Lost Message of the Church

In the book of 2nd Kings and chapter 22, we have the record of King Josiah's rule over Judah and a recorded event that is simply startling to read, friends. When some repair work was being done on the temple, a great discovery was made. We pick up the narrative in verse 8 and following.

And Hilkiah, the high priest, said unto Shaphan, the scribe, I have found the book of the law in the house of the Lord. And Hilkiah gave the book to Shaphan, and he read it. Let me pause here to say, friends, this book of the law had been missing for several decades because Josiah didn't begin repair work on the temple until he was in his 18th year of his reign as king.

The younger generation had grown up without it, and they didn't miss it because they didn't know about it. So here we see a priest and a scribe excited about this great discovery, and they read the book with interest. Let's continue with our text.

And Shaphan, the scribe, came to the king, and brought the king word again, and said, Thy servants have gathered the money that was found in the house, and have delivered it into the hand of them that do the work, that have the oversight of the house of the Lord. And Shaphan, the scribe, showed the king, saying, Hilkiah, the priest, hath delivered me a book. And Shaphan read it before the king.

And it came to pass, when the king heard the words of the book of the law, that he rent his clothes. And the king commanded Hilkiah, the priest, and Hicham, the son of Shaphan, and Agbor, the son of Micaiah, and Shaphan, the scribe, and Isaiah, a servant of the king, saying, Go ye, inquire the Lord for me, and for the people, and for all of Judah, concerning the words of this book that is found. For great is the wrath of the Lord that is candled against us, because our fathers have not hearkened unto the words of this book, to do according all that was written concerning us.

Well, it's obvious, friends, from this striking passage of scripture, that the young king, Josiah, is burdened by the recent discovery of this copy of the law that was found in the temple. And he calls a holy convocation to see God's face and to do something about it. He realizes that the full counsel of God has been omitted from the religious duties.

He realizes the danger of this omission. It's jeopardized the entire safety of the kingdom, and it's brought God's anger against them. And this young king places the blame of this great omission on the preceding generation.

I believe, friends, that the church in this country is in the same mess today as those Jews in the days of Josiah. We, too, have dropped the ball. We preachers have not been fully truthful with folks and have preached a different gospel than the one found in my Bible.

We have failed in our duty to preach the full counsel of God because we have omitted the doctrine of repentance from the gospel message. We get folks to only believe, and then we tell them they're now Christians. There is no law work anymore in regard to the gospel where man is held up against God's strict and unbending law and shown he has failed that test and deserves condemnation because all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.

This law work shows man his duty of repentance if he has any hope of getting into God's holy heaven. We read in Mark's gospel in chapter 6 and verse 12 what the message of the early church was as far as what the early disciples preached. The mission of the twelve was this, and they went out and preached that man should repent.

And there was the message, friends, of the apostle Paul as well, who wrote in Acts 17.30, in the times of this ignorance God winked at, but now commandeth all men everywhere to repent. I'm going to be honest with you today, friends. Unless you repent, you will surely go to hell.

Even if you are the chairman of the deacons, we've diluted the modern gospel to make it more palatable to sinful men. But it won't cut the mustard on judgment day. If you've missed repentance, you've missed salvation.

You must be born from above and washed in the blood. Let me close this message with a story about a very important topic that I heard, which was Billy Graham's greatest regret. Years ago, I was at a pastor's conference in the South, and I met Jim Wilson, who was Billy Graham's nephew.

And he shared with me a story that I want to share with you today, friends. Jim was visiting his Uncle Billy a couple of years before Billy Graham died. They were sitting on the porch of the Graham home in North Carolina, and Jim Wilson asked Billy Graham a question.

He said, Uncle Billy, if you had to do it all over again, what would be the most singular thing you would have changed about your ministry? And he said, Billy Graham got a faraway look in his eye, and after a long pause, he said, I would have preached repentance more. And we preachers better buckle down and do the same. We better start warning men and women and boys and girls of their duty of repentance.

If they want any hope of finding pardon from sin in a bloodstained Savior who suffered and died at Calvary, who was buried and who rose again and who ascended back into Heaven, where he now sits on a throne at the right hand of the Father. And he earned that right by way of a bloody cross.