Why revival tarries — humility, prayer, and repentance

From a sermon · 2 Chronicles 7:12–22

Before we start, three questions. Did you come to church to leave different than you came? Are you willing to change your life if God asks you to? Are you committed to changing your thinking and your actions to be more like Jesus? If you said yes, I hope you mean it. If you said no — why are you here?

"If my people, who bear my name, humble themselves, pray and seek my face, and turn from their evil ways, then I will hear from heaven, forgive their sin, and heal their land." (2 Chronicles 7:14)

Who it's for

Solomon has just finished the temple. God appears to him and says He'll dwell there — and that if the people forsake Him, He'll send drought and plague, but if they humble themselves, pray, seek His face, and turn from their sin, He'll forgive and heal.

This is a promise to Solomon and to Israel: "my people." It is not, in any way, about the United States. America has never been and will never be God's people the way Israel is. I say that up front because the verse gets quoted at our country every election year, and the point gets lost. There is application for us — but it's to the church, not the nation. What we find here is God's equation for revival: humility, prayer, repentance. Why don't we see revival in our church, our area, our country? Because one or more of those is missing.

And the word "revival" is a little misleading. It isn't so much that we need to be made alive as that we need to die to some things. "I have been crucified with Christ." "I die daily." "Take up your cross and follow me." Revival is the Spirit of God alive in us — and us dead.

Humility — death to pride

We're a proud people. Our nation has become proud of things it should be ashamed of. We live above most of the world and look down from our houses, our credit cards, our overflowing grocery stores and our two-car driveways, and we hope some politician will fix the problems so we don't have to get our hands dirty. Oh, for the arrogance of America to be humbled.

But wait — this passage isn't to America. It's to God's people. Do we not struggle with pride? Doesn't every sin we commit root in it? Don't we — redeemed from hell by Jesus' merit and none of our own — boast in being the "right kind" of Christians because of how we dress, which Bible we carry, how many services we attend, our traditions? Don't we look down on brothers and sisters who aren't as "conservative" as we are? "Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord" (James 4:10). Among the things the Lord hates: "arrogant eyes" (Proverbs 6:17). Why does revival tarry? Because we lack humility. Give death to pride and life to humility.

Prayer — death to my will

Prayer has become a punchline in our country. "Thoughts and prayers" is a phrase of condolence, not action. But — this passage isn't to America. It's to God's people. So what place does prayer have in your life? If we're honest, plenty of powerful, godless people prayed as much as some of us did this week. Millions of people in false religions prayed to gods that don't exist more than we prayed to the God who does. We have a God who commands us to pray, wants us to pray, hears us when we pray, and moves when we pray — and we don't.

The early church had two things: the Holy Spirit and prayer. They didn't have a Bible on every phone — that kind of access is very new. They didn't have three services a week. And they were the ones dying for their faith. Why? Because they were people of prayer who really believed in the God they served.

There has never been a man greatly used by God who was not a man of prayer. Enoch prayed and was taken to heaven. Abraham prayed and was called the friend of God. Jacob prayed and became Israel. Moses prayed and Israel was spared. David prayed and killed a giant. Solomon prayed and became the wisest man alive. Elijah prayed and the rain stopped, and prayed again and it fell. Jonah prayed and a whole city repented. John prayed and received Revelation. Paul prayed and wrote most of the New Testament. Peter prayed and preached at Pentecost. Jesus prayed and overcame the devil, healed thousands, fed thousands, and found the strength to carry our sin to the cross. God moves when men pray.

Prayer is the greatest weapon we have. The greatest thing you can do for your family, your church, and your country is pray. More has been done in the prayer closets of a few faithful Christians than on any battlefield. Many would give their lives for this country. Why are so few willing to pray the price? The great awakenings weren't started by outreach programs or Bible studies. They were started by prayer.

Repentance — death to sin

We live in a wicked culture — you don't need me to list it. Read Romans 1; it describes us. In a real sense, God's judgment has already come: "God gave them over to a reprobate mind" (Romans 1:28). The worst punishment God gives is to let us have our way.

But — this passage isn't to America. It's to God's people. Leonard Ravenhill said it: "We appease sin — but do not oppose it... Let us stop looking for scapegoats. The fault in declining morality is not radio or television. The whole blame for the present degeneration and corruption lies at the door of the Church."

So where's the repentance in the church? When did you last forsake a sin — not confess it and pick it back up, but forsake it? "If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves... If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins" (1 John 1:8–9). Do we even look for the sin in ourselves anymore?

Here's a picture. Take a pile of manure and spray it with body spray. Then cologne. It's still manure. We come to God with our sin and spray it with church attendance, dress standards, the right Bible, the right label — and it still stinks. God is more concerned about the sin in the room on Sunday than about what the world does on Saturday. It shouldn't surprise us that worldly people act worldly. Some of the most wicked people in the Bible were the religious ones. And here's what I've noticed: it's easier to deal with new Christians than old ones. A new Christian quickly recognizes that adultery, drunkenness, and drugs are wrong. An old Christian splits hairs — "it's not gossip if it's true" — and goes years quenching the Holy Spirit. God is more concerned with the pride, the gossip, the bitterness, the subtle digs on social media, the things watched when nobody's around, than He is with the world. Where's the identification, confession, and repentance of sin in our lives?

What we must do

Our nation's decline is on us, not on the world. Do you want to see God move? Then humble yourselves. Pray fervently. Repent and forsake your sin. That's always been the answer, and it still is.

One more thing before you close this

All that talk about cologne and manure had somebody nodding along about other people. So let's be plain. If you've never been saved, church attendance won't cover it, and neither will being a decent person in a bad country. God isn't grading on a curve. But He sent His Son to take what you had coming, and Jesus died and came back out of that tomb, and right now He saves anyone who stops spraying and starts asking. Ask Him. It takes less time than it took to read this paragraph.

Believer, here's the specific thing for this week. Don't pray about revival in general. General prayers keep us comfortable. Get alone with a piece of paper and write down what God has been putting His finger on. The gossip. The pride. The subtle digs online. The thing you watch when nobody's around. Name it, confess it, forsake it, and then burn the paper, because it's under the blood and it's gone.

Three deaths, and the first one is yours.

Related: 1 John 1 — walking in the light and our vision for a church in Big Rapids.