Mt. Zion Church of the Holy Spirit - Sermons
Revival Begins With Humility!
In 2 Chronicles 7, Solomon builds the Lord a temple. After building the temple of the Lord, he prays a prayer of dedication declaring to the Lord that the temple he built was for God’s honor and glory. Then, the Bible says that the glory of the Lord filled this temple in an awesome and holy way.
Beloved, this has always been God’s passion! His deepest longing has always been to indwell His temple with His glory-not temples made with hands, but the very hearts of His people. His desire has always been to fill His people with His presence-to fill them with His life, to change them into His image by His Spirit living within them, to fill them with the victorious strength and power that is in Christ. His passion has always been to gloriously fill His people!
Not only is it God’s heart to fill His people with His glory, but it is God’s desire that when His people congregate together this glory be revealed, that the very life of God be revealed in His church. When people who are living in darkness, lost and confused, come into His house, they encounter the resurrected Christ in His body. There is a knowing in the hearts of those living in darkness that Jesus is truly alive because they see His light and life in His body, the church.
Going back to 2 Chronicles 7, after God fills the temple with His glory, He then comes to Solomon in the stillness of the night and speaks to him, “I have heard thy prayer, and I have chosen this place to Myself for a house of sacrifice”(2 Chronicles 7:12). In other words this temple was the place where God’s presence would abide with His people, and the people were to bring their sacrifices to this temple and offer them up to the Lord.
THIS IS WHAT WE NEED TO UNDERSTAND: “A house of sacrifice” means more than just a place to slaughter animals on an altar. In various places in the Old Testament, the children of Israel made sacrifices to the Lord, but their hearts were not right with Him. Because of this God did not receive their offering. In other words, a true house of sacrifice is a temple that is wholly consecrated to the Lord and to the glory of God.
UNDERSTAND: THE CHURCH IS A PEOPLE WHO HAVE WHOLLY CONSECRATED THEIR HEARTS TO CHRIST, MAKING CHRIST FIRST IN THEIR LIVES.
The church is a people who understand that they have been bought with a price and their lives are not their own.
The church is a people who love God with all their heart, mind, soul and strength, and the evidence of that love is they seek the will of God over their own will. The church is a people, who, by the grace of God live in denial of self, seeking Christ's will for their life with all of their heart and crucifying everything that is not a part of that will, that Christ can live His life and purpose through them. When we do this, God’s very life and glory fills His temple!
IN 2 CHRONICLES 7:13, GOD BEGINS TO SPEAK TO SOLOMON ABOUT A PEOPLE WHO HAVE LEFT THE ALTAR IN THEIR HEARTS AND LOST THE GLORY OF GOD.
IN THIS PASSAGE OF SCRIPTURE HE GIVES THE SURE EVIDENCE THAT THE GLORY OF GOD IS MISSING FROM HIS TEMPLE: THE LAND!
2 Chronicles 7:13, “If I shut up heaven that there be no rain, or if I command the locusts to devour the land, or if I send pestilence among the people...” There are a few powerful truths we can bring out of this passage of Scripture, but what I want us to see is that when God’s glory departs from His temple, darkness consumes the land.
Beloved, I can write about the darkness that is consuming our nation, but it is not necessary because every saint of the Lord sees it. What I want us to understand is that this darkness clearly tells us that for the most part the glory of God is missing in God’s house. There is just a very small remnant holding onto the altar, wholly consecrated to the Lord, not living for anything else except for the absolute glory of God. What this clearly tells us is the church needs revival!
IN 2 CHRONICLES 7:14, The Lord speaks hope to His people: “If My people, which are called by My Name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.” The Lord is telling His church in this passage of Scripture that it is very possible for God’s glory to return to His house and the land be healed. In other words, it is very possible for God’s glory to fill His temple again and many souls be drawn out of darkness and find salvation in Christ.
With this thought in mind, let us ask a question: What is it that is going to draw the people out of the darkness and into the light of salvation? Isaiah 60:1-3, “Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee. For, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people: but the Lord shall arise upon thee, and His glory shall be seen upon thee. And the Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising.” What is it that is going to draw the people out of the darkness and into the light of salvation? The glory of God! This tells me that revival is not so much about the lost flooding through the church doors as it is about God’s people repenting and returning to Him again and His glory coming back to His house. When we return to Him and His glory fills His house again, then the lost will be drawn to the glory of God within and upon His people.
IN 2 CHRONICLES 7:14, GOD LAYS OUT THE ORDER FOR REVIVAL, AND HE SAYS THERE IS ONLY ONE FOUNDATION FOR REVIVAL AND THAT IS HUMILITY OF HEART.
2 Chronicles 7:14, “If My people which are called by My Name will humble themselves…” True revival has to start here; there is absolutely no other place it can start.
HERE IN 2 CHRONICLES 7:14, HUMILITY OF HEART SPEAKS OF BROKENNESS. IT SPEAKS OF BEING HUMBLE IN HEART, RECOGNIZING THAT THE HEART IS NOT RIGHT WITH GOD, AND BEING BROKEN AND REPENTANT OVER IT.
When I began to think about this I could not help but think to myself that there are multitudes of people in the church that truly need to be broken before the Lord. They need to realize that the one who died on the cross to save them from their sin is so worthy to be first place in their hearts, but He is not, and they need to be broken over it. They need to be truly broken over the fact that glorifying Him does not take preeminence in their heart. Beloved, when I say this I am not being proud and critical, I am just speaking God’s heart. There is such a brokenness that needs to come upon the church, because there are so many attitudes of heart that have consumed multitudes in the church: indifference, apathy, worldliness, spiritual pride, covetousness. The sad truth is the multitudes are not truly broken over what is in their hearts. They come to church, sit and hear sermons but they are not sincerely moved in their hearts by the word of God and they are not changed. What troubles me so is that unless God supernaturally comes down and convicts their hearts, nothing is going to change, because they love their flesh and worldliness and are comfortable with where they are at.
There are many reading this message who are wholly given to the Lord, and you agree: there is such a humility and a brokenness that needs to come over the church if we are going to see revival. Again, it is not that we are being proud and critical, it is just that we have eyes to see it, and there is a grief in our hearts.
AS I WAS THINKING ABOUT THIS, THE LORD BEGAN TO SPEAK TO MY HEART AND SHOW ME THAT THIS HUMILITY RUNS MUCH DEEPER THAN THIS; THIS HUMILITY THAT IS GOING TO BRING REVIVAL GOES MUCH DEEPER THAN GOD JUST HUMBLING AND CONVICTING THOSE CONSUMED WITH WORLDLINESS, GREED AND APATHY.
In the Bible, before God has ever sent revival He raised up intercessors, righteous people who loved the Lord and were jealous over His glory. These intercessors felt God’s grief and poured their hearts out to God to send revival. God gave these righteous men His burden to see His people return to Him, because bringing His people back to Himself was something He was about to do. God always works through the prayers of His people, and God gave these intercessors a burden to pray for His people’s return because He was about to do that very thing.
There is something that I have seen in these intercessors: they never excluded themselves from the sins of their people. In every revival God had His intercessors who prayed for a turning back to the Lord, and there was a brokenness and humility in their own hearts that would not allow them to exclude themselves from their people.
Ezra 9:3-7, “And when I (Ezra) heard this thing, I rent my garment and my mantle, and plucked off the hair of my head and of my beard, and sat down astonished. Then were assembled unto me everyone that trembled at the words of God of Israel, because of the transgression of those that had been carried away; and I sat astonished until the evening sacrifice. And at the evening sacrifice I rose from my heaviness; and having rent my garment and my mantle, I fell upon my knees and spread out my hands unto the Lord my God, and said, O my God, I am ashamed and blush to lift up my face to Thee, my God: for our iniquities are increased over our head, and our trespass is grown up unto the heavens. Since the days of our fathers have we been in a great trespass unto this day; and for our iniquities have we, our kings, and our priests, been delivered into the hand of the kings of the lands, to the sword, to captivity, and to a spoil, and to this confusion of face, as it is this day.”
Nehemiah 1:4-7, “And it came to pass, when I heard these words, that I sat down and wept, and mourned certain days, and fasted, and prayed before the God of heaven, And said, I beseech Thee, O Lord God of heaven, the great and terrible God, that keepeth covenant and mercy for them that love Him and observe His commandments: Let Thine ear now be attentive, and Thine eyes open, that Thou mayest hear the prayer of Thy servant, which I pray before Thee now, day and night, for the children of Israel Thy servants, and confess the sins of the children of Israel which we have sinned against Thee: both I and my father’s house have sinned. We have dealt very corruptly against Thee, and have not kept the commandments, nor the statutes, nor the judgments, which Thou commandedst Thy servant Moses.”
Daniel 9:2-8, “In the first year of his reign I Daniel understood by books the number of the years, whereof the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah the prophet, that He would accomplish seventy years in the desolations of Jerusalem. And I set my face unto the Lord God, to seek by prayer and supplications, with fasting, and sackcloth, and ashes…We have sinned, and have committed iniquity, and have done wickedly…Neither have we hearkened unto Thy prophets…O Lord, to us belongeth confusion of face, to our kings, to our princes, and to our fathers, because we have sinned against Thee.”
Through these passages of scripture what I want us to realize is that these are men wholly consecrated to God, and there is a spirit of intercession upon them. The Spirit of God is upon these men of God, causing a travail of soul within them to pray for revival, a returning to the Lord. In this time of intercession the Holy Spirit brings such a humility and a brokenness in their own hearts that is causing them to cry out, “God, we are Your people! We have sinned! We have transgressed! We have broken Your law and commandments!” We need to understand that revival is not going to come through a people looking at all the indifference, apathy and worldliness in the church and praying, “God! Look at all their mess! Look at all their apathy and worldliness! Clean them up, O Lord, and send revival!” No! Revival is going to come through a people who are praying in all sincerity of heart, “God, we are ONE body in Christ, and because we are one body, we need cleansing! We need purifying! We need refining!”
Beloved, understand that when these righteous men prayed and declared, “We have sinned,” these righteous intercessors are not saying, “I have literally partaken of their sins; I have worshiped idols. I have committed adultery with my neighbor’s wife; I have cheated the poor and robbed the widow.” No, this is not what they are saying. In this time of prayer the Holy Spirit has placed such an awareness in their own hearts for their own need for mercy and cleansing.
Revival is not going to come through a people pointing at the sins of others and saying, “It’s their fault, O God. It is because of their indifference; it is because of their covetousness. It is because of their worldliness that the church is in the shape that it is in.” Revival is going to come through a people who say, “Oh God! We are all in this together! We are one body! And we all need mercy and the grace of God working in our hearts! Do not just expose and convict others of their sin, but expose and deal with the sin that is in my own heart!”
Beloved, many in the body of Christ are wholly consecrated to the Lord and are not living in gross sin, but there has to be a depth of humility that cries out, “God, if you are going to refine your people in the fires, start with my life. There are things in my heart that need to be purged.”
In prayer, God has shown me something so clearly: As a church body we are all going to pass through the refining fires together. It is not just going to be the indifferent, the worldly and those caught up in false doctrine, but the entire body is going to walk through it together because we are ONE body. Every heart and life is going to be touched by God’s refining fire.
I KNOW THAT THERE IS A REMNANT IN THE CHURCH THAT IS WHOLLY CONSECRATED TO CHRIST, NOT LIVING IN WORLDLINESS AND IN APATHY, BUT TRULY WALKING IN INTIMACY AND GODLY INTEGRITY BEFORE THE LORD, AND I BELIEVE RIGHT NOW WHAT THIS GODLY REMNANT IS GOING THROUGH IS FOUND IN ISAIAH CHAPTERS 5 AND 6.
In Isaiah 5, the prophet Isaiah is truly anointed by the Spirit of God to preach against the sins of God’s people. He is truly anointed by the Holy Ghost to show God’s people their idolatry and worldliness and rebellion. In chapter 5 of Isaiah the prophet proclaims 6 woes over the house of Israel:
Vs 8, “Woe unto them that join house to house, that lay field to field, till there be no place, that they may be placed alone in the midst of the earth!”
Vs 11, “Woe unto them that rise up early in the morning, that they may follow strong drink; that continue until night, til wine inflame them!”
Vs 18, “Woe unto them that draw iniquity with cords of vanity, and sin as it were with a cart rope.”
Vs 20, “Woe unto them that call evil good and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!”
Vs 21, “Woe unto them that are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight.”
Vs 22, “Woe unto them that are mighty to drink wine, and men of strength to mingle strong drink.”
We see in Isaiah chapter 5 that the prophet is truly anointed by the Spirit of God to preach against the sins of God’s people and warn them of God’s impending judgment. In Isaiah 5, the prophet pronounces 6 woes.
THIS IS WHAT WE HAVE TO SEE: THERE IS ONE WOE YET TO BE PRONOUNCED; THERE IS A 7TH WOE.
Isaiah 6:1-7, “In the year that King Uzziah died I saw also the Lord sitting upon the throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple. Above it stood the seraphims: each one had six wings with twain he covered his face, with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly. And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory. And the posts of the door moved at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with smoke. Then said I, 'Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people with unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts.'”
The prophet Isaiah is a man who is truly consecrated to the Lord. The prophet Isaiah loves God and lives a holy life. He is a righteous prophet who is commanded by God to preach on the unrighteousness of God’s chosen people. However, one day he goes to the temple and the glory of God is revealed to him, and in the light of God’s glory, a great humility strikes his heart. His focus is no longer on the idolaters and the adulterers. Now he says, “It is me, Lord, It is my heart and lips that are undone! It is my behavior and conversation that need purging! If you were to mark iniquity, O God, who would stand in your sight?”
Beloved, you might be part of that remnant that can say in all humility and honesty of heart: “God, I am not indifferent; my heart is aflame for you.” “God, I am not an idolater. Christ is truly first in my life, and only His will possesses my heart.” “God, I am not worldly. My body is on the altar as a living sacrifice, and the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart are acceptable in your sight.” This may be so, but the humility that is going to bring revival that says, “I know I need the grace of God working in my heart as much as the next person, because in the light of the glory of God, in the light of who Christ is, there are areas in my heart that are absolutely undone.”
IN ISAIAH 6, AFTER THE COALS OF GRACE ARE APPLIED TO THE PROPHET’S LIPS, GOD THEN TELLS ISAIAH TO GO AND PROCLAIM THE WORD OF THE LORD.
Isaiah obeys, but deep in his heart there is an understanding that in the light of God’s glory no one can stand in God’s sight apart from His great mercy and grace.
When true revival comes, God is going to use voices to speak to His people; He is going to use wholly consecrated vessels to confront all the idolatry, indifference and worldliness in the church. What is going to make their voice so penetrating and powerful is that they will have such a revelation of grace, that if God was to mark iniquity, who would stand in His sight apart from mercy? They will say in their hearts, “I need the grace of God working in my heart as much as anyone else.”
Beloved, in His great and wonderful mercy God is going to send revival; He is again going to fill His house with His glory, and many are going to flee the darkness and come to His saving light. We know it is on God’s heart to send revival because so many godly believers are feeling His burden to do it. In preparing the ground for the revival, God is not only humbling, convicting and purging the worldly, and the apathetic and the spiritually proud, but He is exposing sin in everyone’s heart and showing even the most intimate and consecrated believer that they have areas in their heart that need to be repented over and changed.
Beloved, we are passing through the fires together. No heart will be left untouched, because we are ONE body. God be praised!