Sermon for Sunday August 10th, 2008

A CALL FOR REVIVAL by Bruce Ball

Joel 2:12-2:17


Can you remember when you were 8-years old? What was your top priority at that age? Was it the efficient operations of your household, or was it to hurry and go out so you could play with your friends?

All I can remember was that I was in the 3rd grade and I loved recess. If you would have made me President of the United States when I was eight years old, I would have declared that schools could only have recess and nothing else. I would have signed into law that kids did not have to have bed times.

I would have declared that girls had to stay away from boys to avoid kooties. I think you get my point. An 8 year old is in no way ready to be the king of a nation. When I was 8, I couldn’t even remember where I left my bicycle let alone even think about affairs of state. In fact when I was 8 I wasn’t even sure what state I lived in.

But sometimes an 8 year old is put in charge of things. Today, I want to talk to you about one such little boy. His name was Josiah. His story is found in 2 KINGS, chapters 22 & 23.

Josiah was born into an ungodly home. His father was King Amon, an evil man who worshipped idols. And he was assassinated when Josiah was just 8 years old. And it was then that Josiah was appointed King of Judah. But God bestowed His favor upon that little boy. He was adopted and raised by Hilkiah, the High Priest, and his family until he was ready to take over the responsibilities of king. And Hilkiah was a man who loved God.

During this time, the spiritual conditions in Judah continued to decline. Northern Israel had already been taken into captivity by the Assyrians, and God had told Judah that the same thing would happen to them unless they repented.

Let me interrupt this story to bring you an important news flash. God is telling America the same thing today. Repent or suffer the consequences.

And America is doing the same thing the people of Judah did then. We are ignoring His warnings and living how we want to live, refusing to let the truth of God direct our lives.

At age 26, King Josiah ordered money be collected for the restoration of the Temple in Jerusalem. It had fallen into disrepair after years of neglect. During the remodeling project, Hilkiah the High Priest found a copy of the first 5 books of the Bible and immediately sent it to King Josiah. The first 5 books of the Bible, also known as the ‘Pentateuch’ or ‘the Book of the Law’ was the Jewish Bible of the time.

Unfortunately, no one had read it for years. They had become like the Catholic Church of the Middle Ages who never allowed the Bible to be read in the language of the people. So for the first time in his life this Godly King heard the Word of God read to him.

What was his response? He tore his robes, humbled himself, and wept in the presence of the Lord.

He then sent his officials to find a prophet to inquire of the Lord as to what to do. His officials located a prophetess whose named was Huldah. Her message confirmed that God was going to bring disaster on the land and people, but he would give King Josiah peace during his reign because he had a responsive heart when he heard the Word of God read to him.

Then, the young king called the elders and priests, and even the people together and read from God’s word.

2 Kings 23:3 tells what happened.

‘The king stood by the pillar and renewed the promise in the presence of the Lord – the promise to follow the Lord and keep His commands, regulations, and decrees with all his heart and all his soul; thus confirming the words of the promises written in this book. Then all the people pledged themselves to this same promise.’

The beginning of any revival is the rededication and recommitment of the people to turn towards God and be obedient unto His word. In other words, if you really want revival, you must revive yourself in His presence, wholly without holding back.

After this renewal, King Josiah ordered the pagan altars be torn down and burned, and the priests of the occult be killed. He removed all evil objects that people used to worship false gods.

And then he reinstituted the observance of the Passover Meal. Not only had the people forgotten all about their bible, they had forgotten all about their primary Jewish religious holiday; the meal of Passover, and the remembrance of how God led the entire Jewish nation out of slavery in Egypt.

It had been 750 years since the Jews had celebrated the Passover. This would be equivalent to the Christian Church not celebrating communion for 750 years.

Josiah was a Godly king. It is said of him, ‘Neither before nor after Josiah was there a king like him who turned to the Lord as he did – with all his heart and with all his soul and with all his strength, in accordance with all the Law of Moses.’

Through the acts of one righteous man a nation was given a reprieve from sure destruction at the hands of a fierce and angry God; a God who had been rejected on purpose.

Let me interrupt this story once more with another important news flash. Everything we are saying here about the immorality and punishment of Judah can be said for America today. We have a choice; repentance or punishment. We must decide which one we want the most.

There are many examples in history where the acts of one person changed the course of history. When you realize you can change the world, you’ll never be the same. If one righteous man can bring revival to a whole nation, imagine what a whole church full of Spirit-filled believers can do to their city or even their nation?

So, what can we learn about revival from King Josiah’s life?

Three things must happen before revival can begin:

· We must have a heart that is ready for a revival.
· We must be convicted of our sin and seek God in our lives
· We must repent of our sin

Let’s take these one at a time.

1. HAVING A HEART FOR REVIVAL

Judah’s society was in the spiritual dumpster. Sin was rampant and getting worse by the day. We see the exact same thing in America today. When a leader of the country openly says that America is no longer a Christian nation, but a nation of many beliefs, we quickly see how far away from God we have gotten.

In America, 2/3 of all adults who attend Protestant Churches on a typical Sunday morning are not Christians. They attend church regularly, but have never been taught how to have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. They have never been told that they have to seek Him personally, on a one-to-one relationship.

Born again Christians think and behave no differently from non-Christians in our American pagan culture. George Barna examined 131 different measures of beliefs and concluded that in the aspects of lifestyle where Christians could have their greatest impact on the lives of non-Christians, there are no signs they have had any.

61% of Americans say there is no such thing as the Holy Spirit. And this is the same whether it be Christians or non-Christians.

60% of Americans believe the devil is not real. And this is the same among believers and non-believers.

Only 25% of American adults believe there is any moral truth. They believe that truth depends on the person and his circumstances. They relegate the Bible down to nothing more than a book of helpful suggestions.

Without absolute moral truth, there can be no right and wrong. Without right and wrong, there is no such thing as sin. Without sin, there can be no such thing as judgment and no such thing as condemnation. If there is no condemnation, there is no need for a Savior. And if there is no Savior, then everyone gets into Heaven!

I could go on, but I think you get the picture, America is in spiritual darkness, and if ever there was a time for revival, it is now! But to have a heart ready for revival means we must first rediscover the word of God in our lives.

The people of King Josiah’s day not only didn’t read the Bible, they had misplaced it, and totally forgotten it even existed. Do you know where your Bible is at home? If not, you have gone way too long without reading it. And if you don’t read it, how can you claim to be a follower of Christ?

The average person who claims to be a Christian watches more TV in one night than they do reading the Bible in six months. You know when you missed your favorite programs, and you know when everything that interests you is on, but you have no clue as to where anything is in the Bible.

Spiritual decline occurs when God’s Word is denied or neglected; revival occurs when His Word is heard, understood, and applied. The Bible and spiritual vitality are inseparable. You cannot know God without knowing His word, and you can’t know His word unless you read it.

I want to make something perfectly clear right up front, as your pastor I will try my best to move you out of your “comfort zone” from time to time – and that’s a good thing. Soldiers can’t afford to get too comfortable otherwise the enemy will catch them off guard in a surprise attack and seriously hurt us. And Christians are no different.

The Bible is a powerful tool of revival. And it is vital that you use it every chance you get.

2. WE MUST BE CONVICTED AND THEN SEEK GOD

I use a lot of statistics in my preparation for a sermon. I read one a few months back that has stuck in my mind. At first I thought it might be wrong, but the more I think and pray about it, the more I see it happening.

There are some who claim to be devout Christians who exhibit unchristian-like behavior. They shun their brothers and sisters in the church; they try to be the focus of attention, and their heart is on themselves and not on God. These people want to serve in very visible ways, and feel left out if they are not noticed in everything they do. I short; they are serving themselves, and not God. They need to feel the conviction of the Holy Spirit.

HEBREWS 4:12-13 [Contemporary English Version] says,

‘What God has said isn’t only alive and active! It is sharper than any double-edged sword. His word can cut through our spirits and souls and through our joints and marrow, until it discovers the real desires and thoughts of our hearts. Nothing is hidden from God! He sees through everything, and we will have to tell him the truth.’

God knows the reasons we do things. What we do might be excellent, but if it isn’t real, it dishonors God. For instance, many people want to be very involved in church, but they never read their bibles at home. What they do might seem good to us, but God sees it as sin because it does nothing to honor God.

When we are preparing for a revival we’ve got to get back to the basics and start reading our Bibles again. That’s why I am challenging you to read the Bible from cover to cover between now and August 1 of next year.

The reason most people fail to reach God is because they refuse to consider what they do as wrong. They feel very inadequate and will not let go of what they want so God can have what He wants. The Bible calls these people ‘stiff-necked.’

To have a real relationship with God, we must feel the conviction of our sins. What did Josiah do after the Bible was read to him? He tore his robes, humbled himself, and wept. This was an act of true contrition – a true confession of sin. Josiah did what everyone who experiences revival does, he wept over the condition of his wicked soul. He felt the conviction of sin even though he was already a Godly man.

And because one man truly let God into his heart, he started a revival that literally saved his nation for years to come. Some people pray with hollow words. These words are nothing more than meaningless sounds, as God never hears them because they are not truly sincere. When is the last time you went somewhere alone and just prayed that God would deal with your heart? When is the last time you shed tears of sorrow for how sinful your life has been? And when is the last time you asked God to totally take over – in every way?

Revival that sweeps over a nation begins when revival sweeps over individual people first. And before revival can sweep over us, we must get to the place where we have a broken and contrite heart, for God delights in you when you allow the Holy Spirit to do the work of conviction of sin in your heart.

Every revival throughout history has started with one or a few individuals confessing their sins before the Lord and seeking his forgiveness. We must seek after God.

Once King Josiah confessed his sin and the sin of his people, he immediately sent his men to find a prophet to inquire of the Lord what to do next. His officials found the prophetess who prophesied that judgment was coming, but because of King Josiah’s true conviction to the Holy Spirit, God promised to delay His judgment until after King Josiah’s death.

Like King Josiah, we must be God seekers. That has nothing to do with how often you attend church or what you do in church. We need to get hungry for God. We need to become desperate for God and the things of God. We need to fall on our faces before God and seek Him in our lives. We must having a burning desire to reach out and give God the total control over our lives.

And we need to rediscover the prophetic ministry which has been absent from many of our churches for so long.

God is near to us right now; in fact the Holy Spirit is hovering over us right now – prepared to meet us – prepared to pour Himself out over us. Indeed, times of refreshing, of revival are upon us – if we will just receive it.

3. WE MUST REPENT OF OUR SINS

This is a true story. An attorney had received Christ and after praying, he felt convicted to cancel 17 of the debts owed to him. He drafted letters explaining that he was canceling their debts and sent them to the customers. All but one of them was returned to him unopened.

It seems people refused to accept them because they didn’t know what was inside. They didn’t trust him.

God is giving us the chance to get our sins cancelled, but how many people refuse to accept it because they just aren’t sure what it means? We must get to know what God is all about and we cannot do that without opening up the letter (hold Bible up) that He has sent to us.

We want our cake and eat it too. We want to call our own shots in life, and still expect to go to Heaven. We want to repent of our sin but keep hold of it at the same time, don’t we? Let me put it bluntly. If you don’t like God enough to have a pure heart for Him, He won’t let you into His home when you die.

True repentance means to understand where you are wrong. It almost means to be ashamed of the way you are and to want to be different. It means to do whatever is necessary to turn away from your sin, so you can finally have a relationship with God instead of spending time near God. And sometimes, the only sin that keeps you away from God is just the need to be in the spotlight, because when we are in the spotlight, Jesus isn’t.

When King Josiah realized how serious the sins of his people were he immediately began to do something about it. He called everyone together in Jerusalem, read the Word to them, and then had an altar call. He recommitted his life to God by promising to uphold the laws of the Lord, and the people did the same. And revival was born because they were all serious!

As part of the repentance, King Josiah tore down the pagan altars, killed the evil leaders of the occult and re-instituted proper worship of God in the Temple at Jerusalem.

As part of our revival, we must get rid of those pagan and selfish idols we have in our lives. And they can be physical, mental, or emotional. Things like, selfishness, always wanting the limelight so we feel accepted, always wanting to be the center of attention. Or it could be things like we talked about last week; alcohol or drugs. Our pagan idols are anything that keeps us from fully focusing on our personal relationship with Jesus Christ; not how important we are in the relationship, but how much of a servant we are to Him.

We must ask the Holy Spirit to identify our sins to us – so we can confess, repent, and be clean from them. We need to clean house and get it ready for God’s Holy Spirit to move in! What have you got in your heart that needs to thrown out?

JOEL 2:12-17 [New Century Version]

’The LORD says, ‘Even now, come back to me with all your heart. Fast, cry, and be sad.’ Tearing your clothes is not enough to show you are sad; let your heart be broken.

‘Come back to the Lord your God, because He is kind and shows mercy. He doesn’t become angry quickly, and he has great love. He can change His mind. Who knows? Maybe he will turn back to you and leave behind a blessing for you.

‘Blow the trumpet in Jerusalem; call for a day when everyone fasts. Tell everyone to stop work. Bring the people together and make the meeting holy for the LORD. Bring together the elders, as well as the children, and even babies that still feed at their mothers’ breasts.

‘The bridegroom should come from his room, the bride from her bedroom. The priests, the Lord’s servants, should cry between the altar and the entrance to the Temple. They should say, "Lord, have mercy on your people. Don’t let them be put to shame; don’t let other nations make fun of them.

‘Don’t let people in other nations ask, ’Where is their God?’

The highlights of this passage are simply that we must come back to the Lord. Tearing the garments, or just acting like Christians, is not good enough. Our hearts must feel the heavy burdens of our sins and when we finally give our all to God, He will bless us with His mighty peace and comfort.

A revival is waiting to happen. We need to come together and get on the same page, spiritually. We need to pray for each other and for our nation. And we should really worship God so nobody will ever be able to look at us and say, ‘Where is their God?’

If you were to die today, do you know for sure where you would go? If you hesitated even for a second, you are not totally right with Jesus. He is offering you that chance today to become absolutely safe in Him. But to do that, you have to put yourself aside; fully aside. Can you do that? Do you want to do that?

Now is your time, if you will just take it.