A Word in Time // Defining Moments, Part 4

It’s easy to drift along, day after day – not ever realising that we’re on a gentle, downward slope, until it’s too late. But the beauty of God’s grace is that it’s never, ever too late to change things. It’s never, ever too late to turn your life around.

 

Same Old Same Old

The thing about life is that it, well, it seems to just crank along, day after day – get up, have a shower, have breakfast, hit the commute, go to work, come home, do the TV, go to bed, get up ... isn’t that the routine? Ninety nine point nine percent of life seems to be everyday, mundane realities – punctuated, granted, with the odd high and low. And the more we live that same old same old, the more we become accustomed to that reality; we get used to it.

For many people there is a dull ache in their hearts; for others there is this sense that, there has to be something more. You know I work in God’s service, in full time ministry and every Sunday evening I talk with my mother on the phone – it’s our little routine – and she asks me "Berni, what’s been going on in your life?" And I’m your typical male, I say “Well, Mum, you know it was kind of the same as last week; nothing particularly new – same old same old." And it’s true!

The problem is for so many, many people, this same old same old routine is about drifting away from God. It’s about living out a busy life and just struggling to get by and consuming mountains of drivel from the TV that ... well, we forget what life is all about. And before we know it, God seems like ... well, it seems like He is just a million miles away. Have you ever felt that in your life? You know, you can even be on holidays, having a great vacation somewhere, with time on your hands and yet, it still feels like God is a million miles away. There’s a reason for that – there is!

And today on the programme we are going to discover the reason and the remedy. This is the last in a series of four messages that I have called “Defining Moments”. We are going to have a look at a King in Israel’s history; a man named Josiah – to discover what is the reason and the remedy. But before we look at Josiah, we need to have a look at his grandfather and his father because his grandfather and father, Manasseh and Amon, those two guys are the reason.

And through Josiah’s life; through a defining moment in his life we discover the remedy. See, Manasseh and Amon – we can see through them how we can drift away from God – just through little compromises, it seems at first, until life itself is at stake. And through Josiah what we are going to see how easy it is to turn that around.

I just want to position where that story comes in Israel’s history. God first engaged with His chosen people through Abraham and Abraham and his son called Isaac and Isaac had a son called Jacob and Jacob had twelve sons, one of who was Joseph of "Technicoloured Dream Coat" fame. And these were the twelve tribes of Israel and they grew and they grew into this massive nation and for four hundred years they were keep in Egypt as slaves.

Then eventually God calls Moses to go to Pharaoh and say, "Let My people go" and that happens through a series of miracles. And then around about 1280BC, the exodus begins – you know, forty years in the desert, they end up in the Promised Land and then there is a period of Judges until Saul becomes King in around 1050BC, followed by King David and then King Solomon. But after Solomon’s reign, Israel splits in two – the ten Northern tribes are called ‘Israel’ and the two Southern tribes, Judah and Benjamin are referred to as ‘Judah’ – and that happens around 930BC.

All along Judah struggles with God and remember…..remember the first two commandments that God gives to His people. You can read them in Exodus chapter 20, beginning at verse 2:

I am the Lord your God who brought you out of the Land of Egypt; out of the house of slavery. You shall have no other gods before Me. You shall not make for yourself an idol, whether in the form of anything that is in heaven above or that is in the earth beneath or that is in the water under the earth.

You shall not bow down to them or worship them for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, punishing the children for the iniquity of their parents to the third and fourth generations of those who reject Me, but showing steadfast love to the thousandth generation of those who love Me and keep My commandments.

See, God’s pretty clear – God is saying “I’m your God. I’m the one who took you out of slavery – I must be first in your life!’ And that’s what God’s people struggled with! They had some good Kings and they had some really bad Kings - they had their ups and had their downs. Fortunately, God is slow to anger but they were testing His patience.

We pick up this roller coaster ride of Israel with these two Kings, Manasseh and his son Amon. The name ‘Manasseh’ means ‘to cause forgetfulness’ and that was so apt because under his rule God’s people forgot to put God first. Pick it up – if you have got a Bible, open it at Second Chronicles chapter 33, beginning at verse 1:

Manasseh was twelve years old when he became King. He reigned fifty five years in Jerusalem. He did what was evil in the sight of the Lord according to the abominable practices of the nations whom the Lord drove out before the people of Israel. For He rebuilt the high places that his father, Hezekiah had pulled down and erected alters to the Baals and made sacred poles and worshipped all the hosts of heaven and served them.

He built alters in the House of the Lord of which the Lord had said, “In Jerusalem shall My name forever be.” He built alters for all the hosts of heaven in the two courts of the House of the Lord. He made his son pass through fire in the valley of the son of Hinnom, practiced soothsaying and augury and sorcery and dealt with mediums and wizards. He did much evil in the sight of the Lord, provoking God to anger.

The carved image of the idol that he had made he set up in the House of God, of which God had said to David and to his son Solomon: “In this house and in Jerusalem which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, I will put My name forever. I will never again remove the feet of Israel from the land that I appointed to your ancestors, if only they will be careful to do all that I have commanded them, all the law, the statutes and the ordinances given through Moses.

Manasseh misled Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so that they did more evil than the nations whom the Lord had destroyed before the people of Israel.

The Lord spoke to Manasseh and to His people, but they gave no heed.

And it was exactly the same with his son, Amon – Second Chronicles chapter 33, beginning at verse 22:

Amon too, did what was evil in the sight of the Lord as his father Manasseh had done. Amon sacrificed to all the images his father Manasseh had made, and served them. He did not humble himself before the Lord as his father Manasseh had humbled himself, by this Amon incurred more and more guilt.

Can I tell you, this in not just Israel’s problem, it’s our problem? Things just creep in, don’t they? We all! "Well dad did it that way. Everybody else is doing it that way. Let’s just go with the flow." And so Manasseh was defeated by the Babylonians in battle and Amon was murdered by his servants. See, going with the flow; with popular public opinion seems really easy. It’s so acceptable to everyone around us, isn’t it? But going with the flow ... well, going with the flow has consequences.

 

Through the Eyes of Babes

As you and I can plainly see, Manasseh and Amon made a hash of things and they kindled God’s wrath. You know, one of the things we see a bit of in the Old Testament is God’s wrath but it always comes after He has tried talking sense into His people first and it always ... always involves redemption. God’s wrath always involves bring His people back to Him. It’s about bringing them to their senses and calling them back to Himself.

So these two Kings of Judah, Manasseh and Amon, they blew it! Now what comes next? Well, what comes next is a young boy with a right heart. Join me as we take a look – if you have got your Bible, get it open at Second Chronicles, in the Old Testament, chapter 34, beginning at verse 1:

Josiah, (Amon’s son, Manasseh’s grandson) Josiah was eight years old when he began to reign – he reigned for thirty one years in Jerusalem. He did what was right in the sight of the Lord and walked in the ways of his ancestor David; he didn’t turn aside to the right or to the left.

For in the eighth year of his reign, while he was still a boy, he began to seek the God of his ancestor David and in the twelfth year, he began to purge Judah and Jerusalem of all those high places and sacred poles and carved and cast images. In his presence they pulled down the altars of the Baals; he demolished the incense alters that stood above them. He broke down the sacred poles and the carved and the cast images; he made dust of them and scattered it over the graves of those who had sacrificed to them.

He also burned the bones of the priests on their altars and purged Judah and Jerusalem. In the towns of Manasseh, Ephraim, and Simeon and as far as Naphtali, in their ruins all around, he broke down the altars, beat the sacred poles and the images into powder and demolished all the incense altars throughout all the land of Israel. Then he returned to Jerusalem.

Now get this ... Josiah is eight years old when he becomes King! Do you remember how mature you were when you were eight years old? Right! And in just another eight years, when he was sixteen years old, at a time when most of us were being precocious, painful, petulant teenagers, this child King decided that it was time to turn things around.

Now it mustn’t have been easy – sure he was a King, but look what happened to his old man – Amon was murdered by his own courtiers. Now, in this country everyone was worshipping idols – everybody – it was the culture; it was the way of life – powerful people, rich people, poor people - they were all worshipping idols and offering up to other gods.

And this young sixteen year old, Josiah, didn’t just say to his people, "No, no, it’s wrong, don’t do it" – he had his army destroy their places of worship. He travelled through the land; he executed the priests of these false gods and he made it clear that the King was not going to tolerate God’s chosen people doing exactly the thing that God had told them not to do. And he even takes the sacred poles and the images and the idols and he reduces them; he pounds them into powder.

See, Josiah is swimming against the tide – he is going against the flow and that always takes courage. Perhaps life has been drifting along for you and you have been going the easy road; just the way everyone else is going. Not in every area of your life ‘I still go to church; I still believe in God. No, those things are still there’ but in those hidden areas of life – how you spend your money or where you place your priorities – that’s what this is about. Who or what comes first in our hearts and our lives – God or someone or something else?

Listen to Jesus’ own words in Matthew chapter 7, beginning at verse 12:

In everything, do to others as you would have them do to you; for this is the law and the prophets. Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the road is easy that leads to destruction, and there are many who take that. For the gate is narrow and the road is hard that leads to life and there are few who find it.

It’s so easy, isn’t it, to just go with the flow, on that gentle downward slope? Doing what Josiah did takes a bundle of courage and resolve and I believe there are a few people today who need that courage and resolve and that’s something we can’t do for ourselves – that’s something that comes by the power of God’s Spirit, when we take in His Word. So Josiah prepared to go against the flow – it was risky; it was dangerous – he wouldn’t have endeared himself to the people but he did it anyway.

Now have a look at what happens next. This is the defining moment – it’s a moment from God. Second Chronicles 34, verse 8:

In the eighteenth year of his reign, when he had purged the land and the house, he sent Shephan the son of Azaliah and Maaseiah the governor of the city, and Joah the son of Joahaz, the recorder, to repair the house of the Lord his God. They came to the high priest, Hilkiah and delivered the money that had been brought into the house of God, which the Levites, the keepers of the threshold, had collected from Manasseh and Ephraim and from all the remnant of Israel and from all of Judah and Benjamin and from the inhabitants of Jerusalem.

They delivered the money to the workers who had oversight of the house of the Lord and the workers who were working in the house of the Lord gave it for repairing and restoring the house.” They gave it to carpenters and builders and quarriers and timber for binding and all sorts of stuff. “The people did the work faithfully.”

“Now while they were bringing the money out that had been brought into the house of the Lord, the priest Hilkiah found the Book of the Law of the Lord, given to Moses and Hilkiah said to the secretary Shaphan, “I have found the Book of the Law in the house of the Lord,” and Hilkiah gave the Book to Shaphan and Shaphan brought the Book to the King and further reported to the King,

“All that was committed to your servants they are doing. They have emptied out the money that was found in the house of the Lord and have delivered it into the hand of the overseers and the workers. And the secretary Shaphan, informed the King, “The priest Hilkiah has given me this Book,” and Shaphan then read it out aloud to the King.

And when the King heard the words of the law, he tore his clothes. Then the King commanded Hilkiah and Ahikam son of Shaphan and Abdon the son of Micah, the secretary Shaphan and the King’s servant Asaiah: “Go, inquire of the Lord for me and for those who are left in Israel and Judah, concerning the words of the Book that has been found; for the wrath of the Lord that is poured out on us is great, because our ancestors did not keep the Word of the Lord, to act in accordance with all that is written in that Book.”

Now, we are going to look at what all that means next.

 

The Word that Saves

Isn’t that amazing – Josiah, while he is going about God’s business, stumbles across the Word of God? It’s hidden – God’s people had even forgotten about God’s Word. No wonder things were such a mighty mess. I liken this to the person today who has a Bible but it’s kind of stuffed up somewhere in the top level of their wardrobe in the bedroom, gathering dust.

The living Word of God – God’s love letter to you and me – gathering dust; lost, forgotten and we wonder ... we wonder why our lives are in a mess! Can you believe this – the chief priest has lost God’s Word? There are plenty of people who claim to be Christians – so many of them have lost God’s Word. I mean, how do we expect to live in God’s blessing and God’s abundance of life if when He is trying to speak to us, we leave Him up on the shelf. Come on, wake up!

Josiah defining moment is his reaction. When he discovers that God’s Word has come out of the temple, he is distraught; he tears at his clothes, despite all the great things this young King has been doing, he is beside himself, that he has been missing out on God’s Word.

See, it’s only now he is hearing from God when his secretary started reading out of God’s Word. He is realising for the first twenty six years of his life he hasn’t really known what God’s will is. So he takes some action. He sends his people to one of God’s prophets to enquire of God, “God, what does all this mean? What do we do now? Where do I go from here?”

Let’s take a look – Second Chronicles chapter 34, verse 20:

Then the King commanded Hilkiah, Ahikam son of Shaphan and Abdon son of Micah and the secretary Shaphan, and the King’s servant Asaiah: “Go and inquire of the Lord for me and for those who are left in Israel and in Judah, concerning the words of the Book that has been found, for the wrath of the Lord that is poured out on us is great, because our ancestors did not keep the Word of the Lord, to act in accordance with all that is written in that Book.”

So Hilkiah and those whom the King had sent went to the prophet Huldah, the wife of Shallum son of Tokhath son of Hasrah, (boy, a mouthful, huh?) keeper of the wardrobe (who lived in Jerusalem in the Second Quarter) and spoke to her to that effect. She declared to them, she said, “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: Tell the man who sent you to me: Thus says the Lord: I will indeed bring disaster upon this place and upon its inhabitants, all the curses that are written in the Book that was read before the King of Judah. Because they have forsaken Me and have made offerings to other gods, so that they have provoked Me to anger with all the works of their hands, My wrath will be poured out on this place and it will not be quenched.

But as to the King of Judah, who sent you to inquire of the Lord, thus you shall say to him: Thus says the Lord your God, the God of Israel: Regarding the words that you have heard, because your heart was penitent and you humbled yourself before God when you heard His Words against this place and its inhabitants, and you have humbled yourself before Me and you have torn your clothes and you have wept before Me, I also have heard you, says the Lord. I will gather you to your ancestors and you will be gathered to your grave in peace; your eyes shall not see the disaster that I will bring on this place and its inhabitants.” They took that message back to the King.

And that disaster is exactly what happened – we haven’t got time to go there now but that’s what happened. You can read it for yourself, that Josiah caused God’s people to celebrate the Passover and to honour their God and he was spared. He died and then a few generations on, the Babylonians came and overran Judah – they destroyed the temple, Jerusalem was raised to the ground and they took all the people; God’s people, out of the Promised Land to Babylon, into seventy years of slavery and captivity.

But Josiah ... Josiah didn’t suffer those consequences because he heard the Word of God and what? – He repented! All those great things beforehand that he did; they were truly wonderful; they showed his heart. But when he heard the tough things in the Word of God, he sought out God and he set his nation on a different course – despite the mixed blessings that the prophet spoke of.

God’s Word is God speaking! God’s Word speaks of life; abundant life into our hearts. God speaks the truth – He speaks love and grace and mercy through His Word and yet, sometimes ... sometimes God’s Word is God speaking some tough things into our lives – calling us to completely turn around. God’s Word completely turns our world upside down because God’s Word is about putting God first in our lives, not ourselves. God is calling us to die in order that we might live. And none of us ... none of us wants to die.

None of us want to give up this rubbish that we are clinging onto for dear life but God is calling us….calling us to open His Word the Bible and hear Him speak. And the defining moment in the life of Josiah was when he discovered the Word of God and he tore his clothes because he realised that he had lived the first twenty six years of his life not hearing from God and he turned back to God and he turned his whole nation back to God.

And no matter how far you and I have drifted away, if you are hearing this message today and you feel God’s Spirit putting His finger on a place in your heart and you sense His conviction – if you are reacting right now, the way Josiah was reacting – deep distress – listen again with me to God’s Word about this place you are in right now:

“Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, regarding the words that you have heard because your heart was penitent and you humbled yourself before God as you hear My Words and you have humbled yourself before Me now and are tearing your clothes and weeping in your heart before Me – I also have heard you,” says the Lord.

This is a powerful thing because God is a God who restores. God is a God who calls us back and when we turn back to Him, having drifted away; having taken the easy road; having just doddled along with public opinion and done it easy.

When we finally come to our senses; when we hear the Word of God as you and I have heard it today, and we turn our lives back to Him – that’s the defining moment – that’s when God changes everything.