The summer of sixth grade in 1976, right after the Bicentennial celebration, I went away to a two-week Girl Scout camp in Lapeer, Michigan. I would be gone during my younger sister’s 7th birthday. Preparing ahead, I wrote a letter and mailed it to her from camp. Inside was a treasure map. I had secretly buried a birthday present, properly wrapped to preserve it, in the backyard, down by the garden. After receiving the letter, my little sister opened it on her birthday. With her friends, they excitedly followed the map from location to location around our property until finally digging up the hidden treasure. Today, my sister still has that letter. She treasures it!

The Word of God states that in the heart or soul, there are two types of treasure.

Good treasure or evil treasure.

Lord Jesus said, “The good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth what is good; and the evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth what is evil; for his mouth speaks from that which fills his heart. (Luke 6:45)

We know what is in a person’s heart, good or evil, by what comes out of his mouth. It is a type of identification as to whether he is a good man or an evil man. And, it is vitally important to know the difference.

During the time of King Hezekiah’s reign in ancient Judah, Assyria came against the nation and its capital, Jerusalem. The king of Assyria, Sennacherib, sent his spokesmen with a large army to speak to King Hezekiah and the people of Jerusalem. Hezekiah did not go outside the reinforced walls of the city, but instead sent out his own men.

Citizens of Jerusalem stood on the top of the city’s wall listening to the conversation which was in Judean, their native tongue. Assyria’s head negotiator, Rabshakeh spoke from his heart, evil, and used persuasive techniques to sway the people of Jerusalem against their king and his holdout against Assyria. His purpose was to cause terrifying fear by destroying their trust in God. Rabshakeh stated that God was displeased with Jerusalem and would let them be destroyed if they did not surrender. Neither would God help them, he added.

Rabshakeh stated that he himself is God’s man, Who supposedly said to him, “Go up against this land and destroy it.” (Isaiah 36:10)

Speaking directly to the Jews, Rabshakeh implored them not to listen to their king, but to give up. His speech glorified King Sennacherib of Assyria, as if he too was a god, insisting that the gods of other nations were the same as The Lord. This was intended to make God’s people doubt in God’s protection and build unbelief. (2Chronicles 32:9-10)

Surrender was made to seem attractive, but was really meant to be ethnic cleansing and resettlement, away from Jerusalem, making the Judeans powerless.

Rabshakeh spoke with pride, malice, lies and blasphemy of God. (2Kings 18:17-37)

This was Rabshakeh’s treasure. Deception.

The good man, however, brings out the fear of the Lord, which is the respect of the true and living God, and His Son, Lord Jesus. It is his treasure.

He will not blasphemy God, nor Lord Jesus.

This treasure gives a man salvation (life after death), wisdom (Job 28:18) and knowledge. It makes him stable, so that he is not blown back and forth with indecision and instability. (Isaiah 33:6)

While the evil man speaks curses and death, the good man speaks life. (Proverbs 18:21)

The good man guards his treasure and does not feed it to hogs. For it is life and it is valuable. (Matthew 7:6)

“Guard, through the Holy Spirit who dwells in us, the treasure which has been entrusted to you.” (2Timothy 1:14)

The evil man comes with deception, to hurt, kill and destroy, but he appears to be a friend, one who will show mercy, or give good gifts. But he twists the truth. He cares for no one but himself.

The good man protects, He does not brag nor boast. He does not bring up old wrongs, nor insist on his own way. He will not twist the truth, but speaks plainly and adheres to God’s ways—hope, faith, and love. (1Corinthians 13:4-8)

During such times as we are in, it is difficult to know truth from fiction, good man from evil man. We must remember that many evil men at first appeared to do good. Remember Hitler.

Are you listening carefully to what you hear come from another’s heart? Is it clean? Or is it full of blasphemy?

In the end, Rabshakeh’s blasphemy of God did him in. God will not be mocked. (Galatians 6:7)

My ignorance cost me. It costs others too. When we deliberately choose to give up Scripture reading, we are in trouble.

Lifeway Research reports that less than 25 percent of believers in the United States have a “systematic method of reading the Christian Scriptures each day.” (2017)

The Bible is alive. It is the direction of God, not just for morality, but living guidance by Holy Spirit to help avoid sin. Without it, without the knowledge of God, which is the power of God, our ignorance leads us like sheep, like the blind, into unbelief, blindness, danger and sickness. (Hebrews 4:12)

Ignorance before the Lord regarding sanctification or holiness in the life of the believer at Communion leads to illness.

When the time of Communion, the remembrance of Lord Jesus with bread and wine or juice, arrives in the church service, “a man must examine himself.”

“Whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner, shall be guilty of the body and the blood of the Lord.”

“For he who eats and drinks, eats and drinks judgement to himself if he does not judge the body rightly. For this reason many among you are weak and sick, and a number sleep.” (1Corinthians 11:27-30)

Many believers both old and new are unsanctified or partially sanctified. They, in ignorance of what is sin, eat and drink judgment on themselves during Communion. Our churches are sick. They are weak.

Dangerous sins are often not preached about, leaving the sheep weakened, and the Scriptures are not read and applied individually as is necessary.

In the Garden of Gethsemane, just prior to His arrest, Lord Jesus prayed to God the Father for the church, “I do not ask on behalf of these alone, but for those also who believe in Me through their word.”

Twice the Lord prayed about our sanctification: “That we might be sanctified in truth.”

“Your Word is truth.” (John 17:17-21)

The Word of God washes us, sanctifies us.(Ephesians 5:28)

The Word, The Truth, hidden in the heart, warns us of sin. (Psalm 119:11)

The wages of sin is death. (Romans 6:23)

Ignorance of sin still leads to death.

The Word cleanses us. Purifies us as we follow Divine direction. Making us to be His holy bride. This is sanctification. The Lord prayed for you and me, for our sanctification, 2,000 years ago, knowing that we needed it. The Lord’s prayers are heard by God the Father and are within His will.

The Savior is preparing us to be clean, only needing to wash our feet at the end of the day. (John 13:12)

Lord Jesus Himself is our example of sanctification. (John 17:19) (Hebrews 10:10)

We are sanctified by His Blood. (Hebrews 13:12)

The Savior is God. He carries God’s Blood. Only this Blood sanctifies us.

The Blood of Jesus is a free gift to those who receive Him. Lord Jesus has done His work at the cross. The duty of studying Scripture and applying it to our lives is our work, the bride’s work. (Revelation 19:7) Together with God we labor toward the common goal of sanctification or holiness of ourselves.

During the time of Hezekiah, King of Judah, the Temple was cleaned out of idols and the Passover reinstituted. Hezekiah sent messengers to the tribes, calling them to come to Jerusalem for the feast, though having been delayed by the Temple renovation. Those who would normally sanctify themselves before the feast had no time to prepare. Those who had lived in Israel had fallen into generations of idolatry. They were ignorant of sanctification. Yet they ate the Passover sacrifice meal, eating and drinking judgment upon themselves.

Hezekiah saw this and with prayed for them, “‘May the good Lord pardon everyone who prepares his heart to seek God, the Lord God of his fathers, though not according to the purification rules of the sanctuary.’ So the Lord heard Hezekiah and healed the people.” (2Chronicles 30:17-20)

The tribes became sick without purification, but the prayer of the king caused God to pardon them.

When we celebrate Communion, we remember Lord Jesus and how He instituted the Communion table and the New Covenant of His Body, the bread and His Blood, the wine, on Passover.

Pastors, are you praying for forgiveness for your congregations at Communion as Hezekiah did at Passover?

Pastors, are you teaching about the hidden dangers in today’s society?

Believers, your life depends upon you reading and applying Scripture each day. Are you doing this?

None of us is without sin. (Romans 3:23)

LOOK UP!