Ears to Hear

Let's pray together, and then, we'll get into this passage. Father god, we thank you that we can know you as our father. We thank you that you are not some distant, foreign god who is uninterested in us and this world that you have made, we thank you that through the lord Jesus, you invite us to call you and to know you as our father. We thank you that as a father, you'd like to speak to us. We thank you that you are so gracious.

You have sustained us physically and spiritually another week and, we just pray that you would speak. We want you to speak to each 1 of us this evening. As we've already sung, we pray that these words of power might prevail over the unbelief in our hearts and that we would hear from you and we ask it in Jesus' name. I want to begin with a quote. I inherited a mess.

I inherited a mess. That was Donald Trump who, said that, in a news conference in February last year, I inherited a mess, and he was referring, of course, to the Obama years in general, but mainly to the loss of American jobs and, to the stance that Obama's administration took on North Korea and the Middle East and just about everything else Obama did, actually, as I was watching the conference. This is exactly what he said. Beginning on day 1, we went to work against some real big challenges. It was a mess.

Let me tell you a mess. We inherited a real mess. Okay? So that was his sort of summary of the Obama years. And, this is obviously not the time or indeed the forum to met on the truth or otherwise, of that statement.

But for incoming politicians, that is a familiar line of defense. Isn't it? We inherited a mess. The previous government were no good. They failed you, and you need to be patient with us while we sort it out.

And to be fair, in many cases, it's often true, isn't it? They do inherit some nasty messes which need fixing, and that does take take some time. And it was that phrase, I inherited a mess, which really lodged in my mind this week. As I was preparing for tonight's sermon. At just 8 years old, King Josiah inherited the ultimate mess from his father.

For him, this wasn't just political spin to excuse some of his reign. It was at absolutely true in every way. He inherited a mess. Look with me at chapter 21 and sentence number 19. Amon, this is his father, was 22 years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem for 2 years.

His mother's name was Mashulameth, daughter of harus. She was from Jopba. He did evil in the eyes of the lord. As his father Vanessa had done. Now, Vanessa, actually, was 1 of the most evil men who was ever walked the face of this earth.

Vanessa is like a reference point for evil. So if you wanna know how evil or wicked someone is, you can look on the Manessa scale and work it out. You know, he he was a wretched man. This is the sort of guy who would take his newborn children and put them alive into furnaces in order to appease his gods. That was the sort of man he was.

But in 2 chronicles, we're told that before he died, god humbled him right at the end of his life, He left all his idols behind and he came to know the true and living god yahweh. Is is probably 1 of the most stunning conversions in all of the Bible. But when he died and the crown passed on to his son, Amon, who we've just read about, That son clearly didn't share his father's change of heart. Verse 21, He followed completely the ways of his father worshiping the idols his father had worshiped. And bowing down to them.

He forsook the lord, the god of his ancestors, and did not walk in obedience to him. So Josiah at 8 years old is about to inherit a spiritual mess. But it's not just spiritual. It's political. Have a look at since it's number 23.

Amon's officials conspired against him and assassinated the king in his palace. Then the people of the land killed all who had plotted against King Amon. And they made Josiah, his son, king, and his place. It's like some kind of soap, isn't it? He's inheriting a mess.

If it's interesting in our day, we talk about giving children the best start, don't we? We want children to have the best start in life. But for Josiah, it couldn't get much worse. The year is 640 BC, God's people are divided into 2 kingdoms, Israel in the north, Judah in the south, and at 8 years old, When most children are still growing up enjoying things that 8 year olds like to enjoy, Josiah receives this political, spiritual mess. And so as we approach chapter 22 to to 23, we are meant to be asking a question.

The author is trying to put a question into our mind How's he gonna turn out? Is he gonna be able to escape from this chaotic messy, spiritual, political disaster that has been gifted to him. The tender age of 8 years old. How's he gonna turn out? Chapter 22 verse 2.

He did what was right in the eyes of the lord and he followed completely the ways of his father, David, not turning aside to the right or to the left. In the eyes of the lord, which are actually the only eyes that matter. He did what was right. He was loyal to David's god, and he was loyal to his spiritual father who was David. If we ever find Joe Sayers's tomb, those words are gonna be written upon it.

He did what was right in the eyes of the lord. But now we've got another question to deal with. We know how he turned out but the question is, how did he manage to turn out that way? Why did he manage to escape? How did he manage to escape?

And in what way exactly was Josiah right in the eyes of the lord, in what way might we be right in the eyes of the lord. That's the question as we approach this chapter. Now over the past few weeks, we've been learning in this series how to listen to the word of god. We've looked at some theory. We've looked at some practical stuff, We've looked at all kinds of things.

What is a sermon? How do we hear a sermon? What are some of the techniques? What are the some of the barriers that we put to listening to sermons. And just to finish up this series, over the next couple of weeks, I want to look at some real life examples in the Bible to rub home these points.

Can we have some illustrations? Something tangible to look at which is going to teach us how to listen well to the word of the lord, and the answer is we can. They're in the Bible. And Josiah is a great place for us to start. You might put it like this in a nutshell.

The reason that he is considered upright in the eyes of the lord is because of the way he responds to the law of the lord. The reason he's considered upright in the eyes of the lord is because of the way he responds to the law of the lord. He is actually an illustration of everything that we have seen. And so tonight, what I want us to do is dig up his body and have a look at his old ears. Let's have a look at his semi decaying ears and try to work out together.

What made them so good? Why were those ears so good? First point this evening is this. The great discovery is made. The great discovery is made.

1 of my favorite series of books is the lord of the Rings. I've read them several times, and I I absolutely love. I love those books. And, if you know If you know the books, then you'll know that the story centers on this 1 ring of power That was forged in ancient times, but the ring was lost. The 2 and a half millennia 2 and a half thousand years.

This great treasure disappeared from time and from knowledge. Until 1 day, by chance, 2 cousins were out fishing. And just by total fluke, they happen to discover this 1 ring of power at the bottom of a silty lake. And if you know the story, you know that the whole course of middle earth changes on that chance discovery. Everything is built around it.

A long lost treasure found by chance with the power to reshape a kingdom. Now I think Tolkien is a genius writer in lots of ways, but as usual with these people, all their best bits are borrowed from the Bible. And I think it's exactly the same thing here. Have a look at verse 8. Look at this chance discovery.

Chapter 22, Hill Kaya, the high priest, said to Shifan, the secretary. I have found the book of the law in the temple of the lord. So at this time, Joe Sire is aged 26. Don't know if there's any 26 year olds in the room and what your ambitions are as a 20 you're old, but this is Jose's age, and he started work on the temple. That was the first part of our reading.

He had it in his heart. To see yahweh's house restored to his former glory. So he already had that godly God exalting desire for his life at age 26. He wanted yahweh's name to be honored in the land, but halfway through this restoration project, a book is found. We don't know exactly what it was.

Was it the whole of the Old Testament law? Was it just a portion of deuteronomy? Not quite sure exactly what it was, but the key thing is it is the law of the lord. It's the lord's law that they found. It had been lost or at least willfully concealed for many, many years until now.

And when this book gets back to Josiah, the results are are awesome. They are absolutely awesome. So firstly, short point. The great discovery. Secondly, the great discovery is unleashed.

The great discovery is unleashed and there are 3 sub points under this. Okay? In this unleashing of the great discovery. The first is that it was unleashed in Josiah. It was unleashed before the people, and it was unleashed in the nation.

So first sub point, it's unleashed in the life of Josiah. Let's let's watch together how the law of the lord goes to work. In this ancient example. It's quite amazing. Have a look at chapter 22 verse 11.

When the king heard the words of the book of the law, he tore his robes. He gave these orders to Hill Kaya the priest a high camp son of Shafan, Akbor, son of Micah, Shafan, the secretary and Asiah, the king's attendant. Go and inquire of the lord for me and for the people and for all judah about what is written in this book that has been found. Great is the lord's anger that burns against us because those who have gone before us have not obeyed the words of this book They've not acted in accordance with all that is written there concerning us. When this great discovery is unleashed in the heart of Josiah.

It cuts him to the very core. It cuts him. In the old testament, the tearing of the robes was this sign of deep, personal, grief, and sorrow. And that's what Joside does. When he heard god's law, he was broken by the sins of the nation.

He was broken by the wrath of god that was burning against them. He was broken by the judgment that was to come. He was broken by years of apostasy. His ancestors had forsaken the lord who had called them, he was broken, and he tore his robes. When was the last time a world leader did that?

Can you imagine it? A world leader humiliating themselves in such a way, consume totally consumed by grief, broken over the sin of their nation. That would be quite that would be quite something wouldn't it? In verse 19, the prophet S holder says this. Because your heart was responsive, and you humbled yourself before the lord.

When you heard what I have spoken against this place and its people that they would become a curse and be laid waste. And because you tore your robes and wept in my presence, I also have heard you declares the Lord. Therefore, I will gather you to your ancestors and you will be buried in peace. Your eyes will not see. All the disaster I'm going to bring on this place.

And that word responsive is a is a is a good translation, but it it really literally means to be soft or to be tender or to have a failing heart. To have a failing heart. The King James version of the Bible sometimes translate this phrase as mollified, and I didn't know what that meant. I had to look it up this week. Mollified, which means to be made soft or supple.

It's a heart that's like warm putty in your hands. Apparently mathematicians. I don't know. This is probably gonna be wildly inaccurate, but apparently mathematicians use the phrase mollified for graphs when they wanna smooth out a graph or make it or make it supple. When god spoke, Josiah was not hard hearted.

He was not obstinate. He was not rebellious. He was tender and soft and supple. To the word of god, he had a mollified heart when he heard the law of the lord being read. And over the past few weeks in this series, I hope we've been learning how essential that is for god's people as they gather under god's word.

We do need to pray, don't we? For our own hearts, that as we gather together here as a congregation, week in, week out, and as we hear god's word, red, and preach to us that our hearts would be responsive that we would have these mollified tender, supple hearts. We need to pray that as god meets us in his word, and he shows us the idols inside our hearts. That as he confronts us with the holiness of his character and of his nature, that we wouldn't just be sort of cool and casual about that. But that we would feel grief and sorrow over the way we've treated the lord that we might feel this urgency, this sense of urgency.

We've gotta do something. Whatever the restoration project is we're working on is gotta go on hold. This is urgent business. The law of the lord has confronted us and we need to do something about it. We need to pray that like Josiah, the strongest, proudest, royalist man in the land that we would weep.

When was the last time we did that? When was the last time we wept over the sinfulness of the nation. When was the last time we actually wept over the way our ancestors even ourselves have treated the holy God. Not necessarily physically. Perhaps just inside, but when did we last weep?

Like Holy Josiah did. Basically, we need to ask god to give us these subtle hearts. That is we meet god in his law, in his word each week we would be tender to what he is saying. And so you can see as the word of god is unleashed, in Josiah, we can tell he's an effective listener, can't we already? We can tell that some of the techniques we've learned in the past week, he clearly knew all about them already.

Because he humbled himself before the lord, and he has grieved that the lord has been dishonored. That is the sign of an effective listener. But that is not the only sign that his ears are on point. He then decides that this law must be unleashed before the people. Firstly, it was unleashed before him.

Secondly, the law was unleashed before the people. Now we're gonna have a look at chapter 23. So if you wanna go to chapter 23 and verses 1 to 3. Then the king called together all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem. He went up to the temple of the lord with the people of Judah the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the priests, and the prophets, all the people from the least to the greatest.

He read in their hearing all the words of the book of the covenant, which had been found in the temple of the lord. The king stood by the pillar and he renewed the covenant in the presence of the lord, so follow the lord and keep his commands statutes and decrees with all of his heart and all of his soul, thus confirming the words of the covenant written in this book. Then all of the people pledged themselves to the covenant. Recently, I've been a program on a on a catch up channel called mutiny. I don't know if you've seen it.

It's called mutiny. It's basically this 5 part series which tells the story of a naval officer called William Blie, and 18 of his men who survived being thrown out of their original ship, which was called the bounty. There was a a mutiny on the bounty. That's the famous story. They were thrown off the ship and together on this tiny little vessel, they had to survive for 48 days.

And it is just the most. It's famously. It's it's 1 of the most incredible stories of survival and leadership known to man. William Blie realized that he had this massive job on his hands. They'd been thrown off their vessel with very, very limited rations, almost certain death ahead of them.

Some of the worst seas in all of the world unhappy men hostile islanders all around them for any leader of any quality it would be daunting. It would be a very daunting task. And the thing that impressed me most about William Blie was his refusal to tell the men to do something, which he himself would not do. On every occasion, he would lead by his own example. He would take less rations than everybody else He did more hours on duty than everybody else.

He put himself in danger before them. Even when they landed on some of these islands and wanted to go and get food, he wouldn't command them to go. He himself would go before asking the men to go. That was his style. And surely that has gotta be 1 of the signs of a strong leader, isn't it?

Not just barking orders from the cabin. Commanding people to do things that you're not willing to do, but leading by word and by example. That is the thing I love about Josiah here. He gathers the people to hear everybody. Everybody's gotta hear.

Doesn't matter who you are in the land you must assemble great and small profit and priest you must hear the word of the lord. But you notice he doesn't he doesn't lord it over them. Does he? He could have just said, right guys, by the way, the prophet has told me I'm safe. I'm gonna be collected up to my ancestors, but the judgment of God is coming on you.

So you better do what you can, not that you're gonna escape. I am. I'm I'm going to escape. Protesters told me, I'm gonna be collected to my father's, but you're you're not. Okay?

He doesn't do that. And he doesn't sit under the law thinking you know, I know some reprobates in my kingdom who need this message. I know some people who really need to hear what the lord is saying here. I'm gonna this law and wield it against the worst of sinners in my land. He doesn't do that.

He repents and he recommits to the lord in front of them. And in that way, he leads them to do the same. Yes, he is the king, but first and foremost, he is a man under the word of god. And by the way, this little public reading shows us that Josiah really did understand the law of the law He really was an effective listener. Why?

Because he doesn't he doesn't just feel grief over sin he turns back to god in faith. And that is what repentance is all about. Repentance does start with grief, with conviction, with pain over our sin and over the way that we've treated god. But then it runs to the Lord in faith. It hears the covenant promises of grace in Jesus and it embraces them.

That's what repentance does. You see, if we just end up feeling guilty and then we try to deal with that guilt away from Jesus, we haven't understood the law. A true understanding of god's word brings grief over sin hundred percent. That's what it does. But then it takes us to our covenant god.

It takes us back to him. Josiah models that for us, doesn't he? He personally humbles himself before all the people. He recommits his own heart to the covenant of god. He shows tenderness over sin.

He leads them to do the same, and that way he models a repentant attitude. To the word of god. What a great leader he is. So the discovery of the law has been unleashed in Josiah. It has been unleashed in the people, and now it's going to be unleashed into the nation.

And we cannot see this. It's just it's just amazing. What he does with the law of the lord in his nation. I was chatting with a girl at a freshers fair this week. It's 1 of the best things about Fresh fair, by the way, is the illustrations you get for sermons.

It's almost worth going on that basis alone. And, she was, she was a girl from a seek background, actually. And, I asked her why, she was convinced that a seek understanding of god and a seek understanding of spiritual things was true. And she said that she wasn't really convinced by it. But that she loved seekism because it was so simple.

And then she said that the reason it's so simple and the reason she loves it is because there are really only 2 2 rules. You don't eat animal meat. And you gotta be kind to others. Those are the only 2 things. You don't eat animal meat and you're kind to others.

Now, I understand that she might not represent classic seek theology, and I understand that seekism is also a very cultural thing, but in her explanation of it, it struck me that in that particular faith system, god is utterly irrelevant. He's utterly irrelevant, isn't he? Being kind and being a vegetarian don't require any knowledge of god, any love of his character, any concern for his honor. To my mind, The nature of god is almost by the by in what she's saying. It's like it doesn't even matter who god is.

I was trying to say to it, you know, at this point, Christianity is just so so different. The glory and the honor and the holiness and the nature and the sweetness of god is not just a sort of side product. Being a vegetarian is so small. We've got a glorious god at the center of our faith. And the reason I mention that illustration is because as I read chapter 23, It really struck me that if the glory of God is not a concern for you, then it is to understand what Josiah does next.

If God's glory plays a minor part in your religion, you won't understand what he does. Because for the rest of chapter 23, he goes on this systematic destroying mission. He goes all the way throughout his land and every single trace of idolatry and pagan religion, he smashes to pieces. And why does he why why is he so intolerant? Doesn't he know that there are other faiths in the land?

Doesn't he know that there are well meaning people of integrity who worship other gods, doesn't he respect their views? What kind of king is this? Why does he do that? Because god's glory is at the heart of the law, and he's seen that. Josiah has read the law of god.

And in the law of god, he has seen the majesty of god. And when he saw the majesty of god, he became concerned with the honor of god. And when he was concerned with the honor of god, How could he tolerate any rivals? They are a distraction. They are a blasphemy.

They are a fence. There are no exceptions, altars, shrines. If the lord of the lord is true, they've all gotta go. So you can see what he does verse 6. Let's just see the unleashing of the Lord of God here.

He took the Asher up all from the temple of the lord. That's where it begins. Isn't it? The temple of the lord? What part of the land was most supposed to symbolize their loyalty to god?

The temple. So he starts there to the kidron valley outside Jerusalem and he burned it there. He ground it to powder and he scattered the dust over the graves of the common people. And that, by the way, that is a real feature of Josiah's campaign. He doesn't just destroy idols.

He despises them. He's got no respect for them. They're despicable. He takes them to the most unclean vile place he can think of, and he throws their powdered idles all over it. He despise he's got no respect for them.

He despises them. Verse 10. He desecrated Topeth, which was in the valley of Ben Hinnon, Hinnom, so that no 1 could use it to sacrifice their son or daughter. In the fire to moloch. That's a good place to destroy, isn't it?

You don't want your babies thrown into fire for a false god. That's the kind of place you wanna destroy. Verse 12, he pulled down the altars of the kings of Judah, and he erected on the rooftop, the upper room of Ahas. And, sorry, and the altars Vanessa had built in the 2 courts of the temple of the lord. He removed them from there, smashed them to pieces, and threw the rubble into the kidron valley.

Verse 19, Josiah removed all the shrines at the high places that the kings of Israel had built in the town samaria and that had aroused the Lord's anger. And that that that sentence there is amazing. It's an amazing sentence because if you know, if you're familiar at all with the book of kings, you'll know that even the good kings don't get this far. A very common phrase in the book of kings is that he removed all of the idols except the high places. That comes to an end with Josiah.

He goes for the high places and he brings them down. But that verse is even more significant because where does Josiah go? What are we told in verse 19? Where does he go? He goes to Samaria.

Where is Samaria? It's in the northern kingdom. So you see Josiah isn't just cleansing Judah. He's spiritually reuniting the nation. He's calling everybody back to the worship of yahweh in what he's doing here.

Verse 20, Josiah slaughtered all the priests of those high places on the altars and burned human bones on them. Verse 24. Furthermore, Josiah got rid of the mediums and spiritists the household gods, the idols, and all the other detestable things seen in Judah and in Jerusalem. That is quite the campaign, isn't it? It's quite the campaign.

And I think that this is 1 of the ways that we know if we're effective listeners. I'm not saying, of course, that we physically go and rip down mosques and temples and every other symbol of false worship. That's not our job to do that. But as the word of god is read and preached, are we being taken up with the glory of god in the same way? Do our hearts honestly ache that Jesus Christ is not honored in this land?

Really ache. And are we waging war against the idols of our own heart? That is the question. Are we being as ruthless with our idols as Josiah was with the idols? Of his day.

Because in many ways, this is the pattern of faith in the old and the new testament. 1 thessalonians 1 verse 8 says this. We do not need to say anything about your faith. For they themselves report what kind of reception you gave us. They tell how you turned to god from idols to serve the living and true god and to wait for his son from heaven whom he raised from the dead, Jesus, who rescues us from the coming wrath.

So what what does Christian faith involve? At its heart. Turning from idols to serve the true and living god. Or in other words, you can't serve the true and the living god unless you turn from idols. That's what faith is.

And so, however long we've walked with the lord, Josiah challenges us this evening, as we listen to the word of god week by week, are we as ruthless with idols as he was? Are we committed to wiping them out in every area of the heart? Or are there some we're happy to leave undisturbed? And untouched. Don Carson in his book letters along the way, which we've been reading in Fight Club, that's our men's ministry group here, He says this in the chapter we've just read.

You cannot walk with god unless you pursue holiness on every front. You cannot walk with god unless you pursue holiness on every front. So in summary, when the word of god is understood, It's it's it's consequences are far reaching. I think that is what we learn here. When we really understand the law of the law, the consequences are so far reaching.

Imagine it like the sun dawning over the world on a new day. The light finds its way to every place. Effective listeners want the word to find its way to every place. They want the word to touch their lives and the world that they live in. But there's 1 last sign.

1 last sign that shows us that Josiah's ears, although decaying now were brilliant at the time. As he heard the law of the lord, He understood that redemption was at its heart. That is the main point, if you like. The main way we understand that Josiah understood god's law was this. This is the third main point.

The great discovery brings grace. The great discovery brings grace. I wonder if you've got some of those moments in your life. That are so big and they are so special that you remember exactly where you were when they happened. You remember what you were doing.

You remember what you were wearing. You remember who you were with when this particular thing happened to you. I was with my dad this weekend, and for him, he was being at the 19 66 World Cup final. I was asking him about he still got his ticket. He was there.

When England won the World Cup final. His ticket so precious he was behind the goal when that fourth 1 went in and just crowd ran on the pitch. He can remember every single last detail about that day. He's never gonna forget it. Even if he tried to, he couldn't and I'm looking forward to inheriting that ticket, and selling it for a lot of money.

I've already looked on eBay, and I know what it's worth. So There we go. That for him was 1 of those 1 of those moments. And, maybe maybe maybe there are maybe there are moments that in your life. You can remember exactly where you were, what you were doing.

And I'm not I'm not I don't know this for sure, but I can imagine that for many people in the land of Judah, verse 21 of chapter 23 was like that 19 66 moment. It was a moment they would never forget. The king gave this order to all the people, celebrates the passover to the lord your god as it is written in this book of the government covenant. Neither in the days of the judges who led Israel, nor in the days of the kings of Israel and the kings of Judah, had any such Passover been observed. But in the eighteenth year of King Josiah, this Passover was celebrated to the lord.

In Jerusalem. It's such a that's such a special moment. The last mention of the Passover celebration is in Joshua chapter 5. That is roughly 800 years before this. 800 years before this.

In 2 chronicles, we're told that no passover like had been celebrated since Samuel. But even Samuel's celebration is not in the narrative. So the the last record of Passover that we have is in Joshua chapter 5. That is a long time ago. Josiah put it back on the map.

And in doing that, he even outstripped David in terms of his faithfulness to god. There's no record of David keeping the passover in the narrative. And for our purposes, That is how we know his ears were working. He put redemption back into the heart of the community. He realized that the saving grace of god was the lifeblood flowing through every letter of the law.

How could they be loyal to the law if grace was not at the heart of everything that they did? And so you can imagine the absolute scenes here. Once again, the passover lambs were slaughtered. And in that moment, they remember that they are a people saved by sacrifice. They are a people redeemed by blood.

They have been delivered from slavery to pharaoh they were rescued by god's mighty hand. They were god's people, not because they were more righteous, or more numerous than the peoples around them, but because the lord had chosen them and loved them. Josiah understood that real reformation is grace centered. He knew that the only way to reform properly his nation was if Grace was back at the heart of the community. And once again, I hope the link with our series is obvious.

Because the same thing must be true for us. The saving grace of God in Jesus Christ must be at center of our preaching and it must be at the center of our church life. Without that, all we're gonna get week by week is just laws which are gonna crush us. Things to do, but no motivation to do them, sins to confront, but no grace to help us. Josephiah knew it and so must we.

Grace is at the heart of the word of god. And it must be at the heart of god's people. That's how we know. Perhaps above everything else that his ears were top quality. When it came to the word of god.

He put redemption back into the center of life. Now there's so much more to say on Josiah and where he fits in and what he did. And, we've we've only really looked at him through the angle of listening. There's so much more to say. And just before we wrap up, these are gonna be brief points, but I think important points.

Before we wrap up, I want to end with just 3 short and they will be short applications. Okay? 3 short applications which tie into our series. The first application is this. It's an encouragement.

Have a look at verse 25. Of chapter 23. Neither before nor after Josiah was there a king like him who turned to the lord as he did. With all his heart and with all his soul and with all his strength in accordance with all the law of Moses. It seems almost unbelievable that that language could be used of an old testament king.

But that's Josiah. And above everything else he is remembered for his listening to the law of the lord. And so for us, he is a model of good hearing. He was personally convicted. He was captured by the glory of god.

He was determined to apply the word of god. And he rested in the mercy of God. And in that way, he is an encouragement to us to walk in his steps. By god's grace, the word must touch every area. Secondly, this is a wake up call.

It's an encouragement, but it's also a wake up call. Have a look at verse 30. Chapter 23. After Josiah died, the people of the lord took Joaz son of Josiah and anointed him and made him king in place of his father. Joaz was 23 years old when he became king.

And he reigned in Jerusalem 3 months. His mother's name was Hamutal daughter of Jeremiah. She was from Libya. He did evil in the eyes of the lord. A sad, isn't it?

All that work All that reformation, all that teaching, all that crushing of idols is just gone in 1 generation. It's just unraveled in 1 generation. Why? Because in the end, this is a lesson for us. The word of god must be rediscovered afresh in every generation.

Over and over and over again. The law must be discovered. So pray, pray for our sunday school teachers. Pray for them. This is their job, partly, that they would teach the word of the lord in truth.

Pay for our kids. That they would be humble like old Josiah committed to grace centered reformation in their days. Turning from the sins of their fathers, not embracing them. Prey for the university. That the word of god which is basically lost in the same way.

It is lost in the same way. Prey that it would be rediscovered with amazing consequences. Friends, I think part of this is to teach us that we must think beyond ourselves. And we must do all that we can to ensure a good legacy, the ongoing discovery of the word of god. Jahuaz is a wake up call.

Don't take anything for granted. Thirdly and finally, this is a signpost. It's an encouragement. It's a wake up call and it's a signpost. Verse 25 again.

Neither before nor after Josiah was there a king like him? Who turned to the lord as he did with all his heart and with all his soul and with all his strength in accordance with all of the law of Moses. Nevertheless, the lord did not turn away from the heat of his fierce anger. Which burned against Judah. And at the risk of confusing you right at the end of this sermon, there is a sense in which this story is a failure, not a success.

There's a sense in which this reign is a failure not a success. Despite Jose's relentless pursuit of god's honor, in the end, it wasn't enough to save the people from the wrath of god. It wasn't enough to cleanse the nation properly. Only exile was going to accomplish that. No matter what they did, and no matter how they strived, their fathers had sealed their fate.

And so here's the point. Josiah was a great king, but he could not divert god's wrath. But thankfully, There was a king after him who could divert the wrath of god. There was a king who listened perfectly to his father's will. He was the perfect listener.

There was a king who never for a single moment let the law of the lord depart from his lips. There was a king who was more zealous for the honor of his father than anyone before or after him. There was a king who offered himself as the passover lamb, taking the wrath of god, diverting it from us, which just I couldn't do. So that we could be saved. He was a king who put grace at the heart of god's people.

He said take and drink. This is my blood. Shed for you for the forgiveness of your sins. When the author of 2 kings said there was no king like Josiah before or after, that may have been true in his day, but with this book in our hands, we know that ultimately he was mistaken. There was a greater king after him.

Our lord, Jesus Christ. And if we are gonna have any success in listening to God's word, Any success in wiping out our idols, any hope of reformation in these days, we must have him, our ultimate passover lamb. At the heart of our preaching and at the heart of our church. And maybe if you're here this evening and you're not a believer, you're still investigating Christian things or you're not sure. I just wanna leave you with this 1 thought.

Josiah shows us right at the end of his life. That god's wrath against our sin is very difficult to overcome. It is very difficult to overcome. In fact, it cannot be overcome. Without the greatest king of all.

Jesus Christ. Christianity is not a load of laws to crush you. It's not a call to get yourself together and God will be happy with you. It's a call to turn away from idols and trust in Christ as your savior. Over and above everything else, this is how we know if our hearing is good.

Will we come to Jesus Christ? And with that, let's pray together. Maybe you just wanna take just a moment of quiet to think about some of the things that we've looked at in god's word. Perhaps god has spoken to you this evening about something. That as the word was read and preached, he spoke to you.

He put his finger on something in your life that you need to deal with now and not put off. Let's take a couple of minutes to talk to him.