One of the greatest revivals in American history happened right here in Kentucky. Perhaps you’ve heard of the Cane Ridge Revival that took place not too far from here in Bourbon County in the early 1800’s. It has been described as the largest and most famous camp meeting of the Second Great Awakening. It was a large camp meeting held by ministers from various congregations including Presbyterians, Methodists, and Baptists. Most estimates indicate that between 10,000 – 20,000 people were in attendance. During the meetings, several ministers would preach at the same time at different locations throughout the camp area. This is often credited as being the setting for the birth of the Restoration Movement and the Independent Christian church we’re a part of today.
Today I want to talk with you about what I believe is our great need for a revival in our generation. I believe that America is a nation on the brink of judgment. Let's take a look at just a few of the signs of the times that lead me to feel that way...
ABORTION -- Since Roe vs. Wade decision in 1973, over 56 million babies have been murdered. That’s more than the total population of California, Nevada, Utah, and Arizona! We have sacrificed a generation of children on the altar of convenience and called it the “freedom of choice.”
SEXUAL IMMORALITY -- We’re now roughly 30 years into the sexual revolution that began in the 1960’s. (Adultery) The Kinsey Institute estimates that, during their married lives: 37 percent of American males will prove sexually unfaithful to their wives. 29 percent of American wives will commit adultery. (Pre-marital sex) These type of statistics are inexact, but most experts in the field agree that somewhere over 60 percent of American teenagers have had sexual intercourse by the time they finish high school. We've seen times like this before, church. Listen to the words from Paul's letter to the church at Rome. Romans 1: 24, “Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another.” (Homosexuality) In recent decades, we’ve seen homosexuality redefined. A growing number of people no longer consider it a sin to be repented of, but rather an alternative lifestyle to be embraced and accepted. Today, our Supreme Court is debating the idea of legalizing gay marriages. Again, church, we've seen an empire deal with this symptom of moral breakdown. Romans 1: 26 – 27, “Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones. In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed indecent acts with other men, and received within themselves the due penalty for their perversion.” I could go on and on delving into specific sins that plague our nation today.
Another phenomenon America is experiencing today is that we are materially rich, but spiritually destitute.We often don’t think of ourselves as wealthy. When I say “wealthy,” you probably picture the people that make a little more than you do. But, compared to the rest of the world, even many of our poor are considered wealthy. Most of us in this room don’t really know what it’s like to trust in God for our daily bread -- because we’ve got a roof over our heads, food in the fridge, and money in the bank. Now that’s good to be a wise steward of the resources God has blessed us with. But, if we’re not careful, we can begin to overly trust in material things instead of God. We claim we can’t afford to tithe to the Lord while we perpetuate a lifestyle that we’ve come to regard as normal in America. Our thoughts become preoccupied with how we can spend, consume, and accumulate rather than how we can serve the Lord
We've seen this problem before as well. This was the problem with the church at Laodicea. Revelation 3: 17, “You say, ‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing. But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind, and naked.” We not only become selfish with our money, but it also shows up in our time. We’ll give God an hour on Sunday, but don’t ask for anything more. One of the problems with having an abundance of provisions is that they can mask our need for God and daily dependence upon Him. Perhaps that’s what Jesus was talking about when He said… Matthew 19: 23, “… I tell you the truth, it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven.”
We are increasingly becoming a nation that is rejecting God. Last week, I shared with you about the rising number of people who profess no faith in God. Increasingly, we see a movement underway to remove our nation’s Christian heritage and moral foundation. It's as if the "one nation under God" that cried out to God for help in forging this nation through the American Revolution and looked to God for strength through two World Wars and the "Greatest Generation" of Americans," finally said to God, "Thanks, we've got it now. We can do it on our own." Not only do we seem ungrateful today, but we seem bent on removing all mention of God from the public arena. I don’t think that I really need to say a lot today to convince you that our nation is facing a serious moral crisis.
Some today even feel that we’re starting to see the beginning rumblings of God’s judgment upon America. Romans 1: 18, “The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness…”
Today, we not only continue in these sins without repenting, but we are now denying that they are even wrong to begin with. We approve and celebrate the very things that God calls sin. Romans 1: 32, “Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them.” Today, I ask how long we can reasonably expect a Holy God to tolerate such unrepented sin and evil.
I believe America is going to go one of two directions in the near future. Throughout the Bible, we see examples of nations who grew dark with sin that led to God’s righteous anger. In some cases, God brought His judgment – such as He did against Sodom and Gomorrah. But, in other cases, the people heeded a prophetic call to repent, humbled themselves before God, and cried out to Him, and God had mercy upon them and restored their land.
Option 1 – Stay on our current course and face the judgment of God upon our nation. Romans 2: 5, “… because of your stubbornness and your unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath against yourself for the day of God’s wrath, when His righteous judgment will be revealed.” Friends, we are naïve to assume that America will always be a world military and economic superpower. There’s already a huge shift taking place. Our economy is shrinking while that of nations like China continues to grow. We’re talking of downsizing our military while other countries are building theirs up. Don’t ever doubt that this nation – like the ancient Roman empire, could be brought to its knees and humbled by Almighty God in a heartbeat.
Option 2 – A revival of humility, repentance, and return to God. God gives us the recipe for revival in His Word. 2 Chronicles 7: 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.” Key elements: Humility, repentance, prayer, seeking His face. God prefers to withhold judgment upon a nation if there is a Godly minority in that nation that will plead for it. God has shown a willingness to spare a nation for the sake of a remnant of people who humble themselves, repent of their sins, and cry out to God. For the sake of a group of people who are burdened to cry out to God. For the sake of a group of people who are burdened to do whatever God leads them to do.
My question today is, “Do we really have that kind of burden?” You see, I’m growing more convinced that the problem in America isn’t so much about the power of the darkness as it is the weakness of the light (not God, but rather the light BEARERS, His church). Those who live in sin and darkness are doing just what you would expect those without the light of Jesus to be doing – sinning and seeking to please themselves at all costs. Why do we get upset when sinners sin? What do we expect them to do? They don’t have the truth of God, the cover of the blood of Christ or the Holy Spirit to guide them.
But God meant for His church to be a beacon of righteousness that stands and shines in contrast to the darkness all around us. The church is to be the salt of the earth and have a preserving influence on the community as we live and share the truth of God. But a big part of the problem in America is that the church has lost its zeal for righteousness and truth. We’ve lost our passion for lost souls! We’ve lost our sense of urgency for those whose eternity is in jeopardy if they don’t turn from their sins. We’ve lost our commitment to righteousness and purity that causes our light to shine brightly in dark times! Many times, we are guilty of looking so much like the world that those on the outside looking in can’t tell the difference! We need to feel an anguish for our own lack of righteousness. It is time for us to stop blaming Washington and blaming Hollywood, and start weeping for our own sins.
I want to share a video this morning that I was introduced to recently through a revival I attended in another church in our community. It’s taken from a sermon by David Wilkerson called, “A Call to Anguish” and I think it helps communicate the type of burden I’m talking to you about the church needing today. It convicted my heart greatly, and I wanted to share it today with my church family
Real, Holy Spirit-led revival is not something that can be manufactured. It can’t be orchestrated or produced by man. Revival comes at the sovereign, gracious decision of God to send a fresh movement of His Spirit among his people. I believe God is waiting for our hearts to be ready to receive it. He's not going to waste an annointing of the Spirit upon a people whose hearts are hardened and not ready or willing to receive it.
What can we learn from revivals in Biblical times and in history?
# 1 -- They seem to begin when the people are burdened by the distress of sin. As the video clip stated so powerfully, we’ve got PLENTY Christians today who shake their head and wonder what the world is coming to – they’re CONCERNED. But what we DON’T seem to have enough of are people who are genuinely ANGUISHED by the weight of sin and desperately crying out to God! Revival often begins with a small remnant of people who get serious about yielding themselves completely to God.
Who will cry out to God and be burdened for our town, our state, our nation? Isaiah 59: 15 - 16, “… The Lord looked and was displeased that there was no justice. He saw that there was no one, He was appalled that there was no one to intervene…” Perhaps God’s Spirit is speaking to one person today who will say, “Let it begin in me!” Throughout Biblical times, nations fell because no one rose out of the crowd to stand in the gap. Ezekiel 22: 30, “I looked for someone among them who would build up the wall and stand before me in the gap on behalf of the land so I would not have to destroy it, but I found no one.”
# 2 – This remnant of Godly people lead a movement whereby we humble ourselves before God. Zephaniah 2: 3, “Seek the LORD, all you humble of the land, you who do what he commands. Seek righteousness, seek humility; perhaps you will be sheltered on the day of the LORD’s anger.”
What humbling ourselves before God looks like... Friends, revival cannot come until we humble ourselves before God and admit that we are not all we could be or should be. Revival cannot come until we want God more than we want the pleasures of the world. Revival cannot come until we return God to His rightful place on the throne of our heart and our # 1 priority! Revival cannot come until Sunday again becomes the LORD’S DAY -- until being in the Lord’s house becomes more pressing and urgent than sports games, recreation, leisure, or other worldly pursuits that compete for our time and devotion! Revival cannot come until we are convinced to drop the charade of “having it all together” and fall to our knees in repentance – not caring what anyone other than a Holy God thinks about us! Revival cannot come until we seek the forgiveness of those we have wronged and offer grace to those who have wronged us! Revival cannot come until we reignite a passion for God’s Word and feed our spirit as much as we feed our bodies! Revival cannot come until we reconnect with God through Spirit-led and directed prayer! Revival cannot come until we become passionate about worshipping the risen Lord in spirit and in truth – again, not caring what anyone but a Holy God thinks about it!
God will not send the fire of revival until His people humble themselves before Him. God chooses only to fill empty vessels. He cannot fill us with His Spirit if we are already full of themselves.
