THE HEART-CRY FOR REVIVAL
#081 THE HEART-CRY FOR REVIVAL
Scripture II Chronicles 7:11-18 NIV Orig. 9-27-64
Rewr. 3-17-77
Passage: 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 I will hear from heaven, and I 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.
17 “As for you, if you walk before me faithfully as David your father did, and do all I command, and observe my decrees and laws, 18 I will establish your royal throne, as I covenanted with David your father when I said, ‘You shall never fail to have a successor to rule over Israel.’”
Introduction
Over the past few years there has been a major thrust by some groups to maintain a proper balance of “truth in advertising.” This came about as a result of some advertising methods that were questionable if not downright misleading. Labels now must declare what is in a product, nothing more and nothing less. Advertising techniques must be true to the capabilities of whatever is being advertised. If not, the advertiser can be held liable.
Now, a new problem has arisen. The Madison Avenue boys in blue, or in blue jeans, whatever they are wearing now, have in their brazenness sunk to an all-time low. The admen and their clients are getting on the religious bandwagon. Someone suggested that “God is right up there with O.J. Simpson and Don Rickles.” The most disgusting to me is the ‘Jesus jeans’ ad. It depicted the rear view of a woman clad in a pair of these jeans, and across her rear was written a Bible quotation in Italian. Translated it read, “He who loves me follows me.”
A few months back, metropolitan newspapers in some parts of the country carried an ad introducing a new brand of whiskey called “King James Scotch Whiskey.” Before you get ready to argue their case, saying, “Why defend James when Robert would not offend us? Maybe it was not chosen for that reason,” know that on each side of the bottle appeared the phrase, “The King James version.” “Blue Nun Wine” asks their clientele ‘to try something a little sacrilegious.’
Playboy ran a full page newspaper ad picturing a priest reading their magazine. The lead line in the ad states, “I read Playboy and found God.” Even an old-line company like General Motors has gotten in on the act. An ad in Time magazine shows a group of nuns in traditional dress, with one of them saying, “The steering committee at the convent voted 5 to 0 in favor of tilt wheel. It’s been a blessing.”
For most of us, this is offensive. We ought to be stirred to express our opinions to the offending companies, their ad personnel, and also the newspapers and magazines carrying ads. My point this morning, however, is that the Christian community has just as much responsibility to advertise what it can produce and nothing more. We are advertising ‘revival’ and it is up to us to produce it.
I. The Heart Cry of Revival is Heard Because Of Who We Are. “If my people,” says the Scripture. The pagan world has always found its understanding of divine appeasement in biological reproduction. The happiness of the gods was seen in the success of human sexuality and agricultural abundance. I am presently reading James Michener’s The Source. It is an historical novel describing the level-by-level accumulation of history at a site called Makor. While Michener’s purpose is not spiritual, he has authenticated his facts. His view of the pre-Abramic Canaanites describes, with some taste and decorum, their appeasement of the gods through infant sacrifice, and sexual fertility rites.
Spiritually we owe a great debt to the culture and the evolution of the Hebrew people through whom God revealed Himself. They were the ones who taught us the open-heartedness of God for His creation. Exodus 6:7 “I will take you to me for a people, and I will be to you a God. Deuteronomy 32:9 “The Lord’s portion is His people.” Psalms 125:2 “As the mountains are round about Jerusalem, so the Lord is round about His people from henceforth forever.
The people of ancient Crete honored a statue of Jove which had no ears. They could not believe that any god would concern himself with the idle chatter of people such as they.
Through these Hebrews the discovery came of a faith relationship that was negotiable. I Samuel 15:22 (200-300 years after Moses), “Hath the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord?” Psalms 51:16, “Thou delightest not in burnt offerings.” Isaiah 1:18, “Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.” II Chronicles 7:17, “And as for thee, if thou wilt walk before me, as David thy father walked, and do according to all that I have commanded thee, and shalt observe my statutes and my judgments.” Recall also the experience out of the life of David (II Samuel 12) when Nathan comes to congratulate David at Solomon’s birth, and named Solomon “Jedediah,” beloved of the Lord.
Let it be finally understood that we are the people of God. We are duty bound to proclaim it so. Our responsibility is even greater in a world where faith and belief, and even a concept of God, are treated so shabbily. Four or five years ago a movie titled McCabe and Mrs. Miller hit the cinemas across America. The reviews gave ample evidence of what it contained. Some of you let your children see it. It contained every kind of immoral perversion that its “R” rating would allow. It took place in a little town called Presbyterian Church. The church was no more than incidental in the life and morality of the town. But, when the church caught on fire and was burning, it was those same people who were quickly on the scene saving the church. The message left with the viewer was of the utter irrelevancy of the church.
That is not unlike the cartoon carried on the editorial page of the Times-Picayune this week. It had been picked up from a San Francisco paper. A group of sour looking people were advancing on the porno shop with fire bombs. The next sequence shows the shop in ashes, but behind the shop the public library was also in ashes. You will never convince me that such as that is anything less than satanic intimidation.
Now hear me well brethren, we will never counteract contemporary, flagrant violations of spiritual trust, giving God, whose people we are, an hour of our time on Sunday morning. Let me suggest some ways that help determine whose people we are: Whose people, when on a given Sunday, 75% of adult membership absent themselves from Bible study; whose, when on a Sunday evening 80-90% regularly ignore discipleship opportunity; whose, when on Wednesday night 95% reject an opportunity for intercessory prayer; whose, when maybe no more than 2-3% spend any time taking to others about their Lord, their church?
II. The Heart Cry of Revival is Heard Because Of Where We Are. The One who says, “If my people” says also “will humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face.”
What “if my people” means: That God has promised renewal; that Christians have the right and obligation to claim it. There are proper procedures to enhance it—humble ourselves, pray, seek His face, turn away from wickedness.
Consider first the need for humility. The first man after Adam to need revival was his son Cain. Genesis 4 tells the story. He knew to bring an offering to the Lord. Arriving at the altar, however, he, in effect said, “I will offer what offering I please and you can like it or lump it.” That may sound familiar.
Consider also the need for prayer. Acts 2:42 “And they continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers.” Acts 2:46 “And they, continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart.” Acts 3:1 “Peter and John went up to the temple at the hour of prayer.” 3:6 “Silver and gold have I none, but such as I have I give thee: In the Name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk.”
Only after humility and prayer can we seek God’s face. Psalms 24: “Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord? Or who shall stand in his holy place? He that hath clean hands and a pure heart.”
***THE REMAINDER OF THIS SERMON HAS BEEN LOST***