King Josiah

Thank you for tuning in to the latest message from Island Church, Dundalk.

Praise God. So are we ready? Do we have our Bibles? Amen. Are we going to follow along? Praise

Lord. Well, I'm just going to share here what has been on my heart for a number of days and weeks

as I do. That's what I do. I just bring to you what God brings to me and so I don't just

pull these things out of thin air. You know, I just as I study scripture and you know, I know the

Lord's kind of on something and it tends to be whatever he's speaking to me. He wants me to bring

forth to each one of you. So he has been speaking to me through these things and I'm going to share

this here tonight and we'll see where we get to. I don't think I'll get through it all tonight,

but praise God. In this hour that we're living in and you hear me talk about that quite,

quite a lot. You know, we need to be aware of that we're living in, right? We need to know that

what time, what time in history, what where we are and what's happening around us. That's so

important that we have that awareness. But in this hour as followers of Jesus Christ,

amen, hands up the followers of Jesus, praise the Lord, disciples, we need to have a zeal.

Amen. We need to have a zeal or a passion for him. Amen. We need to be zealous

for God. Zealous for good works. Zealous for his kingdom. Be passionate, okay? We need to have a

reverential love for his word for the Holy Scriptures. And we need to have a seeking heart for his

kingdom. Okay? We need to have a zeal for him. We need to have a reverential love for his word.

And we need to have a heart that's seeking his kingdom. And we need to have, you know,

when we, when I talk about that reverential love for his word, we need to have a humble response

to that word. Amen. Because when we have reverence for the word of God, when God starts speaking

to us through his word, we have a choice. You can either receive what you hear or you can leave

you can leave it aside or you can throw it away, right? But we have a choice. So if we truly have

a reverential love, because if you have a reverence for the word of God and for God, you'll recognize

it for what it is that it is a very spoken word of Yahweh, of God Almighty, then you will grab a hold

of it, right? So if somebody very important speaks to you, somebody very important in your life

speaks things to you, you're going to hold those words dear, right? God should be the utmost,

right? So we need to have that reverential love and that seeking heart for his kingdom before

and above all else. Our lives, church here in this earth, they're not all about our accomplishments.

Who wants to accomplish things? It's okay to say, yes, okay. It's good to accomplish things.

Right? If you hear me say this all the time also, we're here with a mission, with a mandate,

with a purpose, which means there's things to do, there's a purpose to fulfill. So it's good to

want to accomplish things, but our lives here on earth are not all about our accomplishments.

But what we do want to accomplish, we want to accomplish for the Lord. Amen? We want to accomplish

for his kingdom. They're the things that are going to hold weight in eternity, okay? We can get

the things of this world, you know, we can even get go through education, we can go get promotions,

we can get, you know, all of these things, you know, money and resource and recognition and,

you know, and the Lord can use those things in our lives here on earth, but they're ultimately

to glorify him. Amen? So they're not really like, they're not those types of accomplishments that's

going to really matter in the long run, okay? But what we do for him and his kingdom, the things that

don't, that they may even slip under the radar at times, that people don't even necessarily know about,

that the world will deem as insignificant. They're the true accomplishments, right? The things that

God's specifically asked each and every one of us to do. The ultimate goal church is to know and

love Jesus, okay? Never forget that. The ultimate goal is to know and to love Jesus. It's not to

you know, you hear people all the time talking about legacies and wanting to leave this legacy and

that legacy and, you know, and people can get very carnal when it comes to those things. Now don't

get me wrong, I want to leave a legacy safe from my children or for those, you know, even for my

spiritual children one day, but you know, it's not, it's not about, you know, people remembering me,

people ought to forget me, people ought to forget you and remember Jesus. Amen. The ultimate goal is to

know and to love Jesus and we can get very wrapped up in accomplishments, in legacies and all of

these things and, you know, it's carnal. We lose sight of what's truly important.

But if we stick with that goal and on that path of knowing and loving Jesus,

from there transformation, which is what we're talking about here in Sundays, we'll continually take

place. We always need to be in the state or the process of transformation, okay? If things are halted

in that way or in that respect in your life, then something's not right. That's why we need to

examine our lives and say, okay, are my being transformed? What, what way did I think about this

situation a month ago, two months ago, three months ago? What way would I have handled this circumstance

a month ago, two months ago, three months ago? What was my perspective on these things back then?

Is it different to what it is now? Is it more God-based, word-based, Christ-based than it was before?

If it's not, then transformations paused or halted and something's gone wrong. We always need to be

in that process and state of transformation. And if we stick in that path of knowing and loving Jesus,

that transformation will continually take place and you can fulfill the specific purpose that God

has placed upon your life. And that specific purpose includes, you know, those accomplishments

that you're going to fulfill for him and his kingdom, okay? And when I'm even talking about

what is some of these accomplishments? Well, even people that you lead to Christ, that's a

wonderful accomplishment, but you're doing it for him, for his kingdom. Maybe God has you

placed somewhere where you are, you know, you're helping people and you're leading people to Jesus

through your work, through your, through whatever it is that you're doing. Training up children,

you know, training our young people, teaching, discipling, whatever it is, these are accomplishments

that we do. When every time people, every time a person takes a step forward in the spirit

and on their spiritual walk and maturity, that's an accomplishment. But it's not, it's not for us

to glory or boast in. It's to know that yes, I'm part of that and I get to participate in that

and I get to participate in that, but it's for God and for his glory. Amen?

And then if you stay with this, if we stay on this path, we'll fulfill that specific purpose.

In order to truly make a difference, and I believe we all want to make difference, right?

I want to make a difference. I don't want to just, you know, I don't want to have what I'm doing,

mean nothing. Okay? I want people's lives to be changed and transformed and I want to see growth

and all of these things, right? But we can't make a difference with our God. Right? There's good,

good people, there's wonderful people that are helpful to people and the influence people for

good and all of these things, but really in the long run, what can we give them if we can give them

Jesus? Okay? We can only truly make a difference in our own lives and people's lives and whatever

it is that we're doing, if we have the Lord's help and in order to do that, we're going to need that

zeal, we're going to need that loafers word and we're going to need that heart for his kingdom.

In order to truly make a difference, you're going to need to be Zalus, you're going to need to have

a loafers word and you're going to need to have a heart to seek his kingdom. So I want to look at

an example and God's word of what this looks like in the life of an individual and how we can

implement these changes even in the midst of challenging times or circumstances because it's one

thing, you know, been able to kind of do these things better ourselves in this way or whatever it

may be, you know, when things are going good, but you know, in the dark times and the challenging

times and the difficult situations, it can be another thing altogether to try and implement and

change some of these things in our lives. But remember, we're not doing it on our own, we're always

doing it with the Lord's help. But I want to talk a bit of man in the Old Testament to the Bible

that describes as the greatest king. There was no other king that was greater in how much he

loved the Lord with all his heart, with all his soul, with all his might. And there was none before

him, nor none after him. That was like him. Anyone know who it is?

Not the media team because you know the title of the message. No, it's not David, it's Josiah.

Listen what the Bible says about King Josiah. In 2 Kings chapter 23,

in verse 25 it says, Now before him there was no king like him who turned to the Lord with all his

heart, with all his soul and with all his might according to the law of Moses,

nor after him did any arise like him. Now, wow. This is years and years after David and Solomon.

And all of these kings, because believe me, when I was studying these things out and this

verse made me dive into the life of King Josiah. Why? Why does the scripture say this about him?

Because I read that and I was like, but Lord, what about David?

You know, and of course David, you know, we know how important he is and he's all throughout

scripture and how much of a heart after God he had. So I'm not saying he was better than David,

but I was thinking what about David? What about Solomon?

But this scripture is specific here where it says that there was no other king like him who turned

to the Lord with all his heart, with all his soul and with all his might. Now, if you just remember

what Jesus said in the New Testament as to what was the greatest commandment. If you love the Lord

your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength and your neighbor as yourself.

But you know, this was this was what was expected and is still expected, okay? This zeal,

this love for the Word and the heart to seek the kingdom and you can see those three things

throughout the life of King Josiah.

So I was reading this, I was going through this chapter and this book a couple of weeks ago and

you know, and my wife will tell you because I've been talking about Josiah every day.

We said, did you know this and did you know that and you know she so she knows all about Josiah at

this point. But it really just led this verse. I couldn't get off that verse. I'm like, Lord,

this is what is what is it about him? What what is it that we need to know?

Josiah was the king of Judah, which was a nation that was facing dark times at the beginning of his

reign. So we know Judah, you know, in the times of David and the times of Solomon, you know,

was the greatest kingdom on earth, you know, with its financial power, military power, just,

you know, in always it was the greatest nation. God blessed it and caused it to prosper. Why?

Because David, you know, pursued the things of God as it is, as it is, Son Solomon, okay? So,

but in the time of Josiah, Judah was a very different nation, okay? It was one's glorious

under the reign of David and Solomon and some of the other kings, but it was now staggering on

the brink of spiritual and moral collapse. The kings who succeeded the wise Solomon had for the

most part, strayed from the ways of the Lord, leading people into wickedness and idolatry.

And go read the Old Testament, go read, you know, the law of Moses, where, you know, God gives people

a choice, okay? What does he say? He says, you choose life or you choose death,

choose you this day who you're going to serve. And he gives them a covenant promise and he says,

if you keep my ways, if you observe my ways, if you keep my commandments, if you walk in my

statutes, my covenant promises will be there. You know, I will cover you, I will protect you,

I will cause you to prosper, I will cause I will bless you and all of these things that we know,

but see the kings that preceded David and Solomon and all these generations leading up to Josiah,

they didn't do that. They went further and further away from the things of God. And listen

till I tell you church, when you disobey God, it has consequences. Okay? So here we have the nation

in complete and utter depravity, wickedness and idolatry. Josiah directly descended from two of the

most wicked kings to have ever ruled over the southern kingdom of Judah. And that was Ammon and Manasseh,

two of the most wicked kings. This is what he directly descended from.

Corruption and idolatry had deeply rooted themselves in the hearts of the people.

The altars of foreign gods dotted the landscape and the Lord's temple in Jerusalem,

Lay in ruins, neglected and profaned. At the beginning of Josiah's reign, the people had turned so

far away from God. It was a very different nation than it was before. The law of Moses,

which was the foundation of the covenant between God and his nation and his people and Judah and

Israel, they had been lost and forgotten. It was in this environment, I want you to picture this,

okay? It was in this environment of spiritual and moral decay that young Josiah grew up.

This just throws this whole excuse of, but you don't know where I came from at the window.

But you don't know what my father was like. You don't know what I had to grow up in. And I'm not

saying that those things can affect people's lives, but they're not an excuse for you to go that

same way. Because Josiah was one of the greatest kings in the history of Judah and he directly

descended from two of the most wicked kings. He inherited a throne of a nation that was completely

a moral, destitute, wicked, and heading for destruction.

His father's servants conspired against his father and killed him. So his father was only on the

throne for something like two or so years. It was a very short reign. So Josiah ascended to the throne

of Judah at eight years old. That's just six months older than my seven-year-old daughter. I can't

imagine my daughter ruling a nation. Eight years old. He ran for 31 years in Jerusalem.

He was a young boy ruling a nation in crisis. The challenges he faced were huge,

they were enormous. Many people would say Josiah was doomed to fail from the beginning.

Oh, he'll just follow in the footsteps of his father. Are he'll just fall off the edge

like the rest of them did? But he didn't. How could a young king reverse generations of apostasy

and corruption? How could a boy born into a lineage of wicked kings find his way back to God?

Well, the story tells us. Tells us why. Firstly, scripture reveals that Josiah had faithful God

fear and men around him during the early years of his reign and right into his adulthood. He'd

faithful God fear and men around him. His grandfather, Menasa, who I said was one of the most wicked kings.

He ran for something like 55 years and it was only at the very end of his life where he repented

and turned to God and he tried to write all of the many wrongs that he had committed. He humbled

himself before God. But again, there was consequences for all these actions. But as I began to

think about these things, I was thinking about the people who he had around him. He couldn't

successfully reign at eight years old. He would have had to have a team of counselors around him

to help him until he got to an age where he knew more. But maybe his grandfather,

you know, at the end of his life, Josiah would have only been six at the time when his grandfather

died, when he humbled himself. But maybe his grandfather, like scripture doesn't say,

but maybe his grandfather ensured that there was faithful counselors around him.

You know, his future heir.

He had healthier, the high-price, the high priest who was the supporter of his reign.

To write his time on the throne, Josiah had prophets like Zephaniah, you know, the book Zephaniah,

the prophet Jeremiah. They all prophesied during Josiah's reign, faithful God fear and men.

And in fact, Zephaniah was actually his relative. He was a distant cousin, I believe, of Josiah.

So he had people, he had family around him. He had a remnant of faithful people around him.

In the midst of widespread wickedness and idolatry, this faithful remnant of people

likely canceled Josiah and they did for the better. They were able to, you know, pour into his life.

If we want to protect the zeal, the love and the desire we have for Jesus and His kingdom,

we need to ensure that we're surrounded by faithful God-fearing people.

Oh, so important church. This is why being part of the body of Christ through the local church

is vital for your spiritual growth. Seeds of faith that would later flourish were planted in Josiah's

heart from a very young age. The years of character building, and you hear me talk about that all the

time, character building. Why? Because there needs to be a character that's strong enough

to carry the purpose, the mission, the destiny, the anointing, the gifts, the callings.

The character needs to be there with it. The years of character building

with the influence of godly people helped to prepare Josiah to become one of the greatest

kings in the history of the nation.

Young people, Josiah is a perfect example of how you don't need to wait until you're in your

30s and 40s to get serious about the things of God. And you need to ensure that you have the right

people around you. You need to have faithful God-fearing people surrounding you in order to protect

that zeal, that love, that heart for seeking God's kingdom. So let's look at Josiah's zeal.

Now the story of Josiah is found in 2 Kings 23, and it's also found in 2 Chronicles 34 and 35,

I believe. We're going to flip back and forth here. But Josiah's zeal, his zeal for God was

unparalleled. The early years of his reign marked by his curiosity later turned to a resolute

commitment to turn the hearts of the people back to God. You see, remember I said at the beginning

how our accomplishments, our achievements, you know, they're forgotten for his kingdom. So Josiah,

you know, he was a great king, but his accomplishments, what they did was they led people back to God.

Okay? He turned the hearts of the people back to God. And you know, that's what his biggest,

biggest accomplishment was. But in 2 Chronicles 34,

in verse 3 it says, in the eighth year of his reign, while he was still young, he began to seek

the God of his father, David. Now, just stop there for a second. In the eighth year of his reign,

which means he was 16 years old, he was eight when he ascended to the throne, and it says in the

eighth year of his reign, which would make him 16, he began to seek the heart of his father, David.

Josiah was a seeker. Do we have seekers in here tonight? I believe we do seekers that are out on

Wednesday nights. Josiah was a seeker. So he was 16 years old when he began to seek God,

the God of his father, David, 16 years old. Any of you 16, younger? 16, 16. John, John, you're 17.

We've got a couple of 16 year olds in here, even younger. Seek the Lord. Now.

Josiah did. And then it goes on to say, and in the 12th year of his reign,

so he was 20. Got any math students in here? So in the 12th year of his reign, he was 20 years old.

Any 20 year olds in here? Brian? A few not so far off. Stop lying. We'll be praying for used

liars at the end. 20 years old, okay? And this is when he begins to start really gaining and

taking ground here. It says a 20 years old in the 12th year of his reign, he began to purge

Judah and Jerusalem of the high places, the wooden images, the carved images, and the molded

images. They broke down the altars of the bales in his presence and the incense altars which were

above them. He cut down the wooden images, the carved images, the molded images, he broken pieces

and he made dust of them and scattered it on the graves of those who had sacrificed to them.

He, it was no mercy. He also burned the bones of the priests on their altars and cleansed

Judah and Jerusalem. He did so in the cities of Manasseh and Simeon as far as Natali and all around

with axes. When he had broken down the altars and the wooden images had beaten the carved

images into powder and he cut down all of the incense altars throughout all the land. He returned

to Jerusalem. Powerful. Okay, so let me go back to where I was a few minutes ago. According to

verse three, Josiah was a seeker. At 16 years of age he began to seek the God of his father David

and I find this interesting and I'll tell you why. Because as we will later discover,

Josiah had no copy of the law of Moses at this point. It was lost. So it's not as if we can get

our Bibles out today. We can go turn to 1st and 2nd Samuel and 1st and 2nd Kings and 1st and 2nd

Chronicles and like go online and King David and you just have a sudden download encyclopedia

of knowledge on King David and just, you know, consume it. No, no, no, no. Josiah had no Bible.

He had no, the law of Moses was lost and it hasn't been discovered at this point. This is how

immoral the nation had become, that the law of Moses which was given to the God's people as a

covenant sign and as a written covenant was completely thrown to the site that it wasn't even,

nobody even knew what it was or where it was. Now Josiah obviously had some sort of schooling or,

you know, he had some record on King David and maybe some of the other kings in order for him to

in order to lead him to even begin to seek after King David. But he didn't have the written law.

I believe he discovered the heart of God through his knowledge of King David and began to

recognize the depraved state of the nation. Maybe he was studying I King David and heard the stories,

maybe, and you know, even from the faithful counselors that was that was around him and they said,

yeah, you know, during King David's reign things were wonderful and, you know, and the nation was

prospering and we were blessed and, you know, and all the countries feared us and we had all this

territory and all of these things and maybe Josiah is standing there saying, what has gone wrong?

Look at the state of this place. I'm seeking the heart of my father, David, and I'm looking

around and I'm saying, what has gone wrong? Has anybody been looking around lately and said,

what has gone wrong with the depravity that was all around us?

So Josiah began to seek the heart of his father, David.

And I believe as he discovered his knowledge, as he gained this knowledge of David and discovered more

and began to recognize the depraved state of the nation, which led him to do something about it.

You know, seekers will turn into doers.

You want to be a doer? Start seeking.

Josiah didn't just seek the heart of his father, David, and it stopped there. No, he sought the

heart of David and it led him to doing something about the state of the nation.

He spent the next four years seeking God, because remember I said, at 16 years old, in the eighth

year of his reign, he was when he became king. In the eighth year of his reign, he was 16.

That's when he began to seek the heart of his father, David, and at 20 years old, he began to

go around the entire state, the entire nation and tear down all of the idols and the wooden

images, carved images and all of these things, the foreign gods. He tore it. That was at 20.

So he spent four years seeking.

And the four years of seeking led him to doing something about it.

Some of us aren't even willing to seek for a week. We get tired, we get bored.

That's someone else do it. It's too much work.

Church, we need to be zealous. We need to have a love for the word of God. We need to have a heart

for the kingdom. Our seeking will always lead to doing. If you seek something for long enough,

it will affect your actions and your behaviors. You say why? Because if you seek on righteousness,

you will end up participating in unrighteousness. That's what happens. If you seek godliness,

it will lead you to becoming godly and participating in that which is godly.

What are you seeking? That's a question we need to ask ourselves tonight.

So the scripture was on to reveal how Josiah completely destroyed the idols that

dotted the nations. I just read that from verse four to seven. Now this is interesting.

This is when he's 20 years old. He didn't just remove them. No. Let's get some pictures in

our heads here. He didn't go around and say, that's this idol here. Boys, take that down.

That's an idol over there. Take that down. No. He pulverized them. He didn't look at them and say,

oh, that's gold. Oh, that's bronze. Oh, that's silver. Let's take that. That might be worth something.

No, no, no, no. It was dedicated to that which was against god. It was an abomination in the eyes

of the father of his and the eyes of the god of his father, David, who he'd spent four years seeking.

So he discovered these things and was like, no, no, no, no, no. He completely eradicated

these idols. Now these idols and these shrines and this place of depravity weren't just in one

particular place. They were completely dotted throughout the land. It took Josiah six years

to purge the nation. Six years. He started when he was 20 years old and he was finished at 26.

Six years old. Six years.

So he didn't just remove these. He pulverized them. He turned them into powder which would have

been no easy task. Now can you imagine, can you imagine that like these, these wooden images,

you know, golden images, John, can you imagine that pulverizing them to their to their powder,

not just smashing them in a few pieces, pulverizing them, completely eradicating them. No wonder it

took them six years. Do you know why he did that? Because he knew if he didn't make them into

powder, the people would just rebuild them again. He was trying to remove them completely.

It took him six years to complete this purge. He was so zealous for god that it led him to

utterly detest in anything that exalted itself above God. And that's what idolatry is. Place

is something, you know, up there with God or even above wanting to take people's attention,

devotion, affections, anything. And I say this all the time just and let us remind ourselves.

An idol is not just a physical thing that you bow down to worship. An idol is anything in your

life that's taken the place of God. It can even be a person. Doesn't mean that that person's

bad for you or bad in your life, but if you're putting them above God, they're an idol. Nobody,

nobody should come before God. Not a husband, not a wife, not a child, nobody.

Amen? He was so zealous for god that it led him to just pulverize in everything. He knew that if

he didn't completely eradicate the idols, he would have to deal with it again. But I want to show

something here, okay? And again, I'm not going to get all of this tonight, but not only did

Josiah purge the nation once. So this was the first purge. He purged it again, okay? So we took

six years to purge the nation of all of these idols. And then after he kind of turned his attention,

remember it says, after after the end of all this, he went back to Jerusalem, okay, which was the

heart. It was the center of worship. It's where the temple was located. He went back to Jerusalem,

he turned his eyes towards the temple, which was in ruins, by the way. There wasn't kept,

it was just profaned and lying idle and just, it wasn't in its glory as it should have been

and as it once was. So in the eyes of the people, I mean. So once he discovered the temple,

or once he fixed up the temple and discovered the book of the law, which we're going to find out

here in a minute, he purged the nation again. You know the word of God, when we get the word of God

and it's revealed to us, it will show more things. It will point out more things in our lives that

need to go and that need to change. But that's a good thing, okay? Because we want to become more like

Jesus. So not only did he purge the nation once, he purged it again a couple of years later

when he was 26 years old after he discovered the book of the law, which is God's word. Like

really, it wasn't the word that we have today, but it was God's spoken word written down.

And we can find that in 2nd Kings 23. If you want to write that down, we may go back

later, but that's when we know he purged the 2nd time. But you know, I find a lesson in this

church. It's a lesson to learn that the purging in our lives is a continual process.

Don't think that, you know, because God's been purging things. Oh, that's me. I'm out of that now.

No, there's probably going to be a time again where he's going to be purging again,

where he's going to be pruning. As we discover in Galatians chapter 5, the fight against the flesh

is continual. And the spirit will always war against the flesh. As we continue to submit ourselves

onto God, he will reveal the parts of the flesh that need to be purged.

He revealed parts of the flesh to me this week that need to be purged.

He's revealing flesh to me every day.

Me and Toine had a conversation with that before church sent me toine.

We'll always be dealing with the flesh. We'll always be dealing with that and we need to have

this surrender of just Lord purge. Take it away. As we continue to submit ourselves onto God,

he will. Okay? Are we willing for him to do this work? We need to be in order to remain zealous.

So Josiah's zeal for God was needed to fulfill the purpose God had for his life.

In 2 Chronicles 34 and from verse 23 to 28, we find the prophetess holder.

Okay? So, and again, I'm kind of going ahead in the timeline here, so I may kind of

circle back, but I just want to get some points out here. So after Josiah fixed up the temple,

hired people to fix up the temple, they discovered the book of the law. He read the book of the

law, discovered how far away they were from it, and all of the generations that went before them

how wicked they were, and then Josiah took it upon himself as that person in authority and as

the representative of that nation as God's chosen person to repent on behalf of the generations

gone past. So once he did that, he was like, I need somebody to go inquire of the Lord for me.

You know, back in the Old Testament, okay? And, you know, they had prophets, they had people

prophetesses that kind of spoke on behalf of God. And, you know, but, you know, praise God that

were the New Testament church we can hear from God, amen? We still have the gift and that position

of prophet in the church, but we can hear from Holy Spirit also. So he went and inquired of the Lord

and hold the prophetess. She prophesied that destruction was going to come. Why? Because of the years

of idolatry, the years of wickedness, the years of abominations and depravity was going to catch up

with the nation of Judah. Just like I said, our actions and our consequences or our actions have

consequences. So she ensured Josiah and his team of people that the curses would eventually come

upon the land, just as the Bible says, just as he told Moses, if you don't do what I'm saying,

you know, you have a blessing, you've got a curse, choose which one, okay? He said the curses would

eventually come upon the land as a result of years of disobedience and rebellion throughout the

reigns of the wicked kings, but Josiah didn't give up. He didn't hear this news and say, I'm done.

What can I do? I've done all I can do. I've taken you this far, you know, and shift the blame. No,

because he was so, there was such a lack of self and such a zeal for God and for leading the people

of God that he didn't give up. He kept going. And in fact, it goes on to say from verse 29 to 33

in 2 Chronicles 34 and into chapter 35, he went on after that to restore true worship and reinstate

Passover. Passover hadn't been observed in years. Incredible. And he reinstateed Passover.

He reinstituted that true worship. In the midst of turmoil, his zeal and his passion

were the fuel to keep him going. Many times, church, we can get so distracted, we can get so

discouraged by what is not going right. Anyone been there? If we're honest with ourselves,

I've been there. We get so distracted and discouraged by what is not going right, by the turmoil,

by the problems, by this and by that, that it can lead us to step and back and given up

instead of pressing forward and implementing change. Titus chapter 2 reminds us and mentions

that God has redeemed us from sin and purified us as his own special people who are zealous for

good works. Now listen, without a fervent, active zeal for God, our service to him will become

complacent and lukewarm. And I believe through Josiah's revelation of King David and his

discovery of God's word, his zeal was ignited to remain on fire for God and fulfill his destiny.

You see, what began his curiosity, just think of we Josiah, the age-year-old boy who was curious.

What his curious turned into was zeal. Why? Because he became convinced.

As he sought the heart of his father, David, as when he found the book of the law in the temple

and it was read to him, he became convinced. You want to become more zealous for God, you need to be

convinced at what you believe, in what you believe. How do we get convinced? You seek, you discover.

Revelation brings conviction. The more revelation you receive, the more conviction will come.

That unshakable conviction, that no, no, no, I know, because I know that there's principles,

there's truth in God's word that maybe I was unsure about a couple of years ago, but I'm not

unsure about now. Why? Because I have more revelation now. Because God's spoken to me more,

because I've spent more time seeking. Therefore, I'm convinced. Therefore, I'm more zealous about it

than I was back then. Why? Because I'm convinced. My curiosity turned to zeal. That's what happened

with Josiah. The curious, atrial boy became zealous because he sought the Lord.

And then we'll be able to commit ourselves to God and his purposes.

So the first one I mentioned was zeal.

Remember the things we need zeal for him, love a reverential love for his word,

and a heart for seeking his kingdom. Okay? Zeal. We see that throughout Josiah's life. Love for the

word. Can you give me another few minutes? Love for the word. Along with Josiah's zeal,

he had an overwhelming reverence for the word of God. Okay? So like I mentioned before,

much of what he did in the early years of his reign was before he was even aware of the Lord

Moses. After spending six years purging the land of idolatry and wickedness,

Josiah turned his attention to restoring God's temple in Jerusalem. And I find this beautiful.

There was a tearing down and a building up in Josiah's story. There was a tearing down of the idols,

the altars, the things that were dedicated to foreign gods. There was a tearing down,

that's all part of his story. But there was also a building up at the temple that had become

runes. He built up, he repaired, he restored it back to its former glory.

The Lord said to Jeremiah, the prophet, who was prophesying throughout Josiah's time.

The Lord said to Jeremiah in chapter one of Jeremiah in verse 10. And this will be familiar

verse. It says, see, I have this, I have this day set you over the nations and over the kingdoms

to root out and to pull down, to destroy and to throw down, to build and to plant.

See church, there's times, now listen, okay? This is important because I believe this is,

I can just feel like the Lord's on this and this is something that we all deal with.

There's times when the idols in our lives will need to be torn down and destroyed.

We know that, right? And maybe we've gone through those seasons where the Holy Spirit

revealed something, that's an idol, that's an idol, that's an idol, that needs to be removed,

dealt with, destroyed. However, there is a danger in allowing those things then to rule your mind.

The idols that you're tearing down, there's a danger that those things will rule your mind,

even through guilt or condemnation or they're still taken up residence, they're living rent-free

in your head. You make the decision for God, but you can't seem to just shift some of that,

those old ways of thinking. Once you repent and turn to God, because if there's idols,

we need to repent, right? Once we repent and turn back to God, you must seek Him and strengthen

your life by focusing on His Word, by getting into prayer, by meditating on truth, by becoming

devoted to Him. You see, that's what an idol is, it steals your devotion. So when you repent,

you turn back to God, you seek Him, you seek His Word, you feed Him His Word, you strengthen

your spirit, you allow Him to restore you and to bring restoration to your life,

and then you give yourself in devotion to Him. That will stop those idols that you once had to

deal with, from living in your mind, from causing problems in your mind. So there was a tearing

down, but then when you come to Christ, there's a building up. Josiah recognized what needed to change.

He looked around at the state of the nation and he said, those idols, they need to go, we are so far

away from what this nation needs to be. So we recognize what needed to change. He implemented

the change. Many of us are good at recognizing what needs to go, but we do nothing about it.

That's because we're lacking zeal. He recognized what needed to change. He implemented the change,

and then he turned his attention to restoring the very thing that would keep the idols out of our

lives, the place of God's presence. You know, God's presence and encounter, a continual encounter with

the presence of God will keep idols out of your life. Why? Because you will realize that nothing

can match Him. Nothing. When you've tasted and seen that He is good, you won't put anything above

Him. Josiah recognized what needed to change. He implemented the change, and then he built up the

very thing that would keep the idols out of the hearts of the people, the place of true worship,

the place of God's presence. Make sense?

Go with me to 2nd Kings chapter 22.

Let's say it's in verse 3 that it came to pass in the 18th year of King Josiah that the

king sent to Sheffan the scribe, the son of Ezelia, the son of Mishulam, to the house of the Lord,

then go up to Hellchia, the high priest, that he may count the money which has been brought into the

house of the Lord, which the doorkeepers have gathered from the people. Let them deliver it into

the hand of those doing the work, those who are looking over the house of the Lord, let them give

it to those who are in the house of the Lord, doing the work to repair the damages of the house,

to the carpenters, to the builders, to the messians, and to buy timber and whole stone to repair the

house. However, there will be no need to make an account of these things because the people

were trustworthy as what the scripture goes on to tell us. So what's this saying here? These

scriptures, these verses that I just read were when Josiah started to send the money that was

coming in to go and repair the temple. So this was what his priority became. Josiah sat out to

glorify God. Now this is important. How did he set out to glorify God by restoring the temple?

He was doing it for God. He said, this this nation has spent years and generations building idols

to false gods and the temple of the one true God is lying like in disrepute. So I'm going to tear

down everything and I'm going to build up the temple of the one true God to glorify him because

there's been generations that have gone by that he has not got the glory and he was wanting to

write these rungs. So that's why he was wanting to glorify God was to restore this place of

worship, right? But in repairing and restoring the temple and because his heart was to glorify

God in this, God rewarded him with much more. You see in the middle of restoring the temple that

found the book of the law, that found something of much greater value. You see what you gave to God

and glory to him, he will reward you with so much more. What you start out to glorify him in,

he will cause increase, he will he will give you more in that because your heart's in the right place.

The discovery of the word, the the discovery of the scriptures of the law was what God rewarded them

with because they set out to glorify God and repair and restore in the temple. During the repair

of the temple, the high priest Hellchia found the book of the law. You see when the desire of our

hearts is to glorify God in everything we do. He adds on to us. Go back to 2 Chronicles.

Rebecca, can you read verse 14 of chapter 34, please?

While they were bringing out the money that had been brought into the house of the Lord,

Hellchia the priest found the book of the law of the Lord given through Moses.

Okay, so this is right after this is while in the middle of them restoring the temple,

okay, rebuilding the temple, they discovered the book of the law, okay? Now Rebecca,

can you read just Gwanda into verse 19 of the same chapter?

Then Hellchia answered and said to Sheffan the secretary, I have found the book of the law

in the house of the Lord and Hellchia gave the book to Sheffan. Sheffan 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 given it into

the hand of the overseers and the workmen. Then Sheffan the secretary told the king,

Hellchia the priest has given me a book and Sheffan read from it before the king.

And when the king heard the words of the law, he tore his clothes.

Now, this reaction and response of Josiah tells us that he did not know what this book said.

When it was read before him, he tore his clothes. This was a sign of, oh my goodness, repentance,

okay? This is, we are in deep, deep water here, okay? So describe the high priest Hellchia,

found the book of the law during the repair of the temple, give it to the, to describe Sheffan

and Sheffan brought it to Josiah and read it to him in his presence. Josiah's response is a clear

indication that he did not know the entirety of its contents. This reveals the king's heart, okay?

Now, I want to read something to you in Jeremiah 1516. It keeps your finger in second chronicles.

Jeremiah. Now remember, Jeremiah was a prophet that was prophesying during the reign of Josiah.

I think Zefeniah came first, I believe, and then Jeremiah towards the middle and end of his reign,

okay? And in Jeremiah verse 15, it says in verse 16, your words were found and I ate them.

And your word was to me the joy and rejoicing of my heart. Notice how Jeremiah said your

words were found. Now, many scholars connect this phrase with the, his phrase, that words were found

with this specific historical event of Josiah discovering the book of the law.

And here we have Jeremiah saying, your words have been found, they were lost, they were buried

for years, but they've been found and it brought joy to the lives of the people.

Remember, Josiah had scaled the land for six years and never discovered a copy of the law of Moses.

And how do I know that? Because, well, the scripture doesn't mention that he did, first of all,

and secondly, when the, when the scribe read it to him, he didn't know what it said.

He hadn't, he hadn't, he hadn't read it before. So he went up and down the land,

tearing down altars, going into every nuke and cranny and didn't find one copy of the book of the law.

He scaled the land for six years and found nothing. Now listen, God's word was lost in God's house.

Imagine that.

Even today, there's a danger of losing God's word in God's house.

The attitudes, the opinions, the doctrines of man become more prominent than the uncompromising truth

of God's word. This self in man behind pulpits buries the truth of God's word to please the

tickling ears of people and to tickle the ears of people and that uncompromising truth of God's

word is buried and that's a sad reality. The lives of so many people are,

they're affected and they're influenced by false cities or a water-down version of the truth.

But church, there's also a danger of losing the word of God in your own home.

What is your home filled with? Are you speaking scripture in your home?

What are you teaching your children? What are you teaching the next generation?

Don't lose the word of God in your home and we will not lose the word of God in this house.

Not only did Josiah tear his clothes, Rebecca just read verse 27 of 2 Chronicles 34.

Because your heart was tender 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 have torn

your clothes and wept before me, I also heard you declare so Lord.

So not only did Josiah tear his clothes, so what's happened in here is this is the prophetess

hold it, remember? She was declaring the judgments that were coming. But this is God speaking

through the prophetess saying, I've seen your response. I've seen that you've torn your

clothes in repentance. I've seen that you've wept in my presence and because of that God delayed

the judgments and the rest of Josiah's reign was in peace. Because he goes on to say,

surely I will gather you to your fathers and you shall be gathered to your grave in peace and

your eyes shall not see the calamity which I will bring on this place and its inhabitants so they

brought back word to the king. So because of Josiah's response to the word of God and remember what

I said at the beginning, we need a zeal, we need a reverential love for the word of God which should

be followed by a humble response and we need a heart that's seeking his kingdom. Josiah responded

to the word of God how he should have. He tore his clothes and repentance at the state of the

nation and this was bear in mind guys. This was years after he was doing good. This is how far

gone they were. He had spent six years eradicating idols from the nation and he was still tearing his

clothes in repentance saying were still so far off and in repentance of for the fathers that had gone

before him. The word of God moved him so deeply that it bearthed a humility and tender surrender in

his heart and I'll close with this question that I want to ask ourselves. Does the truth of God's

word produce the same reaction in us? How do we respond to God's word? I never want to become

complacent in my love for the word of God. Let's sound to our feet.

Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Jesus. Oh, Heavenly Father, we glorify you. We thank you for this

wonderful time here together. Thank you for your precious word, all your word that's so rich,

Lord, let it just continue to wash over us as we leave this place tonight. May it just leave a

lasting effect on us, may it forever mark us. Lord, may it bring us to a place Lord of repentance and

just seek in you. Lord, I just pray that your word will continue to work in our hearts, the word

that we've heard. And I pray over the hearts of the people that's here tonight and those that

are listening online, Lord, that the hearts of the people will be protected and Lord, that we will

do the work in our own hearts and keep in the soil prepared so that the seeds that we are here

and it will be planted and that the word will not be stolen from us in Jesus' name. And I thank you,

Lord, that you're going to do your work in our hearts, Lord, just like you did in the life of King

Josiah. Lord, I thank you, Lord, that we'll grow and develop a zeal, a love for your word, and we'll

respond to your word in humility and repentance. And I pray, Lord, that we'll have a heart that

seeks your kingdom above all else. All, Lord, I pray that your word just comes more live in us.

We never want to lose the zeal and the love for your word. Thank you for these precious people.

I thank you, Lord, that we're going from strength to strength, glory to glory.

And I pray, Lord, as we exit out of this place, your hand is upon us, you give your angels charge

over us. Lord, may you go before us, lead the way we want to follow you. And I pray that the

remainder of our week, Lord, will be spent glorifying you in our jobs, in raising our children, in

doing all whatever it is that you've asked us to do. I pray, Lord, that we'll glorify you. And

that at the end of every day, when everything is said and done, we can say, I live for you today,

Jesus. Lord, I pray that your love will continue to burn in our hearts, and that that love will

spread to the lives of other people. Lord, and give us, give us opportunities to share the gospel,

give us opportunities, Lord, to preach your word. To lay hands on the second, watch them recover.

Lord, I thank you for the demonstrated power that follows us everywhere we go.

Lord, you are worthy of all of our praise. You are worthy of our entire lives.

We give you the glory and all of the honor. In Jesus name, amen.

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