The following nine sermons were preached by The Reverend Al Baker, Pastor of Christ Community Presbyterian Church, West Hartford, CT from Sunday May 7, 2006 until July 2, 2006 during their Sunday morning worship services.

ZEALOUS FOR A MIGHTY MOVEMENT OF GOD

David And The Ark Of The Covenant

And David arose and went with all the people who were with him to Baale-judah, to bring up from there the ark of God which is called by the Name, the very name of the Lord of hosts who is enthroned above the cherubim.  And they placed the ark of God on a new cart that they might bring it from the house of Abinadab which was on the hill; and Uzzah and Ahio, the sons of Abinadab, were leading the new cart. So they brought it with the ark of God from the house of Abinadab , which was on the hill; and Ahio was walking ahead of the ark. Meanwhile, David and all the house of Israel were celebrating before the Lord with all kinds of instruments made of fir wood, and with lyres, harps, tambourines, castanets and cymbals. But when they came to the threshing floor of Nacon, Uzzah reached out toward the ark of God and took hold of it, for the oxen nearly upset it. And the anger of the Lord burned against Uzzah, and God struck him down there for his irreverence; and he died there by the ark of God. And David became angry because of the Lord’s outburst against Uzzah, and that place is called Perez-uzzah to this day. So David was afraid of the Lord that day; and he said, “How can the ark of the Lord come to me?”  And David was unwilling to move the ark of the Lord into the city of David with him; but David took it aside to the house of Obed-edom the Gittite.  Thus the ark of the Lord remained in the house of Obed-edom the Gittite three months, and the Lord blessed Obed-edom and all his household.

Now it was told King David, saying, “The Lord has blessed the house of Obed-edom and all that belongs to him, on account of the ark of God.”  And David went and brought up the ark of God from the house of Obed-edom into the city of David with gladness. And so it was, that when the bearers of the ark of the Lord had gone six paces, he sacrificed an ox and a fatling. And David was dancing before the Lord with all his might, and David was wearing a linen ephod. So David and all the house of Israel were bringing up the ark of the Lord with shouting and the sound of the trumpet. Then it happened as the ark of the Lord came into the city of David that Michal the daughter of Saul looked out the window and saw King David leaping and dancing before the Lord; and she despised him in her heart. So they brought in the ark of the Lord and set it in its place inside the tent which David had pitched for it; and David offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before the Lord. And when David had finished offering the burnt offering and the peace offering, he blessed the people in the name of the Lord of hosts. Further, he distributed to all the people, to all the multitude of Israel, both to men and women, a cake of bread and one of dates and one of raisins to each one. Then all the people departed each to his house. II Samuel 6:2-19.

I long to see a mighty movement of God.  I want us to experience the felt presence and power of God, that which transforms.  We have marriages that are a disgrace to God.  They are an affront to the God of salvation and sanctification.  Is there little wonder why so few people are interested in Christianity here in the United States?  We tend to live without a wholesome, Biblical fear of God. We seem to have little or no zeal for the glory of God, that His name will be exalted in the earth.  I must say that I fear for some of you. Where is the evidence of sincere, transforming Christian faith?  What should we do?

Consider the passage before us this morning.  David has weathered the many years of murderous pursuit by Saul. The ark of God, the very presence of God among His people has been outside the city of Jerusalem.  David has been king in Hebron for seven years and has defeated the inhabitants of the city, the Jebusites.  David fortified the city, calling it the city of David.  The king knew God was with him, giving him numerous victories over the Philistines.  So David gathered together his army of 30,000 men and traveled to Baale-judah to bring up the ark of God, the very presence of God, enthroned above the cherubim. 

I divide this passage into two parts, referring to the two places where the ark of God came.  First, the ark of God goes up to the house of Obed-edom with joy, anger, and fear, verses 2-11. Observe first of all the festive and joyous occasion.  David is riding the crest of numerous military victories. He has been enthroned as king. He is at the zenith of his popularity.  While bringing the ark of God to the city of David, the people do a foolish and careless thing.  Yahweh in Exodus 25:10-22 gives specific instructions on how to build the ark and how to transport it.  They were told to carry the ark of God by poles put into the rings on the sides of the ark, and the poles were not to be removed from the ark.  We are told, however, that the people placed the ark of God on a new ox cart, being led by the two sons of Abinadab, Uzzah and Ahio.  As the ark of God is being pulled on the cart by oxen the people, including David, are celebrating before the Lord with all kinds of musical instruments. Quite a festive and joyous occasion!  As they reached the threshing floor of a man named Nacon the oxen nearly upset the cart, and it appeared that the ark of God may fall off the cart.  Uzzah, who was probably at the rear of the cart, reached out, taking hold of the ark in order to prevent it from falling off the cart.  Yahweh’s anger burned against Uzzah, killing him on the spot due to his irreverence or lack of respect for God’s presence.  Uzzah was much too flippant, too casual in Yahweh’s presence.  No doubt Uzzah thought he was doing the right thing. He thought he was helping God out, but alas, his was a sin of irreverence and frivolity toward the God of holiness and wrath.  It cost him his life. The book of Hebrews tells us to offer sacrifice with fear and awe for our God is a consuming fire.

Note next the anger of David.  This is a very dangerous emotion in God’s presence, but clearly David is angry with God. We are told the reason for his anger.  The Lord has made an outburst against Uzzah for his irreverence.  He called the place Perez-uzzah, meaning literally the Lord broke through a breakthrough.  After David’s outburst of anger his emotion changes to fear.  He rightly understood that he is unworthy to be in Yahweh’s presence, “How can the ark of the Lord come to me?”  So David’s emotions run from sheer joy and celebration to anger to fear.

Then consider in verses 12-19 that the ark of the covenant goes up to the house of David with joy, worship, and generosity.   We are not told how long the ark remains in the house of Obed-edom, but one thing is clear; the ark of God in Obed-edom’s house brings great blessing to him.  When Israel lost the ark of God in the battle with the Philistines in I Samuel 4 they lamented that the glory of God had departed from them. The Hebrew word for this is Ichabod.  The ark in the hands of the Philistines brought great suffering to them. Eventually they allowed milch cows to take the ark to Bethshemesh where over 50,000 men were struck down because they looked into the ark of the Lord.  The people mourned their loss saying, “Who is able to stand before the Lord, this holy God?  And to whom shall He go up from us?”  Later the ark comes to Kiriath-jearim in Israel where it was lodged for twenty years in the house of Abinadab.  Now, after the death of Uzzah for his irreverence in the presence of God, David once again moves to bring the ark into Jerusalem.  As they made their way to the city of David, the people praised God and offered sacrifices to Him.  David, obviously in a state of indescribable joy, dances before the Lord as the ark comes into the city.  We are further told that there is shouting and the sound of the trumpet to announce the coming of the presence of the Lord. 

Michal, David’s wife who was the daughter of Saul, looked out the window of her home as her husband came by with the ark of God, dancing and rejoicing before the Lord; and she was indignant, despising him in her heart.  We are not told why Michal despised David, but we do know from II Samuel 4:14ff that David demanded Michal be given to him by Ish-bosheth, Saul’s son, because David had earlier won her as his wife by killing one hundred Philistines.  David had not had opportunity actually to take Michal as his wife, and in the meantime she had married Paltiel.  When Ish-bosheth took Michal away from Paltiel her husband, he wept, trying to stop the transaction.  Perhaps this means that Michal loved Paltiel more than David and resented being taken from him and given to David.  At any rate, Michal resents David’s show of affection for Yahweh.  David then had the ark of God placed in a tent and burnt offerings and peace offerings, in keeping with God’s directives in Leviticus, were made.  Afterwards David blessed the people in the name of the Lord of hosts and he had distributed to all the gathered people food so that they could make their way home with adequate provisions.

The main point of this passage is that the felt presence of God always yields both fear and joy, and may God so work in us that we are zealous to experience both.  Let’s look at this in more detail.  What do we mean by the felt presence of God?  It should be clear that the ark of God represents the felt presence of God in the Old Testament.  What exactly is the ark of the covenant, the ark of God?  Moses was given explicit directions on the construction of the ark in Exodus 25:10-22.  It was to be made of acacia wood, a little over three feet long and two feet wide, and two feet tall.  It was overlaid with gold, inside and out, and had four rings of gold on the sides where two poles made of acacia wood were used to transport the ark.  The mercy seat was also made of gold and placed on top of the ark.  Prior to the ark of the covenant Yahweh appeared in the glory cloud, the Shekinah, and this still happened; but as the history of redemption progressed in the Old Testament the presence of God was understood to be in the ark of God.  In Numbers 10:35, 36, as Moses moves out from Sinai to Edom with the ark of God and the glory cloud over it, he says, “Rise up, O Lord!  And let Thine enemies be scattered, and let those who hate Thee flee before Thee.”  And when it came to rest, he said, “Return Thou, O Lord to the myriad thousands of Israel.” 

This tells us three things about Yahweh’s presence with His people in the ark of God.  First, He is present in His reign, His rule.  In I Chronicles 28:2, 3 as David is speaking of the temple soon to be built, he says, “Listen to me, my brethren and my people; I had intended to build a permanent home for the ark of the covenant of the Lord and for the footstool of our God. So I had made preparations to build it, but God said to me, ‘You shall not build a house for My name because you are a man of war and have shed blood.’”  David goes on to say that nonetheless God has made him a ruler over Israel, that God rules His people through David and that He is present with David in the ark.  Second, He is present in reconciliation.  We read in Leviticus 16:14, 15, in the context of directions on the day of atonement, that two goats are presented before the Lord. One is slain and its blood sprinkled as a sin offering. The other is the scapegoat, the sins of the people symbolically being placed on the head of the goat with the goat being sent away into the wilderness.  This is done in the presence of God at the ark and mercy seat.  This speaks of the reconciling work of God through the Lord Jesus as the One who reconciles us to God, who takes away the enmity we have toward the pure and undefiled God of the covenant of grace.  And third, we see Yahweh in His revelation.  In Exodus 25:16, 21 we are told that Moses was to put in the ark the testimony of God and in verse 22 we find that this refers to the commandments which He will give the sons of Israel.  In the context of the New Testament this means the presence of God is given to us through the Lord Jesus Christ, our Prophet, Priest, and King.  In Hebrews 1:3 we are told, “And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power. When He had made purification of sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high.”  We have all three offices of Christ mentioned here. To uphold all things speaks of Jesus’ kingship.  To do so by the word of His power refers to His prophetic office, the One who makes all truth known to us.  And to make purification of our sins refers to His work as our Priest, offering Himself once and for all for our sins.  The three fold office of Jesus is fulfilled for us by the ministry of the Holy Spirit, John 14:16, “And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever.”  The Father’s gift to His covenant people, after Jesus’ ascension, is the Holy Spirit who indwells us, who makes real to us the word of God, applying the death and resurrection of Christ to us daily, and who manifests His rule and reign in our hearts.

We, therefore, ought to be zealous for the presence of God the Holy Spirit. It ought to grieve us severely to lack His presence and power. In Exodus 33:3 after Israel made the golden calf, Yahweh promised to remain faithful to His covenant, saying that He would indeed give them the promised land, but that He Himself would not go up with them.  This word terribly grieved Israel, for what was the promised land without Yahweh’s presence!

In 1741 God was doing remarkable things in New England. Jonathan Edwards said that from January to May of that year the people of Northampton, Massachusetts where being visited by the convicting and converting ministry of the Holy Spirit.  The same Holy Spirit had come upon the people of Suffield, Windsor, Lyme, Hartford, and Weathersfield, but not upon those of Enfield.  The pastors in and around Enfield were deeply disturbed, fearing that the presence of God would not visit them.  They began to pray for a visitation of the Spirit. Eventually they asked Jonathan Edwards to come to them and preach.  He did so, arriving from Northampton on Thursday, July 8, 1741, and proceeded to preach from Deuteronomy 32:35, “Vengeance is Mine, and retribution, in due time their foot will slip; for the day of their calamity is near, and the impending things are hastening upon them.” Edwards had preached this same sermon a few weeks earlier at his church in Northampton with little effect, but this time the Holy Spirit fell with convicting power on those present, people who were called careless and ignorant by their pastors.  One eyewitness wrote that people were crying out during the sermon, “What shall I do to be saved?  Oh I am going to hell. . .Oh what shall I do for Christ.”  Due to the uproar of those present, Edwards was not able to finish his sermon.  The carelessness and ignorance of the people of Enfield dissipated with that sermon.  Oh may God visit us with His presence and power, bringing deep conviction of our sin, driving many careless people to Jesus for the forgiveness of their sins.

Second, what do I mean by the felt presence of God yielding fear?  This seems so foreign to us in our flippant, trivial, and shallow culture.  The presence of God ought to evoke fear.  Why?  This is due to God’s holiness and transcendence.  By holiness we mean God being totally separate from sin and zealous for His own glory.  By transcendence we mean that God in His infinity and eternity is completely separate from us.  He is above and beyond us in time and space.  We see in Scripture numerous times where the presence of God evokes fear and awe.  Take Genesis 28:10-17, for example.  Jacob leaves Beersheba for Haran to find a wife and came to a certain place where he spent the night. In a dream he sees a ladder set on earth, reaching to heaven and he saw angels ascending and descending on the ladder.  God spoke to Jacob, telling him that his descendants would be like the dust of the earth and would spread to the west and east and north and south.  Jacob awoke from his dream with fear and awe saying, “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I did not know it.”  He was afraid and said, “How awesome is this place!  This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of Heaven.”  We find a similar occasion with Moses in Exodus 33:17-23 after he intercedes on behalf of his people who have made the golden calf.  He asks that God will show him His glory, and God places Moses in the cleft of a rock and allows the after glow of His glory to pass before Moses’ eyes.  And in Leviticus 10:1-3 we read of Nadab and Abihu, sons of Aaron, who were struck dead because they offered strange fire to God, that which was not commanded by Yahweh.  And in Numbers 16:20-35 we read of Korah’s rebellion and the consequent swallowing up of a multitude by the earth and fire coming down from heaven and killing another 250 people.  Finally, and I could site many more examples, we read in Revelation 1:12-17 of the Apostle John’s vision of the glorified and exalted Christ, seeing Him as One clothed with a robe reaching to His feet, girded across His breast with a golden girdle, His head and His hair white, like snow, and His feet like burnished bronze, His voice like the sound of many waters, His face shining like the sun in all its strength, a doubled-edged sword coming out of his mouth.  When John saw Jesus he fell at His feet as a dead man. 

Make no mistake- the felt presence of God always evokes fear and awe.  We are after a mighty work of God and we know this is happening when His people tremble and fear before Him.  William Robinson, a contemporary of Jonathan Edwards and George Whitefield, saw an unusual outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon his ministry.  On one occasion in particular he preached four sermons in Hanover, Virginia a few years after Whitefield had preached in Williamsburg. The Spirit fell with conviction on the people, bringing fear of judgment and fear of offending God, and then conversion.

Do you know anything of this fear, this awe in the presence of God?  You know this is happening in you when you grieve over your sin. Is it too much to say that few people truly grieve over their sin?  I am not talking about sorrow for being caught, or sorrow for harm you have done others; but what I am after is a fear of God, a deep, abiding sense of failure before God.  You ought to fear making shipwreck of your faith, causing little ones to stumble, evoking God’s chastisement, grieving the Holy Spirit, risking the loss of the Spirit’s presence and power. This always removes our tendency for blame shifting.  Do you blame your sin on your wife or husband?  Do you attempt to explain away your sin, refusing to take ownership of it?

And third, what do we mean when we speak of the felt presence of God yielding joy?  This joy is due, not from our circumstances, no matter how good they may be, but from an experiential knowledge of the grace and immanence of God.  By the grace of God, I of course mean the smile and favor of God which we do not deserve.  I mean the forgiveness of our sins, the promise of God’s everlasting love and guidance, the promise of eternal life in His presence upon death.  By the immanence of God I mean the nearness of God, His great compassion and sympathy for His people, His willingness to hear our prayers, to act on our behalf, to give us His peace which passes all our understanding.  One cannot read the Psalms without seeing this joy inexpressible and full of glory.  In Psalm 32:1ff David proclaims, “How blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.  How blessed is the man to whom the Lord does not impute iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit.”  In Psalm 34:8-10 David says, “O taste and see that the Lord is good; how blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him!  O fear the Lord, you His saints; for to those who fear Him, there is no want.  The young lions do lack and suffer hunger; but they who seek the Lord shall not be in want of any good thing.”  In Psalm 103:1ff David writes, “Bless the Lord, O my soul; and all that is within me, bless His holy name. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget none of His benefits; who pardons all your iniquities; who heals all your diseases; who redeems your life from the pit, who crowns you with lovingkindess and compassion; who satisfies your years with good things, so that your youth is renewed like the eagle.”  And consider the joy emanating from this Song of Ascent, “When the Lord brought back the captive ones of Zion, we were like those who dream. Then our mouth was filled with laughter, and our tongue with joyful shouting; then they said among the nations, ‘The Lord has done great things for them.’ The Lord has done great things for us; we are glad,” Psalm 126:1-3.  And finally, observe the joy of the Apostle Peter, writing to the dispersed believers who are suffering, “. . .and though you have not seen Him, you love Him, and though you do not see Him now, but believe in Him, you greatly rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory, obtaining as the outcome of your faith the salvation of your souls,” I Peter 1:8, 9. 

Regardless of one’s circumstances, even in the midst of sorrow and suffering, at the end of the day the believer’s life is to be characterized by joy.  You can be sure that God is doing a mighty work when His people rejoice in Him.  What I am after for all of us is a greater sense of the felt presence of God, and this is happening when we experience what I call the normal Christian life on steroids.  Here’s what I mean.  In the normal Christian life we enjoy some measure of peace, contentment, a sense of God’s leading, a sense of His love for us, an awareness of our sin, a conviction of it, and a need to repent.  We know something of the glory of heaven, the horrors of hell, and the beauty of Jesus. We see some healing and growth in our marriages, reconciliation with people from whom we have been estranged.  We see a few conversions here and there.  But when we experience the felt presence and power of God through the Holy Spirit then all I have just mentioned escalates to a profound degree.  And when these happen with many people at the same time and in the same place, then we have what church historians and theologians call revival or the outpouring of the Holy Spirit.

Do you know anything of this?  Are you bogged down in your sin?  Are you wallowing in the misery of an unchallenged life?  You see, you and I are prone to what the old Puritan theologians called spiritual declension.  Some more modern church leaders call it backsliding.  Whatever you want to call it we all battle with it at some time or another.  I want to focus on this for a moment.  You know you are in spiritual decline when prayer ceases to be vital in your life.  Do you merely go through the motions of prayer, checking it off your to do list, as it were?  Are your prayers marked by fervency, desperation, zeal, joy, sorrow, repentance?  Do you cry out to God for His power and grace?  You are in spiritual decline if prayer is not vital in your family. Do you pray regularly and fervently with your spouse and children?  Be honest here.  Really now, can anything be more important than approaching the throne of grace as a covenant family?  And you are in spiritual decline if prayer is not vital in your church.  Have you considered attending our monthly prayer meeting?  If you have never attended, why not?  Do you not believe we need prayer?  If you have attended a few times, why not attend more regularly?  And when you miss the prayer meeting, what is your excuse for missing?

To go further, you know you are in spiritual decline when your quest for more Biblical knowledge grows cold and you rest in what you learned last week, last month, last year, ten years ago.  What a dangerous place this is!  The word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword.  It speaks to us today as assuredly as it did to the saints of one hundred or a thousand years ago.  Are you learning anything new about God?  Do you hunger to be in His word?  Do you take preaching lightly?  Can you take it or leave it?  Are you bored with Bible reading, Bible study?  And you know you are in spiritual decline when Biblical knowledge is a mere external fact and not an internal experience.  Be careful here. This seems to be an occupational hazard of people from our theological persuasion, of those who take seriously the Bible and theology.   Your reading, study, and listening to God’s word preached ought to evoke constantly within you conviction, joy, sorrow, and repentance.  Does this describe your life?

Well, then, what are we to do?  If you are failing to experience the felt presence of God the Holy Spirit in both joy and fear, then you need to repent. What do I mean by repentance?  I do not merely mean tears.  One can shed a gallon of tears and not be sincerely repentant.  Esau sought repentance with tears but did not find it.  A well known television evangelist a number of years ago wept on his national television program, repenting and asking forgiveness for his sin with a prostitute.  He seemed so sincere, yet a few months later he was again caught with another prostitute. Tears are not an accurate mark of repentance.  Furthermore repentance never comes when one seeks to defend himself.  If I say to my wife, “I am sorry, Honey, for speaking to you disrespectfully but you had it coming.  You really irritated me by the way you spoke to me.”  That’s not true repentance.  Well, what is it then?  True repentance is marked by many things and I plan to mention them in succeeding weeks, but for now I will mention two marks.  First is what I call earnestness.  One who is earnest about repentance comes to see how heinous, how dangerous, how dishonoring to God his sin is.  He is so grieved by his sin that he is repulsed by it.  He is so earnest in repentance that his behavior, his actions, and attitudes change, being conformed more to the word of God.  Second is vindication.  By this I do not mean that the repentant Christian tries to vindicate, clear his name of wrong doing.  No, what I have in mind is nothing you do to make yourself look better.  It refers to living such a life of constant and thorough repentance that others know you to be a person of integrity.  Thus if someone charges you with egregious sin others will immediately come to your defense and say, “Are you kidding?  I know John to be a man of unquestioned morality and integrity.  There is absolutely no way he is remotely guilty of such a charge.”

So, where are you, dear friend?  I want to see a mighty movement of God in our nation.  I do not know what God may choose to do, but I do know this- we shall never see a mighty movement of God if we remain in spiritual declension.  Search your heart.  What are the marks of spiritual declension in your own life?  Has prayer ceased to be vital to you, your family, and your church?  Are you bored with Bible study, Bible reading, Bible preaching?  Are you rarely moved in heart and soul by the great truths of the doctrines of grace?  What must you do?  Repent, and when you do, run to the Lord Jesus your Prophet, Priest, and King.  He alone can sustain you.  He alone can renew you.  He alone can empower you. 

ZEALOUS FOR A MIGHTY MOVEMENT OF GOD

Solomon And The Glory Of The Lord

Then Solomon assembled the elders of Israel and all the heads of the tribes, the leaders of the fathers’ households of the sons of Israel, to King Solomon in Jerusalem, to bring up the ark of the covenant of the Lord from the city of David, which is Zion. And all the men of Israel assembled themselves to King Solomon at the feast, in the month of Ethanim, which is the seventh month.  Then all the elders of Israel came, and the priests took up the ark.  And they brought up the ark of the Lord and the tent of meeting and all the holy utensils, which were in the tent, and the priests and the Levites brought them up. And King Solomon and all the congregation of Israel, who were assembled to him, were with him before the ark, sacrificing so many sheep and oxen they could not be counted or numbered. Then the priests brought the ark of the covenant of the Lord to its place, into the inner sanctuary of the house, to the most holy place, under the wings of the cherubim.  For the cherubim spread their wings over the place of the ark, and the cherubim made a covering over the ark and its poles from above.  But the poles were so long that the ends of the poles could be seen from the holy place before the inner sanctuary, but they could not be seen outside; they are there to this day.  There was nothing in the ark except the two tablets of stone which Moses put there at Horeb, where the Lord made a covenant with the sons of Israel, when they came out of the land of Egypt.  And it came about when the priests came from the holy place, that the cloud filled the house of the Lord, so that the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud, for the glory of the Lord filled the house of the Lord.  Then Solomon said, “The Lord has said that he would dwell in the thick cloud.” I Kings 8:1-12.

Wales, at the beginning of the 20^th century had wandered far from her biblical and evangelical moorings, going after theological liberalism and the higher critical movement which at the time was so prominent in Europe and America.  Many sincere Welsh followers of Christ were burdened for their country and began to seek God for revival, an outpouring of His Holy Spirit.  In November, 1904 a young bible college student named Evan Roberts felt called by God to deliver a message to his home church.  He asked permission from his college president to travel home and speak with his pastor.  Roberts’ pastor gave him permission to speak after a Wednesday night prayer meeting, saying that if any wanted to hear young Brother Roberts they should stay after the regular meeting.  A number of teens and college age students stayed and heard Evan Roberts call them to sincere, Biblical repentance.  He said that they must do four things.  First, they must repent of any known sin.  Second, they must put away any questionable habit, anything which may hinder their walk with Christ.  Third, they were to obey immediately any prompting of the Holy Spirit.  And fourth, they were to be bold in witnessing for Christ in any and every circumstance.  The Holy Spirit fell on that small gathering with a deep conviction of sin, bringing contrition, fear, repentance, and reconciliation.  The work of the Spirit through these young people in general and Roberts in particular continued for many months. In church after church in Wales the Holy Spirit came, bringing conviction of sin and conversion to Christ.  In fact the revival was so thorough, so consuming that sin in a large degree was eradicated from Welsh culture, at least for a season.  Wales was primarily a coal mining country and the donkeys used to bring coal up from the mines refused to work. The reason?  The men who led them had formerly cursed the mules to get work out of them, but when the men no longer cursed then the mules did not know how to respond.  The policemen were largely out of work too.  One police precinct noted that there was little normal police work but they could offer four men’s quartets to sing in the various churches of the region.  And the bar owners largely went bankrupt because they had so few customers.

Is that just a nice and thrilling story of the past, or do you think God can do something like that again?  A more important question is this- do you believe He will bring a mighty movement of His Spirit?  The bible is filled with example after example of revival, of mighty movements; and so is church history.  Be sure of this, God will bring mighty movements again.  When?  I do not know, but He promises to do so. Our job is to do what we can to facilitate it. Habakkuk the prophet says that the glory of the knowledge of the Lord will cover the earth as the waters cover the sea.

My Old Testament and Hebrew professor, Dr. Van Gemeren, calls Old Testament prophets God’s covenant prosecutors.  They were to charge God’s people with covenant infidelity.  They were to try them before Yahweh, and they were to defend Yahweh’s character and attributes, His holiness, justice, wrath, goodness, mercy, and grace before them.  Finally the prophets were to drive the people back to God’s grace for reconciliation.  That’s the role of any pastor today.  So I am hoping to bring to your mind, through the convicting work of the Holy Spirit, your own covenant infidelity, urging you to run back to Christ in repentance and faith.

Consider the context of the passage before us this morning.  Solomon is king of Israel, after the death of his father David, and God has blessed Solomon with the privilege of building the temple in Jerusalem.  We find in the text before us both the celebration and dedication of the temple to the glory of the God of Israel.  What can this say to us about our need to be zealous for a mighty movement of God?  First consider the exposition of the text.  What is this teaching us?  I divide the passage into four parts- the assembly, verses 1-3; the ark, verses 4-6; the clarity, verses 7-9; and the mystery, verses 10-12. 

Let’s first consider the assembly, verses 1-3.  Solomon assembles all the leaders of Israel.  These include the elders, the heads of all the tribes of Israel, the leaders of the households.  That is, the leaders are listed in descending order, the most important mentioned first.  We saw earlier how David brought the ark of God into Jerusalem from the house of Obed-edom, and now we find Solomon bringing the ark to the temple.  The ark represents the presence of Yahweh, the God of the covenant of grace, dwelling in the midst of His people.  All these leaders come together with Solomon in the seventh month for a feast, at the time of the Feast of Booths, a time when Israel celebrated the fall harvest Yahweh had graciously given them.  After the feast, the priests take the ark of the covenant.  One application we can make here is that federal male headship requires worship leadership.  It is important to note that the elders, the heads of the tribes, and the leaders of each household presented themselves before the Lord to worship.  These men represent their wives, children, and servants.  God’s design is for men to lead their families in worship, for qualified men to lead congregations.  Men, are you leading your wives and children in the things of God?  Are you praying with and for them daily?  Are you instructing them formerly and informerly in God’s word each day?  Are you being vigilant to insure the spiritual welfare of your family?  This is not your wife’s responsibility.  This is your God ordained role in your family.

Second, please note the ark of the covenant, verses 4-6.  I focused quite a bit last week on the ark, showing various Old Testament passages which marked its origin and purpose.  I will not repeat that information, but keep in mind the ark of the covenant is the presence of the covenant keeping God in the midst of His people.  Prior to this time He made Himself known in the glory cloud, the Shekinah.  Then He made Himself known in the ark of the covenant in the tabernacle in the wilderness.  Now the ark is to be placed in the temple just constructed, in the holy of holies.  All the holy utensils used in the worship of God, along with the ark were brought from the tabernacle into the temple, and this was done by the priests, ordained or set apart by Yahweh for the worship of Him.  So many sheep and oxen were being offered as sacrifices to God that no one could number them.  Try to envision, for a moment, the awful cry of these animals as they are slaughtered, as well as the incalculable amount of blood which flowed, not to mention the strenuous effort required by the priests to kill these animals.  Indeed the blood of goats and bulls does not redeem us.  Only the blood of Jesus can do that, but the blood of these animals is to be a vivid reminder to God’s covenant people that One would come who would take away their sins.  After the sacrifices were made, the Levites then brought the ark of the covenant to the most holy place and put it there, beneath the wings of the cherubim, a replica of angels made from gold.  Here’s an application to remember.  Yahweh is present here, as He is later in the person and work of the Lord Jesus, in His reign, His reconciliation, and His revelation.  We see here His authority as Creator, His lovingkindness and mercy as Redeemer, and His righteousness and truth as Lawgiver. 

Third, I want you to notice the clarity this passage presents, verses 7-9.  We are told of the cherubim spreading their wings over the ark, and we are told of the poles used to transport the ark during its days in the tabernacle, and we are told of the length of these poles.  Perhaps we are told of their length to impress upon us the holiness of God, that those carrying the ark by the poles were not to venture too close to the ark, the longer poles making a further distance from it possible. This is not necessarily what I want you to notice, however. In verse 9 we are told that the only thing in the ark of the covenant are the two tablets of stone, on which the Law was written and given to Moses on Mt. Horeb.  A study of Exodus makes clear that God has heard the cry of His people and raises up Moses as a deliverer, and Yahweh performs mighty deeds in that deliverance.  God meets Moses on Mt. Horeb and gives him the Ten Commandments and later the application of this Law for the covenant community, what we call the covenant code.  God has made it very clear how His people are to live, how they are to worship, how they are to get on with one another.  There is clarity.  There is no mystery here.  Scholars recently have surmised that the two tablets of the Law were probably identical, not as earlier presumed where one tablet had the first four commandments, and the second tablet had the last six commandments. These were duplicate copies, one for Yahweh to remind Him of His obligations to His people, and the other for Israel to remind them of their obligations to Yahweh.  Here’s the application.  Yahweh tells us all we need to know to honor Him in this world.  We do not need further revelation. We do not need so called words of knowledge. The Apostle Peter tells us that we have all we need to live a life of godliness, II Peter 1:3, 4. We dare not alter or construct new ways to honor or worship God.  His word is clear.  He does not speak incoherently.

And fourth, please note the mystery, verses 10-12. God makes His will very clear in His word, but there are still things about Him which we cannot comprehend.  We are told in verse 10 that when the priests came from the holy place the temple filled with the glory cloud, the Shekinah.  The sight was so awesome that the priests could not bear it.  They were overwhelmed by the glory and holiness of God.  This reminds us of the vision Isaiah had in the temple when he saw the glory of the holiness of the Lord and cried out, “Woe is me, for I am ruined.”  Solomon responds by reminding the people that Yahweh had promised to dwell amongst His people.  While it is true that God is knowable and He tells us all we need to know about Him and how we are to honor Him, it is still true that He is incomprehensible.  His ways are not our ways.  His thoughts are not our thoughts.  He is unsearchable in His wisdom and unfathomable in His ways.

The point of the passage is this- God gives both clarity and mystery in the work of  His kingdom, and my prayer is that the Holy Spirit will enable us to obey that which is clear and accept that which is mysterious or incomprehensible about Him, giving ourselves afresh and anew as living sacrifices to God.   Let’s break this down a bit, and bring direct application to our hearts and minds.  What do I mean- God gives clarity in the work of His kingdom?  I pointed out a moment ago that God gave His Law to Israel through His servant Moses.  There was nothing hidden from the covenant people.  They had all the information they needed to obey God.  Theologians have long gleaned from Scripture that there are three uses of God’s Law- the civil use, the practical use, and the pedagogical use.  To put this another way- the law protects and provides for people. That’s the civil use.  Anyone or any culture which decides to live by the Ten Commandments is largely going to prosper.  The Law of God protects people.

I am currently reading Simon Schama’s book The Embarrassment of Riches which tells of the golden era of the Netherlands, the 17^th century, when they were a worldwide economic and political power, not to mention the center of the artistic world.  Schama points out that the Dutch saw themselves as the elect of God, a modern day Israel, receiving God’s favor, obligating them to faithfulness, obedience to His Law.  This protection and blessing comes, not only to nations but families and individuals who seek to obey God.

Take stealing, for example.  People who choose not to steal but to work for what they have will prosper.  Their culture will prosper.  This breeds hard work and protects against the mindset of gaining something for nothing.  Then consider sexual sin.  If a man wants to ruin his life and that of his wife and children, then committing sexual sin is a sure way to do it.  He most likely will destroy the confidence his wife has in him, and his children will likely follow in his own sin, bringing emotional and spiritual hardship to their children as well, not to mention the financial hardship divorce brings upon the family.  The wise thing for any man, or woman for that matter, is to remain faithful to one’s spouse.  Then there is the pedagogical use of the Law.  Paul tells us in Galatians 3:24 that the Law is a tutor which drives us to Christ for salvation.  The Law shows us how far short we fall of God’s standard. While it is advisable and commendable to stay away from stealing or sexual sin, and while many do this outwardly, there is no one who does not steal or commit adultery in his heart.  When the Holy Spirit brings conviction by revealing one’s sin, it causes the person to see His need for a Savior. If you are a believer then God has graciously showed you your sin, how far short you fall of His standard, and He has used this to drive you to Jesus for eternal salvation.  Then there is the practical use of the Law.  If the Law of God drives you to Jesus for salvation then the Law of God also keeps you at the foot of the cross.  By this I mean even as believers we must constantly evaluate our actions, values, and attitudes in light of God’s Law and when we find that we are lacking, we must again run to the Lord Jesus for cleansing and renewal. 

Think for a moment of Paul’s admonition in Ephesians 5:18-6:9.  He is commanding us to be filled with the Spirit and to speak to one another in psalms and hymns.  He is commanding wives to be subject to their husbands in everything.  He is commanding husbands to love their wives sacrificially.  He is commanding children to obey their parents.  He is commanding servants to obey their masters, and he is commanding masters to treat their servants honorably.  A people who choose to live this way will have a greater measure of peace and prosperity.  Still, none of us obey this as perfectly as we ought.  This shows us our helplessness and need for reconciliation to God.  And when we follow Christ, accepting the grace of God offered in the gospel, we still need to come daily to the cross for forgiveness and reconciliation with those whom we have hurt by our disobedience. 

But one of our problems in this regard is a false view of repentance.  The bible clearly teaches repentance, turning back to God from our sin.  See the many times Jeremiah calls Judah to return to the Lord.  See how the Lord Jesus came preaching the kingdom through repentance, how Paul called the people to repentance and faith toward God.  Many preachers talk about repentance but I fear the repentance they teach is not Biblical repentance.  Here’s what I mean.  There are two types of repentance, what Richard Owen Roberts calls ego repentance and evangelical repentance.  The first type is all about self, ego.  A fourteen year old child who is caught shoplifting may be very repentant, even to the point of tears, but chances are he is repentant only because he was caught in the act.  He is fearful of what his parents may do to him.  If he looked deeply at his attitudes, he may find that he would continue to steal if he thought his parents would not discover his deeds.  He is fearful of their displeasure. There is little or no thought of how he has offended God and of God’s just wrath and displeasure for his actions.  Evangelical repentance, on the other hand, would be this- regardless of whether his parents discovered his sin, the teen-ager would be so grieved by his actions that he would go to the store owner, return the goods or make restitution by paying for them.  He would tell his parents what he did, asking their forgiveness and accepting whatever punishment they would give him.  He would be so conscious of rebelling against the God of grace that he would purpose never to steal anything again because this sin has become so terribly repulsive to him. 

What type of repentance marks your life?  Is it ego or evangelical repentance?  God’s word is clear.  He has given us all the guidance we need for how to live in this world.  Do you keep short accounts with God?  What sin are you tolerating in your life?  What are your secret sins?  Do you repent, from the heart, of all known sin, or are you protecting, keeping certain pet sins for your own pleasure? 

And what do I mean when I say that God gives mystery in the work of His kingdom?  While He makes many things very clear, it is also true that there are many things about Him and His ways which are not clear to us, that are shrouded in mystery. Isaiah tells us that God’s ways are not our ways, that His thoughts are not our thoughts.  Paul tells us that the ways of God are inscrutable. The presence of God in the glory cloud was mysterious to the covenant people of Solomon’s day.  There is mystery in the sacraments of the Lord’s Supper and baptism.  We believe that Jesus is present in the Lord’s Supper, but we do not believe the bread or wine are or become the physical body and blood of Jesus.  We believe that baptism symbolizes the washing away of our sins and the coming of the Holy Spirit upon the believer and we believe that baptism places children into the covenant of grace, but we do not know how this happens.  This is mystery.  We know that God chooses people before the foundation of the world to be His children, but His word also makes clear that all who call upon Him will be saved.  We believe that Jesus Christ is both 100% God and 100% man, that He is God incarnate, that He was born of the Virgin Mary, meaning that He did not have an earthly father which provided sperm for the egg within Mary, but we cannot explain how these things can be.  Theologians refer to this as the hypostatic union of Christ. This is mystery.  We believe that God foreordains whatsoever comes to pass, but we also believe that man is not a robot, that he makes intelligent and willful decisions everyday which truly affect the outcome of his life.  This is what the theologians call concursus.  This is mystery.

So while there are many things shrouded in mystery there still are so many things of clarity in Scripture.  Our responsibility is to focus, not on mystery, but on clarity.

In the early 18^th century in Germany, Nicholas van Zinzendorf, the leader of the Christian group called the Moravians, was deeply grieved at their division and strife.  Many of these sincere believers were debating and divided over subjects like the mode of baptism, the mystery of election and free will, and proper church government.  Zinzendorf called the leaders together and rebuked them for their division, urging them to repent and pray for the Holy Spirit’s power.  They began to do so, earnestly confessing and repenting of their sins. Finally on a Friday morning the Holy Spirit fell on their prayer meeting with deep conviction, repentance, reconciliation, and restitution.  The result was that many agreed to take one hour per week to pray for the progress of the gospel in the world.  Many others joined them, and the result was that every hour of every week was covered with prayer.  This prayer meeting continued, unabated with every hour of every week covered in prayer, for one hundred years!  Moravians took the gospel of Jesus all over the world, many of whom sold themselves into slavery in order to minister to African slaves on plantations in the south and Caribbean Islands.

We are committed to the historical and biblical faith, to theological orthodoxy.  None of us can site ignorance of what God commands.  But the real question is this- are you obeying what you know?  Are you zealous for a mighty movement of God?  Are you earnest in wanting God’s glory in the world?

What I am after is true, biblical repentance.  John the Baptist said that he would lay the axe at the root of the tree, urging the people to bring forth fruits in keeping with repentance.  Could it be that we focus only on fruit repentance, not root repentance?  Here’s what I mean- in Jude 5-7 we find serious accusations put forth against those to whom Jude is writing.  He mentions three sins which seem to be at the very root of many other sins. “Now I desire to remind you, though you know all things once for all, that the Lord, after saving a people out of the land of Egypt, subsequently destroyed those who did not believe. And angels who did not keep their own domain, but abandoned their proper abode, He has kept in eternal bonds under darkness for the judgment of the great day. Just as  Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities around them, since they in the same way as these indulged in gross immorality and went after strange flesh, are exhibited as an example, in undergoing the punishment of eternal fire.”   In verse five you will observe the sin of unbelief. God destroyed those of Israel who did not believe the promises of God.  In verse 6 we find the root sin of rebellion. We know from Isaiah 14 that Lucifer, an angel, fell from the glory of heaven due to rebellion against God.  We also know that Adam sinned in the garden by disobeying God’s command to not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.  Jude speaks here of angels who did not keep their own domain.  That is, they sought to gain a place not reserved for them. And in verse 7 we find the sin of pride in that the people of Sodom and Gomorrah engaged in sexual immorality, and at the root of such sin is the idea that the person knows best his needs, that he is exempt from what others ought not to do.

What are your root sins?  Let’s not talk first about fruit sins for they spring from root sins.  Is pride a dominant root sin in your life?  Do you think yourself better than others, better informed about your needs than God?  I suggest that most sexual sin, as well as laziness and irresponsibility can be traced back to pride.  The lazy or irresponsible person is saying that he does not need to do what others are required to do. He is different, more gifted, more qualified.  Or what about the root sin of unbelief?  Think of Israel in the wilderness for a moment.  Were they not given over to grumbling against Moses and God?  Were they not given over to idolatry in making the golden calf?  Were they guilty of nay saying, lacking faith, always saying something would not work. Think of ten of the twelve spies who spied out the promised land, returning to report the giants in the land.  And unbelief also gives way to worry or fear.  The root sin of unbelief robs you of joyful expectation of God’s blessed answer to prayer.  And then what about the root sin of rebellion?  The rebellious person knows what God says, what he ought to do in a given situation, but he simply refuses to do what God says.  The root sin of rebellion is seen in unwillingness to submit to those in authority, whether it be a husband in marriage, a teacher or coach at school, or a boss at work.  It reveals itself in an unwillingness to repent of sin or an unwillingness to accept rebuke, to argue against God or the one bringing the rebuke.  It makes itself known in anger because the angry person, at the end of the day, is refusing to accept God’s sovereignty in whatever circumstance is angering him.  What are your root sins?  You must repent of your sin or you will not find the felt presence and power of God.  You will forfeit any part in a mighty movement of God.

This begs another question- what do I mean by a mighty movement of God?  Note the passion of the prophet Isaiah in these words from Isaiah 64:1ff, “Oh, that Thou wouldst rend the heavens and come down, that the mountains might quake at Thy presence- as fire kindles the brushwood, as fire causes water to boil- to make Thy name known to Thine adversaries, that the nations may tremble at Thy presence!”  Isaiah is preaching near the end of the northern kingdom Israel which is soon to be overrun by the Assyrians.  He is deeply burdened for God’s glory which can only come as He answers the prayers of His people and comes down to them, doing a mighty work of grace, power, and judgment.  I have often said that the level of spirituality and zeal found in the church in the book of Acts is normative. This is how Christianity is to be lived and taught, and there have been many times in the history of the church where this has been the case.  We call these times revivals of true religion.  We settle for so much less.  I liken a mighty movement of God to the normal Christian life on steroids.  It is many people, at the same time, in the same place deeply conscious of the glory of God.  If we have times when we are aware of our sin, grieved over it, repentant, making restitution, claiming forgiveness and reconciliation with God and man; if we have times of joy in God’s presence; if we have times of restitution for sin, if we experience sincere repentance where we consciously and effectively put off our sin; if we see a few conversions to Christ here and there; if we see marriages helped after many months of counseling; if we have a greater sense of the glory and excellency of Jesus and our eternal salvation; if we are more conscious of the glories of heaven which await us, and the horrors of hell which await the condemned; if we are more zealous for the gospel going to all the world; if we see fruit from our teaching, preaching, or evangelizing; if we see answers to our prayers; then a mighty movement of God is a much higher level of all these things by many people, in the same place, at the same time.

Would you not agree we need desperately a mighty movement of God?  Most believers will agree that we need this, but are unwilling to pay the price to see it come our way.  Why so?  Our great problem is what the old theologians referred to as spiritual declension, what others today call backsliding.  Are you in spiritual declension?  Are you zealous for a mighty movement of God?  How can you tell?  Listen carefully.  You are in spiritual declension when your earnest thoughts of eternity are infrequent and cease to grip your soul.  Is this true of you?  How often do you think on heaven?  Is it as real to you as sitting here this morning?  Would you rather stay here for many more years and enjoy your children or grandchildren that go to heaven to be with Jesus?  Do you live as though this is the only life you will ever know?  In other words, do you live like so many of your neighbors who give little or no thought to what will happen to them when they die?  Does the thought of landing a big business deal or purchasing a new house bring you a greater rush than thinking of seeing Jesus face to face? 

You are in spiritual declension when worship services are boring to you, when they no longer move you.  Are you rarely moved in corporate worship, either by the hymns we sing, the confessions we make, the sermons you hear, the body and blood of Christ you eat and drink?  To put it another way, are you more moved emotionally by a trip you are planning to take, a sports team which won a big game, the thought of buying a new car, or some accomplishment of your children?

And you are in spiritual declension when pointed biblical or theological discussion is an embarrassment to you, especially when you are out of your comfort zone of church or a covenant group.  Are you embarrassed about Jesus in secular company?  Are you afraid to defend Jesus and the exclusive nature of church mission when in a discussion with godless people at work who naively claim all roads lead to God?  Do you find yourself rarely speaking of the beauty of Jesus to other brothers and sisters?  I am not referring to talk about ministry or strategic planning.  We do a pretty good job with this, but I am asking if you speak of the Lord Jesus Christ and what He means to you, what He has been showing you, teaching you in His word?

Well, then, what are you to do?  Dear brothers and sisters in Jesus, you must repent. Repentance is not something one does only when coming to faith in Jesus for salvation.  Repentance is a daily, many times per day, necessity.  I am not referring to ego repentance.  What I am after is evangelical, God-centered repentance.  I am not saying tears are the benchmark of evangelical repentance.  Tears may be good but they do not necessarily prove anything.  Esau had tears. So did King Saul.  What I am after is indignation and fear.  What do I mean?  When confronted with your sin, either directly by the Holy Spirit or indirectly by a preacher in a sermon or a brother or sister in Christ, I am not referring to being indignant at the rebuke. You should be anything but indignant as we typically understand it.  Most of us, however, resent rebuke from anyone.  By being indignant I mean anger, disgust at yourself, for sinning against such a wondrous God of grace, mercy, and lovingkindness.  You should be grieved, indignant that you could so wantonly, so easily sin against the One who loves you and gave Himself for you.  It ought to upset you greatly that you so easily go after the false gods of pleasure, affluence, and ease.  It ought to bring dismay to your soul when you so easily settle for paltry living when you could experience so much more from the One who sits enthroned at the Father’s right hand, always living to make intercession for you.

And by fear I have in mind a deep distrust of your own flesh, your own learning, your own experience.  You should live with a constant fear that you may disappoint the One who loves you with His everlasting love.  Granted, fear is not the best motive for holiness.  Love for God is, but still it is not to be neglected.  You ought to fear making shipwreck of your faith, fear displeasing God, fear grieving or quenching His Spirit, fear losing the presence and power of the Spirit, fear bringing shame to the name of Jesus, fear causing your children or grandchildren to leave the faith for some sin you commit.  Do you know anything of such repentance?

Second you ought to pray.  I know you pray but I am speaking of at least two things here.  I mean pray with a kingdom focus, not being primarily concerned with your own peace and pleasure; but praying with a zeal for the nations and the glory of God. Are you zealous for the name of God and His attributes to be made known to all the nations of the world?  Are you upset when people rob Jesus of His glory by saying He is merely one of many ways to God?  Are you troubled by the way people so casually dismiss your Savior and His work on the cross?  Are you brokenhearted by the way people bring judgment and condemnation upon themselves by rejecting Jesus as the only way of salvation?  Are you troubled by the weakness of Christ’s church in our nation and world?  Are you willing to pray earnestly for revival and a mighty movement of God?  My observation is that most of us are unwilling to pay the price for a mighty movement of God, for the normal Christian life on steroids.  We are far too complacent with the low level of spirituality in our families.  We like it the way it is.  Prayer and repentance are hard work and we are not willing to do what it takes to bring down the blessing of God.

And then we are to obey God. It really is very simple. You must get to the point where you hate all your sin, not just the ones which cause you discomfort; but even the private ones which cause you pleasure.  You must come to realize that your sin is against the Holy One of Israel, the One who has redeemed you by His own blood, the One who has loved you from all eternity.  He hates all sin because He is positively holy.  You have not the option of holding your pet sins which entertain you.  You are to put off all sin, hate all sin, turn away from all sin.  When you are tempted to neglect your wife or speak harshly to her because she has nagged you, then you must obey God by loving your wife sacrificially.  When you are tempted not to submit to your husband because he again has failed to put your interests before his own, you must choose to put yourself again under his authority.  When you are tempted to satisfy your fleshly urge to fantasize about another woman, you must resist by fixing your eyes on Jesus.

Dear brothers and sisters in Jesus, we are settling for so little.  God wants to do a mighty work in our midst but He is resisting us.  Are you willing to offer yourself as a living sacrifice to God?  Will you repent?  Will you pray?  Will you obey?

In 1949 on the Isle of Lewis in the Outer Hebrides, off the coast of Scotland, a number of Scottish Presbyterians were deeply burdened about their spiritual declension.  They began to seek for a mighty movement of God.   They prayed long hours into the night for several weeks, but were not seeing God meet them in power. One of the young men spoke up saying, that they were not being honest with each other.  He cited Psalm 24 which says those who ascend unto the hill of the Lord and stand in holy place, have clean hands, pure hearts, have not sworn deceitfully, and have not lifted up their souls to falsehood or lies.  He urged that they pray, confessing their sins very specifically.  God met them that night with wonderful liberty in prayer and increased their faith to believe God for revival.  As they were making their way home late that night they could not help but notice large numbers of people walking on the road into town.  They were troubled about their souls, deeply burdened over their lost condition before God.  They asked how they might be saved, be made right with God.  Over the next several weeks these young men from the prayer meeting preached Jesus to these fishermen and their families.  The result was that nearly the whole town was converted.  And it is clear that effects of the revival are still present today, over fifty years later.  Three times per year the Scottish Presbyterian Church calls the people together for four days of preaching and repentance during their communion seasons. Nearly the whole island stops their ordinary work in order to worship God and hear the preached word.  Even recently Scottish authorities tried to begin Sabbath ferry service to the Isle of Lewis and the people strongly opposed it, causing the government to back down from their proposal. Why such a strong opposition to transportation?  Brethren did not travel on the Lord’s Day and others should not either.

May God do a mighty work in our midst!  How we need it!  Are you desperate for it?  Will you repent, will you pray, and will you obey?

ZEALOUS FOR A MIGHTY MOVEMENT OF GOD

Asa And The Destruction Of Foreign Altars

So in the twentieth year of Jeroboam the king of Israel, Asa began to reign as king of Judah.  And he reigned forty-one years in Jerusalem; and his mother’s name was Maacah the daughter of Abishalom.  And Asa did what was right in the sight of the Lord, like David his father. He also put away the male cult prostitutes from the land and removed all the idols which his fathers had made.  And he also removed Maacah his mother from being queen mother, because she had made a horrid image as an Asherah; and Asa cut down her horrid image and burned it at the brook Kidron.  But the high places were not taken away; nevertheless the heart of Asa was wholly devoted to the Lord all his days.  And he brought into the house of the Lord the dedicated things of his father and his own dedicated things; silver and gold and utensils.  I Kings 15:9-15.

A cloud of cynicism, negativity, and unbelief seems to hang like a dark foreboding cloud over New England.  For those of you who have lived here many years I wonder if you even realize the oppressive nature of life in a part of the country which so long ago rejected Biblical truth in favor of vain imaginations.  I am specifically speaking of the dark cloud of Unitarianism, a doctrinal belief forged in the mind of William Ellery Channing in the late 18^th century in Newport, RI, a belief which denies the Trinity, the deity of Christ, the total depravity of man, and the substitutionary atonement of the Lord Jesus Christ. Incidentally, Channing grew up listening to the preaching of Samuel Hopkins who was mentored by none other than Jonathan Edwards.  It seems to me that most believers are not aware of the cynicism and unbelief which robs them of joy and faith, sort of like a fish in water is unaware of its surroundings, sort of like a child who grows up in an abusive home is unaware that his family life is abnormal, dysfunctional. 

Asa, King of Judah, came to power in the southern kingdom in a similar situation.  Jeroboam, the first king of Israel after the division was a godless man and the king of Judah who followed Rehoboam was no better, a man named Abijam.  War existed between the kingdoms of Abijam and Jeroboam all the days of Abijam, and when he died, his son Asa inherited the throne of Judah in the 20^th year of the reign of Jeroboam.  We are told that Asa was unlike his father, that he did what was right in the sight of Yahweh.  Times could not have been worse for Asa as he ascended the throne of Judah.  Division and hatred between the two kingdoms, idolatry, murder, and general debauchery ruled the day.  But God’s hand of blessing was on Asa and the result was a mighty movement of God in the nation of Judah.  The message of this text is, of course, directed to everyone but there is a very special sense in which each husband and father needs to listen very, very carefully.  You are the covenant head of your family and leadership starts with you.  Godly leadership generally brings blessing to the household and lack of godliness and carelessness brings God’s curse on your family. What can we learn from this?  How can this passage instruct and motivate us to seek a mighty movement of God in our day?

First, let’s consider the exposition of the text. What is this passage teaching us?  I want you to note three things, and I approach this by asking three questions.  Who was Asa, verses 9, 10?  What good did he do, verses 11-13, 15?  And what bad did he do, verse 14?  First, who was Asa?  I have already stated that he was the son of wicked King Abijam, and Abijam reigned only three years, usually a sign of ungodliness, being one whom God graciously removed from being King of Judah.  His mother was Maacah, the wife of Rehoboam, who brought such trouble on Israel by brazenly refusing to listen to the complaints of Jeroboam.  As is often the case with rebellious women, Maacah, though possessing no actual authority or power, nonetheless cast a dark cloud over the affairs of both kingdoms.  Asa enjoyed a long reign as king of Judah, forty-one years, a long reign generally meaning that the king was godly and brought positive changes to the kingdom.

Second, what good did Asa do?  In verses 11-13 we are told of five good things he did.  Generally speaking, he did what was right in the sight of the Lord, meaning he obeyed God’s Law, being like his father David. More specifically, Asa put away, or judged the male cult prostitutes.  In that day when paganism became part of religious worship, people believed that men having sexual intercourse with other men appeased the gods of fertility, promising prosperity through verdant crops and many animals being born that season.  Asa boldly rid Judah of such foolishness and corruption.  A king can do much good if he is inclined to do so.  Asa also destroyed, put away the idols his fathers, namely Abijam and Rehoboam, had brought to compromise true worship.  He also removed the wicked influence of the queen mother, Maacah, mother of Abijam, who had so corrupted covenant worship.  We are told that Asa removed her because she had made a horrid image in the worship of God, something expressly forbidden by the second commandment.  The image was an Asherah, a female deity which many worshipped in place of the true and living God.  We are told that Asa cut down this horrid image and cast it into the brook Kidron, the place of refuse.  Also in verse 15 we are told that Asa renewed biblical worship by bringing the gold, silver, and utensils which God regulated for true worship through His servant Moses. 

And third, what bad did Asa do?  In verse 14 we are told that though he had done all these wonderful things just mentioned, he failed to remove the high places of false worship.  We see this term mentioned many times in the Old Testament narratives and each time the report is not good.  Jehoshaphat, son of Asa, though a good man, also failed to remove the high places, I Kings 22:43.  Jehoash, we are told in II Kings 12:3, did not take away the high places and the people continued to sacrifice and burn incense on them.  In other words, for all the good Asa did, he did not go far enough.  He compromised his convictions.  In today’s church it would be akin to a pastor preaching Biblical truth while at the same time winking at egregious sin by church members, not willing to address their sin, not willing to call them to repentance and holiness.

These points yield three applications. First, concerning who Asa is, we learn that godly leadership brings much good to a people.  Leadership, whether good or bad, has an impact.  That’s why God’s word drives home the necessity of leaders with godly character.  Second, zeal for God’s kingdom sometimes requires the courage by leadership to make unpopular decisions.  Asa removed Maacah from a place of prominence which probably seemed cruel to some.  And third, concerning the bad Asa did, we need to keep in mind that zeal for God must overcome convenience, custom, and tradition.  It was convenient for Asa to look the other way at high places of worship.  After all this was the custom of the day.  It seemed to be asking a lot for God to expect people to make the long, difficult trek up to Jerusalem three times per year to worship Him as He had directed, but godly leadership requires an attack on the status quo; and Asa failed at this.

Here’s the main point from the text I want you to understand- zeal for a mighty movement of God calls leaders to kill their idols of destruction.  May God grant us grace to kill the idols which work to destroy us, our families, church, and nation.  So, what do we mean by zeal for a mighty movement of God?  Let’s first take the word zeal.  We read a longer account of the reign of Asa in II Chronicles 14-16 and we are told there that he did good in the sight of the Lord, that he removed foreign altars and high places and incense altars.  At first glance this seems to contradict what we read about Asa in the I Kings account where we are told that he did not remove the high places.  What gives?  The II Chronicles account, chapter 14:2-16:14 is divided into two parts; the first being a period of devotion to the Lord and the second being a time of spiritual declension. In fact in the thirty-sixth year of Asa’s reign he entered into an ungodly alliance with Ben-Hadad of Syria, paying him a vast sum of money to break his alliance with Baasha of Israel. A prophet named Hanani rebuked Asa for his sin and Asa responded in anger by having the prophet imprisoned.  It is in this context that we are told of Asa not taking down the high places in Judah.  In other words he began well but finished the race poorly. So the I Kings account is looking at his reign as a whole and the verdict is that he was only partially faithful to the Lord.  Still the general assessment of Asa’s life is one of dedication to the Lord.

But we find greater zeal in the life of Hezekiah, II Kings 18, 19.  We are told that he removed the high places of idol worship and that he trusted in the Lord to such a degree that there was no king like him before or after.  When faced with an Assyrian invasion by Sennacherib he called on the Lord by tearing his clothes, covering himself with sackcloth, and entering the house of the Lord.  God struck the Assyrian army with a great defeat and death, killing 185,000 men at one time.  We can say that Hezekiah’s zeal is characterized by desperation.  He was desperate for a visitation from God.

And there is Josiah, II Kings 22, 23 who heard from Hilkiah that he had found the book of the Law.  Josiah had it read in his presence and repented, seeing his sin and the sin of his fathers against the Lord.  Because of his repentance the Lord said to Josiah, “Because your heart was tender and you humbled yourself before the Lord when you heard what I spoke against this place and against its inhabitants that they should become a desolation and a curse, and you have torn your clothes and wept before Me, I truly have heard you, declares the Lord.”  Josiah then brought sweeping reforms to Judah including the reinstitution of the Passover.  His was a life characterized by humiliation.

We can summarize the zeal for a mighty movement of God through these three kings.  Asa represents dedication to God.  We are told in Romans 12:1, 2 that we are to offer our bodies a living and holy sacrifice to God.  We are to set ourselves aside for holiness, meaning we are to turn from sin in repentance and perfect holiness in the fear of God, knowing that without holiness no one will see the Lord.  Hezekiah represents desperation.  He is struck with the threat of annihilation by Sennacherib’s army and later by his impending death.  On numerous occasions in the Psalms we find David crying out to the Lord for grace, seeking Him for refuge. On both occasions Hezekiah cries out to God in desperation, seeking Him for a visitation of His presence.  And Josiah represents humiliation, where he tore his clothes, put on sackcloth, and sought God in His house.  God loves a broken and contrite heart.  He resists the proud but gives grace to the humble.  Isaiah tells us that God looks to the one who is broken hearted and trembles at His word.   So by zeal for a mighty movement of God we mean we must dedicate ourselves wholly and unreservedly to God.  It means we must be intolerably desperate for God’s presence and power.  We must come humbly with brokenness before God, seeing the depth of our sin, repenting of it, and seeking refuge in Jesus only.  Do you know anything of such devotion, desperation, and humiliation?

In the winter of 1776 George Washington and his ragged troops surprised the British in the battle for Boston and routed them.  Washington knew the next place the British army and navy would attack was New York City. Throughout the summer of 1776, while the Continental Congress met in Philadelphia and declared colonial independence from Britain, Washington and his men build defenses all over New York City. Finally in August, 1776 the British attacked at Brooklyn Heights, completely routing Washington’s army.  The colonial army faced two more humiliating defeats at New York and though he did not show it, private correspondence reveals that Washington was fighting depression and a sense of hopelessness.  In desperation he gathered his men for a major counter attack on Christmas night, 1776 at Trenton, NJ completely surprising the enemy, and gaining a major victory.  That battle turned the tide of the war, though it would continue until 1781 and the battle of Yorktown.

How much greater should we sense our helplessness, our desperation when we look at all that needs to happen in our world to correct the evil and wickedness which is so rampant!  God is calling us to repent, to sense our need, to be zealous for His glory.

And when I speak of a mighty movement of God I mean a clear, conscience awareness of the Holy Spirit’s presence and power.  Isaiah 55-66 is a marvelous section of Scripture that addresses the issue of revival, a mighty movement of God.  I have noted before in this sermon series the zeal and passion Isaiah has for God to rend the heavens and come down, that the nations may quake at His presence, as fire kindles brushwood, as fire causes water to boil, that Yahweh’s name might be made known to His adversaries, that all the nations may tremble at His presence, Isaiah 64:1.  The rending of the heavens suggests a metaphor of rain showers from clouds dark and full.

A mighty movement of God in New England would mean the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on many people, at the same time, and in the same place.  It would mean regeneration in the hearts of many, many people.  It would mean a massive turning of people from their sins to faith and repentance in the Lord Jesus Christ.  It would then mean reformation of the church of Jesus, being more conformed to His word and practical holy living.  It would result in the reformation of our culture, drawing us back to our God-centered beginning in the early 17^th century.  And it would mean the transformation of much of our culture, affecting for God’s glory government, the business world, entertainment and sports, politics, and the judicial system.  Every component of our culture would be affected by Biblical Christianity.

The Great Awakening swept over the American Colonies from 1735 until some time in the mid 1750’s but by the time of the American Revolution in 1775 the colonies were bereft to a large degree of Biblical, experiential holiness.  Deism, the belief that god exists and created all things, but that he is not involved in our lives, ruled the day and led to much philosophical and theological skepticism, not to mention debauchery.  Of a population of 5 million, over 300,000 were confirmed drunkards.  Fifteen thousand of them were dying each year.  Women were afraid to go outside at night.  Bank robberies were a daily occurrence.  All the churches were declining in membership.  A poll found one evangelical student at Harvard.  Princeton, founded some thirty years before and thought to be the center of evangelical faith, had two Christians in her student body.  A mock communion was observed at Williams College and anti-Christian plays were conducted at Dartmouth.  Nassau Hall at Princeton was burned down and a bible was taken from a local church and burned publicly.  The President of Harvard was forced by the students to resign.  By the 1790’s, however, a mighty movement of God came, beginning in Kentucky, where over 11,000 people attended a communion service. This was known as the second Great Awakening and it transformed our nation once again.  Christians flooded into Harvard, Princeton, Williams College, and Dartmouth.  The churches were filled and morality was remarkably improved.  What brought this revival?  John Erskine, a Presbyterian minister in Scotland, called Christian people in England, Scotland, and the colonies to pray and they had done so for 30 years.  Jonathan Edwards, prior to his death, wrote on the subject as well, urging people to set aside time each week to pray for revival.  God heard the prayers of His people after many years, bringing down His glory upon our nation and Britain.

Are you zealous for a mighty movement of God?  Are you dedicated to it?  Are you desperate, really desperate for a touch from God?  Are you broken hearted by the ungodliness and perversion in our culture?  Have you been sufficiently humbled and broken so that you are able to say, “Here I am Lord.  Send me, break me, do what you will with me.”

And what do I mean by this zeal for a mighty movement of God requiring leaders to destroy or kill their idols of destruction?  Let’s remember an application from the exposition of the text.  Godly leadership brings much good.  We see so many examples in the Old Testament of godly kings affecting the whole nation for good.  The people turn from their idols, honor the Sabbath Day, practice circumcision, and observe the Passover.  And so it is with those of us in leadership positions. Take the husbands and fathers in our congregation, for example.  I have spoken many times of your federal headship responsibilities.  When I engage in premarital counseling with a couple I always stress the biblical roles of both husband and wife in marriage, and I lean hard on the men, saying that they by far have the greatest and most difficult responsibilities.  We hear so much talk of women needing to submit to their husbands and we know how our world hates this counsel, but the far more weighty responsibility falls on the man. And then there is the issue of Ruling and Teaching Elders in a congregation.  They will stand before God on that great day and give an account of their deeds as elders.  They will be asked by the Chief Shepherd why they did what they did or why they did not do what they should have done. 

Leaders, elders, fathers, husbands are to identify those idols which threaten to destroy them and those under their care, and then they are to annihilate them.  Asa found idols in Judah and he knew these were destroying his people.  He promptly got rid of them.  We are to do the same. 

Consider Jesus in John 2:14ff , entering the temple and finding those who were selling oxen and sheep and doves, and the moneychangers seated.  Since we know that Jesus had been to the temple regularly since He was twelve years old, and since these practices were no doubt a regular occurrence for many years, and since Jesus knew the purpose of the temple and that these men were violating that purpose, and since zeal for His Father’s house consumed Him, we should not be surprised by His actions.  Still, it seems shocking to some of us to read that Jesus made a scourge of cords, a whip, and drove these men out of the temple.  For someone to make a whip means his actions are premeditated, well thought out.  You may think that Jesus suddenly came to the temple, saw a sight that bothered Him, and then acted out of the anger of the moment. Not true.  He knew exactly what He was doing.  And the very fact that the Son of God acted with violence in driving people out of the temple, swinging a whip, turning over tables, and with all probability yelling at the top of His voice makes this occurrence even more remarkable.  Jesus is acting out His federal headship, being sent by His Father, showing that His Father’s house is not for profit, but is to be a house of prayer for the nations.  He engaged in the two fold exercise of identification and annihilation.

Then consider, for a moment, the idols of destruction a leader is to annihilate. At the end of the day your greatest idol is self. You love yourself and you tend to worship yourself, to put yourself before God and your family. We could name many ways this idol makes itself known but I will mention only three of them.  I speak now of pride, unbelief, and rebellion.  These three idols will suck the spiritual life out of you, if you refuse to kill them.  When I speak of pride I mean your tendency to think more highly of yourself than you ought to think- to see yourself as more righteous, more capable, more deserving of the kindness and accolades of others, thinking you are to be served rather than serve. Why does pride consume you?  Theology is always at the root of pride.  A prideful person has too small a view of God which means he has too high a view of himself.  A prideful person does not really believe that God is sovereign, holy, just, righteous, and wrathful.  He fails to acknowledge the inexhaustible love of God, the unrivaled majesty, the unrestricted sovereignty, the untainted holiness, the unchangeable goodness of God. This low view of God leads to unrepentant, careless, and presumptuous living.  Oh, you may engage in ego repentance, man centered repentance, because you wish to relieve the stress of getting caught in your sin; but this is not the same as God centered, evangelical repentance where you focus on the fact that you have sinned against the Creator God who demands obedience and holiness from the crown of His creation.  It brings a careless, frivolous, flippant attitude toward sin, mistakenly believing there is safety in numbers (everyone is doing it) and the immediate absence of God’s discipline means all is well between you and Him.  It leads to presumptuous living, the insane notion that your earthly, temporal blessings must automatically mean that God is well pleased with you and that you have nothing to fear, seeing God as a celestial maitre’ de who loves to give you whatever you wish.  In your presumption you believe that you can easily sin and just as easily and readily repent of your sin, not realizing that God hates your every sin and that it is robbing you of spiritual vitality.

When I speak of unbelief I have in mind your failure to act upon God’s declarations, promises, and warnings.  God declares that all men everywhere must repent because He has fixed a day in which He will judge the world through Jesus Christ.  God declares that He will by no means leave the guilty unpunished, that He sent His only begotten Son to die for His people, that He is in heaven and does as He pleases. God promises that He will never leave nor forsake His people, that He will supply your every need according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus, that eyes have not seen and ears have not heard all that God has prepared for those who love Him.  He issues many warnings.  If you do not repent, you will perish.  It is impossible to renew to repentance anyone who has tasted of the heavenly gift, shared in the Holy Spirit, and tasted of the goodness of the word of God and then fallen away.  Why does unbelief come to one who has experienced so much of God’s grace?  If this is happening to you, then it is probably because you have too big a view of your problems and circumstances.  Like the spies who entered the promise land and focused on the giants in the land, robbing them of faith that God would in fact give them what He promised; you see only the present problems and not the God who is supremely powerful to overcome them.  And when you are captivated by unbelief then you will be ruled by negative, fearful, and hyper-critical living.  You will say, “My marriage can never get better. . .my father will never become a Christian. . .I could never try that new job for I am sure to fail.”  If unbelief is ruling your life, then I bet you are hyper-critical of your spouse, your children, your boss. No one ever measures up to your standards.  I also bet you are angry.

And then there is the idol of rebellion.  By this I mean your refusal to obey and act upon what God commands.  You know what He says about having other gods before you, but you still allow money and possessions to dominate you.  You know what God says about honoring those in authority over you but you refuse to follow explicitly the directives of your boss.  You know what God says about your role to submit to your husband, but you argue with God, saying that surely He does not want you to follow such a tyrant.  You know what God says about loving your wife sacrificially, but surely He cannot mean you are to continue to love a woman who berates you, who neglects you.  You know what God says about not stealing but you insist that taking longer on your lunch break than you should is one of the perks of the job, especially since you are not paid as much you are worth.  Or you know that you are to love your neighbor, to be part of his life, but you just don’t want to do it.  It takes too much time, and besides he is pretty hard to get along with anyway.  Why does rebellion grip your heart and will?  It is because you have too big a view of your own rationality.  You just know better than God, your pastor, your spouse, your parents, your boss.  And why does this happen?  Because you have a disdain for God’s sovereign rights as your Creator.  Think of it this way.  An artist can do what he wants to do with his painting.  Give it away, sell it, keep it.  He is free to call the shots because it is his creation.  No one would be justified in demanding the artist give him the painting.  Likewise God is your creator.  He can do as He pleases with His creation.  How can you possibly think you are therefore entitled to dictate to God how you should live, that you are justified in not obeying His directives?  And when you fall for rebellion it always leads to a loss of vital spirituality.  You will have, perhaps over many months or years, a declining zeal for God’s glory and the work of His kingdom.  You will find yourself giving your time, money, and heart to lesser, more temporal things.  To continue in rebellion against God, regardless of your profession of faith, can lead to hell itself.  No, I am not saying a true believer can lose his salvation but surely the many warnings in Hebrews and from Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount ought to cause you to pause and consider your present condition.  Not all who say to the Father, “Lord, Lord,” will enter the kingdom of heaven.  The book of Hebrews tells us that you should not be sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises.  It is those who persevere in holiness who have assurance of eternal salvation.

To not kill or destroy these idols of pride, unbelief, and rebellion is like the mother who gives her child high cholesterol foods to eat.  The boy is grossly overweight and knows little of proper eating or exercise habits. He grows into manhood and continues his bad habits, giving little thought to what his daily habits are doing to his body.  Then at age 45 he drops dead of a heart attack while cutting the grass in his yard.  One piece of fried chicken did not do him in, but a lifestyle of poor eating habits had a cumulative affect on him.  This is all too true concerning your sin.  One little sin will not destroy you, but a lifetime of unrepentant, careless, and presumptuous living can. 

Are you killing the idols of pride, rebellion, and unbelief in your life?  Husbands, fathers, are you vigilant in rooting out these idols from your family?  Just as Asa destroyed the idols of destruction in his day, you are to be vigilant to do the same.

Would you not agree that our failure to kill these idols of destruction leads to spiritual declension, backsliding?  Are you presently in spiritual declension?  You know you are if sports, recreation, or entertainment consume too much of your time, money, and affections.  I am not saying that you cannot enjoy these things.  The question, however, is this- are they controlling, consuming you?  Do you find more pleasure and contentment in these than you do time alone with the Lord Jesus, contemplating His glory and grace?  You know you are in spiritual declension if you can commit sins of the body with little or no twinge of conscience.  What about television programming or movies?  Do you watch things which suck the spiritual life out of your soul, and have little or no guilt feelings when doing so?  Do you look at internet pornography?  Perhaps your conscience bothered you for a season, but not now.  You are in big trouble.  Sin, any sin, left to itself can destroy you.  And you know you are in spiritual declension if your zeal for holiness is no longer a driving force in your life, if you think the call to discipline and holiness is outdated, does not apply to you, smacks of legalism.  Are you turning your freedom in Christ into an opportunity for the flesh? 

Are these things true of you?  Well, then, what are you to do?  You are to repent of your sin, and this is to be a God-centered, evangelical repentance, one where you are very conscious of how you have offended the Holy One.  I have told you many things about this repentance but here are a few more to consider.  This kind of repentance means you have an intense longing to get right with God.  What do you long for in life?  What are your great passions?  Be brutally honest with yourself.  Do you have a driving passion for the glory of God to be made known in the world to those who do not know Jesus?  If not, then you need to repent of your sin because this ought to dominate every blood bought citizen of heaven.  How much of your day to you spend in direct service to Christ and His kingdom, either at home with your family or in the church or community?  I know you can’t spend lots of time, since you have a job and other responsibilities, but come now, how much of your day is spent on prayer, seeking God in His word, instructing your family, serving those in need?

And then consider the issue of zeal.  You can find no better illustration of zeal than the book of Acts. These believers loved the preaching of God’s word. They would sit for hours listening to it, sometimes all night.  They loved to pray, seeking God until the house seemed to shake with His power.  They lived sacrificially, pooling their resources for the propagation of the gospel and to help the poor in their midst.  They were willing to be persecuted, to be maligned for Jesus’ sake.  They spoke the word of God with boldness.  Do you have anything approaching this kind of zeal?  If not, then you need to repent and ask Jesus to help you, to fill you with the Holy Spirit.

I mentioned last week that God raised up Evan Roberts in Wales to be a leader in the 1904, 1905 Welsh revival which spread to Scotland, England, and Northern Ireland.  It also jumped the Atlantic Ocean and transformed some pretty unlikely places.  At least one-forth of the student body at Yale was in bible study and prayer groups.  The city of Atlantic City, New Jersey, a city at that time of 50,000 was mightily visited by the Spirit.  The pastors of that city said they knew of only fifty people who were not Christians.  The town of Portland, Oregon, a place not generally considered the hot bed of biblical faith, was also powerfully visited by the Holy Spirit.  In fact 240 business owners agreed to close their establishments from 11 a.m. until noon to encourage the people of their city to pray in churches.  The same thing happened in Denver, Colorado where the businesses agreed to close for two hours, from noon to 2 p.m. to pray.

Can God do the same again?  Yes, of course He can, but do you believe He will?  That’s a harder question, isn’t it?  The bible is clear, however.  The glory of the knowledge of the Lord will cover the earth as the water covers the sea.  God works in two ways, the ordinary, day to day, slugging it out version of Christian faith where we see a few people here and there touched by God in conversion, marriages healed, families restored.  And for this we rejoice and we continue joyfully to labor.  However there is also an extraordinary work of the Spirit, a visitation in what we call revival.  The Old Testament if filled with accounts of it, and so is church history.  May we seek God for a mighty movement of His grace!  And may those of us who are leaders kill the idols of self made manifest in pride, unbelief, and rebellion!  Will you repent?  Will you long for God?  Will you ask God to make you zealous for His kingdom?  And when you fail, will you run back to Jesus who alone can heal, forgive, and restore you?

ZEALOUS FOR A MIGHTY MOVEMENT OF GOD

Joash And Repairs To The Temple

Then Jehoash said to the priests, “All the money of the sacred things which is brought into the house of the Lord, in current money both the money of each man’s assessment and all the money which any man’s heart prompts him to bring into the house of the Lord, let the priests take it for themselves, each from his acquaintance; and they shall repair the damages of the house wherever any damage may be found.  But it came about that in the twenty-third year of King Johoash the priests had not repaired the damages of the house. Then King Jehoash called for Jehoiada the priest, and for the other priests and said to them, “Why do you not repair the damages of the house?  Now therefore take no more money from your acquaintances, but pay it for the damages of the house.” So the priests agreed that they should take no more money from the people, or repair the damages of the house. . .Then Hazael king of Syria went up and fought against Gath and captured it, and Hazael set his face to go up to Jerusalem.  And Jehoash king of Judah took all the sacred things that Jehoshaphat and Jehoram and Ahaziah, his fathers, kings of Judah, had dedicated , and his own sacred things and all the gold that was found among the treasuries of the house of the Lord and of the king’s house, and sent it to Hazael king of Syria.  Then he went away from Jerusalem.  II Kings 12:4-8, 17, 18.

When I think of those of you who continue without sincere repentance for your deep rooted sins of pride, unbelief, or rebellion I have three emotions which fill my heart. The first may surprise you.  It is anger.  I hope it is righteous anger.  I am angry because you continue to ignore God’s call on your life.  You choose disobedience instead of obedience. You know you have the capability to be reconciled to your spouse or to overcome whatever sin is enslaving you, but you continue to wallow in the misery of your sin.  Your children see it and regardless of what you may think, say, or do, they are being affected by your sin.  Don’t be surprised if your sin visits your children in the same way.  The second emotion is one of grief.  I am truly grieved that you continue to bring misery upon yourself and your family when it is completely unnecessary.  You have all you need pertaining to life and godliness.  You can put away pride, unbelief, and rebellion to a much greater degree.  You are robbing the Lord Jesus of His glory by your sin.  Others are watching you and based on what they see, they are not convinced that being a Christian makes the slightest difference in how one lives or faces sin.  And the third emotion I have for you is fear.  I fear what may happen to you.  I fear the Lord’s chastisement upon you.  The way of the transgressor or sinner is very hard.  I fear for your very soul, for even though you claim to be a Christian, I need to remind you of what the Apostle John says, “The one who says, ‘I have come to know Him,’ and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.”  I John 2:4.  You may be living presumptuously, presuming on God’s grace, counting on your church membership, profession of faith, baptism, or orthodox theology to get you into heaven.  If so, then you are in a precarious position.

Jehoash, or Joash, as he is sometimes called, began the race well.  After his father Ahaziah’s death, Athaliah the mother of Ahaziah, usurped the throne and had all her rivals in the royal family murdered.  In God’s providence Jehoash survived the murders and was made king after Athaliah was executed.  He was seven years old when he became king.  Verses 1-3 of II Kings 12 give us important information leading up to our current story.  Jehu, the king of Israel, had ruled the northern kingdom for seven years when Jehoash became king of Judah.  He was a very zealous king, determined to eradicate Baal worship in Israel, and he largely succeeded.  He coerced the leading Baal worshippers to enter a solemn assembly for Baal and then had all the priests on the inside killed.  As good as this was we are also told that Jehu continued in the sins of Jeroboam I, the King of Israel which made Israel to sin.  He failed to remove the idols or false gods at both Bethel and Dan, cities in the northern kingdom in which Jeroboam I had allowed false worship.  We are also told the probable reason for Jehoash’s godly living.  He did right in the sight of the Lord as long as Jehoiada the High Priest was advising him or holding him accountable.  Even though Jehoash was living commendably himself at this juncture of his reign, he still had not taken away the high places of Baal worship and he tolerated the burning of incense to these false gods.  Even though Joash began his reign in obedience to Yahweh it is clear that he did not hold out righteously in the end.  We read a sordid account of Jehoash going his own way.  In anger, perhaps because he bribed Hazael with their wealth, a conspiracy was made by his servants who struck Jehoash down at the Millo and he died. 

Could it be that you have begun your walk with Christ is a very dynamic way, but now give little evidence of seeking Him in all His righteousness?  Could it be that your zeal for Christ’s kingdom has been compromised?  Can you know this for sure?  What should you do?

Let’s look first at the exposition of the text.  I divide it into three parts.  What is this teaching us? Please note, first of all, Jehoash’s directive, verses 4,5.  The king is directing the priests to collect money for the purpose of restoring or repairing the temple.  This apparently was necessary because wicked Athaliah had allowed the temple to sink into disrepair. The glory of the temple had departed and Jehoash was zealous to see it return. Because Jehoash had a godly father who was also zealous for God’s kingdom, he would have been deeply disturbed by the Temple’s need of repair.  It is safe to assume that Jehoash began early in his reign to call for the repairs.  We are told how the money was to be raised.  Yahweh had directed the covenant community in how they were to worship and how they were to build the tabernacle and finance its up keep.  In Exodus 35 we read of the offering each was to make for this purpose. We also read in Exodus 30 that each young man was to serve in the army for one year and make a contribution to the Lord’s house of one half shekel.  Jehoash is referring to these offerings in verse 4.  He also was encouraging what we may call free will offerings, money people could give beyond what was expected of them.  Jehoash clearly directed the priests to use this money for temple repair.  Zeal for Biblical worship is always commendable, and so Jehoash began well in his kingly responsibilities.  We ought also to long for Biblical worship, modeling it for our children, urging them to pursue it all their days.

But we find in verses 6-8 that a bit of Levitical foot dragging is occurring.  We are told that in the twenty-third year of King Jehoash’s reign the priests had not done the work.  It is safe to assume that Jehoash directed this work early in his reign so a very long period, up to twenty-three years, has passed with nothing done.  We are not told the reason for this foot dragging but it is clear that the priests had more pressing priorities.  Isn’t it true that we do what we want to do?  Could it be that the priests have compromised their zeal for Yahweh’s glory by hoarding the money, or perhaps even spending it upon themselves, though we are not told that?  Desire for the temporal over the eternal often eclipses zeal for the eternal.  We battle this everyday.  The things which we see, touch, taste, hear, and smell seem more real to us that the glory of God and salvation.

Finally, however, the priests go about their tasks after a rebuke from Jehoash who told them not to take any more money but to get to work.  Then in verses 17 and 18 we read of Hazael, king of Syria, who had overrun Gath, a city of Philstia on the Mediterranean coast.  Afterwards Hazael set his sights on Jerusalem and made a move to attack it.  Jehoash became fearful and sought to bribe Hazael.  Actually the narrative recorded in II Chronicles 24 gives us more detail on how Jehoash could succumb to such intimidation.  After Jehoiada the priest died the officials of Judah influenced Jehoash for evil and he allowed syncretistic worship to become part of Judah.  He blasphemed God by allowing the house of the Lord to be filled with the idols of the Asherim, female fertility goddesses, raw paganism.  It gets worse.  God sent Zechariah the prophet to rebuke Jehoash but he refused to listen to him, having him murdered.  In fact in his zeal for wickedness, Jehoash cried out as the prophet was murdered, “May the Lord see and avenge.”  So by the time Hazael is threatening to invade Judah, the king has no stomach for a fight.  He has given up.  He has no faith.  He fears man, and he offers a bribe to Hazael, giving him gold, silver, and precious utensils used in the worship of the true and living God.  The fear of man often yields a compromise of Biblical zeal for God’s glory.

Here’s the important point of this passage, something you need to have pressed into your conscience- you are never to allow the fear of man or craving for the temporal to compromise your zeal for God’s glory.  May God make us zealous for a mighty movement of His Spirit.  Let’s break this down and drive home the implications.

What does this mean?  Namely, what do I mean by the fear of man?  I mean feeling threatened by anyone, feeling coerced by the frown of anyone. You are always to fear God but you are never to fear man.  You are fearing man if you allow others to hold you hostage to their own agenda.  It could come from a spouse, a child, if you are an adult from a parent.  It could come from a fellow Christian, even a pastor.  It could come from a neighbor or fellow worker.  It usually comes in the form of intimidation, anger, guilt manipulation.  Sometimes it comes in the form of bribery, promising to give you something you want or threatening to withhold something you think you need.  Obviously I am not talking about doing the things you know you ought to do, like obeying the clear directives of God or following through with the details of your job, or doing what you promised to do. Furthermore, you are fearing man when you know you ought to rebuke a brother or sister in the Lord for obvious and grievous sin and you are unwilling to do so.  You desire their smile more than their frown.  You are fearing man when you have a clear opportunity to speak with someone about Jesus and you refuse to do it.  Why?  You fear the person’s rejection or anger.

But why do we fear man?  We know we shouldn’t but almost all of us do so to some degree.  Could it be that we focus on the supposed might of man while forgetting or neglecting the almighty power of God?  Isn’t this what is happening to Jehoash?  He has allowed Baal worship after the death of his advisor Jehoiada so he is in a weakened or compromised spiritual condition.  He is looking to a human, protective, self-serving means of deliverance from Hazael while failing to consider the long term deleterious implications.  He thinks throwing money at the problem will make it go away, but this never works.  Problems rarely go away by themselves.  In fact, when you allow anyone to intimidate you they instinctively become more brazen and will hold you hostage even more strongly.  The fear of man is terribly shortsighted.  When you fall for it, you are not thinking in the long term. 

I know of a very gifted pastor and teacher who was seeing his church grow very dramatically.  The problem, however, was that a few men in the church held the purse strings, were major donors to the ministry.  They also had their own agenda on how the church should operate.  The pastor was unwilling to confront these men, to stand up to them.  In the end these men destroyed the church and it is now a shell of what it once was.  How about you?  Are you fearing man?  Are you forgetting the almighty power of God while focusing your attention on the paltry power of people?

Then there is the issue of craving the temporal.  We see from our text how the priests fell for this, taking the money for temple repair and spending it as they wished or hoarding it for selfish reasons.  Craving the temporal always eclipses zeal for the eternal.  Are you guilty of craving the temporal?  You are if you make the acquisition of money and things the driving force in your thinking, emotions, values, speech, and actions.  I am not saying that you cannot or should not work hard at your jobs.  I am not saying that you should not study and make long term investments.  I am saying that you are not to be consumed, enslaved, or dominated by the temporal.  To go further, you are craving the temporal when you allow the slightest excuse to keep you from your Christian duties.  I am not speaking of legalism, rather I mean your responsibilities which enhance your soul and those of your loved ones.  You are craving the temporal when you allow the slightest excuse to keep you from corporate worship on the Lord’s day.  How often do you miss worship, and what are the excuses for it- a golf game, too tired from Saturday yard work, one of your children is sick so the whole family stays home.  You should ask yourself- why do I allow these to keep me from the worship of God?  You are craving the temporal when you do not tithe to the Lord’s work.  How can you possibly ignore the clear commands to give faithfully, sacrificially, and generously to the Lord’s work?  You are craving the temporal when you husbands and fathers fail to lead your wife and children in family worship, when you fail to instruct them in the word of God and prayer.  You are craving the temporal when you do not meet regularly with God in your own personal time. 

But why is it that you crave the temporal?  It is because you are moving away from God in spiritual declension.  Everything in this world moves toward decay or disrepair.  The farmer who neglects his crops will soon find them overrun with weeds.  A house left unpainted and the yard neglected will soon become unsightly.  The same is true with your soul.  You are either moving toward God or away from Him.  When in spiritual declension the eternal verities, things like the glory of God, the attributes of God, the beauty of Jesus and His person and work, the comforting and sustaining ministry of the Holy Spirit become less real to you than the things you see, smell, taste, hear, and touch.  Your money, family, and possessions become more real to you than the glory of heaven.  And then modernity, the fast paced, industrialized, highly technological society in which we live causes us daily to be saturated with entertainment and consumerism.  We in the church easily fall prey to this as well, and it even invades some churches, affecting the way they do church.

I know of a huge church which has given themselves to entertainment and consumerism, and crowds flock by the thousands to their worship services.  I know of children who have grown up in this church who now cannot stand to attend.  Why?  Entertainment.  They are bored with church.  The problem with entertainment is that a church rarely does it as well as the world, and when we set an expectation of entertainment then people who were satisfied last week with the drama sketch or music will want more and better next week. A point of diminishing returns sets in at some point, and people become bored with God.  Actually they become bored with their concept of God.  A church which lives by entertainment will die by entertainment.

The real problem with fearing man and craving the temporal is that it causes people to compromise their zeal for God’s glory.  I see this everywhere I go.  We in America have never had better teaching, better professors of theology, more information, bigger churches, better programs, and yet the church has rarely been as weak as it is now.  Rarely have God’s people been so satisfied with the absence of Holy Ghost power, the glory of God descending upon them and their churches, as now.  It seems we are very content with our low level of commitment to Christ.  We are fat, apathetic, and lethargic.  How about you?  Are you zealous for a mighty movement of God?  Are you willing to pay the price for one? 

You are compromising your zeal for the glory of God when you hear the name of Jesus mocked or maligned, when you hear His cause scoffed and you feel nothing, do nothing about it.  The book and movie, The Da Vinci Code, is a case in point.  While I do not know the author’s motives the clear fact is that what the book is saying about Jesus is at the very least blasphemous and at the very worst, exceedingly harmful to those who buy into this deflated view of Jesus’ humanity and deity.  Those who reject the deity of Christ and what He came to do on the earth and at Calvary will suffer hell for their unbelief.  This is serious and we ought to be bothered by what we see.  Furthermore, you are compromising your zeal for God’s glory when you have little desire for what the early church desired.  A cursory reading of Acts makes clear the brethren loved the preaching of God’s word, sitting for hours listening to it, sometimes listening all night.  They loved to pray and spend days at it.  They gave their money, in same cases all they had, for the need of other brethren.  They willingly suffered ridicule, even death for their allegiance to Jesus.  Do you know anything of this zeal?

This begs a question, doesn’t it? Why do you compromise your zeal for God’s glory?  James tells us that friendship with the world is hostility toward God, that living in such a way is spiritual adultery.  You compromise your zeal for God’s glory because you really do love the world more than you love Jesus, His word, His work, His kingdom, and His church.  But why is this the case?  It is because you have become a de facto atheist.  Now I know you really believe in God, even the God of the Bible, but you are practically an atheist when you live this way.  You are failing to see God’s hand in your daily living, you are failing to live with a conscious awareness that God sees all, knows all you do.  You are failing to acknowledge that you will give account before Him on that great day, being judged by the good or bad you do.  It is because you have become a de facto materialist.  I know you really believe in eternity but you are practically living as though you believe this world is all we have, all there is.  This world has become all important to you.  The thought of leaving it has become terrifying to you.  And it is because you have become a de facto secularist.  I know you say you believe that Christianity is relevant to your life, but your actions, speech, and values betray your confession.  But how is it that you can fall into de facto atheism, materialism, and secularism?  It is because you forget or really do not believe in the attributes of God.  You practically deny His sovereignty, holiness, goodness, transcendence, immanence, love, goodness.  You are to place the bucket of your soul under the living water of Jesus, but your bucket has holes in it.  You go to Jesus the living water but a few minutes or hours later you are thinking and acting in ways contrary to Him.  The problem is you take your bucket up from the living water of Jesus and the water quickly flows out through the holes.  Instead you need to keep your bucket continually submerged under the living water.  How?  By faith, abiding in Jesus, keeping short accounts with God, asking Him to show you your sin, hating it and forsaking it, repenting, seeking the grace of forgiveness, making confession to those whom you have wronged, and turning from your sin back to Jesus.

If you are allowing the fear of man to consume you, if you are craving the temporal over the eternal, if you are consequently compromising your zeal for God’s glory, then I fear for you.  Your soul is in great danger despite your theological orthodoxy.  Why do I say this?  Have I forgotten the doctrine of eternal security?  Not at all, but the Bible is filled with warnings to those who profess Christ.  We are to walk in a manner worthy of our calling.  If we love Jesus, then we will keep His commandments.  We are to bring forth fruits in keeping with repentance.  We are to make sure of our election and calling.

So why is your soul in danger?  Because you refuse to repent. By repentance I mean thinking differently about God, seeing Him as the holy, transcendent, sovereign King of creation, not as a weak, grandfather figure or celestial maitre d’ who waits on your every whim.  It means you think differently about yourself, seeing yourself as you really are, even as a believer.  By that I mean you come to realize something of the corruption of your flesh, the power of indwelling sin, your propensity to lie to yourself, to God, and to others, your potential to engage in untold evil.  It means you think differently of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Savior of sinners, your Lord and Master who died for you, who gives you new life, who applies that new life and its resurrection power to your soul by the Holy Spirit. It means you think differently about the ministry of the Holy Spirit, that you begin to believe He can come upon you with great power, that He can transform you, deliver you from your recurring sin, that He demands your obedience.  And when you think differently your actions will change.  You will no longer take your sin lightly.  You will desire to keep short accounts with God.  Your love for God and your fear of God will grow and dominate your life.  You will know joy inexpressible and full of glory.  This will affect your very countenance and speech. But you are prone to not repent.  You are prone to blame your sin on your spouse or someone else.  You are prone to explain away your sin, calling it a character or personality flaw.

And you are in danger because even though you may repent you are still prone toward ego repentance instead of evangelical repentance.  The former is man-centered.  You say you repent because you are sorry you were caught, because you want to keep your wife happy, because you want to keep your job or your position in the church, or because you want to look good to other Christian people.  But evangelical repentance is God-centered.  You realize ultimately that your sin is against the Holy God of your salvation, that you have sinned against His grace and mercy, that you are dragging the name and blood of Jesus through the muck and mire of your sin.  You are deeply burdened by that and you want to change and you do change.  But most of us fall short of evangelical repentance. 

But why do you refuse to repent?  It is because you fail to realize the two-edged sword which proceeds from the mouth of Jesus.  We read about this in Revelation 1 where the Apostle John sees the glorified Christ, clothed in a white robe, reaching to His feet, His head and hair are white like wool, like snow.  His voice is like the sound of many waters and from His mouth proceeds a two-edged sword.  We know from Hebrews 4:12 that the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joint and marrow, and is able to judge the thoughts and intents of the heart.  A two-edged sword cuts both ways, and so does the word of God.  It shows God’s love but also His hatred of sin and sinners (the Lord abhors the man of bloodshed and deceit, Psalm 5:6).  It shows His mercy but also His justice.  It shows His grace but also His wrath.  It promises heaven but also threatens hell to all who do not repent and believe in Jesus.  It proclaims justification but also condemnation.  It promises comfort to the afflicted and affliction to the comfortable.

But if you do repent in the ego or self-centered way, then why do you not repent in the God-centered, Biblically commanded way?  Could it be that you move toward self-preservation instead of self-denial?  Could it be that you love self-exaltation rather than Christ exaltation?  And could it be you long for self-actualization in lieu of self-execution?

I have a friend who seems to be sinning against her pastor with great vigor, speaking negatively of him, spreading nasty things about him in her community.  She knows better and she has been warned.  I fear for her and her family?  God is not mocked. Whatever a man sows this he shall also reap.  It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

Are you not willing to repent?  If so, is it the man-centered variety?  That won’t work.  God loves a broken and contrite heart.

What must you do, then, if you are to be zealous for God’s glory, if you are to see a mighty movement of God in your life and our community?  I keep stressing the same thing in these sermons.  You must practice Biblical, evangelical, God-centered repentance. You must repent with great earnestness.  Ask God to show you very specifically your sin.  Are you willing to see it?  It won’t be pretty but this is absolutely essential.  Will you repent with indignation?  That is, will you become thoroughly indignant at your own hardness of heart, your own fleshly values, your own recurring sins?  Will you become disgusted with yourself, that you could sin against such grace, against such a merciful and loving Savior?  And will you repent in fear, knowing that God will chastise those whom He loves, knowing that many who began well are now in hell, many who have orthodox theology dwell now in the lake of fire.  Your profession of faith means nothing if holiness does not follow. Will you fear offending your holy God?  Will you fear leading your little ones astray by godless behavior?  Will you repent with a longing for God’s word, prayer, giving your time, money, and life to gospel work?  Will you repent with zeal for God’s kingdom, loving what He loves and hating what He hates?

And why ought you to repent?  Because God is sovereign.  He is your Creator and He is worthy of your obedience.  He commands that you repent.  You dare not ignore His word.  You are to repent because the love of God ought to move you to it.  When you truly understand something of God’s everlasting love for you, it will melt your hard and rebellious heart.  And you are to repent because the blood of Jesus shed for sinners like you ought to humble you to it.  Your hideous sin and willful rebellion sent the pure and undefiled Son of God to a horrible death where His blood flowed freely for you.  How can you continue to sin against a loving Savior like Jesus?

On September 15, 1973 in Papua New Guinea the church of Jesus was languishing in idolatry, hardness of heart, division, and sensuality.  The gospel had come powerfully to a number of Stone Age tribes in the early 1960’s and God had done a truly remarkable work.  Now, some ten to fifteen years later, the church had become soft and worldly, bringing division and strife.  On that Sunday morning, after some believers had been praying for months for the Spirit to fall on them, He in fact did.  In a number of churches throughout Papua New Guinea the Holy Spirit came upon believers, bringing a deep conviction of sin.  There was much weeping, confessing, making restitution, being reconciled with fellow believers.  The result was that thousands of Christians turned back to the Lord in God-centered repentance and thousands of pagan people in the villages came to faith in Jesus.  This happens throughout history when God’s people humble themselves and pray.

Are you willing to pay the price for a mighty movement of God?  Are you zealous for the glory of God?  Has that zeal been compromised by the fear of man and a craving for the temporal?  Will you repent?  Will you pray?  Will you obey God?

ZEALOUS FOR A MIGHTY MOVEMENT OF GOD

Amaziah And God Alone

Moreover, Amaziah assembled Judah and appointed them according to their fathers’ households under commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds throughout Judah and Benjamin; and he took a census of those from twenty years old and upward, and found them to be 300,000 choice men, able to go to war and handle spear and shield.  He hired also 100,000 valiant warriors out of Israel for one hundred talents of silver. But a man of God came to him saying, “O king, do not let the army of Israel go with you, for the Lord is not with Israel nor with any of the sons of Ephraim.  But if you do go, do it, be strong for the battle; yet God will bring you down before the enemy, for God has power to help and to bring down.”  And Amaziah said to the man of God, “But what shall we do for the hundred talents which I have given to the troops of Israel?”  And the man of God answered, “The Lord has much more to give you than this.”  Then Amaziah dismissed them, the troops which came to him from Ephraim, to go home; so their anger burned against Judah and they returned home in fierce anger.” II Chronicles 25:5-10.

The early months of World War II for the United States in the Pacific theatre did not go well.  You know about the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941 but by January, 1942 the Japanese had invaded the Dutch East Indies, today called Indonesia and a few months later they had overrun Burma.  Then in April began a fifty day bombardment of Corregidor on The Philippines, finally resulting in the surrender of General Wainright and 13,000 troops, leading to the infamous Bataan death march where thousands were shot, tortured, and died of starvation..  Gradually however the United States forces in the Pacific began to turn the tide and eventually took one island after another in their march to Japan, bringing an end to the Pacific war in August, 1945.  We did not begin well, but we ended very well.

Amaziah, king of Judah, was a godly king and he began well, but he finished very poorly.  Let his life be a challenge and warning to you.  It is always good to begin your Christian walk well, coming to faith early in life and walking in obedience all your days.  It is much more important, however, to finish the race well, of hearing on the day you close your eyes in death, “Well done, My faithful servant.”  That’s what we are after, but we are very prone to wander from the faith. What are we to do?  The text before us can give us very clear principles to apply to our lives, especially in light of our zeal for a mighty movement of God.

Let’s look briefly at the text in order to glean the Lord’s teaching here.  In verses 1-4 we read that Amaziah began the race very well.  He was twenty-five years old when he became king of Judah, having come to the throne after the assassination of his father, King Joash.  Amaziah reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem and we are told that he did right in the sight of the Lord, though not with his whole heart.  He killed the servants of his father when he was firmly ensconced as king because they had murdered his father.  We are told that Amaziah’s actions were not vindictive, that he carried out the directives of the Lord for such a circumstance.  In accordance with Deuteronomy 24:16 fathers were not to be put to death for the sins of their sons, and vice versa.  So Amaziah had all those in on the conspiracy to put away his father condemned; but not their sons.  Man is responsible for his own sin before God.  Another application we can make is that action without heart change is worth very little in the kingdom. of God. 

Then note secondly that Amaziah listened to God, verses 5-10.  He assembled the leaders of Judah and took a census of men, twenty years and older, and found that he had 300,000 of them equipped and trained for warfare.  A king always needs an army and Amaziah was no doubt encouraged by the strong army he possessed.  However, he did not believe he had enough strength so he hired 100,000 valiant warriors from the northern kingdom of Israel for a huge sum of money, one hundred talents of silver.  He would deploy these sons of Israel to fight for him against his enemies.  Sometime after securing their services a prophet of God came to Amaziah and rebuked him for trusting in Israel instead of the Lord.  Why?  Because Yahweh was opposed to Israel due to their idolatry.  Judgment was coming quickly upon Israel, and God wanted His people in Judah to stay clear of their wicked influence.  The prophet went further to say that an alliance between Judah and Israel would spell disaster for his people and him, that God would bring him down to destruction.  To his credit, Amaziah listened to the prophet and dismissed the soldiers from Israel, sending them on their way, losing in the process the 100 talents of silver.  This however was a price worth paying in order to be freed from judgment.  The army of Israel was highly indignant at being snubbed and vented their anger some time later on unsuspecting people of Judah.  People become angry and vindictive when their pride and money are at stake.

Then note in verses 11-13 how Judah suffered for Amaziah’s folly.  This is a recurring theme throughout the Old Testament.  Federal headship calls for serious maturity, assuming responsibility of those under one’s charge.  Amaziah attacked the Edomites who lived east of the Jordan River and struck down thousands of them, but while he was winning a battle against them, the Israelites whom Amaziah had dismissed, raided the cities from Samaria, the northern border of Judah, to Beth-horon in the south, killing 3000 of them and plundering their spoil, taking their food, water, clothing, animals, etc.  Very often those in authority who sin cause those under their authority to suffer.

And then please note Amaziah’s choice of idolatry, verses 14-16,  This makes no sense at all, but after defeating the Edomites we find that Amaziah took their false gods and urged Judah to worship them, bowing down to them, burning incense to them.  God’s wrath burned against Amaziah for his idolatry and God once again sent a prophet to him, to rebuke him so that he would repent by tearing down the idols.  This time, however, Amaziah does not listen to the prophet.  In a rage he stopped him, threatening to kill him if he did not withdraw his rebuke.  As he is leaving the prophet warns Amaziah that he will be judged due to his recalcitrance.  It is always a vital thing to accept rebuke from the voice of God.

Finally in verses 17-28 we read of how Yahweh severely chastised Amaziah for his idolatry and rebellion against Him.  Amaziah became convinced, no doubt because God put this desire in his heart, that he should go up and fight against Joash, king of Israel.  Joash engages in serious trash talk with Amaziah, warning him that he will destroy him in battle. See verses 18, 19.  The writer comments here on this event, telling us that the reason Amaziah went into battle, not heeding the warning of Joash, is because this was from the Lord, that Amaziah’s pursuit of the idols of Edom brought destruction upon him.  They faced each other in battle at Beth-Shemesh and Joash defeated Amaziah, capturing him and tearing down the wall for 600 feet in Jerusalem, thus exposing the city to untold danger.  Joash raided the king’s house and treasury, taking away a vast amount of silver and gold.  Finally we are told that Amaziah fled to Lachish and was eventually murdered by a conspiracy of his enemies.  Indeed this is a very sad ending to the life of one who began so well.  May the life of Amaziah evoke fear in all of us!  It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

Here’s the main point I want us to consider this morning- a life of long, slow obedience prepares the way for a mighty movement of God.  May God grant us grace to fear disobeying Him and to practice daily repentance.

Let’s apply this to our zeal for a mighty movement of God.  What do I mean by long, slow obedience to God?  By this I mean we are to begin, continue, and finish well a life of obedience.  In I Peter 1:14-16 the Apostle tells the dispersed believers, “As obedient children, do not be conformed to your lusts which were yours in your ignorance, but like the holy One who called you, be holy in all your behavior, because it is written, ‘You shall be holy, for I am holy.’”  To live in holiness means to obey the Holy One, to keep your life free from the power of captivating sin.  By long, slow obedience I have in mind a marathon race requiring endurance, not a 100 yard dash of emotional commitment followed by long periods of spiritual lethargy or worldliness.  We are to live for the long haul.  This is not terribly exciting but nonetheless God is calling us to do the next thing correctly.  Keep it simple.  Make the conscious decision to walk in obedience to the Law of God.  Keep the covenant of grace.  Jesus said that if you love Him, then you will keep His commandments.  You were born again, or regenerated by the work of the Holy Spirit.  Titus 3:5, 6 tells us that God saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and the renewing of the Holy Spirit.  You were born not of the flesh or by the will of man, but by the will of God, John 1:13. Your regeneration enabled you to turn from your sins in repentance and to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.  The bible calls this conversion.  We see many references in the Old Testament calling people back to God, to return to the God of grace and mercy and to turn away from idols of destruction.  And this regeneration and conversion make possible your justification, your standing before God, being given the righteousness or perfection of the Lord Jesus Christ who died for you.  This means that God acquitted you of guilt and judgment and put you into a category of being righteous.  This is how you began your Christian life and you are to continue throughout your life in obedience to God. 

Beginning the race well, following the Christ you were taught as a child, can be a wonderful privilege and blessing; and my prayer continues to be that your children will never know a day of rebellion against God, that they will always love and obey Jesus, that they will live a long, slow life of obedience, that they will finish well.  This is the goal, but even if you did not begin well, even if you came to Christ later in life, like me, then you still need to make it your desire to finish the race well.  May it be said of us that we lived well and died well, that we lived lives of joyful sacrifice, putting others before ourselves, loving God with all our hearts; and may it be said that we died well, full of faith, looking with joyful expectation to heaven, to being received by our Redeemer, the great lover of our souls.

The longer I am in the ministry the more I can honestly say that my great desire is to finish well, to not bring shame to the name of Jesus Christ and His church.  I am not interested in fame or fortune.  I just want to finish full of faith, having my loved ones around me as I enter Paradise.

But even though our goal is a life of long, slow obedience I think you would agree with me that our tendency is toward spiritual declension, what I have also been calling backsliding.  I have mentioned many characteristics of declension and I will mention a few more momentarily, but keep in mind that the awareness of declension ought to drive us to repentance.  When the Holy Spirit reveals sin to you, then you are quickly to acknowledge it, call it what it is, do not blame anyone else, do not project it to others.  You are to admit your sin, hate it, forsake it, ask the Holy Spirit to break the back of your sin, and you are to change your behavior.  I fear that too many today who speak of their sin and repentance are far too flippant about it.  It is like me when I once forgot my wife’s birthday.  I said that I was sorry and that I would not do it again, but I was later joking about it with friends.  That’s not true repentance, for biblical repentance has a strong element of shame and embarrassment over sin, not simply because you were caught, but primarily because you realize you have sinned against a holy God of grace who gave His Son for you.  And repentance will also work toward building sanctification in your heart and soul.  You are to make progress in holiness.  You are to gain victory over recurring sin.  Consider the warning of Hebrews 3:13, 14 where the writer says, “Let us encourage one another day after day, as long as it is still called today, lest any of you be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.  For we have become partakers of Christ if indeed we hold fast the beginning of our assurance, firm until the end.”  I glory in the doctrine of eternal security, that the true believer bought by the blood of Jesus can never lose his salvation; but there are numerous sobering and severe warnings for false believers. How does one know he is in Christ?  Is his life marked by a long, slow obedience to God’s word? 

So, you are in a backsliding condition if you cannot see or do not care about the world’s ungodliness.  I think you would agree with me that our world is consumer driven, entertainment satiated, ignorant, materialistic, and sensual.  I read recently that more people voted on the last night of American Idol than any President has ever received in a U.S. Presidential election.  Something is terribly wrong with a country so captivated and driven by entertainment.  Are you at all aware, do you care about the ungodliness in our nation?  Does it disgust you, break your heart, grieve you?  And you are in a backsliding condition if you cannot see or do not care about the spiritual declension in the church.  The church in our country is consumer driven, entertainment saturated, ignorant, materialistic, and sensual.  That’s right. I used the same adjectives to describe both the church and world.  That’s because there is very little difference between the church and world.  We have, for example, as many divorces in the church as we do outside the church.  For all our money, buildings, mega-churches, television and radio, books, and seminars why are we seeing so little impact on our world?  Could it be that we have privatized Christianity, tamed it by making it only a personal religion which affects what we do at home or on Sundays in the church?  We seem like Indians on a reservation.  As long as American Indians remain on the reservation, we do not much care what they do, but when they venture off the reservation, then we have problems.  The world sees the church in like manner and we go along with it.  As long as we sing, preach, and pray in church, then no problem; but when we venture into the public arenas of politics, ethics, business, education, and economics, then we are not welcome.

If there are so many evangelicals in this nation, then why are we losing the battle of ideas in the public arena?  Homosexuals make up 1 % of our population, some would say the percentage is a little higher, and I will not quibble about percentages, but it cannot be much more than that.  And a smaller number of homosexuals are militant and highly politicized, yet this small group of people is changing the social, moral, and political landscape of our nation.  What would happen if all professing Christians went about transforming our culture with the same zeal of the homosexual lobby?  But we don’t go there because we have been tamed, neutered, castrated as it were.  We ought to grieve, but most of us don’t, thus proving our spiritual declension.  How about you?  Are you in spiritual declension?

Here’s the way we ought to see our world.  Imagine that you are drowning in a sea with three foot high waves, frantically striving to keep your head above water.  Miraculously an island springs up from the water some 50 feet from you.  You swim to the island and while near exhaustion are able to drag yourself to safety on the beach.  You are resting, thanking God for your deliverance.  There is nothing wrong with this, so far.  But then you kick back under an umbrella, take up a book and drink margaritas for weeks, all the while hundreds of others just off shore continue to suffer and drown.  What will you do?  Will you repent or will you continue to lie on the beach, enjoying your good fortune?

And then a life of long, slow obedience is to move you to glorification, preparing you for the day when you will enter into the glory of heaven, where you will hear, “Well done, My good and faithful servant, enter into the rest prepared for you.”  Jesus told us that He has gone to heaven to prepare a mansion for us.  We are to live with heaven in full view, looking to Jesus the author and finisher of our faith, laying aside the sin which so easily entangles us, trips us up, slows us down.  This takes a continual practice of repentance, being aware of when we sin against God, when we grieve the Holy Spirit, fearing that we have disobeyed Him, being concerned lest He chastise us, lest we bring shame to His name and cause little ones to stumble over our hypocrisy.

You know you are backsliding, not moving purposely toward the celestial city, when you congratulate yourself on how godly and wonderful you are.  There is no Christian alive who has arrived.  None of us have it altogether.  None of us are living at the degree of holiness God requires.  Consider the parable in Luke 18:9ff of the Pharisee and tax-gatherer. The Pharisee is congratulating himself on how righteous he is, on how he keeps the Law of God, even saying that he is thankful he is not like the poor, godless tax-gatherer.  The tax-gatherer, on the other hand, is sitting in the back, unable to life up his eyes due to his shame, and he cries out, “God be merciful to me the sinner.”  Jesus asks which man went away justified. 

Do you have the slightest idea that you that you have arrived, that you are such a wonderful person?  God resists the proud and gives grace to the humble.  He loves those who have a humble and contrite heart, who tremble at His word. 

I mentioned earlier that a life of long, slow obedience prepares the way for a mighty movement of God.  What do I mean?  First a mighty movement of God means the Christianity described in the book of Acts.  These believers were joyful, earnest, bold, sacrificial, hungry, filled with faith. Consequently they saw powerful manifestations of the Holy Spirit, resulting in the conversion of thousands of people, seeing churches started all over the world.  They lived in community, giving themselves to one another.  Were they perfect?  Not at all, for the Apostle Paul addresses many of their problems in his letters, but the general desire of their hearts was to serve God in the power of the Holy Spirit, desiring to see the rule and reign of Christ expand in the world.  I am after a heaven sent, Holy Ghost revival, something only God can bring, but something God has done many times in the life of the church in the Old and New Testaments and throughout church history. 

We see this theme of preparing the way for the Lord in countless passages from Isaiah 40 throughout the rest of the prophecy.  “Make smooth in the desert a highway for our God. Let every mountain and hill be made low, and let the rough ground become a plain, and the rugged terrain a broad valley, then the glory of the Lord will be revealed and all flesh will see it together.” The same idea is put forth in Isaiah 57:14, 15, “And it shall be said, ‘Build up, build up, prepare the way, remove every obstacle out of the way of My people.’  For thus says the high and exalted One who lives forever, whose name is Holy, ‘I dwell on a high and holy place, and also with the contrite and lowly of spirit in order to revive the spirit of the lowly and to revive the heart of the contrite.’”   God dwells only in two places.  The first is in heaven and the second is in the hearts of lowly and contrite people. The Holy Spirit will never indwell a proud heart.  He will resist you.  We prepare the way for the Holy Spirit’s presence and power by removing any obstacle from our pathway to God.  Do you have secret sins, recurring sins, which are an impediment to God’s mighty work in you, your family, your church?

What are you to do?  I will mention three things.  First you are to ask God for the gift of repentance.  True biblical repentance is not something you can screw up courage to do.  It comes from God who works supernaturally on our behalf.  In II Timothy 2:23-26 Paul tells Timothy, “And the Lord’s bond-servant must not be quarrelsome, but be kind to all, able to teach, patient when wronged, with gentleness correcting those who are in opposition; if perhaps God may grant them repentance leading to the knowledge of the truth, and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, having been held captive by him to do his will.”  Notice that it is God who gives repentance, and this repentance enables people to realize the lies they are believing and to choose to escape from the snare of the devil who has held them captive to do his bidding.  Thankfully, the true Christian who is indwelt by the Holy Spirit, has everything he needs for the purpose of godliness.  So you should earnestly and humbly seek God for the grace of repentance.  Say to Him, “O Lord of my salvation, would you grant me the power to turn from this sin, not just to feel grief when caught in it, but truly to walk away from it?”

Second if you are to clear the way for the Lord to bring a mighty work of His Spirit in our midst then you must repent of specific sins with the kind of earnestness, vindication, fear, and indignation I have described in earlier sermons.  Be honest with God.  Ask Him to show you very specifically the root as well as the fruit of your sin, not just the outward manifestations of sin, but the inward reasons for it, the root of pride, unbelief, and rebellion which so plague you.  Make your repentance so real and thorough that the charge any may bring against you of sin will fall to the ground, that your character will be vindicated because others know you have lived a long, slow life of obedience.  And repent with indignation, with a clear sense of disgust that you could sin against such grace and mercy.  And repent with fear, and by this I mean a fear of God’s frown on your actions, a fear of His chastisement, a fear of leading others astray by your sin, a fear of not finishing the race well, a fear that your sin endangers your soul.

And then you need to repent of dead works.  In Hebrews 6:1, 2 we read, “Therefore, leaving the elementary teaching about the Christ, let us press on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God, of instruction about washings, and laying on of hands.”  In Hebrews 9:13, 14 the writer also refers to being cleansed from dead works to serve the living God.  What does he mean by dead works?  A dead work is any false, formal, empty, legal, self-invented action to gain or maintain God’s favor.  It can be anything.  It can be like those in our culture who call themselves spiritual, who take a little of Christianity, neo-paganism, eastern mysticism, or any number of other religions and fashion their own way to god and peace.  Or it may be those within the historic church who believe they can find access to God through the sacrament of the Lord’s supper or the mediating work of a priest in confession.  Or closer to home, it may come from walking a church aisle at age twelve, of being baptized, of praying a prayer to receive Christ, of going through a communicants class, of embracing our doctrines of grace, of giving your money.  The list is endless, and many of these things mentioned are not inherently bad.  But dead works will never justify or sanctify.

How can you know if you are trusting in dead works?  Well consider this.  You are trusting in dead works, whatever they may be, if you have a sense of entitlement, if you believe that your actions or beliefs in and of themselves give you a ticket to God.  You are trusting in dead works when you gain a sense of pride over your accomplishments in the church or your personal life, if you are self-satisfied by your progress in the things of God.  On the other hand, you can be sure you are trusting God in living works if you are living with a sense of awe and amazement at God’s grace to you.

It goes like this, when your child is given a special award at school before the whole student body, what is your response?  If it is one of entitlement, that your child is entitled to special privileges because of his accomplishments, if you sit back with a sense of pride and self-satisfaction, congratulating yourself on the excellent job you did in rearing such a fine child, then you are trusting in dead works. But on the other hand, if when your child receives a great award, and yours is an attitude of profound thanksgiving to God, a deep awareness that in spite of your failures and inconsistencies, God has overruled and enabled your child to accomplish wonderful things, then you are where you need to be.

But what if you have failed?  What if you did not begin the race very well?  What if you began well but you have been languishing for many years now?  What if you are faltering, not sure you can continue in the race?  What if you have given into your sin times without number and you are discouraged?  What are you to do?  Or what if you never began the race in the first place?  Listen carefully, my friend. There is always hope in Jesus.

I have a friend who was very wealthy and lost his money through an economic downturn.  He committed adultery and lost his wife and the respect of his children.  He soon found himself an alcoholic and hooked on prescription drugs.  Through a long and painful course of events, however, the Lord God called him to Himself, and changed his life. While in a hospital a Roman Catholic priest would come by his bed daily and say, “Never give up.  There is always hope in Jesus.”  My friend came to trust Christ and his life was remarkably transformed.  He has struggled since with many physical ailments and he does not have the money he once had, but I can honestly say I know few men with the joy and faith of this man. He did not begin well but he is ending very well.  May it be so with you.  Will you not come to Jesus?  Believe that He can save you, forgive you, reconcile you to the Father.  And if you are a believer in spiritual declension, will you repent, understanding that until you clear the highway of holiness from the debris of your sin, the Holy One will not visit you.  You will continue to lack His presence and power. Would you fear God?  Would you pursue the long, slow life of obedience and sit back in awe at all God does through you and in you!  

ZEALOUS FOR A MIGHTY MOVEMENT OF GOD

Uzziah And The Prosperity Of God

And all the people of Judah took Uzziah, who was sixteen years old, and made him king in the place of his father Amaziah.  He built Eloth and restored it to Judah after the king slept with his father.  Uzziah was sixteen years old when he became king, and he reigned fifty-two years in Jerusalem; and his mothers name was Jechiliah of Jerusalem.  And he did right in the sight of the Lord according to all that his father Amaziah had done.  And he continued to seek God in the days of Zechariah, who had understanding through the vision of God; and as long as he sought the Lord, God prospered him.  II Chronicles 26:1-5.

Midway, Ga was a remarkable place.  Midway was a community founded in 1751, midway between Darian and Savannah, GA.  Originally the people of Midway came from Dorchester, England in the mid 1600’s and settled outside of Boston.  Shortly thereafter these Puritan Calvinists needed more land and settled outside of Charlestown, SC.  By the mid 1700’s they needed still more land and moved to Liberty County, GA and settled the community they called Midway.  The Midway Congregational Church was Calvinistic to the core and always had Presbyterian ministers.  The community also founded the Sunbury Academy to educate their young men.  From its inception in 1751 to its dispersion after the War Between the States in 1865 the Midway Church had only 750 members and never more than 150 members at any one time.  Yet this small community of Calvinists accomplished remarkable things.  Two of the three signers of the Declaration of Independence from Georgia are from Midway.  Midway gave us nearly 100 pastors, several missionaries, the first U.S. Ambassador to China, Oliver Wendall Holmes the Supreme Court Justice, Samuel Lecont the Botanist and founder of the University of California at Berkley, Jedediah Morse the father of modern geography and his son Samuel F. B Morse artist and inventor of the telegraph, the mother of Theodore Roosevelt, and the first wife of Woodrow Wilson.  I could say more but there is one more person I want to tell you about and it is Daniel Baker, a Presbyterian pastor and evangelist.  Baker pastored a number of churches, including Independent Presbyterian Church of Savannah, but he was best known as a powerful evangelist.  After pastoring a church for a while Baker would have what he called divine discontent and would answer God’s call to do itinerant evangelistic preaching, and wherever Baker preached it seemed that the Holy Spirit attended his preaching with deep conviction of sin and the conversion of many people.  Revival always seemed to attend Baker’s evangelistic preaching ministry.  In other words his ministry had a spiritual abundance to it.  People were hungry for God, repenting of sin, returning to the Lord, or coming to Him for the first time in salvation.

Those of us old enough to remember will note that the mid 1960’s to the mid 1970’s in our country also witnessed a major turning of people to Christ.  Certainly this was not on the level of the Great Awakening in the 18^th century or the revivals of 1859 and 1904 but nonetheless there was a mighty movement of God happening at the time. 

Here’s my question- why are we not seeing such happen now?  I know that many of you have taken our challenge to befriend neighbors, to pray for them, and to engage them in the gospel; and while we have seen a few come to Christ I think you would agree with me that very little has happened thus far.  Does that grieve you?  Are you burdened about the lack of power in our ministry and the evangelical church in our nation?  Why do we lack Holy Ghost revival in our day?  Is there any thing we can do to clear the way for a mighty movement of God?

The life of Uzziah, king of Judah, can instruct us both positively and negatively in this regard.  Uzziah follows his godly father Amaziah as king of Judah and he continues the reform begun by his father.  Uzziah was king near the end of the northern kingdom Israel which was soon to be overrun by the Assyrians of what is now northern Iraq.  Uzziah did many things very well and he began his reign well; but sadly he finished very poorly.  What happened, and what can we learn from the good and bad in Uzziah?

First, let’s consider a brief exposition of the text.  What is this passage teaching us?  I want you to note two things in the life of Uzziah.  First is his prosperity and the reason for it, verses 1-15.  We are told that Uzziah became king when he was sixteen years old and reigned for fifty-two years.  He did right in the sight of the Lord according to all that his father Amaziah had done.  Furthermore we are told that he continued to seek God during the time of Zechariah who received visions of revelation from God.  We also are told that as long as Uzziah sought Yahweh God prospered him.  By seeking God the Bible means a life of devotion to God, of putting away idols, or obeying Him, of seeking to live according to His word, of humbling one’s self before Him, of bringing to bear the word of God in all of life.  Clearly there was a connection between Uzziah’s obedience and his prosperity which God gave him.

In verses 6-15 we are given a summary of Uzziah’s material prosperity.  He was a mighty warrior who conquered Israel’s perennial enemy, the Philistines.  He broke down the walls at Gath, Jabneh, and Ashdod in Philistia and built numerous cities to replace them.  Uzziah also conquered the Arabians and the Meunites.  Even the Ammonites paid tribute to Uzziah and his fame spread all the way to Egypt.  He was very strong and powerful.  Furthermore Uzziah embarked on a number of construction and renovation projects throughout Jerusalem.  He also constructed wells throughout Judah for his livestock, both in the lowland and plains of Judah.  That was necessary because Uzziah was a very prosperous shepherd.  Not only that but he was also proficient as a farmer and vinedresser for we are told that he loved the soil.  The man could do no wrong.  He seemingly had the Midas touch and clearly his prosperity was attributed to his walk with Yahweh.  Finally we are told that Uzziah had a massive army of fortified divisions, meaning no doubt that they were well trained for battle.  He had 2600 well trained high ranking officers to lead his elite army of 307,500 soldiers.  He also had the latest weapons of war, the most recent innovations.  His skilled inventors fashioned means of hurling arrows on advancing enemies and hurling stones by way of catapults.  His fame had spread throughout the known world of his day.  It is clear that Uzziah’s prosperity came because he sought the Lord.

But in verses 16-23 we find that the good beginning of Uzziah turned very badly for him.  When he became strong his heart then became proud and he acted corruptly.  It appears that he began to presume on God’s goodness and act in ways contrary to the Lord’s revealed will.  We are told that Uzziah was unfaithful to the Lord and then we are told the nature of his unfaithfulness.  He entered into the temple of the Lord and burned incense on the altar of incense, a task given to the Levites only.  Yahweh had made a very distinct division of labor.  The king was to rule and the priests were to make sacrifices in the Temple.  In his pride and arrogance Uzziah took up a task not given to him. It is the height of presumption and folly.  The king had somehow lost his fear of the Lord.  He brazenly entered the Temple and sorely paid for it.  To their credit eighty priests along with Azariah rebuked Uzziah, opposing him for his arrogance.  They boldly told him to get out of the sanctuary, accusing him of unfaithfulness to the Lord, promising that he would forfeit the Lord’s honor.  Uzziah, with censer in hand, was enraged with the priests.  While fomenting anger we are told that leprosy broke out on Uzziah’s forehead before the priests in the house of the Lord, beside the altar of incense, the very place he was not to be.  In compassion the priests hurried Uzziah out of the Temple, probably because they feared something far worse than leprosy was about to come upon him; and Uzziah quickly fled, not resisting the priests.  We are told the sad tale that Uzziah was a leper for the rest of his days.  No doubt he later sought God and was forgiven, but the effects of his sinful rebellion lingered.  He began well but finished in shame, all because of pride and arrogance.  Pride will always bring God’s chastisement to His blood bought people.

Here’s the main point from the text, which I want to focus on this morning- overwhelming abundance comes when God brings a mighty movement of His Spirit.  Let’s break that down.  First, what do I mean by overwhelming abundance?  It is clear from many places in the Old Testament that material abundance is symbolic of spiritual abundance.  Let’s look at two Old Testament references which make this point.  First is Leviticus 26:3ff.  Yahweh is telling the people that they are not to go after idols, that they are to keep the Sabbath and revere His sanctuary.  He then says that if they will obey Him and keep His commandments then He will give them rains in their season, that their land will yield abundant produce, that their threshing of wheat will last until their grapes are gathered and their grape gathering will last until the next sowing time.  In other words, if they are faithful to Yahweh He promises such an overwhelming material abundance that their harvesting in the fall will take so long that it will run into the next spring sowing season.  Deuteronomy 8:3ff teaches the same principle.  God is reminding His people that He has led them in the wilderness that He might humble them, testing them, to know what was in their heart, whether they would keep His commandments or not. He says that He fed them manna, that their clothing did not wear out, that they were to know man does not live by bread alone but by every word which proceeds from the mouth of God.  The text goes on from there, promising abundant material blessing of good land, water brooks, a land of wheat and barley, of iron and copper.

It is clear that the material blessings to Israel are a foretaste of the eternal inheritance we possess in the Lord Jesus Christ. We are told in Ephesians 1:3 that we have every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus. We are told in Romans 8:17 that we are heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, that all Jesus has is one day ours in its fullness.  We will inherit a land, a new heaven and a new earth.  II Peter 3:10ff.  And the present spiritual abundance we possess, but too often do not embrace, is what we find in the church in the books of Acts.  I have said before that the book of Acts is normative, that we should be living at that level of zeal and kingdom focus.  We should be filled with great joy and boldness, hungry for the preached word, zealous in evangelism, increasing in faith and usefulness to God’s kingdom.  Our preaching, teaching, and counseling should affect change in people.  Many are hungry for God in such a setting.  Many are asking, “What must I do to be saved?”  Instead of a few conversions here and there, in a time of overwhelming spiritual abundance many are saved, many marriages are saved, the gospel goes forth with unusual power, God’s people live with a heightened awareness of the glory of Jesus.

Revival came often to the Midway Church in the 19^th century.  I have said many times that one cannot adequately understand or explain Presbyterian Church history without acknowledging the preponderance of revivals.  Iain Murray, in his book Revival and Revivalism reports one in Midway who was an eye witness to such revivals of true religion.

     “The very ground to me seemed holy. I remember one cold night the whole          congregation were on their knees supplicating mercy for themselves and others. . .that revival was deep, pungent, powerful, and lasting; though it was noiseless, and hardly heard of at the time beyond the precincts of the village. It began and continued under the ordinary means of grace. . .there was a general noiseless awakening throughout the community that told in time.  The precious seed yielded its fruit in God’s own way and time.”

Do you long for such a time of spiritual abundance?  Are you zealous for a mighty movement of God?

This begs a second question- how does God bring spiritual abundance?  Or to put it another way, why are we not seeing such abundance?  God brings it when He clears the highway of holiness so that the Lord Jesus Christ may come to us by the ministry of the Holy Spirit.  We see this concept stressed many times, especially in the prophecy of Isaiah. Consider just three examples.  “In that day there will be a highway from Egypt to Assyria, and the Assyrians will come into Egypt and the Egyptians into Assyria, and the Egyptians will worship with the Assyrians.  In that day Israel will be a third party with Egypt and Assyria, a blessing in the midst of the earth, whom the Lord of hosts has blessed, saying, ‘Blessed is Egypt My people, and Assyria the work of My hands, and Israel My inheritance,’”  Isaiah 19:23, 24. What an exciting prophecy!  Those who were perpetual enemies to the covenant community would be one with them, turning from idols to serve the living and true God.  They would travel between Egypt and Assyria through Israel on a highway of holiness.  God would come in salvation to them on a cleared road.

We see the same thing in Isaiah 40:1-3 where God calls Isaiah to comfort His people, to call out to them that their warfare has ended, that their sin and iniquity has been removed.  He was to clear the way for the Lord to come in the wilderness.  The clearing of this highway of holiness would harbinger the coming of the Lord, a prophecy we find fulfilled in the ministry of John the Baptist who says that he came to preach a baptism of repentance, that people would turn away from their sin to the One who was coming, of whom John was unworthy to untie His sandal.  And then in Isaiah 62:10-12 we read, “Go through, go through the gates; clear the way for the people; build up, build up the highway; remove the stones, lift up a standard over the peoples.  Behold, the Lord has proclaimed to the end of the earth, say to the daughter of Zion, ‘Lo, your salvation comes; behold His reward is with Him, and His recompense before, Him.’  And they will call them, ‘The holy people, the redeemed of the Lord,’ and you will be called. ‘Sought out, a city not forsaken.’” 

Here’s the picture.  Imagine a highway in the Rocky Mountains where a landslide has occurred, dumping huge boulders and tons of gravel on the road.  It is impossible to drive on the road.  Crews must remove all the debris before transportation can continue.  Likewise, if we are to see a mighty movement of God it is imperative that we search our hearts, asking God to show us the depth of our sin, our pride, unbelief, rebellion, the very root of our sin, and then clear the highway of holiness through evangelical repentance.  Without this we have no hope of seeing a mighty movement of God.  Clearing our lives of wretchedness makes possible the coming of Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit.

This begs another question?  What is the preacher’s part and what is the congregation’s responsibility in clearing the highway of holiness?  The preacher is to follow the example of John the Baptist in Matthew 3:1ff where we are told that he was the fulfillment of the prophecy mentioned earlier from Isaiah 40:3, a voice crying out in the wilderness, “Make ready the way of the Lord, make His path straight.”  Many were coming to him for baptism and when the Pharisees and Sadducees came in a characteristically bold manner John said to them, “You brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?”  He calls them to repentance, that which is proven by a change of behavior; not  mere lip service with no consequent move toward obedience, like so many today.  He challenged them with the insignificance of their religious pedigree, not being at all impressed with the fact that they were descendants of Abraham.  He challenged them by proclaiming that the axe of judgment was already at the root of the tree, soon to be cut down because it was not bearing fruit, in this case the fruit of repentance, a changed life.  Such a tree would be cut down and thrown into the fire, vividly portraying the hell fire which comes to all who do not repent and trust Christ as their Savior and Lord.  In other words, the preacher’s job is to expose people’s sin to their conscience and press them to repent and change their ways.  An old Puritan put it this way, “The preacher is to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable.”  The preacher is to expose the debris on the highway of holiness, and urge people to remove it so that the Lord of Glory may come to them by the Holy Spirit.

A church member, one who is a part of God’s covenant community, has responsibility too if we are to see overwhelming spiritual abundance.  As he listens to the word he is to ask the Holy Spirit to apply the word to his conscience, thus moving him to repentance.  We see this in Acts 2:37 when the people at Pentecost are cut to the quick, and cry out, “What must we do?”  In other words, the congregant is to tremble at the word of God.  Isaiah 66:1, 2 says, “Thus says the Lord, ‘Heaven is My throne, and the earth is My footstool.  Where then is a house you could build for Me?  And where is a place that I may rest?  For My hand made all things, thus all these things came into being,’ declares the Lord.  ‘But to this one I will look, to him who is humble and contrite of spirit, and who trembles at My word.’”  The Hebrew word chared, our word tremble, actually means to be terrified.  A reading of Isaiah 57:14-21 also gives much insight into the role of the hearers of such preaching, namely to remove every obstacle out of the way of God’s people.  God declares that He dwells in two places.  First is a high and lofty place, namely heaven.  The second is in the hearts of the lowly and contrite.  God dwells in transcendence but He also dwells, in His immanence, in the hearts and lives of His blood bought people, the back of whose sin has been broken by the convicting work of the Holy Spirit.

So how can you know if you are trembling at God’s word?  If you are, then you can expect wonderful blessings.  You are trembling at God’s word when you remove the obstacles on the highway of holiness which are impeding Christ’s progress.  What pet sins are you holding on to?  Do they clog up your life with unbelief and sensuality?  You are seeking to remove the obstacles when you listen to God’s word as it is preached or when you read it or study in your own private times or family times of worship.  Furthermore, you are trembling at God’s word when you obey or act upon the word of God.  To be more specific, you are trembling at God’s word when you obey the declarations found in it.  I am thinking of passages which declare who God is, what Christ has done, who we are as sinners redeemed by the blood of Christ, who the Holy Spirit is and what awaits us in eternity.  You are trembling at God’s word when you obey the commands in Scripture, things like the Ten Commandments and the many commands of the Apostle Paul in places like Romans 12:1ff and I Thessalonians 5.  You are trembling at God’s word when you heed the warnings of Scripture, when you take them seriously, repenting of your sin when you see how you have offended the Holy One.  You are trembling at God’s word when you plead the promises of God in times of need.  I am thinking of the marvelous promises that He will always be with us, that He will never leave or forsake us, that He will meet our every need in Christ Jesus.

In 1776 graduates of William Tennent’s so called Log College, later named Princeton, founded a Presbyterian college in Prince Edward County, Virginia, calling it Hampton Sydney College.  By 1787 the college was bereft of godly students and the President, John Blair Smith, was deeply concerned.  In the fall of 1787, the first Saturday of the new college academic calendar, two students gathered in their dormitory room to sing and pray for revival.  A group of rowdy boys threatened them and mocked them, attempting to do them harm.  Blair found out about the altercation and gathered the student body to rebuke and warn them.  He then promised the young men a safe place to pray, his office, promising to meet with them the following Saturday.  Blair did so and their number doubled to four students.  The next week it doubled again and within weeks a full blown revival had come to Hampton Sydney, with a deep, abiding sense of sin, brokenness, and trust in the sufficiency of Christ.  The Methodist circuit rider Francis Asbury was in the region at the time and reported in his journal the power of the revival, one which spread from Hampton Sydney, south of the James River, eastward to the Atlantic Ocean, converting hundreds of people.  It is clear that these young men cleared the debris of sin and corruption from the highway of holiness in their lives, and the Lord visited them by the Holy Spirit’s power.

Do you long for such a visitation today?  You should, but it will only come if you and I clear the highway of holiness of known corruption in heart and soul.  Are you willing to pay the price?  Are you hungry for a revival?  I fear that most in our day are not.  They are quite content with the low level of spirituality and zeal which so characterizes our age.

Well, if you and I want to see a mighty movement of the Spirit, if we want an overwhelming abundance of spiritual power, then what must we do?  I have mentioned this already, but I wish now to go deeper.  We must understand the preacher’s role.  More specifically, what is my role as your pastor?  Paul the Apostle gives Timothy sober instruction in this regard in II Timothy 4:1ff.  He calls him to preach the word of God, to reprove, rebuke, and to exhort with all patience and instruction.  He tells him to do this in season and out of season, meaning when people want to hear the word and when they do not.  I am to reprove you from God’s word.  This means I am to show you your error and move you to repent and follow Christ.  I am to rebuke you which is a stronger term.  I am not to stand by quietly and allow you to ruin your life with sinful actions or decisions.  I well remember a friend who saw a marriage in trouble and refused to get involved, thinking it was none of his business.  To this day he feels guilt.  Could he have saved the marriage?  Probably not, but he will always wonder.  I will do my best to confront you with your sin, not because I enjoy doing so, for I do not, but because this is part of my job description, as an under shepherd of the Lord Jesus.  Then I am to exhort you, urging you to press on to holiness, inspiring, motivating you to seek God and the riches of His grace.  Paul goes on in this passage, telling Timothy to do the work of an evangelist, to fulfill his ministry.  In other words Timothy was to be faithful to the calling God had upon his life, knowing that one day he would stand before the judgment seat of Christ and give account of his deeds in the body, whether good or bad.  Paul tells Timothy that he has been poured out as a drink offering, an illusion to Old Testament sacrifices, and that he had finished the course, that he had been faithful to God’s call on his life.  That should be my great desire, as it should be for any pastor.

I am being faithful to my calling when I preach with transforming power, under the anointing of the Holy Spirit, when you are changed more and more into the likeness of Jesus by attending the preached word every Lord’s day.  I am fulfilling my calling when I communicate zeal for God’s kingdom, when I model a life of sacrifice, when I finish the race without shaming my Lord and Savior.

And what about you?  What are you to do, if you are to clear the highway of holiness so that Jesus may come by the power of the Holy Spirit?  Many passages speak of your task, but none better than James 1:19-27.  James, in his inimical fashion, tells us to be quick to hear, and slow to speak and slow to anger, because the anger of man never achieves the righteousness of God. He goes on to tell his audience that they are to receive the word of God implanted which is able to save their souls.  He urges them to listen to and act upon the word as it is preached to them.  He calls them to not be mere hearers of the word, but to be doers of the word, saying that a hearer only is like one who looks at his natural face in the mirror, and once he walks away forgets what he looks like.  It is never enough to hear the word preached, you must act upon it, allowing it to transform you.  And then you are to practice true religion, made manifest by your care for widows and orphans, the weak and defenseless in our community; and you are also to keep yourself unstained by the world, not allowing it to suck you into a vortex of destruction. 

Are you doing so?  Honestly evaluate your life?  What debris is on the highway of holiness?  Do you really think the Spirit will come when you foster such corruption in your heart?  Search your heart.  Ask the Holy Spirit to show you your sin in the preaching of God’s word? 

Finally, I am saying you need to be willing to pay the price for a mighty movement of God.  And what do I have in mind?  Three things. One, you must pray earnestly.  Are you doing so?  Are you praying with a kingdom focus, putting the desires of Christ’s kingdom ahead of your own?  I have spoken many times about the components of kingdom focused prayer but a good place to look is at the prayers of the Apostle Paul sprinkled throughout his epistles.  Learn to pattern your prayers after Paul’s.  Two, you must obey God.  Just do what He says.  Refuse to make excuses for your sin.  Stop explaining away your responsibilities.  Fear God and simply choose to do what He is commanding you to do.  This is true in every circumstance of your life- your marriage, your family, your work, your church.  And three, you must repent.  I have said a great deal about repentance in earlier sermons, but I wish now to focus only on one area.  That is your need to make right any wrongs you have done.  I want you to ask God to bring to mind anyone who you have cheated or wronged, stolen from in the past, and you need to make right the wrong you have done them.  If you stole from someone, then you need to write a check to cover your theft.  Whatever it is which God brings to mind, do it.  You may feel foolish, and others may scoff and they may not accept your confession and restitution, but never mind them.  Do it anyway and God will give you peace and a clear conscience.  Picture yourself removing the stones and gravel from the highway of holiness.  It is hard, demeaning, humiliating work at times, but God will reward you.  And then you will be able to bring forth fruits in keeping with repentance, that which John the Baptist told people to do.

Then God may very well be pleased to pour out His Spirit in revival on our region or nation.  This, of course, is a sovereign work of His Spirit and we have no guarantee that He will do so, nor is He obligated; but He certainly will not come if we do not do our part.  And finally, I assure you that such repentance and restitution will bring revival to your own soul, regardless of what may happen with others.  You can have a revival every day in your own heart and in your own family.  Are you willing to pay the price?  Pray, obey, and repent and see the Lord Jesus come through the power of His Spirit.

ZEALOUS FOR A MIGHTY MOVEMENT OF GOD

Hezekiah And Covenant Renewal

Hezekiah became king when he was twenty-five years old, and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem.  His mother’s name was Abijah, the daughter of Zechariah.  And he did right in the sight of the Lord according to all that his father David had done.  In the first year of his reign, in the first month, he opened the doors of the house of the Lord and repaired them.  And he brought in the priests and the Levites, and gathered them into the square on the east.  Then he said to them, “Listen to me, O Levites.  Consecrate yourselves now, and consecrate the house of the Lord, the God of our fathers, and carry the uncleanness out from the holy place.  For our fathers have been unfaithful and have done evil in the sight of the Lord our God and have forsaken Him and turned their faces away from the dwelling places of the Lord, and have turned their backs. They have also shut the doors of the porch and put out the lamps, and have not burned incense or offered burnt offerings in the holy place to the God of Israel.  Therefore the wrath of the Lord was against Judah and Jerusalem and He has made them an object of terror, of horror, and of hissing as you see with your own eyes.  For behold, our fathers have fallen by the sword and our sons and our daughters and our wives are in captivity for this.  Now it is in my heart to make a covenant with the Lord God of Israel, that His burning anger may turn away from us.  My sons, do not be negligent now, for the Lord has chosen you to stand before Him, to minister to Him, and to be His ministers, and burn incense.  II Chronicles 29:1-11.

In late February, 1742 Jonathan Edwards returned home to Northampton after a two month preaching tour to several places in New England.  The second major installment of the Great Awakening had begun in Northampton a year before and was continuing with great power.  In his absence a young preacher named Samuel Buell was used powerfully of God in the church at Northampton, and particularly so in the life of Sarah Edwards, Jonathan’s wife.  Sarah was prone to melancholy and Buell’s preaching gave her joy she had never known.  Still there were emotional excesses from the revival and Edwards and Buell worked to quell them, stressing that emotional outbursts were not necessarily marks of true revival.  Edwards desired to solidify the results of the revival, laying the groundwork for a substantial and sustainable level of holiness for many years to come.  He followed in the wake of John Winthrop of the Massachusetts Bay some one hundred years before, as well as leaders like Hezekiah and Joshua, urging the people to make a covenant with God, promising to walk in holiness because of His grace bestowed on them.  Edwards drafted a covenant based on the civil and practical uses of God’s Law, stressing that Christians ought to live out who they profess to be.  The people signed the covenant in March, 1742 at the meeting house in Northampton and one of the major components of the covenant was a commitment to love one another, to live with one another in graciousness.  This had been a long term problem in the town, and Edwards sought to change the way people related to each other, grounded on the gospel.

We come today to the seventh of nine sermons on revival, and I have been urging us to pursue God for a mighty movement in our region and nation.  King Hezekiah of Judah was instrumental in bringing revival to his nation during his reign.  In fact his influence was so profound that the author of I and II Chronicles devotes four full chapters to his life and reign.  The changes for good wrought by Hezekiah can be nothing short of a revival of true religion, and this revival dramatically altered the face of Judah for many years to come.  It all began with Hezekiah urging the people to renew their covenant with God.  Of course God is the One who enters into a covenant of grace with His elect people, and we can do nothing to garner or merit His favor; however after conquering us, as it were, He still calls us to commit ourselves to Him.  We see this in Exodus 19 where Israel agrees to obey the Lord, this being in direct response to His goodness is delivering them from Egyptian bondage.  The same is happening in the text before us with Hezekiah urging the people to establish or rather to reestablish their allegiance to Yahweh.

What can we learn from this text, especially as it relates to our desire to witness a mighty movement of God?  As I begin this exposition, I want the fathers here, especially in light of this being Father’s Day, to listen carefully, asking the Holy Spirit to move you to renew your covenant with the Lord.  I want you to consider four things from the text.  First, please note Hezekiah’s identity, verses 1, 2.   Hezekiah is the son of Ahaz, one of the most wicked of all the kings of Judah.  We are told in chapter 28 that Ahaz brought great hardship on Judah because he was very unfaithful to Yahweh, and He humbled Judah because Ahaz brought a lack of restraint to the people.  We are told that, despite his upbringing in such a wicked household, Hezekiah did right in the sight of the Lord, following after King David, his father.  Obviously the writer does not literally mean that David was Hezekiah’s father, only that Hezekiah is in his lineage.  The writers of Kings and Chronicles often contrast godly and ungodly kings by using David to refer to the former and Jeroboam, son of Nebat, to refer to the latter.  It ought to be an encouragement to those of you who have ungodly fathers, that God does overrule, from time to time, such an evil upbringing and breaks through to begin a new line of godliness in a family.

Second, please note Hezekiah’s command for consecration, verses 3-5.  We are told that in the first month of his reign, Hezekiah begins to bring about change in Judah.  No doubt he had witnessed wickedness first hand as the son of Ahaz and God had graciously worked in his heart to hate evil and love righteousness.  So he wasted no time in turning the nation to holiness, and he began with worship.  He opened and repaired the doors of the temple, no doubt because of disrepair and neglect.  He then gathered the priests and Levites and told them to consecrate themselves, to sanctify, to put away evil, perversion, and corruption; and then to consecrate the house of God by carrying out all uncleanness from the holy place.  He is probably referring to carved images and utensils used in the perverted worship of Baal.  Hezekiah had zeal for God’s kingdom and a leader with zeal can accomplish much good.

Third, please note Hezekiah’s reason for his command of consecration, verses 6, 7.  He reminds the priests and Levites that their fathers had been unfaithful to the Lord and had done evil and turned away from Him.  He goes further to remind them that their fathers had utterly neglected the worship prescribed by Yahweh, refusing to burn incense as an offering to Him.  A strong and godly leader will address covenant unfaithfulness.  That is true of a father with his family or a pastor with his congregation.  Sin is a reproach to any people and will bring hardship.  A loving father or pastor will not let sin go unchecked.

And fourth, please note Hezekiah’s zeal for covenant renewal, verses 8-11.  He is zealous for God’s glory and holiness and he fears the wrath that has come upon the people and which will surely continue, unless they repent.  He reminds the priests and Levites of what they already know, that Judah has become an object of terror and hissing, of utter disdain.  The once mighty and proud Davidic kingdom was quivering in fear from the impending doom and destruction of the Assyrians.  He further reminds them of their hardship, that their fathers have died in battle and their wives are in captivity.  Because of this terrible situation, because of their idolatry, their robbing Yahweh of His glory, and the suffering through which his people are living, Hezekiah earnestly desires to renew the covenant with Yahweh.  By this he is referring to the covenant Israel entered into with Yahweh on Mt. Sinai in Exodus 19, when after delivering His people from Egyptian bondage He promises to be their God and they commit themselves to Him saying, “All that you command us, we will do.”  Israel renews their covenant with Yahweh numerous times throughout the Old Testament.  He urges the priests and Levites to lead the way by not being negligent in their duties, reminding them of their awesome privilege and calling to stand before the Lord on behalf of His covenant people.

And what resulted from this covenant renewal instituted by Hezekiah?  The rest of II Chronicles 29 and all of chapters 30 and 31 detail the remarkable turnaround that covenant renewal brought to Judah.  Among other things, the priests were cleansed and reinstalled, the Passover was reinstituted, sacrifices were observed according to God’s command, and people from far away were urged to come for worship in Jerusalem.  The people were urged to be contrite and repent of their sins.  Hezekiah also had the people observe the Feast of Unleavened Bread and related festivities.  Thus Hezekiah removed idolatry from Judah and the pure worship of Yahweh was brought back.  This was a marvelous undertaking, no small thing in a day when most were so entrenched in idolatry that true worship was unknown.  We also know this revival of true religion affected people’s outlook on money.  They willingly tithed to the Lord’s house, providing more than enough money to care for the priests and the house of God.  Hezekiah was a remarkable king who accomplished remarkable things in his reign over Judah.

We are so much like the people of Hezekiah’s day, and like them our proclivity to spiritual declension should evoke a sober warning, moving us to renew our covenant with God.  What do I mean by this?  Let’s consider first of all our proclivity to spiritual declension.  That is, our bent toward disobedience and rebellion.  I think you will agree with me that you are prone to wander from the faith, to move in a direction away from and not toward obedience and love to Jesus.  In Jeremiah 2 we read of the prophet taking to task the nation of Judah who is in the process of being invaded by the Babylonian Empire of Nebuchadnezzar.  In verses 1 and 2 we read, “I remember concerning you and the devotion of your youth.  The love of your betrothals, your following after Me in the wilderness, through a land not sown.”  God is reminding Judah of her love for Him prior to their entry into the Promise Land, and of His love, care, and provision all the days of their sojournings.  He reminds them that they were holy to Him, the apple of His eye, the joy of His heart, so to speak.  They were the first of His harvest, a prophecy declaring that Abraham indeed would be the father of many nations.  A first fruit was always to be tithed to the Lord, but how did Judah reward Yahweh’s faithfulness?  He says that they, the first fruit, became guilty.  They abused His faithfulness to them and now face the evil of an invading army.  This is a vivid picture of spiritual declension, of turning away from the Lord of goodness and grace. 

And what does this spiritual declension look like?  In verse 5 we are told that Judah walked after emptiness and thus became empty.  Are you filling up your time, spending your money on emptiness, things of mere passing pleasure, things which are insatiable, things which will never satisfy you?  In verses 6, 7 we find Jeremiah reminding Judah of how He led them through the wilderness, a land of drought and darkness, bringing them into a fruitful land, but they defiled the land.  How?  By going after the false gods of those whom they conquered.  In verse 8 we find an indictment upon the priests who knew the law but did not obey it, of prophets who prophesied for Baal, who sought after things which do not profit.  You are in spiritual declension when you find it easy to disobey God, to not listen to His word, to reject the counsel of godly men.  In verses 10, 11 we find Jeremiah in dismay asking, “Has a nation changed gods, when they were not gods?  But My people have changed their glory for that which does not profit?”  You are backsliding when you exchange your original devotion to the Lord Jesus Christ and place it upon your job, money, family, or any desire for success.  You are in spiritual declension when you forsake the Lord and hew for yourself new cisterns, broken cisterns, which cannot hold water, verses 12, 13.  Jesus is the living water who alone quenches the thirst in your soul and you are wandering from Him when you look to anything else to satisfy that thirst, when you dig new wells, so to speak, hoping these will quench your thirst.  You do not realize, however, that these are wells which leak.  Instead of drinking from the pure well of water which will never run dry, like the fountainhead of a river high in the mountains, you instead settle for water from a cesspool in an industrial part of town.  I could go on with more examples from Jeremiah 2, but this should be sufficient. 

I have spoken in recent weeks of many characteristics of spiritual declension so I will only remind you of a few of them now.  You are in declension when you easily excuse your spiritual duties, when you find yourself not doing what you know you need to do.  I have in mind your responsibilities to observe the Lord’s Day, of leading your family in worship and prayer, of giving at least one-tenth of your income to the Lord’s work.  If you find it easy to miss corporate worship and you allow your children to miss it for weak reasons, then you are in spiritual declension.  When you can take or leave the preaching of God’s word, when you are seldom moved by it, when you are not hungry to hear biblical preaching, then you are in declension.  When you have little hunger for reading and studying God’s word, then you are in declension.  You are prone to wander.  You have a proclivity to grow cold in your devotion to Jesus.  Did we not see that in the lives of Amaziah and Uzziah?  Both began well but finished the race poorly.  Are you not prone to the same?

This proclivity to spiritual declension ought to evoke within your heart a sober warning from scripture.  But you might say, “Wait a minute.  I know I am saved.  I believed on Jesus many years ago.  I love Jesus.  I am a member of this or another evangelical church.  I believe good theology.  You don’t mean to say that I can lose my salvation, do you?”  Of course I do not mean a true believer can lose his salvation.  The doctrine of eternal security is a glorious one, but we need to listen to the many warnings in the book of Hebrews.  The writer is urging a second generation of believers from a Jewish background to not wander from the Christian faith and go back into Judaism. He uses two major tactics to keep them on the road to heaven.  The first is to show how Jesus is superior to Moses, angels, and the Old Testament types.  The second is to warn them to not continue in unbelief, lest they not enter the rest.  By this he means that those who think they are saved but who live lives contrary to their confession are on thin ice and may not enter into the rest of heaven on that great day.  Consider the warnings of Hebrews 2:1-3, 4:1-3, 6:4-6, 10:26-31, 12:25-29.     

“For this reason we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it. For if the word spoken through angels proved unalterable, and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompense, how shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation?” Hebrews 2:1-3.

“Therefore, let us fear lest, while a promise remains of entering His rest, any one of you should seem to have come short of it.  For indeed we have had good news preached to us, just as they also, but the word they heard did not profit them, because it was not united by faith in those who heard.  For we who have believed enter that rest, just as He has said, ‘As I swore in My wrath, they shall not enter my rest.’” Hebrews 4:1-3.

“For in the case of those who have once been enlightened and have tasted of the heavenly gift and have been made partakers of the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, and then have fallen away, it is impossible to renew them again to repentance, since they again crucify to themselves the Son of God, and put Him to open shame.” Hebrews 6:4-6.

“For if we go on sinning willfully after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a certain terrifying expectation of judgment, and the fury of a fire which will consume the adversaries.  Anyone who has set aside the Law of Moses dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses.  How much severer punishment do you think he will deserve who has trampled under foot the Son of God, and has regarded as unclean the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has insulted the Spirit of grace?” Hebrews 10:26-31.

“See to it that you do not refuse Him who is speaking. For if those did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, much less shall we escape who turn away from Him who warns from heaven.   And His voice shook the earth then, but now he has promised saying, ‘Yet once more I will shake not only the earth, but also the heaven.’  And this expression, ‘Yet once more,’ denotes the removing of those things which can be shaken, as of created things, in order that those things which cannot be shaken may remain.  Therefore, since we receive a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us show gratitude by which we may offer to God an acceptable service with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire.”  Hebrews 12:25-29.

Surely these warnings ought to cause a true believer to respond with fear and trembling.  You have a proclivity to wander, to move toward spiritual declension.  You are capable of great evil, even as a true believer in the Lord Jesus Christ.  One who continues in egregious, unrepentant sin, who takes lightly the warnings of God very well may prove that he never had saving faith in the first place.

Allow me to drive this home very practically to you.  I fear that many Calvinists are in hell this very moment.  To be more specific, I fear there are PCA members who populate hell. Yes, they believed the right things, they had correct doctrine, they professed faith in Jesus, but their lives betrayed their confession.  They did not lose their salvation but they never actually were recipients of regenerating grace.

Does this not, then, move you to covenant renewal?  God entered into His covenant of grace with you and you responded by pledging your faithfulness to Him.  But due to your spiritual declension perhaps you need now to renew your commitment to the Lord Jesus Christ, the lover of your soul.  Covenant renewal is found in many places in Scripture.  Here are just three of them. 

Near the end of his life, just prior to Joshua leading Israel into the promised land, Moses reminded this younger generation of God’s faithfulness to His people.  He said in Deuteronomy 4:23, 24, “So watch yourselves, lest you forget the covenant of the Lord your God, which He made with you, and make for yourselves a graven image in the form of anything against which the Lord your God has commanded you.  For the Lord your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God.”  When we forget God’s covenant with us, then we need to move quickly to renew it.

After Joshua had conquered the land of Canaan and after the land had been divided between all the tribes of Israel, he called the heads of the households together and said to them, “Now therefore fear the Lord and serve Him in sincerity and truth, and put away the gods which your fathers served beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord.  And if it is disagreeable in your sight to serve the Lord choose for yourselves today whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served which were beyond the River or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living, but as for me and my house we will serve the Lord.” Joshua 24:14, 15.

And in Jesus’ letters to the seven churches of Asia Minor in Revelation 2, 3 He calls the church at Ephesus to covenant renewal by saying, “But this I have against you, that you have left your first love.  Remember therefore from where you have fallen, and repent and do the deeds which you did at first, or else I am coming to you and will remove your lamp stand out of its place- unless you repent,” Revelation 2:4, 5. 

To renew God’s covenant with you requires three things.  First you are to remember.  You are to remember what God has done for you in Christ.  You are to remember your first love, your zeal, your excitement about Christ and His word, how you trembled at His word, how you loved to read it and hear it preached, how you were quick to act upon it, how you had a tender conscience and were quick to see your sin and repent of it.  Second you are to repent of your sin, your spiritual declension.  Mere ego repentance will not work.  That’s a man centered approach.  Such repentance acts only to remove your own discomfort at being caught in sin.  God wants evangelical repentance which is God centered.  You come to realize your sin is primarily against God Himself, that whether anyone else has caught you or not, you still are grieved and turn your back on your sin and turn your face toward God.  That is, you move toward God and holiness and away from your sinful rebellion.  It means that you make restitution where necessary.  It means that you keep very short accounts with God and others.  When convicted of your sin you run to the one whom you have offended and make it right with him.  Even more so you do the same with God.  And third, covenant renewal means you recommit yourself to God, to walk in holiness, to depend upon the Holy Spirit to empower you to do what you ought to do, to obey Him, to carry out your spiritual duties.

And why do you do so?  For at least four reasons.  First, God is sovereign.  He is the Creator of all things and as your creator He owns you.  He is perfectly within His sovereign rights to make demands upon you.  An artist has the right to do what he will with his artwork.  It is his, and he can give it away, sell it, keep it, or burn it.  The commands, the warnings, the declarations, and the warnings of Scripture are all justified by the fact that God is your sovereign Creator.  He is in heaven and does as He pleases, Psalm 115:3.  “To whom then will you liken Me, that I should be his equal? declares the Holy One?”  Isaiah 40:25. Second, God demands your covenantal devotion and well He should, because He bought you with the blood of His only begotten Son.  In light of all that the Apostle Paul has said in Romans 1-11 where he stresses the universality of sin and judgment, the grace of God in justification, the eternal security of the believer united to Jesus, the declaration of no condemnation and no separation, and the mystery of sovereign election of His people from eternity past; Paul then exhorts us to give our bodies as living sacrifices to God.  From there to the end of Romans Paul gives one exhortation after another, grounded firmly on our union with Christ.  He bought us with His blood and thus can make demands upon us for His own glory and our good.  Third, God loves you with an everlasting love and this ought to be the great motivation to gospel holiness.  Consider the love of Jesus in dying for sinners.  How He left the glory of heaven, the eternal unity of the Trinity, became flesh, lived in a sin sick, and decaying world, was abused, mocked, rejected, scourged, beaten, crucified, experienced separation from His Father in hell.  O what love the Father has for you!  “In this is love.  Not that we loved God but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins,”  I John 4:10.  And fourth, the blood of Jesus shed for you ought to humble you to sincere devotion to your covenant duties.  After all, the blood of Jesus removes the wrath you deserve at the hands of a holy God.  The blood of Jesus washes away the guilt of your sin, giving you freedom, forgiveness, and full access to the Almighty One.  The blood of Jesus is constantly applied to your heart and conscience, cleansing you from dead works which cannot justify or sanctify in order that you may freely serve the living God.  The blood of Jesus, and only the blood of Jesus, gives you freedom from hell fire and judgment.  Even a casual look at your own sin ought to humble you, strip you of any vestige of self-righteousness, and drive you back to the cross of Christ where you alone can boast.

Will you renew your covenant with God?  I am speaking first of all to the fathers and husbands here today.  Are you in spiritual declension?  Are you wandering from the fold of God?  To continue in declension will bring hardship on you as well as your wife and children.  As federal head over your family you have an awesome responsibility before God.  Just as a CEO is ultimately responsible for what happens in his company, so you are responsible for what happens with your wife and children in your family.  What are your secret sins?  What are those things which are sucking the spiritual life out of your soul?  What are those things which are robbing you of faith?  What are the signs of spiritual declension in your life?  Are you walking closely with God right now?  Come clean with God.  You are not fooling Him anyway.  He sees it all.  Will you humble yourself and remember from where you have fallen?  Will you repent?  And will you recommit yourself to God? 

And the rest of you here can do the same, no matter what your place in life.  Remember Isaiah 57:14, 15.  The prophet tells us that God dwells in two places, in the high and lofty place of heaven and in the hearts of the broken and contrite.  He will not come to you in spiritual power unless you humble yourself before His mighty hand, and we will not see a mighty movement of God until we acknowledge our sin and renew our covenant with Him.  Are you willing to do so?  I know you do not have the power in yourself to do it, but God promises to draw near to us when we draw near to Him.  He has declared that we have everything we need pertaining to life and godliness.  Will you likewise remember from where you have fallen, how you have left your first love, how you are pursuing lesser things which will not satisfy?  And will you practice evangelical repentance, acknowledging that your sin is against God?  And then will you recommit yourself to God?  He will empower you and we trust this will pave the way, as we do our part to clear the highway of holiness of our sinful debris, for Jesus to come by the Holy Spirit and once again bring revival and renewal to New England.  Come quickly Lord Jesus.

ZEALOUS FOR A MIGHTY MOVEMENT OF GOD

Josiah And The Pursuit Of God

Josiah was eight years old when he became king, and he reigned thirty-one years in Jerusalem.  And he did right in the sight of the Lord, and walked in the ways of his father David and did not turn aside to the right or to the left.  For in the eighth year of his reign while he was still a youth, he began to seek the God of his father David; and in the twelfth year he began to purge Judah and Jerusalem of the high places, the Asherim, the carved images, and the molten images.  And they tore down the altars of the Baals in his presence, and the incense altars that were high above them he chopped down; also the Asherim, the carved images, and the molten images he broke in pieces and ground to powder and scattered it on the graves of those who had sacrificed to them. Then he burned the bones of the priests on their altars, and purged Judah and Jerusalem.  And in the cities of Manasseh, Ephraim, Simeon even as far as Naphtali, in their surrounding ruins, he also tore down the altars and beat the Asherim and the carved images into powder, and chopped down all the incense altars throughout the land of Israel.  Then he returned to Jerusalem.  II Chronicles 34:1-7

Mary Guise, Queen of Scotland, was a young, beautiful, and vivacious woman when she set foot on Scottish soil in August, 1560.  The Reformation in Scotland had been going on for over a year by that time and was deeply entrenched in the heart and soul of the Scottish people, and the fiery preaching of John Knox was the major human reason for its success.  Mary Guise had a way with men.  Even those of strongest conviction tended to melt in her presence.  Prior to being in her presence many men boasted of their resolve to not give in to her cunning, but most could not maintain their convictions after a session or two with her.  Queen Mary, a staunch Roman Catholic, was incensed that her subjects had so quickly left devotion to her and her church for this new doctrine and its leader, John Knox.  Mary knew that if she was to gain back her authority and following then she must win over John Knox.  So early in her reign she summoned Knox to the Holyrood Castle in Edinburgh.  They had at least three sessions together and each time Mary used all her cunning to win Knox to her point of view.  At first she tried flattering him, congratulating him on his success and how the people were so willingly following him.  Knox was not moved by her flattery.  He had suffered far too much for a young woman to pry him away from his Biblical convictions.  By this time Knox was fifty-five years old and had been a slave on a French galley ship for nearly two years.  He had come by his convictions through much suffering and would not so easily give them up.  Next Mary tried a woman’s sure fire method of getting her way- tears. She wept profusely, seeking Knox’s pity, telling him that he was making life miserable for her.  I have a painting hanging in my study of one of these sessions with Knox standing straight and resolute, staring straight ahead, as Mary sprawls on her couch, weeping, one of her attendants trying to console her, as a crucifix sits on a table between them.  Knox would not be moved because he knew so much was at stake.  To falter at this juncture would mean the Scottish people, who were beginning to come out of their ignorance, poverty, and oppressive slavery at the hands of the Roman Catholic Church and her priests would return to a place they knew was awful.  Knox also knew that to falter here would mean the deaths of many adherents to the Reformation, including his own.  No, he would not listen to Mary Guise.  He would stand against her.

That’s a nice story, you may say, but what does it have to do with us as we seek to be zealous for a mighty movement of God?  It reminds us of a similar time in Biblical history, a time when the southern kingdom of Judah had once again fallen into gross idolatry and perversion.  This is what King Josiah sees when he ascends to the throne of Judah at the age of eight after his father, wicked King Manasseh, had died.  This is around 640 B.C. and the northern kingdom of Israel had been invaded and taken into exile by the Assyrians some eighty years earlier.  The spiritual, economic, and political climate could not be worse; however the report which follows concerning the life and reign of King Josiah ought to be a great challenge and inspiration to us.  He was a man who stood against the wickedness of his day and would not back down.  He stood on principles of God’s word and this made all the difference for his people.  May God teach us and inspire us so that we likewise may be zealous for a mighty movement of God in our day.

Let’s begin by giving a brief exposition of the Biblical text and then we will proceed to apply it to our present day.  First, what is this passage teaching us?  I want you to note three things from the text.  First is Yahweh’s grace in overruling the principle of sinful succession, verses 1-3.  We are told that Josiah was eight years old when he became king of Judah, and we find just prior to this passage that his father, wicked King Manasseh, who had reigned in Judah for fifty-five years has just recently died.  Actually another son named Amon became king before Josiah but he was evil like his father and was murdered in his own house.  He had multiplied the evil of his father and had failed to humble himself before the Lord.  Getting back to the text of II Chronicles 34, we are told in verse 2 that Josiah did right in the sight of the Lord and walked in the way of King David.  He was resolute.  He did not turn to the left or the right, meaning he was faithful all his days.  This is quite remarkable and a marvelous example of God’s grace since we know that the sins of the fathers are regularly visited on their children for many generations.  Children so very often learn the sins of their fathers and carry them even further, and this is what we have seen in the life of Amon.  However Josiah is different.  We are not told how this happened, what human instrument God used, but clearly He has intervened, bestowing His grace on Josiah, and the king made the most of it.  By the time he was sixteen, Josiah began to seek Yahweh, meaning he began to honor and obey Him; and when he was eighteen he began to purge Judah and Jerusalem of all the trappings of idol worship, namely the high places, the Asherim (the female fertility deities), the carved and molten images used in this wretched worship.  God sometimes overrules the wickedness of one’s father and mother and intervenes with grace, breaking the sinful succession which plagues so many families.  There is no other way to explain the godliness of Josiah.  God was gracious and merciful to him, and the people of Judah consequently benefited from that grace.  If you have come from a family which did not seek God, but you now are doing so, then realize the grace of God given to you, and remember that to whom much is given, much is required.  You are to honor God by teaching your children the covenant so that they may live out who they are as well.

Then I want you to note the zeal Josiah has for Yahweh’s glory, verses 4-7.  We are given a summary of all Josiah did to clear the highway of holiness so that Yahweh may come to the people.  Preparation work for the coming of a mighty movement of God is always vital. He tore down the altars of the Baals as well as the incense altars.  He broke in pieces all the instruments used in this horrid worship and then ground them into powder and scattered it on the graves of those who had sacrificed to them.  Does this mean that Josiah had these false priests executed?  We are not told but certainly there was precedent for this when we consider the admonitions in Exodus and Leviticus on how the covenant community was to execute those involved in idolatry.  Also we know that the prophets of Baal at the time of Elijah’s ministry were killed.  At any rate, Josiah’s zeal for the glory of God oozes from this text.  Verse 6 also gives us a picture of his zeal.  If you know your geography of Israel then you know that Manasseh, Ephraim, Simeon, and Naphtali were all in the old northern kingdom which had been overrun by the Assyrians many years before.  Most of the people had been taken into exile and true religion had not existed in the northern kingdom for nearly four hundred years.  So the actions of Josiah in tearing down the altars in these places speaks volumes on his zeal for the glory of God.  He was, if you will, an Old Testament missionary, wanting the glory of Yahweh to be made known in a pagan land. You can taste his desire to honor Yahweh when he takes away anything which hinders true worship.  We see this same sort of thing prophesied in Isaiah 40:1ff and Malachi 3:1ff.  In the latter passage we read, “Behold, I am going to send My messenger, and he will clear the way before Me.  And the Lord, whom you seek, will suddenly come to His temple; and the messenger of the covenant, in whom you delight, behold, he is coming, says the Lord of hosts.”  We understand this to be a prophetic word concerning the ministry of John the Baptist who would prepare the way for the Lord Jesus’ earthly ministry.  In the same way Josiah, in his zeal for the glory of God, is dead earnest in ridding Judah of the plague of idolatry which has plunged the people into poverty of spirit and superstition. 

And what results from Josiah’s zeal?  We read about this from II Chronicles 34:8 to 35:19; and it is nothing short of an Old Testament revival.  We have studied many such revivals and this is the last one prior to the final invasion of the Babylonians in 586 B.C.  In the eighteenth year of his reign, Josiah directed Shaphan and Joah to repair the house of the Lord, the temple.  Keep in mind that nearly sixty years had passed since the temple was correctly used and it had been neglected and was in dire need of a makeover.  In verse 14 we read that Hilkiah the priest found the book of the Law, that is the Law of Moses, probably the Torah, the first five books of the Old Testament.  No one had apparently seen or read the word of God for sixty years.  Can you imagine the level of ignorance and superstition which must have fallen like a black cloud on Judah?  Hilkiah gives the Law to Shaphan who reads it in Josiah’s presence.  Josiah, when hearing the word of God, was humbled to the dust.  He tore his clothes, a sign of genuine contrition.  He directed these men to inquire of the Lord for the remnant left in Israel, for Judah, and for himself.  He knew that God’s wrath was upon them because of the sins of their fathers because they had not observed or obeyed the Law of God.  Huldah the prophetess sought Yahweh on what they were to do and the Lord spoke to her.  She told the king that Yahweh’s wrath would be poured out on the people for their evil, but that he would live in peace all his days because he had humbled himself before God’s word.  He was tender hearted, humble, and tore his clothes in contrition and repentance.  We have seen before that God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble.  From there the king sent for the elders and they, along with the priests and all the people, heard God’s word read.  Josiah further removed any abominations in the land and required all the people to swear allegiance to Yahweh.  We then read in chapter 35 that he reinstituted the Passover and required the priests to put the ark of the covenant in the house of the Lord.  We are then told of the massive animal sacrifices used to make offerings to Yahweh.  Indeed this was a heaven sent revival and what moved it along was the word of God.  The reading of God’s word evoked contrition and fruits of repentance in Josiah and the people of Judah. 

Here’s the main point of the text- a zeal for a mighty movement of God begins with God working His word to affect change both in worship and work.  May God so work in us that we are bold, like Josiah, to confront our culture with the truth.  No doubt the great need in New England is truth, the truth of God’s holy and infallible word.  Let’s look at this in some detail.  What do I mean- a zeal for a mighty movement of God?  I have mentioned this in various ways throughout this sermon series and now I wish to attack it from a different angle.  A zeal for a mighty movement of God means putting God’s agenda before man’s agenda. I have two things in mind here. First, putting God’s agenda before man’s means one is zealous for God’s glory.  The Hebrew Old Testament word for glory is cavod and it means heaviness.  The glory of God is heavy.  It evokes reverence and fear.  Let’s trace this concept through Scripture for a moment.  We read after each of the six days of creation where God said, “It is good.”  In Exodus we read numerous times of Yahweh’s presence in the pillar of cloud by day and fire by night, the so called Shekinah glory.  We also read in Exodus 15 of Israel giving glory to God after His defeat of the Egyptian army when they were drowned in the Red Sea.  God received great glory when Elijah took on the prophets of Baal, calling down fire from heaven to consume the sacrifice.  Glory was constantly ascribed to God in the Psalms, “Tell of His glory among the nations, His wondrous deeds among all the peoples,” Psalm 96.  “Let the peoples praise Thee, O God.  Let all the peoples praise Thee,” Psalm 67.  The night our Lord Jesus was born the shepherds were keeping watch over their flocks at night and suddenly a multitude of the heavenly host said, “Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace among men with whom He is pleased,” Luke 2.  And the opening verses of Ephesians 1, in speaking of the Father’s electing grace, the Son’s redeeming blood, and the Spirit’s sealing presence all declare this is for the praise of the glory of God’s grace.  And in Revelation 4, the twenty-four elders and the four living creatures give glory to God, “Worthy art Thou, our Lord and our God, to receive glory, honor, and power; for Thou didst create all things and because of Thy will they existed and were created.”  Should we not then be zealous for God’s agenda, His own glory and honor?

Second, God’s agenda also means His kingdom.  Again, consider this survey of Scripture on the topic.  In Genesis 3:15, after the fall into sin, God pronounces judgment on the man, woman, and serpent, but in that context He makes His first promise of the gospel.  In speaking to the serpent God says, “I will put enmity between you and the woman, between your seed and her seed.  You will bruise Him on the heel, but He will crush your head.”  This refers to the Lord Jesus Christ dying (the bruised heel), but in the process He crushes the serpent’s head, the devil, and renders powerless him who had the power of death, that is the devil.  Then we read of the covenant of grace made first with Noah, then Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph.  We read of the Davidic and Solomonic kingdoms which were a type of the spiritual and eternal kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ.  And when Jesus teaches His disciples how to pray He instructs them to pray, “Thy kingdom come.”  This ought to be our earnest desire, to see the rule and reign of Christ expand all over the world, that all of the great peoples may come to the throne of God.

Our tendency, however, is to seek man’s agenda.  This reveals itself in many ways, but David Wells summarizes this in our present day with two concepts- personal immanence and personal transcendence.  Personal immanence deals with one’s own well being, to look within one’s self for meaning and purpose without the intent to look to the God of Scripture.  Personal transcendence deals with one’s own spirituality, one’s personal credo of how to find peace now and forever, if forever even exists. 

How can you know if you are putting God’s agenda first?  Two things come to mind.  First, you are putting God’s agenda first when you live without concern for the frown of man.  Your focus is on God, His glory, and His kingdom and you are committed to honoring these regardless of what others may think of you.  Our tendency, however, is to disengage from our culture.  We tend to listen to what people are saying about us, and we believe them, being intimidated by them.  And what are they saying about us?  “You Christians are ignorant.  How can anyone embrace creationism or intelligent design!  How can anyone believe the Bible is God’s word!  It is full of errors.  Everybody knows that.” Or they say, “You Christians are intolerant.  Why must you keep saying that Jesus is the only way to God!  Why must you condemn homosexuals?  Your beliefs have brought murder and destruction throughout history.  Have you forgotten the Crusades?”  And they also say, “You people are hateful.  Your religious zeal is motivated by hatred and bigotry.”  When a believer hears this enough it can cause him to disengage, to not enter debate in the public arena.  It can be pretty intimidating.

But our tendency also is to compromise with our culture.  When we hear people mocking Christ and His death and resurrection, when we hear people scoffing at our belief of absolute authority found in the Bible, then some of us are tempted to compromise, to water down the message a bit.  Some evangelicals today are wondering about the penal, substitutionary atonement of Christ.  That is, is it right to say that God is angry with the unbeliever, and isn’t it rather crude to say that God’s wrath must be appeased by the blood of His Son?  Denying penal atonement means one denies original sin and total depravity and this, in turn, puts into question the glory of Christ and what He did.  It suggests that man had lost a little in the fall, that Jesus did a little for him on the cross, and that man benefits a little from what Jesus did; when actually man lost everything from his fall into sin, Jesus died to purchase everything man needs, and the Christian now has everything he needs to live now and forever.

And second, you are putting God’s agenda first when you live without concern for personal expense.  Paul said that he was willing to spend and be spent for the sake of the gospel.  His life proved his words.  Just take a look at II Corinthians 11 to see the suffering he endured for the sake of the gospel.  Our tendency, however, is toward diversion.  Instead of focusing our hearts, time, money, and energies on God’s kingdom and glory we move toward entertainment, family activities, leisure, and recreation.  I am not suggesting that our families are not important, nor am I saying that you can never go to a play or ball game.  I am not saying that you must work all the time.  I am suggesting, however, that things are seriously imbalanced in our affluent, fun loving society where we are as, as Neil Postman has so aptly stated, amusing ourselves to death.  Our tendency also is toward pluralism.  This almost goes undetected in the Christian’s mind.  We know what the Bible says, that Jesus is the only means of salvation, but we live in a world of unprecedented diversity and choices.  Thirty years ago there were three television stations to choose from and now there are hundreds.  Once there was one brand of Coca Cola now there are a dozen or so of them.  Once there were three automobile companies from which you could purchase a car.  Now there are more than I can count.  You get the picture.  These options work subtly to cause us to think, “Well, if there are many soft drinks from which to choose, why not many gods too?

Recently I heard Dony St. Germain, a Haitian PCA pastor preach and he told of the abundant harvest of souls he and other Haitian pastors are seeing in Miami and Haiti.  I then thought of how most in our country and the world, for that matter, view the Haitian people at the bottom of the social and economic barrel.  Is there any people group in the western hemisphere considered below the Haitians?  Their country is the poorest and most unstable with a notoriously corrupt government.  Yet God has been pleased to visit these people in remarkable ways with His gospel.  Now consider this in contrast to New England.  We are the most prosperous, best educated, most cultured of all people yet we are also most devoid of Biblical faith.  When listening to Dony preach my mind went to I Corinthians 1:18ff where the Apostle Paul says, “The word of the cross is to those who are perishing foolishness, but to those of us who are being saved, it is the power of God. . .for God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong, and God has chosen the foolish things to shame the things which are wise. . .and the based things of the world, and the despised.  God has chosen the things that are not, that He might nullify the things that are, that no man may boast before God.”  God is opposed to the proud but gives grace to the humble.  I was inspired and motivated by Dony’s sermon because it emboldened me to remember that our work is utterly impossible.  We are trying to win people to Christ, to build a mighty movement of God, but if God does not show up by pouring out His Holy Spirit, then we are doomed to failure.  We don’t need to compromise.  We don’t need to disengage.  We don’t need to move to diversions like entertainment and leisure.  We don’t need to fall for pluralism.  But we need to depend upon God and trust the sufficiency of Christ and the ministry of the Holy Spirit to do a mighty work in New England.  

But how does this mighty work of God begin with Him?  Well, consider again the way revival came in Josiah’s day.  It was word driven.  Shaphan read the law of God to Josiah and he tore his garments in contrition for his sin.  This moved him to tear down Baal worship and to reinstitute Biblical worship of Yahweh.  A mighty movement of God in our day must be word driven.  It must begin with the preached word of God, for only this kind of revival will bring lasting fruit and solid joys forever.  Psalm 119 is replete with references to the power of God’s word.  Consider these, “How can a young man keep his way pure? By keeping it according to God’s word. . .Thy word I have hid in my heart, that I may not sin against Thee. . .O how I love Thy law.  It is my meditation all day long.  With it I am wiser than all my teachers.”  We see the word of God coming to Moses as the motivation he needed to confront Pharaoh.  We see God’s word coming to Moses and Joshua as the catalyst to bring God’s people into Canaan.  We know God’s word coming to Jeremiah and Isaiah was the means by which they preached repentance and faith, preaching regardless of the opposition and persecution.  We see the same with the Lord Jesus, His apostles, and great saints throughout church history. We see it in the preaching of John Hus of Hungary, of John Wycliffe of England, Savanarola of Florence, of Luther, Calvin, Zwingli, and Knox in Europe, and Edwards and Whitefield in New England, and we see it in the preaching of Charles Spurgeon in the 19^th century in London.  The preacher’s role is to preach Christ crucified, the historical, Biblical faith which debases man and exalts Christ, thus offering hope to all who turn to Jesus, and promising judgment on all who do not.

The word of God, however, without the outpouring or unction of the Holy Spirit is a mere intellectual exercise.  I fear we too easily forget this important truth, being tempted to trust our plans, personality, and programs.  But the early church fathers and Apostles knew first hand how desperate they were without the Spirit.  In Acts 3:19, after Peter and John have healed the lame man at the temple gate, and after seizing the opportunity this miracle afforded, they preached repentance and faith to the gathered curiosity seekers.  “Repent therefore and return that your sins may be wiped away, in order that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord.”  Think of a thundershower on a hot, humid afternoon, the showers cooling and refreshing everyone.  We need desperately the Holy Spirit.  Without Him we are merely citing truisms, relegating our preaching to morality, devoid of the life changing power of Christ Jesus who was crucified and raised from the dead for us.  Paul puts it this way in II Corinthians 2:14-16, “But thanks be to God, who always leads us in His triumph in Christ, and manifests through us the sweet aroma of the knowledge of Him in every place.  For we are a fragrance of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing, to the one an aroma from death to death, to the other an aroma from life to life. And who is adequate for these things?”

It is vital that we understand the impossibility of our task, and rather than this being discouraging or disheartening, it actually ought to motivate us, to drive us to Jesus for the power of the Holy Spirit.  I have people ask me all the time how things are going here in our ministry.  Many are praying for us.  I always say that I have never worked harder or longer hours, that I sense a great helplessness, but that I also am very hopeful and expectant.  The need to bring gospel truth to such a barren part of our nation and the unbelief which is so rampant are so much bigger than any of us, that it causes me to cast myself daily upon the Lord Jesus for His grace to be poured out by the Holy Spirit.  So I go forth daily in our ministry with expectancy, knowing that if the Lord Jesus does not come down upon our work by the Holy Spirit then we are dead.  Our ministry must be word driven, having the anointing of the Spirit upon it.

Then, one last question- how does the word of God and the ministry of the Holy Spirit effect change in our worship and work?  Consider first of all its impact on worship.  It moves us to a God-centered, Christ exalting, Spirit anointed, Biblical, and reverent corporate worship.  It causes people to realize they are in God’s presence and they are humbled by it, they tremble at the word of God.  Our theology, especially our doctrine of God, is heavy and cannot be lifted by individuals coming together on Sunday morning.  We must, as the gathered people of God, corporately offer up to Him sacrifices of praise.  That’s why we worship as we do.  It is by design.  We seek to have a scripture saturated, Spirit anointed, Christ exalting worship service with reverence and awe, so that we may rejoice with trembling because our God is a consuming fire.  The music we sing is admittedly different from the music of the world, but people coming to church ought to expect music very different from the world.  The type of hymns we sing are much easier to sing as a congregation than much contemporary music and that’s because God wants His people praising Him together, not a few gifted singers singing while the rest of the congregation watches.

Then the word of God through the power of the Holy Spirit will affect the work of the church.  It certainly did so in Josiah’s day with his reforms.  When a zeal for a mighty movement of God comes upon us we will be much more earnest in obeying God’s word.  As an old preacher friend of mind once told me, in referring to the gospel hymn Trust and Obey, “We are to get on the T and O and ride it to glory.”  We are to be earnest about perfecting holiness in the fear of God.  We are to put to death the deeds of the body.  We are to offer ourselves as a living and holy sacrifice to God.  We are to put away all anger, wrath, malice, slander, and abusive speech.  We are to be kind to one another, tender hearted, and forgiving.  The world is not very impressed with the lifestyle of Christians.  We have done much harm to the cause of Christ by our hypocrisy, worldliness, and rejection of those different from us.  Until the world sees authenticity from professing Christians, they will continue to ignore us. They will not take us seriously.

This means, then, that you must pursue the gift of evangelical repentance.  I have spoken much of this, but repentance is something you do, not merely once when you were saved, but each and every day, many times a day.  See sin for what it is- a type of poison which kills the very spiritual life in your soul, thus making it eventually impossible to stand against temptation when it comes.  Will you repent of your sins?  I am not asking you to feel sorry for getting caught.  I am not asking you to confess if you plan to go back to your sin.  I am not asking you to repent if you merely feel guilty and want to relieve your guilt. I am asking you to see the heinous nature of all your sin, to hate it, to see how dishonoring it is to the Lord Jesus who shed His blood for you.  I am asking you to ask the Holy Spirit to give you the gift of repentance so that you can turn from your sin and not go back to it again.

I mentioned a few weeks ago the ministry of Daniel Baker, the Presbyterian evangelist from Midway, Ga.  In a sermon from Isaiah 55:6ff, “Seek the Lord while He may be found.  Call upon Him while He is near. . .” Baker painted a vivid picture of the desperation the sinner must realize if he is to receive the mercy of God in Christ.  Consider, he said, a shipwreck where a life boat capable of holding twelve people has been procured.  With twelve people safely in the boat, another man who is struggling to keep his head above the water comes to the side of the boat and reaches with his right hand to enter the boat.  A man in the boat takes his sword and cuts off the man’s hand.  Why?  He knows that another person in the boat will spell disaster for all within.  The man, being even more desperate, reaches with his left hand to enter the boat, and this hand is also cut off by the man inside the boat.  Not to be deterred, in utter desperation the drowning man grabs hold of the boat with his teeth.  The man inside raises his sword, but in mercy brings the man safely into the boat.  Such desperation evokes mercy.  Man the sinner must see his desperate need of Christ, that he is on the road to hell and the only thing keeping him out of hell this very moment is the mere good pleasure of God.  Now, do you know many people who are desperate like this?  I don’t.  Do you see the impossible nature of the task to which God has called us?  This ought not to discourage you; rather it ought to inspire you to seek God earnestly for a mighty movement of His Spirit; for if the Spirit comes down upon our ministry then God will convert many, giving them a hunger to know Him.  Without this, nothing of significance will happen, but I for one am excited about the possibilities.  May God bring His word through the Holy Spirit upon us like a hammer and shatter us, moving us to be zealous for a mighty movement of God, causing us to seek earnestly after God’s agenda and not our own.  The Lord Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, gives us the capacity to do so because He always lives to make intercession for us.  Will you look to Jesus?  Will you trust His resurrection power within you to seek Him for a mighty movement of His Spirit in New England?

ZEALOUS FOR A MIGHTY MOVEMENT OF GOD

Nehemiah And Covenant Renewal

Now on the twenty-fourth day of this month the sons of Israel assembled with fasting, in sackcloth, and with dirt upon them.  And the descendants of Israel separated themselves from all foreigners, and stood and confessed their sins and the iniquities of their fathers.

While they stood in their place, they read from the book of the law of the Lord their God for a fourth of the day, and for another fourth they confessed and worshiped the Lord their God. Nehemiah 9:1-3.

On June 21, 1630 at the Kirk of Shotts in Scotland God brought a remarkable visitation of His Holy Spirit upon those gathered for the annual communion season.  As was the custom in Scotland at the time, the Lord’s Supper was observed only once per year and the saints would gather for five days of preaching, soul searching, prayer, and repentance, culminating with the observance of the Lord’s Supper on Sunday.  John Livingstone, who was twenty-seven years old at the time, was a young preacher greatly used of God in and around that community.  However he was not one of the scheduled preachers for this particular communion season.  A few years prior to this the Church of Scotland began extending the communion service until Monday.  On Sunday night, a small group of believers gathered to pray and two of those praying were women of royalty who had a heart for God and the work of the Spirit.  These prayed all night, asking the Holy Spirit to visit them with power the next day.  On Monday morning it was discovered that the one who was to preach that day was ill and could not make the meeting.  One of the women of royalty suggested John Livingstone preach in his place.  Livingstone agreed and went out into the fields to pray and prepare himself for the task at hand.  The longer he prayed the more fearful he became, sensing that he was both unworthy and incapable of preaching on such a solemn occasion.  He decided that he would flee the area, and as he was walking away from Shotts the Holy Spirit brought a wave of conviction of sin upon him, telling him that he was guilty of disbelieving God.  Livingstone, with great fear and trembling, decided he would obey God and preach after all.

Over one thousand people were seated outside the small church, on a hill which sloped down to the church yard, a perfect amphitheatre. Livingstone preached from Ezekiel 36 where God promises to sprinkle clean water on His people that they may be pure, and He promises to give them a new heart, to take away their heart of stone and replace it with a heart of flesh.  Livingstone had preached for an hour and a half and was moving to his application and conclusion when the Holy Spirit fell with convicting power on the congregation.  Livingstone went on for another hour, the result being several hundred were sincerely converted to Christ.  Great fear for their souls gave way to peace and assurance of the forgiveness of their sins through the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ.  Livingstone later said that he had preached only two sermons in his entire life, this one and one several years later with a similar manifestation of the Spirit.

Wouldn’t you love to see that sort of thing happen today in New England?  I have told you many times that this has happened times without number in the history of the church, but we have not seen such a visitation in over one hundred years in our country.  Do you believe this can happen again?  Okay, perhaps you say, “Yes,” though you cannot fathom what it would look like.  But let’s go further.  Do you believe it will happen again? 

The text before us today, beginning with Nehemiah 8 and going through Nehemiah 10, is another Old Testament example of revival.  This clearly was a mighty movement of God, and I trust this will inspire and instruct us on what we are to do to prepare the way for another mighty movement of God in our day.

What is this passage teaching us? First, we need to be clear on the historical context of this revival.  Though it is a bit hard to follow the chronology of Ezra and Nehemiah, it appears that this is what happened.  In 538 B.C., in fulfillment of prophecies made by both Isaiah and Jeremiah, God raised up King Cyrus of Persia to defeat the Babylonians and to allow the Jewish exiles to return to Israel.  A year later, under the leadership of Zerubbabel, the grandson of the last king of Judah, Jehoiachin, the first wave of Jewish exiles returned to Jerusalem.  They began almost immediately to rebuild the foundation of the temple but quickly became distracted from the project, choosing instead to focus their attention on rebuilding their own houses.  God raised up two prophets at the time, Haggai and Zechariah, to take Israel to task for “paneling their dens while the temple lies desolate.”  God’s priority for His people was church first, then community, and then family.  The Jews were reversing the order, putting family before community and church.  We have the same tendency today, spending the vast majority of our time and money on our children, homes, vacations, cars, etc. 

The preaching of Haggai and Zechariah prevailed, however, on the exiles and they began again to restore the temple in 520 B.C. and finished a portion of the project by 516 B.C. Sometime later, around 458 B.C., a second wave of exiles returned to Jerusalem under the leadership of Ezra who continued the restoration of the temple.  In 444 B.C. a third wave of exiles under the direction of Nehemiah returned to Jerusalem.  It was at this time that Nehemiah led the rebuilding of the wall around Jerusalem, building it in 52 days.  Finally, in 432 B.C. Nehemiah made a second trip to Jerusalem, and this brings us to the story before us today, a time where God visited His people with revival.

A cursory reading of Nehemiah 8-10 makes abundantly clear that this revival was word centered.  Consider Nehemiah 8:8, “And they read from the book, from the law of God, translating to give the sense so that they understood the reading.”  We have seen the same phenomenon during the reign of Josiah when the law of God is discovered in the temple repair project of his day.  The law was read to Josiah and he came under conviction by the Holy Spirit, tore his robes, repented, and called his people to turn from their idols and serve the living God.  At the beginning of this revival in the presence of Nehemiah and Ezra, the people were weeping at the thought of all they had lost due to their sin.  They were encouraged to feast, being told that the joy of the Lord is their strength.  We are again told that the word of God was preached on the second day to the heads of the households and to the priests.  The result was a proclamation to all of Israel to reinstitute the Feast of Tabernacles.  The word of God drove this revival of true religion.

This brings us to the text I read earlier from Nehemiah 9.  I want you to note five things which resulted from this word centered revival.  First, it brought contrition.  “Israel assembled with fasting, in sackcloth, and with dirt upon them,” verse one. Throughout scripture we observe that fasting, sackcloth, and dirt on heads are symbols of deep remorse, grief, and horror at sin.  You cannot miss the desperation in these actions.  Dirt reminds us of the frailty and transient nature of human life. They understood that they came from dust and to the dust they would return.  They are acknowledging the transcendence of God in light of their own sinful frailty and weakness.  Word centered or word driven revival always first brings contrition, an overwhelming sense of national, corporate, and personal sin.  Second, a word centered revival always brings separation.  “And the descendants of Israel separated themselves from all foreigners,” verse 2a.  By separation Nehemiah does not have in mind retreat from the world, a conscious decision to not engage the culture, a refusal to bring to bear the word of God on that culture.  We see ample evidence both in Nehemiah and Ezra of just the opposite.  They engaged the unbelief and ungodliness of those around them.  Instead the separation reported is separation from sin, an awareness of the repulsive, abhorrent nature of one’s sin, and a holy indignation at how one has sinned against the grace of God.  This word centered revival produced within the people an urgent and earnest action of fleeing from all pagans because they knew they were not strong enough to live amongst them, fearing they would continue their former idolatrous practices. 

And a third result of revival is confession of sin, verse 2b,  “. . .and confessed their sins and the iniquities of their fathers.”  We are given a vivid picture of the content of this prayer of confession from verses 5 to 31 of Nehemiah 9.  When revival comes people no longer point the finger of guilt at others.  They own up to their sin, even the sin of their fathers who long ago died.  When the Holy Spirit brings conviction of sin from the word of God into the hearts and consciences of people, then an overwhelming desire to be made right with God grips them.  This is never a casual issue. It becomes all consuming.  It is all one can think about, like a man without water for three days.  He cannot think about anything else but quenching his thirst.  He knows his very life is at stake.  A fourth result of revival is found in verse three- exposition.  If the word of God preached under the ministry of the Holy Spirit evokes revival, then it is also true to say that an increased hunger and desire to hear the word of God preached and to study it becomes an overruling passion.  Verse three tells us that the people listened to the word of God for a quarter of the day.  That’s four hours.  When revival comes people cannot get enough of God’s word.  They love it, they hunger for it, they make every preaching opportunity possible.  They are not interested in sermonettes.  They want solid, long, Christ exalting sermons which show them their sin and the sweetness of the Savior.  And finally, revival always brings adoration.  We are told in verse three that after listening to preaching for four hours they also confessed their sin and gave adoration to God.  That is, revival always brings God’s people together to worship Him.  Such worship is never perfunctory.  It is a burning desire to be in God’s presence. It evokes joy, fear, and reverence.

I have said before that revival is the normal Christian life on steroids.  If you are a believer, then you have experienced from time to time the contrition, separation, confession, exposition, and adoration about which I have just spoken.  But revival means many people at the same time and in the same place are experiencing all of these things with much greater depth and fervency.  I am often asked, if revival came to New England, what would it look like?  And here is the answer.  God’s people would have all five of these characteristics with much greater depth than we typically do.  It would also mean that unconverted people would be curious about what they see and hear from us, and the Spirit of God would begin producing within many of them concern for their own souls, a deep sense of contrition which would lead to all the things already mentioned.

Here’s the point from the text before us this morning, something I hope now to drive home with great power through the assistance of the Holy Spirit- a word centered revival will yield deep and lasting reformation.  May God so work in us that we pray and work for revival and reformation in our day.

Let’s unpack this concept a bit.  What do I mean by a word centered or word driven revival?  Well I have touched on this already but let’s go further.  There have been revivals which apparently are more prayer driven than word driven.  Now, I am all for prayer.  I think you know that, and I am also very quick to say that prayer is the foundation of all revival.  However revival produced only by prayer or worship will not last.  It’s like the difference between making a fire with balsa wood and oak wood.  Balsa wood will bring a bright flame very quickly but the flame will also quickly die and give off very little heat.  Oak wood, on the other hand, burns more slowly but for a much longer period of time, giving off much more heat.  Revival centered on prayer is balsa wood revival.  Revival centered on the preaching of God’s word is oak wood revival.

Allow me to illustrate this in two ways.  I have spoken before about the amazing Welsh revival of 1904, 1905.  There is no doubt this revival brought thousands of people into the kingdom of God and utterly transformed Wales.  However the revival was very short lived, only a few months, and the leader, Evan Roberts, experienced severe emotional problems after the revival for the rest of his life.  This revival was prayer centered.  It lacked a solid theological foundation to sustain it, to deepen it, to make lasting changes in the populace.  Another example, and I mention this with fear and trembling, is the Connecticut Solemn Assembly in May, 2005.  I attended this meeting with several people from our church and I went with high hopes that this was a mighty movement of God.  Perhaps it is, but I am quite skeptical.  Why?  Because the leaders made clear that this was a prayer and worship centered effort for revival, that no preaching would be conducted.  I am sure the leaders where trying to stay away from theological differences between believers, but my estimation of the meeting I attended was that if God brings revival through their efforts, then it will not have the depth or sustainability of one driven by the preaching of God’s word.  For this reason, I chose not to participate any further in these meetings.

So, what do we mean by a word centered, word driven revival?  I mean Holy Spirit anointed, Christ exalting, God honoring, soul searching, self-debasing preaching of God’s word which elicits sincere contrition, separation, confession, exposition, and adoration.  Again, is this not what we find in the revivals under Nehemiah and Josiah?  Is this not what we find on the day of Pentecost when Peter preached at the outpouring of the Holy Spirit and the people, in terrible conviction of sin, cried out, “What must we do?”  Is this not what we find throughout the ministry of the Apostle Paul, especially in Ephesus where the people were so transformed by God’s word that they burned all vestiges of their former pagan life?  Is this not what we see in the ministry of Augustine in North Africa, of John Hus in Hungary, of John Wycliffe in England, of Savanarola in Florence, of Martin Luther in Germany, of John Calvin in Geneva, of John Knox in Scotland, of Jonathan Edwards here in New England, of George Whitefield in Scotland, England, and America, of John Livingstone at Shotts?  I could go on and on, but I hope you get the point.  This is what I am passionate about.  This is what we are so desperate for in our day.  Our culture is so secular, so entrenched in unbelief and perversion that I believe only revival can affect the change we so desperately need.

This kind of word driven revival puts priorities in the right order.  Instead of focusing our attention and affections on our families first and then perhaps much later on our community and church, we are moved to put the church before our own personal needs or desires and those of our community, like what happened at the preaching of Haggai when the exiles were slow at rebuilding the temple, choosing instead to spend their time and money on themselves.

Many church leaders of the 18^th century were deeply concerned about the slide into perversion and wickedness of their day.  How did this happen?  Oliver Cromwell died in 1659 and Charles II was quickly put on the throne of England, the so called restoration.  Charles had earlier sworn his allegiance to the National Covenant of Scotland when the Scots wanted him to be their king.  But now that Cromwell was dead and he was on the throne of England, Charles II recanted his earlier confession.  In 1662 he required all preachers in England, Scotland, Wales, and Ireland to swear allegiance to him, Anglican church government, and to confess that he was the head of the church of Christ.  The Puritan preachers, regardless of whether they were Anglican, Presbyterian, or Independent refused to do so.  August, 1662 marked what church historians call the Great Ejection when over 2000 of these Puritan preachers were kicked out of their churches.  Many were arrested and languished in prison.  Within twenty years many of those preachers in Scotland were hunted down by British authorities and killed, what the Scots call the killing times.  Very quickly the glory of Puritan preaching and the godliness of the nation sank to untold dissipation and debauchery.  This gave way in the early 18^th century to Deism which taught that while God created all things He was not involved in ruling or governing His creation, that all is left to man.  It stripped Christianity of its supernaturalism.  The result was that by the 1730’s lawlessness was so rampant that in order to maintain law and order the British authorities had on the books twelve crimes punishable by hanging.  A twelve year old boy was hanged because he stole a loaf of bread.  The Gin Craze was extensive with one in four households involved in the making and distribution of gin. 

But people had been praying for many years, asking the Holy Spirit to visit them as He had done at Kirk of Shotts, Kilsyth, and other such places in the 17^th century.  In 1735 God began to answer the longing of many hearts.  Daniel Rowland and Howell Harris in Wales, and George Whitefield were converted within the first six months of the year and all became powerful preachers of the gospel.  Four years later, after their failure as missionaries in Georgia, both John and Charles Wesley came to Christ and likewise became powerful preachers.  This word driven, word centered Great Awakening went on from the 1730’s well into the 1750’s, with the results of the revival lasting the rest of the 18^th century. So profound was the change in America and England that historians have suggested the Great Awakening saved them from the devastation of the French Revolution of 1789.

May God give us all a zeal for a mighty movement of His Spirit in our day!  Do you hunger for the word of God?  Do you read and study it with great relish?  Are you bored with preaching?  Can you take it or leave it?  Though we have untold numbers of English translations of the Bible, though we have our Christian publishing houses and innumerable Christian books, though we have Christian radio and television, would you not agree that we still have a famine of the word of God?  So few are preaching the word with power.  So few are theologically and biblically driven in their ministries, and these are necessary to affect the type of revival we need to turn our nation from ungodliness and perversion to a delight in God and His ways.

This leads to another question- what do I mean by deep and lasting reformation?  Nehemiah 10:28ff reports at least four results of revival.  If revival is the normal Christian life on steroids and if the Holy Spirit alone is author of revival, then reformation is a more long term, slow but marked difference in the church and culture which results from a word centered ministry.  The revival in Nehemiah’s second tour of duty at Jerusalem brought four lasting changes.  The first characteristic of reformation is covenant renewal, verses 28, 29.  After the preaching of God’s law, after the prayer of confession, we then read of how the people, including the priests and Levites, the gatekeepers, the singers, the temple servants, and all those who had separated themselves from the peoples of the lands to the law of God, their wives, their sons and their daughters, all those who had knowledge and understanding, joined their kinsmen, their nobles, and took on themselves a curse and an oath to walk in God’s law, which was given through Moses, God’s servant, and to keep and to observe all the commandments of God their Lord, and His ordinances and His statutes.   In other words, the deep contrition, confession, separation, love for the preached word, and worship gave way to concrete and specific action.  The people agreed to put themselves back under the blessings of covenant obedience and to expose themselves to the curse of covenant unfaithfulness.  True and lasting reformation in our day must mean we, the people of God, are serious about serving and obeying Him.  It must mean we purpose, through the ministry of the Holy Spirit, to walk in simple and humble obedience to God.  It takes resolve on our part, and when we fail, it means that we quickly repent and return to the Lord.

A second mark of lasting reformation in our church and community reveals itself in covenant marriage, Nehemiah 10:30.  After covenant renewal, the people purposed to not give their daughters to the pagan peoples of the land or to take their daughters for their own sons.  Believers are not to be unequally yoked with unbelievers, especially in marriage.  A sordid history of the implications of such is found in the life of both David and Solomon.  This means for us today that husbands and fathers, wives and mothers are to be serious about working for a Christ-centered family.  It means that parents will take seriously the education of their children, not so easily giving them over to the government, seriously considering home schooling or Christian education.  As we move forward toward a Classical Christian School, it seems to me that those of you who have children the age of our classes, should ask yourself, “Why would I not put my child in this school?”  It means that fathers lead their wives and children in Bible study and prayer.  It means that parents model biblical roles of submission and leadership to their children.  Reformation must begin in the home, if we are to expect any transformation of our culture.

A third mark of reformation is covenant Sabbath observance, Nehemiah 10:31.  “As for the peoples of the land who bring wares or any grain on the Sabbath day to sell, we will not buy from them on the Sabbath or a holy day; and we will forego the crops the seventh year and the exaction of every debt.”  There is much controversy on how one ought to observe the Lord’s day.  Some have a very strict view, saying it is wrong to eat out on the Lord’s day, to play golf, watch television, or to shop.  I can argue for a strict or rather lax view of the Lord’s day, but one thing is clear from Scripture- the Lord’s Day is to be a day for worship, rest, celebration, and deeds of mercy.  At the very least, then, if you are serious about covenant renewal you will honor the Lord’s day by being at church for worship.  You will not miss unless you are sick or out of town, and when traveling you will find a gospel preaching church to attend.  You will rest from your normal work.  You will spend time with your family.  You will consider how to stir up other believers to love and good deeds.  You will fellowship with the saints.  You will seek God through prayer, Bible reading, and the reading good Christian books.  Reformation in our day will require God’s people again being serious about the observance of the Lord’s day.

Finally, reformation will mean covenant contributions, Nehemiah 10:32ff.  There we read of the various contributions, tithes, and special offerings God’s people were making at the time of this revival.  When God grabs people’s hearts He also grabs their checkbooks.  This means, at the very least, that you should be tithing, giving one-tenth of your salary, before taxes in my understanding of Scripture, to the Lord’s work, preferably to the church of which you are a member.  It means that you should learn about, commit to, and trust God to provide for a faith promise which you will give to the Lord’s work of world missions.  It means that you should be open to give to special needs, whether in the church or with a brother or sister in need, to hold your money loosely for the good of God’s kingdom. 

So, reformation which is long lasting and deep, which affects a community, church, and family will mean a conscious decision to obey God’s law, to build a strong Christian family, to honor the Lord’s day, and to practice Biblical financial stewardship.  Where are you in these matters?  Are you engaged in conscious, egregious, unrepentant sin?  Are you failing to lead your family as you ought?  Are you failing to practice your role as husband, father, wife, mother?  Are you casual in your observance of the Lord’s day?  How often do you miss church?  Do you have legitimate reasons for doing so?  Are you tithing?  If not, then you are robbing God.  This is a very serious matter.  How can you expect God to bless you and your family if you continue in flagrant disobedience to the clear commands of Scripture?  Here’s the problem with sin.  It acts like a poison, like a little pinch of arsenic sprinkled on a bowl of cereal.  It will not kill immediately, but taken over many days or months, the poison will begin to destroy one’s health.  Sin is that way.  It robs you of faith, resolve to obey God, to trust in the riches of Christ and your salvation.  It renders you weak and defenseless against the schemes of the devil.  Ask God to work in your heart in such a way that you actually begin to hate, to be repulsed by, disgusted with your sin.

I always end sermons by bringing us back to the fountain of grace, the only means by which we can live in obedience to God, the only way we can practice Biblical reformation; and of course that is the Lord Jesus Christ in all His fullness.  One of the greatest examples of Christ’s suffering and sacrifice, the horror of it all, the depth of His love for us, is the account of His temptation in the garden of Gethsemane.  In Matthew26:36ff we read that Jesus took His disciples with him to the place called Gethsemane.  This was after their participation in the Passover Meal and His institution of the Lord’s Supper.  Jesus asked them to wait for Him while he prayed.  Apparently this was the larger group of disciples because we are then told that He took Peter, James, and John with Him to pray.  Jesus became deeply distressed and grieved.  Why?  You must remember that He is eternal, that He had always been in perfect union with His heavenly Father, that He was pure, undefiled, and holy.  He had said many times during His earthly ministry that His time had not yet come.  But in His priestly prayer of John 17 Jesus says that His time had come. He was referring to His death and the consequent separation from His Father that this would bring.  In His anguish Jesus asked Peter, James, and John to pray for Him.  He went a little distance from them to pray, and we are given a summary of this prayer, “My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me, yet not as I will, but as Thou wilt.”  We sometimes think that due to the shortness of this recorded prayer Jesus spent only a few minutes in prayer but this is certainly not the case.  He was accustomed to whole nights of prayer.  He was in untold anguish, and may I even say fear.  If Jesus faced severe temptation after fasting forty days in the wilderness, then His ordeal at Gethsemane was the summon bonum of temptation.  He knew that He was soon to take the sins of the world upon Himself, the pure and undefiled Son of God, that He who was co-eternal with the Father and the Spirit would be separated, ripped from the fellowship of His Father, due to the sin of the world.  It was a repulsive, debilitating ordeal.  The closest I can come to describing it, and this falls oh so short, is to imagine that your three year old son has fallen into a latrine and you jump into the filth to rescue him.  You would be disgusted by the filth, but your love would overrule your disgust and move you to action. 

We are then told that Jesus came back to His disciples and found them in a deep sleep.  On the one hand, we should not be too hard on the disciples.  We would probably have done the same thing, but on the other hand it is obvious that they did not understand the ordeal through which Jesus was soon to go.  A condemned man who is to die in a few hours will find his closest friends awake, fully aware of what is happening, standing by his side for support.  The disciples simply did not get it.  We are then told that Jesus prayed a second time, telling the Father if this sorrow and pain of separation cannot pass away unless He drinks the cup of judgment and death, then He is willing, “Thy will be done.”  We are then told that Jesus came again to Peter, James, and John and found them sleeping again.  Jesus did not arouse them but went away again to pray, wrestling, as it were, with His Father, telling Him what He had told Him earlier, that He was willing to submit to His will. 

Jesus drank the cup of death and judgment, sort of like drinking a glass full of HIV and other vile diseases.  Jesus knew that He was tasting death for His people.  What moved Him forward?  O the depth of His love for His people!  O the desire to glorify His Father in heaven!  O the desire to be reunited with His Father after His humiliation! 

You have the capacity to obey God, to turn away from spiritual declension and to move toward the living God of grace.  You have the power to walk in holiness, to labor for reformation in your family, church, and community.  You have all you need pertaining to life and godliness.  Will you not allow the glory of the resurrected Christ to control you, to dominate you, to move you toward obedience and holiness, to move you toward the desire for a mighty movement of His Holy Spirit?  Will you feast again on the unsearchable riches of Christ Jesus our Lord?