The Devotion of Josiah (2 Kings 23:1-30)
“The Devotion of Josiah”
2 Kings 23:1-30 (1-3)
I know it has been a couple of weeks since we studied the kings,
But last time we did, we talked about a young king named Josiah.
You remember him as one of the few truly good kings Israel ever had.
We called him “The Devoted King”
• It was he who started out to restore the temple.
• The book of the Law was found and read to him.
• He humbled himself under that Law.
• God promised to save him from the coming judgment.
He was a devoted king.
So the writer chooses to spend a little more time on his life.
The purpose is obvious.
TO SHOW US WHAT TRUE DEVOTION LOOKS LIKE
(And even more so, devotion to God’s Word)
And I just cannot overstate how important devotion is to the Christian life.
I don’t know of a single spiritual discipline that occurs without devotion.
Not in your personal life.
Not in your family life.
Not in the life of this church.
The only way to get from where we are
To where God wants us to be is devotion.
It takes commitment. It takes long-suffering. It takes patient faithfulness.
It takes devotion
However, the concept of devotion is becoming a lost art.
The temptation is to trade genuine results for quick ones.
As a result the church today has largely become “fad” driven.
John MacArthur recently wrote in an article called “How Did We Make Such an Evangelical Mess?”
“Evangelical churchgoers desperately want their churches to stay on the leading edge of whatever is currently in vogue in the evangelical community. It almost seems like ancient history now, but for a while, any church that wanted to be in fashion had to sponsor seminars on how to pray the prayer of Jabez. But woe to the church that was still doing Jabez when The Purpose-Driven Life took center stage. By then, any church that wanted to retain its standing and credibility in the evangelical movement had better be doing “Forty Days of Purpose.” And if your church didn’t get through the “Forty Days” in time to host group studies or preach a series of sermons about The Da Vinci Code before the Hollywood movie version came out, then your church was considered badly out of touch with what really matters.”
And as you sit back and watch this endless fad jumping take place,
I constantly ask myself “Where is the devotion?”
One would think that the process to turn a lost person
Into a mature sanctified Christian is a 6 week process.
But we know that is not the case.
The process of sanctification is a slow process.
The concept of killing off the old man
And letting the new man shine forth takes a long time.
And the church does not achieve true spiritual success
By jumping from fad to fad, ditching what is too slow
And running after the next explosive ministry idea.
The church achieves true sanctification and godliness
By being devoted to one thing, and that one thing is God’s Word.
Paul told the Thessalonian believers:
1 Thessalonians 2:13 “For this reason we also constantly thank God that when you received the word of God which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men, but for what it really is, the word of God, which also performs its work in you who believe.”
In order for the slow process of sanctification to occur,
There must be devotion to God’s Word.
That is also why (as we have seen in our Sunday night study)
Paul continually tells Timothy to remain committed to God’s Word.
1 Timothy 4:13-16 “Until I come, give attention to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation and teaching. Do not neglect the spiritual gift within you, which was bestowed on you through prophetic utterance with the laying on of hands by the presbytery. Take pains with these things; be absorbed in them, so that your progress will be evident to all. Pay close attention to yourself and to your teaching; persevere in these things, for as you do this you will ensure salvation both for yourself and for those who hear you.”
It is a call for devotion.
And it grieves me when I see or hear of other churches
Who are quickly following every gimmick.
Revealing that God’s Word wasn’t working fast enough for them.
Romans 1:16 “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.”
We as believers must learn to be devoted to God’s Word.
Even if the results aren’t as flashy as “The Fad-Driven Church”
We aren’t just seeking to bring a large quantity of goods to the judgment, But that everything we do bring survives through the fire.
1 Corinthians 3:10-15 “According to the grace of God which was given to me, like a wise master builder I laid a foundation, and another is building on it. But each man must be careful how he builds on it. For no man can lay a foundation other than the one which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if any man builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, each man’s work will become evident; for the day will show it because it is to be revealed with fire, and the fire itself will test the quality of each man’s work. If any man’s work which he has built on it remains, he will receive a reward. If any man’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire.”
We are not just seeing how big and how fast we can build.
We are making sure that what we do build stands for all eternity.
And to build like that it requires devotion.
And this isn’t just true for the church, but for your family as well.
To train your kids to be genuine in the faith,
The same devotion is required.
The recent fad is to ship our kids off to some circus type event
That will get our kids drunk on emotion and peer pressure
Hoping that in the course of that week they will make a decision.
And if all goes well, I can neglect the true training of my child,
Ship them off for a week, and for the onetime cost of $250
They will come back in love with Jesus.
(They usually come back in love, but rarely is it with Jesus)
But it you want your kids to be real followers of Jesus,
Then you have to be devoted to God’s Word.
Deuteronomy 6:1-9 “Now this is the commandment, the statutes and the judgments which the LORD your God has commanded me to teach you, that you might do them in the land where you are going over to possess it, so that you and your son and your grandson might fear the LORD your God, to keep all His statutes and His commandments which I command you, all the days of your life, and that your days may be prolonged. “O Israel, you should listen and be careful to do it, that it may be well with you and that you may multiply greatly, just as the LORD, the God of your fathers, has promised you, in a land flowing with milk and honey. “Hear, O Israel! The LORD is our God, the LORD is one! “You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. “These words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart. “You shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up. “You shall bind them as a sign on your hand and they shall be as frontals on your forehead. “You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.”
There are no short cuts there.
You as a parent must be devoted to God’s Word.
The same is true for you personally.
There are those who run from one emotionally rally to the next
Trying to continually feed on some sort of spiritual circus
As though that is how sanctification is achieved.
But if you want to be formed into the image of Christ,
There is no substitute for devotion to God’s Word.
Lenny preached on it last week:
Colossians 3:16 “Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God.”
The parallel passage to that verse is found in Ephesians.
Ephesians 5:18-19 “And do not get drunk with wine, for that is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord;”
Paul speaks of the same reality. And that reality is true godliness.
And the way that is achieved is by being “filled with the Spirit”
The equivalent which is letting “the word of Christ richly dwell within you.” Those are the same thing.
And they are necessary if you are to be
The Christian God intends for you to be.
THERE IS NO SUBSTITUTE FOR DEVOTION TO GOD’S WORD.
The simple point thus far is that the things of God
Cannot be achieved through a drive through window.
The process of sanctification and spiritual growth
Are slow processes that require devotion.
AND THIS MORNING WE GET THE PRIVILEGE
OF SEEING WHAT TRUE DEVOTION LOOKS LIKE.
Now before we dive into the text, allow me to paint you a picture
Of what the nation that Josiah led actually looked like.
Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, & Jeremiah all prophesied during his reign.
We can get a great understanding of what Judah was like during his reign.
Zephaniah 3:1-7 “Woe to her who is rebellious and defiled, The tyrannical city! She heeded no voice, She accepted no instruction. She did not trust in the LORD, She did not draw near to her God. Her princes within her are roaring lions, Her judges are wolves at evening; They leave nothing for the morning. Her prophets are reckless, treacherous men; Her priests have profaned the sanctuary. They have done violence to the law. The LORD is righteous within her; He will do no injustice. Every morning He brings His justice to light; He does not fail. But the unjust knows no shame. “I have cut off nations; Their corner towers are in ruins. I have made their streets desolate, With no one passing by; Their cities are laid waste, Without a man, without an inhabitant. “I said, ‘Surely you will revere Me, Accept instruction.’ So her dwelling will not be cut off According to all that I have appointed concerning her. But they were eager to corrupt all their deeds.”
Zephaniah paints a pretty good picture about the obstinate rebellion
That characterized Judah during the days of Josiah.
Jeremiah said the same:
Jeremiah 25:1-7 “The word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the people of Judah, in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah (that was the first year of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon), which Jeremiah the prophet spoke to all the people of Judah and to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying, “From the thirteenth year of Josiah the son of Amon, king of Judah, even to this day, these twenty-three years the word of the LORD has come to me, and I have spoken to you again and again, but you have not listened. “And the LORD has sent to you all His servants the prophets again and again, but you have not listened nor inclined your ear to hear, saying, ‘ Turn now everyone from his evil way and from the evil of your deeds, and dwell on the land which the LORD has given to you and your forefathers forever and ever; and do not go after other gods to serve them and to worship them, and do not provoke Me to anger with the work of your hands, and I will do you no harm.’ “Yet you have not listened to Me,” declares the LORD, “in order that you might provoke Me to anger with the work of your hands to your own harm.”
I really wish I had the time to have you turn to Jeremiah 5-7 where you could see over and over just how stubborn Judah was during those days.
Let me just give you a few here.
Jeremiah 5:3 “O LORD, do not Your eyes look for truth? You have smitten them, But they did not weaken; You have consumed them, But they refused to take correction. They have made their faces harder than rock; They have refused to repent.”
Jeremiah 5:23 “But this people has a stubborn and rebellious heart; They have turned aside and departed.”
Jeremiah 6:10 “To whom shall I speak and give warning That they may hear? Behold, their ears are closed And they cannot listen. Behold, the word of the LORD has become a reproach to them; They have no delight in it.”
Jeremiah 6:16-19 “Thus says the LORD, “Stand by the ways and see and ask for the ancient paths, Where the good way is, and walk in it; And you will find rest for your souls. But they said, ‘We will not walk in it.’ “And I set watchmen over you, saying, ‘Listen to the sound of the trumpet!’ But they said, ‘We will not listen.’ “Therefore hear, O nations, And know, O congregation, what is among them. “Hear, O earth: behold, I am bringing disaster on this people, The fruit of their plans, Because they have not listened to My words, And as for My law, they have rejected it also.”
Jeremiah 7:24-26 “Yet they did not obey or incline their ear, but walked in their own counsels and in the stubbornness of their evil heart, and went backward and not forward. “Since the day that your fathers came out of the land of Egypt until this day, I have sent you all My servants the prophets, daily rising early and sending them. “Yet they did not listen to Me or incline their ear, but stiffened their neck; they did more evil than their fathers.”
In fact their obstinance is so bad and their rebellion is so severe that God even commanded Jeremiah to quit praying for this people.
Jeremiah 7:16 “As for you, do not pray for this people, and do not lift up cry or prayer for them, and do not intercede with Me; for I do not hear you.”
The point is that Josiah was not king over a group of saints
Who were eager to hear God’s word and obey it.
Josiah was king over some of the most
Defiant and stubborn people who ever lived.
FURTHERMORE THEY WERE ALREADY A CONDEMNED PEOPLE.
And that is clearly seen even in our text this morning.
Josiah is about to do some amazing things.
But after he is done, you will notice that God does not change His mind.
(Verses 26-27) “However, the LORD did not turn from the fierceness of His great wrath with which His anger burned against Judah, because of all the provocations with which Manasseh had provoked Him. The LORD said, “I will remove Judah also from My sight, as I have removed Israel. And I will cast off Jerusalem, this city which I have chosen, and the temple of which I said, ‘My name shall be there.'”
HERE IS WHAT THAT MEANS
Josiah was king over a people who were already appointed for judgment, And a people who were not interested hearing how to be saved.
Talk about ministering in a dry pool.
It is the perfect opportunity to reveal what true devotion looks like.
Anyone can be devoted during a time of fertility and great harvest.
Anyone can preach when people are flocking down the aisles.
Anyone can witness when people are responding in groves.
But if you want to see a picture of true devotion:
Find a man who continues to do it even when they don’t.
That is where we find Josiah.
There are 4 areas in which we see the devotion of Josiah.
#1 HE READ THE LAW
2 Kings 23:1-3
We already said that if true devotion is going to exist
That devotion must be in regard to the word of God.
That is obvious here.
Josiah has just had the word read to him.
And now he determines to go public.
And please notice this is all his idea.
(1) “Then the king sent and they gathered to him…”
(2) “The king went up to the house of the LORD…
(2) “and he read in all their hearing all the words of the book…”
(3) “The king stood by the pillar and made a covenant before the LORD…”
I mean this is all Josiah’s idea.
No one is doing it for him.
Here is a king who decided to be wholly devoted to God’s word.
Look at the conditions of his covenant.
(3) “to walk after the LORD, and to keep His commandments and His testimonies and His statutes with all his heart and all his soul, to carry out the words of this covenant that were written in this book.”
That is a declaration of devotion.
Now you will notice at the end of verse 3 “And all the people entered into the covenant.”
Don’t read too much into that, Jeremiah and Zephaniah already revealed that these people aren’t really committed to God regardless of what they might say.
But Josiah was devoted.
He Read the Law
#2 HE REMOVED THE IDOLS
2 Kings 23:4-20; 24-25
It is one thing to say you are going to devote yourself to God,
But true devotion requires action.
Jesus said:
John 8:31 “So Jesus was saying to those Jews who had believed Him, “If you continue in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine;”
Josiah is setting out to prove himself genuine.
And he does so by first removing all of the idols.
And he is very systematic and thorough about it.
1) CLEAN OUT THE TEMPLE (4-7)
You will notice all the references here are to God’s house.
Verse 6 causes some people difficulty as to why he would throw the dust on the graves of the common people.
2 Chronicles 34:4 “They tore down the altars of the Baals in his presence, and the incense altars that were high above them he chopped down; also the Asherim, the carved images and the molten images he broke in pieces and ground to powder and scattered it on the graves of those who had sacrificed to them.”
Kind of like how churches used to bury their members outside the church
Apparently that is what these idolatrous sites were as well.
But the main thing I want you to see is that in his devotion
The first thing he did was get all the idolatry out of God’s house.
If we want to be devoted, the first thing we must clean up is God’s temple.
And by that I don’t mean this church building.
I’m talking about the temple of your heart.
Josiah’s first action was to clean out the temple
2) CLEAN OUT JUDAH (8-14)
Here you noticed we are dealing with “the cities of Judah”
The writer even says, “from Geba to Beersheba”
Geba was the extreme north, Beersheba was the extreme south.
After clearing out the temple, Josiah started clearing out his nation.
Once you clean up your heart, you can branch outward as well.
Matthew 7:5 “You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.”
And I hope you saw how thorough he was.
(13) “The high places which were before Jerusalem, which were on the right of the mount of destruction which Solomon the king of Israel had built”
Those aren’t just idolatrous sites, those are historical markers.
It’s been 300 years since Solomon was king.
And even kings like Hezekiah who supposedly tore down
All the high places didn’t mess with those.
That would be like trying to remove the statue of Liberty.
(You think healthcare was a fight)
But Josiah did it.
It was an idolatrous site and it had to go.
He didn’t care who built it, or how long it had been there.
Clean out the temple Clean out Judah
3) CLEAN OUT SAMARIA (15-20)
Samaria was the old Northern kingdom. (now run by Assyria)
But in Josiah’s heart that was still God’s land
And the idols had to be removed.
That is now like cleaning out idolatry in America
And then going north into Canada to do the same.
And by the way God said Josiah would do this.
1 Kings 13:1-2 “Now behold, there came a man of God from Judah to Bethel by the word of the LORD, while Jeroboam was standing by the altar to burn incense. He cried against the altar by the word of the LORD, and said, “O altar, altar, thus says the LORD, ‘Behold, a son shall be born to the house of David, Josiah by name; and on you he shall sacrifice the priests of the high places who burn incense on you, and human bones shall be burned on you.'”
We call this devotion.
Not only did he read God’s word,
He also obeyed it by removing idolatry from the land.
(Verses 24-25) “Moreover, Josiah removed the mediums and the spiritists and the teraphim and the idols and all the abominations that were seen in the land of Judah and in Jerusalem, that he might confirm the words of the law which were written in the book that Hilkiah the priest found in the house of the LORD. Before him there was no king like him who 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; nor did any like him arise after him.”
He Read the Law He Removed the Idols
#3 HE REINSTATED THE PASSOVER
2 Kings 23:21-23
Now you may say, “That’s not new”
You may remember Hezekiah had the Passover.
But not like this he didn’t.
(21) “Then the king commanded all the people saying, “Celebrate the Passover to the LORD your God AS IT IS WRITTEN in this book of the covenant.”
In other words, don’t just do it, do it right.
(22) “Surely such a Passover had not been celebrated from the days of the judges…”
Not even David had a Passover like this one.
But under Josiah Judah did it right.
(23) “But in the eighteenth year of King Josiah the Passover was observed to the LORD in Jerusalem.”
This was a nation that did not care about God’s redemption.
They no longer cared about their deliverance from Egypt.
And so doing the Passover was insignificant to them.
And doing it exactly according to the book would have been a nuisance.
But Josiah made them.
It takes devotion to God’s Word to enforce it upon those who don’t care.
He was devoted to reading and obeying God’s word to the letter.
Now of course, as we read to begin the sermon,
All his devotion seemed to be completely unsuccessful.
(Verses 26-27) “However, the LORD did not turn from the fierceness of His great wrath with which His anger burned against Judah, because of all the provocations with which Manasseh had provoked Him. The LORD said, “I will remove Judah also from My sight, as I have removed Israel. And I will cast off Jerusalem, this city which I have chosen, and the temple of which I said, ‘My name shall be there.'”
And don’t let that bother you.
Josiah knew that going into the whole deal.
God had reaffirmed the coming judgment back in the 22nd chapter.
Josiah knew before he ever got started
That his efforts would not change anything.
BUT HE DID IT ANYWAY.
Because God commands devotion.
He Read the Law, He Removed the Idols, He Reinstated the Passover
#4 HE RESTED FROM HIS LABORS
2 Kings 23:28-30
Some have tried to look at his death as though somehow he messed up
And was not pleasing to God, and that is why he died at the age of 37.
Nothing could be further from the truth.
He died young because God had made him a promise.
2 Kings 22:19-20 “because your heart was tender and you humbled yourself before the LORD when you heard what I spoke against this place and against its inhabitants that they should become a desolation and a curse, and you have torn your clothes and wept before Me, I truly have heard you,” declares the LORD. “Therefore, behold, I will gather you to your fathers, and you will be gathered to your grave in peace, and your eyes will not see all the evil which I will bring on this place.”‘” So they brought back word to the king.”
Josiah didn’t die young as a form of punishment.
He died young as a reward.
God spared him from seeing what was about to occur.
Revelation 14:13 “And I heard a voice from heaven, saying, “Write, ‘Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on!'” “Yes,” says the Spirit, “so that they may rest from their labors, for their deeds follow with them.”
That was what occurred for Josiah.
He was devoted to God even though he saw no “success”
In his labors and God honored his devotion.
• He was king over a nation that did not love God’s word,
AND HE READ IT TO THEM.
• He was king over a nation that loved idolatry,
AND HE REMOVED THEM.
• He was king over a nation that did not want God’s salvation,
AND HE MADE THEM TAKE THE PASSOVER ANYWAY.
His devotion was not based on public opinion,
But on personal conviction.
We’ve all seen times when Jesus became sort of a fad.
But Josiah was truly devoted. He did it when no one else cared.
That is what you and I are called to do as well.
“be instant in season and out of season”
God wants you and I to be devoted to Him.
Luke 9:57-62 “As they were going along the road, someone said to Him, “I will follow You wherever You go.” And Jesus said to him, “The foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.” And He said to another, “Follow Me.” But he said, “Lord, permit me first to go and bury my father.” But He said to him, “Allow the dead to bury their own dead; but as for you, go and proclaim everywhere the kingdom of God.” Another also said, “I will follow You, Lord; but first permit me to say good-bye to those at home.” But Jesus said to him, “No one, after putting his hand to the plow and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.”
There is no substitute for diligence.
There is no short degree in perseverance.
You can’t receive sanctification in 40 days.
Let go of your ideas of instant success.
Let go of your desires for a “quick-fix”
And devote yourselves for the long-haul of dedicated Christian service.
Then and only then will what we accomplish be genuine.
It may not appear that Josiah took many results with him
As he stood for the judgment.
But I promise you that what he did take with him
Survived through the fire.
1 Corinthians 3:10-15 “According to the grace of God which was given to me, like a wise master builder I laid a foundation, and another is building on it. But each man must be careful how he builds on it. For no man can lay a foundation other than the one which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if any man builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, each man’s work will become evident; for the day will show it because it is to be revealed with fire, and the fire itself will test the quality of each man’s work. If any man’s work which he has built on it remains, he will receive a reward. If any man’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire.”
