Turn back to 2 Chronicles chapter
34. They found the Word of God, and
what a treasure. What a treasure they found. You
can imagine when he found that book, he goes, well, look here.
What's this? It's the Word of God. Same word
we have right now. Although that was probably just
the first five books of the Bible given to Moses, Moses wrote. Let's look at this a little bit
before we get into chapter 34 of the history, in chapter 33,
of what went on, what was going
on. Manasseh was Josiah's grandfather. says he was twelve years old
when he began to reign, and he reigned for fifty-five years
in Jerusalem. That's a long time to go without
the Word of God in worship and in the service. He reigned for
fifty-five years and did that which was evil in the sight of
the Lord, likened to the abominations of the heathen whom the Lord
had cast out before the children of Israel. Now listen to this. He built again the high places
which Hezekiah, his father, had broken down. He was a political
king. He wanted to make the people
happy, the people of the land, not only just Israel. He wanted
to get along with everybody, compromise. And he reared up
altars for Balaam. He made groves and worshipped
all the hosts of heaven and served them. And he built altars in
the house of the Lord, whereof the Lord had said, Jerusalem
shall my name be forever. And he built altars for all the
host of heaven in the two courts of the house of the Lord. And
he caused, now Frank read this out of Deuteronomy. He says,
don't cause your children to pass through the fire. He caused
his children to pass through the fire, offered them up as
burnt offerings. Like I said, when you take the
word of God out of it, you don't know where it's going to end.
You'll end up in hell is where it's going to end. But he calls
his children to pass through the fire in the valley of the
son of Hinnom. And he observed times and he used enchantments.
And he used witchcraft. And he dealt with a familiar
spirit and with wizards. He wrought much evil in the sight
of the Lord to provoke him to anger. He said a carved image,
the idol which he had made, in the house of the Lord, in the
house of God, of which God said to David and to Solomon, his
son, in this house and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen before all
the tribes of Israel, will I put my name forever. Neither will
I any more remove the foot of Israel from out of the land which
I have appointed for your fathers, so that they will take heed to
do all that I commanded them, according to the whole law and
the statutes and the ordinances by the hand of Moses. But they
lost that. They lost it. They just put it
back over in the shelf somewhere and collected dust and threw
stuff on top of it. And they relegated the Word of
God to the scrap heap. That's exactly what they did.
So Manasseh made Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to err
and to do worse than the heathens. That's because they had light.
Those heathens, they were doing what they were doing, but they
were just in darkness. But they had light. They had the Word
of God at one time. until they relegated it to the scrap heap.
But now the Lord brought Manasseh down. Look in verse 11. Wherefore
the Lord brought upon them the captains of the host of the king
of Assyria, which took Manasseh among the thorns, and bound him
with fetters, and carried him to Babylon. I want you to see
the rich mercy and grace of God here. Don't miss this. I just
read to you what he did. He set up idols in the temple,
carved them out and set them up in the temple, relegated the
Word of God to the scrap heap, worshipped all the hosts of heaven.
I mean, he worshipped, they were worshipping anything and everything. And when he was in affliction,
he besought the Lord his God and humbled himself greatly before
the God of his fathers, and prayed unto him, and he was entreated
of him. And God heard his supplication, and he brought him again to Jerusalem
into his kingdom. And then Manasseh knew that the
Lord, he was God. Then he started tearing down
all those things. But what great mercy and grace. This man made Israel, the people
of God, he made them to sin and to do worse than the heathen.
And yet when he bowed down, when he humbled himself, God showed
mercy. Oh, the depth of the mercy of
God. So he tears all that down. He
reigned for fifty-five years, and let's go to verse twenty.
So Manasseh slept with his fathers, and they buried him in his own
house, and Ammon his son reigned in his stead. Ammon was twenty-two
years old when he began to reign, and he reigned two years in Jerusalem.
And I'm sure Manasseh told Ammon, you know, some of the things
that he said, I've done some bad things, son. And he reestablished,
you know, worship. But he did that which was evil
in the sight of the Lord, as did Manasseh his father. For
Ammon sacrificed unto all the carved images which Manasseh
his father had made, and served them, and humbled not himself
before the Lord, as Manasseh his father had humbled himself.
But Ammon trespassed more and more." You think, well, nobody's
worse than that guy. Well, his son. His son trespassed
more and more. And his servants conspired against
him, and they murdered him, they slew him. in his own house. But
the people of the land threw all them that had conspired against
King Ammon, and the people of the land made Josiah his son
king in his stead." All right. Now, Josiah reigned in his stead,
and it says he did that which was right in the sight of the
Lord. And I wrote out by that verse
this morning, sovereign grace, sovereign grace. Here is a son
of a king who's wicked. He's just a wicked king. He's
so wicked, God has him killed. He kills this one. And then Josiah,
what we hear about him is not one bad thing. Not one bad thing. God has mercy on this one. And
he shows grace to this one. And he does that which is right
in the sight of the Lord. And in verse 3, In the eighth year of his reign,
while he was yet young, he's sixteen years old at this time. Sixteen! Listen, teenagers, pay
attention. He's sixteen years old, and he
seeks the God of his father, David. And he seeks after him
seriously. He seeks after him with all his
heart, and he walks in the light that he's given. He walks in
the light that he's given. And then look down in this verse,
it says, For in the eighth year of his reign, while he was yet
young, he began to seek the God of David his father. And in the
twelfth year, the twelfth year, he began to purge Judah. That's
twenty years old. I thought of Luke sitting over
here. How old are you? Twenty? Look at that young man. That's the age he was when he
purged Judah. Now, you think he is popular?
I bet you they were ready to take that man's head off. They
were ready to take that young man's head off because he was
doing away with their gods. He was doing away with what they
had known for years. And this 20-year-old man, no
matter what courage he had to have, to go in there and just
strip. And the only way you're going
to have true worship, you've got to get rid of all the false
stuff. You've got to get rid of all the idols. You've got
to strip it down. You've got to get rid of all the rubbish
before you can have true worship. You have to. And this 20-year-old
man, and I thought, man, that's young. That's young. But he began to purge. That's
a tough word, isn't it? Purge. And I read to you what
he did, man. I mean, he went in there and
they cleaned the house. And he began to purge Judah and
Jerusalem from the high places. You know, when the Word of God,
as I said this earlier, when the Word of God is not our guide,
anything goes. You don't have a worship service,
you have a religious service, and God's not in it. He's not in it. Now, verse 8,
let's see here, verse 8. Now in the 18th year of his reign,
when he had purged the land and the house, he sent Shaphan, the
son of Azaliah, and those names, and he goes and repairs the house
of the Lord. He goes and repairs the temple.
He's 26 years old now at this time. You see, before they repair
the temple, they've got to get rid of all the rubbish. He's got to get rid of all this
trash. Then after he gets rid of all that, he purges them.
Now he said, listen, the Temple of Solomon, he said, now we're
going to clean up the house of God. We're going to go to the
temple, we're going to purge, we're going to clean it up and fix
it up. It's in disarray. It needs to be repaired. That's
what happens when you neglect something. They neglected the
house of God. That's what they did. And Helkiah
the priest, There in verse 14, when they brought out the money
that was brought into the house of the Lord, Hilkiah the priest
found the book of the law of the Lord. He found the Bible.
What they had was the first five books of Moses. He found the
Word of God. Not a book. He found the book. He found the living, pulsating
Word of God. That's what he found, the living
word of God. And that was given by the Lord
to Moses. And he says in verse 15, I have
found the book. I'm sure they heard about it.
I'm sure they'd heard about it. I've found the book. And Shaphan
reads the book. Here go to verse 18 now. They
take it to the king. The king needs to see this. The
king needs to see this is the word of God. Look what we've
found here. We have found the treasure. This is priceless. We've got it in our laps. They
just had that one copy there, what they had in the temple. Then Shaphan the scribe told
the king, saying, Hilkiah the priest has given me a book. And he takes it and he reads
it to the king, and I want you to notice the effect that the
Word of God has when it comes in power. And Shaphan read it before the
king, and it came to pass when the king had heard the words
of the law, he rent his clothes. He realized, we're in trouble.
We haven't done anything, this book says. He said, we have not
kept the commandments of the Lord. The king ran his clothes. It
brought him down. It smote his heart. I want you to turn over to Hebrews
4. God's not going to save anyone
apart from His Word. Even when Josiah, this great king, God
sent him His Word. He sent him his word in Hebrews
chapter 4, verse 12. For the word of God is quick
and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing
even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit. I cannot
do that. But God's Word can do that, and
of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts
and intents of the heart. That's the Word of God. That's
the Word of God. Make much of it. Make much of
the Word of God. No other book can do this. You
can read books and books and books. You know, some will entertain
you, most will bore you, but this book is a living book, a
living Word of God. Of His own will beget He us,
how? With the Word of Truth, His Word. Now, this was the first time
Josiah had heard The Word of God read. This was the first time Josiah
had heard in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
This was the first time Josiah had read and heard read about
the fall. This is the first time that he
heard from the Word of God, not from stories that have been told
and told and told. But he heard from the Word of
God about the seed of the woman. The first time he heard of the
flood, from the Word of God. From the Word of God. He heard
how that God had Noah make an ark. And all those in that ark
were saved. And all those outside that ark
drowned under the wrath of God. For the first time he heard that.
He heard from the Word of God how that God delivered Israel
out of bondage, and you're going to see this in the end, through
that Passover. He reestablishes the Passover,
the Gospel. You know, you can't have revival
until you have the Word of God. Revive us again, we sing that
song, revive us. It won't happen apart from the
Word. It won't happen. He reads the Word of God to the
king, and the king rents his clothes. Millions have lived and never
seen or read the Bible, but we have it in our laps. We have
it in our homes. You have it right there, opened
up in front of you, the Word of God. Millions know about The
Bible being the Word of God, but they've never read it. Some
read it out of curiosity, some have read it out of religious
duty, some have read it only to criticize it, but some have
read it for the salvation of their souls. Some have heard
it, you've heard it from the pulpit, you've opened it up and
you've read it, and it's had the same effect on you that it
had on Josiah. He rent his clothes, he repented,
he said, we're in trouble. I tell you, the first time I
really heard the Word of God preached, I realized I was in
trouble. I realized I was in trouble.
God can do with me as He will. He's a just God if He saves me,
and He's a just God if He damns me. That's right. He's God. And I found that out through
the Word of God. That's how you find out. You
find that through the Word of God. You're not going to get
that in a dream. Get it from the Word of God. These men read it, and when they
found it, and they realized and knew, this is the Word of God.
They read it out of hunger to know what God had to say. When
Josiah heard, when he heard Shaphan read from the Word of God, it
got his, I mean, his full attention. He got his full attention. He wanted to hear. He was willing
to hear. Just like this morning, my heart
desires, Lord, speak. Speak through Thy Word to the
heart of the people here this morning. Speak to my heart. Speak. And we see here when the Word
was read, Josiah was convicted. He said, we've sinned. He said,
we have sinned. Look there in verse 21. He said,
go inquire of the Lord for me and for them, for the people
that are left in Israel and Judah concerning the words of the book
that is found. For great is the wrath of the
Lord that is poured out upon us because our fathers have not
kept the word of the Lord. No, that was given to idolatry.
They had left true worship. They were given over to idolatry. He said, they've not kept the
Word of the Lord to do after all that's written in this book.
Go! Go and pray for me. Go inquire
of the Lord. He was convicted. He said, we've
sinned. You know what sin is? It's rebellion. It's disobedience. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
and thou shalt be saved. And I know God has to enable
us to do that. He has to enable us to do it. But I tell you what,
not to do it is rebellion. Not to do, as God says, is rebellion. It's disobedience. And as we
read here, he inquired of the Lord. He got on his face. He took his place as a sinner
before the Lord. And he says, go cry unto the
Lord for me. Go inquire for me. And he sought
mercy. He realized that God had every
right to kill him. He said, we haven't done anything
the Lord has said to do. We haven't done anything. But
he knew God was a merciful God. He knew that. He said, you go
inquire. You go inquire. What does this
word reveal? What does it reveal? Well, the
Word of God reveals our sins. He said, we've not done what
the Lord commanded. It reveals our disobedience.
It reveals our rebellion against God, our Maker. It reveals our punishment, deserved
punishment. It reveals the wrath of God against
sin. We see it in the flood. We see
it against Sodom and Gomorrah. But most of all, we see it at
Calvary. We see it at Calvary. It reveals
my sin, what I am. It reveals who God is, holy,
just, true, righteous, merciful and gracious. And it reveals
who Jesus Christ is, the Redeemer, the Messiah. There is a Savior
for sinners. For sinners. And notice the effect it has
on those who hear it in power. Verse 27. Now this concerns Josiah. When he
heard it, it broke his heart. It broke his heart. Because that
heart was tender. Who gave him a tender heart?
Where'd that tender heart come from? The natural heart is what? Stony. If you have a tender heart, if
you have a heart that loves Christ, God gave that to you. That's
the work of God. He said, thy heart was tender,
and thou didst humble thyself before God. You know what? Do you know what true humiliation
is, true humbleness? Do you know what true humbleness
is? It is a right estimation of yourself. That's what it is. Humility is a right, it is a
proper estimation of oneself. He said you humbled yourself
before God. When thou hearst his word against
this place," when you heard the word of God, you know what he
did? He agreed with it. He took sides with God against
himself. He agreed with it. When thou
hearst his words against this place, he didn't argue. He did not say, I've been trying
to clean it up. Been trying to do the best I
can. He said, you know what? You're right. We deserve wrath. We deserve whatever you put on
us. When thou heard his words against
this place and against the inhabitants thereof, and you humbled yourself
before me, and you did rend your clothes, and you wept before
me, you mourned over your sins. He mourned over his sins and
he mourned over the sins of Israel. God said, I heard you. He hears this. God hears the
cry of a broken heart, doesn't He? God hears the cry of a heart
that's been broken over sin. I have heard thee also, saith
the Lord. And He says here, that all this
evil that's going to come up on Israel, about 40 years later,
they really got hammered. Because the people as a whole
didn't change, but the leader did. They had a godly leader
in Josiah. And God said, for you, because
of this, I'm not going to bring this evil in your day. And they
had peace. They had peace for the rest of
his time. And Josiah took away, look in
verse 33, and Josiah took away all the abominations out of all
the countries that pertained to the children of Israel and
made all that were present in Israel to serve, even to serve
the Lord their God. He didn't tolerate, he absolutely
would not tolerate idolatry. He didn't tolerate, not in Israel.
Oh, if you did, you're going to burn your bones and scatter
it on the grave. In all his days they departed not from following
the Lord, the God of their fathers. Moreover, look what happened
next. After all this got straightened
up, Josiah kept the Passover to the Lord in Jerusalem. And
they killed the Passover on the fourteenth day of the first month,
and he did it right. Why don't you turn over to 2
Kings. 2 Kings chapter 23, we have the
same story. In 2 Kings chapter 23 you have
this same story, but look in verse 21. 2 Kings 22 and 23. 2 Kings. In verse 21, and the king commanded
all the people saying, keep the Passover unto the Lord your God
as it is written in the book of this covenant. They found
that. God delivered Israel and he told
them to keep this Passover. And he said, you know what he
did? He reestablished the gospel.
How God saves sinners. That's what he did. And God blessed
him. God blessed him. This is when
you have revival. When the gospel is restored.
When the Word of God is preached. Surely there was not holding
such a Passover, such a Passover from the days of the judges that
judged Israel, nor in all the days of the kings of Israel,
nor of the kings of Judah. But in the eighteenth year of
King Josiah, wherein this Passover was holding to the Lord in Jerusalem."
He said there wasn't one like it or since. and some of the other parts.
He gave thousands of lambs. He provided for the Passover.
He provided all the lambs and everything. He provided and gave
them to the people. Thousands of them. He said, we're going to do this
right. We're going to do this right. Josiah, after they found
the Word of God, he cleaned house. He cleaned house, repaired the
temple of the Lord, and reestablished the gospel of substitution. How
God can be a just God and have anything to do with us. Where did he get that from? He
got it from the book. They found the book. We have
this book. We have the Word of God. We have
no reason to miss it. for to mess up. Because we have
plain instructions, directions, we have His Word. I pray God, I pray God, years
to come, that this book, the Word of God, will never be relegated
to the scrap heap. Because if it does, anything
goes. Who knows what's behind this
book?