Revival By The Book

Revival: Stronger Than Ever

Revival By the Book

2 Chronicles 34-35

Revival -- If?

If all the sleeping folk will wake up,

If all the lukewarm folk will fire up,

If all the dishonest folk will confess up,

If all the disgruntled folk will cheer up,

If all the depressed folk will cheer up,

If all the estranged folk will make up,

If all the gossipers will shut up,

If all true soldiers will stand up,

If all the dry bones will shake up,

If all the church members will pray up...

Then we can have a revival!

-- R.G. Lee

The book of 2 Chronicles has been called The book of Revivals. Because from chapter 15 to chapter 35, Ezra records five revivals that each transformed the people and brought them back to God.

We’ve already walked through a couple of them together but here is a full list before we get to today’s teaching.

REVIEW

The first revival took place under King Asa. God let Asa know that the eyes of the Lord roam throughout the earth to strongly support those whose hearts are fully committed to Him.

Revival requires commitment.

The second revival took place under Jehoshaphat, who humbly admitted, “We do not know what to do, but we look to you.”

Revival requires prayer.

The third revival took place under King Joash who reinstituted passionate giving and rebuilt the Temple with it.

Revival requires a place.

The fourth revival took place under Hezekiah, who when he discovered that God required the Jews to hold a feast called Passover every April.

So, the people gathered for the Feast and revival broke out.

Revival requires God’s people to gather for worship.

As the people gathered, they realized they hadn’t been serving the Lord faithfully. So they confessed and repented.

Revival requires repentance.

REVIEW

- Commitment

- Prayer

- A place

- Corporate worship

- And Repentance.

CONTEXT

People sometimes ask why God was so harsh in the Old Testament. Why did He punish people by allowing foreign armies to overtake them?

Let me read you a little bit about Manasseh, the son of Hezekiah from 2 Chronicles 33:2-6 says…

2 Chronicles 33:2–6 KJV

But did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord, like unto the abominations of the heathen, whom the Lord had cast out before the children of Israel. For he built again the high places which Hezekiah his father had broken down, and he reared up altars for Baalim, and made groves, and worshipped all the host of heaven, and served them. Also he built altars in the house of the Lord, whereof the Lord had said, In Jerusalem shall my name be for ever. And he built altars for all the host of heaven in the two courts of the house of the Lord. And he caused his children to pass through the fire in the valley of the son of Hinnom: also he observed times, and used enchantments, and used witchcraft, and dealt with a familiar spirit, and with wizards: he wrought much evil in the sight of the Lord, to provoke him to anger.

Passing your children through the fire was a way of worshiping the god of the underworld. The child was passed through the fire as a sacrifice to the god Molech. If the child died, it meant your sacrifice was accepted. No wonder God was angry with them.

TRANSITION

King Manasseh reigned for 55 years. His son Amon succeeded him for 2 years. Amon was so wicked, the people assassinated him.

SEGUE/REVIVAL #5

Amon was succeeded by his son Josiah.

I told you that Israel experienced 5 revivals. The 5th revival comes during Josiah’s reign. It’s his story we want to learn from today.

CONTEXT

At the time Josiah comes to power, the kingdom is at an all-time low.

- God is forsaken.

- Baal is worshiped.

- Witchcraft is practiced.

- Mediums are consulted.

All that is right is forsaken, and all that is wrong is exalted.

Today we also face a culture that is at war with God. We also desperately need to see God raise up a revival to sweep through our churches, our towns, our states and our nation. Ezra wrote about this revival to encourage folks who have reaped the bitter fruit of consequences and judgement. He wrote to folks who needed to see that God can turn things around when we quit trying to follow our own formula for success. We can see the mighty Hand of God when we like Josiah seek Revival By the Book.

Do Right

2 Chronicles 34:1–2 KJV

Josiah was eight years old when he began to reign, and he reigned in Jerusalem one and thirty years. And he did that which was right in the sight of the Lord, and walked in the ways of David his father, and declined neither to the right hand, nor to the left.

Start be getting right - righteous or justified

Romans 5:1 KJV

Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ:

Once you are justified by faith, follow righteousness.

1 Timothy 6:10–11 KJV

For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows. But thou, O man of God, flee these things; and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness.

Stick with God’s word, don’t deviate into legalism or license.

Proverbs 4:27 KJV

Turn not to the right hand nor to the left: Remove thy foot from evil.

Seek After God

2 Chronicles 34:3 KJV

For in the eighth year of his reign, while he was yet young, he began to seek after the God of David his father: and in the twelfth year he began to purge Judah and Jerusalem from the high places, and the groves, and the carved images, and the molten images.

Josiah was 16 when he started his passionate pursuit.

Seek His presence in prayer

Seek His wisdom in Counsel

Seek His power and protection in fellowship

2 Corinthians 6:17–18 KJV

Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.

Clean Your Household

2 Chronicles 34:4–7 KJV

And they brake down the altars of Baalim in his presence; and the images, that were on high above them, he cut down; and the groves, and the carved images, and the molten images, he brake in pieces, and made dust of them, and strowed it upon the graves of them that had sacrificed unto them. And he burnt the bones of the priests upon their altars, and cleansed Judah and Jerusalem. And so did he in the cities of Manasseh, and Ephraim, and Simeon, even unto Naphtali, with their mattocks round about. And when he had broken down the altars and the groves, and had beaten the graven images into powder, and cut down all the idols throughout all the land of Israel, he returned to Jerusalem.

Matthew 6:24 KJV

No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.

Do a fearless moral inventory.

Confess sinful actions or attitudes

Confess idolatry

Get rid of anything that would help you hang on to these sinful habits and choices.

Make your commitment public.

Acts 19:18–20 KJV

And many that believed came, and confessed, and shewed their deeds. Many of them also which used curious arts brought their books together, and burned them before all men: and they counted the price of them, and found it fifty thousand pieces of silver. So mightily grew the word of God and prevailed.

Care For God’s House

2 Chronicles 34:8 KJV

Now in the eighteenth year of his reign, when he had purged the land, and the house, he sent Shaphan the son of Azaliah, and Maaseiah the governor of the city, and Joah the son of Joahaz the recorder, to repair the house of the Lord his God.

1 Timothy 3:15 KJV

But if I tarry long, that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth.

Hebrews 10:24–25 KJV

And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works: Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.

Get Back to the Book

Sometimes the Bible can get lost in the rubble of sin and idolatry

2 Chronicles 34:14–15 KJV

And when they brought out the money that was brought into the house of the Lord, Hilkiah the priest found a book of the law of the Lord given by Moses. And Hilkiah answered and said to Shaphan the scribe, I have found the book of the law in the house of the Lord. And Hilkiah delivered the book to Shaphan.

Read it and weep

2 Chronicles 34:18–19 KJV

Then Shaphan the scribe told the king, saying, Hilkiah the priest hath given me a book. And Shaphan read it before the king. And it came to pass, when the king had heard the words of the law, that he rent his clothes.

2 Chronicles 34:27 KJV

Because thine heart was tender, and thou didst humble thyself before God, when thou heardest his words against this place, and against the inhabitants thereof, and humbledst thyself before me, and didst rend thy clothes, and weep before me; I have even heard thee also, saith the Lord.

1 John 1:9 KJV

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Make a Public Commitment to God.

2 Chronicles 34:30–31 KJV

And the king went up into the house of the Lord, and all the men of Judah, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and the priests, and the Levites, and all the people, great and small: and he read in their ears all the words of the book of the covenant that was found in the house of the Lord. And the king stood in his place, and made a covenant before the Lord, to walk after the Lord, and to keep his commandments, and his testimonies, and his statutes, with all his heart, and with all his soul, to perform the words of the covenant which are written in this book.

Make the commitment to the Book

Make the commitment public

Take the lead.

2 Chronicles 34:32–33 KJV

And he caused all that were present in Jerusalem and Benjamin to stand to it. And the inhabitants of Jerusalem did according to the covenant of God, the God of their fathers. And Josiah took away all the abominations out of all the countries that pertained to the children of Israel, and made all that were present in Israel to serve, even to serve the Lord their God. And all his days they departed not from following the Lord, the God of their fathers.

As we finish a very turbulent year remember, God has designed every event to draw us closer to Him. He wants to lead us to and through personal and church wide revival. This will not happen by following our own clever formula. The steps are the same for us as they were for Josiah.

Get right and stay right

Seek after God

Clean your household.

Care for and get back to God’s House

Get Back to reading and living the Book

Make your commitment public

This is the final Sunday morning message of 2020. It is your chance to start the move toward revival. It is your chance, with God’s help to see personal restoration and to enter into 2021 Stronger Than Ever!