America's Last Hope: Revival

You know, in this past week, I was reading an article in USA Today about religion in American public life and policy. And in this article, there was a quote from Dr. Molly Worthen, who is a history professor at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill. And here's what she said. She said, and I quote, look at Western Europe sooner or later. That's where we are headed, end of quote. And so just where is Western Europe when it comes to religion in public life and policy? Well, I'd like to quote from former French President Valerie Gistard d'Estaing. He said this, and I quote, Europeans live in a purely secular political system where religion does not play any important role, end of quote. And what with the Supreme Court decision of this past week, the frightening reality is I think Dr. Worthen is right.

I think we are headed for where Europe is, where religion, particularly Christianity, plays no part whatsoever in public policy or public life. I think she's right unless, oh, what a great word that is. She's right unless God steps in.

She's right unless God brings revival to America. And this is what I want to talk to you about. This is what I want to talk to you about as we approach July 4th, 2015. You say, well, Lon, isn't this what you talked to us about July 4th, 2014? Yes.

And I also talked to you about it July 4th, 2013. And, folks, I'm going to keep on talking to you about it, and I'm going to keep on praying for it, and I'm going to keep on challenging us to pray for it and to hang on to God for revival because, my fellow Americans, it is the only hope we have left. There are no other hopes left.

So are you ready? Here we go. What exactly is a revival? The con I'm talking about.

The con I want you to pray for. Well, a revival is a powerful moving of the Holy Spirit that overwhelms entire churches, entire colleges, entire cities, and even entire nations and turns them back to God. A revival is a supernatural event.

It is not the result of human planning or the result of human programming or the result of human organizing, but it is the result of God's sovereign will. In his book, In the Day of Thy Power, Arthur Wallace said, and I quote, revival is divine intervention into the normal course of things. It is God revealing himself in awful holiness and irresistible power.

He went on to say, in revival, the church is awakened. Man, how we need that. In revival, carnality and worldliness are slain. Man, how we need that.

In revival, the lukewarm are made hot. Praise the Lord. How we need that. In revival, the people of God begin to purify themselves. How we need that. And in revival, every segment of society is affected.

How we need that. End of quote. That's a revival. A true revival is not the same as the normal everyday work of the church. A true revival is not just leading people to Christ and discipling them. A true revival is a spiritual tsunami, leaving in its wake a righteous transformation of society that lasts for decade after decade after decade.

Now let me make sure we also know what a revival isn't. You know in the past, America has had slavery. In the past, America has had segregation. In the past, women have had no vote in America. In the past, Jewish people couldn't live in certain neighborhoods in America and couldn't join certain country clubs in America. In the past, America had Watergate and America has had awful cases of corruption. And in the past, we've had unwarranted persecution of Japanese Americans during World War II and horrible treatment of Native Americans at times in our history.

Listen to me. Revival does not mean God taking American society back to some romanticized past that never really existed. No, revival means God taking American society forward to a righteous future. A future where America truly cares for the poor and the widow and the orphan and the fatherless. A future where America rises above the racism in this country and swears it off once and for all. A future where we care about the immigrant and the stranger and the alien the way the Bible tells us to do. A future where the churches in America are filled to the brim every week with people clamoring to get in to hear the Word of God and to worship the living God.

And in those churches, the people standing in the pulpit are preaching the true Word of God, the unadulterated Word of God, the unwatered-down Word of God, the uncompromised Word of God. The revival I'm talking about is a revival where God takes us to a future where we once again respect what the Bible says is right and what the Bible says is wrong. And a future finally where we don't mistake sin for freedom and where we don't mistake tolerance for righteousness.

Amen. This is the kind of revival that we need in America. This is the kind of revival I want to see God bring to America. A spiritual revival that changes our nation spiritually to such a degree that the human accoutrements of our society are forced to follow behind because the change has been so dramatic and so all-reaching in this nation. And you know, we've had a revival like that in the past in this country.

Yeah, we call it the Great Awakening. It began in 1739 when George Whitefield arrived from England and began for the next 30 years until he died in 1770. He began riding around on horseback and preaching in the open air up and down the 13 colonies. In those 30 years, according to his biographer, George Whitefield rode over 250,000 miles on horseback, preached over 18,000 sermons. He would come to a field or he would come to a town and he would take out a little traveling pulpit that he took with him on his horse and he would stand up and begin to preach to the people of that town or preach to the farmers as the word spread and they all gathered to hear him. And what would Whitefield preach? He would preach the new birth. He would preach conversion. He would preach being born again. He would preach knowing Christ in a personal way. He would preach repentance from sin and turning to Christ and tens upon tens of thousands of colonists came to Christ. All of America, all of American society was changed. Benjamin Franklin, who was a good friend of Whitefield, although he and he never came to Christ as far as we know, even though Whitefield shared the gospel with him many times. Speaking of his home in Philadelphia, Franklin said, and I quote, It was wonderful to see the change soon made in the manner of our inhabitants.

He said, from being thoughtless or indifferent about religion, it seemed as if the whole world were growing religious so that listen, what Franklin says, one could not walk through the town in the evening without hearing Psalms being sung in different families along the way. Wow. How'd you like that in your neighborhood?

Huh? How'd you like to go out for a walk in the cool of the evening one night? And as you're walking down the block and the windows are open, then you hear hymns being sung out the windows. You hear people praising Christ out of the windows. You hear Bible studies going on, the sound of them coming out of the windows. You hear the sound of people on their knees praying, coming out of the windows. What would that be like in your neighborhood? I'm telling you, it would be almost beyond comprehension in my neighborhood.

But wouldn't that be wonderful? Huh? That's what Franklin said happened in Philadelphia. Man, that's a revival. And as William Dallimore, the great historian, said, the Great Awakening exerted a force which left the colonies altered forever. Listen to what he said.

The civil rights demonstrations, campus disturbances and urban riots of the 60s all put together did not make the impact on our national life that the Great Awakening did. End of quote. Now that's the kind of revival I want to see. Amen?

That's what we want. But you know, in order for that to happen, we have to play a part, you and me, as followers of Christ. Now, if you're here today and you're not a follower of Christ, let me just say to you, we got something for you, too. We've got some folks down front right after we're done who would love to talk to you about what it means to become a follower of Christ. What it means to know for sure that you're going to heaven when you die. What it means to know that you're born again. What it means to know that your sins are forgiven. You come down and these folks will be happy to help you so that you know all of that when you walk out of here today. But for those of us who are here that are followers of Christ, and the majority of us are, we've got a part to play in revival coming to America. You see, yes, it is a supernatural event, but we have to prepare the soil because if the soil is not properly prepared, God is not going to send a revival.

And how do we prepare that soil? Well, there are three things that we have to do, and they all are in the same verse in the Bible. And this is a very familiar verse in the Bible. So when I read it, there's going to be a tendency on your part to go, I've heard that verse before. Minimize it. I already heard that verse. Okay, while he reads it, why don't we have him for lunch?

Did I leave the iron on? Don't do that. Don't do that. This is the Word of God. I don't care if you've heard the verse a thousand times. This is the Word of God. Pay attention.

Second Chronicles 7 14. If my people who are called by my name, who's that, folks? Yeah, yeah. Whatever's coming next is not for the people of Washington who were standing in front of the Supreme Court the other day rejoicing. Whatever's coming next is not for the people who made the change, are sitting on the Supreme Court. Whatever comes next is not for the people in our town using drugs, or the prostitutes in our town, or the people in our town who are doing whatever they... It's not for them.

This is us, right? Everybody understand that? All right, so listen up. If my people who are called by my name will, number one, humble themselves, and number two, pray and seek my face, and number three, turn from their wicked ways then. Oh boy, do I love that word. Then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin, and I will heal their land.

What are the three things we have to do to prepare the soil before revival has a chance to fall? Number one, if my people who are called by my name will what? What's the word? Humble themselves.

That's right. Friends, God will not send revival on arrogant soil. Broken hearts over sin is where revival always starts. God said in Joel chapter 2, Therefore says the Lord, Turn to me with all your heart, with fasting, and weeping, and mourning, and tear your hearts, not your clothes. This is language of brokenness over sin and humility before the Lord. Psalm 51 verse 17, David said, The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit over our sinfulness and over how we've let the Lord down, a broken and a contrite heart. Oh God, you will not... What's the next word?

Despise. Now, when I read that, you know what occurs to me? If a broken and a contrite heart God will not despise, then there's got to be some other kind of heart that God does despise. That makes sense to you?

So what kind of hearts are we talking about here? Well, the answer is found in Luke chapter 18 in the story of the Pharisee, the rabbi, and the tax collector. If you remember the story that Jesus told, there was a rabbi who came to the temple and he stood before the Lord and he looked up and he said, Oh God, I thank you so much that I'm not like other men. I fast, I tithe, I do this, I do that.

I'm not like that old tax collector standing over there even. And then on the other side was a tax collector, the lowest person, the lowest wrong of Hebrew society. He collected taxes for the Roman occupation government from Jewish people, from his fellow people, and gave it to the Romans. The Jews hated the tax collectors and he stood over there and he wouldn't even look up in heaven, the Bible says. He was so broken about his sin. He bowed his head and he beat on his breast and he said, Oh God, be merciful to me, a sinner. He was so broken by his sin that that's all he could pray. And Jesus said, turned to his disciples and said, Fellas, it was that second man, the tax collector, who went down to his home right with God.

Not the first guy. Which heart did Jesus not despise? The heart of the tax collector. And what kind of heart did he have? It was a humble heart. It was a broken heart over his sin. What kind of heart did Jesus despise? The heart of the rabbi.

And he had an arrogant heart and a haughty heart and a self-reliant heart. Folks, listen to me. If we want to see revival, humility, and brokenness over sin, our sin, the sin of our city, the sin of our nation, these are essential prerequisites or God will not send revival anywhere. We have to be humble and broken before him.

Number two, if my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face. Listen, God second will not send revival, not only will he not send it on arrogant soil, he won't send it on prayerless soil. God has never sent a revival anywhere where the people of God weren't praying for it fervently, where they weren't praying for it bulldoggedly, and where they weren't praying for it persistently. Listen, did you know George Whitefield showed up in America in 1739 for five years before that, 1734, 35, 36, 37, and 38, for five years the people in Jonathan Edwards Church in the state of Massachusetts gathered every week and got on their knees and prayed for revival.

Five years they prayed and then George Whitefield showed up and, man, buckle your seat belt once George Whitefield hit America, but it took five years of prayer by these people. Revival is birthed in prayer, persistent prayer, prevailing prayer. And this is why we're working so hard here at McLean Bible Church to become a church of prayer and why we're partnering with other churches of prayer. And it's why we pray before every service at every campus for a half an hour.

We did it just before this service. And wow, what a prayer meeting that was. Man, I'm sorry you missed that prayer meeting. That was some prayer meeting. We had people weeping. We had people crying out before the Lord. It was awesome.

Awesome. You've got to get in those prayer meetings, folks. It's why our elders get on their knees for a half an hour to an hour at the beginning of every elders meeting every month. And before we discuss business of any kind, we pray for half an hour to an hour for you, for this church, for revival in this nation. It's why our staff gets together every single week at 10 o'clock Thursday morning down in the Smith Center right in the lobby. We get on our knees.

You're welcome to come join us any Thursday you want. And for an hour and a half, we pour out our hearts and pray for you as our sheep and we pray for revival in this country. And then we worship a little bit together.

Come join us anytime you want. This is why we have days of prayer and fasting like we just had last week that we dedicate unto the Lord and why we encourage people to pray in our small groups and why we encourage them to pray in our community groups. And it's why, as your pastor, I'm pleading with you to get serious about prayer in your own life and not just for your own life, but for our city and our church and our nation.

Prayer, prayer, prayer. Folks, the greatest sin of the modern American church is our prayerlessness, no doubt about it. And until we get serious about prayer, revival is not going to happen. Number three, and finally, if my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face.

Here we go. And turn from their wicked ways. The word turn here is the same word that's used elsewhere in the Bible and translated repent. And this is what God's calling us to repentance in our life as Christians.

And what does repentance means? It means to turn. It means I'm going this way. And God says, oh, you're going the wrong way.

That's not how I want you to live. And we turn one hundred and eighty degrees and say, OK, God, now I'm going this way with your help. That's all repentance is. And that's what God is calling us to. God is telling us that he will send revival on unholy societies. He will send revival on unholy cities. He will send revival on unholy nations. But he will not send revival on unholy churches. He won't do it.

Never has, never will. Robert Murray McShane, the great Scottish preacher, said, and I quote, the sin of one Aiken. If you don't remember who Aiken was, check out Joshua, Chapter seven. He was a man in Israel who, when Jericho was captured, God said, don't take any of the gold or silver for yourself.

And he did. And as a result of his sin, the next time the army of Israel went out, they got absolutely squashed. The sin of one Aiken, McShane says, troubled the whole camp of Israel, if any of you as God's children, he says, willfully continue in some old sin.

You will trouble our camp. And what this means, my friends, is that the biggest thing I can do here at McLean Bible Church to hasten revival in America is to get serious about personal holiness. And the greatest thing you can do here at McLean Bible Church to hasten revival in America is to get serious about personal holiness. And you say, well, what do you mean by personal holiness?

I mean to cultivate a conscience that is sensitive to sin. I mean to call sin, sin in our lives. Don't justify it. Don't make excuses for it.

Call it what it is. I mean to confess and repent of that sin each and every day before the Lord. I mean to ask the Lord's help, the Spirit's help, to turn from that sin each and every day in our life. And finally, to ask the Holy Spirit to help us hate that impurity in our lives. See, folks, it's not enough just to try not to do sin.

We need to go deeper. We need to ask God to help us to hate that sin, that impurity in our life. The Apostle Paul said in Romans chapter 7, he said, the good that I want to do, I don't do. And the evil that I don't want to do, that's what I do. And then he said this, oh, he didn't say, oh, gee, gosh, I wish I could do better.

No. He said, oh, wretched man that I am. Wretched man that I am, I hate this sin inside of me. I hate the fact I do wrong. I hate the impurity inside of me. Oh, wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from this body of death?

Well, the answer he goes on to tell us is the Lord Jesus Christ. But there is a man who hates the sin inside of him. That's what God wants from you and me ultimately. And therefore, I say to you, the second greatest sin in the modern American church is our lack of purity.

And in order to see revival come, some of us, me, you, we're going to have to deal with that impurity in our life. Maybe it's a dirty mouth, or maybe it's a dirty mind, or maybe it's a lustful heart and lustful eyes. Maybe it's unforgiveness of someone. Maybe it's bitterness or malice that you're carrying towards someone. Or maybe it's gossip that we do to someone else. Or maybe it's slander.

You say, Lon, I sure wish you wouldn't talk about these things quite so vividly. Why can't you just say sin? Well, I'll tell you why. Because the great evangelist Charles Finney was right when he said you can't preach against sin in the abstract.

That's why. Maybe it's sleeping with our boyfriend or our girlfriend. Maybe it's that having that affair, or even if it's not there yet, having that little bit of flattery and that little bit of flirting at work. Let's call sin, sin. Or maybe it's pornography, which I've become convinced is probably the greatest threat to the heart of the average Christian in America today. Particularly male Christians, but females as well. And many of us here in this church, if the truth be told, we are in bondage to pornography.

Or at least we're fighting it hard not to be. And friends, pornography, it will eat your soul away. It will eat your marriage away. It will eat your relationships away. It will eat your walk with God away. So we're starting a new ministry in the fall to help people get free of pornography, men and women. And we'll be telling you more about it because there's no way God is going to send revival on a church that has 30% of its members or 40% of its members caught up in pornography.

It's not going to happen. And listen, we all struggle with it. Every human being struggles with all of these sins.

But God wants us to fight them, not excuse them, to fight them by the power of His Spirit. Are you all with me? All right. Now this has been a hard message. I understand that.

It has. But folks, there's a price to be paid by God's people if we want revival. Coming into church, hearing the preacher say revival, clapping and going, amen.

That is not bringing revival to anything. There's a price God calls upon us to pay. And if we want revival bad enough, that price is non-negotiable with God.

And what is it? Number one, humility and brokenness over our sin and the sin of our city and our nation. Number two, unyielding, prevailing prayer for revival.

And number three, dealing with sin in our lives. And as your pastor, I'm calling on us as a church family to rise up and say we are willing with the help of God to pay this price. Now, can I promise you this will bring revival on America? No, I can't.

Revival is an act of God. I can't promise that. Can I promise you if we do these things that we will have a better church? Yes, I can promise you that. Can I promise you by doing these things that you will have a better Christian walk for your family and your friends and your testimony? Yes, I can promise you that. Can I promise you that by doing these things you will have more joy in your Christian walk than you've ever had before? Yes, I can promise you that. And can I promise you by doing these things that the blessing of God will be increased upon your life?

And I'm not just talking about money. I'm talking about God's entire blessing on your life. Yes, I can promise you that.

And to me, whether God ever sends revival or not, those things are still worth it. Amen? So, my question as I close today is this. Are you with me? I'm in. My question is, are you in with me?

Good. Tony Perkins, head of Family Research Council, wrote a letter to me this week and to other pastors asking us if we would join together around the country this Sunday in calling our people to their knees to pray for revival in America. And I wrote back and said, McLean Bible Church is in. And so there are churches all over our nation today on their knees seeking the Lord, praying for mercy on our country, confessing their sins, humbling themselves before God. Folks, I want us to do that right now. I want you to get on your knees right where you are. Put some good pants on.

Well, send them to the cleaners. Besides, the floor is clean. Let's get on our knees. And if you want to come down front and join me, I'm going to be down here.

Feel free to come down and join me. And the first thing I want us to do, my friends, is let's humble ourselves before the Lord. Let's confess our arrogance and our self-sufficiency and our self-reliance and being too big for our britches to the Lord right now.

Lord Jesus, we know the Bible says that God is opposed to the proud, but he gives grace to the humble. Therefore, humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God that he might exalt you in due season. Father, as we humble ourselves before you today, accept our humility. Lord, accept our efforts to show you that we're sorry for our arrogance. Lord, we're sorry for thinking more highly of ourselves than we ought, Lord.

I'm sorry for that. Forgive us, Lord Jesus. And now let's take a moment and let's confess our sins to the Lord and let's agree to turn and repent from those sins that he's talked to us about today. Let's ask for his help in hating the impurity in our lives. Dear Lord Jesus, like Paul, I say, oh, wretched man that I am. Who will deliver me from this body of death? Lord, no matter what I do, this crazy sinful nature of mine, it's untamable, God. It's out of control. Oh, God, forgive me.

I hate it in me. Lord Jesus, help us here to turn away from sin and back to you because you said in the book of Jeremiah, return to me, for I am merciful and my anger will not last forever. Return to me and I will return to you and I will heal your backsliding. Oh, Jesus, help us come back to you today. Heal us, Lord. Help us live above our sinful nature. And finally, my friends, let's pray now for revival in our hearts, in our city, in our church, in our land. Let's pray for God to have mercy on us. Dear Lord Jesus, Psalm 103 says, as a father has compassion on his children, so you have compassion on those who fear you. And we are those people on our knees today, Lord, because the Bible says you remember that they're just dust.

Lord, that's all we are, dust that you breathe life into and that you continue to breathe life into every day. God, help us think no more of ourselves than that and thank you that you have mercy on us. Have mercy on our nation too, Lord. We beg you, have mercy. And Lord, we ask for that revival.

Please, in your mercy, send it. And help us keep doing our part, no matter how long it takes. Lord, we love you and we thank you for speaking to us today. In Jesus' name we pray. And God's people said, amen. Amen.