Finding the Lost Book

Introduction

       I’ve used this sermon several times to usher in New Years.  When I revised it in early 2003 I noted our need to eliminate Saddam Hussein’s threats and the how the dis-united Nations opposed us. I said you’d think the world would remember how the USA bailed Europe and Asia out of desperate circumstances in WW II and cooperate in containing terrorism today. Now things are worse. Many of our political representatives appear to be as mindless as those in the UN, being determined to force our President to abandon the job before it is finished.

Of course, no sane person wants to see innocent lives lost to bad causes. But this war was meant to save more lives than it would lose. And that can’t happen if we quit short of victory. I realize there is little, if any chance of establishing a stable democracy in any Moslem country. But we have kept the terrorists from our own shores. And that will end quickly if we abandon our crusade. The religious fanatics won’t stop when they control Iraq. They intend to rule the world.

Long-time issues

The issues involved here go far beyond the battles in Iraq and Afghanistan. They include all of the current conflicts in the Middle East. If you know anything about Bible History, you know where the problem originated. It began when Lucifer first coveted God’s throne. Of course, Lucifer was expelled from Heaven and defeated by Jesus at Calvary. But he still “goes about as a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.” (1^st Peter 5:8).

Satan’s favorite target is God’s chosen people, the relatives of Jesus in the family of Isaac. He has tried, for thousands of years, to destroy them through the descendants of Ishmael. That conflict will not end before the most prominent “son” of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and David returns to earth from heaven in order to claim His throne. In the mean time, the unreasonable hatred of Israel will continue to drive her cousins until Jesus returns.

Are you ready for that kind of future, one of crisis after crisis that may eventually end the way of life we have enjoyed for more than two hundred years? The crisis is real and it will continue to grow. Who knows how long it will last, or how desperate things will become before God delivers any of us?

Prepare

I hope you realize it’s time prepare for the future we face, whether it results in deliverance as God’s obedient servants or judgment for neglecting His orders. If you are a born-again Christian, look to the rock from which you were hewn. (Isaiah 51:1). Study His written word so you will be able to obey Him wisely. We must all do so if we hope to escape God’s coming judgment on the world that continues to reject His Son.

Text

A bit of Israel’s history, as it is recorded in the Book of Second Kings, provides a parallel to our time. Let’s look at it. 2 Kings 22:8,10. Then Hilkiah the high priest said to Shaphan the scribe,  "I have found the Book of the Law in the house of the LORD." And Hilkiah gave the book to Shaphan, and he read it. Then Shaphan the scribe showed the king, saying, "Hilkiah the priest has given me a book."  And Shaphan read it before the king.

Background

      The time was about 641 years before Christ, almost 375 years after King David died. David left the Kingdom of Israel to his son Solomon. Solomon’s life-style did not influence his son to follow God and things quickly went from bad to worse. Rehoboam may not have been too bright. He certainly was sinful and His Kingdom was split when he ignored good advice. God allowed him to keep two of Israel’s twelve Tribes ((known as Judah).  The other ten (known as Israel) went to Jeroboam. (1^st Kings 11:26-39)

After the break-up, Judah and Israel went their separate ways.  Neither of them ever lived up to their spiritual heritage. Finally God judged them severely, Israel first. The Israelites who lived on the other side of the Jordan River (The Reubenites, the Gadites, and half of Manasseh) fell to Tilgath-Pileser, King of Assyria. (1 Chronicles 5:23-27). The rest of that Nation fell to Assyria a few years later.  (2 Kings 17:6-24).

Now it was about time for Judah to be judged, as Israel was earlier. However, God provided King Josiah with an opportunity to delay the judgment. This would be Judah's last chance to repent and post pone their demise. Judah did suffer defeat and near annihilation from Nebuchadnezzar shortly after Josiah died.

The story

      Josiah, the king of Judah when 2^nd Kings 22:8-10 was written, was the great-grandson of Hezekiah. Hezekiah was one of Judah’s better kings. His father and grandfather were evil men. Manasseh was directly responsibility for Judah’s destruction. (2 Kings 23:26). Amon was so bad his servants killed him. (2^nd Kings 21:19-23).

Josiah was eight years old when he became King. By age eighteen he was seeking God sincerely. At twenty-six he renovated God's Temple in Jerusalem and someone discovered the lost Book of The Law. Shaphan the Scribe read the Book to Josiah, who ordered a delegation to find a prophet to ask God about what he had heard. 2^nd Kings 22:13 quotes him: Go and enquire of the LORD for me, and for the people, and for all Judah, concerning the words of this book that is found: for great is the wrath of the LORD that is kindled against us, because our fathers have not hearkened unto the words of this book, to do according unto all that which is written concerning us.

Huldah the prophetess did the inquiring. What she heard from the LORD she repeated to the delegation: Tell the man who sent you to Me, Thus says the LORD:  “behold, I will bring calamity on this place and on its inhabitants; all the words of the book which the king of Judah has read; because they have forsaken Me and burned incense to other gods, that they might provoke Me to anger with all the works of their hands.  Therefore My wrath shall be aroused against this place and shall not be quenched.” (2^nd Kings 22:16-17).

Decision 

      The people of Judah provoked God to anger many times over the years. Would they heed this warning and escape judgment? They did. All “the men of Judah and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem” repented. Josiah “made a covenant before the Lord” and all the people agreed to it. 2^nd Kings 23:1-3 indicates they promised to follow the LORD, to keep His commandments, His testimonies and His statutes as written in the book.

Our turn

      Most Bible scholars agree that some Biblical warnings applied to more than one occasion. The notice Josiah received is a case in point. When he and the people of Judah rediscovered the Book of God's Law, and chose to obey it, their decision spawned a new beginning for them.

Now it’s our turn. We stand at a crossroad similar to the one Josiah faced. Many of us have effectively “lost” the Bible.  We may read it on occasion but we don’t heed it properly.  Will we hear the warning and repent? Or will we continue to ignore our Bibles to our hurt?

Because Josiah heeded God's warnings, and urged Judah to repent, that nation was given another chance to live. Will we profit similarly from our warning? Remember, their reprieve was temporary, as ours will be if we follow suite. It applied only to the generation that heeded the warning. Judah’s judgment did fall eventually, as ours will unless we repent.

Judah began to fall when Pharoah Necho killed Josiah. Three months later, Josiah’s successor was in prison and Judah was paying tribute to the Egyptian King. Later, Nebucadnezzar defeated the Egyptians and sacked Jerusalem. Eventually he destroyed Jerusalem and the Temple, and moved Judah’s choicest people to Babylon.

Christian morality

      This story is appropriate as we begin a new year. Most of us need to give God's Book a more prominent place in our lives than we have ever done before. The warning is as serious as it is timely. Many Christians need to rediscover the Bible - not only as a philosophical guide - but also as a rule for daily conduct. God insists we obey His Word. Those who don’t incur His wrath. You and I must obey it - for our own good and to make us acceptable witnesses to the lost.

Every Christian needs this warning. We have strayed about as far as possible from conformance with Biblical requirements for morality. “Christian” influence is sadly lacking in our communities. Why should nonbelievers want what we offer when it looks so much like what they have already?

Who would have imagined divorce would be as prevalent among God’s people as it is today? Who would have believed premarital and extramarital sex would be accepted as normal. Who would have guessed that either real or implied depictions of deviant sexual activity would be acceptable on our TV screens? Who could have imagined sodomites achieving prominent positions of leadership in worldly society and elected office, much less in so-called Christian churches?

Have we forgotten God’s warnings against tolerating evil or do we simply ignore them?  Don’t we believe God abhors our iniquities? Judges 19 through 21 relates an instance when the Tribe of Benjamin was nearly wiped out for refusing to put away evil from among them. (Judges 20:13). The incident was precipitated by a group of sexual deviants who tried to attack a stranger and then abused his concubine until she died. Check the story. At least 67,000 fighting men, plus untold numbers of civilians (men, women, and innocent children), died violently in the judgment.

The USA

      Although the whole world is desperately in need of repentance, judgment usually begins with God’s people (1^st Peter 4:17), simply because He loves them. (Hebrews 12:6). Unless we want to be made “a desolation and a curse,” along with the rest of the world, we had better begin to obey God’s Word soon.

The citizens of the USA may be in greater danger, at the moment, than people in other countries. No other nation has ever enjoyed his blessings as much as we have. And they came with obligation. Luke 12:48 reminds us, “Unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required.”       We must put God and His interests first in our lives. (Exodus 20:2-17). If we take this challenge as seriously as did the people of Israel during Josiah's reign perhaps God will be merciful to us too?

Finding the Book

      Let's look now at the way in which the people of Judah discovered the Book and what they did about it.

I.    Then.

      In Josiah's day, finding the lost book led to positive responses to God’s commandments.

      A.      Discovery.

            Hilkiah found the book and took it to Shaphan who took it to Josiah. Josiah took it to the people.

Judah was over run with violence, immorality and idolatry simply because God's Word was neglected. If the Book wasn’t actually lost it may as well have been. God's prophets were not silent at the time; Jeremiah warned Judah over and over again. His message usually fell on deaf ears. This incident represented Judah’s last chance to repent. Less than 24 years after Josiah died, Judah would suffer total defeat by the Armies of Nebuchadnezzar.

      2.   The king.

            Josiah was both righteous and loyal to his spiritual heritage. He sought God early in life and served Him faithfully throughout his reign.

Note: God did not intend for Christians to hear His word only as a second-hand message. We must read it for ourselves. Sermons like this one may be helpful but they are not acceptable substitutes for personal devotions.  Spiritual growth demands personal Bible study and prayer.

      3.   The Book.

            I can't say when the Book Of The Law was lost or discarded in Israel. But it must have been gone for a while.  Hilkiah was surprised to see it and Josiah was not familiar with its contents. 

      B.      Response To Discovery.

            The response was dynamic.  It is described four ways:

1.      Josiah heard it.

                   2 Kings 22:11 indicates he listened carefully and believed what he heard.  That's the first step toward a re-discovery of God's Word, being willing to hear and ready to believe.

            2.      Josiah responded.

                  Verse 11 says, “Now it happened, when the king heard the words of the Book of the Law, that he tore his clothes.” He was convicted by what he heard and he reacted properly.

            3.      Josiah publicized the information, making sure everyone heard it. 2^nd Kings 23:2c says it was “read in their hearing all the words of the Book of the Covenant which had been found in the house of the LORD.”

            4.      Revival came.

                  God spoke to other’s as He had spoken to the King. They, too, were convicted and ready to obey. Heathen worship items were removed from the temple and burned. (2 Kings 23:4). Idolatry was eliminated and Heathen priests were executed. (2^nd Kings 23:19-24). The people were ordered to “keep the Passover to the LORD your God, as it is written in this Book of the Covenant." (2^nd Kings 23:21).

2nd Kings 23:22-24 adds: “Surely such a Passover surely had never been held since the days of the judges who judged Israel, nor in all the days of the kings of Israel and the kings of Judah. But in the eighteenth year of King Josiah this Passover was held before the LORD in Jerusalem. Moreover Josiah put away those who consulted mediums and spiritists, the household gods and idols, all the abominations that were seen in the land of Judah and in Jerusalem, that he might perform the words of the law which were written in the book that Hilkiah the priest found in the house of the LORD.”

      God's Word changes the lives of people who listen and obey. However, neglect of the Word and disobedience to its commands can render the change temporary. God knows how much we need to read and head the Bible now, for our good and to influence others to repent and escape judgment.

II.  Now.

      You and I might discover that our neglected Bibles are valuable to us in at least three ways. 

      A.      Authoritatively.

            1.      The Bible is a book of authority scientifically; not on science, per se, but because of the scientific information it contains.

                  Some of that knowledge did not become evident to scientists in general until centuries after it was written.

                  a.      For instance, about thirty four hundred years ago God told Moses,”the life of the flesh is in the blood.” (Leviticus 17:11).

Fairly recently, Medical Doctors, thought sicknesses were caused by "bad blood" and used leaches to remove it from their patients. The Bible tells us how foolish that practice was. Without blood, men cannot live.

                  b.   More than thirty five hundred years ago Job spoke of creation, saying of God, He “stretches out the north over empty space; He hangs the earth on nothing.” (Job 26:7). Men needed another three thousand years to verify it but the earth does hang on nothing. You’ve likely seen pictures that prove it.

            2.      The Bible is a book of authority historically; not on secular history, per se, but because of the secular history it contains.

            3.      The Bible is a book of authority religiously; not on religion, per se, but because of the religious truth it contains.

             4.   The Bible is divine revelation.  It is the basis of our faith. It reveals God to man and defines redemption precisely.

      B.   Personally.

             The Bible is a living Book. Through it, the Holy Spirit opens the eyes of our under‑standing, speaking directly to our hearts.

      C.   Practically.

             Since it’s possible to rediscover God's Word in a practical way, make that one of your most important goals for this year.

“All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profit‑able for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.” (2^nd Timothy 3:16-17). God  “loved us, and gave himself for us,” That he might “sanctify and cleanse us with the washing of water by the word, That he might present us to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that we should be holy and without blemish.” (Ephesians 5:25-27).

Let the Word perform its cleansing process in you.

            1.      Hear it.

                  Proverbs 1:5 says, “A wise man will hear, and will increase learning.” (KJV).  Pay attention to the Word and get educated. Let it improve your life and your lifestyle.

            2.      Read it.

                  Hopefully you are hearing God's Word now but if you don’t read it for yourself you'll miss a lot.  Most people forget 95% of what they hear.

            3.      Study it.

                  You may forget 70% of what you read too. So take notes, underline passages, and review your work. You may see things you missed earlier. (Get some study aids if you don’t have any).

            4.      Memorize it.

                  Hide God's Word in your heart, as Psalm 119:11 suggests, and memorize the references.

            5.      Meditate on it.

                  Psalm 1:23 says, “Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.  But his delight <is> in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night.” God urged the Israelites to talk about the Word. Since people usually talk about the things they think about, think on the Word.  

Those five activities can help in improving your relationships with God and men. Hear the Word. Read it. Study it. Memorize it. And meditate on it.

Conclusion

      The Bible is a living book.  Although it was written long ago, it can speak to you in your circumstance today, just as it has to other people down through the years. Don't let the Bible be lost to you.  Make it a vital part of your life in order to grow spiritually, increase faith, and become worth more to people who need to find God through you.

Make no mistake. God’s judgment is about to fall on this evil world. Whether you escape may depend on your response to this warning. Cooperate with God and He may use you now, as He did Josiah in his day, to effect a reprieve from judgment for men and women of our time.

- - - -

David E. Beneze, Canon City, CO, 21 February 2003. (See page 13 of Pastor's Annual for 1983). Latest revision 2/22/07.