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00:12 [music] 00:34 Jëan Ross: Good morning friends. 00:35 I'd like to welcome you all to "Sabbath School Study Hour" 00:38 here at the Granite Bay Seventh-day Adventist Church. 00:41 Also a warm welcome to our friends joining us across 00:43 the country and around the world, literally. 00:46 Different countries around the world, part of our 00:48 extended Sabbath School class. 00:51 I'd also like to let our friends watching here in North America 00:54 know about our free offer for today. 00:56 It's a book entitled 00:57 "12 Steps to Revival." 00:59 And we'll be happy to send this to anybody in North America 01:02 who gives us a call on our resource phone number 01:05 and that number is... 01:10 That number again is... 01:14 You can ask for the book "12 Steps for Revival." 01:17 It's offer number 7-8-0. 01:20 Seven hundred and eighty. 01:22 For our international friends, you can read this book for free 01:25 online at amazingfacts.org. 01:28 Well, our lesson for today is lesson number eight, 01:31 entitled, "Josiah's Reforms." 01:34 It's a great study that we're gonna be looking at this morning 01:36 but, before we begin our lesson together, 01:39 I'd like to invite our song leaders to come forward 01:41 and they'll lead us in a few hymns of praise. 01:45 [music] 01:52 Debbie Thompson Kippel: Thank you, Pastor Ross. 01:54 And hello and welcome. 01:56 I know that you guys are ready to sing 01:58 'cause we are here at Granite Bay. 02:01 And we're gonna sing one of your favorites. 02:03 So pull out your hymnals, if you have those at home, and join 02:06 with us, 612, a great rousing song, 02:10 "Onward Christian Soldiers," and we're going to do 02:13 the first, second, and fourth stanza. 02:15 Join with us. 02:17 "Onward Christian Soldiers." 02:19 [music] 02:24 ♪ Onward, Christian soldiers, marching as to war, ♪ 02:33 ♪ with the cross of Jesus going on before. ♪ 02:41 ♪ Christ, the royal Master, leads against the foe; ♪ 02:49 ♪ forward into battle see his banners go! ♪ 02:57 ♪ Onward, Christian soldiers, marching as to war, ♪ 03:05 ♪ with the cross of Jesus going on before. ♪ 03:14 ♪ Like a mighty army moves the church of God; ♪ 03:22 ♪ Christians, we are treading where the saints have trod. ♪ 03:30 ♪ We are not divided, all one body we, ♪ 03:38 ♪ one in hope and doctrine, one in charity. ♪ 03:47 ♪ Onward, Christian soldiers, marching as to war, ♪ 03:54 ♪ with the cross of Jesus going on before. ♪ 04:03 Debbie: Number four. 04:05 ♪ Onward then, ye people, join our happy throng, ♪ 04:12 ♪ blend with ours your voices in the triumph song. ♪ 04:21 ♪ Glory, praise, and honor unto Christ the King, ♪ 04:29 ♪ this through countless ages men and angels sing. ♪ 04:37 ♪ Onward, Christian soldiers, marching as to war, ♪ 04:45 ♪ with the cross of Jesus going on before. ♪ 04:58 Debbie: "Onward Christian Soldiers." 05:00 Another one that kind of ties in with that is 05:02 "I'll Go Where You Want Me to Go." 05:04 It's another wonderful song found in our hymnal. 05:07 If you're unfamiliar with it, you can learn it right now, 05:10 573, "I'll Go Where You Want Me to Go." 05:14 We will sing all three stanzas. 05:16 Join with us. 05:19 [music] 05:24 ♪ It may not be on a mountain's height or over the stormy sea. ♪ 05:36 ♪ It may not be at the battle's front ♪ 05:42 ♪ my Lord will have need of me. ♪ 05:48 ♪ But if, by a still, small voice he calls ♪ 05:54 ♪ to paths I do not know, ♪ 05:59 ♪ I'll answer, dear Lord, with my hand in thine, ♪ 06:06 ♪ I'll go where you want me to go. ♪ 06:13 ♪ I'll go where you want me to go, dear Lord, ♪ 06:18 ♪ o'er mountain or plain or sea. ♪ 06:24 ♪ I'll say what you want me to say, dear Lord. ♪ 06:31 ♪ I'll be what you want me to be. ♪ 06:38 ♪ Perhaps today there are loving words ♪ 06:45 ♪ which Jesus would have me speak. ♪ 06:51 ♪ There may be now in the paths of sin ♪ 06:57 ♪ some wand'rer whom I should seek. ♪ 07:03 ♪ O Savior, if thou wilt be my guide, though dark ♪ 07:11 ♪ and rugged the way, my voice shall echo the message sweet. ♪ 07:23 ♪ I'll say what you want me to say. ♪ 07:30 ♪ I'll go where you want me to go, dear Lord, ♪ 07:36 ♪ o'er mountain or plain or sea. ♪ 07:41 ♪ I'll say what you want me to say, dear Lord. ♪ 07:49 ♪ I'll be what you want me to be. ♪ 07:56 ♪ There's surely somewhere a lowly place ♪ 08:03 ♪ in earth's harvest fields so wide where I may labor ♪ 08:12 ♪ through life's short day for Jesus, the Crucified. ♪ 08:23 ♪ So trusting my all to thy care, I know thou lovest me. ♪ 08:35 ♪ I'll do thy will with a heart sincere. ♪ 08:43 ♪ I'll be what you want me to be. ♪ 08:50 ♪ I'll go where you want me to go, dear Lord, ♪ 08:56 ♪ o'er mountain or plain or sea. ♪ 09:02 ♪ I'll say what you want me to say, dear Lord. ♪ 09:10 ♪ I'll be what you want me to be. ♪ 09:21 Debbie: Thank you so much for singing along with us and, 09:23 before Dr. DeRose brings us our lesson study, 09:26 Pastor Ross is going to have our opening prayer for us. 09:33 Jëan: Dear Father, we thank you for the privilege of being 09:35 able to gather together on this Sabbath to open up your Word and 09:38 to study just a real inspiring story of a king who stood up 09:42 for you and stood up for what was right. 09:45 So we ask your blessing upon our time together today, 09:47 in Jesus' name, amen. 09:49 Our lesson this morning will be brought to us by Dr. DeRose. 09:52 We're looking at lesson number eight in our "Lesson Quarterly" 09:55 on the Book of Jeremiah. 09:56 Thank you, Dr. DeRose. 10:00 David DeRose: Thank you, Pastor Ross. 10:02 It's good to be studying again together. 10:04 And that's right, we're actually two-thirds, what, three-quarters 10:08 of the way through with the lesson series 10:11 on the Book of Jeremiah. 10:12 It's great to have you joining us wherever you're tuning in and 10:16 it's great to have you here in Granite Bay as we study 10:19 lesson eight dealing with Josiah and his amazing reforms. 10:26 Let's dive into the lesson study. 10:27 We start on Sunday being introduced to the reigns of 10:31 Manasseh and Amon. 10:34 And there is a statement here. 10:36 It concludes the first sentence in Sunday's lesson if you're 10:40 following along in the "Quarterly." 10:42 It says, "Human beings-- as human beings 10:46 we are hopelessly subjective. 10:48 We see the world not so much as the world really is but as we 10:52 really are." 10:54 And I'd like to add in keeping with my introduction, "as we've 10:58 been told to see the world by those that we're listening to." 11:03 By what was covered on the latest broadcast. 11:08 The reign of Manasseh. 11:09 What do you know about Manasseh? 11:11 Turn in 2 Chronicles 33. 11:14 2 Chronicles 33 for an amazing reign of an amazing king. 11:21 I say amazing not necessarily in a positive context. 11:24 If you know anything about Manasseh, we're introduced to 11:27 him in 2 Chronicles chapter 33. 11:30 Many of you know that Kings and Chronicles often give parallel 11:34 descriptions and so we're reading now from Chronicles, 11:37 2 Chronicles 33. 11:39 It says in verse 1, "Manasseh was 12 years old when he became 11:43 king and he reigned 55 years in Jerusalem." 11:48 So here we're reading about the longest--the king 11:52 with the longest reign in the history of God's people. 11:55 Fifty-five years. 11:56 And then we read the summary statement of his ministry, 12:01 if you will, ministry. 12:04 Verse 2, "He did evil in the sight of the Lord according to 12:09 the abominations of the nations whom the Lord had cast out 12:13 before the children of Israel." 12:15 And if you wanna read on, you can read on about all 12:17 the terrible things that Manasseh did. 12:21 Now you say, "That's not a sound bite." 12:23 Yes, it's one verse but Manasseh was wicked. 12:26 There's no question about it. 12:28 How long did he reign for? 12:31 Now if you read in the Book of Hebrews, that great hall 12:36 of faith in Hebrews 11, you'll read about specific individuals. 12:41 Maybe we should turn there for a minute in Hebrews 11. 12:45 Many of the great heroes of faith are mentioned by name 12:48 but there is a passing reference that most Bible scholars and 12:52 historians believe refers to Isaiah, there found in Hebrews. 12:59 And it's not a pretty picture. 13:04 In Hebrews 11, as we read through this list of individuals 13:10 who were great heroes of faith, we come to verse 37. 13:14 It says, "They were stoned," speaking of the righteous, 13:19 "they were sawn in two." 13:22 They were sawn in two. 13:25 Do you know who many believe that is a reference to? 13:28 To Isaiah, the prophet Isaiah. 13:30 Jewish tradition, Jewish history, tells us that Isaiah, 13:35 during the reign of Manasseh, was put into a partially 13:41 hollowed log and then Manasseh commanded that they take 13:47 the saw and start sawing through the log with Isaiah in it. 13:55 Isaiah met his end at the hands of Manasseh. 14:01 By the way, this was before the days of chain saws. 14:05 I mean, that's gruesome enough. 14:08 This was with a hand saw, probably a crosscut saw. 14:12 Two men sawing apart the prophet. 14:16 Now I don't care what you think about Manasseh, 14:21 this is gruesome. 14:23 And we don't like to go into too much detail about it and some of 14:26 you think I've already gone into too much detail about it. 14:28 But this is just a picture of what Manasseh was doing 14:32 for 55 years! 14:35 How many of you think there might have been some righteous 14:38 people praying that Manasseh would be removed from office? 14:45 I mean, can you relate to this? 14:47 I don't care if it's a business or a ministry, a church. 14:52 I don't care who's listening in today, who's viewing with us. 14:57 We all can relate to situations where injustice 15:00 is happening in high places. 15:04 And people are praying that there be a change 15:07 and what happens? 15:09 No change happens. 15:12 Fifty-five years. 15:18 But that's not the end of Manasseh's story. 15:22 Perhaps one of the most remarkable stories in the Bible, 15:25 I'm going back to 2 Chronicles, chapter 33. 15:30 Because as we read about all these terrible acts of Manasseh, 15:36 the story actually does not end there. 15:40 We come down to 2 Chronicles chapter 33 and verse 10. 15:46 2 Chronicles 33, verse 10, and I read this, "The Lord spoke 15:50 to Manasseh and his people but they would not listen." 15:56 Come on. 15:58 I mean, God here is trying to speak and they're plugging 16:01 their ears but then verse 11, God is not stopping. 16:04 This is amazing. 16:06 Everybody's given up on Manasseh except one person. 16:10 And who is that? 16:12 It's God. 16:14 God has not given up on Manasseh. 16:16 And in verse 11, it says, "Therefore the Lord brought upon 16:19 them the captains of the army of the king of Assyria who took 16:26 Manasseh with hooks, bound him with bronze fetters, 16:31 and carried him off to Babylon." 16:34 So now, this is before the Babylonian empire. 16:37 The Assyrians are ruling the world and Babylon is 16:40 part of their realm. 16:41 And the Assyrians, we are told, had an interesting practice. 16:45 Now, today, it may be popular to pierce certain body parts. 16:52 But in that day, if your nose was pierced, this was generally 16:56 not a good thing, especially if the Assyrians 16:59 had just conquered you. 17:01 They would pierce your nose, put a ring in your nose, and then 17:05 they would pull you with chains. 17:07 This is what the reference is to what was happening 17:09 with Manasseh. 17:12 So Manasseh who was ruling, undisputed ruler for decades, 17:17 now comes under the power of the enemy. 17:20 And lo and behold, look what happens. 17:24 In verse 12, 2 Chronicles 33, "Now when he was in affliction, 17:31 he implored the Lord his God--" 17:36 When did he become his God? 17:40 Suggest to you he was his God all along. 17:44 We're all God's children, whether we recognize it or not. 17:49 "And he calls on his God and he humbles himself greatly 17:54 before the God of his fathers. 17:57 And he prays to him and he received his entreaty." 18:00 Now we're speaking of God. 18:02 "God hears his supplication, he brings him back to Jerusalem, 18:06 then Manasseh knew that the Lord was God." 18:10 Amazing! 18:12 Amazing story. 18:14 And I'll tell you, this story gives me hope because all of us 18:19 have messed up, haven't we? 18:21 Every one of us. 18:22 We've all messed up. 18:24 And the message to us as we read this opening story in the series 18:27 is it doesn't matter what you've done, God is willing to be... 18:35 be gracious to you. 18:39 Not willing, he is gracious to you. 18:42 And he's just asking us to call out to him. 18:45 You know, there are so many verses that talk about this in 18:47 the Bible. 18:49 Turn in your Bibles to Psalm 130. 18:51 It's in both the Old Testament as well as the New. 18:53 Some misunderstand the God who acted in the Old Testament. 18:57 By the way, it's the same God who acted in the New. 18:59 You remember Jesus himself said, "If you've seen me, you've seen 19:02 the Father." 19:03 It's not someone different acting in the Old Testament. 19:05 God acts in the most gentle ways possible to get our attention. 19:12 For 55 years, well, not quite that because Manasseh was 19:17 still on the throne, but for many decades, God was appealing 19:20 to Manasseh to repent and he wouldn't listen. 19:23 What did it finally take? 19:25 It finally took God allowing the enemy to overrun the country, 19:30 put a ring through his nose, and drag him hundreds of miles 19:34 to Babylon. 19:36 Now I hope it doesn't take that much for God to get 19:40 my attention, right? 19:42 We all wanna say, "Well, not me. 19:44 You know, it's not--I'm listening. 19:46 I'm listening." 19:47 But all of us have those blinders, right? 19:50 And those ear plugs and that selective hearing 19:53 and those sound bites that we're focused on. 19:56 "Well, this happened in my life. 19:57 This--" Manasseh's life is saying, "Be careful." 20:03 I'm turning to Psalm chapter 130. 20:06 Psalm 130. 20:08 And this is really illustrating the kind of God that is pictured 20:16 in both the Old and the New, Psalm 130, verse 1, 20:21 "Out of the depths I have cried to you, O Lord. 20:24 Lord, hear my voice. 20:26 Let your ears be attentive to the voice of my supplications. 20:30 If you, Lord, should mark iniquities, 20:32 O Lord, who could stand?" 20:34 I mean, if all God's interested in doing is counting where 20:37 we've messed up, we're all lost. 20:39 But it doesn't stop there. 20:41 Verse 4, "But there is forgiveness with you, 20:46 that you may be feared." 20:48 That you may be respected. 20:50 So today the message, just like it came to Manasseh, is that 20:53 there's forgiveness with the God who I can look to this morning. 20:57 Who I do choose to look to this morning. 21:00 Who we collectively look to when we read the Word. 21:02 Look at verse 5. 21:04 Do you have this spirit that the Psalmist had? 21:07 "I wait for the Lord. 21:08 My soul waits and in his Word, I do hope." 21:13 Do you have that spirit? 21:15 Or are you impatient? 21:17 I mean, I've gotta be honest with you. 21:19 It's easy to be impatient. 21:22 I find it easy to be impatient. 21:24 How about you? 21:26 I mean, we're in a culture that basically tells us you can have 21:29 anything at the snap of a finger or at the push of a button. 21:33 I mean, how easy is it today? 21:35 I mean, you have a question, what do you do? 21:38 You google it, right? 21:40 Or, you know, you get on your smartphone or you pull out 21:43 your tablet. It's right there. 21:45 I mean, some of you are like me and you don't have as much hair 21:49 as you used to have or maybe it's not the same color it was 21:53 some years ago and we remember--I mean, it was hard 21:56 work to research things. 21:58 I can remember doing medical research years ago and I'd be in 22:02 the medical library, pulling out volumes of Index Medicus that 22:07 had all the, you know, summaries of different articles and we're 22:10 wading through all this. 22:13 But today, you just type a couple of keys. 22:16 So we're used to having everything right away, right? 22:19 How do you feel when that car pulls in front of you? 22:23 One lane road and he's going 1 mile under the speed limit. 22:31 Some of you can relate. 22:32 Okay, so we're an impatient society but here's what 22:35 the Psalmist says. 22:37 Psalm 130, verse 5, "I wait for the Lord. 22:41 My soul waits and in his Word I do hope." 22:46 Let's jump in our "Quarterly," because it's a perfect segue, 22:51 to go to Monday's lesson. 22:53 Because there was someone else dealing with some of this 22:55 very same problem. 22:57 Manasseh reigns for 55 years. 23:01 He converts, he repents, but his son, Amon, 23:07 doesn't follow the repentant ways of Manasseh. 23:12 He jumps right back into the same life of sin. 23:15 And you might say, "Well, why doesn't God give him 55 years? 23:18 He only gets two." 23:21 Check me out. 23:23 Is that right? 23:25 Did he get a few more than that? 23:28 I'm turning in my Bible, this time to 2 Kings. 23:32 That's the parallel account that we've been looking at in 23:35 2 Chronicles so I'm turning to 2 Kings and in 2 Kings we wanna 23:40 see just how long Amon was on the throne. 23:44 We're perplexed, especially if we'd been living in that day, 23:47 wondering how--how God was so patient with Manasseh. 23:52 But now here's Amon, 2 Kings chapter 21, verse 19. 23:56 It said, "He was 22 years old when he became king and he 24:00 reigned," how long? 24:02 Two years. 24:04 "Two years in Jerusalem." 24:06 And in verse 20 of 2 Kings chapter 21, it says, "He did 24:12 evil in the sight of the Lord as his father Manasseh had done, so 24:16 he walked in all the ways that his father had walked; and he 24:19 served the idols that his father had served, and worshiped them." 24:27 God's forgiveness is abundant. 24:31 Jesus said, "Whosoever will let him come to me," right? 24:37 He who comes to me I'll in no wise cast out. 24:40 Come to me all you that labor and are heavy laden, 24:43 I have rest for you." 24:45 So we have these wonderful promises. 24:47 When we find ourselves like Manasseh, bound with the cords 24:53 of our own sin, there is abundant forgiveness with God. 24:58 But listen carefully. 25:00 Listen carefully. 25:02 God's mercy should never be an excuse for sin. 25:07 You see the difference? 25:09 When we see ourselves as sinners, there is forgiveness 25:12 with God. 25:13 But we can never say, "Oh, you know, I'm really being tempted. 25:16 Well, I must as well just give in 'cause God is abundant 25:18 and merciful. 25:20 You know, he's so kind, I can just mess up and God's gonna 25:22 forgive me." 25:23 That, brothers and sisters, is very, very dangerous ground. 25:28 Very dangerous ground. 25:30 And maybe Amon--maybe Amon fell into that very same trap. 25:35 Listen. 25:36 How old was he when he took the throne? 25:39 Twenty-two. 25:41 Twenty-two, think about it. 25:43 I mean, his dad reigned for how long? 25:45 Fifty-five years. 25:46 How long do people live? 25:48 I mean, we live a--I mean, even back then, I mean, people 25:50 don't die when they're 24. 25:52 Have a good time now, right? 25:54 You're young. 25:56 By the way, all of you, whether you're sitting here or whether 25:59 you're viewing, you are much younger right now than 26:02 you'll ever be. 26:04 Now, some of you are saying, "Not much younger than I'll ever 26:07 be because, you know, in a few minutes 26:09 I'm just a few minutes older." 26:11 But we're never gonna get any younger. 26:13 And we can all tell ourselves that we have a whole bunch more 26:16 time ahead of us. 26:17 So I don't know if that was Amon's problem. 26:19 If he felt he could just have a good time like the world 26:21 promises a good time. 26:23 But it turns out, 2 years into his reign, some of his own 26:27 servants kill him. 26:29 Kill him. 26:31 He's done. 26:32 It's over. 26:37 That's the context for 2 Kings 22. 26:40 2 Kings 22, verse 1, says, "Josiah was 8 years old when 26:47 he became king and he reigned 31 years in Jerusalem." 26:53 Now as all this is going on and we're struggling about why God 26:58 acts the way he does or why he doesn't act when we think he 27:01 should, someone else who was a contemporary of Josiah was 27:06 struggling with the very same thing. 27:08 And he's brought to light in Monday's lesson. 27:11 This is the prophet Habakkuk. 27:13 So if you turn in your Bibles to that small little book toward 27:17 the end of the Old Testament: 27:20 Habakkuk, a contemporary of Josiah. 27:25 By the way, so was Zephaniah. 27:29 Zephaniah and Habakkuk, two books that are right close 27:32 together--they're right next to each other in 27:33 the Old Testament--are speaking of this same era. 27:38 When Habakkuk's book opens, it does not date the book, 27:42 but if you turn one book later to Zephaniah, you do see that 27:46 Zephaniah's book is dated. 27:48 So just to keep you on your toes, I've jumped quickly over 27:51 to Zephaniah chapter 1, verse 1. 27:54 Zephaniah 1, verse 1, book right after Habakkuk. 27:58 "The Word of the Lord which came to Zephaniah the son of Cushi, 28:02 the son of Gedaliah, the son of Amariah, the son of Hezekiah, 28:07 in the days of Josiah the son of Amon, king of Judah." 28:10 So these two books, Habakkuk and Zephaniah, were written 28:14 during Josiah's reign. 28:17 And I want you to notice how Habakkuk's book opens up. 28:21 It opens up with this very same issue 28:23 that we've been talking about. Listen. 28:25 Verse 2, "O Lord, how long shall I cry, and you will not hear?" 28:31 I mean, this is the experience of the children of Israel 28:34 largely under the reigns of Manasseh and Amon. 28:38 The righteous were crying and it seemed like God 28:41 had his ears plugged. 28:42 But were God's ears plugged? 28:45 Not at all, not at all. 28:48 "How long do I cry out to you," I'm in verse 2, "'Violence!' 28:54 And you will not save." 28:56 Verse 3 of Habakkuk 1, "Why do you show me iniquity, 28:59 and cause me to see trouble? 29:01 For plundering and violence are before me; there is strife; 29:03 contention arises. 29:05 Therefore the law is powerless, and justice never goes forth. 29:09 For the wicked surround the righteous; 29:11 therefore perverse judgment proceeds." 29:14 This is like a summary 29:16 of Manasseh's reign and Amon's reign. 29:20 Why isn't God doing anything? 29:22 If you read a little further in Habakkuk, 29:26 God speaks to Habakkuk. 29:29 He says, "I haven't forgotten. 29:31 I know exactly what's going on and I am going to 29:34 bring judgment." 29:36 He says, "I am bringing Babylon to judge." 29:39 And when Habakkuk hears that, Habakkuk knew about Babylon. 29:44 These were not necessarily your nice next-door neighbors, 29:47 you understand? 29:48 The Assyrians and the Babylonians were not, you know, 29:51 warm, kind, loving people. 29:53 They were powerful oppressors. 29:56 And then Habakkuk changes his argument. 29:59 He says, "God, how are you gonna allow the wicked 30:02 to oppress the righteous?" 30:05 We don't have time to study Habakkuk's whole book but since 30:07 it was introduced in this lesson, I've gotta share with 30:11 you two verses that crystallize Habakkuk's experience. 30:14 In Habakkuk 2, these words come to Habakkuk. 30:18 Words quoted often, more than once in the New Testament. 30:24 Habakkuk 2, verse 4, "Behold the proud, his soul is not upright 30:29 in him; but the just shall live by his faith." 30:37 You heard that before, haven't you? 30:40 And then the closing words of Habakkuk. 30:44 I love the closing words of Habakkuk. 30:48 This is Habakkuk's experience. 30:50 Now after struggling with God, 30:52 "Why don't you act the way I want? 30:53 When I need you, why don't you show up? 30:55 Why, when bad things are happening, don't you-- 30:57 why, why, why, why?" 31:00 Can you relate? 31:02 I mean, I've been there. 31:04 And maybe you're there right now. 31:06 You're wondering why the person next to you is rejoicing that 31:10 God's done something wonderful for them this last week 31:12 and you feel what? 31:14 "Well, why hasn't God done that for me? 31:17 Why hasn't God done that for me?" 31:19 Here's what Habakkuk concluded at the end of his book. 31:21 Verse 17, he's speaking about this walk of faith that I 31:25 believe as we're studying this lesson, God wants to deepen in 31:30 us our faith walk. 31:35 Habakkuk 3 beginning with verse 17, "Though the fig tree may not 31:40 blossom, nor fruit be on the vines." 31:42 Now remember, there's an agricultural context, okay? 31:46 It's an agricultural society. 31:49 Fig trees, no fruit. 31:52 No fruit on the vines. 31:53 "The labor of the olive may fail, the fields yield no food; 31:58 though the flock may be cut off from the fold, and there be 32:02 no herd in the stalls--" I mean this is total economic failure. 32:07 I don't know how you wanna contemporize this but you 32:10 could say, all the, you know, oil resource are gone. 32:13 None of the cars are running. 32:15 All of our industry has shut own. 32:17 All of the service sector has been wiped out. 32:19 All the banks have folded. 32:21 I mean, this is what he's talking about and what is 32:23 Habakkuk gonna say in this context? 32:26 Verse 18, "Yet I will rejoice in the Lord, 32:31 I will joy in the God of my salvation." 32:35 What is he rejoicing in? 32:38 He's rejoicing in who God is. 32:41 So we struggle because we see things around us, we can't 32:44 explain it but Habakkuk's saying when God pulls back the curtain, 32:48 even though it seems to sometimes bring up more 32:50 questions than it answers, he's asking us to share 32:53 that experience. 32:55 I don't understand what's happening in my life, Lord. 32:57 I don't know why this is happening but I'm gonna trust 33:00 in the God of what? 33:01 My salvation. 33:03 God is your Savior. 33:05 God has given everything for you in his Son. 33:07 How can we question? 33:09 It's what Paul said, "How can we question what's happening 33:12 when we see what God has done for us?" 33:14 Well, that's the background of Josiah's ministry and, maybe 33:18 before we go there, I should just to make this a little bit 33:21 more--this lesson story is really on the edge, I think. 33:26 Do any of you know--did any of you catch in 2 Chronicles 33, 33:30 how old Manasseh was when he began to reign? 33:35 Did any of you catch that? 33:37 How old was he? 33:39 He was 12. 33:41 This is an extremely important detail that many casual 33:46 Bible readers miss. 33:48 Turn to 2 Kings chapter 20. 33:51 2 Kings chapter 20. 33:57 I think the Bible wants to make us uncomfortable 34:03 with our own supposed wisdom. 34:06 We think we know just how things should happen but it's not 34:10 that way at all. 34:13 2 Kings chapter 20 is the story of King Hezekiah 34:19 on his death bed. 34:22 In 2 Kings 20, verse 1, Isaiah is given a message from God 34:29 to Hezekiah. 34:30 By the way, good king Hezekiah. 34:33 "Set your house in order, for you shall die, and not live." 34:38 And what does Hezekiah do? 34:43 He weeps, he mourns, he beseeches God. 34:46 And what does God do? 34:49 Look at verse 6, "I will add to your days 15 years." 34:57 How many of you know whose son Manasseh was? 35:05 Who was Manasseh's father? 35:07 It was Hezekiah. 35:09 How old was Manasseh when he began to reign? 35:13 He was 12. 35:15 How many of you are doing the math? 35:18 If Hezekiah had died when God said it was time for him to die, 35:25 there would have been no Manasseh. 35:29 There would have been no Manasseh. 35:32 Wow, just for the faith of Hezekiah. 35:35 You know, if someone's just on their death bed 35:37 and we could pray and they'd just be raised up. 35:39 Praise the Lord for people like Hezekiah? 35:46 It's starting to feel a little uncomfortable. 35:49 I mean, we know what God's supposed to do, right, 35:51 when we pray for healing. 35:53 I was reminded of this just a week or two ago. 35:56 One of the people that I work with came up to me and I don't 36:02 make a special attempt to pray in public but I'm often praying 36:07 with my patients. 36:09 And one of the workers came up to me. 36:11 I was somewhat surprised. She said, "Dr. DeRose, 36:13 would you pray for one of my family members?" 36:16 And I said, "Well, what's going on with your family member?" 36:20 And as I listened to the story, it was a family member, 36:23 a young child who had a congenital problem 36:28 so they were born with this. 36:30 And as I listened to the story, you know, I'm thinking, "Well, 36:33 this is--I mean, the only way something like this could be 36:37 helped is by a miracle for sure." 36:40 So what do you pray in a situation like that? 36:44 And I'd been in this situation many times and there's two 36:47 things that I think we have to wrestle with. 36:50 One is: Could God heal something that humans cannot heal? 36:55 Is that possible? No question. 36:57 We just had the story of Hezekiah. 36:59 That's a good example. 37:02 But at the same time, does God want us to dictate to him 37:06 what should happen? 37:09 You remember Jesus' attitude. 37:12 Jesus, basically, had the same revelation that Hezekiah had. 37:16 Are you aware of that? 37:18 Jesus, as he was approaching the cross, knew that his hour 37:22 had come to die. 37:25 Same message that Hezekiah had. 37:27 And Jesus, did he struggle with that? 37:29 Did he weep over it? 37:31 Now, he wasn't just dealing with human death. 37:33 He was bearing the sins of the whole world, okay? 37:35 There's no comparison between Jesus and Hezekiah. 37:38 But Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane is wrestling with his 37:42 fate and what does he pray? 37:45 "Not my will but yours be done." 37:48 He says, "Lord, remove this cup from me." 37:50 That's his desire, that's his heart desire but he says, 37:52 "But not my will but your will be done," right? 37:55 Does Hezekiah pray that prayer? 37:58 God in his mercy answers Hezekiah's prayer 38:05 the way he prayed it. 38:08 And in eternity I wonder what Hezekiah is going to say 38:12 about that prayer? 38:15 I mean, these are sobering stories. 38:18 God's not answering your prayer. 38:20 Well, maybe we should praise the Lord. 38:23 God's not answering my prayer? 38:25 Well, maybe I should be praising the Lord. 38:26 Even if I'm tempted to say, "Why aren't you acting, God?" 38:30 Are you following along with me? 38:34 Well, now comes Josiah. 38:37 You say, "Dr. DeRose, 38:39 we've been--you've been looking at so much background 38:41 and the focus is on the great king Josiah." 38:44 Well, we're there. 38:47 He's 8 years old when he begins to reign and who was his dad? 38:51 Amon. 38:53 Wicked Amon. 38:55 I mean, 8 years old. 38:57 I mean, what kind of hope is there for this guy? 38:59 You say, "But wait. 39:01 Think about it. Let's do the math. 39:03 You know, Amon didn't reign all that long. 39:04 Manasseh in his last years was converted. 39:06 Maybe, maybe Josiah came under the good influence of 39:10 his grandfather Manasseh after he repented." 39:13 Is that possible? 39:15 Well, before you think that influence was all that great, 39:19 no really. 39:21 I'm in 2 Kings. 39:23 We're gonna talk about the great reforms of Josiah shortly but 39:28 look at 2 Kings 23. 39:30 I just want to give you a picture of what took place 39:34 18 years after Josiah had ascended to the throne. 39:39 That's where we're jumping in 2 Kings chapter 23, if you're 39:42 following the chronology. 39:44 So he's 26 now during this great time of reform. 39:47 And listen what he does in verse 12. 39:51 He's cleaning out the Holy Land, if you will, 39:55 not just Judah and Benjamin. 39:57 Verse 12, "The altars that were on the roof," speaking of 40:01 the holy places there in Jerusalem. 40:06 He cleans those up and it says in verse 12, "The altars which 40:10 Manasseh had made in the two courts of the house of the Lord, 40:15 the king," breaks those down. 40:17 Do you understand when this is happening? 40:20 This is happening 18 years into Josiah's reign. 40:24 There are still idols that Manasseh still had in 40:28 the temple, okay? 40:30 You say, "This is all messed up. 40:33 How can someone repent and still have their idols up? 40:35 I mean, how could that happen?" 40:37 If you want an interesting study, read about the good kings 40:40 of Israel. 40:41 And a number of the good kings, after the chronicler describes 40:46 how good the king was, it says, 40:48 "But the high places were not removed." 40:51 How could that happen? 40:53 Wait! 40:55 Wait a minute. 40:56 That religious leader has idols in the house? 41:01 We have nothing to do with 'em. 41:03 They're not following God, right? 41:04 Idols? 41:06 Sound bite mentality, right? 41:09 You look at one thing, you find something wrong. 41:11 I know that person's bad, this person's good. 41:13 Until you realize that they sometimes made 41:15 some mistakes too. 41:17 Maybe even some that affected you. 41:19 I would like to suggest to you what we're reading about here is 41:23 something that is not--you know, 41:27 some people have put it this way. 41:29 I know I'm interrupting myself in mid-sentence but we don't 41:34 have our children meeting with us typically in 41:38 the adult class here. 41:40 Now I know there are some people younger in years but some of you 41:42 may say, "It's a good thing. 41:45 We're glad you're not teaching, you know, our young children, 41:47 Dr. DeRose, because this would be very unsettling." 41:50 You know, we try to sanitize all the Bible stories. 41:54 But I'm not sure we're doing anyone a favor by doing that, 41:57 okay? 41:58 God wants to build resiliency in his people. 42:01 He wants us to have that faith that Habakkuk had so we can 42:05 rejoice in God in the midst of difficulties. 42:08 Well, let's go to Josiah and look at him a little bit more 42:11 because he is the focal point of our lesson. 42:14 So I'm going back to 2 Kings chapter 22. 42:18 This 8-year-old boy begins to reign. 42:21 And in verse 2 of 2 Kings chapter 22, it says, "He did 42:26 what was right in the sight of the Lord and walked in all 42:29 the ways of his father David. 42:31 He did not turn aside to the right hand or to the left." 42:35 Now this is the kind of man we want on the throne, right? 42:38 Amazing things happen. 42:41 There's more details in Chronicles but in 2 Kings, 42:45 things jump right into his 18th year, so when he's 26. 42:52 And of some of the reforms that happen in the temple. 42:55 And maybe we will just jump right there because 43:00 some amazing things happen. 43:02 The temple has been desecrated by a series of rulers and Josiah 43:08 begins to commission work to be done on the house of the Lord. 43:13 By the way, he's still a young man. 43:16 And if you read the account in 2 Chronicles, you'll see his 43:21 conversion, really heartfelt, you know, powerful focus 43:26 on doing right was surely in place by the time he was 16. 43:31 But here in verse 8, we read about an amazing thing 43:36 that happens. 43:38 Hilkiah the high priest, as they're cleaning out the temple, 43:41 says to Shaphan the scribe--I'm in 2 Kings 22, verse 8, "'I have 43:46 found the Book of the Law in the house of the Lord.' 43:50 And Hilkiah gave the book to Shaphan, and he read it. 43:54 So Shaphan the scribe went to the king, bringing the king 43:58 word, saying, 'Your servants have gathered the money that was 44:01 found in the house,'" et cetera, et cetera, but in verse 10, 44:04 after he gives, you know, the preliminaries, "We're doing 44:06 just what you told us to do," he says, "But," verse 10, 44:08 "we have found a book. 44:12 And Shaphan reads it before the king." 44:15 Verse 11, "Now it happened, when the king heard the words of 44:20 the Book of the Law, that he tore his clothes." 44:25 There's a lot of discussion among commentators about what 44:28 just that Book of the Law was. 44:30 Sometimes that term Book of the Law or Books of the Law could 44:32 refer to all the books of Moses. 44:37 It clearly contextually refers at least to the Book of 44:41 Deuteronomy, at least. 44:42 Many commentators believe it was just the Book of Deuteronomy. 44:45 And I tend to think that's the most compelling argument because 44:50 you'll see that multiple times this book is read. 44:53 I don't get the sense as there's public readings of this book and 44:56 it's read before king Josiah that it was likely the entire 45:01 five books of Moses but you could say, 45:04 "That's just conjecture, Dr. DeRose. 45:05 You're welcome to your own opinion." 45:07 Well, that is true. 45:09 So I can't make an ironclad case for it. 45:11 But we know based on what happens that at least part of 45:15 what's being called into focus is Deuteronomy. 45:18 Turn there in Deuteronomy just quickly to get a feel for what 45:21 likely was so impressive on the mind of Josiah. 45:26 Because Deuteronomy spells out some very profound blessings 45:31 and curses. 45:34 Blessings and curses. 45:35 Maybe a good place to pick this up is Deuteronomy 27. 45:39 Deuteronomy 27. 45:44 There were two mountains that faced each other in 45:46 the Holy Land: Mount Gerizim and Mount Ebal. 45:49 Six of the tribes were on one mount, six on the other, and 45:52 they were to, what do we call it? 45:55 Antiphonally, you know, speaking back and forth, read these 45:59 blessings and these curses. 46:01 It was to be an enacted parable, if you will. 46:04 And so the blessings are spoken from one mount and the curses 46:08 from the other and listen to some of the curses in 46:10 Deuteronomy 27, what the curse comes on. 46:15 Verse 16 of Deuteronomy 27, "'Cursed is the one who treats 46:19 his father or his mother with contempt.' 46:22 And all the people shall say, 'Amen!' 46:24 'Cursed is the one who moves his neighbor's landmark.' 46:28 And all the people shall say, 'Amen!' 46:30 'Cursed is the one who makes the blind to wander off the road.'" 46:34 You're getting the picture here. 46:36 It's speaking about family injustices. 46:39 It's speaking about social injustices. 46:42 Just the kind of things that Habakkuk and Zephaniah 46:45 were mourning over. 46:47 Just the kind of things that were happening. 46:49 And so Josiah reads this. 46:50 It's being read to him. 46:53 And he hears what actually is a judgment on all that his people 46:58 have been doing. 47:00 Even though he had started reforms, those reforms really 47:04 don't get the full head of steam that they needed until the 18th 47:09 year of his reign when he's 26 and he hears these words of 47:13 the Book of Deuteronomy. 47:15 Think about it. This guy's just a kid. 47:17 I mean, would we let a 26-year-old be president of 47:21 the United States? 47:22 No, constitutionally they cannot. 47:25 I mean, he's 8 years old. 47:28 He's on the throne. 47:30 I mean, what does this little kid know? 47:32 Sixteen, turning to God with all his heart. 47:34 He's nobody. 47:38 We're not done with the plot in 2 Kings so back to 2 Kings. 47:44 Because there's more that should make us a bit uncomfortable. 47:49 And by the way, the more uncomfortable we get, maybe I 47:53 should just remind ourselves. 47:56 If you've been studying through this lesson, we're gonna come 47:59 back to 2 Kings in just a moment. 48:01 Turn to Jeremiah, that's really the focus of this whole 48:04 quarter and you say, "Well, there's not much from Jeremiah 48:07 in this lesson." 48:09 Some of you are perplexed. 48:11 You're scratching your head. 48:13 "How is this studying Jeremiah?" 48:15 The lesson, if you've noticed, as we look at the great themes 48:17 of Jeremiah, it bounces between historical things happening and 48:20 statements in the Book of Jeremiah. 48:23 I am going to Jeremiah 9. 48:25 By the way, this was the key text in last week's lesson. 48:28 But I would suggest to you that what we're reading this week is 48:32 about an illustration of what Jeremiah has early in his book. 48:36 Jeremiah chapter 9 beginning with verse 23. 48:42 Jeremiah 9, verse 23, "'Let not the wise man glory in his 48:47 wisdom, let not the mighty man glory in his might, let not the 48:53 rich man glory in his riches; but let him who glories glory in 48:59 this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the Lord, 49:04 exercising loving kindness, judgment, and righteousness 49:08 in the earth. 49:09 For in these I delight,' says the Lord." 49:13 I would suggest to you as we're going through this history in 49:17 the time of Jeremiah and, by the way, Jeremiah began 49:22 his prophetic ministry in the 13th year of Josiah's reign. 49:29 You can see it right there in Jeremiah 1. 49:33 So he's active in ministry. 49:36 Habakkuk in ministry, Zephaniah in ministry. 49:40 They're speaking--canonical prophets speaking to God's 49:44 people and reminding us where should our trust be? 49:50 "I know how it should happen. 49:52 Don't you? 49:53 I know how God should act." 49:54 Whose wisdom is that? 49:56 That's my wisdom. 49:58 Listen, I've got the power now. 50:00 I can take care of things. 50:01 I'm gonna set everything right 'cause I--they've given me 50:03 this vote of confidence in the church. 50:05 By the way, I don't have any formal position in this church, 50:07 if you were worried. 50:09 But, you know, people have said that. 50:10 They're in a leadership position now we're gonna do things. 50:13 By the way, there are other people telling you, once they 50:15 get a leadership position, all that they'll do. 50:17 You understand. 50:18 But it's not might, it's not power. 50:21 It's not wisdom. 50:22 What is it that God values? 50:25 It's a humble dependence on God. 50:31 Josiah has that spirit and, as he reads this, another part 50:38 of the story in 2 Kings that challenges us is who Josiah 50:45 calls on to see if God's judgments might be averted. 50:51 Remember, we've already seen Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Jeremiah, 50:56 prophesying during this time. 50:57 Who does Josiah call on? 51:00 Who do the leading men of the kingdom call on to see 51:03 if judgment can be averted? 51:05 They call on Huldah the prophetess. 51:09 Very interesting, isn't it? 51:12 Huldah, a prophetess. 51:15 By the way, some of you are concerned about how women are 51:20 treated in our society still, 51:22 in spite of the progress that's been made 51:24 over the last century. 51:25 And I can empathize with you. 51:29 There are still things that aren't right. 51:32 But women in that culture were not regarded very highly at all. 51:38 And so the prophetic message that spurs Josiah's reform 51:44 comes through Huldah. 51:46 And what does Josiah do? 51:48 God says it's too far--things are too far gone. 51:52 Babylon's still gonna conquer. 51:54 But I'm gonna be merciful to you. 51:58 And when Josiah hears that, actually that's what's not 52:02 mentioned between Wednesday and Thursday's lesson, when it's 52:07 speaking about this, there is a quote from the book, 52:10 "Prophets and Kings," at the bottom of Wednesday's lesson 52:12 and another quote at the top of Thursday's lesson. 52:15 What it doesn't mention is between those two quotes, 52:18 is the statement in 2 Kings 22, verses 19 and 20 where God, 52:23 through Huldah, says he's gonna be merciful to Josiah. 52:27 And when Josiah hears that, he says, "Yes, God's judgments may 52:29 not be averted but God is gonna be merciful when we try to act 52:33 in harmony with him." 52:35 And so he causes this great reform to be enacted. 52:39 And it brings us back to the very beginnings of the fall of 52:43 the northern kingdoms. 52:44 You remember, king Rehoboam in 1 Kings 13 put up idolatrous 52:49 altars in Bethel and a man of God came and said, "Josiah is 52:54 gonna pull down this altar and he's gonna burn bones on this 52:57 altar," hundreds of years before it happened. 52:59 And who shows up on the scene 53:01 and in the 18th year of his reign? 53:03 You read about it there in 2 Kings 22. 53:06 Josiah pulls that altar down that who had erected? 53:11 Jeroboam, king Jeroboam of the northern tribes. 53:15 You say, "Well, you're just whizzing through all this. 53:17 How can we get all that?" 53:19 That's why the Bible is such a deep well. 53:21 But you know how Josiah's life ends? 53:24 Let's look at it. 53:25 2 Chronicles 34, he does all these tremendous reforms. 53:29 God's people are again given hope. 53:34 Josiah has a great Passover in 2 Chronicles 35. 53:38 But Josiah dies at the end of 2 Chronicles 35. 53:45 The king of Egypt, Pharaoh Necho, is on his way to do 53:50 battle with the Babylonians. 53:53 He's apparently in league with the Assyrians whose kingdom 53:56 is waning. 53:57 And the pharaoh tells Josiah in verse 21 of 2 Chronicles 35, 54:04 that God has given him a message, telling Josiah 54:09 not to mess with him. 54:10 Oh, c'mon. 54:12 Josiah, God's been leading him all his life. 54:14 And now this heathen king is saying God gave him a message 54:16 for him? C'mon, right. 54:18 Josiah goes out to battle. 54:20 What happens?" 54:21 He's killed. 54:24 Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom. 54:28 Let not the rich man boast in his riches. 54:31 Let not the mighty man boast in his might. 54:34 But what shall we boast in? 54:36 That there's a God on his throne. 54:39 That's what Josiah's reform tells me. 54:42 When we harmonize with that God, we're blessed. 54:45 When we trust in our own judgment, 54:48 it's a different story. 54:50 If you didn't catch it when we began, free offer number 780, 54:54 "12 Steps to Revival." 54:56 You want more about what Josiah did, the essence is right here. 54:59 Offer 780... 55:05 Let's pray together. 55:08 Father in heaven, thank you for your mighty word, 55:12 for your mighty power. 55:14 May we trust you and follow you all the days of our lives 55:18 in Jesus' name, amen. 55:21 [music] 55:31 [music] 55:34 Doug Batchelor: Hi, friends, this is Pastor Doug Batchelor. 55:37 Would you like to hear an amazing fact? 55:39 More and more of the world is turning now to natural forms 55:42 of energy to try and find their power. 55:44 And they're resorting to things like the wind farm that we have 55:47 here in Jamaica at Wigton. 55:48 You know, I remember years ago my wife and I going to visit 55:52 the Big Island of Hawaii and we were amazed at all the potential 55:55 there for natural power. 55:56 But they weren't using it. 55:58 There at the south part of the island, 56:00 there was volcanic activity. 56:02 You can make geothermal power there. 56:05 If you went to Waimea, the wind was constantly blowing. 56:08 But they had no windmills there. 56:10 If you went over to Kona, sun always shines. 56:13 Solar electric. 56:14 But they didn't have very much solar electric there. 56:17 And if you went to Hilo, it was always raining. 56:19 Hydro electric. 56:21 And in spite of all that potential for power there on the 56:23 Big Island of Hawaii, they were powering the island back then 56:26 with dirty diesel generators. 56:29 Made me think about how we sometimes waste the power of 56:32 God's Spirit that he's making available to us and each of us 56:34 can have that Spirit if we simply ask. 56:37 You can read in Zechariah chapter 10; what do we do? 56:40 Ask of the Lord rain in the time of the latter rain and he 56:43 will send flashing clouds. 56:45 Jesus also said in the Book of Luke, "If you then being evil 56:49 know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more 56:52 will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit 56:55 to them that ask?" 56:57 When you look in the Book of Acts when the Holy Spirit was 57:00 poured out, it says there was a sound of a mighty rushing wind. 57:04 And that power that launched the church back then, can still 57:07 power your life today, friends. 57:08 So why don't you ask him? 57:12 [music] 57:19 [music] 57:27 announcer: Can't get enough Amazing Facts Bible Study? 57:30 You don't have to wait until next week to enjoy more 57:33 truth-filled programming. 57:35 Watch Amazing Facts Television by visiting AFTV.org. 57:41 At AFTV.org, you can view Amazing Facts programming 24 57:46 hours a day, 7 days a week right from your computer 57:49 or mobile device. 57:51 Why wait a week? 57:52 Visit AFTV.org. 57:54 It's that easy. 57:58 announcer: For life-changing Christian resources, 58:01 visit AFBookstore.com. 58:05 [music] 58:20 CC by Aberdeen Captioning 1-800-688-6621 abercap.com |
Revised 2015-11-18