(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

Well, I just want to first thank Pastor Jonathan Shelley for the opportunity to preach this evening. And I want to thank all of you. If you don't know who I am, you're wondering who's the new guy. My name is Benjamin Naim. I moved here about a month ago now, and this church has been very welcoming to my wife and I. So don't let anybody say that this is not a welcoming or a loving church. The world would tell us that we're all a bunch of hate mongers and we just hate all the time. Well, I can tell you that's not true. My wife and I have come here, and we've loved it thus far, and everybody's been really friendly to us and a blessing. So thank you all for that. And the title of the sermon this evening is Five Life Lessons from King Josiah. Five Life Lessons from King Josiah. The reason why I want to specify five is because I want to force myself to get through all five. So if I call the title Five Life Lessons from King Josiah and get through only three of them, that's a failure. Okay, so I'm going to focus and make sure I use some time management here and get through all five. Let's look at 2 Chronicles 34 and verse number 1. 2 Chronicles 34 and verse number 1, the Bible says there, Josiah was eight years old when he began to reign, and he reigned in Jerusalem one and thirty years. That would be thirty-one years. And he did that which was right in the sight of the Lord, and walked in the ways of David his father, and declined neither to the right hand nor to the left. So let's look at some basic facts about Josiah to start things off. This was essentially the final period of revival that came for the southern kingdom of Judah before the seventy years of captivity. By this point, Assyria had already taken over the northern kingdom of Israel. Josiah is the son of King Ammon, who was evil, who was the son of Manasseh, who was exceedingly evil. Ammon's own servants killed him, by the way, in case you're wondering what happened to him. And Josiah, he orchestrated, like I said, that final period of revival, that final period in which Judah turned back to God before the wrath came, before seventy years of captivity. Josiah's reign, here's what's interesting about this king, Josiah's reign was actually prophesied three hundred and forty years prior to him actually taking the throne. And that right there is further proof that this Bible right here has a divine author. That this Bible right here was written by God, not man. And there are plenty of examples of that, so many I wouldn't have time to even bring them up over the course of this sermon. But the title is, like I said, Five Life Lessons from King Josiah. Let's look at lesson number one to start things off. Lesson number one is this, have no tolerance for false religion. Have no tolerance for false religion. Look down at verse number three, 2 Chronicles 34 and verse three. The Bible reads there, for in the eighth year of his reign, while he was yet young, he began to seek after the God of David his father, and in the twelfth year, he began to purge Judah and Jerusalem from the high places and the groves and the carved images and the molten images, and they break down the altars of Balaam in his presence and the images that were on high above them, he cut down, and the groves and the carved images and the molten images, he break in pieces and made dust of them and strode it upon the graves of them that had sacrificed unto them, and he burnt the bones of the priests upon their altars and cleansed Judah and Jerusalem, and so did he in the cities of Manasseh and Ephraim and Simeon, even on the Nephthalai, where their Maddocks round about, and when he had broken down the altars and the groves and had beaten the graven images into powder and cut down all the idols throughout all the land of Israel, he returned to Jerusalem. Josiah cuts down the idols. What's he doing here? He's removing the false religion from the land, but he's doing it with zeal. Notice it says that he cut it down to powder. He beat these idols so hard they were cut down to powder. And that's an example we could take in our lives. That's the amount of hatred he had for false religion, for idolatry. This would never happen. I'm going to give you an example that would probably never happen. But imagine if Donald J. Trump, the president of the United States, woke up one day and decided to actually be godly and decided to break down some of the satanic images in Washington, D.C. That would be great, wouldn't it? See, the problem is Donald Trump would never do that. He probably looks at those images. He probably looks at those idols and thinks, wow, those are big, big, beautiful statues. I love them. I wouldn't be surprised if he worshipped them himself. So that wouldn't happen, but what Josiah did here would be the equivalent of the leader of this land deciding to purge idolatry and destroy it into powder. He destroys the idol. He destroys the graven images. This reveals his hatred for false religion. The Bible says, you don't have to turn there, in Psalm 96, verse 5. For all the gods of the nations are idols, but the Lord made the heavens. Every other god is an idol. Every other god came out of the mind of the devil himself. It came out of the mind of Satan. There's one god. Everything else is false. Everything else is an idol. Josiah understood that. And by the way, the idols I'm talking about, that includes this extreme, pacifistic, long-haired, sissy, left-wing Jesus that the world supports. That's an idol, folks. That's not the Jesus of the Bible. Read Matthew chapter 23. Read the sermons preached by Jesus Christ. He was a harder preacher than I could ever dream of being. And in total contradiction to that long-haired, pacifistic Jesus worshipped by the world. At this time, there were idols in God's house in Josiah's time. And unfortunately, in 2020, there are idols in God's house today. There are idols in God's house today. And I hate to do this, but I'm going to have to. I'm going to pick on my independent, fundamental Baptist brethren here for a minute. Because the idols I'm talking about that are in God's house today, just as sure as there were idols in the house of God back then, and in God's nation back then, there's nothing new under the sun, what I'm talking about is the pro-Israel worship we see in these churches today, don't we? I'm talking about churches that claim to uphold this and preach the whole counsel of God and preach this, but then behind them, they've got an Israel flag. Behind them, they've got the Star of Renfant. Behind them, they've got devil worship and they don't even realize it. This pro-Israel worship, this exaltation of the Jews, it makes me sick. It is a modern-day form of idolatry, exalting the religion of Judaism. Well, you know what? The last time I checked, my Bible says, who is a liar, but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ, he is Antichrist that denieth the Father and the Son. The Bible doesn't make any room for compromise on this. But I want to read you a quote from a pastor from this show calling random pastors hosted by Framing the World. This is what he said when asked about what he believes on Israel. Do I believe the U.S. does enough to support the nation of Israel? Yeah, you know what? I believe with all my heart. At this point, he's probably tearing up a little bit. I believe with all my heart that we can never do enough. We never could do enough to love God's chosen people. I am pro-Israel plus Israel, and we support a lot of Jewish works that are biblical, and definitely love Israel. I don't think we could ever do enough for God's people. That's what this guy said. You know what that is right there? That's pro-Jew idolatry, isn't it? That's worshipping a demonic nation in the Middle East that's been responsible for the destabilization we see in that region right now. In 2006, my dad was stuck in Lebanon because of this political Zionism going on over there where Israel had been raining down bombs over his head, and I'm sitting there as a kid wondering if my dad could make it out alive. This political Zionism, this worship of the Jews by this country makes me sick. They worship a country that's done nothing more than ravage an entire region and shed innocent blood. And I haven't even gotten yet to what the Bible says about it. And the reality is this. Political Zionism is a tool being used by the devil right now, what? To dilute IFB churches, to dilute the message of IFB churches. Go to 2 Kings 23 if you would, 2 Kings chapter 23. While you do that, I want to read something from Galatians. But go to 2 Kings chapter 23, because I can't leave you hanging. I said I didn't even get into what the Bible says. But the Abrahamic covenant is what they would cling to. Thinking it applies to a bunch of Christ-rejecting askenazis. Well here's what it says in Galatians chapter 3. I'll read out of verse, I'll read, I'll start from verse 28. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. You notice it says there's neither Jew nor Greek. I don't care whether you're a Jew, I don't care whether you're a Gentile, God doesn't either. It's not about your physical attributes. You know what it's about? What you believe. It's about what's going on in your heart. Verse 29, and if ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed and heirs according to the promise. And that's a whole different subject for a different time. But that right there explains to us that the seed being described, the Abrahamic covenant, the promises were made to Abraham and his seed, we find out that the seed, in fact, is spiritual. And if you are Christ's, you're Abraham's seed. What I want to show you in 2 Kings 23 is that Josiah, he took a page out of Elijah's playbook. You all know the story of Elijah and how he slayed the prophets of Baal, one of my favorite stories in scripture. But look at verse 20 here. In 2 Kings 23 and verse 20, again, verse 20, look what it says. Not only do we see that he removed the idols from the land, but he also took out the high priests, didn't he? He also got rid of those who were worshiping the false gods. This is how he cleansed Judah. This is how he cleansed his nation. This is called separation, folks. Separation is biblical. Now, you can go a little too far with this, I'm not saying that separation entails you separating from your cousins, uncles, roommates, housekeeper, because the person's pre-trib. That's not what I'm saying. You can go a little too far with it. But biblical separations means we're not going to yoke up with the Catholics today. We're not going to yoke up with the Islamicists today who, by the way, are responsible for a rape epidemic going on right now in Europe. The judgment of God on that Christ-rejecting continent. We're not going to yoke up with the Mormons today riding around in their stupid bicycles, looking like fools, ruining soul-winning for the rest of us. We're not going to yoke up with them. We'll yoke up with people who believe this, who believe the fundamentals of what this says. Now, look at verse number seven. I can go all night on that, so I need to move on so I can get through the five points. My second lesson that we could learn from Josiah's life is this, remove the sodomites to cleanse a nation. Remove the sodomites to cleanse a nation. Look at verse seven, 2 Kings 23, verse seven, and he break down the houses of the sodomites that were by the house of the Lord, where the women wove hangings for the grove. You ever ask this question when you read this? I ask this question myself, why are there sodomite houses right next to the house of God? You would think they would be a little further away than that, right? Well, Josiah, he broke down the houses of the sodomites that were next to God's house because you can't cleanse a nation without removing the sodomites out of the land. You can't cleanse a nation without taking a stand against the most evil, vile, wicked animals known to man. You can't cleanse a nation without a little something I like to call animal control. You say, what do you mean by that? Well, they're filthy beasts made to be taken and destroyed. It's animal control. You can't cleanse a nation without animal control. And in fact, what we see in Scripture is that every righteous king, what are some of the attributes of the righteous king? They took out the sodomites, didn't they? So we've got plenty of ammunition that we can use against these softy rainbow flag wearing sissy effeminate weirdos, don't we? Go to Judges 19, if you would, Judges chapter 19. I want to read a few things. What did I say? I made the claim that the attributes of a righteous king is that they took out the sodomites out of the land. Well, let's prove that and give you a few examples. As you're turning to Judges 19, I'm going to read from 1 Kings 22, which says, Now the rest of the acts of Jehoshaphat and his might that he showed, and how he warred, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah? And the remnant of the sodomites, which remained in the days of his father Asa, he took out of the land. It says in 1 Kings 15, And Asa did that which was right in the sight of the Lord, as did David his father. And he took away the sodomites out of the land, and removed all the idols that his fathers had made. The righteous kings, what did they do? Removed the sodomites out of the land. And what does the Bible say? Does it say they were too hateful? It says they did that which was right. Why? Why is it right? Because these people prey on the innocent. You say, prove it. All right, look down at Judges 19, a little context, the Levite going to the house of God. He lodges in Gibeah. Look at verse 22, Now as they were making their hearts merry, behold, the men of the city, certain sons of Belial, beset the house round about, and beat at the door, and staked to the master of the house, the old man, saying, Bring forth the man that came into thine house, that we may know him. This isn't talking about hanging out, playing cards together, that type of knowing an individual. This is a physical relationship that should be reserved for a marriage, within the confines of a marriage between a man and a woman. That's what it means when it says know him. Verse 23, And the man, the master of the house, went out unto them, and said unto them, Nay, my brethren, nay, I pray you, do not so wickedly, seeing that this man is coming to mine house, do not this folly. Behold, here's my daughter, a maiden, and his concubine, them will I bring out now and humble ye them, and do with them what seemeth good unto you. But unto this man do not so vile a thing, but the man would not hearken to him. Implacable. So the man took his concubine and brought her forth unto them, and they knew her and abused her all the night until the morning. And when the day began to spring, they let her go. They abused her all the night. All night. Think about that. I'm not getting into the details, it's a shame to speak of those things which were done to them in secret, but all night, the torture that this concubine must have went through. The sons of Belial do this to her. They are what the Bible refers to as reprobates, and I brought this DVD up here just to showcase. If you ever want to know more about reprobates, watch this. Psychopath reprobates, it gives you all you need to know. But here's a quick summary in case you are confused. According to Romans 1, it says in verse 28, and even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind. To do those things which are not convenient. So there are certain individuals out there, for the uninitiated, there are certain individuals out there who hate and reject God to the point that God rejects them. What happens? They become a reprobate. At that point, they're capable of committing certain sins that fall outside of regular sin nature, like being a child predator, like being a filthy sodomite. That's not normal. And that's what these sons of Belial have become. That's why they're vicious. That's why they're predators. That's why they want to defile this concubine, and they did it all night. I showed you some biblical proof. Let me show you what's going on in our world today. You might be familiar with this individual, Pete the Faggot. Pete the Faggot, I refuse to say his actual last name, Pete the Faggot, at a recent political rally, he coerced, he influenced, he tried to help, quote-unquote, a nine-year-old boy come out, come out, quote-unquote. He said this, even if I can't promise it will always be easy, I can promise you that I'm going to be rooting for you. And I think there's a whole bunch of people here who are going to be rooting for you every step of the way. He's talking to a nine-year-old. He's talking to a nine-year-old boy. He's a pedophile. He's wicked. He's an animal. A nine-year-old boy, you know what he's doing? He's sexualizing the kid. That's what he's doing. The American Family Association links a study stating, links to a study saying this, saying this, sodomites account for 2% of the population. But they account for 33% of all child abuse. Why do you think that is? Maybe it's because the Bible wasn't lying when it said that they're full of all unrighteousness. The reason why Pete the Faggot sexualizes children, the reason why Pete the Faggot gets a nine-year-old boy onto the stage and tries to help him, quote, come out, and the reason why these sodomites only account for 2% of the population, yet 33% of all child abuse is because their psychopath reprobates, they hate God, they're full of all unrighteousness. There's nothing redeeming about them, nothing at all. Titus chapter one, it says, unto the pure all things are pure, but unto them that are defiled and unbelieving is nothing pure, but even their mind and conscience is defiled. They profess that they know God, but in works they deny him, being abominable and disobedient and unto every good work reprobate. There's no hope for these people. And they want access to your children. Why would Josiah break down the houses of the sodomites? Why would the good kings remove them from the land? Because they want to defile that which is innocent. They're coming for your children. They're coming for your families. They're coming for your wives. They hate you. They hate God. They hate everything that is innocent, everything that is pure. And let me tell you something right now. I'm going to speak for Pastor Shelley here. I'm sure he won't have an issue with this. Pastor Shelley will never soften his stance. Am I right about that? Pastor Shelley will never soften. And if you're coming here hoping that one day he goes a little softer on the sodomites and maybe stops preaching hard on them and maybe waters down the message, then you'll be waiting a long time. It'll never happen. It'll never happen. And I'm not going to compromise either. I like that kind of preaching. I will never compromise. And holding up a sign out there, I know they were too lazy to show up today, but I'm going to preach on him anyway. Holding up a sign out there, some stupid sign and talking into a cheap looking megaphone that looks like they bought it at the discount aisle at Wal-Mart is not going to change my mind. It's not going to make me soften my stance. It's not going to make Pastor Shelley soften his stance. At the end of the day, all it does to me, and I'm sure this is true for him as well, is it just makes me want to preach what the Bible says even louder. It just makes me want to lift up my voice even louder. The Bible says, lift up your voice like a trumpet. The highest hilltop you can find. It only makes me want to declare the truth about this issue even louder to an even bigger audience as much as I can. What truth are you talking about? You might be asking. I'm talking about the truth that every single one of these disgusting faggots, these disgusting queers, these abusers of children, that every single one of them ought to be taken out by a righteous government and stoned to death before they hurt one of God's precious children. And if you think that's a little extreme, that's nothing. It's nothing compared to Jeremiah. It's nothing compared to the prophets of God and what they preached. This is milquetoast compared to them. It's milquetoast compared to what Jesus Christ preached. Bible says in Psalm 139, Do not I hate them, O Lord, that hate thee? And not I grieve with those that rise up against thee. I hate them with perfect hatred. I hate them with perfect hatred. I hate them with perfect hatred. What don't the sissy Christians out there understand about that? It couldn't be more clear. My third lesson is a healthy fear of God provokes action. A healthy fear of God provokes action. You say, I'm backslidden today. I don't read my Bible. I barely come to church. Well, you know what? You might be lacking in the fear department. You might be lacking in terms of the fear of God. Hilkiah, what happens here is the high priest, he finds the book of the law of the Lord and he reads it. I'm sorry, he gives it to Shaphan the scribe and it's read to Josiah. And Josiah reacts to it. Let's look at what he does. Look at verse 18, 2 Chronicles 34 and verse 18. The Bible says there, Then Shaphan the scribe told the king, saying, Hilkiah the priest hath given me a book and Shaphan read it before the king. And it came to pass when the king had heard the words of the law that he rent his clothes. He rent his clothes. He starts tearing his clothes. Notice Josiah, he doesn't respond to this by saying, well, that's that's your interpretation. That's, you know, that's your interpretation right there. It's English, buddy. I hate when people say that. It's English. There's no other interpretation of Jesus wept. How do you how do you interpret that any other way? Jesus wept. Well, you see, this interpretation says he didn't actually cry. OK. He doesn't say he doesn't say this. He doesn't make excuses. He rents his clothes. He doesn't say, well, well, Shaphan, you know, that that was written by man, right? That that's not the word that that was written by man. And you see this all the time with people trying to circumvent what the word of God says because it's inconvenient for them. Oh, well, that was written by man. Not only is that a violation of Psalm chapter 12, and you all know that, but also doesn't even make any logical sense because if there is no perfect word of God which has been preserved for us, then there is no perfect authority by which we can appeal to to understand anything about who God is, to understand anything about his morality, to understand anything about our own morality, and to understand anything about what he wants for our lives. It's that simple. It doesn't make any logical sense. And it leads to this atheistic brand of cultural relativism which says, well, if one society says something is moral and another society says something completely contradictory is moral, then each side is right because who are we to judge? We don't have an authority by which we can judge. Well, you know what we do? The Christian does. It's called the word of God. And Josiah, he takes it seriously. Doesn't make excuses for it. He humbles himself. You notice what it says there, that he rent his clothes. He humbles himself. And you know what he realizes? He realizes Judah is in some pretty big trouble, doesn't he? And all you need to do, all you need to do is read Leviticus. All you need to do is read Deuteronomy. All you need to do is read any book of the Bible and compare what it says, compare God's law to what's going on in America today. And you'll come to the same realization that Josiah came to, which is that we're in some trouble today. We're in some big trouble today. But the problem is the majority, they don't rent their clothes when they hear about the judgment of God and the wrath of God that's coming. They don't rent their clothes and fear God and take it seriously. They laugh and they scoff and they laugh it off and they just call us hate mongers and they protest outside and they write lying articles about us. They don't take it seriously. Pastor Shelley gets up here and he's ripping face on sin and he's talking about the abominations of this land. People laugh at him. They think it's funny. They mock him. They mock the man of God. Josiah doesn't do that, though. Look at verse 20. And the king commanded Hilkiah and Ahicham, the son of Shaphan, and Abdon, the son of Micah, and Shaphan the scribe, and Azahiah, a servant of the king, saying, Go inquire of the Lord for me and for them that are left in Israel and in Judah concerning the words of the book that is found. For great is the wrath of the Lord that is poured out upon us, because our fathers have not kept the word of the Lord to do after all that is written in this book. Josiah realizes wrath is coming. He realizes his fathers had not obeyed the commands of the Lord. It wasn't just Ammon. It wasn't just Hezekiah. It was the other kings as well. Judah had a really long succession of kings that went absolutely insane. And Josiah recognizes this. Josiah sees a tidal wave coming his way and he's deathly afraid, as he should be. This is the right reaction to the man of God. This is the right reaction to the word of God being read to you and understanding that judgment is coming. This is how you ought to react. This would be similar. Let me tell you. So this would be similar to, I don't know if you guys are familiar with this, but if America is about to be hit with a nuclear weapon, let's say North Korea right now were to launch a bunch of nukes coming this way. Your cell phones, the TV, the radio, everything would be emitting EMS signals. You'd hear that beeping noise. You would hear that it kind of sounds a little scary, honestly, when they do the testing of the EMS system. It's designed to get you to pay attention to what's going on. If you don't remember this story in Hawaii, there was an accidental EMS signal that went off claiming there was a nuke coming. Everybody went crazy. They were hiding in manholes. They were going nuts. Well, if that were to happen here, the same thing would occur. People would be going crazy. The EMS signal would be on the television, on the radio, all over the place. People would understand that destruction is coming. And I think that's what's going on in Josiah's time right now. He sees that EMS signal and it's the word of God emitting that signal, the emergency distress signal saying wrath is coming like a tidal wave. Repent. You better do something about it quick. Repent. The problem is there's no fear of God in America today. There's just no fear of God. Why? Because this has been rebranded. People say, oh, it's a love letter. They don't read the Old Testament. They don't care. And in fact, you go to an unreceptive area out soul winning. I'm sure you guys have experienced this. The person comes out, they talk to you for a little bit. They say that going to heaven is based on works. And then you show them where it says, not by works of righteousness, which we have done, but according to his mercy, he saved us by the washing of regeneration of the Holy Ghost. You show them the scriptures contradicting their claim about what it takes to go to heaven. And they'll say, oh, well, I got I got other things to do. I'm sorry. So you show them exactly how they're wrong, how the wrath of God abides on them, according to John 336 right now. It abides on them. And oh, well, you know what? I understand that, but I got I got I got TV shows on. The Dallas Cowboys are playing in Jacksonville. I'd pick on the Jacksonville Jaguars here. I'm going to pick on the Dallas Cowboys. Cowboys are playing. I don't have time right now. They're more afraid of the coronavirus than they are the judgment of God. They're more afraid of the coronavirus than they are hell, aren't they? You show them the eternal nature of hell and God's wrath being poured out on the souls there. And there's no way out forever. They just laugh at all. No big deal. They got a TV show to watch. But when the media tells them about the coronavirus, when the media tells them about this this virus that allegedly came from Wuhan, China as a result of bat soup or something like that, I don't buy it. When the media warns them about this virus, they run as fast as they can to the local supermarket and the shelves are emptied. All the bread is gone. All the canned food is gone. Everything is flying off the shelves. People put the masks on. They're going nuts. And look, I'm not saying it's wrong to prepare for something. Preppers, even though sometimes you're a little bit weird, it's fine. OK, I understand it's cool. But here's my problem. They don't take hell as seriously as they take what the media tells them to be afraid of. The Mockingbird Media. What does that mean, you might be asking? Operation Mockingbird, courtesy of the CIA, perpetuates a controlled media that sends out a controlled signal and a controlled message so they can socially engineer people to behave exactly the way they want. And right now they want you to be afraid of the coronavirus. They want you to be afraid to walk out of your house. They probably would advise you against soul winning, wouldn't they? So the people, they'll be afraid of what the TV tells them to be afraid of. But when the Bible says it, it doesn't faze them. That's because their God is the television. Their God is the television. Skip down to verse 24. The Bible says there, verse 24, Thus saith the Lord, behold, I will bring evil upon this place and upon the inhabitants thereof, even all the curses that are written in the book which they have read before the King of Judah, because they forsaken me and have burnt incense unto other gods, that they might provoke me to anger with all the works of their hands. Therefore, my wrath shall be poured out upon this place and shall not be quenched. And as for the King of Judah, who sent you to inquire the Lord, so shall you say unto him, Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, concerning the words which thou has heard, because thine heart was tender and thou didst humble thyself before God. When thou heardest his words against this place and against the inhabitants thereof and humblest thyself before me, and didst rent thy clothes and weep before me, I have even heard thee also, saith the Lord. Behold, I will gather thee to thy fathers and thou shalt be gathered to thy grave in peace. Neither shall thine eye see all the evil that I'll bring upon this place and upon the inhabitants of the same. So they brought the King word again. Here's what the Lord says to Josiah. He says, wrath is coming in the future. The Babylonians are coming. The Babylonians are going to invade. But you're not going to see it in your day. Your reign will be peaceful. You're not going to see it during your reign. And that's because Josiah's heart was tender. He didn't stiffen his neck when he heard what the Bible says about the spiritual state of his nation. Instead, he he softened his heart. His heart was tender. And because of the fear of the Lord he exhibited, God showed him mercy. God showed him mercy. And that judgment didn't come during Josiah's time. It came a little bit later on. In other words, you could say it was delayed and would to God today that the judgment this nation so obviously deserves. And you could read Revelation 17. If you don't believe me and what's going to happen? The 10 kings burning the whore with fire. And I believe the whore there would be the United States of Babylon. You can read about the judgment. You can read about what this nation that the wrath that's been heaped up against this nation and what it deserves. You read about all that. Well, I say would to God that there's a righteous remnant all over this country that's able to stave off that judgment for a little while. Just look just like Josiah did. Would to God that there was a righteous remnant like Josiah that has a tender heart to the coming judgment of the Lord. That is a tender heart that softens their heart. When God announces his coming wrath on Judah during the days of Hezekiah and Second Kings Chapter 20. OK, it's the same same thing happened there. Would to God that this country would fear the Lord one more time. If you would go to Psalm 103, Psalm chapter 103. We can stave off the judgment this nation deserves. That's the good news. I believe we can do it. But it's going to take each individual staring me in the face right now to do something, not to have a dead faith, to go out like you did this afternoon and preach the gospel and get people sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise. So they won't in the end times when that day comes, they won't worship the abomination of desolation, will they? If we live to see that day, the more people you get saved, the less potential recruits the devil has for his army. Psalm 103, it says in verse 11. Look at verse 11, Psalm chapter 103 in verse 11. For as the heaven is high above the earth, listen to this, so great is his mercy toward them that fear him. Great is his mercy toward them that fear him, because fear is a sign of respect. Fear is a sign of respect and it leads to mercy. So your response to God's anger matters. It matters. It matters the way that you respond to God's anger towards sin matters. Go to Hebrews chapter 12, Hebrews chapter 12. You can read during your own time all the curses in Deuteronomy chapter 28. And if that doesn't provoke you to fear God, I don't know what will. I mean, it's some pretty bad stuff. And I want to read real quickly out of Deuteronomy 20, you go to Hebrews chapter 12, but in Deuteronomy chapter 28, the Bible says there in verse 22, as you're turning to Hebrews chapter 12, it says in verse 22, The Lord shall smite thee with a consumption and with a fever and with an inflammation and with an extreme burning and with the sword and with blasting and with mildew, and they shall pursue thee until thou perish. It talks about fever and sickness and mildew and kind of reminds me of what might be going on right now, coronavirus, flu. I don't know. I'm just that's conjecture there. But my point is that's just one small component of the curses you can read about there in Deuteronomy chapter 28. And by the way, the curses are a little longer than the blessings. And that ought to provoke us to fear God. Hebrews chapter 12, it says in verse 28, Wherefore, we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear. For our God is a consuming fire. Notice that reverence and godly fear are coupled together, because when you revere God, you fear God. When you respect God, you fear God. And that fear of God ought to provoke us to action. It ought to provoke us to action. We need to serve him with the understanding that he holds our breath in his hands. And it should make you a better worker at your job. The fear of God should make you a better worker, a better employee, knowing that he could take away that job just like that if he wanted to. It should make you more humble. When you read about how much God hates pride, should make you more humble, should make you clothe yourself with humility. It should make you, the fear of God should make you a better spouse. It should make you husbands love your wives. And the reverse is true. It should provoke you to want to clean up your life. For fear that he could take everything away, your car, your house. Man, if you're providing for your family, you ought to do it with fear and reverence toward God, understanding that everything you have, whether it's your bank account, your occupation, the vehicle you drive to work every day, it could all be taken away. God could chastise you. The Bible promises that he will if you rebel against him. So understand that and use it as motivation to continue serving him. And you want to talk about fear, by the way. Revelation 6, it says this, talking about what people will say at the rapture. It says in verse 16, and said to the mountains and rocks, fall on us and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne and from the wrath of the lamb. For the great day of his wrath is come. Who shall be able to stand? They want the rocks to fall on them. They're so afraid. They're scared. The fear permeates their entire body at the rapture. And people will say, oh, that's Old Testament. No, it's Revelation. OK, that's as New Testament as you can get. That's the very end of the book. You can't get any more New Testament than that. You'll just go right back to Genesis again. Revelation. Bible says in Matthew, chapter 10, verse 28, fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul, but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. I'm not afraid of what man can do to me. I'm afraid of a God that's capable of eternal punishment in hell. That's what I'm afraid. I'm afraid of what he might do in my life. Of course, if you're saved, you can never lose your salvation. You have eternal security. But the Bible says, whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth and scourges every son whom he receiveth. I don't want that scourging. I don't want those curses on my life. I want God's blessing. I don't know about you guys. I'm sure you probably agree. You probably want God's blessing on your life. And the fear of that chastisement is what provokes us to want to serve him. It's what provokes us to want to be free to thrive and not skip out on church and be lazy. Those who mock the Lord Jesus Christ in this life, we read it there. I read it to you. I quoted in Revelation Chapter six. They're going to be filled with fear, aren't they? Those who mock the Lord Jesus Christ, one day they will tremble in fear at his in his sight. They're going to shake from head to toe in this life. They mocked him. They made blasphemous signs about him. But then when they see him, all of a sudden, all that anger they had toward him, it turns to fear. They're shaking in their boots. Go to Second Chronicles Chapter 35. We see Josiah's godly fear. It led him to action. Second Chronicles Chapter 35, if you would. Josiah's godly fear. It led him to action. And what did Josiah do? He heard the word of God. He rent his clothes. And we see that he brought reformation back to Judah. He brought back the Passover. He brought back the Passover. Because the law of God matters. Jesus said, think not that I'm come to destroy the law of the prophets, I'm come not to destroy, but to fulfill. Preferably I say to you, till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in, excuse me, shall in no wise pass from the law till all be fulfilled. Josiah brings back the Passover. Don't take a hyper literal interpretation of what I'm saying here. I don't think America should bring back the Passover. The Passover was done away with in Christ. All right. And the Bible does say, talking about the tabernacle in Hebrews chapter nine, it says, which was a figure of the time then present, in which it says, which was a figure for the time then present, in which were offered both gifts and sacrifices that could not make him of the disservice perfect as painting the conscience, which did only in meats and drinks and diverse washings and carnal ordinances imposed on them until the time of reformation, imposed on them until the time of reformation, the death of Jesus Christ. So all that's been done away with the meats and the drinks and the carnal ordinances, et cetera. So what I'm trying to say, though, is that Josiah, he elevated the law of God to its proper place in his kingdom, and what we can learn from that is we need to elevate the law of God to its proper place in our daily Christian lives, in our daily Christian life. That means you apply the sermons you hear at this church. You apply the sermons that you're listening to at this church. Second Chronicles chapter thirty five, it says in verse sixteen, so all the service of the Lord was prepared the same day to keep the Passover and to offer burnt offerings upon the altar of the Lord, according to the commandment of King Josiah and the children of Israel that were present, kept the Passover at that time and the Feast of Unleavened Bread seven days, and there was no Passover like to that kept in Israel from the days of Samuel the prophet. Neither did all the kings of Israel keep such a Passover as Josiah kept and the priests and the Levites and all Judah and Israel that were present and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. So like Hezekiah, Josiah brings the Passover back. And up to this point, there hadn't been a Passover like it. He brings the law of God back because he emphasizes the law of God in his kingdom, just assures we need to emphasize the law of God in our lives. We need to make sure that we elevate that to an important status. When you come to listen to the sermons at church, don't just walk out of here and think, hey, you know, that was a pretty good sermon. It was entertaining. He told some funny jokes. He ripped some face and then never actually make any changes. When the pastor gets up here and he's ripping on sin, when he's ripping on pride, for example, I know I talked about this before, but Pastor Shelley hates pride. I'm sure you've noticed it. When he's up here ripping on pride, clothe yourself with, make that change, clothe yourself with humility. When the pastor is up here and he's exhorting you to obey the command in scripture to go ye into all the world and preach the gospel, don't just sit there and say, oh, that sounds lovely. He's doing a great job articulating the message. Go out at the soul winning time, grab a partner, grab the word of God and apply that sermon to your life. Elevate the law of God in your life. And yes, soul winning is a commandment. Soul winning is a commandment. When the pastor preaches against backbiting or gossiping, let's make a change. Let's make sure we're not backbiting in our lives. Let's make sure we're not we're not gossiping about people in our lives, that we're not talking bad about people behind their back. Let's make sure we apply that we respond to the sermons accordingly. That's why we're here in church. It's not just to be entertained. This isn't a carnival. I'm not up here to entertain you. I'm here to try and edify. The pastor is here to feed the flock of God so you can make the necessary changes in your life. The Passover, of course, is a symbol of the wrath of God passing over the Israelites in Egypt, courtesy of a literal lamb and the spiritual application would be that the wrath of God passes over those who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God, courtesy of his blood. The fifth and final lesson that we're going to talk about today is don't fight the wrong battles, don't fight the wrong battles. Look down at verse 20. After all this, when Josiah had prepared the temple, Second Chronicles 35, verse 20. After all this, when Josiah had prepared the temple, Niko, king of Egypt, came up to fight against Carchemish by Euphrates, and Josiah went out against him. But he sent ambassadors to him, saying, What have I to do with thee, thou king of Judah? I came not against thee this day, but against the house wherewith I have war. For God commanded me to make haste, forbear thee from meddling with God who is with me, that he destroy thee not. Nevertheless, Josiah would not turn his face from him, but disguised himself. Perhaps he put on a Halloween costume or something like that. We're not sure here, but he disguised himself that he might fight with them and hearken not unto the words of Niko from the mouth of God, and came to fight in the valley of Megdu. And the archer shot at King Josiah. And the king said to his servants, Have me away, for I'm sore wounded. His servants therefore took him out of that chariot and put him in the second chariot that he had, and they brought him to Jerusalem. And he died and was buried in one of the sepulchres of his fathers. And all Judah and Jerusalem mourned for Josiah. There's some conjecture here I'll probably add, but I think what's going on is Josiah, he basically goes full Neocon here, gets involved in this war, has nothing to do, it's two heathens fighting. It's Carchemish, it's Egypt. Niko is the pharaoh of Egypt, and their fighting has nothing to do with him. And he sticks his nose in that business. He fights a battle he shouldn't have fought. He gets involved in the wrong battle. He gets involved in the wrong war. It had nothing to do with him. Let the heathens take each other out. What do we have to do with that? Josiah makes the mistake and he ends up unfortunately dying here. He gets shot via the archers. He could have done a lot more for God. Perhaps he could have extended this period of revival, but instead he sticks his nose in this business and he's killed. It reminds me of our country today, the military industrial complex. What is the military industrial complex? The military industrial complex essentially is an incestuous relationship between weapons manufacturers and Congress and the Senate. And what happens is that these politicians are lobbied by special interests to perpetuate, to perpetuate a state of constant warfare. That's why America has been at war for pretty much its entire existence, because it's controlled by these shadowy figures who through the military industrial complex go out and they destabilize the Middle East and endlessly feed it. It's crony capitalism. It's cronyism. What we see here is we have a war between Egypt and Babylon, two heathen nations, and Josiah, he gets involved. The United States has done that over and over again throughout its history, getting involved, sticking its nose in business that doesn't belong to them. How about the Iraq war? How many people died as a result of the Iraq war? Everyone focuses on U.S. casualties. But how about the Iraqis? You know what I'd like? I'd like it if we went to these Muslim countries, these desert countries, if they actually allowed this. I'd like it if we went there and maybe preached them the gospel. How about that? Instead, you have these neocon Republicans who they don't care about preaching them the gospel. They just want to bomb them and let God sort it all out. That's not biblical. That's not biblical. Today, there are many different battles that we could get involved in that will waste our time and hinder our Christian growth, just as sure as Egypt and Carchemish were in a battle. And Josiah, he shouldn't have gotten involved. Today, we have the Democratic Party called Egypt, and then we have the Republican Party, Babylon, and they're fighting each other right now. It's 2020. You've got the debates coming. You've got the left and the right. You've got Donald Trump and he's going to he's going to advertise his case to the American people for re-election. You've got Bernie Sanders and he's going to convince he's going to try and convince everyone that we ought to go into a basically fall into a communist hellhole. You've got these controlled politicians. It could be it could end up being Donald Trump and Joe Biden, who sounds like he's demented. He sounds like he's not even there. He just messes up every word. This political battle between these corrupt, controlled demons is not something we should get involved with. Egypt, Karkamesh, Josiah shouldn't have got involved. Democrat, Republican, they both prostitute themselves to the same corporate lobbyists and special interests. You know what I say? Stay out of it. Stay out of it. Look, if there was a Josiah replica or somebody like Josiah who was running for office, I'd campaign for him. But that's not going to happen anytime soon. Don't hold your breath on that. You'll die. OK, trust me. That's not going to happen. We need to participate only in the battles that God would have us to be engaged in. That's what we need to focus on. Here's another aspect of this. Josiah, here's what we can learn. He failed to inquire of God before getting involved in this battle, didn't he? Now, let's contrast this with David. Final place I'll have you turn. First Samuel 30. This will be the last place we go. First Samuel Chapter 30. See if I can land the plane before the hour here. First Samuel Chapter 30, the last place I'll go. This is a time of distress. The Amalekites, they besiege Ziklag. David's wives are taken captive. But David, he still inquires of God. He still tries to figure out what God's will is before he acts. Look at First Samuel 30, verse seven. The Bible says there, And David said to Abiathar the priest, Ahimelech's son, I pray thee, bring me hither the Ephod. And Abiathar brought thither the Ephod to David. And David inquired at the Lord, saying, Shall I pursue at this troop? Shall I overtake them? And he answered and pursue, for thou shalt surely overtake them and without fail recover all. Now think of the situation right here. David did what Josiah didn't. David inquired of God first. Then he acted. And think of what's going on. It would seem to us obvious that David should get involved here. His wives were taken captive in Ziklag. You would think he wouldn't have to inquire of God first. So what might seem to us as a situation in which it's obvious that we should act, we ought to still go to what the Bible says. We ought to still inquire of God. We ought to still pray and figure out what the Lord wants us to do, just like David did. And it's what Josiah failed to do. Now, some people, they would look at our church and they think we're fighting the wrong battle. They'll ask a question like this. They'll say, well, what's up with you guys? Where's your food bank? You know, you don't really do a food bank. I don't see you guys really ministering to poor people in the community and things like that. Well, here's what Jesus said about that. He said, I'm the bread of life. He that cometh to me shall never hunger. And he that believeth on me shall never thirst. To those that would look at our church and mock us and say, we're the ones fighting the wrong battle. No, we're not. We're fighting the only battle that matters. And that's what I want to exhort you all to do today. That's what I hope I can accomplish in this sermon. Keep fighting the battle that matters, because you know what? I think matters a little bit more than a food bank where you give some food to a homeless person, probably addicted to drugs anyway, that's going to perish and go to hell. You know what's more important than that? How about we feed people with the bread of life with which they can never hunger again? How about we do that? How about that? Seems like an obvious thing to do for a church, for a New Testament church. I think we need to stay focused on the spiritual war. Let's not go dabble in Egypt versus Babylon. Let's not go dabble in that war between the heathens. Let's not go dabble in the Democrats versus the Republicans. Let's not go dabble in these wars that are designed to distract us. Dedicate yourself instead to the spiritual thing. Dedicate yourself instead to reaching the lost with the gospel of Jesus Christ. There are people out there who want to hear what it says, although it might seem discouraging when you go to an unreceptive area. I can guarantee you this. There are receptive areas out there with people that are basically begging to be saved, and all it takes is you deciding to go out and reach them with the gospel. All of us, I don't care who you are, child, adult, man, woman, boy, girl, married, unmarried. You have children. You don't have children. You were divorced before, divorced and remarried. I don't care who you are. This is something you can do. All of us can fight the good fight of faith. Why? Because we're in the Lord's army. There's no more important role. There's no more important position than being in the Lord's army. There's no more important fight than the spiritual fight. And each and every one of us, we have something called the sword of the Spirit. We have something called the word of God. And my question to you is this. Are you going to be remembered as an individual who got distracted by battles that don't matter? Are you going to be remembered one day as an individual who went off and started fighting Egypt and started fighting Carchemish? Are you going to be remembered as someone who was faithful to this church, who was a blessing to this church, who did good things even when people weren't looking at you and even when you didn't have the spotlight? Are you going to be remembered as someone who takes the sword of the Spirit, who stays steadfast in what matters most and takes the sword of the Spirit out to the lost in Fort Worth and Dallas and all those communities out there, you see it on the map that want to be saved. Are you going to be remembered as that person or the one who got distracted in the battle that doesn't matter? What are you going to be remembered as? I say that we stay focused on the spiritual warfare. I say we support Pastor Jonathan Shelley, the man of God who came in here and he didn't he didn't have to do what he did, but he came in here when there was a vacancy and he's got a vision for this place, I say we support the man of God and follow him as he follows Christ. I say that we minister to somebody in this church. I say that we were a blessing to somebody in this church. I say that that we esteem others better than ourselves. And most important thing of all, this is what I want you to focus on. I say that instead of dabbling in the Democrats and the Republicans and the things of this world and being entangled in the things of this world, how about we help turn Fort Worth upside down with the gospel of Jesus Christ? How about that? How about we turn Dallas upside down with the gospel of Christ? So how about this? We could turn Fort Worth, Dallas, Texas. I think we should have a big vision for this church. Talking about fighting the battle that actually matters, right? How about we turn this entire world upside down with the gospel of Jesus Christ? And it starts with the local assembly. It starts with the local church. It starts with you as an individual dedicating yourself to the spiritual fight, to fighting the good fight of faith. And my question is, are you willing to fight the war that God commissioned you to fight? Because there are souls out there that depend on you not to be lazy and to get up and go to the soul winning times and to fulfill what the Lord wants from your life. Are you willing to do that? Are you willing to fight the battle that matters? Because there are souls out there that are at stake, eternal ramifications. Lord Heavenly Father, let's pray. Lord Heavenly Father, I just thank you for this church, for Pastor Shelley, for everyone here. And I just pray that you would help us to not get distracted with Carchemish and Egypt and fall in that battle. But let's stay focused on what you would want us to do. See, we don't have to inquire to priests today. We have your word and your word tells us to preach the gospel. Your word tells us to get some people safe. And Lord, just help us to stay focused on that. And Lord, I just pray that you continue to bless this church. Be with Pastor Shelley as he returns back to this area. And in Jesus name, I pray. Amen.