When, If, Then, Now

2^nd Chronicles 7:13 – 16

Today we gather to celebrate July 4^th in the church. July 4^th speaks to the freedom founded in our country 236 years ago this coming Wednesday.  This week I thought back to what those men who signed the Declaration of Independence sacrificed.  They sacrificed their ties to their former country (England); they sacrificed the life of comfort and peace; they sacrificed the surety of tomorrow (for they did not know what this new life would bring); in other words they sacrificed everything to stand up for a new nation that was being created.  The early settlers came to seek religious freedom from a tyranny led government who wanted to tell them how they were to worship and to what church that would be. And through that expansion to a new world the United States of America was formed.  Religion played a big part, if the not main reason, this country was founded!

Our Scripture text for today talks about freedom as well.  Yet, in our search for freedom we must look within to start with.  We gather here this morning to worship our Lord and Savior and not a nation – we gather to look within our own lives and seek the freedom that can only be found in Jesus Christ. 

Turn with me to today’s text and if you would find your bulletin insert as we talk about what it means to seek God and have Him listen to our calling out to Him.  Read along with me the passage found at 2^nd Chronicles 7:13-16:

¹³ "When I shut up heaven and there is no rain, or command the locusts to devour the land, or send pestilence among My people, 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 will forgive their sin and heal their land. ¹⁵ Now My eyes will be open and My ears attentive to prayer made in this place. ¹⁶ For now I have chosen and sanctified this house, that My name may be there forever; and My eyes and My heart will be there perpetually" (NKJ).

There are 4 key words in today’s passage and they are listed as our sermon title for today.  We start in verse 13 with the word “when.”  In this case in the Hebrew vernacular it is the word “behold,” which means we are to stand up and take notice about what is about to be said.  God told Solomon, “When I do these things…”. Now some of your translations may say “if” but I believe “when” is more appropriate here because of the prayer of Solomon at the time of the dedication of the Temple which is found at 2 Chronicles 6:26-27.  Solomon prays, "When the heavens are shut up and there is no rain because they have sinned against You, when they pray toward this place and confess Your name, and turn from their sin because You afflict them, then hear in heaven, and forgive the sin of Your servants, Your people Israel, that You may teach them the good way in which they should walk; and send rain on Your land which You have given to Your people as an inheritance." 

Today’s Scripture is in response to Solomon’s prayer, so as Solomon prayed with a realization of a time of struggle God responds that this will indeed become a fact.    The first thing that has to take place is for us to look realistically at our lives and see what the true condition of our lives really is.  In verse 13 we get a glimpse at that condition.  When this verse says that there is no rain, we need to understand that this means that nothing is growing and we are starting to die spiritually.  I liken this to someone who has a garden.  In order to plant a garden there must be a turning of the soil in order to get the produce to grow.  We must not become complacent in our lives as to which we are not growing stronger spiritually.  We need to continue to plow the spiritual fields in order to grow.  We should do 5 things each day of the week, not only on Sundays and they are: Worship, Pray, spend time in Solitude with the Lord, Listen for the Lord, and read the Word of God.  If we do this then we will draw closer to Christ and the days of no rain with go away or at least be lessened.

Now if we continue to stay the same and remain comfortable without growing spiritually, we will find that the locust will devour us.  This means what little is growing will be eaten up.  Satan will see this as an opening and jump to seek, devour, and destroy.  This is a critical time in our individual life and the life of the church, because if we have not taken a realistic look at ourselves we will open ourselves to the onslaught of Satan as we learn when we look at the third point made from God of a person or church not growing in Christ.

God teaches us in verse 13 that when we are not growing and are under attack, pestilence will come amongst us.  This means that we are so weak that we open ourselves to Satan and everything he has to throw at us.  At this point we are in dire straits and in need of some major spiritual overhaul. I want to emphasize we may be down, but we are not out – God has a plan to redeem us and pull us out of this sinful pit.

Look at verse 14 and we see the second word of today’s sermon and that is the word “if”.  It is a conditional conjunction, so this passage is saying when these things happen, “if my people” do as I say “then” this will happen to them.  So we must first look at who the people are that God is speaking to in this passage and is He talking to us today? Verse 13 is explaining the condition of Israel, but we know by Romans 9:22-26 and 2^nd Corinthians 6:16 that it explains that this is also for us to here this morning.  I leave that up to you to read at your convenience – that is Romans 9:22-26 and 2^nd Corinthians 6:16. 

The key word in verse 14 is the word “humble.”  This means that we as individuals and as a church are to take a position that is not easy nor is it in our character.  As the Scriptures say the 2^nd chapter of Philippians, “…at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (10-11, NKJ).  We fall before the Lord with a realization that it is only Him who can save us and help our miserable condition.  In other words it a realistic look at who we really are when all our make-up has been removed and who we really are in the eyes of God. And we are truthful we will realize that we are sick and sinful and we need to pray, because you see a sick land, a sick church, a sick person (with sick meaning sinful) who continues to remain in their sickness or sinfulness cannot humble themselves before God and pray.  We have to come to that moment when we realize we need God and then we will truly humble ourselves and pray, “God we messed up, if it is to be fixed it is going to have to be you who fixes us!”  Brothers and sisters, when we humble ourselves it is shown by the evidence of prayer life, for the fruit of humility is prayer and humility is the fruit of prayer.

The next thing God says to the people in verse 14 is seek my face. The word “seek” means to deeply desire to get God’s attention; you seek until you get His attention; remember the woman who came to Jesus and ask for His attention even to the point of being so pushy as to ask for the scraps from the table.  She deeply desired Jesus and His attention, so should we!  This means we don’t get up from prayer until we receive an answer from God.  I am reminded of reading Billy Graham’s autobiography where Rev. Graham and his team would spend all night on their knees in prayer together in preparation of an upcoming or an ongoing revival.  Or what about Pat Robertson, when planning the start of the 700 Club, took orange juice into the church and said he would come out of the church when he had received an answer from God as to whether or not to start this ministry; and 7 days later emerged with the answer God gave to him. Now that is what this verse is talking about we seek God with that passion and commitment, and that is the same passion and commitment we have as we find in Rev. Graham and Pat Robertson because they took what Jeremiah 29:13 said to heart and that is what we should do so as well; when it says: “And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart.”

But that is not all we are to do, then we are to turn from our wicked ways.  It is at this point that we have realized we are sinners, that we are off track, and we need God’s help and we drop all our attitudes, our desires, our agendas, our wants, our pride, our selfishness; and we repent.  I believe the first act of repentance is that we have to agree with God that His way and His plan is best and we need to follow Him with all our heart, all our soul, and all our might.

The third point of today’s Scripture then takes place: when these things happen or begin to happen and if we will do these things that God has mention then He says “I will hear from heaven”.  When we have God’s attention, because He has our total attention and commitment, the word says He will hear us, that He will forgive our sin, and He will heal our land.  What God is telling us here this morning is that when we come to Him broken and open to His Will for our life, then He will forgive our sin and heal our lives from the ravages of a Satan-led existence.  When we finally realize our total need of God and truly confess and repent, instead of just lip-service; God says, “I will hear you; I will forgive you: I will heal you.”  What great news this morning.

The final point of today’s message is the 4^th word in our sermon title and that is the word “now.”  God says when this happen, and if you do this, then I will do this, and now here is our new relationship that exists between You and me, whether it is individually or corporately as a church or a nation.  My eyes are now opened; my ears are attentive to your prayers; and my name and heart will be where you are.  We will have a new and vibrant relationship with God because first we are in tune with Him and He knows we are committed to Him in a complete subjection and submission mode; we have totally surrendered to Him with every aspect of our life and we are seeking Him daily in a new and exciting way.  We can read at John 14:13 that Jesus said to us, “And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.”  This Scripture is fulfilled when we get into the right relationship with God as we have talked about today. 

So in closing when we realize our total need and reliance on God, and we humble ourselves in prayer by seeking our God with a passion that desires to hear His answer and repent of our wickedness and sinfulness; He will hear our prayers, forgive us of our sins, and heal our lives; and then a new and wonderful relationship will begin with our Lord and Savior that will be life altering and life changing. As my pastor friend said this past Tuesday as we studied this passage, “When we get serious with God, God will get serious with us!”  I think that says it all this morning.  If you truly what freedom, you must do as our early forefathers did, be willing to give up everything to follow Jesus.