We're turning today to the book
of 2 Kings, chapter 22, verse 13. I'll be speaking to you in
a few moments on the subject, the words of this book. The words of this book. Listen to the scripture, 2 Kings
22, verse 13. Go ye, inquire of the Lord for
me and for the people, and for all Judah concerning the words
of this book that has been found. For great is the wrath of the
Lord God that is kindled against us, because our fathers have
not hearkened unto the words of this book to do all that is
written concerning us. Now, King Josiah said to the
priest, you go and inquire of the Lord and see if there's any
mercy for us, because we have not hearkened to the words of
this book and our fathers have not taught us the words of this
book. Now, my friends, if I understand
today's religion at all, and this is what I'm trying to do,
is preach messages that are applicable to this day. I'm not talking
about what happened only 2,000 years ago or even 1,000 years
ago, but I'm talking about right now, right now. And if I understand
today's religion, I would say that it's characterized by five
things. First of all, we're living in
a day of doubt. Everything in Scripture is under
attack, not only by the theologians. but by the pastors and the preachers
and teachers and church officers and people. Creation is under
attack, the inspiration of the scripture, the deity of the Lord
Jesus Christ, God's immutable sovereignty, authority in the
home, in the church, in the school, in the office, morality, marriage,
decency, the home, Everything is under attack. It's popular
today to question the Bible. We're substituting the thoughts
of men for the word of God. It's like Pharaoh of old who
asked Moses, who is the Lord that I should obey his word?
Who is the Lord that I should listen to and obey his word? This is a day of doubt. And secondly, this is a day of
church failure. Our master said my house should
be called a house of prayer. Now the church today, the average
church, is anything but a house of prayer and preaching. You
know that's true, and I know it's true. Today's church is
anything but a house of prayer. It's a school. It's a cafeteria. It's a gymnasium. It's a social
club. It's an entertainment center.
The church has left her first love. What is the church's first
love? It's Christ and the gospel. And
our Lord said in the book of Revelation, I have something
against you. You have left your first love.
The mission of the church is to bring men to know God, not
to bring men to know one another. The mission of the church today
is to feed men the word of God, not feed them in socials and
suppers and potluck dinners. The mission of the church is
to preach the gospel, not to entertain sinners on their road
to hell. You know it's true, and I know
it's true. The church today has music, but no message. The church
today has games, but no gospel. The church today has entertainment,
but no edification. The church today has competition,
but no comfort for sinners. This is a day of total, complete
church failure. And then thirdly, if I understand
today's religion, I say this is a day of doubt when everything
in the book is being questioned. It's the day of church failure.
And thirdly, this is a day of spectator religion. What do I
mean by that? I mean this. Most church members
do very little studying. They do less praying and practically
no worshiping. The average church member is
a spectator watching from the pews while professional singers
and professional promoters and professional preachers entertain
them. Today we sit in our pews and
pay somebody to preach for us to study for us, to pray for
us, and to somehow get us to heaven when we die. Yes, this
is a day not of participation in prayer and worship and study. It is not the day when men study
to show themselves approved unto God. workmen that need it not
to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. But this is
a day of spectator religion. The great minister Charles Spurgeon,
who preached so many years in London, England to so many people,
said the power of his ministry, the power of his ministry was
the prayers of his people. As he prayed, hundreds and hundreds
of people, as he preached, hundreds of people prayed for him. The
power of my ministry, he said, is the prayers of our church.
And then fourthly, this is the day, if I understand today's
religion, of divine desertion. Amos wrote in chapter 8, verse
11, Behold, the days come, saith the Lord God, that I will send
a famine, a famine in the land, not a famine of bread or a thirst
for water, but a famine of hearing the word of the Lord. And they
shall wander from sea to sea, and from the north even to the
east, and they shall run to and fro to seek the word of the Lord,
and they shall not find it." My friend, with all of our temples
and our cathedrals, with all of our church buildings and educational
buildings, with all of our sects and cults and denominations,
Men and women are constantly writing me and asking this question,
where can I go to hear the Word of the Lord preached? Where can
I go? Preacher, do you know any place
in my area where I can go and hear the Word of God preached?
Oh, I can go and be entertained, and I can go and listen to a
preacher, but where can I go and hear the gospel of the glory
of God? Yes, I'm afraid we're in the
days of divine desertion. And then fifthly, I believe this
is the fifth thing that characterizes today's religion. Perhaps, I
believe it's so, we're in the last days. Listen to what Paul
said. Now, he says this over and over
again in 1 Timothy and 2 Timothy, but here's a summary of what
he declares in three or four places. In 2 Timothy 4, verse
2, he says to Timothy, preach the word. Preach the word. Be
instant in season, out of season. Reprove, rebuke, exhort with
all long-suffering in doctrine. For the time will come, the time
will come, when they will not endure sound doctrine. But after
their own lust, they will heap to themselves teachers, having
itching ears. And they shall turn away their
ears from the truth, and shall be turned fables how desperately,
desperately we are in need of a return to the Word of God.
Now this is what our text is all about. In the book of 2 Kings
chapter 22, in 2 Kings 22 we have the story of a young king
who came to power. His name was King Josiah. Now,
before Josiah came to power, the nation of Israel had just
departed from the Lord. They'd gone so far away from
God. The temple worship was no longer. The temple had grown up with
weeds, and some of its structure had fallen down, and the sacrifices
were no longer offered. But when Josiah came to power,
he'd been king for a few years, and he sent word to Hilkiah the
priest Shapen the scribe he sent word to the carpenters and the
builders and the Masons to clean out and Repair the temple of
the Lord he sent word to all of these people they raised the
money and The King sent word to all that were in authority
and all that was supposed to be doing these particular duties
He said I want worship restored in the house of the Lord. I And
when they began to go to work on the temple, they brought in
the carpenters and the builders and the masons, and they began
to go to work in the house of the Lord. They began to clean
it out, carry out the rubble and all of the filth and sweep
out the dust and the dirt and erect the place back like it
was. And while they were rebuilding the house of God, they found
a book. Hilkiah the priest found a book.
book that he had never read. He was a priest, he was going
about the duties of religion, but he had not read this particular
book. This book was the writings of
Moses, the first five books of the Bible, the writings of Moses.
And Helkiah the priest took this book to Shapon the scribe, and
the scribe read it and he took it to the king. And the king
said, what have you? He said, well, while we were
cleaning out the temple, the house of God, we found this book.
And the king said, read it to me. And the scripture said it
came to pass when the king heard the words of this book, the word
of God, for the first time. The first time that this young
man had ever heard the word of God, that he rent his clothes,
he displayed great repentance and great anguish and great anxiety
and concern. And this is what he said. He
said, go, go and inquire of the Lord for me and for the people
and for all of Judah concerning the words of this book. For great
is the wrath of the Lord against us. Our fathers have not hearkened
to the words of this book Can that not be said in this day
of doubt? this day of church failure This
day of spectator religion this day of divine desertion and perhaps
these last days Our fathers have not hearkened to the words of
this book and when you hear it read When you hear it read when
you hear the words of this book Do you not feel like renting
your clothes? Do you not feel like bowing down
in the dust before God, full of anxiety and concern, yea,
and even despair? The wrath of God is kindled against
us. We've departed from the Word
of God. We've departed to tradition and
customs and ceremony and ritualism and holy days and all of these
things, man-made religion. We've departed from the Word
of God. I experienced this about 30 years
ago. I faced this same issue 30 years
ago. I was raised in today's fundamentalism,
brought up in today's fundamentalism. I was steeped in religious programs
and religious entertainment, and I was zealous for the traditions
of men who did not know God. And I discovered one day the
Word of God. I discovered the book. And some
powerful questions were answered for me and for those who were
listening to me preach when I discovered the Word of God. This is what
happened. This is what happened when Hilkiah the priest found
the Word of God. He took it to the king and read
it to him. And the king said, great is the
wrath of God against us, for we have departed from the words
of this book. And our fathers have departed
from the words of this book. And our fathers have not taught
us. according to the words of this book. I discovered the answer
to some important questions, and I want to go over about four
or five of these questions with you today. Listen to me, and
let me ask four or five questions and answer them from the Word
of God. And I believe if you listen, if you listen with an
open heart and ask God to give you an understanding heart, You'll
discover that from the Word of God, these are the answers to
these questions. Now, here's the first one. Who
is the Lord God? Who is the Lord God? Moses came
to the burning bush. You know the story. God was going
to send Moses down into Egypt to deliver Israel from captivity,
and Moses came up the side of the mountain, and he discovered
there a bush that was burning but was not consumed. And he
walked closer to investigate this strange and miraculous sight. And as he walked closer, God
spoke and said, Moses, put off your shoes. You're on holy ground. And Moses put off his shoes and
came near to the bush. And God spoke to him and told
him how that he would go down into Egypt and deliver the people
from slavery. And Moses asked this question.
He said, Lord, when I go to the people of Israel, Deliver them
from the bondage of Egypt. They're gonna ask me They're
gonna ask me who is the Lord God that sent you I'm going to
say the Lord sent me and they're gonna say what's his name? Who
is the Lord God now? What God do you represent Moses?
What God do you preach Moses? What God sent you to us, Moses?
That's a pretty good question, isn't it? Who is this God you're
preaching? Who is this God you represent?
Who is this God you're telling us about? Who is this God? Who
is the Lord God? Well, he answered and said this
to Moses. You tell them, I am that I am. And I say this to you. They asked
David that. The heathen had all of their
idols and their statues. And they said, David, here's
our God. Here are our God. Now, where is your God? And David
replied, Our God is in the heavens. He hath done whatsoever he pleased.
Whatsoever the Lord pleased, that did he in heaven and the
earth and the seas and in all deep places. He's the Omnipotent,
Omniscient, Almighty, Eternal God. First of all, He's the Lord
God of creation. In the beginning, God created
the heavens and the earth. He's the Lord God of holiness.
Isaiah said, In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord. I lifted up, and His train filled
the temple, and the cherubims and seraphims all cried together,
Holy, Holy, Holy Lord God of hosts. He is the Lord God of
sovereignty. He does as He will, when He will,
with whom He will. He worketh all things after the
counsel of his own will. Nebuchadnezzar said he ruleth
in the armies of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth
and giveth it to whomsoever he will. Known unto God are all
his works from the beginning. He's the Lord God of judgment.
He's the Lord God of justice. He's the Lord God of righteousness.
He's the Lord God of truth. But thank God, He's the Lord
God of mercy. He said, I will be merciful.
The Lord delights to show mercy. He's plenteous in mercy. He's
the Lord God of love. God is love. He's the Lord God
of omniscience, omnipresence. Bow down, O ye heavens, bow down,
O ye earth, and worship the Lord our God. Who is God? Who is God? He's the Lord God of glory. Let all the earth keep silence
before him. How awesome, immutable, infinite,
eternal is the Lord our God. And then secondly, here's another
question that I faced when I discovered this book. Not only who is the
Lord God, and I'll tell you, when you discover who is the
Lord God, this is the next question that will come to you. This is
what is man. What is man, or what is sin?
What is sin? Now, if you ask for a definition
of sin, you will get as many different answers as there are
people. That's right. You go down the
street and ask all of the people you meet, what is sin? What is
sin? What is sin? And you'll get as many answers
as people that you talk to. And most of those answers, I
guarantee you, most of those answers will deal with some outward
habit or some outward practice. Rarely will you hear anyone clearly,
truthfully, scripturally define sin. Now here's what we're doing.
We're talking about the words of this book. I'm not saying
we don't have religion. Religion we have. I'm not saying
we don't have ceremonies and we don't have morality. Those
things we have. But Josiah said, we've sinned
and we haven't hearkened to the words of this book. Who is the
Lord God? What is sin? What is sin? Most everybody that you encounter
and ask them for a definition of sin, they'll immediately talk
to you about outward habits and outward deeds and outward practices. Very, very few, practically none,
will talk to you about the sin of the heart, the sin of the
imagination, and the sin of the thought. The Pharisees. thought
a great thing was to eat without washing one's hands. They thought
that was a great thing. I read one time about an old
19th century Scots Presbyterian preacher who heard that a church
down the street had installed an organ to accompany their singing. Now back in those days, the old
Scots Presbyterians in Scotland did not use any kind of musical
instrument. They thought it was wrong. But
I want you to listen how this preacher reacted when he heard
that a church down the road had installed an organ. This is what
he exclaimed from his pulpit. Strongly, forcefully, he said,
will nothing stem this avalanche of will-worship and gross sin
that plagues our day. Just like the Pharisees of old.
They thought that to eat without washing your hands was great
sin. This poor man thought to sing
a hymn accompanied by an organ or piano was a gross sin. And our Lord Jesus Christ said
to these Pharisees, it's not what you put in your mouth that
defiles you, it's what comes out of your heart. It's what
comes out of your heart, for out of the heart proceed murders,
evil thoughts, adulteries. blasphemy, envy, jealousy. These are the things that defile.
Not to eat with unwashing hands. Take the people on the street
and ask them what is sin. They'll say drinking sin, cursing
is sin, Smoking is sin. Chewing is sin. Playing cards
is sin. Dancing is sin. Going to the
movies is sin. Ball games is sin. I read one
church constitution that said if you played pool, you were
excluded from the church. And most of the time it depends
upon where you're located in the world or in our nation. We
call it geographical sanctification. These things are the results
or products of sin. A man is not a sinner because
he steals. He steals because he's a sinner.
Sin starts out in the heart. Now here, if you want to understand
sin, what is sin? Now we're talking about where
drunkenness is the result of sin. It's evil in the sight of
God. Drunkards shall not inherit the kingdom of God. But that's
not what makes a man a sinner. You understand sin, first of
all, by its origin. As in Adam, all died. By one
man's disobedience, we were made sinners. You see, sin has to
do with the will. Sin has to do with the heart.
Sin has to do with the attitude of an individual toward God and
toward God's love. Sin is understood by its origin. Go back to when it started and
see where it took place. It took place in the will. It
took place in the heart. It took place in the attitude
of Adam Ford God. Sin is understood by its nature.
It's a heart trouble. It's a heart disease. Sin's not
just a hand disease. You could cut my hands off and
I'd be done with it. Sin's not just a mouth disease.
Fixed me so I couldn't talk and I'd conquer that. Sin's not just
an eye disease. Put out my eyes and I'd be done
with that. Put me in a wheelchair, render me a vegetable and I'd
be done with sin. Oh no. Sin's in the heart. It's a nature. Out of the heart
proceeds evil thought. My son, give me thy heart, God
said. Keep thy heart out of it are
the issues of life. You see what I'm saying? Sin
is understood by its effect. What we do is because of what
we are. Now, that's our power. David
said, I was born in sin. I was shapen in iniquity. I was
brought forth speaking lies. You see, my friend, this is why
Christ said a man must be born again. The Pharisees had cleansed
the outside of the cup. Christ said, you're like whited
sepulchre. On the outside, you appear beautiful
to men. On the inside, you're full of
dead men's bones. Cleanse first, thou hypocrite.
cleanse first that which is within and then the outside will be
taken care of. But what we're doing today is going up and down
the country preaching this is wrong and that's wrong and the
other's wrong and we're leaving men's hearts alone and they're
rotting inside while they're appearing on the outside to be
clean and wholesome. Marvel and beautiful and they
live with themselves and with their hearts and they know what
they are and God doesn't look on the outward countenance God
looks on the heart. That's why he said you've got
to be born again. You need a new nature and I'll
tell you If God does something in the heart, it'll change the
outward life It'll change the conduct and the walk and the
speech and all these other things. Now, here's the third question.
What is the gospel? Have you ever discovered the
gospel? Paul said, I'm not ashamed of the gospel, the gospel. I'm
not ashamed of the gospel. I preached unto you the gospel.
My friend, there is but one gospel. And he said, if any man preach
any other gospel, let him be a curse. And this gospel is the
gospel of God. It's not the gospel of a church
or the gospel of a denomination. It's the gospel of God. He planned
it. He purposed it. He executed it.
It originated with God. Paul said, I'm separated to the
gospel of God. And secondly, it's the gospel
of the Old Testament. It's no new gospel. It didn't
originate in Bethlehem. It didn't originate on the Sea
of Galilee. It didn't even originate at the cross. The gospel is the
ancient gospel, which he promised the poor by his holy prophets
in the Holy Scripture. Abraham, Christ said, saw my
day and was glad. Moses wrote of me. Christ was
the Lamb slain before the foundation of the world. Every person, every
believer in the Old Testament was redeemed by looking for the
coming Redeemer. And everyone today is redeemed
by looking back to the Redeemer who has come. It's the gospel
of the Old Testament. It's the gospel concerning His
Son, who was made of the seed of David, but declared to be
the Son of God. He was born of a woman. But he
was sent by God. He is the God-man. Jesus Christ
is the God-man. It's the gospel of representation.
In Adam we died, in Christ we're made alive. As we born the image
of the earthy, the first Adam, we'll bear the image of the heavenly,
the second Adam. As by one man sin entered the
world and death by sin, so death passed upon all men. By the righteousness
of Christ, we were made holy and pure in God's sight. Representation. It's the gospel of substitution.
He was made sin for us who knew no sin, that we might be made
the righteousness of God in Him, that just died for the unjust
that He might bring us to God. It's the gospel of complete redemption.
This is eternal life. This is eternal life, that they
might know Thee The true God in Jesus Christ whom thou hast
sent. God has given us eternal life, and that life is in his
Son. And let me give you this fourth
question. What is salvation? Salvation is not just giving
mental assent to some Bible facts. Salvation is not just a moral
reformation only. Salvation is not just joining
the church and going through the motions of religious activity.
Salvation is not just fighting for doctrinal orthodoxy. Salvation
is a miracle of God's grace. It is a regeneration. It is an
awakening from the tomb. It is being brought from the
kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of God's dear Son. is to be born
of God, is to become, by the grace of God, a new creature
in Christ Jesus. It is to be chosen of the Father,
regenerated by the Spirit, redeemed by the Son. It is to be brought
to rest in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. and to see
in him the glory of God Almighty, to see in him the glory of God's
wisdom, of God's justice, and of God's righteousness. Now here's
a summary. Who is God? He's the Holy Omnipotent
Creator. Who am I? A sinner in need of
mercy. How can I be just with God? Only
through his mediator, his redeemer, the Lord Jesus Christ. Super
mercy, super peace in the name which is above every name.