A King after God's heart.

If you have your bible’s we will be in 2 different texts today 2 Kings 22, and 2 Chronicles 34.

We are starting our new study today. I believe this study is going to be an important study for the life of this church. The study will be looking at King Josiah. King Josiah was one of if not the greatest king’s in the history of Isreal. He was king of Judea from the years 640BC to 609BC, and he came in a time that needed some desperate change. They had just experienced a king that did not follow the Lord, and if you know your kings of the bible well this is nothing new. Isreal despite the wonderful blessing that God had given them, often had kings that did not honor the Lord. This was the case before Josiah came.

The King prior to Judah reigned for only 2 Years and the scripture says he did evil in the sight of the Lord. He served and worshiped Idols. He abandoned the Lord. His Father was even worse. And he reigned for 55 years. He did great evil against the Lord as well. He adopted the practices of foreign countries. Making alters of false Gods, going so far to sacrifice one of his own sons as offering. He sought fortune tellers, omens, and mediums, and necromancers.

The scripture says he provoked the Lord to anger. HE led them to do more evil than the nations had done whom the Lord destroyed before the people of Israel. ( incredible because looking at scripture we have in fact seen the abominations that the other nations have commited against God and man, and they did worse then them. Manasseh led the people to shed innocent blood. and the Lord said they would pay for such a thing and they would eventually after the reign of Josiah pay for their sins against God by going into captivity. Now Manasseh was a bad man, BUT THE LORD...

For Christian’s today we can relate to the people of Israel when it comes to evil, evil is so clearly seen in the world we live in, but despite this evil that we see in the World as believers we need to be more like Josiah. Josiah was a king that was after God’s heart. Despite everything that came before him, the Lord stirred his heart to serve him. We may live in some of the darkest days in the history of American, and a dark time in world history when it comes to many things, but that doesn’t give us an excuse to be like the bad kings, like those who do not know Christ, we are to be different, we are to be like Josiah after the Lord with all his heart. I pray this study awakens your own heart to be after Gods heart.

Read 2 Kings 22, and 2 Chronicles 34.

The Main the Idea this morning is this, A believer after God’s heart pursues God in all of their ways.

Believers must walk the narrow path

When Josiah took over as king he was just 8 years old. Quite young to be a king, but according to scripture he was the last great king Judah ever had. The Babylon kingdom was coming, and despite this he was the greatest king to possibly ever live. 2 Kings 23:25 “25 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 walked the narrow path, which is incredible because his father was evil. His mother’s name was Jedidah, and according to Hebrew scholars this name is the female name of Soloman, and we know because of scripture that Soloman was one of the wisest men to ever live, and it appears that Josiahs mother helped him walk down the path of righteousness.

And as scripture says he was a man that was did what was right in the eyes of the Lord. ( he did not want to be like his father, or the other kings that neglected the Lord, and his plans. ) His desire was to walk with the Lord to walk the narrow path. To walk in the way of David his father. And he did that very thing.

Not only did he walk that narrow path, but he did not turn to the right or the Left. He was a man like Deut 17:11 explains which says, “11 According to the instructions that they give you, and according to the decision which they pronounce to you, you shall do. You shall not turn aside from the verdict that they declare to you, either to the right hand or to the left.”

A man who truly walked the narrow path.

These words are important words. Because It shows that Josiah was a man who was focused on serving the Lord and not following the world, not following in the path of so many bad kings that Israel had..

What’s unique to know about Josiah is that other places say that they may have been like David, and David was a great king, but he had his faults, but what made Josiah a real man of God was the fact that he did not turn to the right or the left.

He was an example for the people when they needed it most. After years of having leaders that followed the world trends he was a man who followed the Lord. Who walked the narrow path, who could provide Israel when a renewed since of what it was like to be led by a man of God, and not a man of this world.

Another verse that describes Josiah as a man.Josh 1:7 “7 Only be strong and very courageous, being careful to do according to all the law that Moses my servant commanded you. Do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may have good success wherever you go.”

Josiah was a great man of God because he followed the Lord in such a way that he did not deviate from the path that the Lord had set from his people.

Believers can see the example of Josiah, and truly think about how we live for the Lord. See Josiah did his best to follow the law of God, and believers are to follow Jesus the way he wants to be followed. The book of Matthew gives us some insight on the narrow path in Matthew 7:13-14 “13 “Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. 14 For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.”

and those who find the narrow path find eternal life. Listen to what one man said,( Macarthur, 1134-35) “Many people think that both the narrow gate and the wide gate provide the entrance to God’s kingdom. These do represent two ways that people live. But only the narrow gate, constricted and precise, salvation by faith through Christ alone is God’s way that leads to eternal life. The wide gate includes all religions of works and self-rightousness, with no single way, but it all lead to hell, not heaven.

Josiah lived in a world that had so many options, so many gods, so many ways to live, yet he took the narrow path, and enjoyed because of it, and if we are people living on the other side of the cross are going to walk to the narrow path to find the right way we must first repent and believe, and then follow the Lord with our own hearts in such a way that does not turn to the right nor the left, just like Josiah did.

So many of us seem to find the easy way out, to think that we are following Christ, and totally miss him, either one by not having a personal relationship with him, or two following our path.

Think about this, last week my wife and I and our daughter went to the beach in Florida, one of these beaches is one of the best beaches in the US, but to get to the main part of beach there is this path that goes closer to the water than other paths do. And if you know anything about walking in sand its much harder than walking on a path. If you took this path to the beach you would have as easier, and better journey to the water.

I say this because many in this room often times including myself look to walk the narrow path that isn't even there. Its nots the Lords way, and when its not the Lord’s way we fail to live for him.

There must be a self examination if we are to be like king Josiah, and walk the narrow path in such a way that we dont turn from the left or the right. Jesus is our example, and if we look to him, and his life then we will be able to walk the narrow path, and part of walking that narrow path is that Christians must destroy idols.

Believers must destroy idols

Josiah at a young age really began to seek the Lord, and as he grew in the knowledge of the Lord he began to purge the area of its idols.

This took place when he was in his twelfth year of his reign twenty years old. Now twenty was the typical age that someone could have the responsibilities of an adult according to numbers 1:3.

And Josiah took his power and influence to destroy the idols of of the land, and God being Sovereign provided the perfect time for Josiah to do that very thing.

In the year 627 BC the king of Assyria died. The king of Assyria dying opened up the opportunity for Judah to re assert its own political and religious agenda. And Josiah did that very thing.

Listen to the language of how he in fact destroyed these idols. ( he chopped down the alters of the Bails.

He cut down the incense alters. He broke into pieces the idols. He made them Dust. He burned down the bones of the priests on their alters and cleansed Judah and Jerusalem. Again he broke down alters and beat the images into powder, and cut them down, all throughout Israel he did this.

Think about this, he showed us how our idols are to be put to death. He completely destroyed these idols, and I think this is important thing, because i want you to think Israel and there history of returning to idols over and over again, it possibly because these idols were still there or brought in by these kingdoms that often invaded Isreal.

Instead of telling the people of Israel dont pursue these idols, because you shouldn’t he destroyed them.

Idols are something that can be destroyed, but God cant.

See if these idols had any real value, had any real worth, had any true power than they wouldn’t have been able to be destroyed, but King Josiah broke the trend of the idol worship, and so should we.

In America we have more idols than we can even imagine. Last week when OU didnt play so well the church people seemed a little down, and its crazy to think about that three hours of something once a week impact us so much that it prevents us from following the one true God in the proper way.

We have our cell phones, music, tv, video games, homes, cars, motorcycles, boats, sports, including kids sports, hobbies, and all these other things that we elevate into an improper place that derails us from following Christ.

I am guilty of elevating things that should not be elevated, and instead of putting them in there proper place I continue to make them something they should not be.

And the example of Josiah to an outsider might be extreme. But for the Christian we should take note of this because often our true response should be God what do you want me to destroy.

Many of us hide our idols, in drawers, closes, garages, outside, at a friends house, at work, or somewhere else, waiting for the proper time to take them out instead of just destroying them.

They text said that he destroyed idols, and as a result there was a cleansing of Judah, and Jerusalem.

What idols do you need to destroy. For Josiah it was many, what about you? What about you? I personally cannot answer that question for you, but I can challenge you to look and see what is causing you to not follow the lord.

See we started with this idea that Josiah walked the narrow path, and the narrow path that he walked honored the Lord, and learned that today only believers in Christ can walk the narrow path, but walking the narrow path has its obstacles and one the biggest obstacles is removing the idols from your life.

There may be no greater challenge as a believer in Christ than removing your idols. Like I said earlier we have may more idols than we can ever count, and we see how these idols have taking us further and further from God. Let me ask you this if your a believer in Christ and a member of this church how long do we meet on a typical week, about 3 maybe 3 and half hours, we set aside to worship the Lord together as a church body, the time of one football game, yet we can’t even stay engaged during that time as we should.

And I am convinced this is because we have not been walking the narrow path, or putting idols to death in our lives.

Church family I told you this was going to be an important series for the life of this church, and I meant it.

For anyone who may be listening to this message today, and doesn't know the Lord there is judgement for you, death awaits every man and women because of sin.But when Christ Jesus died on the cross he died for those who would believe, and if you call upon the name of the Lord, and repent and believe this morning then you can be saved.

For the believer I want to challenge you as I have challenged myself to walk in such a way that we dont deviate to the left or to the right. That we walk the narrow path setting our eyes on Jesus, and destroying the idols among us. IF you can dont miss next week as we learn more about the like of Josiah and how his life gives us an example to follow the Lord faithfully.

Let us pray…