our sinful actions
against other people.
Impure heart describes
sinful motives
and desires.
If we are serious
about drawing near to God
and enjoying fellowship
with him,
we must get serious
about confessing our sins
in attitude,
in word,
as well as in actions.
Let's not forget
that drawing near to God
or seeking him
is something we can't do
half-heartedly.
What we're talking about
this morning
is not something
you just think,
this is a good idea,
I think I'll give it a try.
We're talking about
as God speaks
through his word
this morning,
there ought to be
a sense of conviction
that this is true,
that this speaks to me,
and I want to respond.
That's the desire
of my heart
to do what God's
calling me to do,
to obey him.
But I want you to look.
God makes it clear
that he will accept
no half-hearted effort.
From Jeremiah 29,
he says,
you will seek me
and find me
when you seek me
with all your heart.
In light of what
Jeremiah is saying,
will you seek God?
Will you find God?
Will you do it
with all your heart?
What James says
about cleansing our hands
and purifying our hearts
also involves
the same response
as God's last prerequisite
for revival.
Look at this,
we must turn
from our wicked ways.
Scripture says,
if my people
are called by my name,
turn from their wicked ways.
Now the phrase there,
wicked ways,
that's just a more
graphic way
of describing sin.
All sin is evil.
All sin is wicked
in the sight of God.
The word that best
describes the way
that we turn
from our evil ways
or wicked ways
is the word repent.
A very familiar word
if you're a Christian,
if you are a student
of the Bible.
But not really
all that familiar
to most people.
I want you to look
at how Wayne Grudem,
the theologian,
defines it.
I think he includes
the basic elements
that we need to think about
when it comes to understanding
what it means to repent.
Grudem says,
repentance
is a heartfelt sorrow
for sin,
a renouncing of it,
and a sincere commitment
to forsake it
and walk in obedience
to Christ.
If we truly repent
of our sins,
we will follow through
on everything found
in this verse,
2 Chronicles 7, 14.
If we truly repent,
we will turn away
from every sin
we have confessed
in prayer.
We will hate
every sin
that has dishonored God
and broken our fellowship
with Him.
We will,
if we truly repent,
not just turn from sin,
but we'll turn to God
in love,
in humility,
and obedience.
We'll want to know God better,
love Him more,
and faithfully serve Him,
please Him
in everything that we do.
And if we will turn to God
this way,
we will for sure
enjoy close
and personal fellowship
with Him.
I want to encourage you
to do that now.
Listen to the Lord
as He calls you,
speaks to you,
encourages you,
convicts you.
Do what He's telling you to do.
God blesses obedience.
As we see in the last part
of this verse,
the promise of revival.
There are two things
that God promises to do
when we meet His prerequisites
for revival.
It says at the last part of that,
then I will hear from heaven
and will forgive their sin
and heal their land.
God will forgive our sin
when we come to Him this way.
I want to encourage you.
Take God at His word.
You can be forgiven
of whatever you've done
against God.
No matter how terrible,
no matter how long ago,
no matter if it took place
30 minutes ago,
you can be forgiven
and have a fresh start
with God right now.
Look again at 1 John 1, 9.
If we confess our sins,
what does it say?
He is faithful and just
to forgive us our sins
and to cleanse us
from all unrighteousness.
You can draw close to God
and know
that He will draw close to you
because you've come clean
before Him.
Now the reason God
forgives this way,
the reason He can just forgive,
let it go,
and give us a fresh start
is because we are united
to Jesus by faith.
This 1 John 1, 9,
in fact, this entire message
is directed to believers
only.
If you are united
to Jesus Christ in faith,
God accepts you
because during His earthly life,
Jesus fully obeyed God's law.
Jesus fulfilled
all the requirements of the law.
He pleased God.
And through faith in Him,
God credits His faithful obedience
to us.
And then Jesus died on the cross
to pay the penalty
for our sin.
And He paid it in full.
One of the last things He said
was,
it is finished.
The penalty for our sin
has been paid in full.
When we trust Him,
when we are one with Him
in faith,
God counts His death to sin
as our death to sin.
That's why we can be forgiven.
If you don't know Christ
as your Lord and Savior,
I want to encourage you
to turn to Him now.
Admit your need
of Him
to save you.
Admit your sin
and repent of it.
Turn from it.
Put your trust in Jesus
as your Savior.
Surrender control
of your life to Him
as your Lord.
Call upon Him now
to save you
and He will.
There's a final phrase here.
God will heal our land.
That was a promise
to the people of Israel
that if they ever sinned
against God
and experienced
some kind of national disaster
and that did happen.
Famine, drought,
being taken away,
captured by other countries,
taken away,
into exile.
When those kind of things
happened,
Solomon was telling them
when he wrote
2 Chronicles 7-14,
if they would fulfill
these prerequisites,
God would rescue them.
If they obey,
God will forgive them
and heal their land.
We can apply this
by saying that
whenever we suffer
the effects of sin
as individuals,
as a church,
or as God's people
in general
in this country,
if we will do
what God says
in this verse,
He will bring
spiritual healing
to us
in the form
of revival.
It may
just be personal
for you.
If you'll be
faithful
in doing
what He's saying
to do
as a faithful
Christian
trusting in Jesus,
it may be
that you
experience revival.
If your family does,
it may be
a real revival
that takes place
in your home.
It may take place
in our church
if we all
will get serious
about obeying God.
And if God
really does
a work
of bringing
revival
and spiritual
awakening,
it'll affect
us
in this country
far and wide.
But it's all
going to begin
with Christians.
Us listening
to God
and obeying Him.
Walter Kaiser
explains why
it's so important
that we listen
to God,
obey Him,
and live a
holy and pure
life.
Look at what
He says.
God wants us
to be clean
persons,
channels through
which His blessings,
witness,
and interventions
in this sinful
world can flow.
I want to ask
you,
are you
spiritually,
morally,
and ethically
clean
before God?
God,
are you
such a
clean
person
before God
as Kaiser
says that God
can work
through you
right now?
If you are,
ask God
to use you
to make a
difference
in your home,
in your circles
of friends,
in this community,
wherever He wants
to use you.
Ask God.
Tell Him
you want to be
used.
You want to be
a difference
maker.
But if you're
not,
if you're not
clean before God
right now,
what needs
to happen?
Do you need
to humble
yourself before
God?
And maybe
before others.
If you've sinned
against other people,
you need to confess
your sin to them.
You need to humble
yourself before
them as well.
Do you need
to pray
right now
and confess
your sins?
And I'm
talking about
specifically
admitting to
God
this particular
sin,
that particular
sin.
Do you need
to seek God's
face
by drawing
close to Him?
And
right now,
do you need
to turn
away from,
stop,
hate,
some specific
sins
that God
has been
convicting you
of?
It may be
something no one
else knows about.
It may be
something that's
affecting you
and your
relationships
at home
or at work
or with friends.
You know what it is.
God's made it clear.
Obey Him.
Final thought.
Jesus concluded
His teaching
on one occasion
with words
that apply
to all we learn
from God's Word.
Look at what
Jesus said.
Now that you
know these things,
you will be
blessed
if you do them.
Think about it.
Now that we know
these things
from God's Word,
we will be
blessed
if we do them.
Let's pray
together.
Father,
help us
to see
clearly
how we need
to respond
to this message.
Help us
to truly
humble ourselves.
Help us
to confess
our sins.
Help us
to pray
specifically
Lord,
help us
to seek
You,
to draw
close to You,
to experience
Your loving
presence
and fellowship.
Help us,
Father,
to hate
all sin
and turn
from it.
Help us
to run
from temptation.
We know,
Father,
that You'll give us
the power
to always
turn away
help us
to take
it.
Lord,
we thank
You
for making
it clear
how we
can
come close
to You.
We thank
You,
Father,
for putting
Your Spirit
in us
as Christians
to enable
us to do
this.
I pray,
Father,
that You'll help
all of us
now respond
in obedience
and draw
near to You
and we
trust,
Father,
that You
will draw
near to
us.
In Jesus'
name we
pray,
Amen.
Thank you.