2 Chronicles 34, Building Blocks For Personal Revival
1. Seek The Lord To Do What Is Right (v1-3)
2. Purge All False Gods (v3-7)
3. Commit To The House Of The Lord (v8-17)
4. Humbly Respond To The Word Of The Lord (v18-28)
5. Commit To Obey The Word Of The Lord (v29-33)
2 Chronicles chapter 34. We're going to be looking at this chapter and King Josiah as we see the beginning of his reign here, and we'll continue on that in the reading over the next couple days. But as we look at tonight's passage, I've titled The Message Building blocks for.
Personal revival
Building blocks for personal revival.
Now Josiah, here as he is king, he leads what is often referred to as the last national revival for the nation of Judah.
Because in the lineup of kings for the Nation of Judah he is the last good king and he institutes many reforms.
He calls people back to the worship of God.
And so just.
A quick look at the timeline here to set your mind in the context of what's happening.
Judah has been split from Israel now for a couple 100 years.
After King David and Solomon, the nation was split in two.
The Northern Kingdom kept the name Israel.
They had no good kings, only bad kings all the way till their destruction by the nation of Assyria.
In first and 2 Chronicles, we've only been following the line of the Kingdom of Judah, and that was the name of the Southern Kingdom.
So when they split the nation of Judah carried on that was within it was the city of Jerusalem and the temple, and so they had the right place to worship God and the.
Temple of God and all of that, and yet they had some good kings, but mostly bad kings and.
So we would see.
You know this king doing evil and all this wickedness happening happening and then eventually or occasionally there would be a good king that would rise up would call people to repentance, to turn back to the things of the Lord.
And then after that king would be gone, then the nation would again turn to wickedness, and that pattern has repeated a few times.
Up to this point, we're now we're at Josiah, and he's the last good king of the nation of Judah before Babylon comes and conquers the nation.
He's the last good king.
He institutes revival calls people back to worship, but as soon as he's off the scene.
The nation dives back into all of their wicked ways, and their idolatry, and that's why I've titled the Message Tonight.
Building blocks for personal revival.
Although he did making a big impact in the nation, maybe national revival is not quite the right way to put it, because the nation really wasn't.
Revived it kind of calls us back to the things we considered on Sunday.
The types of spiritual living that there are that we can live as a spiritual influence.
We can live as a spiritual dependent or we can live as a spiritual captive.
And here in this case, Josiah is a spiritual influencer.
He he leads the nation and influence the nation in the things of God and towards the things of God.
And many people within the nation were impacted by that and really were connected with God and saved from eternity apart from God.
As a result of the the influence of Josiah.
But the nation as.
A whole could perhaps be better categorized as spiritual captives.
They were forced to.
Go along, they were forced to get rid of the idols they were forced to participate in the temple worship because everything else was forbidden and it was part of their their national commitment to seek the Lord in the prescribed way according.
To the law.
And so we see that after the restraints are removed after Josiah is off the scene, they turned back as a whole as a nation and dive back into severe wickedness.
It's kind of like you know, some of the times of wickedness were kind of gradual declines, but after Josiah the nation just zoom.
It doesn't nosedive into wickedness.
Up until the point of destruction that happens by the nation of Babylon.
And so that's why I've titled the message building blocks for personal revival.
There's a a national impact, and there are many people within the nation that experience revival as well.
But the focus for us to consider tonight is that that personal aspect, and we see the example of Josiah here, and he he kind of teaches us how to experience.
That kind of revival, and you know, there are many times in our lives where we are in need of revival, that it's not necessarily just a.
Thing that happened a long time ago, you know, with the hippies or a long time before that.
And and the different groups that have happened and the different revivals that have happened throughout history.
But of course in the course of life, our relationship with the Lord and our heart for the Lord goes through different seasons and and there are those seasons where we kind of.
Subside and and kind of the things of the Lord kind of wane away out of our hearts and.
And there needs to be that calling back and that reviving of our heart for the Lord in our relationship with the Lord.
And so these building blocks that we.
You can see in King Josiah will help us to put things in place for us to be able to experience that work of God, that reviving of God, that we oftentimes need within our hearts.
And so we'll look at the first building block here in verses one through three, and that.
Is seek the Lord to do.
What is right?
The first building block, if you want to experience.
God's revival in your heart is to put this in place to seek the Lord to do what is right. Look at verse one and two. It says Josiah was eight years old when he became king.
And he reigned 31 years in Jerusalem.
And he did what was right in the sight.
Of the Lord.
And walked in the ways of his father, David.
He did not turn aside to the right hand or to the left.
Here is we're introduced to Josiah.
We learned that he was a really young boy when he first becomes King, 8 years old.
He's on the throne for a little bit.
Probably has a lot of help and assistance in the political arena in actually governing the Kingdom.
Since he's only eight years old.
But the summary of his life is found in verse 2.
Even though he started young, probably had lots of inexperience, lots of issues in that regard.
The summary of his life is he did what was right in the sight of the Lord.
And as we mentioned a couple of times the the summary that is given of each king really focuses on their relationship with the Lord.
It's the most important thing of each king.
As you walk through 1st and 2nd.
Chronicles as you walk through 1st and 2nd Kings.
What was their relationship with the Lord like?
It really is the most important.
Thing of any of us.
And the summary of our life.
Will be if God is giving the summary a summation of our relationship.
With the Lord and.
For Josiah, he did what was right in the sight of the Lord.
He walked like David.
He sought the ways of the Lord, and he did not turn aside to the right hand or to the left.
You can see here in verse two this is a the summary of a life.
That has experienced personal revival, and so may this be the summary of our lives when the Lord tells it at the end of our lives, right?
That that he that she did what was right in the sight of the Lord, and did not turn to the right hand or to the left.
But how did that happen for Josiah?
Verse three gives us the key.
In the eighth year of his reign, while he was still young, he began to seek the God of his father, David.
Became King at 8 years old in the eighth year of his reign, so now Josiah is about 16 years old.
Still a young man, but old enough.
To begin to take responsibility for his heart.
For his mind and for his behavior.
In the eighth year of his reign.
He said, you know what?
I want to seek God.
I want to seek the Lord that the Lord of our Father, David I want to pursue the heart of God.
Like David did.
And verse two and three combined for something interesting.
Verse two he did what was right in the sight of the Lord, and then notice in verse 3-4 in the eighth year of his reign, how is it that he was able to do what was?
Right in the sight of the Lord.
Why was he able?
How did that happen?
Verse three tells us 4.
He began to seek the God of his father, David.
The reason why he was able to have this summary of his life.
The reason why he was able to do what was right in the sight of the Lord was because he began to seek the God of his father David.
He began, he instituted something.
He started doing something different than before, and that was to seek.
To seek the Lord, his father was.
Not a good king was a wicked king.
His grandfather was Manasseh, the most wicked king that Judah ever experienced.
Who lived really long time rain for a long time now.
At the end of Manasseh life he had a time of repentance.
He went into captivity, humbled himself before the Lord.
The Lord brought him back, and so Manasseh himself experienced a bit of a revival, right?
At the end of his reign.
Josiah probably wasn't part of that because.
That happened before he was born, most likely, but.
Perhaps there was some remnants of his grandfathers repentance.
That kind of reverberated in the stories that he was told about his family and from the servants and from the people around him and.
We don't know exactly why his father was wicked, had nothing to do with the Lord wanting nothing to do with the Lord.
But here is Josiah.
He says, you know?
I'm gonna do something different.
And he began to seek.
The God of his father, David.
He sought the Lord in order to do what is right.
To seek the Lord, there's a lot of things that we could say about that.
But in summary, it's the idea of putting the Lord first in our lives and and his will first for us that that we set before us, that the desire to do what God wants.
And we involve God in all of the situations and all of the decisions.
And in the course of our life, so that.
He is able to speak to us to lead us to guide us as we face decisions as we you know, go down one path or another path that that we involve the Lord in that that we seek the Lord about all those things that we face.
It's the first building block for personal revival.
You really can't have personal revival if you don't care what God.
Wants if you don't care what God has to say about a situation.
If you don't care about doing what is right in the sight of God.
If if you have no desire to please God or to to walk in his will, that there is not going to be that reviving.
That refreshing and renewing work that God.
Wants to do in your heart?
It really needs to start with us seeking the Lord, doing something different and saying God, I want to know what do you want doing something different and putting God first and seeking his will above our own, finding out hearing from him what he has to say.
About the situations that we face.
Well, the second building block that we'll see is in verses 3 through 7. Now here's point. #2 purge all false gods.
Building block number two.
We need to remove to get rid of to break down and completely purge all false gods.
Check out verse 3 again.
It says in the eighth year of his reign, while he was still young, he began to seek the God of his father David, and in the 12th year he began to purge Judah.
And Jerusalem of the high places.
The wooden images, the carved images, and the molded images.
Josiah, as he stepped into the king, he set or stepped in as king.
He stepped into a Kingdom that was just full on, immersed in wickedness again under Manasseh.
There was great wickedness and idolatry happening in the nation under his father.
He you know, was filling the nation with and focusing.
The nation on false gods and idolatry.
And so when Josiah steps in, he's inheriting a nation that is bent on this worship of these false gods.
But he himself decides I don't want to live that way.
I'm going to go back to our roots and go back to the worship of the true and living God.
And so he begins to seek the Lord.
And as he's seeking the Lord, some time passes his seeking of the Lord.
His walk with the Lord progresses.
To a point where now he is strengthened.
To be able to begin purging.
Away, the idolatry now take note of the time frames that are mentioned here in verse 3.
In the eighth year of his reign, he began to seek the God of his father David.
In the 12th year of his reign he began to purge Judah.
8 years old, he becomes king 16 years old.
He begins to seek the Lord.
20 years old, he begins to purge Judah.
There's about four years that pass between the beginning of the seeking the Lord and now this next step of purging.
From Judah, the high places, the wooden images, the carved images, and the molded images.
I think it's.
Important to take note of the time frame here because.
We might ask the question, how did God not?
Come back in the eighth year when he says, OK Lord, I'm starting something new.
I want to seek you.
I want to find out what's right and what you want me to do.
Had it not got immediately, say get rid of all the idolatry.
How did God not immediately call him to do this and say this is what you need to do and and charge him with the purging of idolatry from the nation?
You know, sometimes the way that we interact with others we interact in that way.
That we want to immediately get to work.
Here's what you need to do.
And here's the list of things you need to purge from your life.
Here is all the correction that you will ever need.
I'll give it to you all right up front into.
You know at one time here it is all my criticisms and complaints about your life and your behavior.
I I find it interesting how patient God is.
And and it.
Serves as a reminder to me of the importance of priorities.
If I'm interacting with Josiah between the 8th year and the 12th year.
My job might not be to call attention to all of the purging that needs to be done.
My job might be to help further the seeking of the Lord so that at the right time.
He is seeking the Lord.
So then the Lord has the opportunity to show him all right now.
Josiah, it's the time to start purging.
Now, I'm not suggesting that we, you know, overlook sin or just tolerate rebellion against God in that way.
But at the same time, God is so patient.
And there are so many things that need correction in our life.
If God were to show up and say alright, here's a list everything that you need to fix in your life.
Well, we would be overwhelmed immediately.
But we would probably give up.
Right from the start.
I mean, let's say you have another forty 5060 years of walking with the Lord.
That's a lot of things that are going to need to be changed about you, right?
There's a lot of purging to be done in my heart over the next 50 or 60 years.
If God gave it to me all right now, I couldn't bear it.
I couldn't handle it.
God measures it out.
He shines a light on something and says, OK, this is what I want you to purge now.
It's all I can handle.
Is the thing he's showing me right now and then later on.
Once we've sought the Lord and learned to do what is right in that thing, then he takes the next step and says, OK, here's another area.
Can you purge that area?
The way that the Lord works in our lives is very patiently.
Through the process of time, sometimes it's four years before this obvious thing that needs to be purged is addressed by the Lord.
I would suggest it serves as a reminder for us to be very careful.
To not be the Holy Spirit in people lives or not attempt to be the Holy Spirit in people lives now.
One of the things that I often bring up is our role in the body of Christ and the interaction with one another and how God speaks to us through one another.
And that is absolutely true.
But we also need to be careful that when we are interacting and.
Speaking in the name of the Lord that we are led by the Lord and not just operating.
Based on our preferences or what we think or what we come up with ourselves because we might be laying a charge to somebody.
Before they're ready to receive it and and what we intend to be.
Hey, this is really good.
You need to purge this from your life.
It's going to help you so much what we intend to do.
Good with.
Might actually not be so good when.
It's not the timing that God has for that particular thing, and so if I interact with Josiah in the ninth year of his reign or the 10th year of his reign, it might not be time for me to bring up the.
Purging that needs to be brought up.
The Lord, so there's.
A difference I might see it I might know about it.
I may know how to pray for him.
But until the Lord tells me he address this issue of the purging that needs to take place, I need to be very careful not to rush ahead of the Lord and impose on people things that he has not imposed on them yet.
Well, but Jerry, it's sinful, it's idolatry.
Yes, I I get that.
I understand that at the same time.
He is.
Seeking the Lord.
See, that's the most important thing.
If he is seeking the Lord, the Lord is able to reveal these things to him at the right time, when it's the appropriate time for him to handle and address those things.
Now, I'm not suggesting that Josiah was involved personally in idolatry this whole time.
So there's different circumstances, but the point stands the same.
Let's be led by the Lord and make sure before we impose things upon others and charge others with things and tell them all of the things that we wish that they would correct in their lives.
Let's make sure that we're in tune with God, timeframe and God timeline for those things.
And so Josiah begins by seeking the Lord.
It's probably a safe assumption to understand that he had turned himself from idolatry at that point when he began to seek the Lord.
And now he's at a point where, now, in his realm of responsibility.
The nation of Judah is his responsibility as king, and so now he begins to work out that thing that God has been working with in.
He begins to work that out publicly and begin to purge the nation of Judah.
Of these idolatries again very likely that he had turned away from previously back.
When he began to seek the Lord, and so he begins now to focus on his immediate influence, his immediate sphere of influence as a spiritual influencer is the nation of Judah.
Verse four says they broke down the altars of the balls in his presence.
And the incense altars which were above them, he cut down, and the wooden images, the carved images, and the molded images he broke in pieces and made dust of them, and scattered it on the graves of those who had sacrificed to them.
He also burned the bones of the priests on their altars and cleanse Judah and Jerusalem.
The idolatry was filling the nation.
It was all over the nation of Judah.
It was within the.
City of Jerusalem.
Is as we'll see as we go down, it was even in the temple.
There was the worship of.
These false gods.
And so he goes about now.
Working out this thing that God has done in his heart and purging all of the false gods in that immediate realm of his influence.
But what's also interesting about Josiah is he doesn't limit it to that.
He goes beyond his borders into the northern Kingdom that has long ago been conquered by the nation of Assyria.
There's still a scattering of people there, as Sirius moved out, most of Israel and moved others in.
But there's still all of this idolatry, and much of it is still associated with the original calves that Jeroboam had set up after the this nation split into.
And so he goes into now that.
Northern Kingdom and begins to clean house in verse six and seven, it says, and so he did in the cities of Manasseh, Ephraim, and Simeon as far as.
Naphtali and all around with axe.
When he had broken down the altars.
And the wooden images had beaten the carved images into powder and cut down all the incense altars throughout all the land of Israel.
He returned to Jerusalem.
And so he goes on this campaign.
To remove idolatry from Judah, his immediate responsibility, but then also kind of overflowing to the nation of Israel, which no longer exists.
But there's still people there.
There's still the idolatry that was left there, and so he goes through.
He sweeps through the nation, cuts it all down, breaks down the altars, breaks down the.
The idols grinds them into powder.
Sacrifices the wicked priests on those altars to file them so that they will never be used for idolatry.
Again, just puts a permanent end to all of that idolatry that was going on, and in doing this he fulfills the word that God had spoken through the Prophet back in First Kings chapter 13.
Right when the nation split and Jeroboam set up the two idols.
The Lord sent a man of God to go and deliver a message and named Josiah by name.
And said Josiah will come here. We'll tear down this alter we'll burn the priest sacrificed the priest on the high places and men bones will be burned on that altar, that all of the things that we're just reading here in 2 Chronicles 34, are prophesied about in First Kings Chapter 3 verses one and two. So I encourage you to.
Check that out, but.
For us this building block.
Of personal revival
Is to purge all false gods everything that God shows everything that God shines the light on.
To not put up with, to not compromise and and live in complacency with things that we know God wants to remove from our lives.
You know, sometimes we can.
Have an idea?
We know what it is.
That God wants.
But but we're comfortable.
In that thing that's in that issue, or perhaps we are weak.
And dealing with and addressing that issue would.
Ruffle some feathers and cause some problems.
We know what God wants us to do, but it's going to be a.
Difficult thing to.
Do we're not willing to let it go.
We're not willing to pay the price for making that change.
But if you want to experience personal revival, you need to respond to those things that God shines on your heart.
Again, understand there's much more that needs to change in your heart.
Then God can show you at this time.
But our responsibility is not to change all of it and be perfect people overnight, but our responsibility is to respond and react to purge any idolatry.
Anything that competes with God Place in our life.
Anything that competes for the passion, the attention, the devotion that belongs to God.
Anything that stands in that way or it just distracts.
From subtracts from or takes away from the things of the Lord, we need to purge those things as God reveals them to us.
Well, moving on to the third building block versus 8 through 17.
We'll kind of hit most of these verses pretty quickly, but building block number 3 is to commit to the House of the Lord, commit to the House of the Lord.
Verse 18.
Says in the 18th year of his reign when he had purged the land and the temple, he sent Schaffen the son of Azaleia Messiah, the governor of the city, and Joel, the son of Jehoahaz, the recorder, to repair the House of the Lord his God.
When they came to hilkiah the high priest they delivered the money that was brought into the House of God which the Levite's who kept the doors had gathered from the hand of Manasseh and Ephraim from all the remnant of Israel from all Judah and Benjamin and which they had brought back to Jerusalem. Verse 10.
Then they put it in the hand of the foreman, who had oversight of the House of the Lord, and they gave it to the workmen who worked in the House of the Lord to repair and restore the house.
They gave it to the Craftsman and builders, to buy hewn stone and timber for beans.
And to the floor.
The houses which the kings of Judah had destroyed.
And the men did the work, faithfully. Their overseers were Jonathan Obadiah, the levite's of the sons of Mary and Zechariah and Mushlam of the sons of the Co sites.
To supervise others of the levite's, all of whom were skillful with instruments of music.
Were over the burden bearers and were overseers of all who did work in any kind of service, and some of the levite's were scribes, officers, and.
Gate keepers
There's a lot going on here, but.
What happens next in the life of Josiah is a commitment to the House of the Lord.
He begins to now restore and repair the temple.
Now again, notice the time frame.
Verse eight in the 18th year.
Of his reign this happens.
So eight years in, he begins to seek the Lord.
12 years in, he begins to purge idolatry.
18 years in, he begins to repair the House of the Lord his God.
Now if I'm.
Encountering Josiah in Year 16 of his reign, I might be immediately pointing out, hey, you need to fix the temple.
Look at the bad shape of the like.
Why aren't you dealing with this already?
You should have dealt with this.
It's obvious, isn't it obvious you need to fix this right?
But again, it's it's measured out as the Lord is working out his plans through Josiah.
He's seeking the Lord.
He's hearing from the Lord and in the right time where he's able to handle it, and it's the right time for him to begin to focus on this.
He begins to repair the House of the Lord.
He he commits his attention to his focus on the House.
Of the Lord.
And the next few verses are interesting because it's kind of a, uh, a fun exercise if you.
Maybe it's not fun for everybody, but to follow the money, right?
There's that always the same, right?
Follow the money.
That's why you.
Got to follow the money, figure out where the conspiracy is happening, right?
But follow the money here.
There was this collection that was taken for the House of the Lord.
In verse nine.
It tells us that they delivered the money that was brought into the House of God.
So they had gone through all of the nation of Israel and Judah.
They'd collected the money.
And what did they do with it?
In verse 10 they put it into the hand of the foreman.
Who had oversight of the House of the Lord?
So this collection happens.
Josiah is saying, hey, we need to repair, and so he sends out the call.
Let's let's receive what is necessary to rebuild and and restore the temple and so they bring that money back.
They put it into the hand of the four men.
Those who are going to be looking over the work that is going on.
And so the four men pocketed all the money and lived happily ever after.
No, that's not what happened.
It says in verse 10 they the four men gave it to the workmen who worked in the house.
So the four men gave it to the workmen.
And then in verse 11 the workmen gave it to the Craftsman.
The Craftsman and the builders.
And then verse 12 and the men did.
The work faithfully.
So the idea here is there's this collection.
It's pulled from all these different places people are giving to the House of the Lord.
And then there is this faithful accounting.
Where that money went and how it was used?
The four men received the funds, spread it out amongst the workmen.
The workmen receives the funds and spread it out amongst the Craftsman and the builders so that each one is getting what's appropriate and what's necessary for the rebuilding of the parts that are their responsibility.
But then, in verse 12 it says the men did the work.
And and so here we see a, uh, good diligence with the resources that are given, but also a.
Commitment level of.
All of these levels, right?
So the the.
The leaders are mentioned inversi.
Josiah and he and the rest of his leaders there.
They're committed to the House of the Lord.
They're committed to this process, and so they're collecting these funds and and, you know, initiating this process.
They're bringing it down and then all of these different layers of supervisors on the job and workmen and Craftsman.
They're all committed.
To the House of the Lord.
To receive what they were given and to use it to their best of their ability to restore and rebuild and do the work that God had set before them in the rebuilding of.
The temple and so we see that Josiah was committed.
The leaders were committed.
The four men were committed.
The workmen were committed, the Craftsman were committed, and and it says in verse 12 that they did the work faithfully and that word faithful is a is an important word.
It shows the commitment level that they were holding to the course.
In first Corinthians chapter 4.
Paul the apostle.
Talks about.
How people should consider him, how they should evaluate him, he says consider us as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God.
And what's required of stewards that one be found faithful.
It's a way that Paul was committed to the House of the Lord.
He was committed to his role.
Right in many ways he was the foreman or the Workman or the Craftsman.
The builder in the body of Christ.
And committed to his role, he did his work faithfully.
That's what's required of us as stewards.
Those who have been entrusted with resources.
What's required is a commitment to the House of the Lord and to do our work faithfully.
You can see that this commitment was real because they were reporting back and there was this process of accountability that was going on checkout versus 14 through 17.
It says now when they brought out the money that was brought into the House of the Lord, Hilkiah the priest found the book of the Law of the Lord Given by Moses.
Then Hilkiah answered and said to chiffon describe.
I have found the book of the law in the House of the Lord, and Hilkiah gave the book to chiffon.
So chiffon carried the book to the king bringing the king word saying all that was committed to your servants.
They are doing.
And they have gathered.
The money that was found in the House of the Lord and have delivered it into the hand of the overseers and the workmen.
So Josiah.
Yeah, is not a set it and forget it kind of guy when it comes to his commitment to the House of the Lord.
He doesn't just say alright, I'm going to give a command.
You guys go get the money, give it to the workers and make sure it gets done and then.
I'm going to focus on other.
Things Josiah is getting reports back.
So he's sitting on top of it.
He's following up.
He's making sure that things are being carried out the way that they should be.
It shows his commitment to the House of the Lord.
He didn't just move on to other things.
OK, you know, I gave that command.
That's that's all.
And then now?
But he says no, I I need to check back in and so he's sending Siobhan the the scribe back and forth to the temple and getting reports.
Hilkia is giving reports back.
Here's what happened, and here's, you know.
In this case, we see that the the book.
Of the law was found.
But the status update is really what I'm paying attention to.
Here in verse six, when Ciafone comes back to King Josiah, he says all that was committed to your servants, they are doing.
King, you sent me to check in on the.
Things that were committed to.
Your servants and.
So here's the report back.
All that was committed to them.
They are doing oh and a side note.
They also found the Bible like that.
That was secondary because that wasn't his primary mission.
His primary mission was he was sent by the king, checked the status, how's everything going?
How do they do receiving the money?
How's the money being spent?
How's the work you know happening?
What's going on there?
And so there is this oversight that Josiah is is exercising here because he's committed to the House of the Lord.
Again, in verse 16, all that was committed to your servants.
They are doing.
And so Josiah was committed.
The leaders were committed, the workers were committed, the supervisors were committed.
They were all focused on making sure that the work that God had set before them was accomplished.
It's a good reminder for the building block.
That we need in our lives for that personal revival that God has given to us the house.
Of the Lord.
Now there's a few ways you can think about that.
Of course, the the House of the Lord being the physical physical building.
There's there's some elements of important things to consider in that.
But more importantly, and probably easiest for us to focus on is the body of Christ as the House of the Lord and how God has designed us as living stones and pieced us together as the House of the Lord and our commitment to the House of the Lord may not be so much a commitment to a physical building as it is.
A commitment to the gathering together of believers, the meaning of needs, the interaction that one another ministry, the exercising of our gifts, the utilizing of the roles that God has given to us, and so whether it be gathering or gifting or praying or serving there.
Uh, commitment to the House of the Lord that needs to be in place in our lives that we would be committed to the things of God the the, the, the work that God wants to do in US and through us in interacting with the the body of Christ.
We are the temple of the Holy Spirit individually but also.
Collectively, there is a work together that God does and commitment to that, a commitment to fulfill our role.
Is important and so this is a building block for us a a necessary element for us to experience the revival that God wants.
Us to experience.
Well, let's keep moving point #4 now in verses 18 through 28, humbly respond to the word of the Lord. They found the word of the Lord. It had been lost for some time.
Now they've found it and Josiah will respond here in verses 18 through 28. Verse 18 says then chiffon. The scribe told the king, saying, Hilkiah the priest has given me a book.
And Ciafone read it before the king.
Thus it happened.
When the king heard the words of the law that he tore his clothes.
Then the king commanded Hilkiah a hike.
Him the son of Shaphan Abdon, the son of Micah Chiffon.
Describe and asiah the servants of the king saying go inquire of the Lord for me and for those who are left in Israel and Judah concerning the words of the book that is found for great is the wrath of the Lord that is poured out on us because our.
Fathers have not.
Kept the word of the Lord to do according to.
All that is written in this book.
Josiah gets his first chance.
To hear the word of the Lord.
Now again, think about the time frame.
How this is happening in the eighth year of his reign, he began seeking the Lord.
And the 12th year.
He began purging the nation in the 18th year.
He began restoring the temple and its at that time.
That the word of God is discovered and now read to him. He's been on the throne for 18 years already. He's 26 years old now. He started out when he was eight.
A lot of time has passed.
He's been seeking the Lord now for 10 years.
We could ask the question how could God?
Not reveal the location of the Bible immediately, like.
Here's Josiah Lord, I'm seeking you.
I want to do what's right.
I want to please you and.
God sends him a prophet and says the book of the law is found right here in the temple.
Go dig it out and you're going to get so much insight from what the Bible has to say.
Like why didn't God do that?
We didn't know.
He has his own ways, his own reasons, his own purposes.
He worked it out at the right time.
And now in the process of this, he's seeking the Lord with limited information, limited understanding, because the scriptures had been so neglected that they were buried somewhere in some backroom of the temple that they hadn't.
Had a copy of them.
They hadn't been paying attention to what the Bible had to say.
But now the word of God is brought forth.
What a reminder to us of how spoiled we are with our access to the word of God, right that they lived in a day where the word of God could be lost for a generation.
Just not even known there was a Bible.
There was a scripture we we had that what now it was their custom and their culture.
They would pass on.
The traditions.
Orally they they would speak to the child, their children, the traditions and their histories.
And so perhaps they didn't feel like they missed anything with without the written word, but.
There was much found here that was surprising to Josiah to the rest of the nation.
They needed the word of God in their lives.
They needed the truth revealed and and these things brought forth.
But they needed to be at.
The right place.
In their position and their ability to receive again sometimes.
We need to be careful about not overreaching.
And we we might be trying to pour out too much.
On those who are not quite there yet, not quite ready to receive God knew when Josiah would be in the right spot at the right time to have the word of God revealed to him.
And so.
As he hears the word, he tears his clothes.
He responds very seriously because he realizes we are in real, real big trouble because we have completely violated everything that God commanded us.
In his word.
We've broken all of the commandments we've.
Pursued idolatry, we we are ripe for.
Judgment is what Josiah realizes.
And so he says, we need to find out what God is saying about this.
How does the Lord want to, you know, lead us and guide us and speak to us in the midst of this.
Is this true?
Are we going to experience all the judgment that's promised here?
And so he sends a few of his guys.
To inquire of this prophetess, in verse 23, we pick it up, it says, then she answered them thus, says the Lord God of Israel, 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 curses that are written in the book which they have read before.
The king of Judah.
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 will be poured out on this place and not be quenched.
The Prophet is speaking on behalf of the Lord, says.
Yes, what you've heard is true.
What you read there probably in Deuteronomy right? 20 seven 2829 that where God lays out all the blessings of the curses. All those curses that God said those are going to be fulfilled.
She tells the truth, God will have justice because of their severe wickedness that they have been engaged in.
This is the amazing thing about God. He's not just about truth, not just about justice. He's also about mercy. Verse 26.
She goes on to say.
As for the King of Judah, who sent you to inquire of the Lord.
In this manner you shall speak to him.
Thus says the Lord God of Israel concerning the words which you have heard.
Because your heart was tender and you humbled yourself before God.
When you heard his words against this place and against its inhabitants, and you humbled yourself before me, and you tore your clothes and wept before me.
I also have heard you, says the Lord.
Surely I will gather you to your father's and you shall be gathered to your grave in peace, and your eyes shall not see all the calamity which I will bring on this place and its inhabitants. So they brought backward to the king. She tells these guys the truth. Yes, calamity is coming.
Justice will be served.
This nation has stored up wrath and that wrath will be unleashed and the judgment of God will be upon the nation of Judah, but also mercy Josiah.
The way you've responded.
With humility and you've really been.
Struck to the core by the reality of how far you have fallen as a people as a nation.
Because you've humbly responded.
To the word of the Lord in this way.
I'm going to delay and postpone this calamity.
So you won't see it.
You won't experience that calamity.
Because your heart was humble.
The Lord says in Isaiah, Chapter 6 that he pays attention to those who tremble at his word.
This is the correct posture.
This is the correct response and reaction to the word of God to humble ourselves before the word of the Lord and receive what he has to say, whether or not we like it, whether or not it's popular, whether or not.
It's our favorite thing in the world, but to humble ourselves before him and receive.
And here and and believe the things that he has said.
I like how FB Meyer puts it. He says let us read God's word carefully and reverently until we come on something which accuses us.
And then stopped to listen.
We must submit ourselves to its scrutiny.
We must allow it to divide between soul and spirit.
We must enthrone it at whatever cost, as the critic of our lives, we must follow its leadings wherever it points.
The way humbly responding to the word of.
The Lord looks.
Like this, letting God's word rule in our lives.
And when it accuses us receiving it, not explaining it away, not justifying ourselves.
By receiving it, letting it roll, letting it point the way, and show us.
The way that God wants us to go submitting ourselves to the truth of the word of God. Well finally point #5
The 5th building block is commit to obey the word of the Lord Verses 29 through 33.
Says this, then the king sent and gathered all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem. The King went up to the House of the Lord with all the men of Judah and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the priests and the Levite's.
And all the people great and small.
And he read in their hearing all the words of the book of the Covenant, which had been found in the House of the Lord.
Then the king stood in his place and made a covenant before the Lord to follow the Lord, to keep his commandments and his testimonies in his statutes, with all his heart and all his soul, to perform the words of the covenant which were written in the book. Verse 32.
And they made all who were present in Jerusalem, and Benjamin take a stand.
So the inhabitants of Jerusalem did, according to the Covenant of God the God.
Of their fathers.
Thus Josiah removed all the abominations from the country that belonged to the children of Israel and made all who were present in Israel diligently served the Lord their God all his days.
They did not depart.
From following the Lord God of their fathers.
Here we see Josiah response as he hears back.
The the word.
Of the Lord is true, the calamity is coming.
He decides, OK, that's true.
That's going to happen, but what we are going to do is be committed.
From now on, we can't change all the wrath that we've stored up, and all the things that we've done previously, but from now on we are going to.
Follow the word.
Of the Lord.
So he gathers together all of Israel, he says.
As for me in my house.
Now Nation of Judah.
Your my house.
We're going to follow the Lord and he calls all the leaders.
He calls all the people great and small.
They hear the word of God and he in verse 31 he makes a.
Covenant before the Lord.
Covenant between him and the people between them and the Lord to perform the words of the covenant again, it calls us back to what we considered on Sunday.
The spiritual influence he calls people to the the commitment of obedience to what God has declared and the people follow along.
During his life after his life.
They move on.
They do their own thing.
They do what they want to do.
But during the time that he was able, he was a spiritual influence because he was committed to obey the word of the Lord.
And so here we get from the example of Josiah.
Some building blocks for personal revival.
If you want to experience God's refreshing renewing, reviving work in your heart, seek the Lord to do what is right. Put him first. Invite him into all of your decisions. All of your situation.
Purge all the false gods as he shines a light on them as he shows you where your heart is off and the things that are competing for your attention and taking you away from the things of God purged them.
There's many more than he'll show you all at once, but the ones that he shines light on.
Those are the ones that we need to address now, so anything that's out of line that you know.
Is not what God wants for you.
Purge it from your life.
Commit to the House of the Lord. Commit to your role. Commit to interacting with one another. Commit to being part of the body of Christ and be engaged with the House of the Lord in the way that God has called you to humbly respond to the word of the Lord. Let God's word impact you, change you direct to you, and be committed.
To obey whatever God says, however, God speaks.
However, God leads the direction that God gives have a commitment.
To be obedient to the things that God has revealed, let's pray.
Lord, we thank you for your word.
We thank you God for the opportunity of revival, Lord, that even when we have.
Been negligent or rebellious and our.
Hearts and our lives have turned sour as a result.
Lord, you don't abandon us and just leave us.
There is the opportunity for something new and something fresh from you.
A new revived work of you in our.
Hearts God, I pray that you would help us to take notes of the example.
Here in Josiah Lord that we would.
Take these elements.
These building blocks that we see in his character and that we would begin to implement them and Lord, it might be a 10 year process like it was here for Josiah.
Lord, we want to start now, seeking you hearing from you what what is right?
What is the right next step for us that you desire or that we might know you and and do the things that please you and fulfill your will.
I pray God that you would lead us from there.
The things that we need to purge the things that we need to hear.
In the right time?
Or would you reveal to us the next step, but help us to keep on that pursuit to keep on seeking you that we can hear those next things at the right time.
We pray, Lord, that you would revive us, renew us and restore us in Jesus name.