The Word Confronts Us

"The Word Confronts Us" – 2 Kings 22:13 Until the book of the law found in the temple was read, the people did not perceive their sin; when King Josiah heard the Word, he was broken. There lies the principle: revival begins when the Word confronts us and the heart decides to seek God. The message walks through Psalm 2:12, John 3:36 and Romans 2:8 to show that the Word reveals the true condition of the heart, that the Son must be honored, that before Christ there are only two paths, and that rejecting the truth brings judgment while surrendering to Him brings pardon.

I. The one who knows the Scriptures knows God directly.

A. The Word produces faith and produces change.

1. Even when it is not always understood, it is read, because it forms us.

2. Whoever reads the Word is taught by the Word: read little and you have little, do little, gain little.

3. Our own knowledge is vain: today you think one thing and tomorrow another.

B. Going to church is an action, and it must have a why.

1. The why is to learn the spiritual area; God does not send us to be ornaments but to be useful.

2. At conversion a new life begins, because the Holy Spirit is present.

3. Whoever decides to be of one piece builds a secure family with its principles in order.

II. Revival begins when the Word confronts us.

A. The Word confronts, and the heart decides to seek God.

1. Where the Word does not confront, there is no revival.

2. No one knows whether he will rise tomorrow; many departures have come in the morning.

B. When the Word is rediscovered, it reveals sin, produces holy fear and leads to repentance.

1. That is the power of the Word: it uncovers in us what is in us; no one has to tell us.

2. It uncovers hatred, strife, envy, stubbornness, vanity, wanting what is not ours.

3. What the conscience does not rebuke, the Word will rebuke.

III. The Word reveals the true condition of the heart (2 Kings 22:13).

A. The heart is deceitful: one thinks himself good and passes judgment on everyone.

1. That is an absence of love.

2. Seek the Lord and do not look to the side: with the years one learns that friends are not always where one thought.

B. Until the book was read, the people did not perceive their sin.

1. Israel was left without the written Word, and so the nation fell and fell.

2. The book of the law is found in the temple; Josiah hears the Word and is broken.

3. Hearing the Word, the people too were broken; the more it stings you, the more it is entering.

C. Josiah recognizes that the people had not obeyed for generations.

1. So the people were deformed, as the earth is deformed today.

2. The answer is not to shut oneself in, but to speak the truth and teach to love.

IV. Everything began when the Word was discovered.

A. When man hears the Word he discovers his sin; when he seeks God, revival begins.

1. Without reading the Word one is illiterate in the kingdom of heaven.

2. Cold, lukewarm? Seek God: do not come to measure, come to seek God.

V. Kiss the Son (Psalm 2:12).

A. Every prayer must end in the name of Jesus.

1. Jesus is at the right hand of the Father and is the One who intercedes.

2. To honor the Son is to pay homage, to submit and to recognize His authority: a call to spiritual surrender.

3. There is no overfamiliarity in the Scriptures: He is God, and He is called Father with a capital letter.

B. “Lest he be angry, and ye perish”: rejecting the Son brings judgment.

1. God is love, but He is also just.

2. “When his wrath is kindled but a little”: judgment can come suddenly; do not postpone today's decision.

3. The heart hardens, and it is God who hardens the heart, not the devil.

C. The heart of the verse ends not in judgment but in grace.

1. Blessed are all they that put their trust in Him: whoever surrenders to Christ finds pardon and protection.

2. Let us renew the covenant we made at conversion and return to true worship.

VI. Two opposite paths (John 3:36).

A. There are only two responses to Christ: believe on the Son or reject Him.

1. There is no middle ground; the decision toward Christ is definitive.

2. To call on the Father one must have the blood of the Son; there is no other name.

3. To reject is to cast away, and to be cast away is worse than never having been born.

B. “Hath everlasting life”: it does not say will have, it says hath.

1. Eternal life begins now: pardon, peace and new spiritual life here on earth.

2. Not believing is not intellectual doubt: it is resisting and rejecting the authority of the Son.

3. The wrath of God is a present condition: without Christ man remains separated from God.

C. The verse highlights the urgency of the Gospel.

1. If there is wrath, it is because God offers salvation in the Son.

2. Christ is the only door of escape from condemnation.

VII. The contentious who do not obey the truth (Romans 2:8).

A. God judges all with justice: knowing the law is not enough, the truth must be obeyed.

1. Contentious: they resist God, argue against the truth and live in inner rebellion.

2. It is not mere debate: it is an attitude of opposition to the Lord, and no one stands in opposition to Him.

3. Escape for your life: a hardened heart means God has departed.

B. The problem is not lack of information but disobedience of the heart.

1. We all obey something: either the truth or sin; there is no moral neutrality.

2. Indignation and wrath are no whim: they are God's holy response to persistent sin.

C. There is pardon in Christ for the rebel.

1. That wrath was borne on the cross; now we can obey the truth by the Spirit.

2. Whoever rejects the truth faces wrath; whoever receives Christ finds mercy.

3. It is in our hands: let us conquer for heaven, for here everything passes away.