Alien Law Systems

So You Think You Want a Real Revival

Transcript: AI Transcript

Professor: John Weaver

Subject: Biblical Law

Genre: Sermon

Dictation Name:

Date: 2025-12-28

Synopsis: John Weaver examines the nature of true biblical revival through the account of King Josiah's reforms in 2 Kings 22–23. He argues that revival is a sovereign work of God, primarily for His people, and involves radical purging of idolatry and alien law systems. Weaver distinguishes three types of revival—personal, of God's work, and of God's people—and emphasizes that revival must begin with individuals. He challenges listeners to consider the cost of genuine revival, including the end of multiculturalism and the exclusive reign of God's law, and calls for personal commitment to seek God wholeheartedly.

[John Weaver] Let's open our Bibles into 2nd Kings chapter 22. 2nd Kings chapter 22. We're going to read the first 13 verses and then we'll pick up the rest of this chapter shortly and then in chapter 23 as well. So 2nd Kings, 1st and 2nd Samuel, 1st and 2nd Kings, then 1st and 2nd Chronicles. So 2nd Kings chapter 23 or 22 to begin with. Verse 1, Josiah was eight years old when he began to reign. And he reigned 31 years in Jerusalem.

[John Weaver] And his mother's name was Jedidah, the daughter of Adiah of Bosketh. And he did that which was right in the sight of the Lord and walked in all the way of David, his father, and turned not aside to the right hand or to the left. It came to pass in the 18th year of King Josiah that he sent Shaphan, the son of Azaliah, the son of Mishelem, the scribe to the house of the Lord, saying, Go up to Hilkiah the high priest, that he may sum the silver which he brought into the house of the Lord, which the keepers of the door have gathered of the people, and let them deliver it into the hand of the doers of the work that have the oversight of the house of the Lord, and let them give it to the doers of the work which is in the house of the Lord to repair the breaches of the house unto carpenters, builders, and masons, and to buy timber and hewn stone to repair the house.

[John Weaver] Howbeit there was no reckoning made with them of the money that was delivered into their hand, because they dealt faithfully. And Hilkiah the high priest said unto Shaphan the scribe, I have found the book of the law in the house of the Lord. And Hilkiah gave the book to Shaphan, and he read it. And Shaphan the scribe came to the king, and brought the king word again, and said, Thy servants have gathered the money that was found in the house, and have delivered it into the hand of them that do the work, and that have the oversight of the house of the Lord. And Shaphan the scribe showed the king, saying, Hilkiah the priest hath delivered me a book. And Shaphan read it before the king. And it came to pass, when the king had heard the words of the book of the law, that he rent his clothes. And the king commended Hilkiah the priest, and Ahicham the son of Shaphan, and Okbeor the son of Micaiah, and Shaphan the scribe, and Esahiah the servant of the king, saying, Go ye.

[John Weaver] inquire of the Lord for me and for the people and for all Judah concerning the words of this book that is found. For great is the wrath of the Lord that is kindled against us, because our fathers have not hearkened to the words of this book to do according to all that which is written concerning us.

[John Weaver] Now, let me just take one moment and tie the last several weeks together with what I'm going to be bringing today. You remember, I started out this short series in First Kings 11. And I preached the message on losing your wisdom and losing your mind, where King Solomon married all of these women that were contrary to the law of God. And of course, the Bible says they turned away his heart and his heart was not perfect where the Lord is God. So he actually was in rebellion against God and thus he lost his kingdom as well as God raised up adversaries against him.

[John Weaver] The next two messages I dealt with in light of that were the dangers of old age. showing then exactly what happened because the Bible says when Solomon was old, his wives turned away his heart. And of course, he was turned into Ashereth, the goddess of Zidonians. He turned to Moloch and also to Chemosh. And I pointed out that these three specific false gods related to old age. Ashereth was the goddess of sex and fertility. And, of course, Moloch was a political power of religion, and Chemosh, of course, meant subjugation of conquerors. So, those are the three things that really elderly people complain about. And so, he turned to those idols instead of the one true and living God. And then, of course, I dealt with alien law systems, three messages. And I pointed out that there's no such thing as an unreligious law. All law is religious. because behind every law is the determination of right and wrong, good and evil, and it is one's religion that determines right and wrong, good and evil. And so I pointed out how that all of these idols that Solomon was worshipping and all the other people were worshipping had their own law systems which were totally alien to God's law system.

[John Weaver] So in one of those messages, I showed you the difference between God's law system, humanistic law systems, and Sharia law system, just using theft and also then using what we call career criminals based upon the Word of God and what God said. So in light of that, I'm bringing this message today, and here's the title. Listen carefully. So, you think you want a real revival. Now, most Christians talk about revival. They believe that one is greatly needed in this nation.

[John Weaver] And I certainly agree with that. But however, most Christians do not realize the extent of a real, genuine, biblical revival. Revivals may be from the top down, or they may be from the bottom up. What I mean by that is this. from the top down, you're going to find that revivals began with a godly ruler. In this instance, this revival began with King Josiah. You'll also find revivals that began under King Jehoshaphat, King Hezekiah, and King Asa in the Bible. So these would be top-down revivals. And then on the other hand, there could be bottom-up, that is, they begin with the people, and they work their way up all the way to the rulers as well. So, practically all Christians then want what we know as a revival. In fact, most want what is known as a national revival.

[John Weaver] And we pray for one, and we hope that we see one in our lifetime. I've seen so many changes in my short lifetime. For the worse, I certainly would like to see one for the better, that is for sure. But what we fail to grasp is this. It is God who also judges nations. And of course, nations that are sinful and in rebellion against God deserve his judgment. And in fact, America is one of those. So it's really and truly up to God whether or not he judges a nation or whether or not he grants a reviving to that nation.

[John Weaver] So if you would hold 2 Kings chapter 22, and turn right back in your Bibles, or I should say right over in your Bibles, to the book of Job chapter 12. Job, right before Psalms. Look in Job 12 and let's begin reading there with verse 16. Job 12 verse 16. Note what is said concerning God and concerning the nations. Job chapter 12 verse 16. With him, that is with God, is strength and wisdom.

[John Weaver] The deceived and the deceiver are his. Now look what God does. He leadeth counsellors away spoiled, and maketh the judges fools. He looseth the bond of kings, and girdeth their loins with a girdle. He leadeth princes away spoiled, and overthroweth the mighty. He removeth away the speech of the trustee, and taketh away the understanding of the age. He pours contempt upon princes, and weakeneth the strength of the mighty.

[John Weaver] He discovereth deep things out of darkness, and bringeth out to light the shadow of death. Now look in verse 23. He increaseth the nations, and destroyeth them. He enlargeth the nations, and straighteneth them again. He taketh away the heart of the chief of the people of the earth, that is, the rulers, and causeth them to wander in a wilderness where there is no way. They grow up in the dark without light, and he maketh them stagger like a drunken man." So here is the Bible saying that the nations are in the hand of the Lord and He can do with them as He pleases.

[John Weaver] He may increase or He may destroy. He may enlarge or He may straighten. Everything is in His hands. He is sovereign. So now you're going to ask, Well, what about 2 Chronicles 7 and verse 14, where God said, Well, certainly that is a promise, and that is certainly one that you and I need to be thankful for. But when you think of that verse, if my people which are called by my name shall humble themselves? Well, who is it that gives humility?

[John Weaver] And pray, who is it that incites us to pray? And to seek my face, who incites us to seek his face? And turn from their wicked ways, who is it that gives repentance? And the Bible teaches repentance is the gift of God. In other words, none of us can do any of these things apart from God. For instance, in Psalm 80, And verse 3, the Bible says, Turn us again, O God, and cause thy face to shine, and we shall be saved. When you look at Psalm 80, that one verse occurs four times in that one psalm. Turn us again, O God, and cause thy face to shine, and we shall be saved. So four times David is pleading for God to turn the people. Now, when you skip down in that psalm to verse 18, the word of God says this.

[John Weaver] So will we not go back from thee? Listen now, quicken us and we shall call upon my name. So we cannot even really pray apart being quickened by God. So revival, that is a true biblical revival, is the work of God alone. He uses men. That is true. But it is God who prepares their heart, who prepares their mind, who stirs them up to do that which pleases Him. Now you're going to say, well, I pray for revival.

[John Weaver] I desire to see God's kingdom extended and Him glorified. Well, that's wonderful and I'm thankful that it's true. But the question would still have to be who stirred you up? Who is it that moved upon you to motivate you to pray and to seek God. And another question would be this. Why are you praying that way now when previously you didn't pray like that? In other words, it is God who is stirring you. You see, many churches hold what is what are known as revival meetings.

[John Weaver] Really, what that amounts to is this. A church is holding a meeting hoping that God will send a revival, because that happens to be his work, and men cannot work up revival. No program can bring a revival. No amount of human effort can bring a revival. No amount of meetings can bring a revival. That is something that God must do.

[John Weaver] Now, I've got two questions for you, and I want you to think about these questions. I'm going to answer The first one to begin with, and then I'll try to answer the second one. So my first question is this, since we're talking about revival, what kind of revival do you want? What kind of revival do you desire? There are three different types of revivals mentioned in the Bible. The second question would be this. Why are you waiting on a national revival? That question has to be answered in light of the first question. So how many types of revivals are there? There are basically three that are mentioned in the Bible. The first revival is what you and I would call a personal revival or an individual revival.

[John Weaver] In other words, you may ask the Heavenly Father to revive you. you may ask him to revive you individually so there are individuals that may be revived and let me make a statement right here usually those people who do not desire to be revived and do not desire a revival personally and individually will never be used by God to spawn any other type of revival. So there has to be a personal revival.

[John Weaver] Let me give you the scripture. Psalm 138 and verse 7. Psalm 138 verse 7. David said, Though I walk in the midst of trouble, thou wilt revive me. Though I walk in the midst of trouble, thou wilt revive me. So now we're talking about an individual or a personal revival. So you can be revived without anyone else being revived. Here's another passage in Isaiah chapter 57 and verse 15.

[John Weaver] For thus says the high and lofty one that hath inhabited the eternity, whose name is holy, I dwell in the high and holy place and also with him that is of contrite and humble spirit to revive the heart of the contrite one and to revive the spirit of the humble. So God said, I dwell in the high and the holy place and I will revive the heart of the contrite one and I will revive the heart of the humble one. So you may have what is known as an individual revival. Secondly, there is revival of the work of God.

[John Weaver] I'm going to tell you right now that I do believe that we need that desperately in this day and age. You will find that in the book of Habakkuk chapter 3 and verse 2. Habakkuk said, O Lord, I've heard thy speech and I was afraid. O Lord, revive thy work in the midst of the years. In the midst of the years, make known and wrath, remember mercy. So he said, revive thy work. So a revival of God's work is a revival of the Word of God. It is a revival of interest in the things of God. It is a revival of seeking to extend God's kingdom. It is a revival then basically of coming to the true worship of God and God alone.

[John Weaver] And certainly we would want that to expand to society in general. So you have an individual personal revival and then you have a revival of God's work and here's the third revival there's a revival of God's people you will find that in Psalm 85 and verse 6 where David said listen carefully will thou not revive us again that thy people may rejoice in thee will thou not revive us that is plural that thy people may rejoice in thee. And then in the book of Hosea chapter 14 verse 7, they that dwell under the shadow shall return and they shall revive as the corn. Now we're talking about a revival of God's people. Now in each one of these passages that I've just read concerning the word revive, whether it's a personal revival, whether it's a revival of the work of God, or whether it's a revival of the people of God, the Hebrew word is qoyah, and it means to revive, it means to be quickened, to

[John Weaver] be restored, to be refreshed, and to cause to grow and to flourish. Now, notice if you would, it was an individual revival, it was a revival of God's work, and thirdly, it was a revival of God's people. So here is my statement. Revival is for the people of God. Many people pray for a revival and they are hoping and thinking that somehow multitudes of people who are unconverted will be converted and saved by the grace of God. And I would just simply point out that that may be a benefit of revival but revival primarily is for the people of God.

[John Weaver] How can I say that? Here's how. You cannot revive a dead man. There must be life for one to be revived. And so this is why I'm saying revival is for God's people. It is for you and I individually. It is for the work of God and it is for the people of God and mainly for our own spiritual and personal growth.

[John Weaver] Now, I mentioned earlier that revivals could be either from the top down, that is from a godly ruler, or it could be from the bottom up, from the people working up to the rulers. So when you read through the Bible, you're going to find a number of revivals that were top-down revivals. This is what has happened in 2 Kings chapter 22 with Josiah. This is what happened with King Asa. This is what happened with King Hezekiah. This is what happened also with King Jehoshaphat. In other words, these were top-down revivals.

[John Weaver] Now, I want you to note this, and this is very interesting. Do you realize that idolatry and rebellion occur in the same manner? Idolatry can be from the top down, and it can be from the bottom up. Years ago, I preached two messages which I titled, Idolatry and Civil Rulers. And as you read through the Bible, you're going to find that most idolatry began with civil rulers.

[John Weaver] I've already pointed out that it was Solomon who introduced the worship of Ashtoreth Moloch and Chemosh in the land. It was Jeroboam the king who built two golden calves. And we're going to read some other scriptures and you'll see where King Ahaz and some of these other kings like Manasseh introduced idolatry everywhere. And so usually idolatry is top down but it can also be bottom up as well. When you read the book of Hosea chapter 4 you're going to find the wickedness not only of the civil rulers but you're also going to find the wickedness of the people as well. Now I want you to listen while I read a passage. This is Hosea chapter 7 verses 3 through 5. So listen carefully. They make the king glad with their wickedness and the princes with their lies.

[John Weaver] They're all adulterers as an oven heated by the baker who ceased us from raising after he'd kneaded the dough until it'd be leavened. In the day of our king, the princes made him sick with bottles of wine. He stretched out his hand with the scorners.

[John Weaver] Now, when you look at the first part of this passage, they make the king glad with their wickedness and the princes with their lies. Well, who's making the king glad? Who's making the princes happy? It's the people. The people who are wicked. And they're making the king happy and the princes happy. Now the princes are making the king drunk so that he stretches out his hand with a scorner.

[John Weaver] So here's my statement, and I want you to think about this. A wicked ruler, or wicked rulers plural, want and desire a wicked people. And a wicked people want and desire wicked rulers. Why? And the answer is, that way, neither one will call the other into an account. In other words, if I'm wicked and Steve is wicked, I'm not going to be jumping on Steve. And Steve's not going to be jumping on me. In other words, we're both going to be happy in our wickedness and in our rebellion. It's just that simple. So the king then wants a wicked people and a wicked people want a wicked king as well. I've already said this a number of times this morning and I'm going to say it one more time.

[John Weaver] It was King Solomon who introduced into the land the worship of Ashtoreth, the worship of Moloch, and the worship of Chemosh. It was King Josiah who cleaned up the mess. So Solomon made the mess and King Josiah is the one that restored it. He restored that which was right and holy. He restored the worship of Yahweh. He restored the true worship and true obedience. Now, here's the question.

[John Weaver] What was involved in the restoration? What had to go? What had to be demolished? So I titled this message purposefully So you think you want a real revival. And the reason I purposely title that message, this message, that way is because most people have no idea what is going to happen if God sent us a real, genuine, biblical revival. Things are going to change and they're going to change drastically. So if you'll look back in your Bibles to 2 Kings chapter 22 I want to begin again by pointing out something about King Josiah. Josiah began reigning when he was eight years old.

[John Weaver] Now you say that's mighty young for a king. He was a child but he had a good tutor. Usually these men when they began to reign at such a tender age and have advisors, counselors, tutors but I want you to know what the Bible says about Josiah even as a child and he did that which was right in the sight of the Lord and walked in all the way of David his father and turned not aside to the right hand or to the left. Now King David was not his father but he's called his father because he is obedient like David was obedient and so he did not turn to the right hand or to the left and if you look in verse 3 and it came to pass in the 18th year of Josiah well let's see he began reigning when he was eight in the 18th year I guess he would be what 26 so at age 26 he is now wanting to cleanse the temple and to get rid of all the garbage and all the idols that happen to be in the temple.

[John Weaver] So if you are if you will look with me at the rest of this chapter, you're going to see that he wants the temple repaired. It's in bad shape. It's dirty. A lot of stuff in it. We're going to see. But I want you to watch this. Let's begin reading in verse eight of Second Kings, Chapter 22. Look in verse eight. We'll read through verse 13. And Hilkiah the high priest said unto Shaphan the scribe, I found the book of the law in the house of the Lord. And Hilkiah gave the book to Shaphan and he read it. And Shaphan the scribe came to the king and brought the king word again and said, thy servants have gathered the money that was found in the house and have delivered it into the hand of them that do the work and have the oversight of the house of the Lord. And Shaphan the scribe showed the king saying, Hilkiah the priest hath delivered me a book, which is the book of the law, the book of Moses, and Shaphan read it before the king.

[John Weaver] And it came to pass, when the king had heard the words of the book of the law, that he had read his clothes. And the king commanded Hilkiah the priest, and Ahicham the son of Shaphan, and Achbor the son of Micaiah, and Shaphan the scribe, and Esahiah the servant of the king, saying, Go ye, inquire the Lord from me, and for this people and for all Judah concerning the words of this book that is found for great is the wrath of the Lord that is kindled against us because our fathers have not hearkened unto the words of this book to do according to all that which is written concerning us." So Josiah realizes that all of a sudden not only he but his kingdom and all the people are in great difficulty and they are indeed in a lot of trouble.

[John Weaver] I want to point this out. It's astounding. Where did they find the book of the law? In the temple. It was lost in the temple. It was there among all the trash. Do you know that's where God's word and God's law is usually lost today? In churches. Most churches hate God's law. They repudiate it. They refuse it. They ignore it. They pretend like it has no merit and no value. Consequently, today we are subjected not only to the slavery of sin, but tyranny as well. When Josiah heard the law, when it was read unto him, he humbled himself, and he said, we're in trouble. I want you to go seek the Lord and find out what we need to do to make these things right. So he sent then Hilkiah the priest Now here's what I want you to know. I want you to see the answer that God sent back to the king. If you look in verse 16, we'll read through verse 20. 2 Kings 22 verse 16. Here's how God answered him.

[John Weaver] Thus saith the Lord, Behold, I will bring evil upon this place, and upon the inhabitants thereof, even all the words of the book which the king of Judah hath read, because they have forsaken me, and have burned incense unto other gods, that they might provoke me to anger with all the works of their hands. Therefore my wrath shall be kindled against this place, and shall not be quenched. But the King of Judah which sent you to inquire of the Lord, thus shall you say unto him, Thus hath the Lord God of Israel, as touching the words which thou hast heard, because thine heart was tender, and thou hast humbled thyself before the Lord, when thou heardest what I spake against this place, and against the inhabitants thereof, that they should become a desolation, and a curse, and as rent thy clothes, and went before me, I also have heard thee, saith the Lord. Behold, therefore, I will gather thee unto thy fathers, and thou shalt be gathered unto thy grave in peace, and thine eye shall not see all the evil which I bring upon this place."

[John Weaver] And they brought the keen word again. Now, note if you would what God said. God said, I'm going to destroy this place. I'm going to bring evil against Judah and Jerusalem because of their rebellion, because of their sin, because of their wickedness. I'm going to destroy it. But then he looked at Josiah and said it's like this. Because your heart was tender and you humbled yourself. I'm not going to do this in your lifetime. It's going to be done after you're dead and gone.

[John Weaver] I will gather you together in peace. Now, here's an interesting thing. That would have satisfied most people. I'm not going to see this. I'm not going to be involved in it. God's going to do this after I'm gone. I'm going to have a peaceful life. I'm going to have a peaceful death and that's sufficient. That was not sufficient for Josiah. It was sufficient for Hezekiah. Let me show you.

[John Weaver] I want you to hold 2 Kings Turn over in your Bibles to Isaiah chapter 39. Isaiah chapter 39. You remember, Isaiah was preaching to King Hezekiah. Hezekiah had gotten sick. And God healed him and granted him 15 more years. And then he tried him with the ambassadors from Babylon. And of course pride came up in Hezekiah's heart. And he showed these ambassadors everything in his kingdom. And I want you to watch this. God sent Isaiah to rebuke him. So Isaiah chapter 39, notice verse 6. In fact, let's read verse 5. Then said Isaiah to Hezekiah, hear the word of the Lord of hosts. Behold, the days come that all that is in thine house and that which thy fathers have laid up in store until this day shall be carried to Babylon, nothing shall be left, saith the Lord." In other words, everything that you've shown these men, they're going to steal, they're going to take to Babylon. Watch this. Note verse 7,"'And of thy sons that shall issue from thee, which thou shalt beget, shall they take away, and they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.'

[John Weaver] Then said Hezekiah to Isaiah, Good is the word of the Lord, which thou hast spoken. He said, moreover, there shall be peace and truth in my days. I cannot grasp that. I mean, Isaiah just told Hezekiah, look, you're going to lose everything. Everything's going to be taken. The city is going to be destroyed and your sons are going to be taken and made units and they're going to serve this heathen king. And what's he say? Well, that's good. I'll have peace in my days. It's not going to affect me.

[John Weaver] Why should I worry about it? That was not Josiah's attitude. It was not enough for Josiah when the Lord said you're going to die in peace. It was not enough for Josiah when he said I'll do this after you're dead? No. He wanted to make sure that the ones who are the living God was worshipped the way he should be worshipped in the land. He was not concerned about whether he lived or died or how he's going to die.

[John Weaver] So what did he do? Well, let's look in 2 Kings chapter 23 and let's read the first three verses. So here's what happened. First of all, The king made sure that everyone knew the law of God and the covenant that existed between his people and himself. So watch this. And the king sent and they gathered unto him all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem. And the king went up into the house of the Lord and all the men of Judah and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem with him, and the priests and the prophets, and all the people, both small and great. And he read in their ears all the words of the book of the covenant, which was found in the house of the Lord." He read these words to everybody. Note, if you would, he, the king. Then verse three, and the king stood by a pillar and made a covenant before the Lord to walk after the Lord. and to keep his commandments and his testimonies and his statutes with all their heart and all their soul to perform the words of this covenant that were written in this book and all the people stood to the covenant so they covenanted together then not only to be in communion with God but to

[John Weaver] walk according to God's law so elsewhere this is called walking with the Lord or walking before the Lord Now, I want to give you a quick quote. This one is from Adam Clark. Here's what he said. They made a covenant. Listen carefully. This was expressed, number one, in general, to walk after Jehovah and to have no gods beside him, to take his law for the regulation of their conduct. That was generally speaking.

[John Weaver] Number two, in particular, to bend their whole heart and soul to a deservance of it, so that they might not only have religion without, but piety within. To this all the people stood up, thus giving their consent and binding themselves to obedience. Here is where modern day Christians fail miserably. We do not take the word of God seriously. We do not take God's law seriously. We do not take God's covenants seriously.

[John Weaver] We are too easily distracted by the world, by the flesh, and by our own carnal desires. We're off and on, up and down, in and out, If it suits us, we worship God. If it doesn't suit us, we totally ignore him. I want to show you these people were very, very genuine. I want to show you how serious others were. If you would turn in your Bibles just over a couple pages to 2 Chronicles, 2 Chronicles chapter 15. I want you to see what happened during the revival under King Asa.

[John Weaver] This may shock you, but look at this. 2 Chronicles chapter 15 and let's begin reading with verse 8. 2 Chronicles 15 verse 8. And when Asa heard these words and the prophecy of Oded the prophet, he took courage and put away the abominable idols out of the land of Judah and Benjamin, and out of the cities which he had taken from Mount Ephraim, and renewed the altar of the LORD that was before the porch of the LORD. And he gathered all Judah and Benjamin and the strangers with them out of Ephraim and Manasseh and out of Simeon, for they fell to him out of Israel in abundance when they saw that the LORD his God was with him. So they gathered themselves together at Jerusalem in the third month of the fifteenth year of the reign of Asa, and they offered unto the Lord that same time the spoil which they had brought, seven hundred oxen and seven thousand sheep, hang on, watch this, and they entered into a covenant to seek the Lord their God of their fathers with all their heart and with all their soul, watch it, that whosoever would not seek the Lord God of Israel should be put to death, whether small or great, whether man or woman, and they swear unto the Lord with a loud voice, and with shouting, and with

[John Weaver] trumpets, and with cornets, and all Judah rejoiced at the oath that they had sworn with all their heart, and sought him with their whole desire, and he was found to them, and the Lord gave them rest round about." Isn't that amazing? So they not only entered into a covenant with the Lord, they said, whoever won't do this should be put to death. I would simply say that they were pretty serious in this, that is for sure. So here's the point. If you and I desire a revival individually, ecclesiastically. And even nationally. We must take the word of God and the covenant of God seriously and stand to it. Now, someone is going to say, well, I don't know anything about the covenant. Sure you do.

[John Weaver] When you look at your Bibles, you have 66 books in your Bible, 39 in the Old Testament, 27 in the New Testament. You notice I use the word Testament. You know what the word testament means? Covenant. So actually what you're looking at is the old covenant and the new covenant. We're in a covenant. All of God's people are in a covenant. You can't be with God or in God apart from covenant. So we have a new covenant that is confirmed in Jesus Christ And we're in Jesus Christ. Thus, we are in a covenantal relationship with God the Father through the Lord Jesus Christ. Wow. So the first thing he did was he brought the covenant to bear in their lives, and they said, we're going to stand to this. We're going to obey it. This is God's word. This is God's law.

[John Weaver] We will do what he said. OK. Here's the second thing he did. If you'll go to 2 Kings, go back to 2 Kings chapter 23 and look if you would please at verse 4. Here's the second thing he did. He not only read the law of God to them, made them into a covenant, in fact he didn't make them, they willingly did so, but look in verse 4. And the king commanded Hilkiah the high priest and the priests of the second order and the keepers of the door to bring forth out of the temple of the Lord all the vessels that were made for Baal and for the grove that would be Asherah or Ashtoreth and for all the hosts of

[John Weaver] heaven and he burned them without Jerusalem in the fields of Kidron and carried the ashes of them unto Bethel. So here are false gods in the temple. Manasseh put a lot of them in there, so did King Ahaz. Think about this if you would. The application to this truth in verse 4 is different today than it was there. We do not have a physical temple that is where God is manifesting himself like there was in the Old Testament. But in another sense we do have a physical temple because the Bible teaches us that the temple of God today is our bodies. God resides in us. 1 Corinthians chapter 3 and verses 16 and 17, Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? If any man defile the temple, him shall God destroy. For the temple of God is holy, which temple you are. And when you get to 1 Corinthians chapter 6, verses 19 and 20, what? Know you not that your body is the temple of the Lord, and the Spirit of God dwelleth in you, which you have not of yourselves, but of God?

[John Weaver] Therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are his. So what does that mean? It means that we're to get out of our personal lives, out of our minds, anything that is wicked, anything that is wrong, anything that reeks of idolatry, we're to turn from all of those things and to make sure that our minds are clean and pure before the Lord.

[John Weaver] Now, I will tell you this, years ago, and it was years ago, in the 60s, when I was back in the university, I had an aunt and uncle that took a vacation over in Hawaii. And they brought me back a salt and pepper shaker set from Hawaii. And I thanked them and I set it on the table. I don't know if we ever used it or not. I don't remember. But the more I looked at that salt and pepper shaker, the more uncomfortable I became. because it was a wooden salt and pepper shaker carved in the image of the tiki gods.

[John Weaver] So one day I grabbed him up, just threw him in the trash. I thought, I don't want this in my house. The point being, we should keep our minds and hearts like that. We have so many ungodly thoughts and so many fleshly and carnal desires. We need to clean it up. We need to keep our hearts and minds pure. And it is a fight. It is a struggle to do that. It's a daily thing. Paul said, I die daily. Sometimes it's not just a daily thing. It's an hourly thing. Sometimes it's a minute by minute thing. You just have to fight.

[John Weaver] That's the application here to this. Now, thirdly, if you go back in your Bibles to 2nd Kings chapter 23, look at verses 5 through 8. Here's the next thing he did. And he put down the idolaters priests. whom the king of Judah had ordained to burn incense in the high places, in the cities of Judah, and in the places round about Jerusalem, them also that burned incense unto Baal, unto the sun, unto the moons, unto the planets, unto all the hosts of heaven. And he brought out of the grove, and he brought out of the grove from the house of the Lord, he brought out the grove out of the house of the Lord, without Jerusalem, unto the brook Kidron, and burned into the brook Kidron, and stamped it small to powder, and cast the powder there

[John Weaver] upon the graves of the children of the people. Look! And he broke down the houses of the Sodomites that were by the house of the Lord, for the women wove hangings for the grove. And he brought all the priests out of the cities of Judah, and defiled the high places where the priests had burned incense from Geva to Beersheba, and broke down the high places of the gates that were in the entering of the gate of Joshua. the governor of the city, which were on a man's left hand at the gate of the city." Wow. Notice if you would, he took out all of these false gods, he took out all of these false priests.

[John Weaver] Now, as individuals, we do not have the power or authority to do what Josiah the king did, but we do have the authority and power to keep our hearts and minds clean, We do have the authority and power to keep our homes clean. We do have the authority and power to keep ourselves away from anything that reeks of idolatry, such as horoscopes, tarot cards, fortune telling, witchcraft, anything like that. That's all idolatry. That's all idolatry.

[John Weaver] It's an attempt to know the future apart from God. We do have the power and authority to do that. Now, we also have the power and authority to cry against all of that stuff and to teach against all of it and say it's wicked, it's wrong, it's of the devil. Yes. So, think about this. This is a hard question. I want you to think about this. What did he do?

[John Weaver] break down the houses of the Sodomites. They were by the house of the Lord where the women will hang for the grove. The grove is the Ashtoreth or Ashtoreth or Asherah which was temple prostitution. So he got rid of the male prostitutes and the female prostitutes. Here's my hard question. If you had a child, if you had a beloved family member that went into some perversion, like sodomy, prostitution, and you know as a Christian that it's a violation of God's law, Here's my question. Would you stand with God and his word and his truth, or would you stand with your family member?

[John Weaver] You see what I'm saying? You know, you're going to love your child if it's your child. You're going to love a brother or sister if it's your brother or sister. I understand that. I understand that. But you know what our Lord said in Matthew 10 in verse 37? He said, he that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. So the point I'm making is this. You have to determine who you're going to serve and whose truth you're going to stand with. God's truth or your preferred truth. I'm just simply pointing out the fact we have real choices to make, and we have to make them based upon the Word of God if we're going to stand with the Lord. It's just that simple.

[John Weaver] Fourthly, I want you to look, if you would, please, in verses 10 through 14, because he destroyed all the places of idolatry in the kingdom over which he had any authority. So look, if you would, beginning there in verse 10, and he defiled Tophet, which is in the valley of the children of Hinnom, that no man might make his son or his daughter to pass through the fire to Molech. And he took away, watch this, and he took away the horses that the kings of Judah had given to the son at the entering into the house of the Lord by the chambers of Nathan-Melech, the chamberlain, which was in the suburbs and burned the chariots of the settlement fire. That's appropriate. And the altars that were on the top of the upper chamber of Ahaz, which the kings of Judah had made, and the altars which Manasseh had made in the two courts of the house of the Lord, did the king beat down and break them down from fence and cast the dust of them

[John Weaver] into the brook Kidron. And the high places that were before Jerusalem, they were on the right hand of the Mount of Corruption, which Solomon, king of Israel, had built for Ashereth, the abomination of the Sidonians, and for Chemosh the abomination of the Moabites, and for Milcom or Molech the abomination of the children of Ammon, did the king defile, and he break in pieces the images, and cut down the groves, and filled their places with the bones of men. Moreover, look at verse 15, the altar that was at Bethel, that's Jeroboam's altar, And the high place which Jeroboam the son of Nebad, who had made Israel the sin it made, built that altar in the high place. He broke down and burned the high place and stamped it small to powder and burned the grove.

[John Weaver] He did this over and over and over. So what he's doing, he's basically destroying idolatry out of that country. Now, so listen carefully. Most of us do not have the authority to do that. However, oftentimes there are some Christians that are enraged sufficiently to do things that seemingly others would hesitate to do. Like a year or two back, you remember the statue of Baphomet or Satan they had in one of the northern kingdoms and cities up there. What did one man do?

[John Weaver] He went and tore it down. He just simply tore it down. He got arrested, but that was fine. He tore it down. In other words, the point I'm trying to make is this. When the land was ridden with idolatry, it was also ridden with alien law systems. How did you get all the idolatry and all the alien law systems in the land? And here's the answer. through multiculturalism. When God sends a real, genuine, biblical revival, multiculturalism will end. It's just that simple.

[John Weaver] There will only be one culture, and that would be the Christian culture. There will only be one law, and that would be God's law. So you need to look around and notice, if you would, all the mosques, all the temples, Hindu, Buddhist, all the idolaters' houses of worship in our land. When God sends a real revival, all of those will disappear. They will be gone. God is the most intolerant God that ever existed.

[John Weaver] What did he say in Isaiah 42 verse 8? My glory will I not share with another nor give my praise to raven images. And what is his name according to scripture? Jealous. He is the jealous God. And he will not tolerate. Idolatry and other idols trying to steal his honor and his glory.

[John Weaver] Now, let me address one other thing before I make some applications, and that is this. You say, but we have religious freedom in this country. You need to go back and read the original charters and constitutions of this country. Religious freedom in this country originally meant that you are free to worship according to the dictation of your conscience in the Christian religion. You must remember England had the Anglican Church as the national church. Italy has the Roman Catholic Church. A lot of other countries have the Roman Catholic Church. But in America, we do not have a national church. We don't have a Baptist church, a Presbyterian church that everybody must agree to and adhere to and be a member of. You could be a Baptist, a Presbyterian, a Methodist, Episcopalian, it didn't matter, just so you worship the one truly living God. Once you go to those original charters and constitutions, you would see that no one could ever hold office without confessing the Bible to be the Word of God and Jesus Christ to be the Son of God.

[John Weaver] And no one could be elected except those who confess to that. Which means no atheist could be there, no unbeliever could be there, no Jewish person could be there. No, it had to be Christian. It had to be Christian. I've got copies of all the originals. Go to Avalon.com. You can find all the copies for yourself. They're all posted there. You can find every major document.

[John Weaver] probably from the 15th century on. You can even find the Magna Carta. I'm just simply saying it's there.

[John Weaver] Now, when you think about foreigners and strangers, they were welcome in Israel. God says that. I went over that. The only thing they could not do is bring their false religion, their false God, or their false law system into Israel. As long as they were in Israel, they had to abide by the law of God. If they didn't want to abide by the law of God, they were free to leave.

[John Weaver] It's just like in America. In the beginning, if you came to America, you were free to be here originally, as long as you did not bring your idolatry or your alien law system. And if you wanted that, you were free just simply to go back home. It's just that simple. Now, when you stop and think about this, If you, as an American, travel to a Muslim country today, are you free to bring biblical law into that country and the American way of life? No. They will tell you, if you want that, go back to America. Are you free to go to a Buddhist country or a Hindu country and start setting up Christianity as the law and teaching her it? No. They'll tell you, if you want that, go back to America. Over here, we're Buddhist. Isn't that amazing?

[John Weaver] And I hope you notice that Russia is not taking any of these people. And you remember what Putin said? Russia is for Russians. And Japan is not taking the Muslims. The Muslims, if you live there, are warranted a Muslim cemetery. Japan said, no. If you want to be buried like a Muslim, Go back to where you came from. It's just that simple.

[John Weaver] Now, the point being, God said, and I quoted this last week, in Exodus chapter 12, verse 49, one law shall be to him that is home born and to the stranger that is sojourned among you. The same thing is taught in Leviticus 24, verse 22, number 15, verse 16, number 15, verse 29, one law. And that one law is God's law.

[John Weaver] Now, Let me give you just a couple of applications. The first one is this. A true revival will not only clean up our lives, clean up our homes, our hearts, our societies, our governments, but our nation as well. And we have been unbiblical for so long When we get right with God, everybody else will think that we're crazy. Vance Havner, who's been dead for many years, was a preacher, an evangelist.

[John Weaver] He said it like this. He said, Christians have been subnormal for so long that anytime we get normal, everyone else will think we're abnormal. And that's about the truth. When you start teaching, biblical precepts and biblical principles and showing what God demands. Yeah. Everybody thinks, man, you're a lunatic, you're crazy. No, we're not crazy. This is practical. This is truth. This is this is what God demands. So. If we become thoroughly biblical, a change will be evident in every area of life. So here's another one. Do not look for any godly ruler or any godly man like Josiah, Hezekiah, or Jehoshaphat.

[John Weaver] Revival must begin with us. The time for kings has passed. We do not have kings in this country. In fact, if we did, it would be we the people. What does the Bible say? Not the Bible. Not the Constitution. Not the Bible. The Constitution says, we the people do ordain this Constitution. We the people. Those are the people. The states. And so the point I'm trying to make right now is this. If God sends revival, it's going to begin with us as individuals. There's no man going to save us. There's no piece of paper that's going to save us. It has to be God himself.

[John Weaver] So here are my questions. I want you to listen. Here we go. Will you seek the Lord with all your heart and soul? Will you walk in his statutes and obey his commandments? Will you be faithful and consistent and constant? Will you pray and seek his face? Will you ask God to revive yourself, his work, and his people? Will you be the impetus? Will you be the beginning? Listen, revival has to begin in someone, in somewhere, in some place. So the question is, will you be that one and will you be that place? Revival begins in individuals. It must begin somewhere. It must begin in someone. Will it be you?

[John Weaver] So let me put it to you like this. Where there is no revival in individuals, There will be no revival in his work. Where there is no revival in his work, there will be no revival in his people, and there will be no revival in the nation. So how it begins is individually and personally. And when God revives us as individuals, at the same time, we get more interested in his work and there's a revival in his work. And then that spreads into revival in his people. And from there, it spreads to revival in society and into a nation.

[John Weaver] So we need not look for top down any longer. It's going to be from bottom up. I cannot help but think of Romans 12, 1 and 2. The Apostle Paul said, I beseech you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, wholly acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. and be not conformed to this world, but be ye transformed. How?

[John Weaver] By the renewing of your mind. Why? That you may prove what is that good and perfect and acceptable will of God. So will you be like Isaiah and say, Here am I, Lord. Send me. Here am I, Lord. Use me. Let it begin in me. And when God sends a real, genuine, biblical revival, it will affect all of us, our homes, our lives, our society, our government, and our nation.

[John Weaver] Father, in the name of Jesus Christ, we bow to thee. We thank you for your word. We thank you for your truth. We ask, Father, that you'd work in our hearts, work in our lives, use each one of us. Let it begin in us, Lord. We do pray for Heathville especially, Lord, and for Joshua and Felicia, Lord, and ask, Lord, that you'd undertake for them. And Lord, thou dost know on February the 16th, we pray for your holy, perfect will and justice to be accomplished. In the name of Jesus Christ, we pray. Amen.

So You Think You Want a Real Revival

John Weaver | SermonAudio

Lecture Metadata	Details
Speaker	John Weaver
Source	SermonAudio
Media ID	127261815434070
Subject	Biblical Law
Course	Alien Law Systems
Genre	Sermon
Date	2025-12-28
Dictation Name
Book	Book 003: Alien Law Systems: Trading God for a Man and Real Revival — Chapter 2
Source Timed Segments	82

Formatted Transcript

Opening

Let's open our Bibles to 2 Kings chapter 22. 2 Kings chapter 22. We're going to read the first 13 verses and then we'll pick up the rest of this chapter shortly and then in chapter 23 as well. So 2 Kings, 1 and 2 Samuel, 1 and 2 Kings, then 1 and 2 Chronicles. So 2 Kings chapter 22 to begin with. Verse 1,

Scripture Reading — 2 Kings 22:1-13

"Josiah was eight years old when he began to reign, and he reigned thirty and one years in Jerusalem." "And his mother's name was Jedidah, the daughter of Adaiah of Bozkath. And he did that which was right in the sight of the LORD, and walked in all the way of David his father, and turned not aside to the right hand or to the left. And it came to pass in the eighteenth year of king Josiah, that the king sent Shaphan the son of Azaliah, the son of Meshullam, the scribe, to the house of the LORD, saying, Go up to Hilkiah the high priest, that he may sum the silver which is brought into the house of the LORD, which the keepers of the door have gathered of the people: and let them deliver it into the hand of the doers of the work, that have the oversight of the house of the LORD: and let them give it to the doers of the work which is in the house of the LORD, to repair the breaches of the house, unto carpenters, and builders, and masons, and to buy timber and hewn stone to repair the house."

"Howbeit there was no reckoning made with them of the money that was delivered into their hand, because they dealt faithfully. And Hilkiah the high priest said unto Shaphan the scribe, I have found the book of the law in the house of the LORD. And Hilkiah gave the book to Shaphan, and he read it. And Shaphan the scribe came to the king, and brought the king word again, and said, Thy servants have gathered the money that was found in the house, and have delivered it into the hand of them that do the work, that have the oversight of the house of the LORD. And Shaphan the scribe showed the king, saying, Hilkiah the priest hath delivered me a book. And Shaphan read it before the king. And it came to pass, when the king had heard the words of the book of the law, that he rent his clothes. And the king commanded Hilkiah the priest, and Ahikam the son of Shaphan, and Achbor the son of Michaiah, and Shaphan the scribe, and Asahiah a servant of the king's, saying, Go ye,

inquire of the LORD for me, and for the people, and for all Judah, concerning the words of this book that is found: for great is the wrath of the LORD that is kindled against us, because our fathers have not hearkened unto the words of this book, to do according unto all that which is written concerning us."

Introduction: The Context of Josiah's Revival

Weaver ties this message to his previous series on Solomon's idolatry and alien law systems, setting the stage for Josiah's reforms as a top-down revival.

Now, let me just take one moment and tie the last several weeks together with what I'm going to be bringing today. You remember, I started out this short series in 1 Kings 11. And I preached the message on losing your wisdom and losing your mind, where King Solomon married all of these women that were contrary to the law of God. And of course, the Bible says they turned away his heart and his heart was not perfect with the LORD his God. So he actually was in rebellion against God and thus he lost his kingdom as well as God raised up adversaries against him.

The next two messages I dealt with in light of that were the dangers of old age, showing then exactly what happened because the Bible says when Solomon was old, his wives turned away his heart. And of course, he was turned unto Ashtoreth, the goddess of the Zidonians. He turned to Molech and also to Chemosh. And I pointed out that these three specific false gods related to old age. Ashtoreth was the goddess of sex and fertility. And, of course, Molech was a political power of religion, and Chemosh, of course, meant subjugation of conquerors. So, those are the three things that really elderly people complain about. And so, he turned to those idols instead of the one true and living God. And then, of course, I dealt with alien law systems, three messages. And I pointed out that there's no such thing as an unreligious law. All law is religious, because behind every law is the determination of right and wrong, good and evil, and it is one's religion that determines right and wrong, good and evil. And so I pointed out how that all of these idols that Solomon was worshipping and all the other people were worshipping had their own law systems which were totally alien to God's law system.

So in one of those messages, I showed you the difference between God's law system, humanistic law systems, and Sharia law system, just using theft and also then using what we call career criminals based upon the Word of God and what God said. So in light of that, I'm bringing this message today, and here's the title. Listen carefully. "So, You Think You Want a Real Revival." Now, most Christians talk about revival. They believe that one is greatly needed in this nation.

The Sovereignty of God in Revival

Revival is entirely God's work; He alone stirs hearts to pray and repent. Human effort cannot manufacture revival.

So if you would hold 2 Kings chapter 22, and turn right back in your Bibles, or I should say right over in your Bibles, to the book of Job chapter 12. Job, right before Psalms. Look in Job 12 and let's begin reading there with verse 16. Job 12 verse 16. Note what is said concerning God and concerning the nations. Job chapter 12 verse 16:

Scripture Reading — Job 12:16-25

"With him is strength and wisdom: the deceived and the deceiver are his. He leadeth counsellors away spoiled, and maketh the judges fools. He looseth the bond of kings, and girdeth their loins with a girdle. He leadeth princes away spoiled, and overthroweth the mighty. He removeth away the speech of the trusty, and taketh away the understanding of the aged. He poureth contempt upon princes, and weakeneth the strength of the mighty.

He discovereth deep things out of darkness, and bringeth out to light the shadow of death. He increaseth the nations, and destroyeth them: he enlargeth the nations, and straiteneth them again. He taketh away the heart of the chief of the people of the earth, and causeth them to wander in a wilderness where there is no way. They grope in the dark without light, and he maketh them to stagger like a drunken man." So here is the Bible saying that the nations are in the hand of the Lord and He can do with them as He pleases. He may increase or He may destroy. He may enlarge or He may straiten. Everything is in His hands. He is sovereign. So now you're going to ask, "Well, what about 2 Chronicles 7 and verse 14, where God said..." Well, certainly that is a promise, and that is certainly one that you and I need to be thankful for. But when you think of that verse,

Scripture Reading — 2 Chronicles 7:14

"If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves"

—well, who is it that gives humility?

And pray—who is it that incites us to pray? And to seek my face—who incites us to seek his face? And turn from their wicked ways—who is it that gives repentance? And the Bible teaches repentance is the gift of God. In other words, none of us can do any of these things apart from God. For instance, in Psalm 80 and verse 3, the Bible says,

Scripture Reading — Psalm 80:3, 18

"Turn us again, O God, and cause thy face to shine; and we shall be saved."

When you look at Psalm 80, that one verse occurs four times in that one psalm.

Scripture Reading — Psalm 80:3, 18

"Turn us again, O God, and cause thy face to shine; and we shall be saved."

So four times David is pleading for God to turn the people. Now, when you skip down in that psalm to verse 18, the word of God says this:

"So will not we go back from thee: quicken us, and we will call upon thy name." So we cannot even really pray apart from being quickened by God. So revival, that is a true biblical revival, is the work of God alone. He uses men. That is true. But it is God who prepares their heart, who prepares their mind, who stirs them up to do that which pleases Him. Now you're going to say, "Well, I pray for revival. I desire to see God's kingdom extended and Him glorified." Well, that's wonderful and I'm thankful that it's true. But the question would still have to be, who stirred you up? Who is it that moved upon you to motivate you to pray and to seek God? And another question would be this: Why are you praying that way now when previously you didn't pray like that? In other words, it is God who is stirring you. You see, many churches hold what are known as revival meetings.

Really, what that amounts to is this: a church is holding a meeting hoping that God will send a revival, because that happens to be his work, and men cannot work up revival. No program can bring a revival. No amount of human effort can bring a revival. No amount of meetings can bring a revival. That is something that God must do.

Three Types of Biblical Revival

Weaver identifies personal revival (Psalm 138:7), revival of God's work (Habakkuk 3:2), and revival of God's people (Psalm 85:6), emphasizing that revival is for the living—God's people.

In other words, you may ask the Heavenly Father to revive you. You may ask him to revive you individually. So there are individuals that may be revived. And let me make a statement right here: usually those people who do not desire to be revived and do not desire a revival personally and individually will never be used by God to spawn any other type of revival. So there has to be a personal revival. Let me give you the scripture. Psalm 138 and verse 7. Psalm 138 verse 7. David said,

Scripture Reading — Psalm 138:7

"Though I walk in the midst of trouble, thou wilt revive me."

Though I walk in the midst of trouble, thou wilt revive me. So now we're talking about an individual or a personal revival. So you can be revived without anyone else being revived. Here's another passage in Isaiah chapter 57 and verse 15.

"For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy; I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones." So God said, I dwell in the high and the holy place and I will revive the heart of the contrite one and I will revive the heart of the humble one. So you may have what is known as an individual revival. Secondly, there is revival of the work of God. I'm going to tell you right now that I do believe that we need that desperately in this day and age. You will find that in the book of Habakkuk chapter 3 and verse 2. Habakkuk said,

Scripture Reading — Habakkuk 3:2

"O LORD, I have heard thy speech, and was afraid: O LORD, revive thy work in the midst of the years, in the midst of the years make known; in wrath remember mercy."

So he said, revive thy work. So a revival of God's work is a revival of the Word of God. It is a revival of interest in the things of God. It is a revival of seeking to extend God's kingdom. It is a revival then basically of coming to the true worship of God and God alone.

And certainly we would want that to expand to society in general. So you have an individual personal revival and then you have a revival of God's work. And here's the third revival: there's a revival of God's people. You will find that in Psalm 85 and verse 6 where David said, listen carefully,

Scripture Reading — Psalm 85:6

"Wilt thou not revive us again: that thy people may rejoice in thee?"

Wilt thou not revive us—that is plural—that thy people may rejoice in thee. And then in the book of Hosea chapter 14 verse 7, "They that dwell under his shadow shall return; they shall revive as the corn." Now we're talking about a revival of God's people. Now in each one of these passages that I've just read concerning the word revive, whether it's a personal revival, whether it's a revival of the work of God, or whether it's a revival of the people of God, the Hebrew word is chayah, and it means to revive, it means to be quickened, to

be restored, to be refreshed, and to cause to grow and to flourish. Now, notice if you would, it was an individual revival, it was a revival of God's work, and thirdly, it was a revival of God's people. So here is my statement: Revival is for the people of God. Many people pray for a revival and they are hoping and thinking that somehow multitudes of people who are unconverted will be converted and saved by the grace of God. And I would just simply point out that that may be a benefit of revival but revival primarily is for the people of God. How can I say that? Here's how. You cannot revive a dead man. There must be life for one to be revived. And so this is why I'm saying revival is for God's people. It is for you and I individually. It is for the work of God and it is for the people of God and mainly for our own spiritual and personal growth.

Now, I mentioned earlier that revivals could be either from the top down, that is from a godly ruler, or it could be from the bottom up, from the people working up to the rulers. So when you read through the Bible, you're going to find a number of revivals that were top-down revivals. This is what has happened in 2 Kings chapter 22 with Josiah. This is what happened with King Asa. This is what happened with King Hezekiah. This is what happened also with King Jehoshaphat. In other words, these were top-down revivals.

Idolatry and Rebellion: Top-Down and Bottom-Up

Idolatry often begins with rulers, but wicked people and wicked rulers mutually reinforce each other. Josiah reversed Solomon's introduction of false gods.

Now, I want you to note this, and this is very interesting. Do you realize that idolatry and rebellion occur in the same manner? Idolatry can be from the top down, and it can be from the bottom up. Years ago, I preached two messages which I titled, "Idolatry and Civil Rulers." And as you read through the Bible, you're going to find that most idolatry began with civil rulers. I've already pointed out that it was Solomon who introduced the worship of Ashtoreth, Molech, and Chemosh in the land. It was Jeroboam the king who built two golden calves. And we're going to read some other scriptures and you'll see where King Ahaz and some of these other kings like Manasseh introduced idolatry everywhere. And so usually idolatry is top down but it can also be bottom up as well. When you read the book of Hosea chapter 4 you're going to find the wickedness not only of the civil rulers but you're also going to find the wickedness of the people as well. Now I want you to listen while I read a passage. This is Hosea chapter 7 verses 3 through 5. So listen carefully. "They make the king glad with their wickedness, and the princes with their lies.

They are all adulterers, as an oven heated by the baker, who ceaseth from raising after he hath kneaded the dough, until it be leavened. In the day of our king the princes have made him sick with bottles of wine; he stretched out his hand with scorners." Now, when you look at the first part of this passage, "They make the king glad with their wickedness, and the princes with their lies." Well, who's making the king glad? Who's making the princes happy? It's the people. The people who are wicked. And they're making the king happy and the princes happy. Now the princes are making the king drunk so that he stretches out his hand with scorners.

So here's my statement, and I want you to think about this. A wicked ruler, or wicked rulers plural, want and desire a wicked people. And a wicked people want and desire wicked rulers. Why? And the answer is, that way, neither one will call the other into an account. In other words, if I'm wicked and Steve is wicked, I'm not going to be jumping on Steve. And Steve's not going to be jumping on me. In other words, we're both going to be happy in our wickedness and in our rebellion. It's just that simple. So the king then wants a wicked people and a wicked people want a wicked king as well. I've already said this a number of times this morning and I'm going to say it one more time.

It was King Solomon who introduced into the land the worship of Ashtoreth, the worship of Molech, and the worship of Chemosh. It was King Josiah who cleaned up the mess. So Solomon made the mess and King Josiah is the one that restored it. He restored that which was right and holy. He restored the worship of Yahweh. He restored the true worship and true obedience. Now, here's the question.

Josiah's Response to the Book of the Law

Upon hearing the rediscovered law, Josiah humbled himself, sought the Lord, and was told judgment would come after his death—but he refused to be satisfied with personal peace.

What was involved in the restoration? What had to go? What had to be demolished? So I titled this message purposefully "So You Think You Want a Real Revival." And the reason I purposely titled that message, this message, that way is because most people have no idea what is going to happen if God sent us a real, genuine, biblical revival. Things are going to change and they're going to change drastically. So if you'll look back in your Bibles to 2 Kings chapter 22 I want to begin again by pointing out something about King Josiah. Josiah began reigning when he was eight years old.

Now you say that's mighty young for a king. He was a child but he had a good tutor. Usually these men when they began to reign at such a tender age have advisors, counselors, tutors. But I want you to know what the Bible says about Josiah even as a child: "And he did that which was right in the sight of the LORD, and walked in all the way of David his father, and turned not aside to the right hand or to the left." Now King David was not his father but he's called his father because he is obedient like David was obedient and so he did not turn to the right hand or to the left. And if you look in verse 3, "And it came to pass in the eighteenth year of king Josiah"—well let's see, he began reigning when he was eight, in the eighteenth year I guess he would be what, 26? So at age 26 he is now wanting to cleanse the temple and to get rid of all the garbage and all the idols that happen to be in the temple.

So if you will look with me at the rest of this chapter, you're going to see that he wants the temple repaired. It's in bad shape. It's dirty. A lot of stuff in it. We're going to see. But I want you to watch this. Let's begin reading in verse 8 of 2 Kings chapter 22. Look in verse 8. We'll read through verse 13. "And Hilkiah the high priest said unto Shaphan the scribe, I have found the book of the law in the house of the LORD. And Hilkiah gave the book to Shaphan, and he read it. And Shaphan the scribe came to the king, and brought the king word again, and said, Thy servants have gathered the money that was found in the house, and have delivered it into the hand of them that do the work, that have the oversight of the house of the LORD. And Shaphan the scribe showed the king, saying, Hilkiah the priest hath delivered me a book. And Shaphan read it before the king. And it came to pass, when the king had heard the words of the book of the law, that he rent his clothes. And the king commanded Hilkiah the priest, and Ahikam the son of Shaphan, and Achbor the son of Michaiah, and Shaphan the scribe, and Asahiah a servant of the king's, saying, Go ye, inquire of the LORD for me, and for the people, and for all Judah, concerning the words of this book that is found: for great is the wrath of the LORD that is kindled against us, because our fathers have not hearkened unto the words of this book, to do according unto all that which is written concerning us." So Josiah realizes that all of a sudden not only he but his kingdom and all the people are in great difficulty and they are indeed in a lot of trouble.

I want to point this out. It's astounding. Where did they find the book of the law? In the temple. It was lost in the temple. It was there among all the trash. Do you know that's where God's word and God's law is usually lost today? In churches. Most churches hate God's law. They repudiate it. They refuse it. They ignore it. They pretend like it has no merit and no value. Consequently, today we are subjected not only to the slavery of sin, but tyranny as well. When Josiah heard the law, when it was read unto him, he humbled himself, and he said, "We're in trouble. I want you to go seek the Lord and find out what we need to do to make these things right." So he sent then Hilkiah the priest. Now here's what I want you to know. I want you to see the answer that God sent back to the king. If you look in verse 16, we'll read through verse 20. 2 Kings 22 verse 16. Here's how God answered him.

"Thus saith the LORD, Behold, I will bring evil upon this place, and upon the inhabitants thereof, even all the words of the book which the king of Judah hath read: because they have forsaken me, and have burned incense unto other gods, that they might provoke me to anger with all the works of their hands; therefore my wrath shall be kindled against this place, and shall not be quenched. But to the king of Judah which sent you to inquire of the LORD, thus shall ye say to him, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, As touching the words which thou hast heard; because thine heart was tender, and thou hast humbled thyself before the LORD, when thou heardest what I spake against this place, and against the inhabitants thereof, that they should become a desolation and a curse, and hast rent thy clothes, and wept before me; I also have heard thee, saith the LORD. Behold therefore, I will gather thee unto thy fathers, and thou shalt be gathered into thy grave in peace; and thine eyes shall not see all the evil which I will bring upon this place." And they brought the king word again.

Now, note if you would what God said. God said, "I'm going to destroy this place. I'm going to bring evil against Judah and Jerusalem because of their rebellion, because of their sin, because of their wickedness. I'm going to destroy it." But then he looked at Josiah and said, "It's like this. Because your heart was tender and you humbled yourself, I'm not going to do this in your lifetime. It's going to be done after you're dead and gone. I will gather you together in peace." Now, here's an interesting thing. That would have satisfied most people. "I'm not going to see this. I'm not going to be involved in it. God's going to do this after I'm gone. I'm going to have a peaceful life. I'm going to have a peaceful death and that's sufficient." That was not sufficient for Josiah. It was sufficient for Hezekiah. Let me show you.

I want you to hold 2 Kings. Turn over in your Bibles to Isaiah chapter 39. Isaiah chapter 39. You remember, Isaiah was preaching to King Hezekiah. Hezekiah had gotten sick. And God healed him and granted him 15 more years. And then he tried him with the ambassadors from Babylon. And of course pride came up in Hezekiah's heart. And he showed these ambassadors everything in his kingdom. And I want you to watch this. God sent Isaiah to rebuke him. So Isaiah chapter 39, notice verse 6. In fact, let's read verse 5. "Then said Isaiah to Hezekiah, Hear the word of the LORD of hosts: Behold, the days come, that all that is in thine house, and that which thy fathers have laid up in store until this day, shall be carried to Babylon: nothing shall be left, saith the LORD." In other words, everything that you've shown these men, they're going to steal, they're going to take to Babylon. Watch this. Note verse 7, "And of thy sons that shall issue from thee, which thou shalt beget, shall they take away; and they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon."

Then said Hezekiah to Isaiah, "Good is the word of the LORD which thou hast spoken." He said moreover, "For there shall be peace and truth in my days." I cannot grasp that. I mean, Isaiah just told Hezekiah, "Look, you're going to lose everything. Everything's going to be taken. The city is going to be destroyed and your sons are going to be taken and made eunuchs and they're going to serve this heathen king." And what's he say? "Well, that's good. I'll have peace in my days. It's not going to affect me.

Why should I worry about it?" That was not Josiah's attitude. It was not enough for Josiah when the Lord said, "You're going to die in peace." It was not enough for Josiah when he said, "I'll do this after you're dead." No. He wanted to make sure that the one true living God was worshipped the way he should be worshipped in the land. He was not concerned about whether he lived or died or how he's going to die.

Covenant Renewal and Radical Reforms

Josiah read the law publicly, led the people in covenant, and then systematically purged the temple and land of idols, false priests, and sodomite houses.

So what did he do? Well, let's look in 2 Kings chapter 23 and let's read the first three verses. So here's what happened. First of all, the king made sure that everyone knew the law of God and the covenant that existed between his people and himself. So watch this.

Scripture Reading — 2 Kings 23:1-3

"And the king sent, and they gathered unto him all the elders of Judah and of Jerusalem. And the king went up into the house of the LORD, and all the men of Judah and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem with him, and the priests, and the prophets, and all the people, both small and great: and he read in their ears all the words of the book of the covenant which was found in the house of the LORD."

He read these words to everybody. Note, if you would, he, the king. Then verse 3,

Scripture Reading — 2 Kings 23:1-3

"And the king stood by a pillar, and made a covenant before the LORD, to walk after the LORD, and to keep his commandments and his testimonies and his statutes with all their heart and all their soul, to perform the words of this covenant that were written in this book. And all the people stood to the covenant."

So they covenanted together then not only to be in communion with God but to

walk according to God's law. So elsewhere this is called walking with the Lord or walking before the Lord. Now, I want to give you a quick quote. This one is from Adam Clarke. Here's what he said. "They made a covenant." Listen carefully. "This was expressed, number one, in general, to walk after Jehovah and to have no gods beside him, to take his law for the regulation of their conduct." That was generally speaking.

"Number two, in particular, to bend their whole heart and soul to the observance of it, so that they might not only have religion without, but piety within. To this all the people stood up, thus giving their consent and binding themselves to obedience." Here is where modern day Christians fail miserably. We do not take the word of God seriously. We do not take God's law seriously. We do not take God's covenants seriously. We are too easily distracted by the world, by the flesh, and by our own carnal desires. We're off and on, up and down, in and out. If it suits us, we worship God. If it doesn't suit us, we totally ignore him. I want to show you these people were very, very genuine. I want to show you how serious others were. If you would turn in your Bibles just over a couple pages to 2 Chronicles, 2 Chronicles chapter 15. I want you to see what happened during the revival under King Asa.

This may shock you, but look at this. 2 Chronicles chapter 15 and let's begin reading with verse 8. 2 Chronicles 15 verse 8.

Scripture Reading — 2 Chronicles 15:8-15

"And when Asa heard these words, and the prophecy of Oded the prophet, he took courage, and put away the abominable idols out of all the land of Judah and Benjamin, and out of the cities which he had taken from mount Ephraim, and renewed the altar of the LORD, that was before the porch of the LORD. And he gathered all Judah and Benjamin, and the strangers with them out of Ephraim and Manasseh, and out of Simeon: for they fell to him out of Israel in abundance, when they saw that the LORD his God was with him. So they gathered themselves together at Jerusalem in the third month, in the fifteenth year of the reign of Asa. And they offered unto the LORD the same time, of the spoil which they had brought, seven hundred oxen and seven thousand sheep. And they entered into a covenant to seek the LORD God of their fathers with all their heart and with all their soul; that whosoever would not seek the LORD God of Israel should be put to death, whether small or great, whether man or woman. And they sware unto the LORD with a loud voice, and with shouting, and with

trumpets, and with cornets. And all Judah rejoiced at the oath: for they had sworn with all their heart, and sought him with their whole desire; and he was found of them: and the LORD gave them rest round about." Isn't that amazing? So they not only entered into a covenant with the Lord, they said, "Whoever won't do this should be put to death." I would simply say that they were pretty serious in this, that is for sure. So here's the point. If you and I desire a revival individually, ecclesiastically, and even nationally, we must take the word of God and the covenant of God seriously and stand to it. Now, someone is going to say, "Well, I don't know anything about the covenant." Sure you do.

When you look at your Bibles, you have 66 books in your Bible, 39 in the Old Testament, 27 in the New Testament. You notice I use the word Testament. You know what the word testament means? Covenant. So actually what you're looking at is the old covenant and the new covenant. We're in a covenant. All of God's people are in a covenant. You can't be with God or in God apart from covenant. So we have a new covenant that is confirmed in Jesus Christ. And we're in Jesus Christ. Thus, we are in a covenantal relationship with God the Father through the Lord Jesus Christ. Wow. So the first thing he did was he brought the covenant to bear in their lives, and they said, "We're going to stand to this. We're going to obey it. This is God's word. This is God's law.

We will do what he said." OK. Here's the second thing he did. If you'll go to 2 Kings, go back to 2 Kings chapter 23 and look if you would please at verse 4. Here's the second thing he did. He not only read the law of God to them, made them into a covenant—in fact he didn't make them, they willingly did so—but look in verse 4.

Scripture Reading — 2 Kings 23:4-14

"And the king commanded Hilkiah the high priest, and the priests of the second order, and the keepers of the door, to bring forth out of the temple of the LORD all the vessels that were made for Baal, and for the grove, and for all the host of heaven: and he burned them without Jerusalem in the fields of Kidron, and carried the ashes of them unto Bethel."

So here are false gods in the temple. Manasseh put a lot of them in there, so did King Ahaz. Think about this if you would. The application to this truth in verse 4 is different today than it was there. We do not have a physical temple that is where God is manifesting himself like there was in the Old Testament. But in another sense we do have a physical temple because the Bible teaches us that the temple of God today is our bodies. God resides in us. 1 Corinthians chapter 3 and verses 16 and 17, "Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are." And when you get to 1 Corinthians chapter 6, verses 19 and 20, "What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?

For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's." So what does that mean? It means that we're to get out of our personal lives, out of our minds, anything that is wicked, anything that is wrong, anything that reeks of idolatry. We're to turn from all of those things and to make sure that our minds are clean and pure before the Lord.

Now, I will tell you this, years ago, and it was years ago, in the 60s, when I was back in the university, I had an aunt and uncle that took a vacation over in Hawaii. And they brought me back a salt and pepper shaker set from Hawaii. And I thanked them and I set it on the table. I don't know if we ever used it or not. I don't remember. But the more I looked at that salt and pepper shaker, the more uncomfortable I became, because it was a wooden salt and pepper shaker carved in the image of the tiki gods.

So one day I grabbed him up, just threw him in the trash. I thought, "I don't want this in my house." The point being, we should keep our minds and hearts like that. We have so many ungodly thoughts and so many fleshly and carnal desires. We need to clean it up. We need to keep our hearts and minds pure. And it is a fight. It is a struggle to do that. It's a daily thing. Paul said, "I die daily." Sometimes it's not just a daily thing. It's an hourly thing. Sometimes it's a minute by minute thing. You just have to fight.

That's the application here to this. Now, thirdly, if you go back in your Bibles to 2 Kings chapter 23, look at verses 5 through 8. Here's the next thing he did.

Scripture Reading — 2 Kings 23:4-14

"And he put down the idolatrous priests, whom the kings of Judah had ordained to burn incense in the high places in the cities of Judah, and in the places round about Jerusalem; them also that burned incense unto Baal, to the sun, and to the moon, and to the planets, and to all the host of heaven. And he brought out the grove from the house of the LORD, without Jerusalem, unto the brook Kidron, and burned it at the brook Kidron, and stamped it small to powder, and cast the powder thereof upon the graves of the children of the people. And he brake down the houses of the sodomites, that were by the house of the LORD, where the women wove hangings for the grove. And he brought all the priests out of the cities of Judah, and defiled the high places where the priests had burned incense, from Geba to Beer-sheba, and brake down the high places of the gates that were in the entering in of the gate of Joshua the governor of the city, which were on a man's left hand at the gate of the city."

Wow. Notice if you would, he took out all of these false gods, he took out all of these false priests.

Now, as individuals, we do not have the power or authority to do what Josiah the king did, but we do have the authority and power to keep our hearts and minds clean. We do have the authority and power to keep our homes clean. We do have the authority and power to keep ourselves away from anything that reeks of idolatry, such as horoscopes, tarot cards, fortune telling, witchcraft, anything like that. That's all idolatry. That's all idolatry. It's an attempt to know the future apart from God. We do have the power and authority to do that. Now, we also have the power and authority to cry against all of that stuff and to teach against all of it and say it's wicked, it's wrong, it's of the devil. Yes. So, think about this. This is a hard question. I want you to think about this. What did he do?

He brake down the houses of the sodomites. They were by the house of the LORD where the women wove hangings for the grove. The grove is the Ashtoreth or Asherah which was temple prostitution. So he got rid of the male prostitutes and the female prostitutes. Here's my hard question. If you had a child, if you had a beloved family member that went into some perversion, like sodomy, prostitution, and you know as a Christian that it's a violation of God's law, here's my question. Would you stand with God and his word and his truth, or would you stand with your family member?

You see what I'm saying? You know, you're going to love your child if it's your child. You're going to love a brother or sister if it's your brother or sister. I understand that. I understand that. But you know what our Lord said in Matthew 10 in verse 37? He said, "He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me." So the point I'm making is this. You have to determine who you're going to serve and whose truth you're going to stand with. God's truth or your preferred truth. I'm just simply pointing out the fact we have real choices to make, and we have to make them based upon the Word of God if we're going to stand with the Lord. It's just that simple.

Fourthly, I want you to look, if you would, please, in verses 10 through 14, because he destroyed all the places of idolatry in the kingdom over which he had any authority. So look, if you would, beginning there in verse 10, "And he defiled Topheth, which is in the valley of the children of Hinnom, that no man might make his son or his daughter to pass through the fire to Molech. And he took away the horses that the kings of Judah had given to the sun, at the entering in of the house of the LORD, by the chamber of Nathan-melech the chamberlain, which was in the suburbs, and burned the chariots of the sun with fire. And the altars that were on the top of the upper chamber of Ahaz, which the kings of Judah had made, and the altars which Manasseh had made in the two courts of the house of the LORD, did the king beat down, and brake them down from thence, and cast the dust of them

into the brook Kidron. And the high places that were before Jerusalem, which were on the right hand of the mount of corruption, which Solomon the king of Israel had builded for Ashtoreth the abomination of the Zidonians, and for Chemosh the abomination of the Moabites, and for Milcom the abomination of the children of Ammon, did the king defile. And he brake in pieces the images, and cut down the groves, and filled their places with the bones of men. Moreover the altar that was at Bethel, and the high place which Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin, had made, both that altar and the high place he brake down, and burned the high place, and stamped it small to powder, and burned the grove." He did this over and over and over. So what he's doing, he's basically destroying idolatry out of that country. Now, so listen carefully. Most of us do not have the authority to do that. However, oftentimes there are some Christians that are enraged sufficiently to do things that seemingly others would hesitate to do. Like a year or two back, you remember the statue of Baphomet or Satan they had in one of the northern kingdoms and cities up there. What did one man do?

The Implications of True Revival Today

A genuine revival would end multiculturalism, establish God's law as the sole standard, and require Christians to stand with God's truth even against family.

He went and tore it down. He just simply tore it down. He got arrested, but that was fine. He tore it down. In other words, the point I'm trying to make is this. When the land was ridden with idolatry, it was also ridden with alien law systems. How did you get all the idolatry and all the alien law systems in the land? And here's the answer: through multiculturalism. When God sends a real, genuine, biblical revival, multiculturalism will end. It's just that simple.

There will only be one culture, and that would be the Christian culture. There will only be one law, and that would be God's law. So you need to look around and notice, if you would, all the mosques, all the temples, Hindu, Buddhist, all the idolaters' houses of worship in our land. When God sends a real revival, all of those will disappear. They will be gone. God is the most intolerant God that ever existed. What did he say in Isaiah 42 verse 8?

Scripture Reading — Isaiah 42:8

"I am the LORD: that is my name: and my glory will I not give to another, neither my praise to graven images."

And what is his name according to scripture? Jealous. He is the jealous God. And he will not tolerate idolatry and other idols trying to steal his honor and his glory.

Now, let me address one other thing before I make some applications, and that is this. You say, "But we have religious freedom in this country." You need to go back and read the original charters and constitutions of this country. Religious freedom in this country originally meant that you are free to worship according to the dictation of your conscience in the Christian religion. You must remember England had the Anglican Church as the national church. Italy has the Roman Catholic Church. A lot of other countries have the Roman Catholic Church. But in America, we do not have a national church. We don't have a Baptist church, a Presbyterian church that everybody must agree to and adhere to and be a member of. You could be a Baptist, a Presbyterian, a Methodist, Episcopalian, it didn't matter, just so you worship the one true living God. Once you go to those original charters and constitutions, you would see that no one could ever hold office without confessing the Bible to be the Word of God and Jesus Christ to be the Son of God.

And no one could be elected except those who confess to that. Which means no atheist could be there, no unbeliever could be there, no Jewish person could be there. No, it had to be Christian. It had to be Christian. I've got copies of all the originals. Go to Avalon.com. You can find all the copies for yourself. They're all posted there. You can find every major document

probably from the 15th century on. You can even find the Magna Carta. I'm just simply saying it's there. Now, when you think about foreigners and strangers, they were welcome in Israel. God says that. I went over that. The only thing they could not do is bring their false religion, their false God, or their false law system into Israel. As long as they were in Israel, they had to abide by the law of God. If they didn't want to abide by the law of God, they were free to leave.

It's just like in America. In the beginning, if you came to America, you were free to be here originally, as long as you did not bring your idolatry or your alien law system. And if you wanted that, you were free just simply to go back home. It's just that simple. Now, when you stop and think about this, if you, as an American, travel to a Muslim country today, are you free to bring biblical law into that country and the American way of life? No. They will tell you, if you want that, go back to America. Are you free to go to a Buddhist country or a Hindu country and start setting up Christianity as the law and teaching her it? No. They'll tell you, if you want that, go back to America. Over here, we're Buddhist. Isn't that amazing?

And I hope you notice that Russia is not taking any of these people. And you remember what Putin said? Russia is for Russians. And Japan is not taking the Muslims. The Muslims, if you live there, are warranted a Muslim cemetery. Japan said, no. If you want to be buried like a Muslim, go back to where you came from. It's just that simple.

Now, the point being, God said, and I quoted this last week, in Exodus chapter 12, verse 49,

Scripture Reading — Exodus 12:49

"One law shall be to him that is homeborn, and unto the stranger that sojourneth among you."

The same thing is taught in Leviticus 24, verse 22, Numbers 15, verse 16, Numbers 15, verse 29—one law. And that one law is God's law. Now, let me give you just a couple of applications. The first one is this. A true revival will not only clean up our lives, clean up our homes, our hearts, our societies, our governments, but our nation as well. And we have been unbiblical for so long. When we get right with God, everybody else will think that we're crazy. Vance Havner, who's been dead for many years, was a preacher, an evangelist.

He said it like this. He said, "Christians have been subnormal for so long that anytime we get normal, everyone else will think we're abnormal." And that's about the truth. When you start teaching biblical precepts and biblical principles and showing what God demands, yeah, everybody thinks, "Man, you're a lunatic, you're crazy." No, we're not crazy. This is practical. This is truth. This is what God demands. So if we become thoroughly biblical, a change will be evident in every area of life. So here's another one. Do not look for any godly ruler or any godly man like Josiah, Hezekiah, or Jehoshaphat.

Applications: Revival Must Begin with Individuals

Weaver calls for personal revival, urging listeners to present themselves as living sacrifices and be the starting point for broader revival.

Now, let me give you just a couple of applications. The first one is this. A true revival will not only clean up our lives, clean up our homes, our hearts, our societies, our governments, but our nation as well. And we have been unbiblical for so long. When we get right with God, everybody else will think that we're crazy. Vance Havner, who's been dead for many years, was a preacher, an evangelist. He said it like this. He said, "Christians have been subnormal for so long that anytime we get normal, everyone else will think we're abnormal." And that's about the truth. When you start teaching biblical precepts and biblical principles and showing what God demands, yeah, everybody thinks, "Man, you're a lunatic, you're crazy." No, we're not crazy. This is practical. This is truth. This is what God demands. So if we become thoroughly biblical, a change will be evident in every area of life. So here's another one. Do not look for any godly ruler or any godly man like Josiah, Hezekiah, or Jehoshaphat.

Revival must begin with us. The time for kings has passed. We do not have kings in this country. In fact, if we did, it would be we the people. What does the Bible say? Not the Bible. Not the Constitution. Not the Bible. The Constitution says, "We the people do ordain this Constitution." We the people. Those are the people. The states. And so the point I'm trying to make right now is this. If God sends revival, it's going to begin with us as individuals. There's no man going to save us. There's no piece of paper that's going to save us. It has to be God himself.

So here are my questions. I want you to listen. Here we go. Will you seek the Lord with all your heart and soul? Will you walk in his statutes and obey his commandments? Will you be faithful and consistent and constant? Will you pray and seek his face? Will you ask God to revive yourself, his work, and his people? Will you be the impetus? Will you be the beginning? Listen, revival has to begin in someone, in somewhere, in some place. So the question is, will you be that one and will you be that place? Revival begins in individuals. It must begin somewhere. It must begin in someone. Will it be you?

So let me put it to you like this. Where there is no revival in individuals, there will be no revival in his work. Where there is no revival in his work, there will be no revival in his people, and there will be no revival in the nation. So how it begins is individually and personally. And when God revives us as individuals, at the same time, we get more interested in his work and there's a revival in his work. And then that spreads into revival in his people. And from there, it spreads to revival in society and into a nation.

So we need not look for top down any longer. It's going to be from bottom up. I cannot help but think of Romans 12, 1 and 2. The Apostle Paul said, "I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God." So will you be like Isaiah and say, "Here am I, Lord. Send me. Here am I, Lord. Use me. Let it begin in me." And when God sends a real, genuine, biblical revival, it will affect all of us, our homes, our lives, our society, our government, and our nation.

Study Guide

Major Themes

Sovereignty of God in Revival

Summary: Revival is a divine work; God alone initiates and empowers it, and human programs cannot produce it.

Evidence: Weaver states, 'Revival, that is a true biblical revival, is the work of God alone... No program can bring a revival. No amount of human effort can bring a revival.'

Revival as Purification from Idolatry

Summary: True revival involves the removal of all false gods and alien law systems, both personally and nationally.

Evidence: Josiah 'burned them without Jerusalem... and carried the ashes of them unto Bethel' and destroyed all idolatrous sites.

The Necessity of Personal Revival

Summary: Revival must begin with individuals; without personal revival, there can be no broader revival of God's work or people.

Evidence: Weaver says, 'Where there is no revival in individuals, there will be no revival in his work.'

The Exclusivity of God's Law

Summary: A revived nation will have only one law—God's law—and multiculturalism will end.

Evidence: Weaver asserts, 'When God sends a real, genuine, biblical revival, multiculturalism will end... There will only be one law, and that would be God's law.'

The Cost of Standing with God

Summary: True revival demands loyalty to God above family and cultural norms, even when it is costly.

Evidence: Weaver asks, 'Would you stand with God and his word and his truth, or would you stand with your family member?'

Key Arguments

Revival is for God's people, not the unconverted

Summary: Revival presupposes life; you cannot revive a dead person. Thus, revival primarily restores and quickens believers.

Evidence: Weaver states, 'You cannot revive a dead man. There must be life for one to be revived. And so this is why I'm saying revival is for God's people.'

Wicked rulers and wicked people mutually reinforce each other

Summary: A wicked ruler desires a wicked people, and vice versa, so that neither calls the other to account.

Evidence: Weaver explains, 'A wicked ruler... want and desire a wicked people. And a wicked people want and desire wicked rulers... neither one will call the other into an account.'

Josiah's revival was more radical than Hezekiah's complacency

Summary: Unlike Hezekiah, who accepted peace in his own days, Josiah pursued full reformation despite knowing judgment would come later.

Evidence: Weaver contrasts Hezekiah's 'Good is the word of the LORD... there shall be peace and truth in my days' with Josiah's refusal to be satisfied with personal peace.

God's law was lost in the temple, just as it is lost in churches today

Summary: The book of the law was found amid the trash in the temple; similarly, modern churches often ignore or repudiate God's law.

Evidence: Weaver says, 'Do you know that's where God's word and God's law is usually lost today? In churches. Most churches hate God's law.'

True revival will end multiculturalism and establish God's law exclusively

Summary: A biblical revival will result in the removal of all non-Christian worship and the enforcement of God's law as the only legal standard.

Evidence: Weaver states, 'When God sends a real revival, all of those will disappear... God is the most intolerant God that ever existed.'

Scripture References

2 Kings 22:1-13

Context: Josiah's reign, the finding of the book of the law, and his initial response.

Job 12:16-25

Context: God's sovereignty over nations—He increases, destroys, enlarges, and straitens them.

2 Chronicles 7:14

Context: The promise of healing if God's people humble themselves, pray, seek His face, and turn from wickedness.

Psalm 80:3, 18

Context: The plea for God to turn His people and quicken them so they can call on His name.

Psalm 138:7

Context: David's prayer for personal revival: 'Though I walk in the midst of trouble, thou wilt revive me.'

Isaiah 57:15

Context: God dwells with the contrite and humble to revive their spirit and heart.

Habakkuk 3:2

Context: The prayer for revival of God's work: 'O LORD, revive thy work in the midst of the years.'

Psalm 85:6

Context: The prayer for revival of God's people: 'Wilt thou not revive us again: that thy people may rejoice in thee?'

Hosea 14:7

Context: Those who dwell under God's shadow shall return and revive as the corn.

Hosea 7:3-5

Context: The people make the king glad with their wickedness; mutual corruption between rulers and people.

2 Kings 22:16-20

Context: God's message to Josiah: judgment is coming, but Josiah will die in peace because of his humility.

Isaiah 39:5-8

Context: Hezekiah's complacent response to the prophecy of Babylonian captivity: 'Good is the word of the LORD... there shall be peace and truth in my days.'

2 Kings 23:1-3

Context: Josiah gathers all the people, reads the covenant, and they pledge to follow the LORD.

2 Chronicles 15:8-15

Context: Under Asa, the people covenanted to seek the LORD and decreed death for those who would not.

1 Corinthians 3:16-17

Context: Believers are the temple of God; if anyone defiles it, God will destroy him.

1 Corinthians 6:19-20

Context: Our bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit; we are bought with a price and should glorify God.

2 Kings 23:4-14

Context: Josiah's destruction of idols, vessels for Baal, the grove, and high places.

Matthew 10:37

Context: Jesus' teaching that love for family must not surpass love for Him.

Isaiah 42:8

Context: God will not give His glory to another or His praise to graven images.

Exodus 12:49

Context: One law shall be for the homeborn and the stranger.

Historical References

King Josiah's reforms

Context: Josiah became king at age 8, and in his 18th year (age 26) he initiated temple repairs and discovered the book of the law, leading to national revival.

King Solomon's idolatry

Context: Solomon introduced the worship of Ashtoreth, Molech, and Chemosh into Israel, which led to the nation's spiritual decline.

King Hezekiah's complacency

Context: When told of future Babylonian captivity, Hezekiah was content that there would be peace in his own days, unlike Josiah.

King Asa's revival

Context: Asa removed idols and led the people in a covenant to seek the LORD, with a death penalty for non-compliance.

King Ahaz and Manasseh's idolatry

Context: These kings introduced idols and altars into the temple, which Josiah later destroyed.

Jeroboam's golden calves

Context: Jeroboam built two golden calves, leading Israel into sin; Josiah later destroyed the altar at Bethel.

Statue of Baphomet incident

Context: A man tore down a Satanic statue in a northern city, illustrating individual action against public idolatry.

American colonial charters and religious freedom

Context: Original charters restricted office-holding to Christians who confessed the Bible and Jesus Christ; religious freedom meant freedom within Christianity.

Vance Havner quote

Context: The evangelist said Christians have been subnormal so long that when they become normal, they appear abnormal.

Important Quotes

Revival, that is a true biblical revival, is the work of God alone. He uses men. That is true. But it is God who prepares their heart, who prepares their mind, who stirs them up to do that which pleases Him.

Significance: Emphasizes the sovereignty of God in initiating and sustaining revival, countering human-centered views.

You cannot revive a dead man. There must be life for one to be revived. And so this is why I'm saying revival is for God's people.

Significance: Clarifies that revival is primarily for believers, not evangelism, because it presupposes spiritual life.

A wicked ruler, or wicked rulers plural, want and desire a wicked people. And a wicked people want and desire wicked rulers. Why? And the answer is, that way, neither one will call the other into an account.

Significance: Explains the symbiotic relationship between corrupt leadership and a corrupt populace.

Do you know that's where God's word and God's law is usually lost today? In churches. Most churches hate God's law. They repudiate it. They refuse it. They ignore it.

Significance: Draws a parallel between the lost book in the temple and the modern church's neglect of God's law.

Where there is no revival in individuals, there will be no revival in his work. Where there is no revival in his work, there will be no revival in his people, and there will be no revival in the nation.

Significance: Establishes the sequential, bottom-up nature of revival, starting with personal renewal.

Discussion Questions

What does it mean that revival is 'the work of God alone,' and how should that shape our prayers and efforts?

Context: Weaver emphasizes God's sovereignty in revival, citing Psalm 80 and the inability to repent or pray without God's quickening.

Why does Weaver insist that revival is primarily for God's people rather than for the conversion of the lost?

Context: He argues that you cannot revive a dead man; revival presupposes life and is for the restoration of believers.

How does the mutual reinforcement between wicked rulers and wicked people manifest in modern society?

Context: Weaver uses Hosea 7 to show that people make the king glad with their wickedness, and neither holds the other accountable.

In what ways is God's law 'lost in the temple' today, and how can we recover it?

Context: Weaver compares the finding of the law in Josiah's temple to the modern church's neglect of God's law.

What would it look like for a nation to have only one law—God's law—and what would be the implications for religious freedom?

Context: Weaver asserts that true revival ends multiculturalism and establishes God's law exclusively, referencing Exodus 12:49.

How do we balance love for family with loyalty to God's truth when a family member embraces sin?

Context: Weaver asks whether we would stand with God or with a family member involved in perversion, citing Matthew 10:37.

What practical steps can we take to pursue personal revival and become the starting point for broader revival?

Context: Weaver calls for presenting our bodies as living sacrifices and being transformed by the renewing of our minds (Romans 12:1-2).

Applications

Seek personal revival through humility and prayer

Summary: Ask God to revive you individually, recognizing that revival must begin in someone and somewhere.

Evidence: Weaver asks, 'Will you ask God to revive yourself, his work, and his people? Will you be the impetus? Will you be the beginning?'

Purge personal and household idolatry

Summary: Remove anything from your life, home, or mind that reeks of idolatry, such as horoscopes, tarot cards, or ungodly thoughts.

Evidence: Weaver applies Josiah's cleansing of the temple to believers' bodies as temples, urging removal of wicked things.

Stand with God's truth over family or cultural pressure

Summary: Determine to serve God and uphold His Word even when it conflicts with loyalty to family members in sin.

Evidence: Weaver challenges, 'Would you stand with God and his word and his truth, or would you stand with your family member?'

Take God's law and covenant seriously

Summary: Commit to obeying God's commandments wholeheartedly, not being distracted by the world or flesh.

Evidence: Weaver laments that modern Christians 'do not take the word of God seriously. We do not take God's law seriously.'

Present yourself as a living sacrifice

Summary: Offer your body as a holy, acceptable sacrifice to God, refusing conformity to the world and being transformed by a renewed mind.

Evidence: Weaver cites Romans 12:1-2 as the pattern for personal revival and transformation.

deepseek | deepseek-v4-pro | clean_readable_transcript | 2026-06-06T02:03:21Z

deepseek | deepseek-v4-pro | weaver_study | 2026-06-06T15:41:36Z

Clean Transcript

So You Think You Want a Real Revival

Clean readable transcript. This view follows the Commentary.net cleaned segment text while preserving timestamps for audio follow-along.

Let's open our Bibles to 2 Kings chapter 22. 2 Kings chapter 22. We're going to read the first 13 verses and then we'll pick up the rest of this chapter shortly and then in chapter 23 as well. So 2 Kings, 1 and 2 Samuel, 1 and 2 Kings, then 1 and 2 Chronicles. So 2 Kings chapter 22 to begin with. Verse 1, "Josiah was eight years old when he began to reign, and he reigned thirty and one years in Jerusalem."
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"And his mother's name was Jedidah, the daughter of Adaiah of Bozkath. And he did that which was right in the sight of the LORD, and walked in all the way of David his father, and turned not aside to the right hand or to the left. And it came to pass in the eighteenth year of king Josiah, that the king sent Shaphan the son of Azaliah, the son of Meshullam, the scribe, to the house of the LORD, saying, Go up to Hilkiah the high priest, that he may sum the silver which is brought into the house of the LORD, which the keepers of the door have gathered of the people: and let them deliver it into the hand of the doers of the work, that have the oversight of the house of the LORD: and let them give it to the doers of the work which is in the house of the LORD, to repair the breaches of the house, unto carpenters, and builders, and masons, and to buy timber and hewn stone to repair the house."
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"Howbeit there was no reckoning made with them of the money that was delivered into their hand, because they dealt faithfully. And Hilkiah the high priest said unto Shaphan the scribe, I have found the book of the law in the house of the LORD. And Hilkiah gave the book to Shaphan, and he read it. And Shaphan the scribe came to the king, and brought the king word again, and said, Thy servants have gathered the money that was found in the house, and have delivered it into the hand of them that do the work, that have the oversight of the house of the LORD. And Shaphan the scribe showed the king, saying, Hilkiah the priest hath delivered me a book. And Shaphan read it before the king. And it came to pass, when the king had heard the words of the book of the law, that he rent his clothes. And the king commanded Hilkiah the priest, and Ahikam the son of Shaphan, and Achbor the son of Michaiah, and Shaphan the scribe, and Asahiah a servant of the king's, saying, Go ye,
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inquire of the LORD for me, and for the people, and for all Judah, concerning the words of this book that is found: for great is the wrath of the LORD that is kindled against us, because our fathers have not hearkened unto the words of this book, to do according unto all that which is written concerning us."
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Now, let me just take one moment and tie the last several weeks together with what I'm going to be bringing today. You remember, I started out this short series in 1 Kings 11. And I preached the message on losing your wisdom and losing your mind, where King Solomon married all of these women that were contrary to the law of God. And of course, the Bible says they turned away his heart and his heart was not perfect with the LORD his God. So he actually was in rebellion against God and thus he lost his kingdom as well as God raised up adversaries against him.
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The next two messages I dealt with in light of that were the dangers of old age, showing then exactly what happened because the Bible says when Solomon was old, his wives turned away his heart. And of course, he was turned unto Ashtoreth, the goddess of the Zidonians. He turned to Molech and also to Chemosh. And I pointed out that these three specific false gods related to old age. Ashtoreth was the goddess of sex and fertility. And, of course, Molech was a political power of religion, and Chemosh, of course, meant subjugation of conquerors. So, those are the three things that really elderly people complain about. And so, he turned to those idols instead of the one true and living God. And then, of course, I dealt with alien law systems, three messages. And I pointed out that there's no such thing as an unreligious law. All law is religious, because behind every law is the determination of right and wrong, good and evil, and it is one's religion that determines right and wrong, good and evil. And so I pointed out how that all of these idols that Solomon was worshipping and all the other people were worshipping had their own law systems which were totally alien to God's law system.
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So in one of those messages, I showed you the difference between God's law system, humanistic law systems, and Sharia law system, just using theft and also then using what we call career criminals based upon the Word of God and what God said. So in light of that, I'm bringing this message today, and here's the title. Listen carefully. "So, You Think You Want a Real Revival." Now, most Christians talk about revival. They believe that one is greatly needed in this nation.
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And I certainly agree with that. But however, most Christians do not realize the extent of a real, genuine, biblical revival. Revivals may be from the top down, or they may be from the bottom up. What I mean by that is this: from the top down, you're going to find that revivals began with a godly ruler. In this instance, this revival began with King Josiah. You'll also find revivals that began under King Jehoshaphat, King Hezekiah, and King Asa in the Bible. So these would be top-down revivals. And then on the other hand, there could be bottom-up, that is, they begin with the people, and they work their way up all the way to the rulers as well. So, practically all Christians then want what we know as a revival. In fact, most want what is known as a national revival.
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And we pray for one, and we hope that we see one in our lifetime. I've seen so many changes in my short lifetime for the worse, I certainly would like to see one for the better, that is for sure. But what we fail to grasp is this: it is God who also judges nations. And of course, nations that are sinful and in rebellion against God deserve his judgment. And in fact, America is one of those. So it's really and truly up to God whether or not he judges a nation or whether or not he grants a reviving to that nation.
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So if you would hold 2 Kings chapter 22, and turn right back in your Bibles, or I should say right over in your Bibles, to the book of Job chapter 12. Job, right before Psalms. Look in Job 12 and let's begin reading there with verse 16. Job 12 verse 16. Note what is said concerning God and concerning the nations. Job chapter 12 verse 16: "With him is strength and wisdom:
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the deceived and the deceiver are his. He leadeth counsellors away spoiled, and maketh the judges fools. He looseth the bond of kings, and girdeth their loins with a girdle. He leadeth princes away spoiled, and overthroweth the mighty. He removeth away the speech of the trusty, and taketh away the understanding of the aged. He poureth contempt upon princes, and weakeneth the strength of the mighty.
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He discovereth deep things out of darkness, and bringeth out to light the shadow of death. He increaseth the nations, and destroyeth them: he enlargeth the nations, and straiteneth them again. He taketh away the heart of the chief of the people of the earth, and causeth them to wander in a wilderness where there is no way. They grope in the dark without light, and he maketh them to stagger like a drunken man." So here is the Bible saying that the nations are in the hand of the Lord and He can do with them as He pleases.
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He may increase or He may destroy. He may enlarge or He may straiten. Everything is in His hands. He is sovereign. So now you're going to ask, "Well, what about 2 Chronicles 7 and verse 14, where God said..." Well, certainly that is a promise, and that is certainly one that you and I need to be thankful for. But when you think of that verse, "If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves"—well, who is it that gives humility?
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And pray—who is it that incites us to pray? And to seek my face—who incites us to seek his face? And turn from their wicked ways—who is it that gives repentance? And the Bible teaches repentance is the gift of God. In other words, none of us can do any of these things apart from God. For instance, in Psalm 80 and verse 3, the Bible says, "Turn us again, O God, and cause thy face to shine; and we shall be saved." When you look at Psalm 80, that one verse occurs four times in that one psalm. "Turn us again, O God, and cause thy face to shine; and we shall be saved." So four times David is pleading for God to turn the people. Now, when you skip down in that psalm to verse 18, the word of God says this:
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"So will not we go back from thee: quicken us, and we will call upon thy name." So we cannot even really pray apart from being quickened by God. So revival, that is a true biblical revival, is the work of God alone. He uses men. That is true. But it is God who prepares their heart, who prepares their mind, who stirs them up to do that which pleases Him. Now you're going to say, "Well, I pray for revival.
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I desire to see God's kingdom extended and Him glorified." Well, that's wonderful and I'm thankful that it's true. But the question would still have to be, who stirred you up? Who is it that moved upon you to motivate you to pray and to seek God? And another question would be this: Why are you praying that way now when previously you didn't pray like that? In other words, it is God who is stirring you. You see, many churches hold what are known as revival meetings.
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Really, what that amounts to is this: a church is holding a meeting hoping that God will send a revival, because that happens to be his work, and men cannot work up revival. No program can bring a revival. No amount of human effort can bring a revival. No amount of meetings can bring a revival. That is something that God must do.
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Now, I've got two questions for you, and I want you to think about these questions. I'm going to answer the first one to begin with, and then I'll try to answer the second one. So my first question is this: since we're talking about revival, what kind of revival do you want? What kind of revival do you desire? There are three different types of revivals mentioned in the Bible. The second question would be this: Why are you waiting on a national revival? That question has to be answered in light of the first question. So how many types of revivals are there? There are basically three that are mentioned in the Bible. The first revival is what you and I would call a personal revival or an individual revival.
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In other words, you may ask the Heavenly Father to revive you. You may ask him to revive you individually. So there are individuals that may be revived. And let me make a statement right here: usually those people who do not desire to be revived and do not desire a revival personally and individually will never be used by God to spawn any other type of revival. So there has to be a personal revival.
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Let me give you the scripture. Psalm 138 and verse 7. Psalm 138 verse 7. David said, "Though I walk in the midst of trouble, thou wilt revive me." Though I walk in the midst of trouble, thou wilt revive me. So now we're talking about an individual or a personal revival. So you can be revived without anyone else being revived. Here's another passage in Isaiah chapter 57 and verse 15.
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"For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy; I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones." So God said, I dwell in the high and the holy place and I will revive the heart of the contrite one and I will revive the heart of the humble one. So you may have what is known as an individual revival. Secondly, there is revival of the work of God.
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I'm going to tell you right now that I do believe that we need that desperately in this day and age. You will find that in the book of Habakkuk chapter 3 and verse 2. Habakkuk said, "O LORD, I have heard thy speech, and was afraid: O LORD, revive thy work in the midst of the years, in the midst of the years make known; in wrath remember mercy." So he said, revive thy work. So a revival of God's work is a revival of the Word of God. It is a revival of interest in the things of God. It is a revival of seeking to extend God's kingdom. It is a revival then basically of coming to the true worship of God and God alone.
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And certainly we would want that to expand to society in general. So you have an individual personal revival and then you have a revival of God's work. And here's the third revival: there's a revival of God's people. You will find that in Psalm 85 and verse 6 where David said, listen carefully, "Wilt thou not revive us again: that thy people may rejoice in thee?" Wilt thou not revive us—that is plural—that thy people may rejoice in thee. And then in the book of Hosea chapter 14 verse 7, "They that dwell under his shadow shall return; they shall revive as the corn." Now we're talking about a revival of God's people. Now in each one of these passages that I've just read concerning the word revive, whether it's a personal revival, whether it's a revival of the work of God, or whether it's a revival of the people of God, the Hebrew word is chayah, and it means to revive, it means to be quickened, to
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be restored, to be refreshed, and to cause to grow and to flourish. Now, notice if you would, it was an individual revival, it was a revival of God's work, and thirdly, it was a revival of God's people. So here is my statement: Revival is for the people of God. Many people pray for a revival and they are hoping and thinking that somehow multitudes of people who are unconverted will be converted and saved by the grace of God. And I would just simply point out that that may be a benefit of revival but revival primarily is for the people of God.
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How can I say that? Here's how. You cannot revive a dead man. There must be life for one to be revived. And so this is why I'm saying revival is for God's people. It is for you and I individually. It is for the work of God and it is for the people of God and mainly for our own spiritual and personal growth.
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Now, I mentioned earlier that revivals could be either from the top down, that is from a godly ruler, or it could be from the bottom up, from the people working up to the rulers. So when you read through the Bible, you're going to find a number of revivals that were top-down revivals. This is what has happened in 2 Kings chapter 22 with Josiah. This is what happened with King Asa. This is what happened with King Hezekiah. This is what happened also with King Jehoshaphat. In other words, these were top-down revivals.
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Now, I want you to note this, and this is very interesting. Do you realize that idolatry and rebellion occur in the same manner? Idolatry can be from the top down, and it can be from the bottom up. Years ago, I preached two messages which I titled, "Idolatry and Civil Rulers." And as you read through the Bible, you're going to find that most idolatry began with civil rulers.
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I've already pointed out that it was Solomon who introduced the worship of Ashtoreth, Molech, and Chemosh in the land. It was Jeroboam the king who built two golden calves. And we're going to read some other scriptures and you'll see where King Ahaz and some of these other kings like Manasseh introduced idolatry everywhere. And so usually idolatry is top down but it can also be bottom up as well. When you read the book of Hosea chapter 4 you're going to find the wickedness not only of the civil rulers but you're also going to find the wickedness of the people as well. Now I want you to listen while I read a passage. This is Hosea chapter 7 verses 3 through 5. So listen carefully. "They make the king glad with their wickedness, and the princes with their lies.
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They are all adulterers, as an oven heated by the baker, who ceaseth from raising after he hath kneaded the dough, until it be leavened. In the day of our king the princes have made him sick with bottles of wine; he stretched out his hand with scorners."
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Now, when you look at the first part of this passage, "They make the king glad with their wickedness, and the princes with their lies." Well, who's making the king glad? Who's making the princes happy? It's the people. The people who are wicked. And they're making the king happy and the princes happy. Now the princes are making the king drunk so that he stretches out his hand with scorners.
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So here's my statement, and I want you to think about this. A wicked ruler, or wicked rulers plural, want and desire a wicked people. And a wicked people want and desire wicked rulers. Why? And the answer is, that way, neither one will call the other into an account. In other words, if I'm wicked and Steve is wicked, I'm not going to be jumping on Steve. And Steve's not going to be jumping on me. In other words, we're both going to be happy in our wickedness and in our rebellion. It's just that simple. So the king then wants a wicked people and a wicked people want a wicked king as well. I've already said this a number of times this morning and I'm going to say it one more time.
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It was King Solomon who introduced into the land the worship of Ashtoreth, the worship of Molech, and the worship of Chemosh. It was King Josiah who cleaned up the mess. So Solomon made the mess and King Josiah is the one that restored it. He restored that which was right and holy. He restored the worship of Yahweh. He restored the true worship and true obedience. Now, here's the question.
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What was involved in the restoration? What had to go? What had to be demolished? So I titled this message purposefully "So You Think You Want a Real Revival." And the reason I purposely titled that message, this message, that way is because most people have no idea what is going to happen if God sent us a real, genuine, biblical revival. Things are going to change and they're going to change drastically. So if you'll look back in your Bibles to 2 Kings chapter 22 I want to begin again by pointing out something about King Josiah. Josiah began reigning when he was eight years old.
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Now you say that's mighty young for a king. He was a child but he had a good tutor. Usually these men when they began to reign at such a tender age have advisors, counselors, tutors. But I want you to know what the Bible says about Josiah even as a child: "And he did that which was right in the sight of the LORD, and walked in all the way of David his father, and turned not aside to the right hand or to the left." Now King David was not his father but he's called his father because he is obedient like David was obedient and so he did not turn to the right hand or to the left. And if you look in verse 3, "And it came to pass in the eighteenth year of king Josiah"—well let's see, he began reigning when he was eight, in the eighteenth year I guess he would be what, 26? So at age 26 he is now wanting to cleanse the temple and to get rid of all the garbage and all the idols that happen to be in the temple.
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So if you will look with me at the rest of this chapter, you're going to see that he wants the temple repaired. It's in bad shape. It's dirty. A lot of stuff in it. We're going to see. But I want you to watch this. Let's begin reading in verse 8 of 2 Kings chapter 22. Look in verse 8. We'll read through verse 13. "And Hilkiah the high priest said unto Shaphan the scribe, I have found the book of the law in the house of the LORD. And Hilkiah gave the book to Shaphan, and he read it. And Shaphan the scribe came to the king, and brought the king word again, and said, Thy servants have gathered the money that was found in the house, and have delivered it into the hand of them that do the work, that have the oversight of the house of the LORD. And Shaphan the scribe showed the king, saying, Hilkiah the priest hath delivered me a book. And Shaphan read it before the king. And it came to pass, when the king had heard the words of the book of the law, that he rent his clothes. And the king commanded Hilkiah the priest, and Ahikam the son of Shaphan, and Achbor the son of Michaiah, and Shaphan the scribe, and Asahiah a servant of the king's, saying, Go ye, inquire of the LORD for me, and for the people, and for all Judah, concerning the words of this book that is found: for great is the wrath of the LORD that is kindled against us, because our fathers have not hearkened unto the words of this book, to do according unto all that which is written concerning us." So Josiah realizes that all of a sudden not only he but his kingdom and all the people are in great difficulty and they are indeed in a lot of trouble.
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I want to point this out. It's astounding. Where did they find the book of the law? In the temple. It was lost in the temple. It was there among all the trash. Do you know that's where God's word and God's law is usually lost today? In churches. Most churches hate God's law. They repudiate it. They refuse it. They ignore it. They pretend like it has no merit and no value. Consequently, today we are subjected not only to the slavery of sin, but tyranny as well. When Josiah heard the law, when it was read unto him, he humbled himself, and he said, "We're in trouble. I want you to go seek the Lord and find out what we need to do to make these things right." So he sent then Hilkiah the priest. Now here's what I want you to know. I want you to see the answer that God sent back to the king. If you look in verse 16, we'll read through verse 20. 2 Kings 22 verse 16. Here's how God answered him.
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"Thus saith the LORD, Behold, I will bring evil upon this place, and upon the inhabitants thereof, even all the words of the book which the king of Judah hath read: because they have forsaken me, and have burned incense unto other gods, that they might provoke me to anger with all the works of their hands; therefore my wrath shall be kindled against this place, and shall not be quenched. But to the king of Judah which sent you to inquire of the LORD, thus shall ye say to him, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, As touching the words which thou hast heard; because thine heart was tender, and thou hast humbled thyself before the LORD, when thou heardest what I spake against this place, and against the inhabitants thereof, that they should become a desolation and a curse, and hast rent thy clothes, and wept before me; I also have heard thee, saith the LORD. Behold therefore, I will gather thee unto thy fathers, and thou shalt be gathered into thy grave in peace; and thine eyes shall not see all the evil which I will bring upon this place." And they brought the king word again.
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Now, note if you would what God said. God said, "I'm going to destroy this place. I'm going to bring evil against Judah and Jerusalem because of their rebellion, because of their sin, because of their wickedness. I'm going to destroy it." But then he looked at Josiah and said, "It's like this. Because your heart was tender and you humbled yourself, I'm not going to do this in your lifetime. It's going to be done after you're dead and gone.
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I will gather you together in peace." Now, here's an interesting thing. That would have satisfied most people. "I'm not going to see this. I'm not going to be involved in it. God's going to do this after I'm gone. I'm going to have a peaceful life. I'm going to have a peaceful death and that's sufficient." That was not sufficient for Josiah. It was sufficient for Hezekiah. Let me show you.
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I want you to hold 2 Kings. Turn over in your Bibles to Isaiah chapter 39. Isaiah chapter 39. You remember, Isaiah was preaching to King Hezekiah. Hezekiah had gotten sick. And God healed him and granted him 15 more years. And then he tried him with the ambassadors from Babylon. And of course pride came up in Hezekiah's heart. And he showed these ambassadors everything in his kingdom. And I want you to watch this. God sent Isaiah to rebuke him. So Isaiah chapter 39, notice verse 6. In fact, let's read verse 5. "Then said Isaiah to Hezekiah, Hear the word of the LORD of hosts: Behold, the days come, that all that is in thine house, and that which thy fathers have laid up in store until this day, shall be carried to Babylon: nothing shall be left, saith the LORD." In other words, everything that you've shown these men, they're going to steal, they're going to take to Babylon. Watch this. Note verse 7, "And of thy sons that shall issue from thee, which thou shalt beget, shall they take away; and they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon."
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Then said Hezekiah to Isaiah, "Good is the word of the LORD which thou hast spoken." He said moreover, "For there shall be peace and truth in my days." I cannot grasp that. I mean, Isaiah just told Hezekiah, "Look, you're going to lose everything. Everything's going to be taken. The city is going to be destroyed and your sons are going to be taken and made eunuchs and they're going to serve this heathen king." And what's he say? "Well, that's good. I'll have peace in my days. It's not going to affect me.
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Why should I worry about it?" That was not Josiah's attitude. It was not enough for Josiah when the Lord said, "You're going to die in peace." It was not enough for Josiah when he said, "I'll do this after you're dead." No. He wanted to make sure that the one true living God was worshipped the way he should be worshipped in the land. He was not concerned about whether he lived or died or how he's going to die.
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So what did he do? Well, let's look in 2 Kings chapter 23 and let's read the first three verses. So here's what happened. First of all, the king made sure that everyone knew the law of God and the covenant that existed between his people and himself. So watch this. "And the king sent, and they gathered unto him all the elders of Judah and of Jerusalem. And the king went up into the house of the LORD, and all the men of Judah and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem with him, and the priests, and the prophets, and all the people, both small and great: and he read in their ears all the words of the book of the covenant which was found in the house of the LORD." He read these words to everybody. Note, if you would, he, the king. Then verse 3, "And the king stood by a pillar, and made a covenant before the LORD, to walk after the LORD, and to keep his commandments and his testimonies and his statutes with all their heart and all their soul, to perform the words of this covenant that were written in this book. And all the people stood to the covenant." So they covenanted together then not only to be in communion with God but to
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walk according to God's law. So elsewhere this is called walking with the Lord or walking before the Lord. Now, I want to give you a quick quote. This one is from Adam Clarke. Here's what he said. "They made a covenant." Listen carefully. "This was expressed, number one, in general, to walk after Jehovah and to have no gods beside him, to take his law for the regulation of their conduct." That was generally speaking.
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"Number two, in particular, to bend their whole heart and soul to the observance of it, so that they might not only have religion without, but piety within. To this all the people stood up, thus giving their consent and binding themselves to obedience." Here is where modern day Christians fail miserably. We do not take the word of God seriously. We do not take God's law seriously. We do not take God's covenants seriously.
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We are too easily distracted by the world, by the flesh, and by our own carnal desires. We're off and on, up and down, in and out. If it suits us, we worship God. If it doesn't suit us, we totally ignore him. I want to show you these people were very, very genuine. I want to show you how serious others were. If you would turn in your Bibles just over a couple pages to 2 Chronicles, 2 Chronicles chapter 15. I want you to see what happened during the revival under King Asa.
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This may shock you, but look at this. 2 Chronicles chapter 15 and let's begin reading with verse 8. 2 Chronicles 15 verse 8. "And when Asa heard these words, and the prophecy of Oded the prophet, he took courage, and put away the abominable idols out of all the land of Judah and Benjamin, and out of the cities which he had taken from mount Ephraim, and renewed the altar of the LORD, that was before the porch of the LORD. And he gathered all Judah and Benjamin, and the strangers with them out of Ephraim and Manasseh, and out of Simeon: for they fell to him out of Israel in abundance, when they saw that the LORD his God was with him. So they gathered themselves together at Jerusalem in the third month, in the fifteenth year of the reign of Asa. And they offered unto the LORD the same time, of the spoil which they had brought, seven hundred oxen and seven thousand sheep. And they entered into a covenant to seek the LORD God of their fathers with all their heart and with all their soul; that whosoever would not seek the LORD God of Israel should be put to death, whether small or great, whether man or woman. And they sware unto the LORD with a loud voice, and with shouting, and with
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trumpets, and with cornets. And all Judah rejoiced at the oath: for they had sworn with all their heart, and sought him with their whole desire; and he was found of them: and the LORD gave them rest round about." Isn't that amazing? So they not only entered into a covenant with the Lord, they said, "Whoever won't do this should be put to death." I would simply say that they were pretty serious in this, that is for sure. So here's the point. If you and I desire a revival individually, ecclesiastically, and even nationally, we must take the word of God and the covenant of God seriously and stand to it. Now, someone is going to say, "Well, I don't know anything about the covenant." Sure you do.
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When you look at your Bibles, you have 66 books in your Bible, 39 in the Old Testament, 27 in the New Testament. You notice I use the word Testament. You know what the word testament means? Covenant. So actually what you're looking at is the old covenant and the new covenant. We're in a covenant. All of God's people are in a covenant. You can't be with God or in God apart from covenant. So we have a new covenant that is confirmed in Jesus Christ. And we're in Jesus Christ. Thus, we are in a covenantal relationship with God the Father through the Lord Jesus Christ. Wow. So the first thing he did was he brought the covenant to bear in their lives, and they said, "We're going to stand to this. We're going to obey it. This is God's word. This is God's law.
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We will do what he said." OK. Here's the second thing he did. If you'll go to 2 Kings, go back to 2 Kings chapter 23 and look if you would please at verse 4. Here's the second thing he did. He not only read the law of God to them, made them into a covenant—in fact he didn't make them, they willingly did so—but look in verse 4. "And the king commanded Hilkiah the high priest, and the priests of the second order, and the keepers of the door, to bring forth out of the temple of the LORD all the vessels that were made for Baal, and for the grove, and for all the host of
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heaven: and he burned them without Jerusalem in the fields of Kidron, and carried the ashes of them unto Bethel." So here are false gods in the temple. Manasseh put a lot of them in there, so did King Ahaz. Think about this if you would. The application to this truth in verse 4 is different today than it was there. We do not have a physical temple that is where God is manifesting himself like there was in the Old Testament. But in another sense we do have a physical temple because the Bible teaches us that the temple of God today is our bodies. God resides in us. 1 Corinthians chapter 3 and verses 16 and 17, "Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are." And when you get to 1 Corinthians chapter 6, verses 19 and 20, "What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?
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For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's." So what does that mean? It means that we're to get out of our personal lives, out of our minds, anything that is wicked, anything that is wrong, anything that reeks of idolatry. We're to turn from all of those things and to make sure that our minds are clean and pure before the Lord.
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Now, I will tell you this, years ago, and it was years ago, in the 60s, when I was back in the university, I had an aunt and uncle that took a vacation over in Hawaii. And they brought me back a salt and pepper shaker set from Hawaii. And I thanked them and I set it on the table. I don't know if we ever used it or not. I don't remember. But the more I looked at that salt and pepper shaker, the more uncomfortable I became, because it was a wooden salt and pepper shaker carved in the image of the tiki gods.
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So one day I grabbed him up, just threw him in the trash. I thought, "I don't want this in my house." The point being, we should keep our minds and hearts like that. We have so many ungodly thoughts and so many fleshly and carnal desires. We need to clean it up. We need to keep our hearts and minds pure. And it is a fight. It is a struggle to do that. It's a daily thing. Paul said, "I die daily." Sometimes it's not just a daily thing. It's an hourly thing. Sometimes it's a minute by minute thing. You just have to fight.
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That's the application here to this. Now, thirdly, if you go back in your Bibles to 2 Kings chapter 23, look at verses 5 through 8. Here's the next thing he did. "And he put down the idolatrous priests, whom the kings of Judah had ordained to burn incense in the high places in the cities of Judah, and in the places round about Jerusalem; them also that burned incense unto Baal, to the sun, and to the moon, and to the planets, and to all the host of heaven. And he brought out the grove from the house of the LORD, without Jerusalem, unto the brook Kidron, and burned it at the brook Kidron, and stamped it small to powder, and cast the powder thereof
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upon the graves of the children of the people. And he brake down the houses of the sodomites, that were by the house of the LORD, where the women wove hangings for the grove. And he brought all the priests out of the cities of Judah, and defiled the high places where the priests had burned incense, from Geba to Beer-sheba, and brake down the high places of the gates that were in the entering in of the gate of Joshua the governor of the city, which were on a man's left hand at the gate of the city." Wow. Notice if you would, he took out all of these false gods, he took out all of these false priests.
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Now, as individuals, we do not have the power or authority to do what Josiah the king did, but we do have the authority and power to keep our hearts and minds clean. We do have the authority and power to keep our homes clean. We do have the authority and power to keep ourselves away from anything that reeks of idolatry, such as horoscopes, tarot cards, fortune telling, witchcraft, anything like that. That's all idolatry. That's all idolatry.
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It's an attempt to know the future apart from God. We do have the power and authority to do that. Now, we also have the power and authority to cry against all of that stuff and to teach against all of it and say it's wicked, it's wrong, it's of the devil. Yes. So, think about this. This is a hard question. I want you to think about this. What did he do?
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He brake down the houses of the sodomites. They were by the house of the LORD where the women wove hangings for the grove. The grove is the Ashtoreth or Asherah which was temple prostitution. So he got rid of the male prostitutes and the female prostitutes. Here's my hard question. If you had a child, if you had a beloved family member that went into some perversion, like sodomy, prostitution, and you know as a Christian that it's a violation of God's law, here's my question. Would you stand with God and his word and his truth, or would you stand with your family member?
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You see what I'm saying? You know, you're going to love your child if it's your child. You're going to love a brother or sister if it's your brother or sister. I understand that. I understand that. But you know what our Lord said in Matthew 10 in verse 37? He said, "He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me." So the point I'm making is this. You have to determine who you're going to serve and whose truth you're going to stand with. God's truth or your preferred truth. I'm just simply pointing out the fact we have real choices to make, and we have to make them based upon the Word of God if we're going to stand with the Lord. It's just that simple.
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Fourthly, I want you to look, if you would, please, in verses 10 through 14, because he destroyed all the places of idolatry in the kingdom over which he had any authority. So look, if you would, beginning there in verse 10, "And he defiled Topheth, which is in the valley of the children of Hinnom, that no man might make his son or his daughter to pass through the fire to Molech. And he took away the horses that the kings of Judah had given to the sun, at the entering in of the house of the LORD, by the chamber of Nathan-melech the chamberlain, which was in the suburbs, and burned the chariots of the sun with fire. And the altars that were on the top of the upper chamber of Ahaz, which the kings of Judah had made, and the altars which Manasseh had made in the two courts of the house of the LORD, did the king beat down, and brake them down from thence, and cast the dust of them
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into the brook Kidron. And the high places that were before Jerusalem, which were on the right hand of the mount of corruption, which Solomon the king of Israel had builded for Ashtoreth the abomination of the Zidonians, and for Chemosh the abomination of the Moabites, and for Milcom the abomination of the children of Ammon, did the king defile. And he brake in pieces the images, and cut down the groves, and filled their places with the bones of men. Moreover the altar that was at Bethel, and the high place which Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin, had made, both that altar and the high place he brake down, and burned the high place, and stamped it small to powder, and burned the grove."
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He did this over and over and over. So what he's doing, he's basically destroying idolatry out of that country. Now, so listen carefully. Most of us do not have the authority to do that. However, oftentimes there are some Christians that are enraged sufficiently to do things that seemingly others would hesitate to do. Like a year or two back, you remember the statue of Baphomet or Satan they had in one of the northern kingdoms and cities up there. What did one man do?
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He went and tore it down. He just simply tore it down. He got arrested, but that was fine. He tore it down. In other words, the point I'm trying to make is this. When the land was ridden with idolatry, it was also ridden with alien law systems. How did you get all the idolatry and all the alien law systems in the land? And here's the answer: through multiculturalism. When God sends a real, genuine, biblical revival, multiculturalism will end. It's just that simple.
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There will only be one culture, and that would be the Christian culture. There will only be one law, and that would be God's law. So you need to look around and notice, if you would, all the mosques, all the temples, Hindu, Buddhist, all the idolaters' houses of worship in our land. When God sends a real revival, all of those will disappear. They will be gone. God is the most intolerant God that ever existed.
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What did he say in Isaiah 42 verse 8? "I am the LORD: that is my name: and my glory will I not give to another, neither my praise to graven images." And what is his name according to scripture? Jealous. He is the jealous God. And he will not tolerate idolatry and other idols trying to steal his honor and his glory.
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Now, let me address one other thing before I make some applications, and that is this. You say, "But we have religious freedom in this country." You need to go back and read the original charters and constitutions of this country. Religious freedom in this country originally meant that you are free to worship according to the dictation of your conscience in the Christian religion. You must remember England had the Anglican Church as the national church. Italy has the Roman Catholic Church. A lot of other countries have the Roman Catholic Church. But in America, we do not have a national church. We don't have a Baptist church, a Presbyterian church that everybody must agree to and adhere to and be a member of. You could be a Baptist, a Presbyterian, a Methodist, Episcopalian, it didn't matter, just so you worship the one true living God. Once you go to those original charters and constitutions, you would see that no one could ever hold office without confessing the Bible to be the Word of God and Jesus Christ to be the Son of God.
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And no one could be elected except those who confess to that. Which means no atheist could be there, no unbeliever could be there, no Jewish person could be there. No, it had to be Christian. It had to be Christian. I've got copies of all the originals. Go to Avalon.com. You can find all the copies for yourself. They're all posted there. You can find every major document
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probably from the 15th century on. You can even find the Magna Carta. I'm just simply saying it's there.
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Now, when you think about foreigners and strangers, they were welcome in Israel. God says that. I went over that. The only thing they could not do is bring their false religion, their false God, or their false law system into Israel. As long as they were in Israel, they had to abide by the law of God. If they didn't want to abide by the law of God, they were free to leave.
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It's just like in America. In the beginning, if you came to America, you were free to be here originally, as long as you did not bring your idolatry or your alien law system. And if you wanted that, you were free just simply to go back home. It's just that simple. Now, when you stop and think about this, if you, as an American, travel to a Muslim country today, are you free to bring biblical law into that country and the American way of life? No. They will tell you, if you want that, go back to America. Are you free to go to a Buddhist country or a Hindu country and start setting up Christianity as the law and teaching her it? No. They'll tell you, if you want that, go back to America. Over here, we're Buddhist. Isn't that amazing?
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And I hope you notice that Russia is not taking any of these people. And you remember what Putin said? Russia is for Russians. And Japan is not taking the Muslims. The Muslims, if you live there, are warranted a Muslim cemetery. Japan said, no. If you want to be buried like a Muslim, go back to where you came from. It's just that simple.
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Now, the point being, God said, and I quoted this last week, in Exodus chapter 12, verse 49, "One law shall be to him that is homeborn, and unto the stranger that sojourneth among you." The same thing is taught in Leviticus 24, verse 22, Numbers 15, verse 16, Numbers 15, verse 29—one law. And that one law is God's law.
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Now, let me give you just a couple of applications. The first one is this. A true revival will not only clean up our lives, clean up our homes, our hearts, our societies, our governments, but our nation as well. And we have been unbiblical for so long. When we get right with God, everybody else will think that we're crazy. Vance Havner, who's been dead for many years, was a preacher, an evangelist.
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He said it like this. He said, "Christians have been subnormal for so long that anytime we get normal, everyone else will think we're abnormal." And that's about the truth. When you start teaching biblical precepts and biblical principles and showing what God demands, yeah, everybody thinks, "Man, you're a lunatic, you're crazy." No, we're not crazy. This is practical. This is truth. This is what God demands. So if we become thoroughly biblical, a change will be evident in every area of life. So here's another one. Do not look for any godly ruler or any godly man like Josiah, Hezekiah, or Jehoshaphat.
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Revival must begin with us. The time for kings has passed. We do not have kings in this country. In fact, if we did, it would be we the people. What does the Bible say? Not the Bible. Not the Constitution. Not the Bible. The Constitution says, "We the people do ordain this Constitution." We the people. Those are the people. The states. And so the point I'm trying to make right now is this. If God sends revival, it's going to begin with us as individuals. There's no man going to save us. There's no piece of paper that's going to save us. It has to be God himself.
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So here are my questions. I want you to listen. Here we go. Will you seek the Lord with all your heart and soul? Will you walk in his statutes and obey his commandments? Will you be faithful and consistent and constant? Will you pray and seek his face? Will you ask God to revive yourself, his work, and his people? Will you be the impetus? Will you be the beginning? Listen, revival has to begin in someone, in somewhere, in some place. So the question is, will you be that one and will you be that place? Revival begins in individuals. It must begin somewhere. It must begin in someone. Will it be you?
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So let me put it to you like this. Where there is no revival in individuals, there will be no revival in his work. Where there is no revival in his work, there will be no revival in his people, and there will be no revival in the nation. So how it begins is individually and personally. And when God revives us as individuals, at the same time, we get more interested in his work and there's a revival in his work. And then that spreads into revival in his people. And from there, it spreads to revival in society and into a nation.
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So we need not look for top down any longer. It's going to be from bottom up. I cannot help but think of Romans 12, 1 and 2. The Apostle Paul said, "I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God." So will you be like Isaiah and say, "Here am I, Lord. Send me. Here am I, Lord. Use me. Let it begin in me." And when God sends a real, genuine, biblical revival, it will affect all of us, our homes, our lives, our society, our government, and our nation.
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Father, in the name of Jesus Christ, we bow to thee. We thank you for your word. We thank you for your truth. We ask, Father, that you'd work in our hearts, work in our lives, use each one of us. Let it begin in us, Lord. We do pray for Heathville especially, Lord, and for Joshua and Felicia, Lord, and ask, Lord, that you'd undertake for them. And Lord, thou dost know on February the 16th, we pray for your holy, perfect will and justice to be accomplished. In the name of Jesus Christ, we pray. Amen.
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By the renewing of your mind. Why? That you may prove what is that good and perfect and acceptable will of God. So will you be like Isaiah and say, Here am I, Lord. Send me. Here am I, Lord. Use me. Let it begin in me. And when God sends a real, genuine, biblical revival, it will affect all of us, our homes, our lives, our society, our government, and our nation.
#81 | 1:05:05 to 1:05:43 | cleaned
Father, in the name of Jesus Christ, we bow to thee. We thank you for your word. We thank you for your truth. We ask, Father, that you'd work in our hearts, work in our lives, use each one of us. Let it begin in us, Lord. We do pray for Heathville especially, Lord, and for Joshua and Felicia, Lord, and ask, Lord, that you'd undertake for them. And Lord, thou dost know on February the 16th, we pray for your holy, perfect will and justice to be accomplished. In the name of Jesus Christ, we pray. Amen.
#82 | 1:05:46 to 1:06:19 | cleaned

deepseek | deepseek-v4-pro | clean_readable_transcript | 2026-06-06T02:03:21Z

So You Think You Want a Real Revival

John Weaver | Freedom Ministries

John Weaver examines the nature of true biblical revival through the account of King Josiah's reforms in 2 Kings 22–23. He argues that revival is a sovereign work of God, primarily for His people, and involves radical purging of idolatry and alien law systems. Weaver distinguishes three types of revival—personal, of God's work, and of God's people—and emphasizes that revival must begin with individuals. He challenges listeners to consider the cost of genuine revival, including the end of multiculturalism and the exclusive reign of God's law, and calls for personal commitment to seek God wholeheartedly.

Opening

Scripture Reading — 2 Kings 22:1-13

"Josiah was eight years old when he began to reign, and he reigned thirty and one years in Jerusalem." "And his mother's name was Jedidah, the daughter of Adaiah of Bozkath. And he did that which was right in the sight of the LORD, and walked in all the way of David his father, and turned not aside to the right hand or to the left. And it came to pass in the eighteenth year of king Josiah, that the king sent Shaphan the son of Azaliah, the son of Meshullam, the scribe, to the house of the LORD, saying, Go up to Hilkiah the high priest, that he may sum the silver which is brought into the house of the LORD, which the keepers of the door have gathered of the people: and let them deliver it into the hand of the doers of the work, that have the oversight of the house of the LORD: and let them give it to the doers of the work which is in the house of the LORD, to repair the breaches of the house, unto carpenters, and builders, and masons, and to buy timber and hewn stone to repair the house."

Introduction: The Context of Josiah's Revival

Weaver ties this message to his previous series on Solomon's idolatry and alien law systems, setting the stage for Josiah's reforms as a top-down revival.

The Sovereignty of God in Revival

Revival is entirely God's work; He alone stirs hearts to pray and repent. Human effort cannot manufacture revival.

Scripture Reading — Job 12:16-25

"With him is strength and wisdom: the deceived and the deceiver are his. He leadeth counsellors away spoiled, and maketh the judges fools. He looseth the bond of kings, and girdeth their loins with a girdle. He leadeth princes away spoiled, and overthroweth the mighty. He removeth away the speech of the trusty, and taketh away the understanding of the aged. He poureth contempt upon princes, and weakeneth the strength of the mighty.

Scripture Reading — 2 Chronicles 7:14

"If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves"

—well, who is it that gives humility?

Scripture Reading — Psalm 80:3, 18

"Turn us again, O God, and cause thy face to shine; and we shall be saved."

When you look at Psalm 80, that one verse occurs four times in that one psalm.

Scripture Reading — Psalm 80:3, 18

"Turn us again, O God, and cause thy face to shine; and we shall be saved."

So four times David is pleading for God to turn the people. Now, when you skip down in that psalm to verse 18, the word of God says this:

Three Types of Biblical Revival

Weaver identifies personal revival (Psalm 138:7), revival of God's work (Habakkuk 3:2), and revival of God's people (Psalm 85:6), emphasizing that revival is for the living—God's people.

Scripture Reading — Psalm 138:7

"Though I walk in the midst of trouble, thou wilt revive me."

Scripture Reading — Habakkuk 3:2

"O LORD, I have heard thy speech, and was afraid: O LORD, revive thy work in the midst of the years, in the midst of the years make known; in wrath remember mercy."

Scripture Reading — Psalm 85:6

"Wilt thou not revive us again: that thy people may rejoice in thee?"

Idolatry and Rebellion: Top-Down and Bottom-Up

Idolatry often begins with rulers, but wicked people and wicked rulers mutually reinforce each other. Josiah reversed Solomon's introduction of false gods.

Josiah's Response to the Book of the Law

Upon hearing the rediscovered law, Josiah humbled himself, sought the Lord, and was told judgment would come after his death—but he refused to be satisfied with personal peace.

Covenant Renewal and Radical Reforms

Josiah read the law publicly, led the people in covenant, and then systematically purged the temple and land of idols, false priests, and sodomite houses.

Scripture Reading — 2 Kings 23:1-3

"And the king sent, and they gathered unto him all the elders of Judah and of Jerusalem. And the king went up into the house of the LORD, and all the men of Judah and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem with him, and the priests, and the prophets, and all the people, both small and great: and he read in their ears all the words of the book of the covenant which was found in the house of the LORD."

He read these words to everybody. Note, if you would, he, the king. Then verse 3,

Scripture Reading — 2 Kings 23:1-3

"And the king stood by a pillar, and made a covenant before the LORD, to walk after the LORD, and to keep his commandments and his testimonies and his statutes with all their heart and all their soul, to perform the words of this covenant that were written in this book. And all the people stood to the covenant."

So they covenanted together then not only to be in communion with God but to

This may shock you, but look at this. 2 Chronicles chapter 15 and let's begin reading with verse 8. 2 Chronicles 15 verse 8.

Scripture Reading — 2 Chronicles 15:8-15

"And when Asa heard these words, and the prophecy of Oded the prophet, he took courage, and put away the abominable idols out of all the land of Judah and Benjamin, and out of the cities which he had taken from mount Ephraim, and renewed the altar of the LORD, that was before the porch of the LORD. And he gathered all Judah and Benjamin, and the strangers with them out of Ephraim and Manasseh, and out of Simeon: for they fell to him out of Israel in abundance, when they saw that the LORD his God was with him. So they gathered themselves together at Jerusalem in the third month, in the fifteenth year of the reign of Asa. And they offered unto the LORD the same time, of the spoil which they had brought, seven hundred oxen and seven thousand sheep. And they entered into a covenant to seek the LORD God of their fathers with all their heart and with all their soul; that whosoever would not seek the LORD God of Israel should be put to death, whether small or great, whether man or woman. And they sware unto the LORD with a loud voice, and with shouting, and with

Scripture Reading — 2 Kings 23:4-14

"And the king commanded Hilkiah the high priest, and the priests of the second order, and the keepers of the door, to bring forth out of the temple of the LORD all the vessels that were made for Baal, and for the grove, and for all the host of heaven: and he burned them without Jerusalem in the fields of Kidron, and carried the ashes of them unto Bethel."

That's the application here to this. Now, thirdly, if you go back in your Bibles to 2 Kings chapter 23, look at verses 5 through 8. Here's the next thing he did.

Scripture Reading — 2 Kings 23:4-14

"And he put down the idolatrous priests, whom the kings of Judah had ordained to burn incense in the high places in the cities of Judah, and in the places round about Jerusalem; them also that burned incense unto Baal, to the sun, and to the moon, and to the planets, and to all the host of heaven. And he brought out the grove from the house of the LORD, without Jerusalem, unto the brook Kidron, and burned it at the brook Kidron, and stamped it small to powder, and cast the powder thereof upon the graves of the children of the people. And he brake down the houses of the sodomites, that were by the house of the LORD, where the women wove hangings for the grove. And he brought all the priests out of the cities of Judah, and defiled the high places where the priests had burned incense, from Geba to Beer-sheba, and brake down the high places of the gates that were in the entering in of the gate of Joshua the governor of the city, which were on a man's left hand at the gate of the city."

Wow. Notice if you would, he took out all of these false gods, he took out all of these false priests.

The Implications of True Revival Today

A genuine revival would end multiculturalism, establish God's law as the sole standard, and require Christians to stand with God's truth even against family.

Scripture Reading — Isaiah 42:8

"I am the LORD: that is my name: and my glory will I not give to another, neither my praise to graven images."

And what is his name according to scripture? Jealous. He is the jealous God. And he will not tolerate idolatry and other idols trying to steal his honor and his glory.

Now, the point being, God said, and I quoted this last week, in Exodus chapter 12, verse 49,

Scripture Reading — Exodus 12:49

"One law shall be to him that is homeborn, and unto the stranger that sojourneth among you."

Applications: Revival Must Begin with Individuals

Weaver calls for personal revival, urging listeners to present themselves as living sacrifices and be the starting point for broader revival.

So You Think You Want a Real Revival

John Weaver | SermonAudio

Lecture Metadata	Details
Speaker	John Weaver
Source	SermonAudio
Media ID	127261815434070
Subject	Biblical Law
Course	Alien Law Systems
Genre	Sermon
Date	2025-12-28
Dictation Name
Book	Book 003: Alien Law Systems: Trading God for a Man and Real Revival — Chapter 2
Source Timed Segments	82

Lecture Guide

Outline

Introduction: The Context of Josiah's Revival: Weaver ties this message to his previous series on Solomon's idolatry and alien law systems, setting the stage for Josiah's reforms as a top-down revival.
The Sovereignty of God in Revival: Revival is entirely God's work; He alone stirs hearts to pray and repent. Human effort cannot manufacture revival.
Three Types of Biblical Revival: Weaver identifies personal revival (Psalm 138:7), revival of God's work (Habakkuk 3:2), and revival of God's people (Psalm 85:6), emphasizing that revival is for the living—God's people.
Idolatry and Rebellion: Top-Down and Bottom-Up: Idolatry often begins with rulers, but wicked people and wicked rulers mutually reinforce each other. Josiah reversed Solomon's introduction of false gods.
Josiah's Response to the Book of the Law: Upon hearing the rediscovered law, Josiah humbled himself, sought the Lord, and was told judgment would come after his death—but he refused to be satisfied with personal peace.
Covenant Renewal and Radical Reforms: Josiah read the law publicly, led the people in covenant, and then systematically purged the temple and land of idols, false priests, and sodomite houses.
The Implications of True Revival Today: A genuine revival would end multiculturalism, establish God's law as the sole standard, and require Christians to stand with God's truth even against family.
Applications: Revival Must Begin with Individuals: Weaver calls for personal revival, urging listeners to present themselves as living sacrifices and be the starting point for broader revival.

Major Themes

Key Arguments

Revival is for God's people, not the unconverted

Revival presupposes life; you cannot revive a dead person. Thus, revival primarily restores and quickens believers.

Weaver states, 'You cannot revive a dead man. There must be life for one to be revived. And so this is why I'm saying revival is for God's people.'

Wicked rulers and wicked people mutually reinforce each other

A wicked ruler desires a wicked people, and vice versa, so that neither calls the other to account.

Weaver explains, 'A wicked ruler... want and desire a wicked people. And a wicked people want and desire wicked rulers... neither one will call the other into an account.'

Josiah's revival was more radical than Hezekiah's complacency

Unlike Hezekiah, who accepted peace in his own days, Josiah pursued full reformation despite knowing judgment would come later.

Weaver contrasts Hezekiah's 'Good is the word of the LORD... there shall be peace and truth in my days' with Josiah's refusal to be satisfied with personal peace.

God's law was lost in the temple, just as it is lost in churches today

The book of the law was found amid the trash in the temple; similarly, modern churches often ignore or repudiate God's law.

Weaver says, 'Do you know that's where God's word and God's law is usually lost today? In churches. Most churches hate God's law.'

True revival will end multiculturalism and establish God's law exclusively

A biblical revival will result in the removal of all non-Christian worship and the enforcement of God's law as the only legal standard.

Weaver states, 'When God sends a real revival, all of those will disappear... God is the most intolerant God that ever existed.'

Scripture References

2 Kings 22:1-13: Josiah's reign, the finding of the book of the law, and his initial response.
Job 12:16-25: God's sovereignty over nations—He increases, destroys, enlarges, and straitens them.
2 Chronicles 7:14: The promise of healing if God's people humble themselves, pray, seek His face, and turn from wickedness.
Psalm 80:3, 18: The plea for God to turn His people and quicken them so they can call on His name.
Psalm 138:7: David's prayer for personal revival: 'Though I walk in the midst of trouble, thou wilt revive me.'
Isaiah 57:15: God dwells with the contrite and humble to revive their spirit and heart.
Habakkuk 3:2: The prayer for revival of God's work: 'O LORD, revive thy work in the midst of the years.'
Psalm 85:6: The prayer for revival of God's people: 'Wilt thou not revive us again: that thy people may rejoice in thee?'
Hosea 14:7: Those who dwell under God's shadow shall return and revive as the corn.
Hosea 7:3-5: The people make the king glad with their wickedness; mutual corruption between rulers and people.
2 Kings 22:16-20: God's message to Josiah: judgment is coming, but Josiah will die in peace because of his humility.
Isaiah 39:5-8: Hezekiah's complacent response to the prophecy of Babylonian captivity: 'Good is the word of the LORD... there shall be peace and truth in my days.'
2 Kings 23:1-3: Josiah gathers all the people, reads the covenant, and they pledge to follow the LORD.
2 Chronicles 15:8-15: Under Asa, the people covenanted to seek the LORD and decreed death for those who would not.
1 Corinthians 3:16-17: Believers are the temple of God; if anyone defiles it, God will destroy him.
1 Corinthians 6:19-20: Our bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit; we are bought with a price and should glorify God.
2 Kings 23:4-14: Josiah's destruction of idols, vessels for Baal, the grove, and high places.
Matthew 10:37: Jesus' teaching that love for family must not surpass love for Him.
Isaiah 42:8: God will not give His glory to another or His praise to graven images.
Exodus 12:49: One law shall be for the homeborn and the stranger.

Historical References

King Josiah's reforms: Josiah became king at age 8, and in his 18th year (age 26) he initiated temple repairs and discovered the book of the law, leading to national revival.
King Solomon's idolatry: Solomon introduced the worship of Ashtoreth, Molech, and Chemosh into Israel, which led to the nation's spiritual decline.
King Hezekiah's complacency: When told of future Babylonian captivity, Hezekiah was content that there would be peace in his own days, unlike Josiah.
King Asa's revival: Asa removed idols and led the people in a covenant to seek the LORD, with a death penalty for non-compliance.
King Ahaz and Manasseh's idolatry: These kings introduced idols and altars into the temple, which Josiah later destroyed.
Jeroboam's golden calves: Jeroboam built two golden calves, leading Israel into sin; Josiah later destroyed the altar at Bethel.
Statue of Baphomet incident: A man tore down a Satanic statue in a northern city, illustrating individual action against public idolatry.
American colonial charters and religious freedom: Original charters restricted office-holding to Christians who confessed the Bible and Jesus Christ; religious freedom meant freedom within Christianity.
Vance Havner quote: The evangelist said Christians have been subnormal so long that when they become normal, they appear abnormal.

Important Quotes

Revival, that is a true biblical revival, is the work of God alone. He uses men. That is true. But it is God who prepares their heart, who prepares their mind, who stirs them up to do that which pleases Him.

Emphasizes the sovereignty of God in initiating and sustaining revival, countering human-centered views.

You cannot revive a dead man. There must be life for one to be revived. And so this is why I'm saying revival is for God's people.

Clarifies that revival is primarily for believers, not evangelism, because it presupposes spiritual life.

A wicked ruler, or wicked rulers plural, want and desire a wicked people. And a wicked people want and desire wicked rulers. Why? And the answer is, that way, neither one will call the other into an account.

Explains the symbiotic relationship between corrupt leadership and a corrupt populace.

Do you know that's where God's word and God's law is usually lost today? In churches. Most churches hate God's law. They repudiate it. They refuse it. They ignore it.

Draws a parallel between the lost book in the temple and the modern church's neglect of God's law.

Where there is no revival in individuals, there will be no revival in his work. Where there is no revival in his work, there will be no revival in his people, and there will be no revival in the nation.

Establishes the sequential, bottom-up nature of revival, starting with personal renewal.

Discussion Questions

[Question]

What does it mean that revival is 'the work of God alone,' and how should that shape our prayers and efforts?

[Context]

Weaver emphasizes God's sovereignty in revival, citing Psalm 80 and the inability to repent or pray without God's quickening.

[Question]

Why does Weaver insist that revival is primarily for God's people rather than for the conversion of the lost?

[Context]

He argues that you cannot revive a dead man; revival presupposes life and is for the restoration of believers.

[Question]

How does the mutual reinforcement between wicked rulers and wicked people manifest in modern society?

[Context]

Weaver uses Hosea 7 to show that people make the king glad with their wickedness, and neither holds the other accountable.

[Question]

In what ways is God's law 'lost in the temple' today, and how can we recover it?

[Context]

Weaver compares the finding of the law in Josiah's temple to the modern church's neglect of God's law.

[Question]

What would it look like for a nation to have only one law—God's law—and what would be the implications for religious freedom?

[Context]

Weaver asserts that true revival ends multiculturalism and establishes God's law exclusively, referencing Exodus 12:49.

[Question]

How do we balance love for family with loyalty to God's truth when a family member embraces sin?

[Context]

Weaver asks whether we would stand with God or with a family member involved in perversion, citing Matthew 10:37.

[Question]

What practical steps can we take to pursue personal revival and become the starting point for broader revival?

[Context]

Weaver calls for presenting our bodies as living sacrifices and being transformed by the renewing of our minds (Romans 12:1-2).

Applications

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deepseek | deepseek-v4-pro | weaver_study | 2026-06-06T15:41:36Z