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[0:00] And so we're going to look here tonight as we look here in 2 Kings chapter 18. Let's look down at verse 5 here tonight. And we see here with Hezekiah, it says this, He trusted in the Lord God of Israel, so that after him was none like him among all the kings of Judah, nor any that were before him.

[0:18] For he claimed to the Lord and departed not from following him, but kept his commandments, which the Lord commanded Moses. And the Lord was with him, and he prospered with us, whoever he went.

[0:28] And he rebelled against the king of Assyria, and served him not. And he smote the Philistines, even unto Gaza and the borders thereof, from the tower of the watchmen to the fenced cities.

[0:41] Let's pray. Heavenly Fathers, we come before you tonight. Lord, we're just thankful for your word. We're thankful that these things are given to us for our learning and for understanding. Lord, help us to learn and to draw closer to you and to understand, even as we look at Hezekiah's revival here tonight.

[1:00] Lord, I pray that you just would stir our hearts to realize the importance of what is revival, what is those things that you would desire of us.

[1:10] And Lord, we pray that you would work mightily and just encourage hearts here tonight. In Jesus' name, amen. You know, we see here that here's Hezekiah. We know that he trusted in the Lord and sought to follow him with his whole heart so that the Lord was with him, the Bible tells us.

[1:28] You know, you think about it. That's quite a testimony when Scripture tells you that God is with you because of you serving him. And we see that, you know, Jeremiah 17 tells us this.

[1:40] It says, Blessed is the man that trusteth in the Lord, whose hope the Lord is. You know, to be blessed of God is to put your trust in him, to trust him on the things, the small things, but the big things.

[1:53] Also, especially as we walk through life. But Hezekiah's desire, we know, as we looked last week, was to please the Lord. It was a drastic transition from his father who was against God, wanted everything but God.

[2:07] And then we have Hezekiah, his son, take over, and everything is 180 degrees the other direction. I mean, there is an absolute turning in the nation of Israel.

[2:19] And the first thing he does, he opens the door of the house of the Lord. You know, he opens back up the temple. That's his first action as king.

[2:29] It tells us as he opens the door of the temple, gets the priests and the Levites together, tells them to prepare themselves and to clean out the house of God and to get it ready to worship the Lord.

[2:42] You know, that was his primary focus right at the very beginning. And we spoke about that a little last week, and we saw there the challenge was not just to prepare the house of the Lord.

[2:54] I want you to understand, he didn't just say, get a building ready. He said, prepare the people to worship the Lord. Because ultimately that is the reality. We ought to be a prepared people to worship the Lord.

[3:10] You know, as we see, Hezekiah comes out with this challenge right off the get-go. You know, and so I think it's important to consider because sometimes when you see such a drastic contrast because you have his father Ahaz, who's totally against God, and now we have Hezekiah show up on the scene, and he is like giving instruction to the priests about how things ought to be done.

[3:34] You know, it's kind of like this total 180-degree turn, and we might say and ask ourselves, which I think is a good question, where did Hezekiah learn this? You know, where did Hezekiah know all this information?

[3:50] Well, you know, when he led such an abrupt change, we need to know that he knew it before it began. Before he became king, he already had some things in place, and his relationship with God had already been established.

[4:07] But we know that one of the things that a king was supposed to do, if you remember, turn back to Deuteronomy chapter 17, because it's one thing we always can realize when it comes to the Word of God, God already has things under control.

[4:23] You know, we find here in Deuteronomy, before they even had a king, before the discussion even came up, you find in Deuteronomy chapter 17, look down in verse 18, it says this, And it shall be when he sitteth upon the throne of his kingdom, that he shall write him a copy of this law in the book, out of which is before the priests and the Levites.

[4:44] So what's the new king supposed to do? He's supposed to do what? He's supposed to make his own personal copy of the law of Moses. He's supposed to make his own copy of the Psalms.

[4:57] He's supposed to make his own copy of the prophets that they had up to that point. You know, he's supposed to hand write that out, you know. There's something about that today, and it's been proven that when you write something or you copy something, you know what?

[5:11] It sticks with you a little better. You know, when you write something down, and I think that's one thing sometimes we miss in our digital age, because there's something different about doing this than actually writing.

[5:23] To make a connection, it's like there's a connection between your fingers and your brain. You know, to actually write things down makes a difference. And notice verse 19 in Deuteronomy.

[5:36] It says, And it shall be with him, and he shall read therein all the days of his life that he may learn to fear the Lord his God, to keep all the words of this law and these statutes to do them, that his heart be not lifted above his brethren, that he turn not aside from the commandment to the right hand or to the left or to the end, that he may prolong his days in his kingdom, he and his children in the midst of Israel.

[6:02] And so I think that how he knew, he'd already written his copy, because he knew he was one day going to be king. I think he'd already taken time. He was 25 years old. He had already taken time to learn and to understand what was his responsibility.

[6:17] He had already sought through, because when we look here tonight, I want you to see he's not just asking the priests of what they should do and the Levites. He's instructing them to, Guys, you should already know this.

[6:29] In other words, he's speaking from a place of authority, not of himself, but from the Word of God, because if anybody should have known what to do, the priests and the Levites should have known what to do.

[6:40] They were the ones supposed to be teaching the people what to do. And so we see that he was encouraging them with that. And so we see here, as the house of the Lord was once again sanctified, it was a day that rivaled even the dedication of the temple by Solomon, as we'll read a little later.

[6:59] This was something that hadn't happened in Israel for hundreds of years, is what took place here with Hezekiah. Because what took place was a true revival.

[7:13] There's something that happened. Take a look. Turn over to 2 Chronicles chapter 29. 2 Chronicles chapter 29. And we see here, this is Hezekiah, and this is the same, this is a parallel passage.

[7:28] They give you different information about what went on. And Chronicles mainly gives us information about this revival that took place in the first few months of Hezekiah's reign.

[7:41] Right off the get-go, there's something that took place. Look at verse 19 with us tonight. It says, Moreover, all the vessels which King Ahaz in his reign did cast away in his transgression, have we prepared and sanctified, and behold, they are before the altar of the Lord.

[7:58] Now notice, what's that report that he got? Hezekiah gets the report from the priests and the Levites, Hey, we've cleaned out God's house, all the junk that was in there, and we've restored all the vessels, all the things that your father Ahaz had destroyed.

[8:16] He said, We got everything in the house of God back in place. He said, These things are all ready to go. And now look at verse 20. Notice what happens here. Then Hezekiah the king rose early and gathered the rulers of the city and went up to the house of the Lord.

[8:32] And they brought seven bullocks and seven rams and seven lambs and seven he goats for a sin offering for the kingdom and for the sanctuary and for Judah. And he commanded the priests, the sons of Aaron, to offer them on the altar of the Lord.

[8:49] So they killed the bullocks, and the priests received the blood and sprinkled it on the altar. Likewise, when they had killed the ram, they sprinkled the blood upon the altar, and they killed also the lambs, and they sprinkled the blood upon the altar.

[9:01] And they brought forth the he goats for the sin offering before the king and the congregation. They laid their hands on them, and the priests killed them and made them reconciliation with their blood upon the altar to make atonement for all Israel.

[9:16] For the king commanded that the burnt offering and the sin offering should be made for all Israel. Now I want you to see something here. Here's Hezekiah. He comes and says, Hey, if everything's ready, we're going to sanctify God's house.

[9:34] We're going to set God's house apart. And if you want to make a side note while you're writing things, you can go back and read the first seven chapters of Leviticus, because that describes what he's telling.

[9:44] This is where Hezekiah gets all this information of what they're supposed to be doing, how they're supposed to be doing it, and why they're supposed to be doing it. He's saying, Hey, guys, Leviticus chapters 1 through 7 tells us what we ought to be doing.

[9:58] So I want you to see here that the king is not just making things up. He says, Hey, this is what God has told us to do. You know, one of the things about true revival, it's based on what God has said.

[10:11] True revival is always built upon, Thus saith the Lord. It's not built upon emotion. It's not built upon just feelings.

[10:23] It's not built on just actions. It's built on, Thus saith the Lord. And that's important to understand, because we see here that the heart of Hezekiah was that for the burnt offerings and the sin offerings.

[10:37] They were to be made. Now notice this, because if you read through this, sometimes you miss what's going on here. He's the king of Judah, but who's he offering these sacrifices for?

[10:49] All Israel. In other words, he says, Even our brethren that have departed from the Lord, up in Samaria, he says, they need to return to the Lord too.

[11:02] And we're going to see that play out in Hezekiah's revival and the change that took place because he wasn't just worried about what was happening in Judah. He was worried about what was happening with the others in Israel.

[11:15] He was worried about it. He says, I want to make a sin offering before the Lord on behalf of all these. And we see this happen. Now notice verse 25, And he set the Levites in the house of the Lord with cymbals and psaltery and with harps according to the commandment of David and of Gad the king Seer and Nathan the prophet.

[11:39] And so was the commandment of the Lord by his prophets. Now notice here something important. He didn't just say, Hey, there's a music I want.

[11:49] He set the music in the church according to what God said. In other words, he said we're going to do it how God had instructed from the prophets to accomplish that because how we do music is important.

[12:03] You know, I want you to understand it's a critical thing and we're not going to get sidetracked and rabbit trailed into that tonight because we're talking about Hezekiah. We'll save that lesson for another day. All right.

[12:14] But I want you to understand he made this decision. What did he base it on? The word of God. He didn't base it on public opinion or what was popular. He said let's go to the word of God and see what God says about it to base it upon the things of God.

[12:29] And so we see here as he was there it was not for personal enjoyment of the people. You know, one of the things today with music sometimes people think well I come to church I want to hear what I want to hear. I want to grab a hold of what I want to grab a hold of.

[12:43] But you know, when we have music in church it's not for our benefit. The music in the Lord's house ought to be to glorify the Lord and to move people and to focus their attention upon the things of God.

[12:56] It's not a concert but a focus upon the Lord. And we see this as we look on down through look at verse 28 and it says all the congregation did what?

[13:09] Worshiped. And the singers sang and the trumpets sounded and all they continued until the burnt offering was finished. We see this that they were there worshiping the Lord.

[13:22] Now I want you to understand I'll just make this statement you can sing and not worship the Lord. You can sing about God and not worship the Lord. Worship if you notice happened first because worship is a position of our heart towards God before the music came about.

[13:42] The music was an expression of what was already present. And we need to understand because as we look down through look at verse 35 here in this passage and it says and also the burnt offerings were in abundance and the fat of the peace offering and the drink offerings were for every burnt offering.

[13:59] Now notice this so the service of the house of the Lord was what? Set in order. You know before Hezekiah went and got everybody he says who's here and the temple needed to be sanctified and prepared for what was to come.

[14:16] He said the sanctification of the temple nothing else could happen until that was set in order. Just as they had under Moses.

[14:26] Remember they had to build the tabernacle and everything before those things could be set in order and prepared for the things for them to come and to offer their offerings before the Lord.

[14:38] They were sanctified they were set apart and it was set in order. In other words the Lord's house was ready because what was Hezekiah's plan? Because we're going to see now the preparation of the people.

[14:51] We've seen the preparation of the house of God and then we're going to see the preparation of the people. So King Hezekiah would stir a revival among the people of Judah along with those from the northern kingdom.

[15:04] Look here chapter 30. Notice what it says and Hezekiah sent all Israel and Judah and wrote letters to Ephraim and Manasseh that they should come to the house of the Lord at Jerusalem to keep the Passover unto the Lord God of Israel.

[15:17] For the king had taken counsel and his princes and for all the congregation of Jerusalem to keep the Passover in the second month. All right so now we see something here because the Passover had not been celebrated according to the word of God in many years.

[15:37] It doesn't tell us how long here but it says now that they're going to celebrate it in the second month. Now here's your Bible trivia. What stands out in that statement?

[15:49] The second month because what month were they supposed to celebrate the Passover? First month. That gets a good question doesn't it? You know what? The Bible answers it for us. How did the king change that?

[16:01] And we'll look at that here in just a little bit but I want you to see here that this hadn't been celebrated in a long time. Notice verse 5 of chapter 30. Notice what it says here and it says and so they established a decree to make a proclamation throughout all Israel and from Beersheba even to Dan that they should come to keep the Passover unto the Lord God of Israel of Jerusalem for they had not done it of a long time in such sort as it was written.

[16:28] You know that's important to realize it wasn't that people didn't desire to but you know to keep the Passover properly required the temple to be operating because in the Passover one of the things they did if you remember even as you think about when Jesus went to Jerusalem as our Passover lamb what was taking place each family would take a lamb to the priest the priest would lay hands on it they would kill the lamb and that blood would be a covering for sin and it took place in the temple or the tabernacle so if the tabernacle the house of the Lord wasn't operating it would be very difficult to do it according to all that God had instructed even if an individual wanted to and had a desire for God there were still limitations you know I want you to to understand what's happening here and we see it wasn't according given by Moses but as the house of the Lord was there it was a place and people that were required to be used the priests and the people had to be together you know notice verse 3 of chapter 30 it says for they could not keep it at that time because the priests had what not sanctified themselves sufficiently because neither had the people gathered themselves together to Jerusalem in other words there had to be some preparation for it to take place there's some individuals that needed some preparation but you know as we have talked about a little earlier about why did they choose the second month throw over to

[18:09] Numbers chapter 9 for a moment you know as I want you to understand Hezekiah didn't just make this up if he's trying to follow the Lord he's saying do we have to wait till next year you know what's going on Numbers chapter 9 look at verse 10 who's got that one we'll get some people involved tonight got that Ethan or can you read that for me verses 10 and 11 okay so the Lord had already made provision he says if you can't be sanctified to do it he said we're going to have a secondary option for you if that's necessary so we see here that where did Hezekiah get this he got his instruction from the word of the Lord in other words he didn't just change God's plan he said what did God have for this because you got to remember it's also very practical because notice what's the first exception that was made there in Numbers chapter 9 if they were they touched what a dead body now I want you to understand in ancient times death wasn't as clean as it is today you know where somebody dies and the caretaker comes and he you know and takes them over to the funeral home and deals with everything and you show up and you make sure everything's doing the way it's supposed to be done

[19:46] I want you to understand in those days if you had a family member die it was your responsibility to go take care of it if they touched a dead body they had to be unclean for seven days so if that happened at the wrong time what happens you couldn't do anything to be sanctified in order to perform it so what did God do he says I'm going to make a exception clause that if it's impossible for you because of distance or or something that violates that you can't control I mean you can't control when somebody dies so I want you to see here where did Hezekiah get this the people hadn't prepared themselves and they weren't in Jerusalem yet and he says hey we're going to move it to the second month because God already made provision to do that if the people aren't ready because it's important to understand God wants a prepared people if you're going to come before the Lord God wants your heart prepared to come before him we need to understand that what does

[20:48] Hezekiah do here this is as we see Hezekiah as he gets all this preparation he gets all these things happening now he sends letters in those first six so the post went with the letters from the king and his princess throughout all Israel and Judah and according to the commandment of the king saying you children of Israel turn again unto the Lord God of Abraham Isaac and Israel and he will return to the remnant of you that are escaped out of the hand of the king of Assyria and be not like your fathers or like your brethren which trespassed against the Lord God of their fathers who therefore gave them up to desolation as ye see you know here's Hezekiah he's sending a letter he says guys you caused your own problem you know there's a lot of times in life we cause our own problem you know sometimes we like to complain about but the first thing you need to ask what did I have a part in causing it because sometimes in a lot of times in life we have a part from our decision that get us where we are and we see here that Hezekiah tells them they were separated and dispersed because they refused to worship the Lord they refused those things notice here he tells them he sent the letter from Beersheba to

[22:04] Dan now to us that doesn't make much sense to us I mean we just hear two cities until you understand Beersheba was the farthest south point in Israel and Dan is the farthest northern point in other words it's a picture that the whole land received the letter from the farthest away both ends they received the notification from Hezekiah that what was going to happen and they encouraged them to come by choice you know he didn't tell them but he said he tells them what's going to happen and who they are and how they're doing and encourages them to turn to the Lord now notice he tells them to do this of themselves look at verse 9 it says for if you turn again to the Lord your brother and your children shall find compassion before them that led them captive so that they shall come again into this land for the Lord your God is gracious and merciful and will not turn away his face from you if you return unto him you know we see here something important that takes place because

[23:15] Hezekiah here sends out this letter and he tells them he says hey you guys need to make a choice to do it Hezekiah didn't command them as king to come worship the Lord he said if you turn he's telling them what they ought to do but he's not telling them that they have to do it because you know what you cannot force somebody to worship the Lord you cannot make somebody obey the word of God because you can obey on the outside and be rebellious on the inside the right spirit happens within and and then notice what he calls them here as they're there I mean he mentions about them and what he tells them there with this because notice the response look at verse 10 it says so the post passed from city to city through the country of Ephraim and Manasseh even into Zebulun and notice what that next part says but they did what how did they receive it they laughed them to scorn and mock them and that's the way some people receive the truth about what

[24:22] God says they just laugh it off or mock it but I want you to see the next one look on down here in verse 11 nevertheless divers of Asher and Manasseh and of Zebulun did what humbled themselves and came to Jerusalem you know what when you share the truth of God with somebody they're going to react one of two ways they're either going to reject it or accept it it's the same back here in the Old Testament as it is today people are going to either going to accept truth or reject truth there's no middle ground because well we try to like but I want you to understand the middle ground is a no you either accept or reject the truth of God's word there's no to hee-haw around about it is the same as saying no because you're saying I don't believe it believing the word of God is important and we see here that he talks here about them being stiff-necked you know look up in verse a but be not stiff-necked as your fathers were but yield yourself unto the Lord you know people when it talks about stiff-necked it means resolved against okay turn back to second Kings chapter 17 for a minute because we see here in second Kings chapter 17 in verse 14 the word of

[25:47] God tells us this and we see this connection here with this it says notwithstanding they would not hear but hardened their necks like to the neck of their fathers that did what not believe in the Lord their God you know the hard part is we either submit to the things of God surrender to the things of God or we rebel against the things of God that's reason as a New Testament believers in Jesus Christ things are a little different but the application still the same take a look over what Paul says over in Romans chapter 6 Romans chapter 6 in verse 13 the apostle Paul here is describing working through what happens at salvation and how that comes about and what takes place and he comes to this issue of dealing with whether you're going to obey the Lord or not dealing with sin notice what he says in verse 13 he says neither yield you your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin what's he saying he's saying you need you're going to yield to something what are you going to yield to what are you going to submit to are you going to be stiff-necked against the things of God because notice but yield yourselves unto God as those that are alive from the dead and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God what's he talking about here he's not talking about making a commitment to God he's talking about making a surrender to God yielding means not just committing to something but surrendering to something in other words it's taking where you may have a right and saying I'm going to hold back or I'm going to stop here I'm going to use this as a restraint because it's what's supposed to be and so we see here that they are very stiff you're going to be stiff-necked or yielded I mean when it comes to the things of God that's the two choices people have because there's oftentimes people even today get very stiff-necked about things because they have ideas of what they think or how they think it ought to be or what somebody else has said instead of going back and say where does it measure out in the word of God because ultimately we can all get stiff-necked about things that we get that we think are so important but we ought to measure those things not through how we feel about it but through what

[28:10] God's word says because when we measure it through God's word what are we yielding to yielding to God and not to somebody else or to our own emotions or thoughts because it's amazing how many people make spiritual decisions on how they feel spiritual decisions based on how you feel about God's truth is stiff-necked because it's built upon how you feel and not what God says but notice here he calls them to serve the Lord to turn again unto the Lord and notice something good that he tells us about God you know the good thing here is he also he doesn't just call them out he says hey guys I want you to understand if you turn back to God God is gracious God's merciful God desires for you to turn to him God wants for you to come to him matter of fact he tells him he will not turn you away you know that's the same principle in the New Testament and if you come to Christ and call upon him he will not turn you away you know what the great thing is the God in the Old Testament is the same God in the New Testament he's merciful and gracious if you come to him and we see here this message is received just like today you know we talked about some mocked and some laughed why others did what humbled themselves there was what they do some were stiff-necked some yielded to the things of God but see we see then we see here that the Passover was celebrated he sends out the letters to everybody and some start making their way to Jerusalem and so notice here in verse 15 of chapter 30 and it says this and then they killed the Passover on the 14th day of the second month and the priests and the

[29:57] Levites were ashamed and sanctified themselves and brought in the burnt offerings into the house of the Lord and they stood in their place after their manner according to the law Moses the man of God and the priests sprinkled the blood which they received at the hand of the Levites for there were many in the congregation that were not sanctified therefore the Levites had the charge of killing the Passover for everyone that was not clean to sanctify them unto the Lord for the multitude of the people even many of Ephraim and Manasseh and Issachar and Zebulun had not cleansed themselves yet did they not eat the Passover otherwise than it was written but Hezekiah prayed for them saying Lord God pardon everyone now I want you to get the picture here because you got a lot of people coming to Jerusalem remember he sends out letters to the far reaches of even Israel and understand that when these people came they had not cleansed themselves according to the law of Moses now I want you to understand as you read through this some of this might have been strictly ignorance they got a call to return to the Lord but I remember Israel how long it had been since they had been observing the Passover up in Samaria some of the men and women and kids that come had never even seen it it might have been something that said just heard in the distant past that grandma and grandpa might have done in other words they knew they wanted to turn to the Lord but they had no idea what was going on they had not prepared and sanctify themselves and and they had not seen or participated in a

[31:36] Passover since it had been generations it's important to note that God pardoned them because notice what happens here when Hezekiah prays for them it says in the Lord verse 20 and the Lord hearkened to Hezekiah and healed the people it's important to note that God pardoned them because Hezekiah prayed that God might pardon them if they prepare their heart to seek the Lord in other words they came not knowing only one thing they knew they came knowing that they wanted to seek the Lord they knew that this is what they were supposed to do and they came in ignorance now turn to Leviticus chapter 5 for a moment Leviticus chapter 5 in verse 18 now notice what the Word of God says here in verse 18 and he shall bring a ram without blemish out of the flock with thy estimation for a trespass offering unto the priest and the priest shall make an atonement for him concerning what his what ignorance wherein he erred and whist it not and it shall be forgiven him you know I want you to understand Hezekiah was justified in praying for those that came from Israel that were ignorant because you got to understand what's ignorance ignorance is lack of information you know what you can't if you're not know to do something you can't do it I mean that's just simple fact isn't it you know you can't if you don't know to do it it's impossible for you to do it so God even made a way for their ignorance to be covered because of why because they needed they came with a heart seeking the Lord and the Lord said hey if you're seeking me I'm making a way to prepare you for what you need to do to seek the Lord is important it wasn't their action it was their heart towards God that made the difference because they were yielded they were humbled before the Lord but now let's take a look here because as they come and all this is taking place notice in them verse 19 that prepareth his heart to seek

[33:49] God the Lord God of his father so he be not cleansed according to the purification of the sanctuary and says the Lord hearkened unto Hezekiah and healed the people so we see here Israel the children of Israel of all the tribes are gathering in and this results in quite a revival you know revive Hezekiah's revival changed people's lives there's a transformation because I want you to see here this was not a revival of emotion but of change you know today we hear a lot about revival you know you've seen in this last year you know you'll see clips on the internet you know little reels of mass people getting baptized and you know there's such a great revival here you know they've been packed in a field house for 48 hours listening to somebody beat on a drum and and make some loud noise and they call it revival you know what I want you to understand that people calling something worship or somebody going through an action doesn't make revival those things somebody that gets baptized means there's been a change already in their life I want you understand when they worship the Lord is not the music it's the heart that makes the difference you have a lot of people that might have songs talk about God but that's not worship

[35:08] I want you to understand you can sing some of the old hymns are good good songs but if you don't sing them with a heart towards God you know what it's not worship because your heart is what makes it worship not the song itself just like people getting dunked you know I think we have we shouldn't even call it baptism it's mass dunkings because baptism actually has a definition in scripture you can get wet all the time you want doesn't make a difference you know we see people get wet all the time and it doesn't mean anything you know people do all sorts of things to try to appease God or they use music to move people but both these are caught up in emotion instead of truth because I want you to understand revival is not measured in the moment that's one of the other things I think we miss when it comes to revival revival is not measured in the moment revival is measured by what happens afterwards because when true revival happens and people turn towards God there's going to be emotion involved there's going to be some emotion and there ought to be if your life's been changed by Christ there ought to be some emotion attached to it but what happens later makes a difference this is a two week revival they had such a good time the first week and so many things happened they said let's do it again next week when you read through the text it was two weeks of them worshiping the

[36:34] Lord and getting right with God it talks about them confessing it talks about them getting their life straight with God and revival takes place and you say preacher how do you know revival took place look at the next chapter look at chapter 31 because revival always has results there's something that happens look at verse chapter 31 verse 1 it says now when all this was what finished all Israel that were present went out of the cities of Judah and notice what they did they break the images in pieces and cut down the groves excuse me threw down the high places and altars out of Judah and Benjamin and Ephraim and also Manasseh until they were utterly destroyed them all that all the children of Israel returned every man to his possession under their own city you know what the proof of the revival was is what they did when they went home because what they did they turned from their idols unto God on

[37:35] Sunday morning we're talking from first Thessalonians about how Paul makes mention of the Thessalonians doing what turning from their idols unto God you know these people had a genuine change because they turned from their idols they took the things that they were worshiping and got rid of them and I want you to understand that they didn't just quit worshiping because now they're going to worship the Lord it was a turning from the false worship of these false gods and I want you to understand it wasn't just an intellectual decision but one that caused them to remove all the idols from before them I think on their way back home they started thinking I got this hidden over here this idol and that idol and they said we need to get rid of it they need to deal with it they needed to properly take care of it to destroy it to put it away all those who had not prepared themselves prior to coming to Jerusalem I think there's a lot but back to Israel because they'd been up there where they'd been worshiping all these false gods and they said on the way home we're going to take care of this when we get there we're we're going to get rid of them we're going to take it out we're going to destroy them to utterly destroy them they took their faith in God personally not just outwardly but it transformed their heart it changed them as a person you know Proverbs chapter 10 verse 16 the word of God tells us this the labor of the righteous tended to life and the fruit of the wicked to sin you know I want you to understand that when God changes you there ought to be a change in fruit you know think about what Jesus said over in Luke chapter 6 Luke chapter 6 in verse 43 the word of God tells us this it says for a good tree bringeth for bringeth not forth corrupt fruit neither does a corrupt tree bringeth forth good fruit for every tree is known by his own fruit Jesus is simply saying you're going to produce what you are verse 45 in Luke he says this a good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart bring forth that which is evil for the abundance of the heart his mouth speaketh you know what where your heart is is tied to what you do the decisions you make because we see secondly here we see a change of thinking concerning the things of God they didn't just return back to their old life but to a new one they had a new desire to follow the Lord directed by his word their thinking was changed you know when you come to

[40:20] Christ your thinking ought to change go over to Galatians for a moment Galatians chapter 5 Galatians chapter 5 and look down at verse 24 who's got that one for me tonight everybody's kind of lagging here got somebody read that one for me read that April verse 25 also please so what do we need to do we need to do what walk in the spirit it is a change that takes place we've crucified the flesh with the affections and lust if we live in the spirit let us do what walk in the spirit this parallels over look at Romans chapter 12 Romans chapter 12 in verse 2 got that one Daryl if you would yep okay I want you to understand here there was a difference that was made their lives changed completely things were different their thinking changed and the things we're going to see that play out here in this chapter because

[41:43] Hezekiah we're going to see here also appointed look at verse 2 of chapter 31 it says Hezekiah appointed the courses of the priests and Levites after their courses every man according to his service the priests and Levites for burnt offering for peace offering to minister and to give thanks and to praise in the gates of the tents of the Lord and he appointed also the king's portion of his substance for the burnt offering to wit for the morning and evening burnt offering for the burnt offering for the Sabbath and for the new moons and for the set feast it is written in the law of the Lord moreover he commanded the people that dwelt in Jerusalem give a portion of the priests and the Levites that they might be encouraged in the law of the Lord I want to see here the Hezekiah sets up and says priest you need to get sanctified and do what you want to do but the people did something accordingly also and we're going to see here as we look through chapter 31 you're going to see God's people began to give they began to give to the things God had instructed them to give they began to give if you read through we don't have time tonight but you can go home and read through the rest of 31 it talks about the heaps were so big they had to figure out what they were going to do with the offerings because not just in Jerusalem even from Israel they were sending things back and you say preacher what how does that play out I want you to understand your heart and your pocketbook are connected think about what Jesus says look over to Matthew chapter 6 6 Matthew chapter 6 look down at verse 21 you got that one Josiah Matthew 6 21 okay when Jesus said that what's he telling us there's what a connection between what you possess and your heart there's a connection there a little later in verse 24 could you read that one for me there Josiah verse 24 same chapter since you're already there chapter 6 okay Jesus continues with that same thought isn't it because you're gonna have to choose who you serve and the results were seen in what they did look down in verse 9 of this chapter it says then Hezekiah and the chief priest comes out and says hey people are bringing so much stuff we don't have a place to put it you know what I want you to understand what it tells us is is there was a true revival because the people's attitudes changed they said we're gonna give what God has instructed them to give you need to keep in mind Israel was instructed in the law of exactly what they were supposed to give and when they were to give it matter of fact we talk about tithing if you add up all they were to give in the Old Testament it's about 30% between to do a quality quality quality quality quality because what you invest your resources in is where your heart's attached.

[45:25] If you invest, it's because your heart has an outcome that you're expecting. I want you to see here there was something very different happening in Judah and throughout Israel. A new course in word and deed was happening in their lives.

[45:40] Hezekiah was also willing to follow the Lord and do what he ought to do. Look down at verse 20 here, and it says, And thus did Hezekiah throughout all Judah, and wrought that which was good and right and truth before the Lord his God.

[45:57] And in every work that he began in service of the house of God and in the law and in the commandments to seek his God, he did it with all his heart and prospered.

[46:08] Now I want you to see here, you've got to keep in mind this all happened in a few months. This is the beginning of Hezekiah's reign. Next week we're going to look at something because, you know what, when we begin to serve the Lord, you know what?

[46:23] There's going to be a test. Do you really serve the Lord for the right reason? James tells us this. It says, James 1.12 says, Blessed is the man that endureth temptation, for when he is attried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him.

[46:42] Next week we're going to take a look because Israel is going to face a test. Hezekiah is going to face a test. Do I trust God or not?

[46:54] You know what, sometimes the same question comes up in our life and decisions that we have to make. Am I willing to trust God in the difficult things to make the right decision?

[47:05]  We'll look at that next week with Hezekiah. Let's pray.