Sermon Tone Analysis

Revival or Reform

2 chron 34.15

Illustration of reform…….

Goats think they are sheep but have never recieved a new heart!

15 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.

16 And Shaphan carried the book to the king, and brought the king word back again, saying, All that was committed to thy servants, they do it.

17 And they have gathered together the money that was found in the house of the LORD, and have delivered it into the hand of the overseers, and to the hand of the workmen.

18 Then Shaphan the scribe told the king, saying, Hilkiah the priest hath given me a book.

And Shaphan read it before the king.

19 And it came to pass, when the king had heard the words of the law, that he rent his clothes.

Illustration of reform…….

They sometimes act likw sheep but is all on the outside by what they do or don’t do

Goats – reforming but not changing……

34:1-4

The story of Josiah, King of Judah, is one of the most unusual in the Old Testament in many ways.

He was only eight years old when he took the throne.

He is one of the last kings to reign before the nation was overrun by the Babylonians.

Josiah’s father and grandfather were evil kings, but in the eighteenth year of Josiah’s reign, he decided to repair and restore the Temple of the Lord.

The Temple was in a disastrous state, and it symbolized the calamitous spiritual condition of the people.

Let me just list some of the things, recorded in , that Josiah had to do to in order to clean out the Temple area and repair the Temple itself.

2 kings

·He had to have the priests remove all the articles and altars dedicated to pagan gods, including Baal and Asherah, which means there was child sacrifice taking place there in the Temple area.

·He had to have the priests remove all the articles and altars dedicated to pagan gods, including Baal and Asherah, which means there was child sacrifice taking place there in the Temple area.

· Vs 5 Josiah had to remove all the pagan priests that now served in the Temple.

Homosexual male prostitutes had actually set up their quarters in the Temple.

2 kings 24.

2 kings 24.5

· Vs 5 Josiah had to remove all the pagan priests that now served in the Temple.

Homosexual male prostitutes had actually set up their quarters in the Temple.

· Other rooms in the Temple were occupied by women making religious objects for the goddess Asherah.

· Josiah had to remove the chariots and images of horses that past kings had dedicated to the sun.

He had to rid Jerusalem of the mediums and spiritists.

· He told the people to get rid of their personal household gods.

He tore down the high places all over the land of Judah and Israel where people worshiped pagan gods and offered human sacrifices.

Is it any wonder that God was bringing the nation to an end?

Then another shocking thing happened as the priests were cleaning out the Temple.

In following the practices of the world and worshiping pagan gods, the people had first ignored and then lost the Word of God.

In following the practices of the world and worshiping pagan gods, the people had first ignored and then lost the Word of God.

It was buried under a pile of debris somewhere in the Temple.

Hilkiah the priest gave the scroll to the king’s secretary.

The king had the scroll read to him, and when it was read, he tore his robes, because he knew the people had broken every command in the book of the law, and judgment was sure to follow.

So Josiah extended his reforms from just removing the pagan altars and repulsive religious practices from the Temple.

He restored the worship of the true God, and had the people return to the religious feasts and rituals which were a part of their history.

The Scripture tells us that Passover was observed in Israel for the first time since the days of the judges.

None of the other kings of Israel or Judah had celebrated the Passover.

Great reforms were taking place.

Introduction

In 1904 a young ministerial student named Evan Roberts, began to feel that God was sending an urgent message that He was going to pour out a mighty spirit of revival on Wales, which is now a part of Great Britain.

Roberts began attending various revival meetings and during one he was deeply moved by the Spirit.

As he prayed at the altar he cried out to God, “Bend me o Lord!”

This was a complete and total surrender of his will to God’s will.

Roberts soon returned to his home church to preach the message of revival but his pastor was reluctant to allow him to speak.

In a compromise, the pastor announced that Roberts would be speaking following the regular prayer meeting and any who wished to stay were welcome.

Only 17 people stayed to hear Evan speak and most of them were teenagers and young adults.

Evan Roberts spoke in that church for nearly two hours with a simple 4 point message that he was convinced could help God bring revival.

1. Confess all known sin to God

2. Deal with and get rid of any “doubtful” area of your life

3. Be ready to obey the Holy Spirit instantly

4. Confess Christ publicly

When Roberts was finished speaking all 17 young people were at the altar on their knees crying out to God.

They prayed until 2am that night and it was the beginning of one of the greatest movements of God in all history.

By the end of the week, over 60 people were won to Christ and over the course of the next year and a half revival swept through the nation of Wales.

Over 100,000 people were led to saving faith in Jesus Christ.

The revival was so great that the national culture changed dramatically.

• A rage of bankruptcies took place - All of the taverns and liquor stores went out of business

• Work at the coal mines was brought to a near standstill - The mules who pulled the wagons were so accustomed to hearing foul language from the workers that after the men were saved the mules no longer recognized their voices or commands

• The entire police force was dismissed for almost 18 months due to a complete lack of crime

• One of the few court cases that was actually brought before a judge was unusual.

The defendant came into the court and admitted his guilt, the judge led the man to Christ and the jury closed the case by singing a hymn.

The revival eventually made its way across the Atlantic and swept through parts of New York and New Jersey.

There was even a daily column in the New York Times called “Today’s Converts” that listed those who were being saved.

Times seem to have totally changed and we have to admit that our world is nothing like that of 1904.

I would have to agree our world is a darker and more sinister place where revival seems almost impossible.

What about God has changed from 1904 to today?

What part of the power of Christ’s resurrection has diminished from then until now?

What part of the work of the Holy Spirit has changed?

Our church has fallen on desperate times, but not because of attendance, money or lack of involvement.

Some be

Our church has fallen on desperate times, but not because of attendance, money or lack of involvement.

We are in desperate times because we desperately need a movement of God almighty and no one seems to realize it!

If God could bring revival in 1904 or any other time for that matter, He can do here in 2019

- But something seems to be missing in the story.

The people are told to turn back to the Lord, and begin once again to observe the holy days and religious rituals of their faith, but they are never told to repent for all the things they had done.

He does not tell them to seek God with all their hearts, only to follow the rituals and feasts from their past history.

The priests read the law to the people, but it does not have the effect of causing them to grieve over their sin.

There is no concern about how they have sinned against God.

There are no tears of repentance.

They begin to observe the feast of Passover, but it is mostly out of respect for Josiah, the king, who tells them to do it.

34:31-32 - The Bible says,— to follow the Lord and keep his commands, regulations and decrees with all his heart and all his soul, and to obey the words of the covenant written in this book” ().

The Bible says, “Then he had everyone in Jerusalem and Benjamin pledge themselves to it” ().

Josiah is faithful to do this, but it doesn’t seem to translate into the hearts of the people.

Josiah does many good things, but what is interesting is that we never hear Josiah pray — at least there is no prayer by him in Scripture, or any record of him praying.

Neither is anything said about the people praying.

He asks them to follow the ancient religious rituals of Israel and to stop following other gods, but there is nothing to suggest that this affected their hearts in any way.

Under Josiah’s leadership there is a great reform, but there is no revival, because reform is never enough.

God saw the heart of Josiah and spared him from the coming judgment; he put his hand of blessing on him, but God did not spare the people of the land whose hearts were unchanged.

The revival seemed to be a revival of one.

The reforms Josiah brought were widespread, but the revival was very limited in its scope.

Revival come when the heart changes!

Following decrees and tradition will ultimately fail.