2 CHRONICLES 34 RIGHT LIVING IN THE SIGHT OF THE LORD2019 Teaching by Jerry B Simmons

Teaching Transcript: 2 Chronicles 34 Right Living In The Sight Of The Lord

You are listening to FerventWord, an online Bible study ministry with teachings and tools to help you grow deeper in your relationship with God. The following message was taught by Jerry Simmons in 2019. Amen. As we look at this example of Josiah this morning here in 2 Chronicles chapter 34, I've titled the message, Right Living in the Sight of the Lord.

We need to think about right living. What does it mean to live right? And specifically, what does it mean to live right in God's sight, in the sight of the Lord? What does he think is right? What is his perspective and his opinion? Josiah stands out as a beacon of light. He's a stark contrast to the society and the context around him.

He is a good king who did what was right in the sight of the Lord, it tells us in verse 2. Which is very remarkable since he grew up in the midst of great corruption and wickedness. He grew up with, well, his father Ammon was a wicked king who served all kinds of false gods and practiced immorality and idolatry and things that were not of God.

His grandfather was named Manasseh. And Manasseh was the most wicked king that Israel ever had. And so he led the nation into great wickedness. So he comes from a heritage. His father, his grandfather were men of wickedness who practiced wickedness.

The society that Josiah grew up in was engaged in all of this sin as well. And so there was the pursuit, not of God, but of things that were sinful. And well, things that really are not really appropriate for us to talk about since we have the youth with us in the service this morning, you know. There was immorality. There was great sin. There was idolatry that was going on. He grew up in the midst of great wickedness.

And so it's remarkable that in the midst of that context, there's this bleak background of sin. In the midst of all of that, here is this shining ray of light in the summary of Josiah's life in verse 2. They write out, they kind of encapsulate the all of Josiah's life into one sentence.

He did what was right in the sight of the Lord and walked in the ways of his father, David. He did not turn aside to the right or to the left. He held to the course, walking with God and pleasing him. A great testimony of Josiah. If, you know, he had a gravestone like this is, what would be put there? This summarizes and encapsulates his life.

And I think for us, as we consider the example of Josiah this morning, it's a good example for us. Will this be accurate of your life? Would this be an accurate summary of your life when it comes time for you to have your own gravestone and something marked on there? Would this be accurate if it was placed there that he, she did what was right in the sight of the Lord? Is that what your life is about? Yes.

Josiah sets for us a good example to consider our own hearts and lives and to follow after the example to live right even if the context around us is very dark and bleak. The Proverbs challenges us with this in Proverbs chapter 14 verse 12. There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death. And this is the reality that we need to consider as we look at the example of Josiah.

There are lots of things that we can do that we think are right. And we can be fully convinced and persuaded. I'm doing the right thing. I'm doing what is right. It seems right. But then the end result actually is the way of death. And that's why we need to not just do what's right, but we need to do what's right in the sight of the Lord. What does the Lord say is right?

What does he want from my life? What does he desire for me in the situations that I face? And so we're going to talk about that and learn from Josiah four things that we can consider, four things that we can put into practice in our own lives today.

so that we can practice right living in the sight of the Lord. First, we're going to camp out in verses 1 through 3 for point number 1, and that is make your own decision to seek the Lord. Make your own decision, not somebody else making the decision for you, but you make the decision to seek after the Lord. This is what Josiah did. Now, as we consider this, we're going to jump back to verse 1, and here's what it says. Josiah was eight years old when he became king.

And he reigned 31 years in Jerusalem. And so the first thing we learn about Josiah is it's kind of interesting, right? Josiah is king, eight years old. How does that work? Have you ever thought about that? How does it work when it happens from time to time in Israel's history that there is a king who he's the son of the king, right? So now he's next in line. He's king, but he's not really an adult yet. He's eight years old. How does that work when an eight-year-old becomes king?

King. Do you know any eight-year-olds? Can you imagine what that might be like? If you need a little illustration to kind of think through that, I was talking to Richard and he said, Noah's seven about to turn eight. So what if Noah was the president of the United States? What kind of, try not to tie that into political jokes, okay? But just try to picture in your mind, like what would that be like for an eight-year-old to be

Well, in those conditions, the kingdom then is stewarded by other established leaders. There's other officials and other leaders in place that continue to maintain things as they were until the king becomes old enough to be able to

to begin to make decisions and take authority and lead the nation. And so the kingdom is handled essentially by the other positions of power, the governors and rulers that are in place when the previous king died. And so in this case, here's Josiah. His dad was a wicked guy. His granddad was a wicked guy. So the nation is on this course of wickedness.

For a long time now, and he is now eight years old, and the wickedness just continues as he begins to grow up and until he becomes old enough to really take the authority of the throne. But when he does become old enough,

Josiah starts to lead against the flow, against the norms of their family and against the norms of their society and begins to do what is right in the sight of the Lord, it tells us in verse two. This is a really incredible example for us. I like what Alexander McLaren says about it. He says, "'Great as may be the power of circumstances, "'they do not determine character.'"

For it is always open to us either to determine whether we yield to them or resist them. The prevailing idolatry influenced the boy, but it influenced him to hate it with all of his heart. We can look at circumstances and excuse ourselves. We think rightly so, but it's not actually true. You can grow up in a wicked family, in a heritage, you know, a long line of wicked family members, right?

In the midst of a society that is wicked and against God and doing whatever it wants to do. And in the midst of all of that, you can still make the decision to do what is right in the sight of the Lord. That's what Josiah did. Yes, there can be great circumstances and they have huge impact on your life. But you can still do

Do what is right in the sight of the Lord. And it tells us how he was able to do that in verse 3. Notice verse 3 begins with the word for. Verse 2 sums up Josiah's life. And how is that possible considering where he came from? Here's how it's possible. For in the eighth year of his reign, while he was still young, he began to seek the God of his father, David.

The way that he was able to do what's right in the sight of the Lord, even though nobody else was, the way that he was able to take that course and have that be the testimony of his life was that, well, as soon as he was able to make his own decisions, he began to seek the God of his father, David. He began to seek the Lord. You think about what happened during that time period.

Josiah, he became king at eight years old. He's just a kid. He's not making his own decisions for a while. Other people are still deciding what he eats for dinner. Other people are still deciding, you know, what his schedule is going to be like. He's still going through education processes. He's still, you know, being taught. And other people are making decisions for him. He's eight, he's nine, he's 10, he's 11, he's 12. And as he enters into those teen years, just as kind of we experienced today, right? Then

Now, more responsibility is being given, more opportunity to make decisions. Now, you do get to choose what you're going to have for dinner. Now, you get to have a say in, you know, what your schedule is like, and there becomes opportunities. And so as soon as he is able to make decisions and have authority, now he's 16 years old, and he begins to really make decisions for himself to follow the Lord, to do what's right.

Here is this 16-year-old with great responsibility and great authority with all kinds of context and background and people around him who would lead him in a different direction. But he says, no, I want to find out what God wants. To seek the Lord, it speaks to us about getting to know God. It speaks to us about spending time with God. It speaks to us about finding out what's pleasing to God. It's about looking to him.

and finding out what he wants, seeking after his heart. And from an early age, as soon as he was able to make those choices on his own, he began to seek the Lord. This morning, I want to encourage you. Now, I want to thank Jonathan, first of all, because I think first, this is probably the first time I've ever been used as the high end of an age spectrum. From the youngest to Pastor Jerry's age, I was like, whoa, that's...

Not what I'm used to hearing. Where's Harvey when we need him, right? You know, that's usually the top of the line. But whatever age you might be, from the youngest to my age, let me tell you, you are old enough to start making decisions for your life. You are old enough to start saying, even if my family doesn't seek the Lord, I'm going

Even if my family and my parents and my grandparents and none of them seek after God and care what God says and care what God wants, even if my society doesn't seek after God, even if the people in my workplace or in my school don't seek after God, even if nobody else around me seeks after God, you are old enough to start to make your own decisions.

And to start to say, you know what's going to be important to me? You know what I'm going to value and what I'm going to seek after? I'm going to seek after the Lord. I'm going to desire to know Him. I'm going to start to make choices to find out what He wants and what's pleasing to Him that I might walk in His ways, that I might honor Him. Do you know God? How well do you know God? Sometimes we kind of let others make our decisions for us.

And this is true of children and parents. It's true of husbands and wives that sometimes husbands say,

Your decision to follow the Lord is not really your decision. You haven't made the decision. Your wife made the decision and you went along with it because that was easier than, you know, making waves and causing problems or vice versa. Husbands, you know, deciding and seeking the Lord and wife is like, well, it's not that interesting to me, but you know, it's easier than fighting against it. And so you're along for the ride, but it's not your decision. Right?

Or maybe you're young and you've grown up with parents who believe in the Lord and follow after the Lord, or at least say they do and pretend like they do at church, you know. But you didn't get here on your own. You didn't get here because you made the decision. But now, listen, you're old enough to start making decisions. You're old enough to seek the Lord and to say, this is going to be the priority of my life. At the end of my life, I want it to be said of me, like in verse 2, I did what was right in the sight of the Lord, even if nobody else is.

I'm going to be seeking after what does God want? What is God's plan? Make your own decision to seek the Lord. Very important that we do that. He did what was right in the sight of the Lord. Will that be the accurate summary of your life?

Well, as he goes down this path now, he's 16 years old. He starts down this path of seeking the Lord. Now we're going to continue on in verse 3 all the way down to verse 7 for point number 2, and that is purge sin thoroughly. He began by seeking the Lord, but now he begins to take some pretty serious action against

in his city, in his nation, and even in the peoples around him. Continuing on in verse 3, it says this, So it tells us here in the 12th year,

He began this purge. He began to cleanse, to put away all of the idolatry, the false gods, and the things that were not good. He put away sin. Now, notice the order that this took place in. The first thing that Josiah did was not purging the nation of sin. The first thing that Josiah did was he made the decision to seek the Lord.

We see this over and over again throughout the scriptures, and yet it's important to remind ourselves because we forget many times. You don't clean up your life first and then draw near to God and seek after God. Sometimes we think that's the right way. Sometimes we try to do it that way. I know, you know, I need to get right with God. And so there can be great effort on our part to try to clean up our life and fix those things and purge those issues so that we

In the future, we can make that decision to seek the Lord. But that's the wrong order. We're considering grace to great extent on Wednesday evenings right now. And the grace of God is really amazing in that we have the opportunity to come to God just as we are. Even though there's those

places of idolatry, even though there's those issues of sin and areas of darkness, even though there's those issues, because of what Christ has done for us, we have the opportunity to approach God. We have access to God by faith in Jesus Christ. That's not a license to, you know, just defile ourselves however we want to, and then, you know, there's no consequences. No, no, no. That's not how grace works. But

But we also don't have to stay away from God because we're not quite perfect yet. No, we have the opportunity to come to God now as we are with all of our issues, with all of our downfalls and failures, with all of our habits and practices. We don't clean up first and then seek God, but it's actually the seeking of the Lord that gives you the clarity and character and strength that you need to then begin the work of

of purging the sin and cleansing your life. Seeking the Lord is what he did first, and that's what prepared him for this campaign. And it was a great campaign. Jumping now into verse 4, it says,

Verse 5. Verse 7.

When he had broken down the altars, the wooden images, had beaten the carved images into powder and cut down all the incense altars throughout all the land of Israel, he returned to Jerusalem. He goes on this campaign and he is, he's on a mission. He's going to get rid of sin. He's going to get rid of idolatry. He starts there in Jerusalem. He expands that to the whole nation of Judah.

At this time also remember that Israel had been split into two nations. So there was Israel in the north as one nation and Judah in the south as another nation. He's king of the southern kingdom, Judah.

But it tells us in verse 6, he doesn't just limit his efforts to his own nation, but he actually goes beyond his borders. He goes into the northern area all the way up to Naphtali, which is the north part of Israel. And so he goes, even though he doesn't really have jurisdiction there, he's not really king over those people, but he goes and he cleanses the land. He breaks down the altars. He purges the land of idolatry and sin.

It's very thorough in what he does. And notice that it's mentioned in verse 4, he's personally involved. It says in verse 4, they broke down the altars of the Baals in his presence. So Josiah is, you know, not just sending people to go take care of this, but he's there on site. He's there on the premise and the altar is broken down. The stones are cast down.

But then notice it also goes on to say in verse 4, and the incense altars which were above them, he cut down. So he's there in their presence. They're casting down the stones of the altar. And he says, give me an ax. And he goes and he starts to cut down the incense altars. He's personally involving himself and saying, look, we're going to deal with this issue of sin. He's leading the charge, leading the way and purging the land of this issue of idolatry.

of this worship of these false gods dealing with sin in a very harsh way g campbell morgan puts it this way he says there is terrific force in the story of his methods there was no pity in his heart for the evil things about him and with the strongest hand so far as he was able he swept out the abominations terrific force as they break everything down did you notice that in verse 7

When they're breaking down these images, the carved images, it says that he beat them into powder. That's terrific force. This is not, you know, something that we just kind of want to like toss it over a little bit. You see the image just topple, boom, you know. No, no, this is, we're going to destroy this so that it could never be used for idolatry again. And maybe he has their history in mind as he's doing that.

I mentioned Manasseh, which is Josiah's grandfather, the worst king that Judah ever had, the most wicked of all. And yet in his wickedness, he was captured and taken into captivity. And there and in captivity, he humbled himself and repented and turned to the Lord. And the Lord even brought him back to the nation of Judah and allowed him to return because of his repentance and his turn back to God. Amazing testimony of God's grace.

But the thing that happened was then Manasseh's son comes on the scene. And although Manasseh had put away the idols and wasn't following them towards the end of his life, he didn't destroy them. And so Ammon, it tells us at the end of chapter 33, you can read about it, pulls out. He's like, oh yeah, I remember dad had those idols. And I think they're in the closet, maybe in the attic. And so he pulls out all of those idols and begins to worship those and practice that wickedness again.

And perhaps Josiah has that in mind and he's saying, you know, we don't want to just like put these in a closet somewhere where they can be accessed later and used again. We need to get rid of these in a way that they will never be used again for rebellion against God. They will never be a stumbling block again. They will never be an issue. Not that people won't have issues, but they

These ones that we're taking down, they will not be used again. We're going to break them into pieces, into dust. We're going to burn them. They're not going to be used again. And so it's with great thoroughness and intensity, with terrific force, as G. Campbell Morgan says, he deals with the issues of sin in his life, in his family, in his community, in his nation. He deals with sin in a very serious way.

Jesus also instructed us to deal with sin in a very serious way. In the great Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5, verse 29, Jesus says, Now here, Jesus is not calling people to physically harm themselves.

But he is making kind of a graphic illustration of how seriously we do need to deal with the issue of sin. It needs to be dealt with, and not lightly, and not just kind of topple over the image or just put it in a closet somewhere. But we need to approach sin in a way that, well, it's dealt with seriously.

that we don't allow it. Sometimes we are so good at justifying ourselves or explaining why our sin is not so terrible that we just kind of allow it to continue in our lives and we just let it sit there and bring destruction upon us because that's what sin does. It brings death and destruction in our lives. And Josiah says, no more. And he goes on this campaign to thoroughly purge sin. He sets a good example for you and for me to really deal harshly with sin.

To not just allow it and just kind of, you know, wink an eye at it and just allow it to continue, but to remove those things from our lives. And as far as we have authority and maybe even a little bit beyond that, we deal with issues of sin and purge them, remove them thoroughly as much as we are able. This is why at the end of Josiah's life, it could be said he did what was right in the sight of the Lord.

Because he didn't just take a casual approach, a casual attitude towards the issue of sin. But after he sought the Lord and had become familiar with what the Lord desired and what was pleasing to the Lord and what was offensive to the Lord, he said, you know, this is serious and offensive. And so we need to deal with it. And so he dealt with sin in a great way. Well, moving on to verses 8 through 13, we get point number three to learn from Josiah's example. And that is invest in the work of the kingdom of God.

It was not just about a campaign to get rid of sin, made Josiah's life remarkable, but he invested in the work of the kingdom of God. In verse 8, it goes on to say this, "...in the eighteenth year of his reign, when he had purged the land and the temple, he sent Shaphan, the son of Azaliah, Massaliah, the governor of the city, and Joah, the son of Joaz, the recorder, to repair the house of the Lord his God."

So we're now jumping forward in the timeline of Josiah's life to the 18th year of his reign. And the author of Chronicles here is kind of highlighting the different time periods of Josiah's life. And I think there's some interesting things for us to consider in that. And so I want to just kind of walk through his life for a moment. He became king at eight years old. Again, not really old enough to be king. But he was a king at eight years old.

So as he's growing up and maturing, he is beginning to take on that authority and that responsibility and that autonomy. As he becomes old enough to make his own decisions around 16 years old, he begins to seek the Lord. And he says, you know, mom, you know, steward, whoever has been raising, you know, him, he says, this is what's now going to be important to me. This is what I'm going to focus on. And so he begins to seek the Lord at that point.

The time period gives us about four years now of Josiah seeking the Lord, and then he begins removing idolatry. When he's about 20 years old, he starts this campaign and begins to purge Israel of idolatry. And I would encourage you to stop and just consider that for a moment. He spent four years seeking the Lord before he began this process.

of dealing with the idolatry of his family, his city, his nation, and the peoples around him. Four years of seeking the Lord first and then began the purging. He sought the Lord for four years before he took significant action. There's something to be said for that. There's something for us to consider about that. Sometimes we need some time with the Lord to develop the character, the strength, the

The vision that we need from him to be able to handle the task that God is calling us to. I want to encourage you this morning to be patient with yourself. Be patient with yourself. It's easy to look in the mirror and be frustrated by, well, things that you still struggle with.

And you're like, a sin campaign? Yeah, I tried that. I've tried to get rid of this sin for 15 years. I've been trying to get rid of this. And I don't understand why I still deal with this. Why I still struggle with this. Why do I still have this temper? Why do I still have this battle? Why do I still face those things? Be patient with yourself. Going back to the beginning. Listen, if you're seeking the Lord, if that's really the decision that you've made, then you're seeking after and pursuing God and you want to know his heart and you're seeking to honor him and you're walking with him. You're on the right path.

But that doesn't mean that all of your issues are just resolved overnight or even in the time of a year, you know? Sometimes we read through these accounts, right? We're reading through chapter 34. We read about Josiah and it's like, wow, it just seems like all this happened all at once. No, he spent four years in prayer, four years learning about God, four years getting to know God, four years seeking the Lord before he could really deal with this issue of sin.

Be patient with yourself. You still have issues? Yeah. Sanctification is a process. And yeah, you're not free of all those things that you wish you were free of. But you don't resolve that in your own strength. You resolve that by seeking the Lord. You resolve that by going back to Him and finding out what He wants. You resolve that by spending time with Him and letting Him impart His character into you. And as you become more like God, then you, well, slowly but surely, over the process of time, are prepared to

For the work that God wants to do in you. And let that also be an encouragement for you to be patient with others. Yes, the people around you still have issues also. And boy, you wish they would just give up that habit, right? You wish they would just, you know, get over that or deal with that. Why are you still struggling with that? And we can be very impatient with others. But if they're seeking the Lord, if they've made that decision,

God's going to deal with that. God's going to work that out. But sometimes it, I wouldn't say sometimes, it always takes time. Now you could take that too far and just say, well, I'm not going to do anything about my sin because, you know, I'm just, God will do it in his time. Well, there also does come a time where God calls you to mount a campaign and get to work. So there's balance to that. But be patient. Seek the Lord genuinely, truly, and he will give you the strength that you need and the direction that you need.

And then as you go on in this account, you see he started this purge when he was 20 years old, but it goes on to tell us it took six years. Again, in verse 18, it says, in the 18th year of his reign, when he had purged the land. He started in the 12th year of this purge. He finished in the 18th year. He spent six years dealing with this issue of sin. So even when God calls you to, and it's now time, okay, we're going to work on this area of your life.

That doesn't mean that you wake up tomorrow and that temper is gone. It's just like, whoo, you know, that was easy. No, you know what? It might be a six-year campaign to deal with that aspect of your character, your nature. It might be six years of work and effort that God's going to use to bring that sanctification and to develop you spiritually

to where that issue is resolved in your life. Purging out idolatry was a long process. Again, be patient with yourself. Be patient with others. What you can control, going back to the beginning, is make the decision to seek the Lord. And He will begin that work and finish the work that He started in you as you seek Him and spend time with Him.

Well, now it comes time after the seeking of the Lord, after the purging has been done, now it's time to rebuild the temple and to really invest in the work of the kingdom of God. And so here in verse 8, it tells us that he sends out Shaphan, Messiah, and Joah. He sends out three guys to go begin this process of repairing the house of the Lord, the temple there in Jerusalem.

Now it's appropriate because as they've removed the idolatry, just like any other sin, you cannot just like stop the sin or get rid of the sin. It really needs to be replaced. Paul tells us, stop lying and speak the truth. That sin has to be replaced. We can't just stop lying and then that's it. Something has to fill that void. And so as they're

Putting away the idolatry, now there needs to be a place for the people to worship. And the temple has been neglected over the past many years before Josiah. It's been defiled and idols have been placed in the temple. They've neglected it. It's been messed up and people are not able to worship there.

And so now it's time, let's rebuild the temple. Let's restore the people so they can come and worship God. But what I think is interesting about this whole process here in verses 8 through 13 is that Josiah here involves a lot of people in this work.

We saw when he's tearing down the altars, he's physically there. He's present. He's holding an ax. He's taking care of things. He has people with him, but he's there. In this case, he sends three guys to start this process. And it's not just those three guys who are involved in this work, but going on in verse 9, talking about these three guys, it says, when they came to Hilkiah, the high priest, he

They delivered the money that was brought to the house of God, which the Levites who kept the doors had gathered from the hand of Manasseh and Ephraim, from all the remnant of Israel, from all Judah and Benjamin, which they had brought back to Jerusalem. Try to think about, try to keep track of the different people involved in the work of restoring the temple. We have Josiah who sends the three guys. The three guys meet up with Hilkiah, the high priest. So now the high priest is involved. The high priest takes the

the instructions, the money, and he gathers the Levites. The Levites had gone throughout all the land and gathered offerings for the work of restoration. So the people of the land are involved now. The Levites are involved in gathering the resources. Hilkiah receives the instruction and meets with the Levites who have the resources. And then they're going to get to work in verse 10. It says, then they put it in the hands of the foreman and

who had oversight of the house of the Lord, and they gave it to the workmen who worked in the house of the Lord to repair and restore the house of the Lord. It's interesting, this whole passage gives like a full accounting of chain of custody of the resources that were given. Here's what the people gave. They gave it to the Levites. The Levites then gave it to the foremen who gave it to the workers who were doing the work, right? Following the path and understanding all of these different people involved. And so you have people...

that are on site overseeing the work, the foremen and the workers who are there actually doing the work. You have the people that gave, the Levites who collected. You have the high priest who was overseeing. You have the other three guys who were also involved in the overseeing and the instruction, Josiah who sent them. But then it's still not at the end. In verse 11, it goes on to say, then they gave it to the craftsmen and builders to buy hewn stone and timber for the beams and

And so the money goes from the people to the Levites, to the foremen, to the workers, to get the materials from those who sold the materials. There's a lot of people involved. To restore the house of the Lord, to make it a place of worship, for it to be a central place of worship again for the people of Judah, Josiah couldn't do this work on his own.

He couldn't provide the resources on his own. He couldn't provide the labor on his own. He couldn't do it on his own. This would only be done, it only could be done with the help of many of God's people. And so as we talk about investing in the work of the kingdom of God, here's why I point all that out. You cannot invest in the work of the kingdom of God by yourself. It's not the way that the work of God works. We talk about it a lot. The body of Christ, that's the way that

were described in the New Testament. All the different members joined together to be the body of Christ. And we all have different functions and different roles. And as you look at this account of the rebuilding and fixing of the temple, there's all these different people. They all had different roles and different responsibilities. There were those who gave and those who collected. There were those who gathered. There were those who did the work. There were those who prepared the materials. There was all these different roles and responsibilities involved.

And that is the way that it always is in the work of the kingdom of God. To get involved in the work of the kingdom of God means that you're going to link arms with other believers and join in with God's people and say, we're going to work together. We all have different roles and different responsibilities, but we're going to give ourselves to this work that God has set before us. Josiah, he was personally involved in purging the idolatry. He was personally involved in the restoration, but in a different role.

And it was because of that at the end of his life, it was able to be summarized that he did what was right in the sight of the Lord. He did what God called him to do, and he followed what was important to the Lord for him, appropriate to his call. Will that be an accurate summary of your life? We're going to finish up with point number four, looking at verses 29 through 33 as we replace the batteries in my microphone. Can you hear me now? All right.

Point number four this morning is commit to obey God's word. Commit to obey God's word. We're going to jump over some pieces of chapter 34 now to verse 29 through 33. But let me just kind of summarize the part we're jumping over real quick.

In the process of cleaning up and repairing the temple, they find the Bible. It had been lost for many years because the people were not interested in seeking after God. And so they'd forgotten about the word of God. They've neglected the word of God and they find it. And as Josiah reads what God has written in his word,

He says, oh man, we deserve judgment for all of the wickedness that we have done. And he sends to find out from the Lord, Lord, what do you need from us? What do you want from us? What's going to happen here? Because we have done so wickedly. And God gives him a word through the prophetess and says, because your heart was tender and you responded to the word of God that way,

You're not going to see the judgment, the devastation. It will come later because the people do deserve judgment. They still, after Josiah's life, they turn away from God and they rebel against God to a great degree again. So the judgment is still going to come. But Josiah, good job. Your heart was tender and you responded that way to the word of God. You're not going to see this devastation.

And after Josiah receives that encouragement from the Lord, it tells us, jumping into verse 29 now, "...then the king sent and gathered all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem. The king went up to the house of the Lord with all the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the priests and the Levites, and all the people, great and small. And he read in their hearing all the words of the book of the covenant which had been found in the house of the Lord."

So what Josiah does is he gathers everybody. He says, everybody, there's something important. You have to hear this. And as he gets everybody together, he begins to read the words found in the word of God. He read in their hearing the book of the covenant that they had found. Possibly, probably the book of Deuteronomy. He's reading, recounting to them what the Lord had spoken through the prophet Moses.

And as they read through and familiarize themselves with what the Bible teaches, with what God has revealed in his word, verse 31 says, then the king stood in his place and made a covenant before the Lord to follow the Lord and to keep his commandments and his testimonies and his statutes with all his heart, with all his soul to perform the words of the covenant that were written in his book.

And Josiah says, in front of everybody, he's gathered everybody together, he says, guys, I'm making a commitment right now to the Lord. I am going to obey God's word. I'm going to take what God says and I'm going to put it into practice in my life. I'm going to let God and his word be of the authority in my life and set the parameters, set the boundaries for what I can do and what I cannot do. I'm going to

to obey the word of god and he calls all of the leaders and the people there with him to make that same commitment and all of his life they walk with god in that way seeking for god's direction and instruction through his word and this josiah provides a great example for us to commit to obey god's word

We get to the end of Josiah's life and it was able to be said of him, he did what was right in the sight of the Lord because he took the word of God and made it an authority in his life. And he says, I'm going to follow what God says through his scriptures. As he sought the Lord, as he purged out idolatry and got rid of the sin, as he invested himself in the work of the kingdom of God, he also committed himself to the scriptures.

And said, I'm going to follow what God has revealed in his word. Now we have access to the scriptures like never before in history, right? We've got, you know, multiple Bibles in our homes. We have Bibles on all of our electronic devices. We have access to the scriptures like never before. And yet maybe some of us need to find the scriptures again. Not that we don't have access to it and not even necessarily that we don't read it.

But that we don't read it in a way where we allow the word of God to impact our life and to change what we do and influence our decisions. I like the way that F.B. Meyer, the commentator, gives a great exhortation to us. He says, let us read God's word carefully and reverently until we come on something which accuses us and then stop to listen.

We must submit ourselves to its scrutiny. We must enthrottle it at whatever cost as the critic of our lives. We must follow its leadings wherever it points the way. Placing the scripture as an authority in our lives, he says, here's what we need to do. Read the word of God carefully until we find something that accuses us.

That's a little bit different than until you finish the chapter, right? Until you get to the end of your assigned reading for the day. No, no, read the word of God until you find something that accuses you. Until you find something that pricks your heart. Until God is speaking to you. Spend time in the word of God and then let what God is saying through his word become the authority in your life. Let it scrutinize you.

We don't always like to be scrubbed and cleaned that way by the word of God, but it's effective and it's necessary. Let it divide between soul and spirit in your life. Let it reveal the motivations of your heart. Let the word of God encourage you to a great degree, but also let it cleanse you and reveal the issues that are going on within the heart. This is a powerful, useful aspect of the word of God that we need in our lives. Commit to obey God's word.

And you can read the Bible every day without really committing to obey God's word and allowing it to impact your life. It's a difference. There is a difference. Josiah did what was right in the sight of the Lord because he took God's word to heart and he said, I'm going to live by that. And I'm going to let God lead me, instruct me, and teach me. Well, as we consider this, living right in the sight of the Lord,

I'm going to go back to point number one. Make your own decision to seek the Lord and consider verse 32 and 33 to finish up. Look with me at verse 32. It says,

So the inhabitants of Jerusalem did according to the covenant of God, the God of their fathers. Verse 33, thus Josiah removed all the abominations from all the country that belonged to the children of Israel and made all who were present in Israel diligently serve the Lord their God. All his days they did not depart from following the Lord God of their fathers. Here we see Josiah made a huge impact on the nation. Everybody who was present, they made that stand with him. They took that commitment. They said, we're gonna obey God and follow his word.

And then in verse 33, it tells us, all of Josiah's days, they did not depart from following the Lord God of their fathers. What it goes on to say, what it implies through that, after Josiah's life, those very same people turned back to following the idols that were there before. They turned back to sin after Josiah was off the scene. And it illustrates, it reminds us of this important point. Make your own decision to seek the Lord. Listen, if

If your spiritual life is based upon somebody else's decision to follow the Lord, when that authority is out of your life, when their influence is no more, you will revert back to what really is your decision. You need to make your own decision to seek the Lord. It needs to be real to you that you are going to follow the Lord. It can't be somebody else's decision. That's not going to last in your life. And after Josiah passed off the scene, he died kind of young at 39 years old and

The rest of the kings after him, they were all evil and departed from God. The rest of the people, they turned away from God and brought upon themselves great destruction by their sin. Nobody else can make that decision for you. And if they do, and it has a positive influence, right? I mean, Josiah was a positive influence on the nation, but...

As hard as he tried, he did the best that he could, but nobody can make this decision for you. And these guys were along for the ride, and they enjoyed the benefits of blessing as long as Josiah was there, but they really didn't make the decision for themselves. And this morning, I want to encourage you to consider, have you made your own decision to seek the Lord? Made your own choice. I want to know what pleases God. I want to follow God. I want to live for God.

And that will prepare me to deal with sin. That will prepare me to invest in the kingdom of God and do the work of the word of God and the kingdom of God. As I commit to obey God's word, but it comes back to, have I decided? Or is it somebody else's decision? Lord, help me to decide to seek after you. Let's pray.

We pray you have been blessed by this Bible teaching. The power of God to change a life is found in the daily reading of His Word. Visit ferventword.com to find more teachings and Bible study resources.