We Must Have Revival Sermon

.We Must Have Revival.

Welcome and good evening! Today is a good day for revival! Today is the day that we consecrate ourselves to God, dedicate ourselves to Christ, and demonstrate our need for God’s word. Let me tell you a story.

?But back some years when soccer was very little known in this country, there was a great football coach named Knute Rockne at Notre Dame University. And he had a turnout of so many men that he knew he would have to dismiss many of them before long, and he decided to kind of accelerate this selection system. So, he got a soccer ball, and he gathered them around, and he said, ``Now, this is a soccer ball.'' And he said, ``Just to kind of get started,'' and he said, ``I want you to remember, football is a game that takes courage.''

The coach said, ``I'm going to divide you up into two groups, and then we'll put the ball down between you, and the idea will be to kick the ball -- to try to kick it over the other fellows' goal line.'' ``Now,'' he said, ``in the course of this, remember, you may have to kick a few shins. But,'' he said, ``remember, football is a game of courage.'' And then he looked down, and the ball was gone. And he said, ``Wait a minute. Who took the soccer ball?'' And the littlest guy in the front rank on one side said, ``Never mind the ball, Rock. When do we start kicking?''

We can be so eager for revival that we don’t know when or where to begin. So let me tell you. The time for revival is now and the place for revival is here, where you and I stand. Turn with me to 2 Kings 22 as I speak on the concept of revival. The title of my sermon is We must have revival.

Josiah was 8 years old when he became king. Now an 8 year old would be in elementary school but Josiah became king. If Josiah lived in the modern day he would be looking forward to recess and coloring books and Youtube but he lived in a day when he had to be king. The situation would have been very dire. Both Josiah’s father and grandfather were idolaters who did not worship God, and Josiah’s grandfather repented when it was too late. It was too late to avert judgment. Now Josiah had a choice to make, to follow in the ways of David and Hezekiah his great grandfathers, and these were great grandfathers, or to follow the path of Manasseh and Amon who were idolaters.

Josiah would have had to have advisors. But it would have depended on whether these men would have been men of integrity or men who would follow in the path of idolatry. Josiah would eventually have a choice to make. This choice was one that he could not pass on to someone else or say that he would choose it later. This was not the time to kick the can down the road. And this choice is the choice of revival. The first path of revival is recognition, and recognition that a choice has to be made.

There was a large group of people gathered. On one side of the group stood Jesus. On the other side stood Satan. Separating them was a fence running through the group. The scene set, both Jesus and Satan began calling to people in the group. One by one, each having made up his or her own mind, went to either Jesus or to Satan. This kept going for some time. Soon enough, Jesus had gathered around him a group of people from the larger crowd, as did Satan.

One man did not join either group. He climbed the fence that was there and sat on it. Jesus and his group of people left and disappeared; and, so also did Satan and his group of people. The man on the fence sat alone. As this man sat there, Satan came back,? appearing to be looking for something which he had lost. The man said, "Have you lost something?" Satan looked straight at him and replied, "No, there you are; come with me.” The man said, “But, I sat on the fence. I chose neither you nor him." Satan said, "That's okay; I own the fence.”

There is no fence, there is no middle way. Josiah had a choice to make and so do we. Do we choose to recognize the need for God and step into the land of revival or stay in the murky waters of sin that leads to judgment.

Josiah made the choice to do right. Before he stepped forward to do revival he decided to do what was right. He knew what was right and what was wrong, and wanted to step forward for God. ?He walked in all of the ways of his ancestor David, like Hezekiah. Not in some of the ways, not in most of the ways, but in all of the ways. He followed the good ways of previous kings wholeheartedly. He decided to pick revival not knowing how much revival would impact the land or even thinking that it would be too late.

Josiah was 26 when he decided to reform. Now he is no longer 8. He could have been on the youth committee of our church. Josiah could have been finished with college or doing a graduate program or working on his career. He is older so he has more perspective. He doesn’t just have youthful energy but his mind is more mature. Sometimes it is easier to be on fire for God when you are younger but as you get older, you need to have a more mature faith.

We are called to have a child-like faith but we are not called to have a childish faith. Our faith must grow as we progress. To put it into context, Jesus was 30 when he started his ministry. Joseph was 30 when he became Secretary of the Treasury of Egypt and David was 30 when he became king. The Temple was vital to worship of God.

Josiah decided to repair the Temple in the 18th year of his reign. Now the Temple was an important structure in the culture of the day. It was their White House, their Capitol Building all rolled into one. But over the years, the Temple had fallen into disrepair and disuse. There were things that were considered an abomination at the Temple, and it had not been used for the things of God for a very long time. They could not even locate the Book of the Law, which was their Bible. ?Josiah made a choice to be fervent about his revival, and his renovation of the Temple would not have been cosmetic because they wanted to have a pretty Temple. The societies around them had pretty Temples with elaborate structures and statues built to honor their pagan Gods. These renovations would have been vital because they recognized that they needed a structure to worship God and commune with him.

Sometimes we can be so concerned with having a pretty church and everything be perfect that the church does not grow. We must be willing to recognize and get real when we want revival. The church is not a cruise ship just lounging around in the sea it is a battleship ready to do war with the enemy and a hospital ship for those who want salvation.

There was a woman who tried to join a church. She tried every Sunday but the pastor would just smile at her politely and said you can’t come. I’m sorry but you do not dress well enough to be here. So she was sitting on the curb and complaining to God. She said, Jesus they do not allow me to worship at this church and I’ve been trying to years to come in. And Jesus spoke to her and said, That’s ok, they wouldn’t let me in either. We must make sure that we think of other people when we want revival.

The high priest stated that he had found the Book of the Law. Now imagine how they would have found the Book of the Law. They would have had to go through the dirt and grime and soil to locate the Book of the Law. Their fingernails would have been dirty, their backs would have ached from carrying heavy things and their feet would have been weary. They would have had to lift things and carry things and it would have been a process. ?But they would have been determined to continue until they were finished.

Maybe they did not find the Book of the Law the first day of cleanup of the Temple, or even the first month, but as they continued with their work they were able to see something intriguing. Someone would have had to be there to recognize what the Book of the Law looked like so that they did not accidently throw it away. ?It would have looked old and shriveled up, but it was the Book of the Law. Someone would have shouted out that this was the Book of the Law and had to be preserved. Then they would have taken the Book of the Law gently and brought it to the King in order for it to be read in his presence. The Word of God must be handled with delicate care. It is not a thing to be trifled with or to play around.

The book of the law was read in the presence of the King. This would probably be the first time that he would be hearing the Word of God like this. He then had a decision to make. He had to decide, do I stop the revival with having the book of the law or do I continue. Because they had located the Book of the Law and they renovated and cleaned the Temple. Most? people would have been happy with doing that and said its enough but Josiah recognized that more had to be done.

A Pentecostal preacher and his wife decided they needed a dog. Ever mindful of their congregation, they knew the dog must also be Pentecostal. They visited an expensive kennel and explained their needs to the manager, who assured them he had just the dog for them. When the dog was produced, the manager began giving it commands. “Fetch the Bible,” he commanded. The dog bounced to the bookshelf, scrutinized the books, located the Bible, and brought it to the manager. The manager then said, “Find Psalms 23″. The dog, showing marvelous dexterity with his paws, leafed thru the Bible, found the correct passage, and pointed to it with his paw.

Duly impressed, the preacher and his wife purchased the dog. That evening a group of parishioners came to visit. The preacher and his wife began to show off the dog, having him locate several Bible verses. The visitors were amazed. Finally, one man asked “Can the dog do normal dog tricks too?” “Let’s see” said the preacher. Pointing his finger at the dog, he commanded, “Heel!”The dog immediately jumped up on a chair, placed one paw on the preacher’s forehead and bowed his head. The preacher turned to his wife in complete shock and disbelief and said, “God is to be praised! This dog believes in deliverance!”

Another part of recognition is to believe in the deliverance that God can bring to our church and our nation. We must believe that God is all powerful, and when we ask him to do a work in our hearts he will go into our hearts and cleanse us.

John Calvin was an important figure during the Protestant Reformation. For those who don’t know the Protestant Reformation was a time when people realized that they had to get right with God. They realized that the Bible had to be the sole source of inspiration for the church. One of the most instrumental things was the invention of the printing press. The invention of the printing press then was like the invention of the Internet later. Before, most people could not read and books were scarce. So most people had to believe what they were told to believe.

?But now, the people could read for themselves what the Bible said. And they realized that the church was doing things that were not Biblical. So they started the Protestant Reformation to bring the church back to God. John Calvin was one of the important people, and he was a lawyer. But he went to Geneva and helped to institute a theocracy in Geneva in Europe that believed in the Word of God. John Calvin preached every day, and he had 4,000 sermons preached. And as a result of his efforts, many people were able to get right with God.

In order to have revival, we must first recognize the state of the church, the ?nation and the world. You are never too young to help lead your church, your nation, and the world back to the following of Christ. . God can use young people for revival and he is eager to use young people. The Bible says that it is good for a man to bear the yoke in his youth. The Bible also says that God calls the young because they are strong. ?Don’t ever believe ?that you age is dispositive and that you are too young to serve God because you are not.

?We must also learn about previous revivals, because in order to have revival we must know what exactly we are reviving. ?They say that if you want to really want to hide something from someone to put it in a book, but we as Christocrats must not be afraid to do research that will edify us. We must not be afraid to use the technology of our day to reach out to people and tell them about the need to get right with God. ?We must learn from both the good and the bad of previous revivals. The good provides a course and the bad provides a cautionary tale of what to avoid.

Next in order to have revival we must have repentance. Repentance is defined as inward transformation. Let us turn back to Josiah. When he heard the Book of the Law, he became upset. Being a righteous king, it did not sit well with him that the actions of his people did not conform to the will of God. So he did a very dramatic thing. King Josiah tore his clothes. I’m not talking about a little rip or a tear where he just tore the edge of his shirt. I’m talking about a full rage where he took his clothes and ripped them from his body in an act of passion.

Now he’s standing there almost naked with his stunned advisors. ?It would have been a moment of exposure and vulnerability. But also a moment of deep passion where he realized that something had to be done, and tearing his clothes was not enough. Sometimes we can have deep passion when reading the Word of God, but remember the demons hear the word of God and tremble at it. So just having a passionate reaction to the presence of the Word of God is not enough. There must be more and Josiah was willing to do more.

Josiah commanded people to go and inquire of the Lord. They went to Huldah who was a prophetess. The fact that they knew who to go to is very important. A lot of times when people want revival they don’t know who to go to, or who could help. So the revival just becomes a wish and does not become reality. In order for these to be a revival there must be a network of like-minded believers who are all working for the changing of the culture. Revival is not just one person or one party. No man is an island, and we cannot have revival if only one person wants it and is willing to sacrifice for it. We need the prophetic and the apostolic and the evangelistic and the teaching and the pastoral for revival. ?

Huldah said that God was about to bring disaster on 1) this place, and 2) these inhabitants. This was a reversal of when God spoke in Exodus that the angel of the Lord was going to give into their hands both the land and the inhabitants. This was because 1) They have abandoned me, 2) Burned incense to other gods. When they decided to go after other Gods, they did not just have God as an option they rejected God. Because God said that he is a jealous God and they should have no other God before me. But they thought that they could have other Gods after him and as a result they did not serve God at all. They burned incense to other Gods which is a form of worship. Israel from the beginning had trouble following just God and as a result they would follow unjust gods.

But Huldah saw that King Josiah genuinely wanted revival. But because the kings heart was tender, he would not see this desolation. King Josiah could have rested and said because I would not see my people suffer, then its alright. But Josiah’s heart was in the right place and he decided that my house and my children’s house needs to serve God. He was thinking not only of him, but the people who would come after him.

There was covenant renewal. The king went to the Lord’s temple. Kings had not gone to the temple for hundreds of years. ?All of the people of Judah were at the temple. The king read the words of the book of the covenant that was found in the temple. This was in accordance with Scripture. In Deuteronomy 17:18-20, ?the Bible said that when he sits on the throne of his kingdom,?he shall write for himself in a book a copy of this law,?approved by?the Levitical priests.?And?it shall be with him, and he shall read in it all the days of his life,?that he may learn to fear the?Lord?his God by keeping all the words of this law and these statutes, and doing them.

The king made a covenant to follow God and to keep his commands, decrees and statutes with all of his mind and his heart. He also resolved to carry out the words of this covenant that were written.The people agreed with this covenant. Now the King has recognized the need for revival and repented. He has also called the people to repent as well.

The example of Billy Graham is important to follow. Billy Graham was an evangelist, and over the course of a 60 year ministry he had crusades all around the world. He preached to over 210 million people in person and over 3 million people accepted Christ. The Bible said that the angels rejoice when one person join Christ so they must have been jumping a lot in heaven at Billy Graham’s ministry. His message was simple, We are sinners who have to be saved by grace. It was a poignant message which resonates even to today.

An atheist scientist came to God and said, We’ve figured out how to make a man without you. God said, OK let me see you do it. So the atheist bent down to the ground and scooped up a handful of dirt. But God stopped him and said, Oh no you don’t Get your own dirt! We must remember that the revival is not about us, it is about Christ.

We must repent for revival. Many people want revival but they don’t want to repent or to preach repentance. We must preach Christ and him crucified. We must make Christ the focal point and then people will see deliverance.

?? ???????? Finally, we come to the rebuilding. Rebuilding must consist of tearing down the things that we have done that upheld the enemy. Josiah took out of the temple all of the things made for Baal, Asherah and the whole heavenly host. They had expelled the heathen from the land, but they did not expel the heathen from their heart. He burned them outside Jerusalem in the fields of the Kidron. He also carried their ashes to Bethel.

Josiah did away with the idolatrous priests the kings of Judah had appointed to burn incense in the high places.They had burned incense to Baal, and to the sun, moon, constellations and the whole heavenly host. These false gods could not see, and ye the people were fervently working on their behalf. They could not taste, yet food was provided for them on a daily basis. They could not hear, and people were passionately worshipping them. They could not smell, yet people were continuously burning incense to them. But Josiah decided it ends here. The curse of idolatry ran in the land, until it ran into Josiah.

He brought out the Asherah pole and burned it in the Kidron Valley, beat it to dust, and threw its dust on the graves of the common people. This was meant to tear down what had been exalted among the people. ?These poles were once up high where everyone could see them, but now they were brought to the lowest point and burned. This was so that they could not be used again. If they were just thrown away someone could discover them and worship them. In David’s time he had a great victory against the Philistines. The Philistines were so demoralized that they left their idols and David took them and burned them. Hezekiah also took that snake on a pole that Moses built to cure the people in the wilderness from snakebites. It had ceased to be a reminder of God’s goodness and instead because ungodly idolatry. So Hezekiah took it and broke it up. In order for there to be revival there must be a breaking of the evil that is in our lives.

Josiah tore down the houses of the male cult prostitutes that were in the Lord’s temple. These people thought that they had it made. They get to have a house and get to be in the Lord’s Temple. But Josiah stepped to them and said you must vacate the premises right now. He was acting as landlord of the land and he torn down their houses. They probably thought he was an evil landlord but he did not care. The women were weaving tapestries for Asherah. ?They would actually take time, precious time, that could be spent praising the Lord and making things for Asherah.

This is similar to Gideon, when God told him to tear down the altar of Baal. God will always raise up a person to rid the land of evil. Gideon tore down the altar of Baal and put up an altar to the Lord. But because he was afraid of the people he did it in the night. Like Nicodemus who went to Jesus at night, Gideon tore down the altar at night. Now the people the next day knew it was him and wanted his head. But his father said that Baal could contend for himself and would not allow the people to get him. So they called Gideon, Jerubbaal because he has torn down Baal’s altar. Imagine that the worship of a false god was so poignant that they defined someone by their refusal to join idolaters. They called him Jerubbaal, and under the name of Jerubbaal he was able to defeat the enemies of Israel and set the land free. He did not allow this to define him, he allowed it to exalt him as one who was set apart.

Rebuilding also consists of raising up a standard of a lifestyle that will please God. The king commanded the people to keep the Passover. The Passover was that special time when the people of Israel had to remember that God passed over their land and slew the firstborn of the Egyptians. But God was gracious and did not slay the Israelites. God had told them to keep the Passover but they forgot. And they kept on forgetting. The Passover had not been kept for hundreds of years.

A teacher instructing on fractions used the following question with her class, A man died, leaving behind 20 million dollars. One tenth is to go to his wife. One quarter is to be split evenly between his two children. The rest of his money will be donated to charity. What will each person get. One student raised his hand and answered, a lawyer!

We need people who will advocate for revival. John Winthrop is a shining example to follow. He was a Puritan who recognized the need for a nation to be dedicated to God. So he led people from Europe to America in order to become that nation. He said that this newfound land will be a shining city on a hill, and evoked the imagery of the Bible. This nation was founded on Christian principles, and was always meant to be a Christian nation. One of the founding fathers said that what they have built, this great land of America would only work as a Christian nation and would not work as anything else.

C.S Lewis said that God made us: invented us as a man invents an engine. A car is made to run on gas and it would not run properly on anything else. Now God designed the human machine to run on Himself. He Himself is the fuel our spirits were designed to burn, or the food our spirits were designed to feed on. There is no other. That is why it is just no good asking God to make us happy in our own way without bothering about religion. God cannot give us a happiness and peace apart from Himself, because it is not there.

We have the Great Advocate leading us in revival. We need Jesus to help us in this endeavor. Without Christ we don’t even know what revival will entail but with Christ we can do exploits. We can tear down what needs to be torn down in our church and nation and we can rebuild what needs to be rebuilt in our culture. Because we run on Christ we can run to the gospel and speak until the nation runs back to Christ. We must uphold our calling as a Christian nation.

??????????? In conclusion, Josiah is a shining example to follow. But unfortunately the reforms of Josiah ended with Josiah. After Josiah left the kingdom of Judah backslid, there were no more good kings and the Babylonians conquered Judah in 586 B.C. So we must make sure that revival and reform do not end with us, and do not end at this church here. We must recognize, repent and rebuild starting with this church, and then move out to take revival to this city, to this region and to the world. And we can do it because God is with us. We are on God’s side and we have chosen that us and our house will follow Jesus. And as a result this land will be saved and be fruitful again. Amen and may God bless you all.