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I've mentioned before I've been excited about Preaching these sermons and going through these chapters especially with Josiah Josiah is one of my favorite kings that ever was And you know as the bible already mentioned here, you know before him There was not any like him that turned to god with all of his heart and neither after him Was there any like him and that's one of the reasons why I like him so much, right? Because he was someone who sold out for the lord and if you remember from last week what happened? When josiah began to reign he was real young right? He was eight years old And he was the son of ammon or the gra in the grandson of manasseh So manasseh was the really really wicked king who you know the end of his life kind of repented but he had done So much damage in the land. He shed so much innocent blood He brought in all the idolatry and all these altars all these false gods and all the high places that hezekiah had taken down Right his father ezekiah had taken down and you know I didn't really make too much of a point of this but manasseh was king for 52 years Think about that like i'm not even 52 years old yet That reign Is longer than my own person and everyone in this room longer than your whole life So your whole life experience up to this point Imagine being just in just just under that influence of having a wicked king. It's a long time It really is I mean that's that's a lifetime practically it's our life it's lifetime for us Where we are right now, but that's I mean that's that's a lot of influence And he had really really bad in but but again, this is why you know the things that he did there's no recovering from and i'll get into that a little bit but Keep in mind josiah is coming out of that In really bad circumstances growing up in a place where you know with all this wickedness abounding It would have been easy for him to continue in the ways of his fathers And not go in the way of david and not go and do the right thing And we got to the point last week Where you know, he wanted to serve the lord And he wanted to do what was right? And so his idea was well, let's repair the house of god, right? I mean makes sense Let let's repair the temple Let's let's get things back up and running again and we're kind of going to get rid of all you know And he did he started getting rid of a lot of a lot of the things right a lot of the big Problems from within the house of the lord. He started with purging that stuff out directly from within the house of the lord And we see now in this chapter he goes way beyond that and just continues to to to purge everything out of Not only judah, but also in israel and we'll get to that a little bit later We'll see he goes he goes way above and beyond even his scope or his realm within judah and just he can he pushes forward Into israel and getting rid of all the not the junk that's been there since practically the beginning And does a great big purge now When he realized You know as as as he repaired the house of the lord, they found they found a book of the law, right? They found the bible they found god's word because up to that point he'd He'd been pretty blind as to what he was supposed to be doing because they didn't have the word of god They dust off the bible they they read it and they're like, oh man They read it in the ears of the king and the king ends up reading the ears of the people And they realize man, we got to do something god's angry with us. He's furious You know, he's got wrath because of all the wickedness that our fathers have done and Remember he goes to hold of the prophetess Gets word from the lord Saying yep, you're right. I'm angry and there's going to be judgment coming against this place and you'll be taking captive and just just telling them Basically what he already knew from scripture, but then they said, you know, but in your days It's not going to come because you've humbled your heart because your attitude, you know God appreciates that and he's long suffering and he's merciful and he says since you have this attitude then It's not going to come in your days And what did josiah do did he did he you know? And this is what we get accused of because in a sense that's similar to salvation, right? We're sinners. We deserve wrath We deserve hell there's you know, it's it's it's for sure. It's what we did. It's what we deserve. It's what we've earned It's what we've merited but when you get saved That's like god saying. Well, you're not going to face that wrath. You're not going to have that destruction You're saved and look god said that to Josiah And if he said that he can't go back on his word and he didn't make it conditional. He didn't say well unless you Unless you go and start worshiping idols So it's not going to happen in your days because you've humbled yourself and when you humble yourself and receive that free gift of salvation You're saved God has a promise for you. You're not going to face that wrath at all and and praise god for that But what do people want to claim that don't believe this and have a problem with it? Why oh that means you could just go off and do whatever you want to do then, right? That just means you go off in sin and that's okay, you know, well, it means i'm still saved It's not okay, but it means i'm still saved. Look josiah could have done the same thing. But what did he do? I mean, what do you do? Do you just go off and just getting all kinds of sin because you technically can and still go to heaven? No, is that what josiah did? No. No, thank god. Josiah has just realized that wrath has come upon them For the sins of their fathers. He humbled himself. He sought god. God said that he'd be spared So what did josiah do he didn't just go off and just live a wicked lifestyle because hey, at least i'm at least i'm saved He did the exact opposite. He got on fire. He's like, you know what? We're still going to serve the lord We're still going to get things right. We're going to do what we're supposed to do Why because he was genuine because he cared what the bible says? And you ought to care what the bible says after you get saved And not treated as just your get out of of hell free ticket, right? It's way more than that It's a demonstration of god's love it's a demonstration of who god is is truth And here we love the truth and we want to do everything we can to to please god because god saved us Because we owe him in debt, you know forever for for paying for the debt that we already owe for our sins We're indebted to him forever And and the love that he showed to us and the mercy he showed to us Of course We don't want to just throw that back in his face and and spit in god's face and just go off and live a wicked lifestyle Of course, we're going to do what we can to to be the best children We could possibly be just out of our gratitude for him And love for him and this is the same attitude and heart that josiah had and this is why One of the reasons why we should look at the josiah as a great hero Great hero of the faith just for this having this type of an attitude and not only did they have this type of an attitude, but he Really sold out and went all in for the lord And and what I really like about is that even knowing that wrath was going to come on the people anyways He still gave it. He didn't he didn't say well, this is hopeless He didn't say well, what's the point? I'm, just going to throw up my hands because that's the attitude you could have you say well everything in this world is going to Be burned up and people are going to die and go to hell anyway. So who cares? I could just just forget it all and just whatever eat drink and be merry But we can't have that attitude because there's still a lot of good and there's a lot of people who get saved There's a lot, you know, there's a lot of impact that you have. Yeah judgment's going to come You know what? This earth is going to be judged one day by the lord fire's going to come down from heaven and burn everything up But we don't just throw up our hands as if that's a defeat Because there's great victories to be won up until that point and you know what and that's not the end anyways That's not the end of everything There's a new heaven a new earth. So that's what we're living for. We're walking in a new world We're walking by faith and not by sight. We're living for the things that are unseen And this is exactly what josiah did Let's look at here in verse number one in chapter 23 the bible says And the king sent and they gathered unto him all the elders of judah and of jerusalem And the king went up into the house of the lord And all the men of judah and all the inhabitants of jerusalem with him and the priests and the prophets And all the people both small and great and he read in their ears All the words of the book of the covenant which was found in the house of the lord. I love this He gathers, you know firstly he gathers the elders The the elders of the land the people who are kind of in charge the people who who are respected and honored But that's not all he called. He made sure that they're there Then he calls the prophets and the priests, right? Hey, you guys need to hear this too and then it says and he called all the people both small and great, right? Little and big and I don't think that's just talking about like physically like like children and adults which I believe that too But I think that that means more primarily, you know, whether you have riches or not whether you're poor or rich Small or great doesn't matter. He said it's important for all of you to hear this stuff It's not just for the rulers. It's not just for the priests. It's for everybody No one's accepted from this you all need to hear the words of the lord because this has been missing From their lives for way too long And no one's been listening to it So he's read in their ears all the words of the book and think about this all the words of the book of the covenant Which I believe, you know the first five books moses those aren't short books And he made sure they got the reading this this didn't happen You know, it didn't it wasn't over real quick However long it takes to read through all five of those books. I mean it takes a while he read through All the law and made sure that they that they heard it And uh and was was putting this first And would to god there could be a righteous leader that would say, you know what? Here's what we're gonna do And no and look he did this After finding out he had done wrong and this is the heart that we need to have is saying When you hear from the word of the lord Are you gonna get upset about it? Are you gonna cry about it? Are you gonna throw up your hands and say oh, well, i'm just I can't do anything about it anyway, no We're gonna embrace it We're gonna repent if we're wrong you hear something that's hard preaching. Wow, man. I've been doing this wrong my whole life I've been taught wrong. My parents have been doing this wrong, but when you're faced with the truth, what are you gonna do about it? Josiah embraced it. He says we were wrong God We're wrong. I'm seeking you i'm humbling myself. I'm admitting we've sinned we're wrong And you know what i'm going to do with that now i'm going to embrace it and i'm going to tell everybody else Hey, look god said we're wrong Let's get right with god. Let's make a covenant today to be with the lord and just from this day forward. Let's do what's right And not make excuses for ourselves not say well we didn't know no we're gonna humble ourselves and just say sorry god We're gonna do what's right from now on And that's the attitude that he had and he read in their ears All the words of the book of the covenant verse number three and the king stood by a pillar and made a covenant before the lord To walk after the lord and to keep his commandments and his testimonies and his statutes with all their heart And all their soul to perform the words of this covenant that were written in this book And all the people stood to the covenant now You may it may feel easy sometimes Living the christian life Being saved Will you get into this dull routine? of going to church And reading your bible Praying and repeat and whatever Okay, we need to watch out for this Trap of just getting into a lull Getting into a daze just kind of going through the motions. Okay Now it happens Happens to me. It happens to everybody We want to watch out for this and this is why we need to really be seriously reading our bible not just glossing over it Because stories like this ought to get you stirred up When we read about a ruler about a king about a leader that says you know what? We were wrong, but we're going to serve the lord and now we want to serve him We're going to love the lord our god with all our hearts and with all our souls And we're going to pour our life into serving god And what he says is right And that's the bottom line And that's their that was their standard under josea's reign of what we're going to do is god first The commandments of the lord first and you know what he ended up doing then he took his microscope out His magnifying glass and said well now Here's our standard now we've got the truth Where else are we in error? Where are all these areas now that as soon as I heard these coming out of the bible out of the word of god I knew right away man. We're in sin Not only did he was he grieved Not only did he repent in his heart He then ended up taking action on it You could come to church and you can hear a sermon that stirs you up. You can hear from god's word And you go wow, man, I was i've been wrong about this and you could be genuinely sorry But what are you going to do about it? We need to get our hearts back on fire and fervent and go back home or wherever it is and be like Let's start getting the the junk out of here. Let's get the abomination out of here Let's get the idolatry out of here. Let's get the wickedness out of our lives Let's clean up the house. He's josea is cleaning up the kingdom and he goes even beyond his kingdom. He's going into israel They were cleaning this up Which I mean israel was his brother and it's not like he's going off to the moabites or something. He was you know, he's You know, he's Still keeping it among among the children of israel within within their group within god's people Going in and just let's get this junk out of here And he decided to serve them with all their heart and he makes a covenant saying you know what this is what we're going to do We're going to we're going to we're going to make a covenant ourselves with the lord To serve god with all of our hearts and with all of our minds with all of our souls That's what we're going to do and we need to make those covenants today and tell god Hey, we're going to serve you with all of our hearts and all of our souls And then hold yourself to that and say well am I serving the lord with all of my heart? Or am I just kind of putting god on the back burner? Is church somewhere I go to whenever I have time is the bible something I read whenever everything else is done If that's the case that's not serving god with all of your heart not even close When it's just some routine or some ritual Let's keep reading here we've got a lot there's a lot of stuff in this chapter I want to I want to try to get into as much as possible verse number Four and the king commanded hilkiah the high priest and the priests of the second order And the keepers of the door to bring forth out of the temple of the lord all the vessels that were made for bale And for the grove and for all the hosts of heaven and he burned them without jerusalem in the fields of kaidron And carried the ashes of them unto Bethel And he put down the idolatrous priests whom the kings of judah had ordained To burn incense in the high places in the cities of judah and in the places round about jerusalem Them also that burned incense unto bale to the sun and to the moon and to the planets into all the hosts of heaven We get a glimpse here of how far Israel and judah have sliden How far they've devolved Because they're not only just worshiping bale, which is bad enough. I mean bale is satan, right? They're not just they were they're worshiping bale They're worshiping the sun the moon the stars the planets and everything under heaven Just whatever just just a whole multitude of gods And just completely defiling the lord and and and dragging his name down as if he's nothing but think about there's one god Right, there's one lord and the more you start saying all this god here god here god here god here. What does that do? To the magnificence and the holiness of the true god you just kind of making him like everyone else or like anyone, you know, like like just God is so unique And perfect and mighty and holy, you know, and like there's only one god But when you have a whole bunch of them, it it makes god not as big of a deal Right. I mean it's the thing about it in the sense of like currency. This is how inflation works When when when the when the federal reserves tries, you know, just creating more money, whatever whatever they create, you know You have you have certain there's a certain amount of 20 bills in circulation, right and that has a certain value That you can buy certain, you know, it's so much with it And when they print off You know if there's let's say, you know, which isn't the case. Let's say there's only 100 of them 120 bills, right? well They're not they're not as easy to come by but then let's let's add a million twenty dollar bills and just Throw that out there. Well now all of a sudden you're you're you're you're twenty dollar bill Yeah, it isn't quite as valuable as it was And and obviously we understand that concept. Well, it's the same thing when you start adding just a bunch of gods, right? There's one god You just bring the value of god down when you just worship all the whole stuff, you know And there's so many reasons why god gets angry at this but it really does it cheapens god it lessens god of who he is Just like the mormons. I mean they think that that you know, a good mormon is going to become a god of his own planet And that's how they view Jehovah God the father is just he was just some other good mormon That achieved godhood How blasphemous is that To say that our god was just some person before and that you can be a god, too There is no holiness to their god If a human being can can achieve the same status no holiness But we see here Josiah he puts down the idolatry. He puts him down. You know, that means he kills him The idolatrous priest and look at this it says whom the kings of judah had ordained so the kings before him had already established Hey These idolatrous priests need to be burning incense So he's completely turning against What previous kings had done in his realm and what you know, the people must be thinking like wow This is a big deal. It is a big deal And he's turning everything on its head From the way things had been going remember the reign of manasseh was over 50 years So when things are a certain way for over 50 years People get used to that Right and josiah said uh-uh No he was part of that system, but When he finally heard the words of god, he said no we're getting right with god and I don't care what that means You know and he had he had the guts and the wherewithal to say we're going I mean They need to be put down. That's what the bible says. He's idolatrous priest Kill him Because we're doing things by the word of god now And that's what he put him down and you know, they were ordained to burn incense there But he changed that they were burning incense on the bale sun moon dark stars planets, you know everything Verse number six and he brought out the grove From the house of the lord without jerusalem unto the brook hydron and burnt it at the brook hydron and stamped it small to powder And cast the powder thereof upon the graves of the children of the people Look at verse number 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 now, there's so many things in this one small verse We could glean from this and look this is important today Because things are getting out of control in our country with with what is tolerated what's acceptable just as it was in josiah's day What was taller? Yo It used to not be tolerated even not that long ago in josiah's day But back when hezekiah was running things it wasn't tolerated to have all this bale worship It wasn't tolerated to have just worshiping the hosts of heaven and to have all these wizards and witches and everything else running Rampant in the in the country and in the nation But what happens you get some wicked people in charge and all of a sudden it's changed and now the culture's changed and he says no We're going back Nope, we're changing things up and we're not going to accept these filthy sodomites and look at this I might says he break down the houses of the sodomites That were by the house of the lord. Don't think that you're safe from the sodomites because you go to church That they would never go to church don't think that you're safe from sodomites because you go to a church that preaches against the sodomites Look you need to be vigilant because the sodomites are reprobates and they have their conscience seared like a hot iron The same way that you would never imagine lying down with someone of the same gender as you and you're revolted by it and disgusted by it They don't have that Why because their conscience is seared? Because they have no emotion Or they have no no no conscience. I should say they have emotion, but they have no conscience They can do things that you and I would never be able to do because god has given them over to a reprobate mind And don't let it surprise you. I mean you you hear about it all the time. It shouldn't be a surprise But there's all the more reason why you need to watch out for your children watch out for your loved ones It is watch out for yourself People get too comfortable being in church because Of course, it should be a safe environment, right? Schools should be safe environments. I every you know, my house should be a safe environment Does that mean that there's no one that ever breaks into people's houses because my house should be a safe environment? Does that mean that infiltrators aren't going to sneak in because church should be a safe environment? Why don't you ask those people in texas how safe of environment their church was when the guy came in and shot it up Should a church be a safe environment? Yes Are they always no Be aware of that I mean, that's why i'm packing heat right now. That's why i'm always doing it every day of my life. I'm carrying my gun Should I have to no No But you know what we live in a wicked world We live in a world where there's a lot of people that do a lot of evil I'm going to do my best to make sure that I could keep my my friends and family safe to the best of my ability And good luck someone trying to come in and shoot this place place up without getting taken down first Evil people are going to do evil things no matter where you're at And sometimes especially because of where you're at Because the sodomites hate god, that's one of their attributes read romans chapter one. They're haters of god They hate the things of the lord. They come in specifically to seek out and to destroy and to beguile innocent souls And to recruit people into their death style That's what they're after they hate god, so yeah, they're probably gonna be more prone to come into a church This is the reason why one of the reasons why we're a family integrated church We don't separate the parents from their children and put all the kids off in this room over here behind some closed door with someone Who may very well be some reprobate some sodomite that has come in and deceived everybody and making them think They're this nice guy. What a friendly person He would never do anything to hurt a fly and he's back there molesting children. It happens all the time Because people let their guard down because people think oh we're in church. Oh so-and-so is becoming a church for years And they're so nice and they're so friendly and they're always offering to help Because they're wearing sheep skin That's why they look like that because they're not going to show their fangs to you Because they're trying to gain access to your kids We don't let people behind closed doors in our church no matter what building we're meeting in there's never good that's never going to happen There's always going to be accountability And that's the way it needs to be why because the sodomites as they were here Had houses right by the house of the lord The house of the lord didn't scare him away. They looked at that as fertile fertile hunting grounds They looked at that as fertile fertile hunting grounds to hunt out the innocent life Because that's who they are, you know, you need to be reminded about that Because our instinct is not to think on those things ever Because you're not a reprobate But their instinct is the exact opposite they're a beast They're animals And they are specifically looking to hurt people and to destroy again read all of romans one it provides all of the attributes That are found within someone who has rejected the lord and god in turn has rejected them And notice what we see here also says he break down the houses of the sodomites There by the house of lord where the women wove hangings for the grove So they're hanging around these other wicked women that are they're making hangings for the grove and what was the grove The grove was just this more idolatry Right. We already been reading here where he's getting rid of the groves He's getting rid of all the things when you read the book of leviticus when you read the book of deuteronomy You're going to see in god's law In turn if you go to leviticus chapter 20 real quick You're going to see in god's law that god didn't want the groves the groves are wicked. That's what the heathen did That's how they worship their false gods was in the groves And so you got these women that are in to all this false religion into this pagan Rituals of of these groves and making hangings for them and that's where the sodomites are hanging out Silly silly women laden with sins Right, that's where these sodomites are creeping into the houses of these silly women laden with sins And deceiving them and and and leading them away captive And as we see in leviticus 2013 the bible says if a man also lie with mankind as he lies with a woman Both of them have committed abomination. They shall surely be put to death their blood shall be upon them This is part of the law of the lord. This is one of the things that josiah heard when they read the law of the lord It is one of the things that josiah Righteously is putting into place here. He said we're breaking down the houses of the sodomites. They're getting out of here It doesn't say explicitly but hopefully he exterminated them Because that's what's right in in god's word if he's following you know what I think he probably did put him to death Because the bible says later on that he was he was following all the law of the law of the lord Like all of it Completely that he was doing everything based on the law of the lord and there's no mistake in this my friends And you know what we see in this verse here is if a man also lie with mankind as he lies with a woman Don't be deceived into thinking that you know, these sodomites are Homosexuals that they only like their own gender because they don't Look, i've known these people i've been friends. I've been unfortunately in my way backslidden years before I ever got into a good church I was friends with some sodomites and I know for a fact that they Were going both ways Even the ones that claim to be homosexual Because when you get to know them enough you see how filthy and and you know wicked they really are They don't want you to know that they're not going to display that on tv, I mean They they will if you're if you're recording on one of these these gay pride parades One of these these, you know reveling in their own wickedness and sin and having no shame Pride parades You can see some of the extent of how depraved they truly are But don't let these people deceive you That they're they are just a big lie And their goal is to destroy The things of god and destroy that which is good and to destroy innocent life Don't be deceived I don't care what tv tells you I don't care what the what the radio tells you Sodomites homosexuals faggots dykes lesbians whatever you want to call them Watch out for them stay away from them According to the bible. They ought to be put to death. They're predators. They prey on people they prey on children You know people have a problem with saying oh not every homo is a is a is a child molester is a pedophile Yes, they are and the reason why I say that even if they haven't committed that act just yet is because if you're willing To lie down with someone of the same gender you'll lie down with anything or anyone Any homo is Into bestiality even if they haven't gone that far yet because if you're willing to lie down with someone the same gender You'll do anything because you're filthy and vile and abominable and there's nothing else holding you back when you're gonna when you're gonna cross that line There's no line that that's holding you back And that's what that's why I would say it that's why I say it Do you watch out for these these sodomites because they're going to recruit children and they prey on them Because if they're if they're if they're as sick and twisted and vile enough to lay down with their own kind their own gender They'll lay down with your kids, too male or female Doesn't matter Because they're given over to a reprobate mind Flip back if you keep your finger here flip back if you would to first kings Chapter number 14. I just want to show you this a little bit more we see righteous. Josiah tearing down the houses of the sodomites And Just one more reference for you in first kings 14 and we're gonna look at first kings 15 first kings 14 If you don't believe you know, some people want to say oh romans 1 that's just talking, you know That's not talking about only about homosexuals or whatever and that that could be anybody and that's anyone who's unsaved. No, it's not Because what it romans 1 is is a comprehensive list of attributes of the reprobate If someone is reprobate they are all those things those things Describe the reprobate all of those things they're full of all wickedness the bible says in romans chapter 1 And this is reinforced in first kings chapter 14. Look at verse number 24 The same exact teaching and there were also sodomites in the land and they did according to all the abominations All the abominations not some not just homosexuality All the abominations of the nations which the Lord cast out before the children of Israel and you know what that's also mentioned in Leviticus As the when God was laying out the laws and you know what all the nations the Canaanites the people that were in here before You they did all these things The sodomites do all the abominations, you know, it's listed as some of the abominations Abominations bestiality Incest Mankind lying with mankind womankind lying with womankind. Those things are all mentioned in God's law Those are all the abominations and then you know what the sodomites that were in the land in first Kings 14 They did all those things and it's not because they're a different type of sodomite than any other sodomite There's a reason why they're called sodomites because they're named after Sodom because they're just like the men of Sodom Which by the way all the men of the city young and old young and old Young and old in camp the house where the angels were at Lot's house To defile them Why because the sodomites got to the young kids as well and turn them over to a reprobate mind Because that's what they do because they're full of all abominations We need to get this through our heads and Don't let the wickedness creep in and dead sure don't listen to these fools Who are putting out their born-that-way? Ministries and doing everything they can to try to deny what the scripture teaches very clearly And allow these faggots to come into the church and putting everybody at risk Because they don't love you because they're not willing to just stand up and preach the truth Well, it's not gonna happen here Your kids and my kids are way more important than that And I don't care who this offends and I don't care if everybody walks out the door right now Because they don't like it because I stepped on your stinking toes because you're a fairy lover I know what the Bible says about him First Kings chapter 15 look at verse number 11 and Asa did that which was right Asa another great man of God just like Josiah He did that which was right in the eyes of the Lord as the day of his father's no Coincidence that verse 12 follows up with just after saying he did that which was right in the eyes of the Lord And he took away the sodomites out of the land. Guess what taking away the sodomites is a right thing If this country was a righteous nation, you know, we would do get the sodomites out of the land Because they're abominable and Wicked and disgusting and vile and evil and predators and they have no place in society But to be put down like a like a dog Like a rabid dog, there's no hope for them just put a bullet in their brain Because that's gonna help Everybody else because then they won't hurt and defile anybody else and they won't spread like a cancer Josiah did that which was right in the eyes of the Lord Asa did that which was right in the eyes of the Lord and They got rid of those sodomites That's what the Bible teaches Nowhere are gonna see Jesus coming in and saying oh, I know we used to want to get rid of them But now we want them all coming together Good luck finding that verse Because we have the exact opposite in the New Testament in 2nd Peter chapter 2 saying that that Sodom is an example for us in the New Testament to know that that they're wicked That's our example they were in samples Let's go back if you would to 2nd Kings chapter 23 now that I got that off of my chest I Love King Josiah One of the few kings that were able to just stand up and say you know what we're gonna go all the way and serve The Lord we're not gonna go halfway. We're not gonna kind of serve God We're gonna take this book. I'm gonna love it. I'm gonna preach it. Everyone's gonna hear it Everyone in the land is gonna hear these words and we're gonna practice it Down To the letter down to the T. This is what we need in churches today Let's open up the Word of God. Let's love it. Let's listen to it. Let's preach it and let's live it Let's follow it Have some integrity Not be a bunch of hypocrites verse number 8 2nd Kings 23 The Bible says he brought all the priests out of the cities of Judah and defiled the high places where the priests had burnt incense from Geeba to Beersheba and break down the high places of the gates that were in the entering in of the gate of Joshua the Governor of the city which were on a man's left hand at the gate of the city Nevertheless the priests of the high places came not up to the altar of the Lord in Jerusalem But they did eat of the unleavened bread among their brethren and he defiled Tofeth which is in the valley of the children of Hinnom That no man might make his son or his daughter to pass through the fire to Molech I have this in my notes, but I'm not going to get into it tonight because there's too many other things I want to get into but Yeah, people want to want to rename hell and call it Gehenna You know and all these other things and just say and they want to downplay the existence of hell and they try to say Oh, it was just this burning trash heap in Jerusalem that You know, that's that's just referring to that It's not actually referring to a real place of hell and it's nonsense and they get that from the Christ rejecting Jews And from their Judaic religion that teach that so don't let some some pastor deceive you That with with some Jewish fables about what hell really is But what we see here is when it says he defiled Tofeth. This is his place here It's in the valley of the children of Hinnom or the son of Hinnom Which is a place where they literally were doing human sacrifices This is where they are letting their children pass through the fire as part of their ritual unto their God Molech and they're doing these these These child human sacrifices and shedding innocent blood. So, you know what he did he went there and destroyed it He said no one's going to come back to this place and do this again Again more righteousness from Josiah just getting all of this stuff out all of it cleaning up the whole land Verse number 11 he took away the horses that the kings of Judah had given to the Sun at the entering in of the house of the Lord by the chamber of Nathan Melek the Chamberlain which is in the suburbs and burned the chariots of the Sun with fire I mean, there's there's so many things we didn't even realize it's just like man There's one thing after another after another after now. He's just targeting all of this stuff. That was either dedicated to false gods or commemorated some false gods or these altars or whatever Anything that had any wickedness in it. He's completely destroying these things. A lot of these things were really wicked He's getting rid of it all verse number 12 and the altars that were on the top of the upper chamber of Ahaz Which the kings of Judah had made and the altars which? Manasseh had made in the two courts of the house of the Lord Did the king beat down and break them down from thence and cast the dust of them into the Brook hydron and the high places? That were before Jerusalem Which were on the right hand of the Mount of corruption Which Solomon the king of Israel had builded for Ashtoreth the abomination of the Zidonians and for Chemosh the abomination of the Moabites and for Milcom the abomination of the children of Ammon did the king defile and He break in pieces the images and cut down the groves and filled their places with the bones of men now We just read not that long ago about Hezekiah right and getting rid of the high places up and praise God for that Why is it though that there was still standing something from Solomon's days Josiah is not holding back on anything I Mean he's purging the land and this is what needs to be done And you know we need to make a clean purge in our lives, too I don't care how far back it goes in your life get rid of it purge it out Clean up get it all out and we see we had the king of Ahaz you have Manasseh you have Solomon and then look at verse number 15 moreover the altar that was at Bethel and The high place which Jeroboam the son of Nebat who made Israel the sin had made both that altar and the high place he break down and burn the high place and stamped it small to powder and burned the grove This is what Jeroboam the son of Nebat actually made and it was still there Mean look this isn't very far into the history of Israel at all This is actually the beginning of the split. Yeah, King Saul King David King Solomon split Jeroboam the son of Nebat And he made the golden calves one at Dan and one at Bethel And it says here he finally got rid of that altar at Bethel now Jeroboam the son of Nebat was king of Israel not Judah. So we see here already Josiah's Getting his reach out among his brethren because there are no more kings of Israel because they've been taken captive They were taken captive already by the Assyrians So they're not reigning in that land, but he's saying you know what? We're cleaning up this whole land We're cleaning up the land that God gave us We're returning back to the right ways and we're purging this stuff out And he did his best to just get Everything and look he did all this with a zeal and with the knowledge knowing that God still said they're gonna go into captivity, but you know what right is right and He did that which was right Because the Word of the Lord said so and that's what we need to be doing You Could find yourself in some great sin and Try to come out of that and say, you know and instead of throwing up your hands and say, you know what? I'm gonna do what's right now because it's right Even if judgment is coming, even if I have to pay for the things I have done So what I'm still gonna do what's right because it's right Verse Number 16 and as Josiah turned himself, he spied the sepulchres that were there in the mount and sent and took the bones out of the sepulchres and burned them upon the altar and polluted it According to the Word of the Lord which the man of God proclaimed who proclaimed these words Keep your finger here turned back to 1st Kings chapter 13 Now one thing I want to point out here is that when he was burnt because he did this quite a bit as He's breaking altars down. He's burning the bones of men upon the altars and what the Bible says he's doing he's Defiling them he's corrupting them So what we see is when men's bones are just being burned and annihilated on these altars. It's a defiling It's not a good thing. It's a bad thing The reason why I bring that up is because some people don't understand You know when you do it when a person dies Should I get buried should I get a plot a graveyard somewhere you own a graveyard somewhere or should I get cremated? Well every time we see cremation and by which is what this is, right? He stays digging up the bones and burning them and cremating them on these altars It's defiling the altars. It's not a good thing. It's a curse It's something that he's doing to bring a curse on what they did and to try to write all these wrongs and just defile them And drag their names down and say you know what? Here's what we're gonna do to you They're long dead and gone, but he's still gonna burn their bones upon upon these altars and destroy all of them And what we see is the biblical example Starting with Abraham and all throughout the Bible You see people being buried and the dead being buried and the reason why it's important is because it's a symbol Because we know that just as you plant a seed in the ground you dig it up you put it under the earth It dies and comes back with new life our bodies get planted in the earth when we die as that seed but we have hope and believe in faith and a resurrection because our literal bodies our physical body that we bury in the grave is Going to come back to life one day and when we bury the dead in the earth We are showing the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ through our actions It is important now look if Someone was saved and ended up their body getting cremated. First of all You're dead. You don't have a choice what other people do with your body Right, so that's not gonna be held against that person Right if other people just just took your body and cremated it Also when Jesus comes back You know Those ashes or wherever, you know, the the molecule whatever whatever your body was. It's not just gone completely Yeah, I believe it will come they will come out. I have to believe it will it will come back together Your body will come back together somehow But we don't do it because it's a pagan practice because it's not what the Bible teaches because it's a desecration Because it's a curse because it's that I mean and if the sim the symbolism of a body being planted and coming back to life You know at the resurrection coming back to life, you know, that sounds like a pretty good symbolic reference, right? Then what does it symbolize if you're burning up a body and cremating it? That doesn't sound like a very good reference. It sounds a little bit like hell to me Right. Let's burn up this body That's picturing hell I'd rather have my body buried and picture a resurrection Because it will be resurrected That's why I had to bring up that point As we saw here in second Kings 23 16 and said they polluted it. So first Kings chapter 13 That's where I have you you go, right? So Mind you and in the part of the story we're at just to bring you back up to speed Josiah just broke down the altar at Bethel that Jeroboam the son of Nebat erected He put it up there Josiah comes and he's tearing it down and he's still in this place That's when he notices these sepulchres And he sees them there and that's when he said, okay, we're gonna take these bones out Because the altars right there. So these were like the the priests of Baal or whatever, right? these these people and he burns them on that altar to desecrate them and to desecrate the altar and then it says And he did all these to according to the Word of the Lord which the man of God proclaimed who proclaimed these words and this proclamation this prophecy came in first Kings 13 and You Know earlier was it last year already when I was preaching on this? I don't know I preached a sermon and I didn't even cover that much in the first Kings 13 by preaching another one Prophecies from the Bible that were fulfilled and this is one of those prophecies first Kings 13 is approximately 340 years Before the birth of Josiah or before this event at least 340 340 years. That's a long time Look at first Kings 13 verse number one well says and behold there came a man of God out of Judah by the word of the Lord unto Bethel and Jeroboam stood by the altar to burn it. He just built this altar. He's just there. He's ready to burn incense He's ready to consecrate this altar, right and a man of God God calls out a preacher to preach against him Verse number two it says and he cried against the altar in the word of the Lord and said Oh Altar altar thus saith the Lord behold a child shall be born into the house of David Josiah by name and upon thee shall he offer the priests of the high places that burn incense upon thee and Men's bones shall be burnt upon me Josiah by name 340 years in advance there's gonna be a king of the line of David in the tribe of Judah and he's gonna come and his name is gonna be Josiah and he's gonna burn men's bones upon that altar right there People want to know why do you believe that this is the Word of God? Well, here's a great example right here Naming somebody that wasn't going to live for another 340 years and we know We know that no one was behind the scenes naming him Josiah in order to fulfill this prophecy on purpose because the Word of God was hidden They didn't get Manasseh didn't wasn't worshiping the Lord neither was his son Ammon They weren't thinking that oh my son or my grandson is gonna is gonna fulfill his prophecy They didn't care about the Word of God 340 years by name comes and Does exactly What why because it's God's Word because it always comes to pass and this is only one example of so many things that the Bible Has recorded of writing down Before things come to pass and then they actually come to pass It's not a blind faith that we have in God's Word It's not just totally blind like it could just be any book and we're just gonna put our faith in it Because I just feel the need to have to know that there's some God out there as the atheist might want to tell you No There's very good reasons to believe in the scripture Now ultimately, it does have to be taken by faith and I do take it by faith But it's not some stupid book and it's not like there's no prophecies and it's not like it's not amazing because it is the Word of God I'm not gonna get too far off and I just keep reading here go back If you would the second Kings chapter 23 verse number 17 Then he said what title is that that I see and the men of the city told him it is the sepulcher of the man of God which came from Judah and proclaimed these things that thou hast done against the altar of Bethel They're like, yeah, what's it? You know, he sees all these sepulchers. What about that one right there? What does that one say? and they're like That's actually the man of God that said that you were gonna do all these things that you just did So it's like alright leave that one alone, right? We're not going to desecrate his bones and it says in verse 18 says and he said let him alone Let no man move his bones So they let his bones alone with the bones of the prophet that came out of Samaria Remember that that other guy the other prophet That deceived a man of God and told him to come back to his house and eat dinner I forgot already told him not to do it and he lied to him said oh no an angel of the Lord told me You know come back with me. He told me that you should come back and eat with me It's all he made it up and lied and it cost the man of God his life because he didn't listen to the Word of God He's listening to this man who claimed to be a prophet and claimed to have a word from the Lord And I'm not gonna preach that whole sermon But then that guy when he when he realizes what he had done and the man and the man of God left his house And he got attacked by a lion and killed him He was like, oh well, this is what God said was gonna happen, right? So he he buried him and then he instructed his children. They're like, hey bury me with him Why because he already knew the prophecy that he made against that altar that men's bones were gonna be burned on that altar He's like I want my bones burned on that altar. So lay me with him because his bones surely aren't gonna be burnt on that altar He was kind of wide. I mean he was thinking about that. Like that's that's what he wanted to do. Unfortunately, he Was one of the causes of that guy's death Let's keep reading here, we're almost done. I'm gonna try to wrap this up real quickly here Verse number 19 and all the houses also of the high places that were in the cities of Samaria Which the kings of Israel had made to provoke the Lord to anger Josiah took away and Did to them according to all the acts that he had done in Bethel So again in the cities of Samaria Samaria was the capital of the northern country of Israel the northern nation He stretched his influence of getting rid of all these high places all the way up to the north all the way up to Samaria and he slew all the priests of the high places that were there upon the altars and burned men's bones upon them and returned to Jerusalem and the king commanded all the people saying keep the Passover unto the Lord your God as it is written in the book of this covenant Surely there was not holding such a pet such a Passover from the days of the judges That judged Israel nor in all the days of the kings of Israel Nor of the kings of Judah But in the 18th year of King Josiah wherein his Passover was holding to the Lord in Jerusalem So not only was he following the Lord God and his law with all of his heart He was I mean one of those things was keeping a Passover, but he made it a big event I mean he loved God and that's like a celebration. I mean the Passover is a good celebration. It's a good feast It's a good time. It's not it's not a bat, you know, like a bad time or anything It's not like I mean he's going through and he's killing people and laying down the law But then he's also celebrating and causing a great celebration and and bringing Israel and Judah together to keep this fast Passover Which there wasn't one held it says from the days of the judges It's a long time the day that the judges came he started with Moses being like the first judge From the days of the judges Up until this point there was not a Passover held like that You could turn if you like I'm just gonna read from 2nd Chronicles 35 really quickly I just want to make a couple of points here because this covers, you know It's a parallel passage and it covers what's going on with the Passover here It says in verse 13 of 2nd Chronicles 35 and they roasted the Passover with fire according to the ordinance again, that's that's Spelled out explicitly because the Passover needed to be burnt with fire and you go back and read that It's a symbolism of Jesus Christ's soul burning in hell. It's a burnt sacrifice. It had to be burned you couldn't Prepare it with water or any other way it had to be burnt with fire It says it's exactly what he did in this in this in his Passover They did it the way according to the ordinance according to the Word of God verse 14 and afterward they made ready for themselves and for the priests because the priests sons of Aaron were busied an offering of burnt offerings and The fat until night therefore the Levites prepared for themselves and for the priests the sons of Aaron And The singers verse 16 So all the service of the Lord was prepared the same day to keep the Passover and 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 in the 18th year of the reign of Josiah was this Passover kept Josiah's got a very clear, you know a heart to serve God and he cared about What God's Word said to the letter and we can see him Just carrying out everything that he's doing According to what the scripture says according to what the Bible says go back if you would to 2nd Kings 23 I mean he down to the singers The the Passover the Unleavened Bread, you know, everything was being done according to the Word of the Lord Not adding his own thing not taking anything away from it, but doing it the way that the Bible said 2nd Kings 23 look at verse 24 moreover the workers with familiar spirits and the wizards and the images and the idols and all the Abominations that were spied in the land of Judah and in Jerusalem did Josiah put away that he might perform the words of the law Which were written in the book that Hilkiah the priest found in the house of the Lord So again all the stuff we read from the Old Testament from the law, right? The the familiar spirits wizards images idols abominations all this stuff He's like it's got to go We're getting rid of it all I don't care who likes it whatever it's gone because God's Word says so verse 25 and like unto Him there was no king before him that turned to the Lord with all his heart and with all his soul and with all his might According to all the law of Moses. Remember I was talking about the sodomites before why I believe he actually killed them Not just break down their houses if we probably destroyed him from off the land is because he did According to all the law of Moses neither after him arose there any like him. This is why I love Josiah so much What a great example what a great hero to look at to have God say in his word You know what? There's never been a king like him before or after that had a heart to just serve God completely just to turn to the Lord and serve him and Be sold out on fire Just whatever the Bible says that's what we're doing. I don't care what anyone thinks. I don't care what anybody says This is what we're doing. Praise the Lord verse number 26 notwithstanding the Lord turned not from the fierceness of his great wrath and again underscoring how serious the sins of Manasseh were because if you get someone and In the same breath just saying this guy is serving the Lord like no one has Essentially right the paraphrase he has he's got a heart to serve God like no one else and still Punishments coming and God's wrath is still coming and that shows you look God is long Suffering he allows things to go on for a long time But when God gets angry when God gets triggered to wrath Watch out Another reason why we want to be careful to stay on God's good side Because he is a god of wrath now. Look, I know we're not appointed unto God's wrath We're not gonna have God's right. There's completely poor dollars but look God gets angry and God gets angry with his children and God causes all kinds of things to happen to his children when they act up and when they Misbehave and when they get rebellious and when they disobey the Lord Keep in mind there is a line that can be crossed with God and in you know Even when we're you know, when we're saved we know that he's never gonna gonna leave us or forsake us But what too many Christians don't realize is they think that anyone could be saved at any time No matter as long as long as they have breath in their in their body and it's not true Because there are people that can cross a line with God and this story just exemplifies it And no matter how good you are It's not going to save from the wrath to come Are you need to talk about that in spiritual terms you could be you can be doing all the works like Matthew 7 right Lord Lord many just let me that Lord Lord. Have we not prophesied thy name and thy name cast out devils I named on many wonderful works God look at all the stuff we did for you and then shall I say to them depart from me that work iniquity I never knew you No matter how good you are it doesn't save you from the wrath to come and when God gets angry Josiah was you know on fire for God But that still didn't stop the wrath that had that had to come Because why because Manasseh had crossed the line and not just Manasseh the children of Judah did children of Israel did When you read through keep this in mind Jeremiah was around during the days of Josiah Jeremiah the Prophet and You read the beginning book chapters Bidding part of the portion of the book of Jeremiah because he was there from here through the captivity right and You can see his preaching to the people The people were not righteous. I mean Josiah was Josiah was getting things right. He was getting rid of all kinds of wickedness But all the people weren't necessarily following suit and you could get that from the preaching of Jeremiah The fierceness of God's wrath was still coming Verse 27 and the Lord said I will remove Judah also out of my sight as I have removed Israel and will cast off This city Jerusalem, which I have chosen and the house of which I said my name shall be there Now the rest of the acts of Josiah and all that he did are they not written in the book of the Chronicles of the Kings Of Judah in his days Pharaoh Niko king of Egypt Went up against the king of Assyria to the river Euphrates and King Josiah went against him and he slew him at Megiddo when he had seen him and his servants carried him in a chariot dead from Megiddo and brought him to Jerusalem and buried him in his own sepulcher and the people of land took Jehoaz the son of Josiah and anointed him And made him king and his father said now You don't have to turn there. Look you can look later at second chronicles 35 Because that's the parallel passage and you see a little bit more detail here about him going the fight I don't know why these good kings want to just get in more fights than they need to get into Basically Pharaoh Niko is going to fight the king of Assyria The king of Assyria is who took the northern kingdom captive Why is he going to get involved in that fight? It's not like he should be friends with Assyria. They you know, they conquered Israel He's got no no dog in that fight. I Don't know all the reasons why I mean there's probably reason for it there I just don't I'm not smart enough to figure it out yet, or I haven't figured it out yet, but He goes to get in that battle and Pharaoh Niko sends to him and he's like and here's what he says because I have it's my Nose I was read it for you He says what have I to do with thee thou king of Judah? I come not against thee this day, but against the house wherewith I have war for God commanded me to make haste For bear thee from meddling with God who is with me that he destroyed thee not he's and look God is with me and sending me to do this and what's interesting about this is that Pharaoh he goes, right? now remember when when the Assyrians were coming to battle and saying oh, you know, who is this God who is that God and You know, oh God told me to do this right, but they were just lying. It wasn't the truth, but God did tell Basically he was Pharaoh Niko was doing the work in the will of the Lord and He was supposed to go fight the king of Assyria and it even says in verse 22 says nevertheless Josiah would not turn his face from him But disguised himself that he might fight with him and harken not unto the words of Nico from the mouth of God You catch that and he harkened not he didn't listen to the words of Nico Telling him not to go and fight against him From the mouth of God God's Word God was using Pharaoh Nico to give this message Josiah from God but he didn't listen to him and This was his downfall and look every hero every hero of the faith has sin isn't perfect and makes mistakes and There is not one person you could find a Bible other than the Lord Jesus Christ Can I find one person that that did not have errors that is not recorded in the Bible also Everyone has errors recorded in the Bible We don't want to put anyone up on so high of a pedestal as if to be like equal with Christ or something So God make sure that we know hey, none of these people are perfect. They all have their sins And some worse than others, but they can still be you could still do a great work for God So he ends up dying in that battle what's interesting here is that we see then He fights Pharaoh Nico things were going well for him until he fights Pharaoh Nico And then we're gonna see in verse 31 back in 2nd Kings 23 verse 31 Jehovah has was 20 and 3 years old when he began to rain and he rained three months in Jerusalem His mother's name was a mutal the daughter of Jeremiah of Libna and he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord According to all that his father's had done and Pharaoh Nico put him in bands at Ribba. So now we see Pharaoh Nico is Defeating has defeated Jerusalem not you know, like like he has power over them now And he wouldn't have had that if Josiah didn't go out to battle there'd be no reason for him then go and attack Judah or to have any type of authority over him But because Josiah went and got himself involved in that battle He never should have got involved in he had enough work to do at home cleaning up the kingdom We was doing a great job of by the way But no reason to go off and fight in some other battle. He had way too many battles at home to to get work done and So then now we see Pharaoh Nico Puts puts his son Josiah's son and bands as he you know He rests them basically at Riblin the land of Hamath that he might not rain in Jerusalem and put the land to a tribute Of an hundred talents of silver and a talent of gold and Pharaoh Nico made a lie a Kim the son of Josiah King in the room of Josiah his father and turned his name to Jehoiakim and took Jehoahaz away and he came to Egypt and died there and what's really interesting about that I looked up the names of a lie a Kim and Jehoiakim and And what they meant because they're so similar and there's always meaning behind a name and oh Man I didn't write in my notes now my mind's failing me, but basically like L is like God like Elohim your Elohim like a name of God and so is Jehovah right so basically what he did is he changed his name from Eliakim like like it's more of a generic God to Jehovah to Jehoiakim and The the the a Kim's right the the I a Kim and oh, yeah Kim is the same ending So it's like the same meaning to his name. He's replaced L with Jehovah like with L and Jehovah Well, that was kind of interesting and and I don't know what the what there's some great meaning to that necessarily But what I thought was interesting about that is just because Pharaoh Nico already who said that he was you know, like doing God's work so Kind of changing that name to more of a Jehovah name I thought was kind of interesting because I mean the Pharaoh Nico might very well just been Like a saved guy a follower of the Lord I mean, he already knew the Word of God in the sense that he was supposed to go and and Defeat that and then he changes a lie a Kim to Jehoiakim Anyways take with that what you will I'm not you know, that's not some some big deal or anything I just thought I was interested by it and I kind of looked it up and you know the meaning of the names I'm not I don't know Hebrew, right? But it's not something that's that difficult to look at and it's um, you know It's not some some weird doctrine or something but I thought it's kind of interesting So he took Jehovah's away came Egypt for 35 Jehoiakim gave the silver and the gold to Pharaoh But he taxed the land to give the money according to commandment Pharaoh He exactly the silver and gold of the people of the land of everyone according to his taxation to give unto Pharaoh Nico so basically he's saying Pharaoh and ego required this this money from him right this extortion money and Instead of the king giving it out of his own treasures. He is taxed a lot the people for it Okay, like what we'll pay this and the people are gonna pay for it So he had them pay for it verse 36 Jehoiakim was 25 years old We began to reign he reigned 11 years in Jerusalem His mother's name was a Buddha the daughter of Padaya of Ruma and he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord According to all that his father's had done and what a shame, you know, these these sons of Josiah Couldn't carry on the the right path the righteous path that their extremist dad Josiah had had started and the work that he had done but Praise God for Josiah. Let's borrow. Let's have a word of prayer. Dear Heavenly Father Lord We thank you so much for these stories. I pray to please help stir up our spirits Lord Help us to be vigilant help us to have the same spirit that Josiah had to want to serve you Completely with all our heart with all our soul with all our mind dear Lord help us to make bold moves Help us to make bold stands help us to Get all these sins and idolatry and whatever might be holding us back out of our lives your Lord Help us to really analyze the things in our own homes and just get rid of the wickedness purge it out of our life dear Lord that we may serve you better. It's in Jesus name we pray. Amen