Sermon Tone Analysis

This week’s reading has brought us to the story of Hezekiah as told in , ; ; and , want us to look at an apex moment in the life of Hezekiah.

(NIV)

I was tempted to have them open the service today by telling you to start finding the book of Chronicles, because for some of you it will take that long.

It is on page 454 of my Bible, if that helps.

(You can always look in the table of contents!)

DON’T HAVE A BIBLE?

Ezekiel: “And I looked for someone among them who would… stand before me in the gap on behalf of the land so I would not have to destroy it, but I found no one.

31 So I will… bring down on their own heads all they have done, declares the Sovereign LORD.” (NIV)

AS YOU ARE FINDING THAT… Some of you have started to read the Bible through with us (I hope a lot of you will do that… a 1-­‐year Bible reading plan on the website, or follow it @ReadtheBibleRDU).

If so, last week on Monday, you read this from the prophet Ezekiel: “And I looked for someone among them who would… stand before me in the gap on behalf of the land so I would not have to destroy it, but I found no one.

31 So I will… bring down on their own heads all they have done, declares the Sovereign LORD.” (NIV)

Ezekiel wrote those words during a time when Israel had wandered far from God, for a long time, and God was looking for someone, some man or woman of faith, who would stand between him and the people in the gap of their faithlessness and disobedience.

Ezekiel wrote those words during a time when Israel had wandered far from God, for a long time, and God was looking for someone, some man or woman of faith, who would stand between him and the people in the gap of their faithlessness and disobedience.

Had there been even one, he said—who would have acted righteously and prayed for the people—he would have not destroyed the people.

But there was no one—not even one—in all of Israel.

This weeks reading introduces us to a man name Hezekiah who unlike those in Ezekiel’s stood in the gap for Israel.

His faith and radical “all-in” obedience preserved the southern kingdom from destruction and ignited a great revival.

Hezekiah lived 123 years before Ezekiel wrote those words—he held off Ezekiel’s judgment for 123 years!, and his story is found in .

We’re going to spend 2 weeks on this really interesting figure, Hezekiah.)

Historian Thomas Carlyle famously said that the destinies of societies are shaped by great men and women who act boldly at key times.

(Many historians criticize his theory, because multiple factors usually contribute to societal movements, but you can’t overlook that there are ways that the courage and boldness of one person can change the course of an entire society.)

I want you to see yourself as being the faith instrument that connects his healing with their need.

Being the faith instrument that connects his healing with their need.

It’s kind of like that scene in Back to the Future where the mad-­‐ scientist doctor goes up and joins the dangling pieces of the wire so that when lightning strikes at exactly 10:04 pm giving Michael J. Fox’s DeLorean’s flux capacitor going exactly 88 miles an hour it can have the energy it needs to get him back to the future.

PICTURE.

You are going to be that human bridge that connects the lightning of God’s power and someone’s flux capacitor… and the analogy starts to break down pretty dramatically at that point, but you get it.

Hezekiah was that man in the gap.

We should be the people in the gap.

Hezekiah’s story is the most often told story in the Old Testament—it’s found in Chronicles, Kings, and Isaiah, which means it must have been very significant in how Israel saw themselves.

It was their go-­‐to story.

Let’s start in .

Hezekiah was born into the Southern kingdom of Israel at a time of great moral degradation.

Ahaz, his father, had been one of the worst, most ungodly kings ever.

Here is how the author of Chronicles summarized Ahaz’ reign

In his time of trouble King Ahaz became even more unfaithful to the LORD.

(God had sent some mild trouble to him to bring him back, but instead…) 23 He offered sacrifices to the gods of Damascus, who had defeated him; for he thought, “Since the gods of the kings of Aram have helped them, I will sacrifice to them so they will help me.”

(If you can’t beat them, join them.)

But they were his downfall and the downfall of all Israel.

According to verse 22 God had sent some mild trouble to him to bring him back, but instead He offered sacrifices to the gods of Damascus, who had defeated him; for he thought, Since the gods of the kings of Syria have helped them, I will sacrifice to them so they will help me.”

Modern translation; If you can’t beat them, join them.

This decision led to Ahaz and Israel’s downfall.

According to verse 22 God had sent some mild trouble to him to bring him back, but instead He offered sacrifices to the gods of Damascus, who had defeated him; for he thought, Since the gods of the kings of Syria have helped them, I will sacrifice to them so they will help me.”

Modern translation; If you can’t beat them, join them.

This decision led to Ahaz and Israel’s downfall.

But then there was Hezekiah

)

Chapter 29 goes on to describe how Hezekiah not only got himself right with God, but also led Israel in a national awakening back to God.

Chapter 29 goes on to describe how Hezekiah not only got himself right with God, but also led Israel in a national awakening back to God.

Chapter 29 goes on to describe how Hezekiah not only got himself right with God, but also led Israel in a national awakening back to God.

I want to break down this revival into several steps, to show you what an awakening in our city will look like.

This is how you stand in the gap.

Awakening happens when God’s people clean out the junk from their lives (29:3–5)

)

Hezekiah started this revival with himself, the priests, and the house of worship.

Revival always begins in the house of God.

Hezekiah started this revival with himself, the priests, and the house of worship.

Revival always begins in the house of God.

We think it’s out there but it’s us in here that always keeps a community from revival.

When we harbor secret sins; things in our heart and lives we know aren’t right, we keep our community from the presence of God.

But it’s us in here that always keeps a community from revival.

When we harbor secret sins; things in our heart and lives we know aren’t right, we keep our community from the presence of God.

Nothing grieves and drives out presence of the Holy Spirit like harbored, unconfessed sin in the church.

Sin destroys our sense of, and hunger for, God’s presence.

Tim Keller says that when he reconnects with a college student who grew up in Christian homes but lost his faith in college, he usually asks, “So who you sleeping with?” 9 out of 10s times, he says, he will see a flush of embarrassment cross their face and they’ll stutter, “Uhh … what does that have to do with anything?”

Everything, he says.

Willful sin makes the presence of God imperceptible to you.”

Sin extinguishes the presence of the Holy Spirit like water does a flame.

One of the greatest revivals ever in church history happened in Korea in the early 20th century.

It’s beginning always gets traced back to one event, when the Korean church was small, just a few hundred believers in the whole country.

During a prayer service one of the Korean church leaders—Mr.

Kang—stood up, trembling, and said in barely more than a whisper, “I have something to confess.

I have, for weeks, harbored an intense hatred in my heart for Mr. Lee, our friend and missionary.

I confess before God and before you, and I repent.”

The room fell silent.

Did this man just publicly admit to hating the host of the conference?

Every eye turned to Mr. Lee, to see how he would respond.

Mr. Lee was taken aback, and could not hide his own surprise.

But he quickly answered, “Mr.

Kang, I forgive you.”

What followed was a scene that people there later called “a poignant sense of mental anguish due to conviction of sin.”

Church members began to confess hidden sins, to weep over them, and to pray for forgiveness.

The meeting, which was scheduled for a few hours, stretched on until 5 the next morning.1

It led to a massive outpouring of God’s Spirit, and in 1 year 50,000 Koreans had come to Christ—this in a country where before there had only been a few hundred.

The local college campus in Pyongyang, where this started, saw 90% of its students come to faith in Christ.

90%! Today South Korea is one of the most thriving missionary-­‐sending hubs in the world.

I read a book on revivals recently that said that revivals always begin when God’s people get serious about their sin.

True revival, it said, is not noisy at first.

It usually begins in a hushed awe.

People weep over sin before they shout with joy.

Can I ask you a question: Might it be you?

What is your junk?

What is your junk?

• Pornography/Gossip/Hate/Adultery

• I’ve got other things to say… but let me ask: What is your junk?

Here’s what happened next:

2 Chronicles 29:25

Do you see what he did?

Hezekiah reestablished Scripture as the center of their lives and worship.

29:25 (Hezekiah) stationed the Levites in the temple of the LORD with cymbals, harps and lyres in the way prescribed by David and Gad the king’s seer and Nathan the prophet; this was commanded by the LORD through his prophets.

the LORD with the words of David and of Asaph the seer.

(29:25, 30) (Do you see what he did?

Hezekiah reestablished Scripture as the center of their lives and worship.)