I want to speak to you tonight
about a man who had a tender heart. And of course, I'm going
to take my text from the first statement of 2 Kings 22, 19,
because thine heart was tender. God gave to King Josiah a tender
heart, a tender heart. May he be pleased to give all
of us tender hearts, hearts that are sensitive to that which God
has said, and may we have great respect and reverence for the
Scriptures. Let me give you an overview of
the chapter. Five things stand out to me in
this chapter, and I'll just give you an outline. of 2 Kings chapter
22. Number one, I see God's man. And God's man is Josiah. His name means one whom God has
healed. He has been healed of his spiritual
diseases. He's healed based upon the certainty
of the death of our Lord Jesus Christ. For as Isaiah says, with
his stripes, You're healed. God has revealed himself to Josiah,
and he will use him in a mighty way in destroying idolatry throughout
the city of Jerusalem, throughout the temple, and throughout the
land of Judah. This is a man whom God has healed.
Blessed is that man. Blessed is that woman whom God
heals of their spiritual disease. We don't even know we are diseased
till the Spirit of God shows us. And then when He reveals
our sinfulness to us, He reveals the remedy. And the remedy would
be the stripes of our Lord Jesus Christ. I see in this man, God's
man, Josiah, I see the sovereignty of the grace of God. God passed
by his father with his saving mercies. His father was Ammon. Ammon had no love for God whatsoever. And though his father Manasseh
had started off in his reign in Judah as an ungodly man and
an idolater, just a pagan as it were, God turned him around. And he set his heart to eliminate
the idols that he had brought into the temple that he had had
erected in Jerusalem. and throughout the nation of
Judah. And then his son Ammon was born. His son Ammon unfortunately did
not follow the example of his father's later years. He followed
the example of his father's younger years. And he too was an idolater
and he sought to undo all the good that his father Manasseh
had done according to the leadership of God. Ammon was born ungodly,
he lived ungodly, and he died ungodly, and he is still ungodly
to this day. The Bible says in Revelation
22, he that is filthy, let him be filthy still. He that is unjust,
Let him be unjust still. Ammon is still unjust. He is
still filthy. There is no mercy, no mercy shown
after death. There's no grace poured out into
somebody's soul after they leave this world. As the tree lies, or as it falls so it shall lie. And Ammon to this day lies in
the damnation of God, in wrath that will never be lessened and
will never be satisfied. We thank God that the wrath of
our Lord was satisfied in the death of the Lord Jesus Christ.
There is therefore now no condemnation to them who are in Christ Jesus,
who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. Josiah
was born of a wicked father. He didn't have a good example
to follow. And though I feel certain that
many around him, many of his father's advisors, told him to
follow in the steps of his father, God would not let him do that.
I'm thankful for effectual grace, aren't you? That grace that will
not permit us to go on in our idolatry and go on in our unbelief. Grace that saves. Grace that
arrests us. Grace that seeks us out and grace
that finds us. Thank God for His salvation and
the spiritual healing that is found in the Lord Jesus Christ.
You see, Josiah, though he lived in a time of great idolatry and
pagan worship, God had a very few prophets that were true to
the Word of God. Jeremiah, Zephaniah, and even a prophetess
by the name of Huldah. These were true to the cause
of God. The majority of the people in
Judah were not anti-religion, but they were anti-true religion. They were against the worship
of Jehovah. They were against the worship
of Christ the Lord. And Josiah pictures one who did
that which was right in the sight of God. In fact, in the first
two verses, we have just a brief biography of him. He did those
things which were right in the sight and eyes of God. So we
see God's man, verses 1 and 2. Secondly, we see God's house.
Verses 3 through 7. The temple had fallen into disrepair. Well, this is the place where
God said, I'll meet with you and you can meet with me. In
the 18th year of Josiah's reign, according to 2 Chronicles 33,
he set himself to repair the temple of God. People were giving
their money to the doorkeepers when they came in. They brought
their money to the doorkeepers to build and refresh the house
of God. And of course, this temple pictured
our Lord Jesus, who is the true temple of God. Our Lord Jesus
even said in John, the second chapter, he said, destroy this
temple And I will raise it up again the third day. And he's
referring to his own body. He's the temple of God. God was
in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself. So we have God's
man, verses 1 and 2. We have God's house, verses 3
through 7. Now let me spend a little bit
more time on this third one, God's word, verses 8 through
13. This is the book of God. It lay
unseen and unread in the house of God. This book of God's law, the first
five books of the Bible, the scroll was either lost, perhaps
it was missing for sure, maybe it had been carelessly mislaid
and neglected. I wonder if perhaps like some
people do, and I hope this is not true of you, but maybe somebody
like after a service is over, you get home, you toss your Bible
in a corner, and you don't pick it up again until time for service
next time. Maybe that's what happened. I
don't know what happened. Perhaps enemies of the truth,
perhaps they took it and hid it. Maybe they intended to destroy
it. There have been many enemies
of the Word of God, the Word of the Gospel, through the years
who've wanted to destroy every bit of the Word of God. But how
God providentially preserved His Word. Heaven and earth will
pass away, but not the Word of God. It shall last forever and ever. And apparently people knew not
the value of it and cared not for the contents of it. Pretty
much like most people are today. They don't know the value of
the Word of God. God has spoken. He's spoken through
this book. But people aren't listening.
They're not interested. But God preserved His Word. And I'll tell you this, whenever
there is a revival of interest in the Word of God, it's an indication
God's going to show mercy. Because He's not going to show
mercy. He's not going to show grace without the use of His
Word. Because the written Word speaks
to us of the incarnate Word. The first five books of the Bible,
the Pentateuch, the books of Moses, they speak to us of Christ
our Savior in picture and in type. And over and over again
He is set forth. But of course, most of the people,
Ammon, Josiah's father, had no interest in the Word of God,
didn't care the fact that nobody knew where it was or even if
it still existed. All that God would give us in
our day, a rediscovery of the Word of Truth, the gospel of
His grace. I was talking with someone who
emailed me. And we exchange emails from time
to time about this matter of revival. I don't know whether
God will ever send another revival to our country or our city or
our church again. I don't know whether He will
or not. But if He does, it won't be by preaching of revival. It
will be by the preaching of the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. And people will once again get
interested in the gospel of redeeming grace, the Word of God. You see, when God pours out an
interest in His Word into our hearts, that's when revival comes
to us individually. And we pray for that to happen.
I pray for that to happen to me. and to happen to you. Know this, when people neglect the Scriptures,
when they neglect the Word of God, the Gospel of Christ, when
the Scriptures are not set forth concerning the Lord Jesus, who
is the very core and life of the Word of God, you may be certain
that false religion will rule the day. There's got to be a return to
the Word of God. You see, the thing about Catholicism,
I know people say, well, you know, you shouldn't say anything
wrong or say anything bad, rather, about other denominations. There's
nothing good that can be said about Catholicism. You need to
understand that. Nothing good whatsoever. And
if it were left up to the Roman Catholic Church, nobody would
have Bibles today. The Pope and the bishops and
the priests, they were the only ones they said that were qualified
to read and properly interpret the Word of God. And as I say,
if it were left up to them, the common man, wouldn't have a Bible. I remember reading a story Spurgeon
told years ago in one of his printed sermons. He spoke of
a priest who invited one of the ladies of the congregation to
come to the rectory where the priest lived and that he had
a room that was filled with old stuff And he asked her if she
would come and help him clean out the room. And of course,
she said, you know, Father, I'll be glad to do that. And so she
goes there cleaning out the room. And then he says, well, what
have we here? And she said, what is it, Father?
He said, it's an old Bible. And she said, I've never seen
a Bible except the one that's chained inside the sanctuary. He said, well, here, take a look
at it, and he threw her the Bible. And she would later say, he threw
me the word of life. I had never read the Bible before,
and I started reading it, and I found out that Catholicism
was error. And so I went to hear somebody
that indicated from my friends, someone indicated to me that
he knew something about the Bible, and he talked about Jesus Christ
and His salvation by redeeming grace. She said, I blessed the
day that old priest threw me the Word of God. Don't take it
for granted. You hold in your hands the very
word of life. People have been martyred to
protect this book that I fear we take so for granted. Well, the Lord preserved his
word. And I don't think Hilkiah was
looking for it, I think we might say of Hilkiah
what is said in Isaiah 65 concerning the Word of God, I was found
by those who sought not after me. He wasn't looking for the
Word of God, but he found it. And that's the way it is in conversion.
You weren't looking, but then you found the Lord and you found
out, you discovered the Lord found you. He sought you. and put it in your heart to seek
Him. It's a sign that God has mercy
in store for His people when He leads us to rediscover the
Word of God. You remember Paul told Timothy
in 2 Timothy 4, preach the Word, the instant in season, out of
season. We must keep preaching the gospel
of Christ. You know, between Malachi and
Matthew, and you've heard this before, I'm sure if you haven't,
take note of this, there were 400 years in which God didn't
speak. 400 years of silence. It may be It may be that this
world will have years of silence whereby God doesn't speak by
one of his servants. I don't know. But as it says in John 1, there
was a man sent from God whose name was John. God raised up
a man. God raised up a man by the name
of Martin Luther. God raised up a man in Scotland
by the name of John Knox. There was a man sent from God
whose name was Christmas Evans in Wales. Up in New England, there was
a man sent of God whose name was Jonathan Edwards. There was a man sent from God
in England whose name was Charles Spurgeon. There was a man who came to Ashland,
Kentucky, and his name was Ralph Barnard. There was a man who faithfully
ministered in Ashland, Kentucky, for over 50 years, Henry Mahan. God has his servants. And though they have different
personalities and different deliveries in preaching, all of God's servants
tell the same story of God's redeeming grace to sinners through
the Lord Jesus Christ. When I moved to Rocky Mount,
Virginia in late 1974 to pastor the church that my father had
pastored, he had started that church, he and several other
people, I went there having purposed in my heart to preach three basic
truths. I wanted to preach the character
of God. People don't know who God is. And I went there to preach the
sinfulness of all men. And I went there to preach the
Lord Jesus Christ, the Savior of sinners. I preached those
three things hard. And after several months, I began
to see a little bit of a breakthrough. Had some Sunday school teacher,
actually a man, his wife, both of them were Sunday school teachers,
but he called me. And he was a deacon. And he said,
our Sunday school lesson Sundays in John chapter 10, and he said,
I'm seeing the doctrine that God chooses his own sheep. He said, am I right on that?
I said, yeah, you're right on that. And that was the first
breakthrough I saw. And I rejoiced that God sent
a measure of a revival. Several people were converted,
and I wound up baptizing most all the congregation. Let's just keep preaching the
character of God, the sinfulness of man, and the Savior of sinners,
the Lord Jesus, and His blood sacrifice that satisfied God. Here's the fourth thing, and
I've got to go quickly. God's messenger, and that's in
verse 14. A very unlikely person, a prophetess. Her name is Huldah. She faithfully
delivered the word of God to Josiah. You see, the word of God not
only comes through what Paul called earthen vessels. There
are some times when God uses weaker vessels. like Huldah,
that the excellency of the power may be of God and not of the
vessel." It's not unusual for God to use women in the Scriptures. Miriam is said in Micah chapter
6 and verse 4, to have been with Moses and Aaron. Moses, Aaron,
and Miriam led the children of Israel. God used Miriam In the book of Judges, God used
Deborah as a judge. And now God uses Huldah to instruct
them in the mind of God. And she was even in the College
of the Prophets. It was a great mercy to Jerusalem
that she was there. Evidently, Jeremiah and Zephaniah
were in another location, and here Josiah sends to the college
of the prophets, seeking a word from God. And the word from God
came from an unlikely source, from Huldah. And that brings me to the last
thing, God's message. Verses 15 through 20. And God's
message was judgment for some and salvation for others. Notice how it begins in verse
15. And she said unto them, Thus saith the Lord God of Israel,
Tell the man that sent you to me. She didn't say tell his majesty. Then say, tell the king. Just tell the man that sent you
to me. See, when it comes to preaching
the gospel, there's no respecter of persons. He was just another
man, just another man. Years ago, permit me to give
another personal illustration. Years ago, we had a—I had heard
of this doctor. He was quite popular in our community
in Rocky Mount, Virginia. I had heard of him, but I didn't
know him. And he came in one Sunday evening
to attend the worship service. Well, I didn't know him, and
I was sitting up on the platform. Come up just a few minutes early,
kind of looking over my notes and thinking a little bit, trying
to get my mind straight. And somebody came up and said,
you need to know Dr. So-and-so is here. He sat right
back there. I said, oh, really? Yeah. You
want to go meet him? I said, no, I don't want to go
meet him. He's so popular. He's the sweetest
man, the greatest doctor I've ever met. And I said, well, that's
all wonderful. But in here, he's just another hero. Just another
hero. We've all got to learn this.
We're a bunch of nobodies. There's only one somebody in
here. That's the Lord Jesus Christ. He's the one we brag on. So she
says, go tell the man. Go tell the man. Tell him of
judgment that's going to fall upon the nation. But tell him he's going to go
to the grave in peace. And the reason is because, verse
19, 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. He
had kind of a two-fold reaction. Inward, which brought forth an
outward reaction. The inward reaction was a tenderized
heart. Who tenderizes the heart? Who
makes the heart tender? Everybody's heart by nature is
hard. He wasn't any better than any
other man. He wasn't more receptive to the
Word of God. The Lord gave him a tender heart,
a soft heart, a sensitive heart, a pliable heart. His heart was tender and he humbled
himself before the Lord. And the outward indication of
that was he rent his clothes. And he wept. A tender heart's a sensitive
heart to the word of God. Does the word of God affect you?
Are you sensitive to the message of the scriptures? A tender heart is a soft heart. A soft heart. Our hearts, Ezekiel
says our hearts are hard. God takes away the heart of stone,
gives us a heart of flesh. You see, no impression can be
made upon a stone, but an impression is made upon that which is soft. Thank God His Word, His Gospel
has made an impression on us. And a tender heart is a submissive
heart. You bow to the Word of God. And
a tender heart is a heart that melts. It melts under the grace
of God. I thought about those two disciples
on the road to Emmaus, and our Lord spoke with them by the way. And then he left and they said,
did not our heart burn, burn within us while he talked to
us by the way and he opened the script. Does your heart burn
with the word of God? Does it leave a lasting impression
upon you? Thank God he speaks to us and
he moves us to reverence him and believe him and trust him
and have confidence in him because he's given us a tender heart.
It's a gift of grace. A gift of grace. Let's sing a
closing song.