“Going Home After Revival”
2 Kings 18:1-7
INTRO. If you have been revived this week, it was not I that
brought revival to your heart. Nor was it the fine music
we had this week. But it was due to the fact that God’s
Spirit moved on your heart and you responded to His
moving. 2 Chronicles 7:14 tells us, “If my people, which
are called by My name, shall humble themselves, and
pray, and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways;
then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin,
and will heal their land.” Revival is for God’s people, not
the lost, for God cannot revive something that has not
been alive. Something that is dead cannot be revived,
because it is beyond living. A lost person is dead to the
things of God, so until Christ makes him anew, they can-
not be revived. Charles G. Finney, the great Revivalist of
the past century, said, “Revival is nothing more than a
new beginning of obedience unto God.” It is a laying
aside of our desires and following God’s desires. It is a
realization that we have sinned against Almighty God and
repenting of our wickedness, and recommitting of oursel-
ves unto God! In God’s Word, many exhortations are
given to God’s people to awake and evangelize the world.
Romans 13:11 tells us, “Knowing the time, it is now high
time to awake out of sleep: For now is our salvation
nearer than when we believe.” It is evident today that
many of God’s people have been rocked to sleep by the
world and its cares, but it is time to wake up and serve
Him!
In our text, Hezekiah, the son of Ahaz, became the king
of Judah. When he started his reign, at the age of 25, he
saw that Israel, God’s people, had left the worship of God
to worship idols. They had forgotten what God had done
in their lives. God’s protection, God’s provision, and
God’s promises. Many times we, as God’s people, are so
busy with the pursuits of this life that we forget what a
mighty God we serve and what we can accomplish
through His name. Nothing is impossible to us, if we let
God do it through us! Hezekiah experienced the blessing
of God because he realized one thing: Revival must start
with us. Hezekiah, it tells us in v2 of our text, “..did that
which was right in the sight of the LORD..” What about
you? When revival came to Hezekiah, he did three
things: 1) He removed all idols (v4) (Ps. 44:20; Matthew
6:33); 2) He relied completely on the God (vvs. 5,6)
(Proverbs 3:5-6); and 3) He realized God’s presence (v
7) (Jeremiah 23:23-24; Hebrews 13:5-6). A real revival
produces a time of praising the LORD and rededicating of
our lives unto God. I want us to think about this subject
for a few minutes, “Going Home after Revival.” How will
you go home? Surrendered or stubborn? I want each of
us tonight to answer some questions in the privacy of our
own hearts. Just us and God’s Spirit. May our pray be
tonight, “Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me,
and know my thoughts: And see if there be any wicked
way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.”
(1) Will You Go Home Surrendered?
1 Samuel 3:3-10
A. The word “surrender” means “To deliver up, to yield to
another.” If we have been saved by God’s grace we are
not only to live a separated life, but a surrendered life.
(Romans 12:1-2; 1 Corinthians 6:19-20).
ILLUS. When Henry the VIII had determined to make
himself head of the English Church, he insisted
that the convocation should accept his headship
without limitation and modifying clauses. He re-
fused to entertain any compromises, and vowed
that “he would have no tantrums,” as he called
them. When a person attempts to bargain with
his Savior he tries to have some say-so in his
salvation, he attempts to save alive some favor-
ite sin, he attempts to amend the humbling
terms of God’s grace-but God’s grace is perfect
and complete and needs no amendments. Jesus
will be all in all, and we, as sinners, must be
nothing at all.
Our surrender must be complete, there
must be no tantrums, but our hearts must with-
out reservation submit ourselves to the sover-
eignty of our Redeemer! (1)
Illus. A lady once asked her pastor, “Tell me, what is
commitment?” The pastor showed her a blank
sheet of paper and said, “Take this paper and
sign your name at the bottom and let the LORD
fill it in as He sees fit.”
B. Surrendered means you have the same attitude as the
Apostle Paul.
1. “LORD, what will you have me to do?” (Gals. 2:20;
Phils. 1:21).
2. Surrendered means you will have the same loyalty
as Stephen (Acts 7).
C. Surrendered means you will be obedient like Peter--At
thy Word I will.
ILLUS. The only part of the Bible you truly believe is
part you obey (2).
ILLUS. Which version of the Bible do you prefer? Some
advocate the King James. Others are drawn to
the New International Version. One group likes
the New American Standard while others prefer
the Living Bible. But the question isn’t really
which Bible you read, but which do you prefer.
Dr. Howard Hendricks notes that many of us ac-
tually prefer the Reversed Standard Version.
When we read God’s Word and recognize a call
for a Change, we choose to do the reverse and
go against God’s clear call (3),
1. Jesus said, “My sheep hear My voice, and I know
them, and they follow Me.” (John 10:27)
2. Surrendered means His service means more than
life, not my will but thine be done.
(2) Will You Go Home Stubborn
1 Samuel 3:13-15
A. This tells us how King Saul was not willing to surren-
der his own will for God’s way. The biggest problem
we all have in serving God is self. D. L. Moody said,
“I have had more problems with myself than with
any other man.” Until we are willing to humble our-
selves before God, forsake our way and follow His,
we will not see revival in our lives or Churches!
B. King Ahab knew about God but surrendered his life
to the devil because he was stubborn.
1. Lot.
2. Lot’s wife.
C. Isaiah 1:2-4. God has graciously saved you that are
saved tonight, He has given you His Spirit, and He
has left you His Word to follow, How have you repaid
His goodness to you? (Psalm 116:12-14, 16-17)
(3) Will You Go Home Satisfied Or Sorry?
Psalm 32:1
A. The only way to go home satisfied is know that
every sin has been forgiven (1 John 1:9).Daily, we
must confess our sins unto God and ask His forgive-
ness or else, walk not in fellowship with Him (1 John
1:6-7). John in those verses makes a distinction be-
tween our words and our walk. Three times we see
the words “if we say,” (vv. 6, 8, 10). The first lie
(verse 6) is that of one whose words indicate that he
is in communion with God, but whose walk refutes
his words. How are we walking about? if we keep in
mind that by our walk we instruct others, we will
walk in newness of life (Romans 6:4), honestly
(Romans 13:12-13), by faith (2 Corinthians 5:7), In
the Spirit (Galatians 5:16), in Love (Ephesians 5:2),
circumspectly (Ephesians 5:15). The walk of a man
is the distinguishing characteristic which different-
iates the children of God from the children of the
devil (4).
ILLUS. Hospital acquired infections are one of the lead-
ing causes of death in the United States. These
infections are either the direct or indirect cause
of 80,000 fatalities each year. As many as one
third of these deaths could be prevented if
health care workers strictly followed infection
control procedures. Of those precautionary
measures, “hand washing may be the single
most important tool of infection protection.”
Studies suggest that health care workers wash
their hands less than half as often as they shou-
ld. “Patients come into the hospitals to be
made better, and they actually, in many cases,
are made worse,” said Dr. Robert Haley, direct-
or of epidemiology at the University of Texas
Southwestern Medical School in Dallas. These
hospital infections cost the hospitals themselves
$4 to $4.5 billion a year. The Church has fre-
quently been compared to a hospital. Do we
compare here? People are looking for a safe
haven to find God but sometimes our Churches
send them home with a greater illness. This
could be prevented if we would but heed the
words of James 4:8, “Draw near to God and He
will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you
sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-
minded.” Daily washing at the basin of God’s
Word will prevent us from spreading the deadly
germs of sin (5).
B. Have you confessed?
1. Of being unfaithful?
2. Of being unfruitful?
C. Have you confessed of all the sins you are guilty of?
1. Of lack of prayer?
2. Of robbing God?
D. Jacob was never satisfied until he went back to
Bethel.
1. There he confessed his wrongs and failures to
the LORD. Do you need to Go back to Bethel?
It is a place of confession, consecration, and
commitment to God!
2. After this Bethel experience, he went home
satisfied? Genesis 35:1-7. Will you go home
tonight satisfied or sorry?
(4) Will You Go Home Saved Or Lost?
Luke 18:10-14
A. Here the Bible tells of two men who had the same
opportunity.
1. One went home saved.
2. The other went home lost.
Someone has said of opportunity, “Destiny is not a mat-
ter of chance, but of choice.” (6)
ILLUS. Intelligent people can sometimes be unbelievab-
ly foolish. Consider the 19th-century explorers
of the Franklin Expedition who tried to reach the
North Pole. Annie Dillard in her book Teaching
A Stone To Talk, describes the provisions they
took for that hazardous journey: “Each vessel
carried an auxiliary steam engine and a 12-day
supply of coal for the entire projected 2 to 3-
year voyage. Instead of additional coal..each
ship made room for a 1,200 volume library, a
hand organ playing 50 tunes, china place sett-
ings for officers and men, cutglass wine goblets,
and sterling silver flatware. The expedition car-
ried no special clothing for the Arctic, only uni-
forms of Her Majesty’s Navy.” Imagine heading
into frigid wastelands with supplies like that!
Yet, some people heading toward eternity may
be even more shortsighted. Countless multi
tudes fail to think of their destination
with the dangers of everlasting destruction.
Ignoring their desperate need for forgiveness
of their sin through faith in Jesus Christ, they
pay no attention to His solemn question, “What
shall it profit a man if he gains the whole world,
and loses his own soul?” (7) Are you prepared
to meet God? Will you go home saved or lost?
B. Acts 16:32-36 tells how a hard hearted jailer went
home saved.
C. Mark 10:17-22 tells of the rich young ruler.
1. Who went home lost and sad.
2. It is always sad when a sinner goes home after
revival still lost.
ILLUS. On the night of May 26, 1996, a great tragedy
occurred in Houston, Texas. Cora Lee Taylor,
her husband, and their two grandchildren were
awakened by fire. In Panic, they fled the burn
-ing house. All four of them escaped safely, but
the 58-year-old grandmother didn’t see that her
husband had rescued both grandchildren. With-
out thought or inquiry, Mrs. Taylor ran back into
the flames to rescue the grandchild she believed
was still in the house. Tragically, Cora Lee Tay-
lor died searching for the child that had already
been rescued. An even greater tragedy hap-
pens repeatedly every day. People try to do
what Jesus has already done. The rescue from
hell’s flames were accomplished on a Cross
2,000 years ago, we must simply realize it and accept it by faith (8).
CLOSING: How will you go home after this revival?
Surrendered or stubborn? Satisfied or
Sorry? Saved or Lost? The choice is yours.
This week Christ has been presented to you.
Christ is the solution to any problem you are
facing or might be facing in your life. What
will you do with Jesus?
NOTES: 1. Elon Foster. 6000 Classic Sermon Illustrations. Pg.
720.
2. Raymond McHenry. The Best Of In Other Words. Pg.
173.
3. McHenry. Pg. 173.
4. Lehman Strauss. The Epistles Of John. Pg. 36.
5. McHenry. PP. 50-51.
6. Albert M. Wells, Jr. Inspiring Quotations-Contem-
porary & Classical. Pg. 145.
7. Vernon C. Grounds. Our Daily Bread. Volume 42.
Number 11. February 6, 1998.
8. Raymond McHenry. In Other Words. Volume 7.
Issue 3. Pg. 14.