Full Transcript

As you find your place, let me ask you to find your place in your Bible. Bible check this morning. Hold up the Bibles. Bible check, bible check, bible check. Sir, that is an iPhone. So open your Bible app to the book of 2 Chronicles.

Now, don’t get confused with 2 Corinthians because your neighbor will laugh at you. 2 Chronicles is in the Old Testament. It’s about right there, so about a third of the way through, 2 Chronicles. Interesting title of a book. The word “chronicles” means history. And so we’re opening some Bible history. We’re opening to Awakenings 201 you might say. Because the book of Chronicles records revival history in the people of God, ancient Israel.

The most famous of all revival verses is found in chapter 7, so make your way there. Last week, we began this series Awakenings, and it has been an awakening for me this week. This has been one of the most special weeks of my life as I have participated in Revive Indiana.

How many of you sometime in the last week have walked up to someone and asked them this question: “How can I pray for you?” Raise your hands if you’ve asked that question. Okay, great. How many of you have actually gone out on a team and shared Jesus boldly with someone? You’ve shared the gospel with someone this week? Hold your hands in the air. Fantastic. And how many of you have actually heard of or been present when someone has responded in faith to the gospel of Jesus Christ, and you’ve seen someone hopefully converted? Fantastic.

That has been going on all over our city. And it has been a joy for me as a pastor to meet other pastors in the city that I otherwise never would have met. And I’ve become very good friends in such a short period of time as God has entrusted a measure of His Spirit to this community.

And God is doing a work. I believe that what God is doing in our church has been spilling over into other churches in other parts of this community, and it’s been neat to partner with some of those people that are seeing a bit of awakening here in South Bend through Revive Indiana.

Last week we started this series, and we said there’s a theme verse that we’re going to have throughout the course of this series. And I challenged you to memorize it. Has anybody already memorized Habakkuk 3:2? All right, you’re a little behind. That’s okay, that’s okay. So we’re going to work on it. By the time this series is over with, we’re all going to quote it together without me putting it on the screen. But this is Bible drill practice right now, okay? Everybody gets a hall pass for the first week, but we’re going to memorize this verse

So say it with me and I would just encourage you maybe when you gather as families before your family meal, “let’s memorize this verses.” And maybe next week we can come back and quote it. It’s a prayer for an awakening and it goes like this. Say it with me: “O Lord, I have heard the report of you, and your work, O Lord, do I fear. In the midst of the years revive it; in the midst of the years, make it known; in wrath, remember mercy.”

That is a prayer for revival. And we’re familiar with the stories, the history of revival. “God what you’ve done in times and places other than today. And other than right here God, we want you to revive it. We want you to do here what you’ve done at other times.” And we learned there’s a pattern to revival. Biblically and historically, you will find that when the church is on mission, in worship with Jesus Christ, we are right where we are supposed to be, experiencing God’s presence and his blessing and his grace. We’re to be up and to the right. And yet sometimes we fall into seasons of apathy and decline and immorality and materialism and we begin to lose the sense of God’s favor and blessing. And that invites the judgment and the discipline of God. And as you look at this chart, it doesn’t take a whole lot of spider sense to figure out where we’re at as a nation. We’re experiencing discipline and judgment and yet that is the opportunity for us to cry up to God in desperation and in need and ask God to send revival in the church. That it would spill over into an awakening in the community.

And there’s good news. Revival is as possible today as it has ever been. The reason why is God is still on his throne. He’s not lost an ounce of his power. He is not trembling, wondering how he’s going to deal with ISIS or the national debt. He’s right on schedule. He’s waiting for us to cry up and ask him to revive his church.

Now, the most famous revival verse in all the Bible is found here in 2 Chronicles 7:14. As a matter of fact, if you’ve been in church, you know this verse. You could probably quote it. It goes like this; it is 2 Chronicles 7:14, “If my people who are called by my name….” Say it with me. “…humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.”

How many of you are familiar with that verse? How many of you feel like, “Hey, I know that one better than Habakkuk? Can we just stick with that one?” And as a matter of fact, if I took that one off the screen, I bet many of you could quote it. But I bet even of those of you that could quote it, I’ll bet that about 90% of you would leave out the most important part. Have you ever quoted that verse by saying this? “If my people which are called by name will pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked way…” What did I leave out? Humble themselves.

The title of the message today is this: Revival’s Forgotten Factor. Because we’re so quick to race past the need for humility. And so this is what we’re going to do. As I studied this this week, I realized that 2 Chronicles 7:14 actually contains the outline for all of 2 Chronicles. And what we’re going to do over the next few weeks is, we’re going to look at an awakening that happened specifically because of a humble king who humbled himself.

We’re going to do that today. His name is Rehoboam. We’re going to get to that in just a minute. And we’re going to look next week at a king that an awakening took place because he prayed. And then a third king that an awakening took place because he turned from his wicked ways. And another king that sought God’s face. And so we’re going to see this all throughout the book of 2 Chronicles. Revival history here.

Now let me just say as we get into this, that there has been a little debate. There’s a little theological debate about this verse. Because some people would say, “You know, you can’t claim that promise for today because after all, that promise was made to ancient Israel, 1000 years before Christ ever came. Before there was a church. This was a promise made to the Hebrew people, the Jewish people. And so you can’t claim that verse today and think that if you humble yourself and pray and seek his face that God is somehow obligated to come and heal your land.”

Now, God is not obligated to do anything. But, we need to define who are the people that this verse is talking about. Well, there’s good news. Because God’s people are not just the chosen nation of Israel. We read over in Acts 15:14 this statement, “…God first visited the Gentiles…” Who are the Gentiles? A Gentile is anybody that’s not a Jew. If you’re not a Jew, you’re a Gentile. Okay? And he has called these Gentiles to repentance and faith, and taken from them “a people for his name.” Different people, same name. Which means we’re now the same people.

And so the Bible says that the things that happened in the Old Testament happened for our example, for an example for us. And so we this morning are going to follow this outline. And we’re going to pray this prayer and believe that if we will humble ourselves and pray and seek his face, and turn from our wicked ways, then God will hear that prayer from heaven and forgive our sin and heal our land. Anybody with me? Anybody feel like we need some of that? All right.

So we’re going to get into that. We’re going to dive into that here today. And we’re going to talk about humility. Now I want you to turn just five chapters over. Go over to chapter 12 in 2 Chronicles and we’re going to be introduced to a king here. His name is Rehoboam. Let’s read in 2 Chronicles 12:1. “When the rule of Rehoboam was established…” Underline that word “established.” “…And he was strong…” Underline the word “strong”. “…He abandoned the law of the Lord, and all Israel with him.” C’mon Rehoboam. What is your problem?

I mean, things were going well for Rehoboam. Let’s talk about who this guy Rehoboam was, okay? So you understand how Israel was God’s chosen people and they looked around at the other nations and they saw that these other nations had something they didn’t have. All the other nations had kings, and so Israel started crying out to God and said, “God, we want a king! We don’t have a king. God, can we have a king? Oh, we want a king. Please give it.” And God says, “You have a King. It’s me.” And they said, “We want a king like everybody else has a king.” And so they started whining and complaining, so God said, “You want a king. I’ll give you a king. We’ll see how well that works for you.”

So he gives them a king. What was his name? Saul. How’d that work out for them? That didn’t work out really good. All right? And so, the kingdom was stripped away from Saul and it was given to a man after God’s own heart. God raised up a man after God’s own heart. His name was…King David. King David reigned. And then King David had a son. The kingdom got passed to his son. His name was… Solomon. So, the fourth king of Israel was Solomon’s son. His name was Rehoboam. The guy we just read about.

So Rehoboam’s grandfather was King David. Rehoboam’s father was Solomon. Now let me help you connect the dots in your Bible a little bit. How many of you have ever found that book in your Bible called Proverbs? Ever read Proverbs? Proverbs is a book that was written primarily by who? Do you know? King Solomon. So King Solomon wrote all these proverbs, wise sayings and principles for living. And it’s one of the most practical books we have in our Bible.

And there’s a phrase that occurs twenty-three different times in the book of Proverbs. It’s this little two-word phrase, “my son.” To whom did Solomon write these proverbs? His son, which was who? Rehoboam. Rehoboam had more access to the principles and the word of God than anybody. Parts of it were written directly to him.

And yet, you know what we just read? When Rehoboam was established and was strong, it was at that point that he forsook, he abandoned the law of God. He quit reading the Proverbs. Now if you were to read above in the previous chapters there, in chapters 10 and 11, it tells us about what was going on under Rehoboam’s reign. It was working out really good. I mean, the name Rehoboam actually means, “he expands his people.” That’s what the word means. And it’s exactly what was happening under King Rehoboam’s reign.

The kingdom was becoming strong. And there were cities that were being fortified, and there was an expanse of population that was increasing. And then, something really good happened. It says that Rehoboam met a wife and got married. And any man that marries a wife finds a good thing.

Fellas, c’mon. I teed you up. All you had to do was knock it out. Would you like another run at that one? Okay? Okay, let’s back up a little bit, okay? So Rehoboam, the kingdom was expanding, the cities were being fortified, and then he found a wife. And any man that finds a wife finds a really good thing. (Men cheer.) That’s better. That’s better. A little slow on the draw there. You need to work that out, okay?

So things are going great. The Bible said he had some kids. I mean, everything was being established. He was stronger and more powerful and it was just wonderful. Maybe he even thought, “I’m going to be a better king than my granddaddy. I’m going to be a better king than my daddy. I’ll show them how to run a kingdom.” And everything was going great until we get to chapter 12.

And the Bible says when his kingdom was established, and when he became strong, that was the point at which he abandoned the law of God. Here’s the first point of the message.

 

• The more established you become the more humility you need. (v.1)

 

How’s it going for you right now?

Friday night, I sat at the Joyce Center, the Notre Dame Joyce Center, along with several thousand other proud parents and I watched my oldest child, my firstborn, Brooke, who was up here a few minutes ago singing, she graduated from Penn High School. Would you guys like to congratulate all of our graduates? Any graduates over there? I see Ethan. Allie’s over here somewhere.

So, the graduates. You know what? There’s a point at which you graduate and that’s kind of a point of establishment. You’ve kind of established some education. We honor you. You’re worthy of honor. All of that. We want to give you all of that. But you know what? That’s the point you’re most prone to be proud. I mean, you’re eighteen, nineteen years old, and you’ve got your diploma in hand, and those of us that aren’t eighteen anymore, and we look back at our eighteen year old pictures and we’re like “Oooh-eee! I was looking good when I was eighteen.”  And now, it’s all downhill from there, right?

And that’s the point at which you’re prone to become proud. For some of you, you’ve found a wife. You’ve had some kids. You’re living in the best house you’ve ever lived in. You’ve got more money in the bank than you’ve ever had. You’re driving the best cars you’ve ever driven. You’re in a nice church. You’re living in the suburbs. And everything is going well for you. Good reports from the doctors. Business is growing. That’s the point at which you’ll be tempted to become proud and lose your humility. The more established you become, the more humility you are going to need.

Let me tell you five things about pride real quick. First of all:

 

1. Pride is the roadblock to revival.

 

Isaiah 66:2, “This is the one to whom I will look: he who is humble and contrite and in spirit and trembles at my word.” That’s the opposite of what Rehoboam did. When you think you know it all and don’t any longer need God and his word to govern your life, you have become proud, and that is the point at which the roadblock of revival is established in your life. And God will go looking for somebody else to whom he can command his blessing.

I told you this was a special week for me. I’ve spent my week getting to know pastors, and being in meetings, and I’ve been places in this city that I never would otherwise been in. I have learned things about the structure of our city and the personality of our city. And I’ve learned that there’s kind of a pastors’ mafia in south bend. And not everybody that pastors a church is real excited about revival, and not excited about sharing the gospel and getting hooked up with multi-racial, cross-denominational movements that “don’t exactly look like us but we can partner with them because we agree on the gospel.”

And I’ve been in conversations with them. In the first service this morning, Barrett Barry was here, who I have just really begun to love so much. And Barrett and I went out together with Kyle Martin and got to know Kyle, and got to be friends with Kyle. And we went to a section of the city to try to engage some of these pastors.

There is some arrogance that has become a stronghold in our city. And it’s no wonder that there is a lack of revival because there is a lack of humility. And by God’s grace, I don’t want to be the guy that God can’t say, “I’m looking at that guy. Get some more of the blessing over to that church. Get some more people to that church because that’s where I want to look when those people gather to praise me.” It all happens when we swell up with pride and think that we’ve become established. We don’t need that.

Do you know what my greatest fear for Harvest is? I mean, we’re six years old. We got a building. We got some staff. We got lights that move now. That was impressive. That’s like, “Whoo, we got lights that move. God’s gonna show up today.” You know? Really? Really? If we start relying on the stuff we can do, that’s the point at which God says, “I’m looking for somebody else.” And by God’s grace, this is not going to be the church where that is ever said. And by God’s grace, I don’t want to be the pastor that God says, “I’m done with you. I’m looking for somebody else.” “This is the one to whom I will look…” I will look to “…he who is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at my word.”

Here’s the second thing about pride:

 

2. Pride is the root of every other sin.

 

Now I know there’s a sense in which we say, “Sin is sin. We don’t have different categories of sin. Sin is sin.” But there’s also a sense in which pride is more dangerous than any other sin. Look at what it says in Proverbs 26:12. Who is this written to? Rehoboam. “Do you see a man who is wise in his own eyes? There’s more hope for a fool than for him.”

Are you a person who’s pretty much done listening to the counsel of others? Are you are a person that pretty much thinks you can figure it out without diving your face in this book and seeking God for his counsel and his wisdom about the choices and the decisions and the way that you live your life? You finished with that? You think you’ve got some special revelation or some superior knowledge or superior education? You’ve got your PHD or your M-Div or your BA or your BS or whatever it is, and you somehow think that you don’t need the wisdom of God? There’s more hope for a fool than for you.

Pride is the root of every other sin. C.S. Lewis the author of the Chronicles of Narnia, he put it this way, “The essential vice, the utmost evil is pride. Unchastity, greed, drunkenness, and all that, are mere flea-bites in comparison: it was through pride that the devil became the devil. Pride leads to every other vice. It is the complete anti-god state of mind.”

 

3. Pride deceives me.

 

God raised up a prophet named Obadiah one day and he marched up to a king and said this, your pride, “The pride of your heart has deceived you, you who live in the clefts of the rock…” That was the suburbs back in the Bible times, okay? “You who live in the clefts of the rock and in your lofty dwelling, who say in your heart, ‘Who will bring me down to the ground?’” Don’t ever. Don’t ever say that. Because God is capable of bringing you down. To the ground.

Pride deceives me. It deceives me into thinking I’m smarter than I am. It deceives me into thinking I’m more godly than I am. It deceives me into thinking that I’m a Christian when I’ve never been genuinely converted to Christ. It will wrap you up in religious knowledge and blind you to your need. Pride deceives me.

 

4. Pride causes me to live my life independent from God.

 

There was a church that was mentioned in the book of Revelation 3. It was the church of Laodicea. Famous church. It was an actual church. And this is what Jesus wrote to this church. It was Jesus writing a letter to this church and he says this, “For you say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing.” I don’t need anything. I got all I need. And Jesus said to them, “[You do not realize that] you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked.” How do you like that description?

Two different opinions. I am rich, prosperous and have need of nothing, and yet you are so blind that you do not know that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked. That’s how much pride can deceive you. And it causes me to live my life independent of God, thinking I have all I need. Who needs God?

Here’s the fifth thing:

 

5. Pride is displaced by the continual, humble acknowledgement of need.

 

You want to deal with your pride? Say this early and often, every day. “God, I need you. God, I need you.” I don’t ever want to get to the place that I don’t acknowledge my dependence upon God for every situation and every circumstance in my life. The moment I do is the moment God will be absent from my life. Think you can do it yourself? Fine. Go ahead and try that. See how well that works for you.

John Flavel is a guy that was a historian, and apparently, he liked his shirts and wanted to wear a bib. So he said this: he said, “They that know God will be humble; they that know themselves cannot be proud.” You got a pride problem? It’s because you do not know how superior and holy and beautiful and perfect God is. You don’t know God. You have a pride problem? You do not know how needy and wretched and blind and miserable and vulnerable you are. Cast yourself upon God for any and every circumstance and don’t be like Rehoboam that when things were going well, he abandoned the law of God.

Here’s the second thing we’re going to learn:

 

• When humility is abandoned, you invite the resistance of God. (v. 2-5)

 

Look back here at verse 2. What was happening? Why did Rehoboam lose his mind and lose his humility? Look at verse 2. It says, “In the fifth year of King Rehoboam, because they had been unfaithful to the Lord, Shishak…” is that not an awesome name? Shishak? I tried to tell Micah that that was far superior to Blaze, but he didn’t go for Shishak.

So “…Shishak, the king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem.” Do you understand that Shishak, not a godly dude? All right? So the enemies of God came attack the people of God. Remember all those fortified cities and how things were going well in Israel? Let’s see how that worked out for them.

Verse 3, Shishak brought “…1200 chariots, and 60,000 horsemen. And the people were without number who came with him from Egypt – Libyans, Sukkiim, and Ethiopians. And [Shishak] took the fortified cities.” Now, I can understand him taking cities. But fortified cities? Yeah, he took them. Scaled the walls. And when he scaled the walls, it says in verse 5, “Then Shemaiah the prophet came to Rehoboam…”

Prior to every great awakening, God raises up a prophet. And here’s comes the prophet Shemaiah. The prophet, he came to Rehoboam. Think Rehoboam was glad to see him? “Finally there’s a man of God that can tell me what’s going on and how to get out of this mess. I am so glad you’re here, because Shishak is on his way and I’m sure that God sent you to tell the king what we should do to defend ourselves against Shishak. Please prophet, please tell us what we should do.”

So the prophet comes “…to Rehoboam and to the princes of Judah, who gathered at Jerusalem because of Shishak…” and here’s what the prophet said to them. “Thus says the Lord, ‘You abandoned me, so I have abandoned you to the hand of Shishak.” That is all. Have a nice day.

Like, “What? Prophet. Prophet. You did a good job giving us the diagnosis of the problem. We already knew we had a problem. We’re listening to you now to tell us the prescription. Could you just take out the prescription pad and write us a prescription? Whatever we need to do to get out of the mess that we’re in. We’ll listen.” Nothing. Or had the prescription already been given?

Do you remember five chapters earlier in this book? “If my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from my wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and forgive their sin and heal their land.” The prescription had already been given. Rehoboam already knew what to do. Let’s find out if he did it.

So what happens when you’re surrounded by the enemy? Why is God allowing this to happen? Remember, when humility is abandoned, you invite the resistance of God. So, here with Shisak who surrounded Jerusalem. It reminds me of a few weeks ago. Andrea and I were in Dallas, Texas. We were there for a Family Life Conference and we were teaching and preaching down there. One morning, we woke up and outside of our window at this hotel, we were staying at a Hyatt Regency I think, and we looked out and this is what we saw. I took a picture of it.

The Dallas SWAT team had arrived. There was all this commotion going on. And these policemen in full body armor with the big guns were getting out and they were putting a perimeter up around the building next door. The building next door was actually the Dallas Stars hockey arena, and it had a big parking garage attached to it. And so Andrea turned on the news, and so I went down to find out what was going on. Get involved. And so, I found out that what was going on was there was a jewelry theft.

He broke the glass cases in this jewelry store. He grabbed the jewels. He stole a car and he raced into the parking garage. And the police surrounded the parking garage and they were about to go in and get the jewelry thief. And I’m thinking, “Black lives matter. And police lives matter. And my life matters.” And this was going to be like a Texas showdown. I guess this happens all the time in Texas. I don’t know. They got guns and a shootout and all this stuff.

It reminded me of what was happening here in Jerusalem. I mean, the enemy had surrounded the people. There was no escape. Now somehow the jewelry thief escaped. I don’t know what happened. He might have come to the Family Life conference. I don’t know. But anyway, in this case, there was no escape. Or was there?

There was a way of escape. It was humility. Humility is the way of escape.  But when humility is abandoned, you invite the resistance of God. What was God doing when he had abandoned his people? And let me just ask you this: how near does God seem to you?

Does it seem like God has abandoned you? Does it seem like you are far from God and it’s like, “God, do you see what’s going on down here? Do you see the enemy surrounding me? Did you happen to see the medical report I got last week? Did you happen to see the bank balance God? God, did you see what was going on in my marriage? God, where are you and why don’t you come and fix it now?” That’s the attitude of Rehoboam.

And that’s an attitude of pride. When you are surrounded by enemies and you feel like you are abandoned by God, the humble response is to not look and shake your fist at God, but to take your finger and point it at your own heart and say, “Is there anything in me that is causing God to abandon me?” It can happen. And it happens all the time because God loves us too much to allow us to be prideful.

In James 4, this is New Testament now, he says, “God opposes the proud.” See the word “opposed” there? Do you know what the word “opposed” means? Do you know what God does with proud people? This is what God does with proud people. He strikes a Heisman pose. He stiff-arms proud people. “That’s as close as you’re getting, right there.” God opposes the proud.

So if God seems like he’s distant, you might want to find out why. And you might want to ask yourself, “Is it because of my pride that I’m being stiff-armed by God?” But, here’s the good news. “He gives grace to the humble.” And even for people who sense they have been abandoned by God, here’s the promise. “Draw near and he will draw near to you.”

It was the exact opposite of what the prophet said to that king. “You abandoned me. I abandoned you.” God says, “You draw near to me, I draw near to you.” It’s a wonderful little arrangement we have here. And then he says, “Humble yourselves before the Lord and he will exalt you…”

We usually get that flipped. We spend all of our time exalting ourselves and God has to turn around and humble us. And it’s always our responsibility to humble ourselves. You don’t pray and ask God to humble you. That’s not a good plan. It is your responsibility to humble yourself. Then God will exalt you. God’s plan A is always humility. God’s plan B is humiliation. And if you don’t stay on plan A, by default, you’re signing up for plan B.

That’s how much God loves you. That’s how much God loved his people here in the book of Chronicles. When he wants to send an awakening, he creates a sense of crisis. So that we will humble ourselves and understand how dependent we are on God for everything. I believe that is what God is doing in our nation. We are on plan B as a nation.

You want to wonder why there are all these terrorist threats and there’s so much debt and there’s so much flooding. What is going on? God is trying to get us to a place of need so that we will humble ourselves. But when humility is abandoned, you invite the resistance of God.

Here’s the third thing:

 

• A periodic crisis of humility is essential to the ongoing process of deliverance. (v. 6-7)

 

Let’s find out what happened. Look back at verse 6. “Then the princes of Israel and the king…” Did what? “….humbled themselves.” Underline that. They humbled themselves and they said, “The Lord is righteous.” Implication? We are not. And “…when the Lord saw that they humbled themselves, the word of the Lord came to Shemaiah.” Oh, the prophet now has a prescription. And Shemaiah comes and says, “They have humbled themselves. I will not destroy them, but will grant them some deliverance.” Underline the word “some”.

Notice, it’s not going to be full deliverance. He says, “…my wrath shall not be poured out on Jerusalem by the hand of Shishak.” But then we find out why it’s not full surrender or full deliverance. It says, “Nevertheless, they shall be servants to him, and they shall know my service and the service of the kingdoms of the countries. So Shishak king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem. He took away the treasures of the house of the Lord and the treasures of the king’s house.”

How much treasure do you think was in the king’s house? Who was the richest man ever? (Congregation replies “Solomon”.) Daddy. He was living on Daddy’s money. And it’s never good for a son to live on Daddy’s money. He might get proud thinking somehow he did something to earn it. And so in order for King Rehoboam to stay in a humble position, God had an enemy come in and take away the money that he’d been counting on for his deliverance.

And that the treasure of the king’s house was took away. “He took away everything. He also took away the shields of gold that Solomon (Daddy), had made…” And then verse 10, “King Rehoboam made in their place shields of bronze….” What’s superior? Gold or bronze? What’s superior? A Cadillac or a moped?

You driving a moped? Maybe it’s because you’re too proud to drive a Cadillac. And God knows that. Maybe God knows that when you’re established and you’re strong, you have a tendency to be proud. And forget him. So he’s keeping you right there in a dependent state like he did Rehoboam so you won’t forget God. A crisis of humility is essential to the ongoing process of deliverance.

Let’s talk about these two words: crisis and process. And let’s talk about these two words: revival and discipleship. So, we have around here, a very clear identity about who we are. We are Harvest Bible Chapel, and we have a mission statement that says, “We exist to glorify God through the fulfillment of the Great Commission.” The Great Commission was when Jesus told the church to go and make, what? Make disciples.

We’re not just to make believers. We’re not just to make admirers of Christ. We’re to make disciples. And that is an ongoing, lifelong process. Everything we do around here is about making a quality of disciples. We are about a quality of discipleship, not a quantity of disciples. And so this service is a disciple-making machine. Our small groups are disciple-making machines. This building is a disciple-making factory. We are about making disciples because that’s what Jesus told to make.

So that is an ongoing process that takes place over years and time. And I trust that even you personally sense that, “I’m a better disciple than I was a year ago.” How many of you would say, “I’m a better disciple than I was a year ago. I see process and change. It’s up and to the right. I stumble and fall but I’m so glad for friends and a church that loves me and teaches me God’s word and prays for me an encourages me an even rebukes me when I’m wrong.” And that is a process of discipleship. It’s ongoing.

It may be a thirty, forty, fifty, sixty-year process, and it’s a good process. But I want to challenge you. Don’t be content with process discipleship. Because there are seasons when God accelerates the discipleship with a crisis of revival. An awakening. A new urgency. A new desperation where God may do in five minutes in revival what may take fifteen years in the process of discipleship.

Here’s how they work together. They’re not enemies, they’re friends. Revival is a crisis that accelerates the process of discipleship. So around here, man, we’re here every week. This a service. And you know what this service is? This service is intended to not be just a process, it’s intended to be a crisis. Where we open God’s word and you are challenged with urgency and simplicity and clarity to make a move toward God.

Every time you meet in a small group, it should be a sense of crisis where I am challenged to do what I know I’m already supposed to do. When you wake up in the morning and carve out a little extra time and open up God’s word and put your face in the Bible and say, “God, I need you today. Speak to me, I want to obey.” That is to be a crisis, and it is to accelerate the process of lifelong discipleship.

But without a crisis, here’s what will happen. You’ll think that Christianity is just about getting better. And smarter. And wiser. It is that, but it’s not just that. And at times, we need the accelerant, the crisis of an urgent meeting with God to accelerate the process of discipleship. And I believe that that’s part of what God is doing even in these days here at our church.

In the year 1734, in Northampton, Massachusetts, there was a pastor who carried a burden for his community of about 1100 people. He was going around and evaluating the spiritual condition and he said at that time, it was a degenerate time. It was marked by dullness of religion. If you asked somebody in that town, “Hey can you point me to a vertical, Bible-believing, gospel-saturated church where people are on fire about getting the Great Commission done,” they would have shrugged their shoulders and said, “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Because there was a dullness that was affecting the young people in town. They weren’t getting married; they were giving up on the whole concept of marrying. They were hooking up, and there were a lot of fatherless children showing up. Sound like any culture you know of? I’m talking about 1734, before America was ever even established as an independent nation.

And so this burden on Jonathan Edwards led him to pray that God would send awakening to his community. It was a town divided by two families who were feuding with one another. And in the spring of 1734, there were two young people in that town that died tragically. And it sparked thoughts of eternity in those who were friends of those two young people. In the fall of that year, Jonathan Edwards began to preach a series of sermons in justification by faith alone in Christ alone for salvation.

One of his sermons was entitled “A Divine and Superior Light.” And this is what he said in that message: “There is a difference between having a rational judgment that honey is sweet, and having a sense of its sweetness. A man may have the former, that knows not how honey tastes; but a man can’t have the latter, unless he has an idea of the taste of honey in his mind.”

Do you know what he was saying? There was a difference between being able to give a definition of honey and actually tasting its sweetness. And he was drawing a line in his community between those who knew intellectual facts about God, who had some knowledge of the word of God, who maybe had parts of doctrine memorized, but had never actually been the subject of the grace of God.

I believe that condition exists in our community. I believe it exists right here in this room. There are people who have gone to church. You know definitions, you’ve gone through some religious formulas, and yet you’ve never tasted of the superior greatness of the grace of God that has stirred your soul with love and passion for the things of God so that it produces a hatred toward the things that God hates.

And so Jonathan Edwards began to preach that series of sermons, and God began to send awakening there in the community. Over the next six months, three hundred of that town’s population of 1100 were hopefully converted to Christ. That’s an important two-word phrase that Jonathan Edward began to use. Because you know what he was saying? You can pray a prayer, you can raise a hand, you can sign a card, you can go through the waters of baptistery. That is no indication that you have been genuinely converted to Christ.

This week as we’ve gone out and we’ve shared the gospel with a lot of people, you may have had people respond and pray a prayer. And we may say there were a lot of people who were hopefully converted. You say, “Well, they got saved.” Maybe. The proof is in the pudding. Did that crisis begin the process of change and sanctification and holiness, and is there going to be something that indicated they are no longer the person they were?

And so we love that word. We’re going to use that around here. That person was “hopefully converted”. This is going to be a great phrase for us. Because the proof is going to be how you live out the life that God has now given you. It’s not that your changed life makes you saved. It’s that your salvation changes your life, and changes the direction, so that there is now evidence that you are not the person that you once were. That’s what God does in salvation.

Jonathan Edwards continued to preach and he began to give a narrative of what God had done. He reported what God was doing, awakening the community and he said this. “God seemed to have gone out of his usual way in the quickness of his work, and the swift progress his Spirit has made in the operation on the hearts of man. There was scarcely a single person in the town, either old or young, that was left unconcerned about the great things of the eternal world.”

They weren’t thinking about basketball playoffs, and how to make money, and jobs. They were thinking about what’s next when this life is finished. “The town seemed to be full of the presence of God. It never was so full of love, nor so full of joy. Our public assemblies were then beautiful; the congregation was alive in God’s service, every one earnestly intent on the public worship. Our public praises were then greatly enlivened; God was then served…in the beauty of holiness.” It was an awakening that God did. God did an awakening in 1734. God needs to do an awakening in 2015.

Look back at your Bibles, and I want you to look at verse 12. Look at what happened when King Rehoboam humbled himself. It says, “When he humbled himself the wrath of the Lord turned away from him…” Everybody understand that’s a good thing? That’s a good thing when the wrath of God turns away from you. That’s a good thing because he humbled himself. And then it says, “…so as not to make a complete destruction.” Everybody in favor of God not completely destroying America? That’s a good thing. Need some of that.

And then it says, “Moreover, conditions were good in Judah.” Ruh-roh. Rehoboam not do so good when conditions are good. The condition of Rehoboam is usually not good when conditions are good. Rehoboam tends to swell up with pride when things are good. Look down at verse 14, “And he did evil, for he did not set his heart to seek the Lord.”

Rehoboam humbled himself: first condition of revival. Rehoboam prayed, “The Lord is righteous.” Second condition of revival. Rehoboam didn’t go to the third step: “Seek my face.” And as a result, the awakening that God sent was short of all that could have happened if he had set his heart fully to seek the Lord.

We can’t be content with having a good experience with God, knowing how God sends revival. We’ve got to set our hearts to seek the Lord continually. Don’t be content with the process of discipleship. Pray for the crisis of revival to accelerate the process of discipleship. Does God seem like he’s abandoned you? Have you got mad at God because he abandoned you? That’s a bad plan. That shows a proud heart. A humble heart turns its attention and says, “What is it in me that has abandoned God? That has caused God to abandon me? And where can I draw near to God so that God once again will draw near to me?”

Are you on plan A of humility or is God using plan B to bring you to a place of humiliation? Why don’t we bow our hearts here for a moment? Let’s not rush too quickly past what God said today. Where’s God found you? Do you feel like the enemies of God have surrounded you? Or maybe things are going so well you really haven’t noticed God is missing in the day-to-day activities of your life. Don’t allow pride to deceive you but to acknowledge your need continually.

Why don’t you just pray right now, “God I need you. I need you. I’m not going to allow my graduation or my bank account or my suburban home, my nice family and my nice church to deceive me into thinking I don’t need you. I need you as much today as I’ve ever needed you. Awaken me. Bring me to a place of crisis if necessary, to accelerate the work of discipleship in my life. Don’t let me ever be content with my love for you, my service for you, my knowledge of you. I humble myself before you recognizing my need.”

Father, today, thank you for the clarity of your word and the movement of your Spirit here today. We’ve sensed your presence. God we want to go on record just to acknowledge our need. We’re not going to trust a building. We’re not going to trust a home, friends, nice family. God, we need you. God reveal more of yourself to us so that we cannot be proud. God I pray that you’d make us teachable. God, take us to places that we wouldn’t go without your humility. Give us an understanding of the needs all around us. God, I pray that our reputation would be one that sets up others to win, that looks for ways to deflect the praise to someone else. Thank you for your humility in coming and taking on the form of a servant. Being made in the likeness of men, you humbled yourself even to the point of death, even death on a cross. So God, thank you for modeling that. In Jesus, we pray in His name. Amen.