Week 4 - Recovering Scripture

Well, funny things happen sometimes. Last night – and I don't want to blame this on God, because it could have just been me – but last night my sermon was changed a bit after working on it all week. So you're going to get that most of that next week. But part of the scripture we're going to use for today is 2 Kings 22. And when I got into it… there so much there. So much goodness that really illustrates the points that I wanted to bring out, so I decided that we would spend most of our time there. Now as you can see the top there it says, “Participating in the Divine Life.” This is a play off of 2 Peter 1:4 where it says, “He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature.” Like I said before, John 3:16 is good; it is a good verse to talk about God's love to the world and our introduction to the kingdom, but it doesn't end there. John 3:16 is not the end-all, be-all of the Christian Life. It is the beginning. Your moment of salvation where you come to the Lord and surrender your life to him is not the end-all, be-all of the Christian existence. It's the beginning. It’s the beginning of your life in heaven. So right now you are walking in heaven like Paul says, “He has seated us with Christ in Heavenly places.” Eternal life has already begun. So as Christians, our purpose is this transformation into the image of Christ. This ‘being turned into the Image of Christ.’ This process of sanctification, of being made holy. This is this participation in the Divine Life, and there are many aspects to it. There’s many things we do, there are many things we have been given, like Peter says, many “great and precious promises” that He's given us. Many tools: prayer, fasting, Scripture, and worship and these other things that we're going to be going into. And so this is what our study is today. And if you read the paper this week to see that the sermon title is changed and everything. We’ll be talking about what we call ‘Divine Reading’ – that is, Lectio Divina – next week. But this week, Recovering Scripture is what we're going to be speaking about. It's going to be two parts: this week, Recovering Scripture and next week, Reading Scripture. Kind of like we did with prayer – we covered some of the basics first, the whats and whys of prayer, and then the second week, we did the hows - we looked up at the Lord's Prayer and used it as a model. And so this week we're going to be doing the same thing, looking at scripture, studying the whys and the whats, and then next week, more of the hows. And next week will be titled, “Reading Scripture.” But this this idea of recovering scripture kind of hints at a loss doesn't it? To say that something has been recovered is to say that it has been lost. So, we’re recovering this from what? We will see what happens in 2 Kings in a moment, but we have scripture, right? I mean, how many bibles do you have at home? We can have it… we can have it but still be starving. You can starve in a house that is full of food - you can do it if you ignore the food if you choose not to partake in the food. So we can have God's word and still be starving. Amos 8:11 says, “‘Behold, days are coming,’ declares the Lord God, ‘When I will send a famine on the land, not a famine for bread or a thirst for water, but rather for hearing the words of the Lord.” This is a prophecy for Israel, but scripture rings true throughout the ages. And so we can live - and we have this country - we can live in a land full of Scripture and still have a famine of the Word of God. You may ask how we can have this famine for the Word of God. We've never lived in a more scripture saturated culture than we live in today. But we can still be starving. In the Book of Ruth, in the very first part, we read about Naomi. She's from Bethlehem - her and her husband are from Bethlehem, and the story is about how her husband dies and she has to leave Bethlehem because there's a famine. But what's funny (or tragic) is that the name Bethlehem, in Hebrew bayit lehem means, “House of Bread.” So there was no bread in the House of Bread. And so they were in the House of Bread and yet starving. So, how can we do this? Today we have Bibles in every house! The question is: are they being read? And that’s not just enough - are they being listened to? And then, remember what James warns about those who hear and do not do… so if they are being listened to, are they being heeded? Are they dusty? 1) Are our Bibles dusty or 2) are the words in them dusty? Has the word of God become dusty and in need of recovery? Well, that's what we're going to talk about today in the recovery of God's Word. To set the stage little bit – in our bible study on Wednesday nights, we are echoing our messages that happen on Sunday. We're diving into them in a different way on Wednesday nights. And in the first week, we talked about Hezekiah and his prayer before the Lord. And so Josiah – who we’ll be talking about this week – was a few kings later. With Hezekiah, Sennacherib comes down with the army of the Assyrians, Hezekiah prays, and the Lord delivers Israel. Well the next king, the very next king, was one of the worst kings and Israel's history: Manasseh. And you should read his story. I'm not going to give you any more than that – other than this – he was one of the most wicked king of Israel, but read his story in Kings and Chronicles. It's a really good story. So Manasseh comes in and he sets up pagan idolatry and idol worship. He was one of the kings of the Southern Kingdom who sacrificed his child to Molech. That's how bad this king of Judah went astray. And the next king was Ammon. Who, as you can read here (this is right before our passage; just to set the stage for you): Ammon “did evil in the sight of the Lord, as Manasseh his father had done. For he walked in all the way that his father had walked, and served the idols that his father had served and worshiped them.” And so this now is the stage; this is what Israel looks like. So if you'll turn with me if you haven't yet to 2 Kings chapter 22 verse 1: “Josiah was eight years old when he became king.” Real quickly - where is Ethan? Could you imagine Ethan Joseph being king? Take my little Ethan Joseph and make him president of the United States. I don't want to imagine… all of the free candy you would have! No, I don’t want to imagine the disarray that our country would be in. Imagine taking an eight year old making him King. But Josiah is known as one of the best kings of Israel. Hezekiah and Josiah both are two of the best kings in the southern Kingdom of Judah. Josiah was eight years old when he became king, and he reigned thirty-one years in Jerusalem; and his mother’s name was Jedidah the daughter of Adaiah of Bozkath. He did right in the sight of the Lord and walked in all the way of his father David, nor did he turn aside to the right or to the left. So after these two wicked kings, Israel [edit: Judah, properly] has a good king. A good king, like Hezekiah, but because of the last two kings, the temple has fallen to into great disrepair. It has been neglected, obviously. And we're talking about Solomon's Temple. Now I’ve shown you maps of the second temple, which was the temple of Jesus's time, and it look different because, again, Babylon destroyed Solomon's Temple and it was rebuilt when they came back from Babylon, and then Herod the Great spent a lot of time really making a magnificent structure. So the first temple of Solomon looked a little different but it was one of those glorious structures in the Middle East. Covered with gold. There's the inner courts… inside the temple, you see all the walls covered with gold. The temple was a beautiful, beautiful place. But in the time of the last two Kings, it had fallen into disrepair. So Solomon’s Temple is starting to fall apart. It was no longer the glorious temple that it had been. So Verse 3: Now in the eighteenth year of King Josiah, the king sent Shaphan, the son of Azaliah the son of Meshullam the scribe, to the house of the Lord saying, “Go up to Hilkiah the high priest that he may count the money brought in to the house of the Lord which the doorkeepers have gathered from the people. Let them deliver it into the hand of the workmen who have the oversight of the house of the Lord, and let them give it to the workmen who are in the house of the Lord to repair the damages of the house, to the carpenters and the builders and the masons and for buying timber and hewn stone to repair the house. Only no accounting shall be made with them for the money delivered into their hands, for they deal faithfully.” That's a good testimony of their honest character there at the end. So Josiah says, “Scribe, go count it up… go see what we've got and put into the hands of the workers. Let the house of God begin to be rebuilt.” And you'll hear – if you know anything about the Old Testament, or if you encounter it in the future – you'll hear of the reforms of Josiah or the revival of Josiah. Well, this is the beginning of the revival of the kingdom of Judah under Josiah's Reign. And how does it begin? It begins by acknowledging in the disrepair of the Temple. And the same is true, too, with pointing out, perhaps, the problems of our dusty Bibles, or the dusty words inside that have become dry to us. The first step is acknowledging the problem acknowledging the disrepair that we have fallen into. And then, being convicted about it… and then moving to correct it. 1 Corinthians chapter 6 says that we are the temple of the Lord, we are the Temple of the Holy Spirit. So what shape is your house in? What shape is the temple of God in? Are there renovations that need to be made? Do you need to acknowledge the disrepair? To be convicted perhaps, and then begin to move to correct it? You see, this is not an incorrectable problem (if incorrectable’s a word; it is now – feel free to use it). This is not an irreparable problem. It is not beyond repair. It can be repaired. The state of your heart – the state of the temple of God within you – is, while maybe a tragedy, is not a hopeless situation. It's not beyond repair. You just begin by acknowledging the situation, feel that conviction, and then act on it. You remember what you read Revelation 2, the letter to the Church of Ephesus, in which Christ charge them, “remember from where you have fallen, and repent and do the deeds you did at first” This is the first step to the repair of the temple. This is the step to correcting the problem: remember, repent, and return. So verse eight: “Then Hilkiah the high priest said to Shaphan the scribe,” so Hilkiah, in the temple, said to the guy sent by Josiah, “‘I have found the book of the law in the house of the Lord.’” Now this is interesting. He’s like, “Hey, look, I found something!” Which tells you that it had been lost. This is why we’re talking about ‘the recovering of God's word.’ It had been lost, and they found it. Now by “book of the law,” we don't know exactly was included. Here, properly speaking, a lot of times you can speak of the book of the law being the section from Exodus 19 to about 21 [edit, correction: it extends to 24:8]. You see there where God gives His law to Moses and then you have this whole section of law and before it and after it are these narrative portions. And this section includes Exodus 20 in which we read the Ten Commandments. So it includes the law of God and the Ten Commandments. So this could have been that portion of Exodus alone – the ‘book of the law.’ It could also have been the book of Deuteronomy, Moses’ last speech to Israel before he dies. Given before they go into Israel, this acts as kind of a summation of the law – a reminder of God’s Law. Or it could have been the five books of the Torah, the ‘Pentateuch,’ the first five books of the Bible. But they find scripture in the temple and it's a surprise. Think about how fortunate we are. We need to remember and recognize how fortunate it is that we do have this. After some of the things that have gone on in history, in the early church with all of the persecutions, and scrolls upon scrolls, manuscripts, codices (physical books such as we have today), burned in the persecutions… we could have lost scripture. There's times throughout history where we could have lost scripture, but we have it in our hands. There are places in this world that have lost scripture and they are starving for the simple pages of God’s Word. So do we take advantage of this thing that we hold in our hand? Do we take advantage of this? Do we recognize what we have? We have computers with dozens of translations on them. You have all sorts of styles and translations. You have women's Bibles and men's Bibles and Soldiers’ Bibles and little kids’ Bibles… we have so much at our fingertips. Do we recognize it? Do we utilize it? Because revival will only happen – and we see this here, and in other passages of scripture – revival happens when we dive back into God's Word. When we have a recovery of God's Word. And the Bible is often a lost book in a lot of people's lives today. And in a lot of churches, the Bible has become a lost book. We have tons of them, but like Amos said, we can still have a famine, we can still be starving for the Word of God. And so the problem is not availability. If you need a Bible, I will give one to you. Or I know a guy – Chip has shelves of Bibles that he gives out freely. If you need Bible, you can get one. The problem is not availability, is it? It is desirability. It's not that we can't have it. It's not a problem of availability, but of appetite. Do we choose to go eat? You could have a house full of food and choose not to eat; you can starve to death… It’s about appetite. So to recover the word of God, we need to recover our appetite – our desire for the word of God. You can destroy your appetite as well. Just yesterday, I made Derrick and Ethan spit popcorn into the trash! I didn't even let them finish because they were eating handfuls of popcorn right before dinner, and I can hear my mother's voice ringing in my ears saying, “You're going to what ruin your appetite!” Right?! Last night, I made homemade spaghetti sauce and zucchini straight from the garden – it was great – and they're sitting there eating popcorn! They’re going to ruin their appetite. What do we do? Spiritually? What do we run off to? What do we engage in so much that’s ruining our appetite? Facebook – scroll, scroll, scroll – story after story, nonsense after nonsense after nonsense… We just go through it and we ruin our appetite. We want something quick; blogs have become too long for our reading! We’re reduced to Twitter: give it to me 140 characters or I'm not reading it. Give it to me in a headline. We have become so weak. Because we're eating weak food. Because our appetite has been ruined by this junk food. If we're going to recover the Word of God, we have to recover our appetite. We have to recover our desire for the Word of God. We have to be in this. Commentaries are good, but we need to be not just in commentaries. People's ideas about Scripture are good, but not just there… we need to be in God's word. So back to our text; verse 8: And Hilkiah gave the book to Shaphan who read it. Shaphan the scribe came to the king and brought back word to the king and said, “Your servants have emptied out the money that was found in the house, and have delivered it into the hand of the workmen who have the oversight of the house of the Lord.” Moreover, Shaphan the scribe told the king saying, “Hilkiah the priest has given me a book.” And Shaphan read it in the presence of the king. I love that. He isn’t like, “Hey, look what I found! Neat, huh? Cool. Alright, so they're working on the temple. I'm going to grab a burger; I’ll see you later.” No, he sat down and read it. He read it to the king. I like that. It's good to read the word – be reading the word – but I just picture Josiah sitting there just pondering, listening, drinking in the word of God being poured out upon him. I love that image. Josiah sitting there hearing the Word of God for the first time. And that’s tragic. Another tragedy… in our country today – did you know there are people who have never heard the story of The Good Samaritan? A pastor that I love was telling a story about how he was on a plane and flying somewhere and he was seated near a young girl and they get to talking and he asked about her story. She said that she was a runaway and she was returning home and he said, “Ah, like The Prodigal Son, huh?” To which she responded “What?” And he said, “You know, the prodigal son, when he went off living a life on his own but came to his senses and returned to his family.” And she was like, “No, I've no clue.” There are very real people in the world out there – people that we bump into every day – that have never heard the story of The Prodigal Son. That have never heard the full story of Christ. This is our culture. And I know a lot of us were raised in a different culture where everybody went to church, everybody knew the Word of God. It's not so anymore. We are the carriers of the Word now. And people don't know it. We need to make sure that we know it. We need to make sure that we are in it. So they read the whole thing, and can you imagine the feast that this is for Josiah, having never heard it before. But in addition to that tragedy – and the tragedy of our own culture – here's the real tragedy. Deuteronomy 17:14, 18-20. Again Deuteronomy, the book of the law that Moses wrote for the children of Israel, and in this he says – or God says; I don't have the context – but someone says: When you enter the land which the Lord your God gives you, and you possess it and live in it, and you say, “I will set a king over me like all the nations who are around me” …it shall come about when he sits on the throne of his kingdom, he shall write for himself a copy of this law on a scroll in the presence of the Levitical priests. It shall be with him and he shall read it all the days of his life, that he may learn to fear the Lord his God, by carefully observing all the words of this law and these statutes, that his heart may not be lifted up above his countrymen and that he may not turn aside from the commandment, to the right or the left, so that he and his sons may continue long in his kingdom in the midst of Israel. Each King of Israel was to write down a copy of the book of the law – again a portion of Exodus or Deuteronomy or the whole Torah, we don’t know. But he was to write this down, to serve as his own scribe, and then to be reading it all the days of his life. Now I don’t know if you've ever written out a manuscript. I copied an entire book of scripture once for a friend. It was a good exercise, but more importantly than that is to be in it. We should be in this. Don't you think we should all be like this, in his Word every day? Now that was what the king was to do. But Josiah had been without the Word, he’d been without scripture. He had never done this – this was all brand new. The tragedy is that it should have been handed on to him. He should have received this from the king before him and the king before him. It is our duty guys, gals, to be handing this on to those behind us. To say “Take this, read this, [tolle lege] all the days of your life so that you might not turn to the right hand or to the left.” It has been recovered, so let us look at the responses. And there's three here that we’ll semi-briefly explore. The first response, back in 2 Kings 22 verse 11: When the king heard the words of the book of the law, he tore his clothes. So here's the response: he tore his clothes a sign of great morning. Then the king commanded Hilkiah the priest, Ahikam the son of Shaphan, Achbor the son of Micaiah, Shaphan the scribe, and Asaiah the king’s servant saying, “Go, inquire of the Lord for me and the people and all Judah concerning the words of this book that has been found, for great is the wrath of the Lord that burns against us, because our fathers have not listened to the words of this book, to do according to all that is written concerning us.” So this first response is that it breaks his heart. It breaks his heart because he realizes how much they've missed out on. His words there: “Our fathers have not listened to the words of this book; Great is the wrath of the Lord that burns against us.” So he realizes how much he'd missed on, and he realizes the consequences. Because in Deuteronomy – and in Exodus and Leviticus, but there's some particular places in Deuteronomy – where there are warnings. God says, “Keep this book do not depart from it, or I will deliver you over to other nations who will come in and carry you into captivity.” He’s like, “This will happen.” Josiah reads this (or has it read to him) and he’s broken. He says, “We’ve not been doing this – we are in grave danger!” Guys, without the word of God, we are in grave danger. We don't know the threats against us – both the threat of hell, but the threat of attacks on our life, of those who desire our life and our soul, that enemy who prowls about like a roaring lion. We don't know these things if we're not in God's Word. We don't know how to battle these things if we’re not in God's Word. The threat is great. We have to be in God's Word, and to know it, so as to be aware of it. And so he reads these things and he remembers from where they have fallen, repents, and moves to do the deeds at first. So the second response is in second Kings chapter 23, verse 1 Then the king sent, and they gathered to him all the elders of Judah and of Jerusalem. The king went up to the house of the Lord and all the men of Judah and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem with him, and the priests and the prophets and all the people, both small and great; and he read in their hearing all the words of the book of the covenant which was found in the house of the Lord. So he does that – he passes on what should have been passed on to him; he passes it on to others. He is faithful to do that. He gathers everybody he can and says, “Y'all got to hear this! We've been without this, and you need this.” Verse 3 the king stood by the pillar and made a covenant before the Lord to walk after the Lord and to keep his Commandments and his testimonies in a statues with all his heart and all his soul to carry out the words of this Covenant that were written in the book. And all the people entered into the covenants. So the first response is that it changes the man. Josiah has an encounter with God's Word and it changes the man. And here we see that it changes the people around him. This encounter with God changes the people around him. So when you come to the word of God with fresh eyes – and this is what we’re going to be talking about next week, another way to read scripture, an important way to read scripture – but if we come to the word of God with fresh eyes, a fresh encounter, the people around you will be changed as well. The people around you will change. The Word of God changes a person and it changes the people around him or her. And so here, he makes his own personal covenant, perhaps maybe fulfilling the command of Deuteronomy 17, where the king was to write their own copy of this and keep it and read it. Maybe that's the covenant that he makes with God. But this Covenant affects everyone; it affects his entire nation. And it says, “all of the people entered into the Covenant.” See, they were already under a covenant though, right? The Jewish people were already under a covenant. That’s why they carried out the rite of circumcision. So that way they knew that they were the Jewish people. They received it at birth and were like, “I'm Jewish!” They were already under the covenant of God, but the people here enter into a covenant, a rededication. And whatever this covenant is, it was a covenant to continue in the change that had been wrought. They also meet the Word of God. They are transformed by the Word of God. And they also dedicate themselves to the Word of God just like Josiah did. So they were already under a covenant. We, too, are under a covenant. We are saved by the sacrifice of Christ. We are saved by God's grace through faith. We enter into this Covenant by faith, but sometimes we need a revisitation, don't we? Sometimes we need a rededication. Sometimes we need to encounter the word of God afresh, anew, and with new eyes and to establish a new covenant with the Lord, to give yourself to the Lord all over again. The people here were under a covenant, but they did it, too. Sometimes we need to do that – a more purposeful intentful desire to walk with God. Because that's what it's about: it's not about just having the word of God, but it’s about the desire to be in it. It's about the appetite. So sometimes we need this new covenant as well. And third - the third response: verse four: the king commanded hilkiah the high priest in the priests of the second order and the doorkeepers to bring out of the Temple of the Lord all the vessels that were made for the all four. Asherah. And for the host of heave [this is the idolatry of Ammon and Manasseh before him] and he just Sia burn them outside Jerusalem in the fields of kids drone and carry their Ashes to Bethel [I should have got a picture for you, but the Kidron Valley is on the east of Jerusalem, between Jerusalem and the Mount of Olives and Bethel was up on the other side of the mouth of Olives. So they go down and burn these down in that in the brook Kidron and carry their ashes off]. Reverse by he did away with the idolatrous priests whom the kings of Judah had a pointed to burn incense in the high places in the cities of Judah & in the surround. Is area of Jerusalem, I won't read the rest because it goes on for like a whole bunch more verses – at least a dozen verses – talking about all these reforms of Josiah. All of the idols that were smashed and burned. And the reform not just of the temple but of the entire nation. It talks about the high places in Judah where people had set up areas out on mountaintops to go and worship God (as they conceived him). God had called them to worship in Jerusalem, but people went out and did it their own way. Gosh, we can’t identify with that, can we? “I imagine God is like this...” “Well, God says this…” “Oh, but my God would never say that.” And so: “I've got my own high place over here. I'm going to worship the God that I invented” (which is funny because the God you invent often ends up looking a lot like yourself). That's what you had here in Israel. But you had this reform first of Josiah, right? Then you had a reform of the temple, and the people, and then you had a reform of the entire land. He literally cleaned house. Cleaned house not only of the temple, but in the entire city and the entire nation of Judah. And so this is the third thing: it changes a man or a woman, it changes the people around them, and it changes a nation. Returning to the Word of God – uncovering, dusting off the word of God and letting it transform you – changes a nation. This commitment that he makes – this commitment that he makes before God, this Covenant, and the covenant that the people make – creates chan¬ge. And a covenant, a rediscovery of God's word, I would say insists on a change. It transforms you. And it will do nothing else. So if you rediscover, recover the Word of God in your life, it will change you. It will transform you. It will transform you for the good of course, though looking forward to it, you might be thinking, “I don't know if I want to be rid of this. I don't know if I want to be rid of these idols that I have stashed in my temple.” Yeah, God’s gonna chuck ‘em. God’s going to take your idols, He’s going to rip the idols out of your heart and burn them in front of your eyes. And it's a good thing. It's a very good thing because that is change. That is what we need. And so that's the importance of getting into God's Word. The importance is transformation. That's what it's all about right? Our entire study has been about this, right? Participating in the Divine Life is about transformation. Being changed into somebody new, being changed into the image of Christ. Because He came and He showed us what it is to be like, what perfection looks like, what holiness looks like, what the call of God looks like. Christ is the image. And we look to that. And scripture promises that we are being conformed to the image of Christ. But that's the participation in the Divine Life and the recovery of scripture. And that’s what we're going to be talking out next week as well. It always leads to this revival. In the church, in a church revival perhaps, but in the life of an individual believer. Scripture brings Revival. And sometimes we need to come at it with fresh eyes, like I said. To come at it new because we can pick it and, as I talked about with ‘dusty words,’ we can pick it up and read it like, “In the 15th year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar when blah blah-blah blah-blah blah-blah…” And that becomes our attitude so many times. So we need new eyes, new hearts. And that's what this ‘spiritual reading’ is, that ‘Lectio Divina’ that we’ll talk more about next week. It literally means a “Divine Reading,” a reading of the word of God with the intent to be open to God, the intent to be open to change, and openness to the encounter of God. This is how we need to come to scripture. Because we come too often times with the mindset of being (and we've kind of been formed to be) merely readers of information. We come to something, we come to books so many times, to simply gather information. To be informational readers. So we have to begin to break ourselves out of that mold. We don't just come to scripture for information. But this spiritual reading is the exact opposite of that. To allow the text – rather than controlling the text – to control you. Rather than going through Scripture, to let Scripture go through you. Submitting to the text, letting have control over us, and bring us to a place of encounter with God. Now it's one thing for me to step up here and tell you about it, to tell you that you should do it. But it’s another thing for me to participate with you. And like this whole process, I'm doing this with you. These are things I've learned about and studied about before and I do when I can, right? I do when I have time, right? But with you, I am walking intentionally into this, to make it a more steady practice of my life. To enter into this covenant with God and with myself to say this is going to be more intentional part of my life. Like Josiah, like the Kings of Israel were supposed to, to be in it every day. So as with prayer like we did – you know, the whys, the whats – and then the hows, next week I'd like to give you a little guidance as well, if you'd like. Or if you don't like; I'm going to be here talking about it, so you might as well show up. But it's going to be like with prayer, how we had the Lord's Prayer as the model prayer. “Ok, now I know all this; now how do I do it?” right? That's the question: how do I do it? So next week, like with prayer, that's what we’ll be looking at. But this week I would like you to spend the next week reading, and not just for information. Slowly, intently, with the intent of letting it transform you; being changed by His Word. So this next week as you do that, consider the possible need for renewal. Renewal of commitment, for a covenant to be made with the Lord, and a transformation. Being submitted, being open to the possibility of transformation. Being made new. Metamorphosized. That's actually literally the Greek word – to be changed, to be metamorphosized into the image of Christ. So think on these things this week, pray on these things, read God's word in a new way this week, and come back next week and we'll talk a little bit more about it. Funny things happen sometimes last night. I don't want to blame this on God cuz it could have just been me but last night my sermon was changed a bit after working all week. So you're going to get that most of that next week, but I'm part of the scripture we're going to use for today as 2nd Kings chapter 22, and when I got into it, it's there so much. They're so much goodness that really illustrate the points that I wanted to bring out that I decided that we would spend most of our time there. Now as you can see the top there since participating in the Divine like this is a play off of 2nd Peter chapter 1 verse 4 where it says it through these great and precious promises. We have been made to be partakers in the divine nature. Like I said before John 3:16 is good. It is a good verse to talk about God's love to the world and our introduction to the kingdom but it doesn't end there John 3:16 is not the end-all be-all of the Christian Life. It is the beginning your moments of Salvation where you come to the Lord and surrender your life to him is not the end-all be-all of the Christian existence. It's the beginning is the beginning of your life in heaven. So right now you are walking in heaven like Paul says he is seated us with Christ in Heavenly places eternal life has already been has already begun as so as Christians our purpose that this transformation into the image of Christ. This is being turned into will this process of sanctification being made. Holy this is this participation in the Divine Life and there are many aspects to it other many things. We do like Peter says many great and special great and precious promises. He's given us many tools. Prayer fasting his word and worship and end these other things that we're going to be going into and so this is what our study isn't today. And if you read the paper this week to see that the sermon titles changed and everything will be talking about what we could just called Divine reading lexio Divina next week. But this week recovering scripture is what we're going to be speaking about. It's going to be two parts this week recovering scripture and next week reading scripture with prayer. And what is an otherwise the wise of prayer and then the second week. We did the house. We looked up at the Lord's Prayer used it as a as a model. And so this week we're going to be doing the same thing looking at scripture reading the the wise the what's and the next week more of the house next week will be titled reading scripture. But this this idea of recovering scripture. It kind of hints at a loss doesn't it? Say tap something recovered has to have been lost. So we're recovering this from what's and we will see what happens in Second Kings in a moment, but we have scripture right? I mean, how many bibles do you have at home? We can have it we can have it but still be starving you can you can starve in a house that is full of food. You can do it gif nor the food if you choose not to partake in the food so we can have God's word and still be starving Amos 8 vs 11 Says behold, the days are coming declares the Lord God when I will send a famine on the land not a famine for bread or a thirst for water but rather for hearing the words of the Lord. This is a prophecy for Israel, but scripture Rings true throughout the ages and so we can live and we have this country. We can live in a bland. Scripture. You may ask you how how we how we have this this famine for the word of God. We've never lived in a more scripture saturated culture than we live in today. But we can still be starving.

That there's a story I'll just kind of tangent on this real quick. But in the Book of Ruth the very first part we read about Naomi and she's from Bethlehem her and her husband are from Bethlehem stories about how her husband dies and she has to leave Bethlehem because there's a famine but what's funny is funny tragic go with whatever words you want the name Bethlehem, the Hebrew Bible fan memes house by House of Bread. So there was no bread in the House of Bread as though they were in the House of Bread and yet starving. So, how how can we do? That's what today we have Bibles and every house the question is are they being read? Are they breathed and not discussed not enough. No more. James says it are they being listened to are they being heated? Are they Dusty are or on our Bibles Dusty or two are the words in them are the words in them. Dusty has the word of God become Dusty and in need of recovery. Well, that's what we're going to talk about today in the recovery of God's word to set the stage little bit and bible study on Wednesday nights are our home fellowship group. We are echoing our messages that happened on Sunday. We're diving into them in a different way on Wednesday night. And in the first week we talked about this is with prayer. I'm sorry, I suppose it was last week, right we talked about Hezekiah and his prayer before a little of this last week and his prayer before the Lord. And so Josiah who will be talkin about this week was a few Kings later. So Hezekiah, you know that the sennacherib comes down with the army of the Assyrians Hezekiah prays the Lord delivers Israel. Will the next king the very next king was one of the worst kings and Israel's history manasa. If you know Manasseh what you should read his story. I'm not going to give you any more than that other than this is one of the most wicked king of Israel buried his story and kings and Chronicles. It's a really good story. So Manasseh comes in and he he sets up Pagan idolatry in and worshipping. He was one of the kings of the Southern Kingdom who sacrificed his child to Molech. That's how bad this king of Judah went astray and the next king was Amman. Who is he can read here? This is right before our passage set the stage for you and did Evil inside of the Lord as Manasseh. His father had done for he walked all the way that his father had walked and serve the idols that his father had served and worship them. And so this now is the status is what is real looks like so if you'll turn with me if you haven't yet to 2nd Kings chapter 22 verse 1 Josiah was 8 years old when he became king real quickly. Where is Ethan Joseph being King protect? My little Ethan Joseph and make him president United States. I don't want to imagine all of the free candy. We would have imagined the disarray that our country would be in an 8 year old making him King. But Josiah is known as one of the best Kings of Israel Hezekiah and Josiah are two of the best kings in the southern Kingdom of Israel and Judah. So he was 8 years old when he became king and arrange 31 years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was did Ida the daughter of a Daya of Busca he did right in the sight of the Lord and walked in all the way of his father David nor did he turn aside to the right or to the left is to Wicked Games Israel has a good King. Good King, like Hezekiah, but because of the last two kings the temple has fallen to integrate disrepair. It has been neglected. Obviously, we're talking about Solomon's Temple now showing you maps of the second temple that the Temple of Jesus's time it look different cuz that will get in Babylon destroyed Solomon's Temple and it was rebuilt when it came back from Babylon and then Herod the Great spend a lot of time really making a magnificent structure. So the first temple of Solomon do you looked a little different but it was one of those glorious structures in the Middle East covered with gold. There's at the Intercourse inside the temple, you see all the walls covered with gold. The temple was a beautiful beautiful place. But in the time of the last two King's It had fallen into disrepair is not a picture of the temple is another picture but it is a good image. So it is starting to fall out started to fall apart. It was no longer the Glorious Temple that it had been so verse 3 in the eighteenth year of King Josiah the king sent scaife and the son of a celaya the set of Michelin describe to the house of the Lord saying go up to hilkiah the high priest that he may count the money brought into the house of the Lord which of the door-keepers have gathered from the people let them delivered into the hands of the workmen who of the over side of the house of the Lord and let them give it to the workmen who are in the house of the Lord to repair the damages of the house to the Carpenters and the builders and the Masons and for buying timber and hewn Stone to repair the house and no accounting shall be made with him of the money delivered into their hands for they deal Faithfully That's a good Good indictment on their arms character there at the end. So just Sia says the temple treasury go daily census is scribe is to scribe go count it up go go see what we've got and put into the hands of the workers let the house of God begin to be rebuilt and you'll hear if you know anything about the Old Testament view you encounter in the future. You'll you'll hear out of the Bible did the reforms of Josiah or the Revival of Josiah. This is the beginning of the Revival of the kingdom of Judah under Josiah's Reign and how does it begin it begins by a knowledge in the disrepair of the Temple? And same to with with pointing out, perhaps the problems of our Dusty Bible or the words inside the dusty words that become dry to us. The first step is acknowledging the problem acknowledging the disrepair that we have fallen into and then being convicted about it and then moving to correct it 1st Corinthians chapter 6. It says that we are what the Temple of the lord we are the Temple of the holy spirit. So what shape is your house in what shape is the temple of God in? Are there any vacations that need to be made? Did you need to acknowledge the disrepair be convicted perhaps and then begin to move to correct that you see this is not this one up again. This is not an incorrect of a problem of Incredibles word. It is now feel free to use it. This is not an irreparable problem is not Beyond repair. It can be repaired the state of your heart the state of the temple of God within you is well, maybe you'd tragedy it's not a hopeless situation. It's not Beyond repair. You just began you acknowledge it feel that conviction and then act on it. You remember what you read Revelation Chapter 2 the letter to the Church of Ephesus. Christ charge them remember from where you have fallen and repent and do the works that you did at first. This is the first step to the repair of the temple. This is the step to correcting the problem remember repent and return

I'll get to that in a second Silver State then hilkiah. The high priest said touche found the stripes or hilkiah in the temple. Set of the guy that was sent by Josiah. He says I have found the book of the law in the house of the Lord. Now. This is interesting is like hey, look, I found something with tells you that it has been Lots. This is why would the recovering of God's work? It had been lost and they found it now by book of the law. We don't know exactly was included hear properly speaking. A lot of times you can speak of the book of the law being from Exodus 19 to about 21. You see there where God gives his lot of Moses and then you had this whole section of locked and before and after of this narrative portions, so this could have been exit which Exodus 20 the ten commandments. So it includes the law of God and the Ten Commandments could also have been the book of Deuteronomy that deuteronomic the second law could have been the book of Deuteronomy Deuteronomy that kind of Okay, it's Moses his last speech to Israel before he dies before they go into Israel as kind of a summation of the law a reminder like a dog in Revelation. You'll remember where you have fallen. It's a reminder of God's love a kind of Cliff Notes really or it could have been that the five books of the Torah the pentateuch the first five books of the Bible, but they find scripture in the temple at and it's a surprise think about how Fortunate we need to remember recognize how fortunate it is that we do have this. Some of the things that have gone on in history of the early church with with all of the persecutions Scrolls upon Scrolls props. Probably even codices kodak's real actual physical book when you were they invented this thing burned in the persecutions, we could have lost scripture. There's times throughout history where we could have lost scripture but we have in our hands of places in this world that have lost scripture that they're starving for the simple pages of gods were so do we take advantage of this thing that we hold in our hand we take advantage of this we recognize what we have we have computers with with dozens of translations on it. You have all sorts of styles and translations. You have women's Bibles in men's Bibles and Soldiers by a little kids Bible then we have so much. At our fingertips do we recognize a do we utilize it? Cuz Revival will only happen if we see this year received another passage of scripture Revival happens. When we dive back into God's word when we have a recovery of God's word in the Bible is often a lost book in a lot of people's lives today. And in a lot of churches the Bible has become a lost book with but we have tons of them but like Amos said we can still have a famine. We still be starving for the word of God. I'm still a problem is not availability. If you need a Bible I will give them to you or I know a guy chip has shelves a Bible. He gives out freely. You need a Bible. I know a guy you had me to Bible you can get one problem is not availability is it is desirability. It's not that we can't have it. But it's it's not a problem available bit of an appetite. Do we choose to go eat? You have a room full of house and choose not to eat you starve to death its appetite. So to recover the word of God. We need to recover our appetite our desire for the word of God. And you can destroy your iPod. I hear my mother ringing in my ears right now. I have back yesterday. I made Derek and eat and spit popcorn into the trash. I didn't even let them finish it you're eating handfuls of popcorn right before dinner and hear my mother's voice ringing in my ears saying you're going to what ruin your appetite right come to the table for a nice Feast at my mother is spend time preparing for last night. I homemade spaghetti sauce and zucchini straight from the garden. It was great and they're sitting there eating popcorn going to ruin their appetite. What do we do? Spiritually? What do we run off to? What do we engage and so much it's ruining our appetite Facebook scroll scroll scroll story after story after nonsense after nonsense after nonsense, We just go through and we ruin our appetite we want something quick blogs have become too long for our reading we need what will Twitter what does 140 characters or something like that? We had week give it to me 140 characters or I'm not reading give it to me in a headline. He has become so weak. Because we're eating week food because our appetite has been ruined by this junk food. We have to if we're going to recover the word of God we're going to to do that. We have to recover our appetite our desire for the word of God. We have to be in this commentaries are good, but just not a commentary people's ideas about scriptures are good, but not just their we need to be in God's word. So back to our text verse 8 hilkiah gave the book to Shea fan who read it. This is the Scribe. She found the Scribe came to the king and brought back the words of the king saying your Servants of emptied out the money that was found in the house and have delivered into the hands of the workmen who have the oversight of the house of the Lord moreover Chafin told the Scribe Chafin describe told the king saying hilkiah. The priest has given me a book and shaved and read it in the presence of the king. I love that. Okay, he doesn't like hey, look what I found neat, huh? Cool. Alright, so they're working on the temple. I'm going to grab a burger will see you later Reddit. He read it to The King and I like that it's good to read the word be reading the word but I just picture I Envision Hezekiah sitting there on his throne. Whatever that look like Orvis in a chair or whatever and Shay fan sitting near him and reading and Josiah to sitting there just pondering listening drinking in the word of God. Being poured out upon him. I love that image. Just I just sitting there hearing the word of God for the first time. And it's tragic. Another tragedy in our country today. In other people have never heard the story The Good Samaritan a password that I love was telling a story about he is he was on a plane and flying somewhere with this young girl and they get with her but the other seeded near each other and I get to talk and and and and he asked her story. She seems she was a runaway and she's returning home is like that The Prodigal Son, huh? Should I quit but you know any of the prodigal son, you know when off living a life when he's like no, I've no clue. They're very real people bump into everyday, but never heard the story The Prodigal Son that I've ever heard the full story of Christ's weave. This is our culture and I know a lot of us were raised in a different culture where everybody went to church everybody knew the word of God. It's not so anymore. We are the carriers of the word now. People don't know it. We need to make sure that we know we need to make sure that we are in it. So they read the whole thing and you imagine the Beast go back to this food thing. I didn't eat breakfast. So I might be a lot of food today Legend of feast that this is for Josiah having never heard it before but in addition to that tragedy in in the tragedy of our own culture, here's the real treasure. Amos nope Deuteronomy a message on line two Deuteronomy 17 verses 14 through 20 again Deuteronomy the book of the law that Moses wrote for the children of Israel. And in this he says or God says I don't have the contact but someone says when you enter the land which the Lord got your God gives you and you possess it and live in it and you say I will set a king over me like all the other nations who around me has given 18 now then it shall come about that when he sits on the throne of his kingdom. He shall write for himself a copy of this law on a scroll in the presence of the levitical priests it shall be with him and he shall read it all the days of his life that he may learn to fear the lord his God by carefully observing all the words to this law and these statues first 20 that his heart might not be lifted up above his countrymen and then he might not turn aside from the commandant to the right or to the left. I just saw it, right? So that he and his sons may continue long in the kingdom in the midst of Israel. The king of Israel. Each King was to write down a copy of the book of the law again portion of Exodus or Deuteronomy or the whole Torah down to service his own scribe and then to be reading it all the days of his life not know if you've ever written out script. I've I wrote I copied an entire book of scripture wants her friend. It was good exercise. You were just go transcribe scripture grab a little empty journals at Barnes & Noble go right go do this, but more importantly than that and it's it's me more important has to be in that we should be in this don't you think we should all be like this in his word everyday? Now that was what the King was to do. But Josiah had been without the word even without scripture. He never done. This is all brand new. The tragedy is that it should have been handed on to him. He should have received this from the king before me the king before him. It is our duty guys gals. We handing this on to those behind us to say take this read this all the days of your life that you might not turn to the right hand or to the left. So it has been recovered. So let us look at the response or responses cuz it cuz there's three here. They will send my briefly explore the first response back in Second Kings side back here. Back to 2nd Kings. That's a long way back there 22 verse 11 when the king heard the words of the book of the law. He tore his clothes. So here's the response. He tore his clothes a sign of great morning. Then the king commanded Hill KY of the priests. I hate cam the son of shaphan Akbar the son of Micaiah shape and the Scribe and asiah the King servant saying go inquire of the Lord for me and the people in all Judah concerning the words of this book that has been found for great is the Wrath of the Lord that burns against us because our fathers have not listened to the words of this book to do according to all that is written concerning us. So this first response is that it breaks his heart because they've missed out on his words there any of our fathers have not listened to this the words of this book as great as the Wrath of the Lord that burns against us, so he realizes how much I'd missed on and he realizes the consequences because Deuteronomy and Xs and Leviticus, but there's some particular places in Deuteronomy where there's warnings. God says keep this book do not depart from it, or I will deliver you over to other nations who will come in and carry you into captivity. Like this will happen Josiah reads this or hasn't read to him and any broken he's been doing this we are in grave danger dies without the word of God. We are in grave danger. We don't know the threats against us both the threat of of of hell, but the threat of attacks on our life of those who desire our life and our soul that enemy who prowls about like a roaring lion, we don't know these things we're not in God's word. We don't know how to battle these things for not in God's word. The threat is great. We got to be in God's words and know it to be aware of it. And so he reads these things and he remembers from where they have fallen repents and moves to do the Deeds at first. So the second response is in second Kings chapter 23 verse 1 then the king sense and they gather to him all the Elders of Judah and Jerusalem the king went up to the house of the Lord and all the men of Judah and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem with him and the priests in the prophets and all the people both small and great and he read in their hearing all the words of the book of the Covenant which was found in the house of the Lord. So he does that he passes on what should have been passed on to him. He passes on to others. He is faithful to do that gathers everybody he can and says y'all got to hear this we've been without this and you need this verse 3 the king stood by the pill and made a covenant before the Lord to walk after the Lord and to keep his Commandments and his testimonies in a statues with all his heart and all his soul to carry out the words of this Covenant that were written in the book. And all the people entered into the covenants. So the first encountered Josiah by himself. What was Shea fan reading to him? The first response is it that it changes the man Josiah has an encounter with God's word and it changes the man and here we see that it changes the people around him this encounter with God changes the people around him. So when you come to the word of God with fresh eyes and sore when we talk about next week is is another way to read scripture aan important way to read scripture than what we often fall into the Trap but we come to the word of God with fresh eyes a fresh encounter the people around you will be changed as well. The people around you will change the word of God changes a man and it changes the people around him or her and so here he makes his own personal Covenant, perhaps maybe fulfilling the cut command of Deuteronomy 17 where you write your own copy of this keep it read it all your maybe. That's the Covenant that he makes with God, but this Covenant affects everyone text isn't I? Nation it says in all of the people entered into the Covenant see they were already under a covenant the right the Jewish people were already under a covenant as Why They carried on the right of circumcision. Do I knew they know they were the Jewish people never received it at Birth in the like I'm Jewish they were already under the Covenant of God, but the people here enter into a covenant a rededication and whatever this Covenant is, it was a covenant to continue in the change that had been wrought they they also meet the word of God. They are transformed by the word of God and they also dedicate themselves to the word of God just like Josiah did so they were already under a covenant. We to wear under a covenant. We are saved by the sacrifice of Christ. We are saved by God's grace through faith. We enter into this Covenant by faith, but sometimes we need a revisitation don't we sometimes we re need a rededication? Sometimes we need to encounter the word of God a fresh and new and with new eyes and to establish a New Covenant with the Lord to to give yourself to the Lord all over again. The people here they Runner coming up, but they did it to sometimes we need to do that a more purposeful intentful.

Desire to walk with God that's what it's about. It's not about having the word of God verse about the desire to be in it's about the appetite. So sometimes we need this New Covenant as well and third the third response verse for the king commanded hilkiah the high priest in the priests of the second order and the doorkeepers to bring out of the Temple of the Lord all the vessels that were made for the all four. Asherah. And for the host of heaven isn't this the idolatry of Ammon and Manasseh before him and he just Sia burn them outside Jerusalem in the fields of kids drone and carry their Ashes to Bethel she got a picture for you, but kids Rhone Valley is on the east of Jerusalem between Jerusalem and Mount of Olives that that was up on the other side of the mouth of Olives. So they go down and burn these down in that in the brook Kidron carry their asses off Reverse by he did away with the idolatrous priests whom the kings of Judah had a pointed to burn incense in the high places in the cities of Judah & in the surround. Is area of Jerusalem, I won't read the rest goes on for like a whole bunch more versus at least a dozen vs. Talking about all these reforms of Josiah all of the items that were smashed and burned and the reform not just of the temple but if the entire nation talk about the high places in places where people set up areas out on mountaintops to worship God as they conceived him. We got to call them to Worship in Jerusalem. People do it their own way. Gosh, we can identify that. Can we imagine God is like this? I've got my own high place over here. I'm going to worship the God that I invented funny the guide you invent often ends up looking a lot like yourself. That's what you had here in Israel. But you had this reform first of Josiah, right? Daniela reform of the temple and the people need to reform of the entire land. He literally cleaned house in the entire city or the entire nation of Judah. And so this is the third thing it changes a man the people woman the people around them and it changes a nation returning to the word of God uncovering dusting off the word of God and letting it transform you changes a nation.

What do I say here? I wrote some notes down here. I scribble stuff. I'll just go ahead and ignore that cuz I don't know what I wrote down what I was thinking but this commitment that he makes this for God this Covenant and the color of the people makes creates change and a covenant a rediscovery of God's word. I would say insists on a change. It transforms you and it will do nothing else. So if you ReDiscover recover the word of God in your life. It will change you it will transform you for the good of course the looking forward to it. Maybe I don't know if I want to be rid of this. I don't know if I want to be rid of these Idols that I have stashed in my temple. Yeah, that's kind of Chuck him to take your I was going to rip the idols out of your heart and burn them in front of your eyes and it's a good thing. It's a very good thing that has changed. That is what we need. And so that's the importance of getting into God's words transformation. That's what it's all about right there. What we've been talking about. Let me to go to scoop forward to that the very last side that our entire study has been about this right participating in the Divine life is about transformation being changed into somebody new being changed into the image of Christ as he came. He showed us what it is to be like what what Perfection looks like what holy lettuce looks like what the call of God looks like Christ as the image. And we look to that and scripture promises that we are being conformed to the image of Christ. But that's the participation in the Divine Life and the recovery of scripture where we're going to come out next week as well always leads to this revival in the church in a church Revival but in the life of an individual believer scripture brings Revival with with like fresh eyes. Like I said it come out at new cuz he can we we we make it up and what I'm talking about with Dusty words, it's like, you know and and the 15th year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar when blah blah blah blah blah blah blah. Not become our attitude so many times. So we need new eyes new hearts and that's what the spiritual reading. Is it that lexio Divina. It literally means a Divine reading a reading of the word of God with the intent to be open to God the intent to be open to change and openness to the encounter of God. This is how we need to come with scripture because we come too often times. We've kind of been formed to be readers of information we come to something we come to book so many times to be together information to the informational readers. Just give me the info need the info. So we have to begin to break ourselves out of that mold. We don't just come to scripture for information. But this this spiritual reading is the exact opposite of that to allow the text rather than controlling the text. You know, I'm the master. I'm the lord of the text. Letting the text submitting to the text letting have control over us and bring us to a place of encounter with God. Now that's it's one thing for me to step up here and tell you about it to tell you that you should do it. Another thing for me to participate with you in like this whole process. I'm doing this with you at this is things I've learned about and I started about before but now I do when I can write I do when I have time right but with you I am walking intentionally into this to make it a more steady practice of my life to enter this Covenant with God and with myself to say this is going to be more intentional part of my life. Like Josiah like the Kings of Israel were supposed to to be in it every day. So as with prayer like we did, you know the whys the what's and in the house next week? I'd like to give you a little guidance as well if you'd like or if you don't like I'm going to be here talking about it. So you might as well show up, but it's going to be if the model we have the Lord's Prayer as the model. Can I run all this now? How do I do it? Right? That's the question. How do I do it? So next week like with prayer that's what we looking at. But this week I would like you to spend the next week reading and I just for information. Slowly intently with the intent of letting it transform you being changed by his were so this this next week as you do that consider the possible need for renewal. Of commitments for a covenant to be made with the Lord and a transformation being submitted being open to the possibility of transformation being made new metamorphosize. That's actually literally Greek word to be changed to be metamorphosize into the image of Christ. So think on these things these weak prey on these things read God's word in a new way this week come back next week and we'll talk a little bit more about it. Let's pray Lord. We thank you so much.