Today, more than ever we need revival in our land. Just consider for a moment the attitudes and actions that are seen in our day: 1. Abortion - From 1973 through 2000, more than 39 million legal abortions occurred. Today, an estimated 46 million abortions occur worldwide An estimated 43% of women will have at least one abortion by the time they are 45 years old. 2. Same Sex marriage - New York, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Iowa, Vermont, and New Hampshire & DC has legalized gay marriage. Across the country more states are fighting to legalize Gay marriage 3. Crime Is Out Of Control- Just turn on the TV or Internet, or open a newspaper and you will hear of wickedness & crime. Mothers killing their children. Fathers molesting their children. 4.Churches & Baptisms Declining- 5. Pastors Quitting and Failing Morally - It is reported that 1500 ministers leave the ministry every month. Countless clergymen are involved in extramarital affairs and pornography. 6. Divorce Rate - ½ of all marriages 7. Controversy & Conflict in the Church - There are churches all across this country that have more scandals than Congress.
Things are bad and they seem to be getting worse. We cannot blame the condition of our country on the lost, we have been promised by God (2 Chronicles 7:14) There are 3 things that are seen in this text that could bring “Revival In The Land”

I. Remove The Distractions (v4)

The images and the groves and high places were idolatrous, he broke and destroyed them. These things were introduced by his Father and were sacred but not to Hezekiah. He made sure that any remnant of his father’s idolatry was destroyed. Even the brazen serpent that Moses had made was broken into pieces. The people had ignored that God had created it and began to worship it in a pagan manner by burning incense to it. There were some obstacles that Hezekiah encountered that had to be confronted.
1. Devotion Can Be A Distraction

A. Your Spouse, Family, Friends, Job, and even Your Church

1. If any of these things come before your devotion to God, a form of idolatry.

2. (Luke 14:26) ^{26 If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and}

sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple.
2. Reputations Can Be A Distraction

A. Hezekiah was not only taking a stand against the idols that his father had set up

1, He was also going against the will of the people. (v4)
B. What if Hezekiah had compromised as he tried to be a Godly servant?

1. Revival would not of come. (Luke 16:13) No servant can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and

love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.
3. Tradition Can Be A Distraction (v4b)

A. God commanded Moses to make this brazen serpent. (Numbers 21:7-9) Therefore the people came to Moses,

1. The people had preserved this serpent but had strayed from the original intent.

2. Instead of remembering what God had done and glorifying Him,

3. Hezekiah “broke the brazen serpent into pieces and called it Nehushtan”

a. Nothing but copper

B. What are you focused on?

II. Refuse To Depart - ( v5-6)

1. Refuse To Depart From Your Confidence In The Lord - v5

A. We can assume that there was a great deal of opposition to his actions. Why?

1. Because he made changes and people always seem to have a problem with change.
2. If we are going to make a difference, if we are going to change things,
B. Remember what David said to Goliath - (1 Samuel 17:47)

C. The odds may be against us, but God is more powerful than the odds.

2. Refuse To Depart From Your Commitment To The Lord - (6)

A. When you are headed into battle against the enemy… CLING TO THE LORD!
B. If Hezekiah had left God and attempted to change things on his own,

1. He would have been consumed by the enemy
C. Many good intentioned people today have tried to change things on their own.

1. They have found themselves overtaken and consumed!
D. There was consistency in this man’s life! (V5) “there was none like him”

3. Refuse To Depart From Your Compliance To The Lord (6) but kept his commandments

A. Do we look at the Lord’s commands as something to be kept and guarded?

B. Do we look at them as something precious, or ignore the importance of them?

1. Jesus said in (John 14:15) Then in (James 4:17)
C. If we are ever going to see Revival In The Land, we must “Resolve To Depend”

III. Resolve To Depend (v7-8)
1. Depend On The Source Of Your Security
A. We Can Be Secure In The Presence Of The Lord (v7a)

1. Hezekiah did not depend on help from family, friends or servants in the kingdom.

2. He trusted the Lord. (V5)

B. Surely we can depend on the Lord!!!!!!

1. Notice He was with Noah in the Ark, Abraham on Mt. Moriah, Moses as he lead His people,

David as he fought Goliath, Apostles as they faced persecution, Paul in prison
B. We Can Be Secure In The Provisions Of The Lord - (V7a) and he prospered whithersoever
2. Depend On The Source Of Your Strength - (v8)

A. The name “Hezekiah” literally means “whom Jehovah has strengthened”

1. He will provide us strength. (Mental, physical and spiritual)
B. It is not possible to “Remove The Distractions” if you don’t “Resolve To Depend”
C. You will not be able to “Refuse To Depart” if you do not “Resolve To Depend”
D. We can’t “Do What Is Right In The Lord’s Sight” until we “Resolve To Depend”

1. Depend on Jesus Christ for salvation (Isa. 45:22)(Jh. 14:6)(Rom. 10:9-10,13)

2. Depend on Jesus for all things (Mt. 6:33)

During the 1930s, 250 men were holding the ropes to a dirigible (an airship similar to a blimp) to keep it from floating away. Suddenly a gust of wind caught one end of the dirigible, lifting it high off the ground. Some of the men immediately let go of their ropes and fell safely to the ground. Others panicked, clinging firmly to the end of their ropes as the nose of the dirigible arose to greater heights. Several men who couldn’t keep holding on fell and were seriously injured. One man, however, continued to dangle high in the air for forty-five minutes until he was rescued. Reporters later asked him how he was able to hold on to the rope for so long.” I didn’t hold on to the rope,” he replied. “I just tied it around my waist, and the rope held on to me.” Instead of trying to hold on to God, let God hold on to you.