Revival Fire: Breaking the Power of Sin
Isaiah 6:5
Then I said, woe is me, for I am ruined! Because I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts.
There is no doubt that we are living in days of spiritual and moral decline. It only takes a quick look at today’s headlines to see the swift decline of Biblical morality and the equally swift rise of humanistic and worldly morality.
A friend recently told me of an experience his middle school daughter had at the beginning of the school year. The first day of class, the teacher asked each student to go to the board, write their name and preferred pronoun. My friend’s daughter was shocked to see what her friends wrote on the board. Unless we experience a deep moving of God, our children and grandchildren will be the recipients of a world that normalizes depravity so much that many will hardly remember if there ever was a time when God was honored among the people. So one of the reasons I am praying for revival is because of my desire to see godliness prevail and evil worldliness be exposed. Leonard Ravenhil, the author of Revival God’s Way, wrote, “Any true revival can be proven by the fact that it changed the moral climate of a nation.” Ravenhill calls this an “awakening.” Wouldn’t it be wonderful to see an awakening in our communities and in our nation!
However, there is something that I believe stands in the way - declining moral and spiritual condition of the church. I am talking about Believers in the Lord Jesus Christ. We might call it the “sin in the camp” that is a barrier to a fresh work of the Holy Spirit. Our churches are full of compromise, faithlessness, weak theology, shallow preaching, worldly practices and declining attendance. Now, I don’t mean to imply, “when I was younger, things were different.” I know that no church is perfect - even the ones from days gone by. However, the church today is clearly taking on the character of the world and looks very much like the current culture.
Isaiah wrote about this in Isaiah 6:5, “Then I said, woe is me, for I am ruined! Because I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts.” Isaiah recognized his own sinfulness. He says, “Woe is me. for I am undone.” The word “undone” means destroyed or cut off. The nation was being destroyed from the inside out. Sin was rampant and Isaiah first recognized his own sinfulness. In Isaiah 6:1 the Bible tells us that Isaiah “saw the Lord sitting on a throne, lofty and exalted.” Then he sees these angelic beings and hears the words, “Holy, Holy, Holy.” God’s holy character impacted Isaiah. And upon seeing the holiness of God, he recognized his own sinfulness. When we have a genuine encounter with God, we cannot help but see our sin. Since I began this revival series a few weeks ago, the Holy Spirit has reminded me daily of my need to cleanse my heart, to confess my sin, to draw near to God with a clean heart and to make myself ready for revival. I am praying for God to do a work in me; a work that will cleanse apathy, indifference, faithlessness, impurity, and compromise from my own life. I hope you will seek that kind of cleansing work from the Holy Spirit in your own life as well.
But I am also praying for a clean church for fellow Believers. I am praying that Pastors will spend more time in the Word receiving a word from God, more time on their knees crying out to God and less time on the programs and plans of the church. I pray regularly for my pastor friends to have ready hearts should God choose to move in the midst of their people. I am praying for my deacon friends to know the holiness of God. I am praying for my fellow church members to know the convicting love of God and dispel of personal sin. I am praying the same thing for the church as I am praying for me, clean hearts and holy hands. Isaiah said that he “lived among a people of unclean lips.” My heart desperately wants to see the church running toward holiness instead of today’s cultural norms.
Isaiah 6:7 tells us what happens when we confess our sin and come clean before Holy God, “Behold this has touched your lips; and your iniquity is taken away and sin is forgiven.” In spite of the sin in his life and the life of the nation, Isaiah knew what would happen if there was genuine repentance; God, in His mercy, would purge the sin and forgive the people.
I want revival in my heart and I know you do as well. And I want revival, just like you, in the church, among my fellow believers.
As we come to a close today, would you take a few minutes to stop where you are and name your sin in confession before God? Would bring your sin before God and turn from it. Would you take some time and pray for your pastor, church leaders and fellow believers, asking God to fan the flame of holiness in your church. Finally, would you take a few minutes to read Psalm 32 and Psalm 51. Personalize these Psalms and receive God’s cleansing forgiveness.