Amen, so real familiar story here for most folks concerning Josiah there in chapter 22
And I'm just kind of adding that red just so we can kind of get the background
And I'd understand a little about about who this character is and if you would just back up a little bit further into chapter 21
In verse 16 and we kind of get an understanding of you know, what what a great thing
This is when Josiah, you know brings this revival into land because you have to remember when he does this
He's coming out of a very long time, you know a great deal of wickedness
That's been taking place for several generations going all the way back to his grandfather there in verse 16
It says more of a Manasseh shed innocent blood very much till he filled Jerusalem from one end to another
Beside his sin where what he made Judah to sin in doing that which is evil in the sight of the Lord
Now the rest of the acts of Manasseh and all that he did and his sin that he sinned are they not written in the book
Of the Chronicles of the kings of Judah, so that's his grandfather right Manasseh who shed much, you know
Very much innocent blood committed all these sins and the Bible is even saying look
We even recorded his sins in these other books, right and then he got verse 18
It says and Manasseh slept with his father's and he was buried in the garden of his own house in the garden of Uzzah
And Ammon his son reigned in his tent and if you read there, you know, Ammon, which is Josiah's father
He also did wickedly it says in verse 18 and he did that which is evil in the sight of Lord as his father
Manasseh did and he walked in although and all that way that his father walked in and served the idols that his father served and
Worshipped them and he forsook the Lord is the Lord God of his father's and walked not in the way of the Lord and
Served and the servants of Ammon conspired against him and slew the king in his own house
so this is the lineage that Josiah has when we find him here in chapter 22 and he begins reigning like it says there at
Eight years old. So maybe the reason why he had a more tender heart
Maybe the reason why he was more open to
You know getting right with God and leading the nation back into righteousness is because of the fact that you know
He didn't although these were his fathers. He didn't have a lot of time with them
Maybe he did wasn't around they weren't around long enough in his life to really have that strong of an influence
But you know no doubt
That was probably the path that he was beginning to take
He probably in all likelihood would have followed in their footsteps and been a wicked King himself
but of course we know the story here in chapter 22 to find the book of the law and
He repents and he wants to get right with God and he says there if you would look at verse 23 verse 1
chapter 23 verse 1 and the king
Josiah sent and they gathered unto him all the elders of the house of Judah and of Jerusalem the king went up into the house
of the Lord and all the men of Judah and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem with him and the
Priests and the prophets and all the people will small and great and he read in their ears
all the words of the book of the Covenant which was found in the house of the Lord and the king stood by a pillar and
They made a covenant before the Lord to walk after the Lord and to keep his commandments and his
Testimonies and his statutes with all their heart and all their soul to perform the words of this covenant and that were written in this
Book and all the people stood Covenant stood to the Covenant so he finds that the book is found
It's brought to him
He reads that he realizes that they're there that they're they're wicked that they need to get right with God
He takes all the people in the priests and he brings them and they notice there
It says that all the people stood to the Covenant, you know, he reads this book
He says look we're gonna do this and everyone agrees with them and they say hey
We're gonna we're gonna keep this command these judgments these statutes and we're not just gonna keep them
We're gonna keep them with all of our heart and with all of our soul and with all of our might that's what they are
Promising to do here, right? But is that enough? Is it enough just to say, you know, I'm not right with God
I've gotten out sorts with the Lord and now and now I'm gonna get right, you know, Lord
I I you know, I'm gonna make a covenant. I'm gonna promise to start doing righteous
Start living right. Is that enough to just say those words?
No, actually it requires action right otherwise, it's just it's just vain
It's just vain empty words if it's not followed by action, and that's exactly what you see here with Josiah
He wasn't somebody just you know, talk to big talk, you know
He followed it up with action and it's one of the greatest
You know one of the greatest stories in the Bible when you read especially the Old Testament where he's just you know
Literally cleaning house where he's just breaking down idols tearing down
You know the idols of the land smashing them burning them and you know and one of the parts
I really like is you know, he got we drove the sodomites out of the land, right?
I'll read about that
it says in verse 4 and the king commanded hakiah the priest and the priest of the
Second order and the keepers of the door to bring forth out of the temple of the Lord all the vessels that were made
For Baal, so I mean this kind of gives you an idea where Israel is as a nation at this point
You know in their history
They literally have
Instruments that are used to worship Satan in the house of the Lord. Okay, and he's saying hey take those things out
and for the grove and for all the host of heaven and he burned them without Jerusalem in the field of Caidron and
carry the ashes ashes of them unto Bethel and he put down the
Idolatrous priest and whom the king of Judah had ordained to burn incense in the high places in the city of Judah and the places
round about Jerusalem
them also that burned incense on the bale to the Sun and to the moon and to the planets and to all the hosts of
Heaven, so he's getting rid of this wicked heathen false religion out of the land
And he's burning all these things and he's and he's cleaning house, right?
And this is something that we need to understand in our lives is that when we get saved and we say, you know
What I'm gonna I'm saved and I'm gonna live for the Lord, you know
And of course, we don't have to live for the Lord to be saved
We understand that but you know, we should desire to live for God after we get saved, you know
There should be a desire in our hearts to want to do righteousness to keep the commandments the statutes
Ordinances all of that like these people here
in order to do that you have to some a lot of times people have to understand that they have to separate from a sinful
Past and that's really what you see taking place here in the life of Josiah
I mean he's coming from a lineage of very wicked men
You have the nasty who is you know?
One of the most wicked kings you'll ever read of him and Ahab and then his father Ammon and then you have him
Right and he wants to serve God. He wants to do what's right, but you know what he had in order to do that
He has to separate from a wicked past
He has to break that down break it and smash it separate from a sinful past and he and it's not just this
It has to be very thorough. It just can't be this kind of well, you know, I'm gonna start cleaning up my life
But I'm still gonna you know
Do do this sin or I'm gonna hang on to that sin or I'm gonna hang on to this group of friends or I'm still gonna
Keep doing this wicked thing. I'll clean up all this other stuff. I know that all these other things
I'll get rid of that but there's gonna be a few of these pet sins that I'm gonna hang on to
There's gonna be a few of these unsafe people that I'm still gonna want to rub shoulders with and hang out with and allow them
to be an influence on me know when
When Josiah set out to get right with God, I mean he went all the way. He was very thorough, wasn't he?
He didn't just get rid of some of the idols, you know, he didn't wall. We got the ones out of the temple
That's good enough. He's like no now we're gonna go to the high places
We're gonna go in the groves and we're gonna break those down right and he didn't stop there either
He said not only we're gonna get rid of all these things. We're also gonna put down the priests
We're gonna get rid of them
We're just gonna completely annihilate this false religion and get this wickedness out of our land and look we have to do that
And you know, obviously that's not something I'm holding my breath for it's gonna happen in this nation
You know, which is also a very idolatrous nation and a very wicked nation
Well, you know we as God's people should do that in our own personal lives
We should desire to be very thorough and and purging ourselves from these these old wicked
Sins and even people in a lot of cases if we have to
Old ways must be destroyed, right? It wasn't enough for Josiah just to get up and say, you know what?
We're gonna serve God. We're gonna keep the commandments and statutes ordinances. We're gonna do with all of our heart
You know, we're gonna go ahead just leave those those those temples or those instruments to bail in the temple of the Lord
We're gonna go ahead and just leave, you know bail in its place
We're gonna leave all these false prophets in their place and just let them keep doing what they're doing and we're gonna do our thing
You know in order to serve the Lord in the temple
They had to get rid of the things that were in there
They had to take out the old and bring in the new bring back the new rather
Old ways have to be destroyed look there in verse 6 and not just not just put away mind you that's not what's going on
In the story, it's not just that he's like hanging on didn't take the temple or the instruments of bail out of the temple and say
Well, we'll just we'll just hide that in the closet somewhere
Let's just put that in a shack, you know around back and in case you know
We ever decide we want to go back to that, you know
He said we're getting rid of this and we're gonna thoroughly destroy it. We're gonna smash it
That's literally what he does look at verse 6 and he brought out and he brought out of the grove
from the house of Lord without Jerusalem and unto the Brook hydrant and burned it at the Brook hydrant and
stamped it small to powder and
Says that he cast the powder thereof upon the graves of the children of the people
So he's bringing out all of these things and he's just he's stamping it small to powder
It's not just that he's bringing it out and saying well
Let me just you know, keep it in storage
Let's go get a you know
Let's go get a storage unit somewhere and put all these these idols and things like that aside and maybe we'll come back to that
Later or it's out of sight out of mind. He said no, not only we're gonna get rid of it
We're gonna smash it small to powder and cast the powder thereof upon the graves of the children of the people
I mean he's making a huge demonstration of this and he's saying look we're getting right with God and not only that we're going all
The way we're getting completely right with the Lord by
Separating from this old path from destroying that which was a sin to us
And it says in verse 7 and he break down the houses of the sodomites that were by the house of the Lord where the women
Excuse me where the women wove hangings for the grove, you know, that's a you know
Just as kind of a side note in the sermon
That'd be a really good verse for a lot of these, you know Baptist preachers to turn to these days
You know he noticed he break down the houses of the sodomites that were by the house of the Lord
He didn't even want their houses near where the temple was
He said look, I don't want these sodomites anywhere near the house of God tear their house down
Right and you know what and the women that were out there, you know
The the the fag hags here as it were right or just they're they're just sympathizers who are you know?
Who are weaving these hangings for the grove? He's getting rid of that too. He doesn't want anything to do with it
Whereas today we have a lot of even independent fundamental Baptists that are saying oh, oh, it's not it's not bad enough that that
Sodomites are just near the house. They want him in the house
They want him in the front row in full drag. They want him in your children's ministries
Oh, just let we just got to show him the love of Christ
Well, you know, that's not that's not what Josiah did when he got right with God
And you don't see anywhere where God said hey, you're going too far here
You know, I appreciate getting on the alders, but you know, you need to leave these these these these people alone. No, he's for it. Okay
anyway, I don't want to go off on that although I just kind of did but
He says in verse 8 and he brought all the priests out of the cities of Judah and defiled the high places where the priests
had burned incense from Geeba to
Beer Sheba and break down the high places of the gates that were in the gathering of the gate of Joshua the governor of the
City which were on a man's left hand is at the end at the gate of the city
Nevertheless the priests of the highest places came not up to the altar of the Lord in Jerusalem
but they did eat of the unleavened bread among their brethren and
Notice verse 10 and he defiled tophat which is in the valley of the children of Hinnom
That no man might take his son or his daughter to pass through the fire to Molech
I mean, this is just a such a great revival that we see taking place. And why is it taking place?
Is it just because he's got nothing better to do? No, it's because he wants to get right with God
He's not just giving paying lip service. He's not just saying yeah, we're gonna serve God. We're gonna get right
We found the book of the law. We read we found out we're doing something wrong. We need to change that and you know
Just you know and just giving God lip service
He's actually following through on what he told God and he's doing like this whole heart, you know
And he's not just stopping with the the instruments of Baal the temple. He's not just stopping with you know, the the idol in
In Samaria, you know, he's going all the way he's breaking down the sodomites houses and he's going down to you know
Tofet there and he's defiling that you know, that's a pretty good thing to defile when people this is you know
In case you're wondering what's taking place there. They're literally sacrificing their children to bail. That's what's taking place there
They're pat making their their sons and their daughters to pass through the fire of Molech and this isn't like, you know
Where you jump over a bonfire?
This is where they're actually putting them in the flames and burning them as a sacrifice
You say how wicked I can't believe that a nation would do that. Well, you know what that takes place every day in this country
We you know, we might not be scalding children with fire
But we're you know
We're burning them with saline solutions and using instruments to rip them out of the womb and in what's called abortion
Okay, you know that'd be that'd be a good thing for us for our land to get rid of would to God
We had a righteous leader that stood up and got rid of that. That's a whole nother sermon
But I'm just making the point here that when Josiah decides to get right with God he goes all the way
He's not one of these half in half out guys when he gets right and he gets right with God
And it's not like it was something that was necessarily easy for him
he's doing this in the midst of a very wicked nation, you know, he's getting all these people on his side and
He and he's going against generations of iniquity here and and it's something that he's breaking
He's breaking the past right? He's destroying these old ways and
Really? That's what I want to preach about this morning. If you looked at verse 15
He says moreover the altar that was at Bethel and the high place which Jeroboam the son of Nebat who made Israel to sin
Had made both the altar and the high place
He break down and burned the high place and stamped it small to powder and burned the grove
So there it is again twice the Bible mentions
That when Josiah gets right in verse 6 at the end there
It says he cast the powder that excuse me. He stamped it small to powder and cast the powder up thereof, right?
I mean look it's one thing to break down an idol, you know
You think about all these idols that we see out in Tucson
And yes, those statues of Mary and others are idols
You know when they've got some fake statue in a glass casket on their front porch
You know, it's some saint, you know, that's an idol. Okay, they've got idols up on their walls
You know, they have it's in set and tile on the side of their house. I mean good night
They literally build houses with with places for the idol already in it, right?
And it'd be one thing for us to take those idols and I'm not saying to go do this this Sunday afternoon when you're out
Slowing on the south side. All right, well think about if we were to smash those idols, you know
We might just grab that idol and just smash it on the ground like yeah
I feel like good enough right and that's a that'd be a good thing to do
look at some Catholic got saved you don't renounce that false religion and
Smashed some idol out in the front porch. I'd say amen
That's great. But notice how far Josiah goes with it. It wasn't enough just for him to smash this thing
It says there at the end of verse 15, but he stamped it small to powder
I mean he smashes this thing and then he's just like grinding it into powder. He wants nothing to do with it
He doesn't want anybody to come along with you know, the crazy glue and put it all back together again
You know and put the Mary statue back together and stand it back up, you know and paint over it again
He's like no one's gonna have anything to do with this thing ever again. He's taking the time just grind
I mean imagine if some Catholic did that this afternoon you got him say they said hey
We're gonna smash these idols and I say well that's not enough, you know
They throw it all in a wheelbarrow and they get some sledgehammer and they're just junk junk junk junk
Just going at it, right and they're just breaking it up and they're smashing it small to powder
And then they're setting their yard on fire, right because it says you burn the grove
I mean, this is just a thorough destruction of all this wickedness that had come into the land
Now if you want to keep something there in 2nd Kings 23
Do that but go over to 2nd Corinthians chapter 7
Look, this is the kind of mentality that we have to have if we're gonna get right with God
It's not enough for us just just to say that we're gonna get right with God and look
We don't want to be people that maybe we don't even just say it
We actually do start to take some actions
But I want to I want to be a guy that's like Josiah who goes all the way if there's some saying if there's someone
Iniquity in our lives, you know, we should want to not to just get rid of it
We should want to grind it to powder to where there's not even a possibility that we could come back to it
That's what we need to do. We need to learn to do what smash the past
That's the title of the sermon smash the past and not only smash it
you know grind it into smithereens just pulverize this thing and
That's something the Bible tells us that we should do you're going to 2nd Corinthians 7
but I'll read to you from
Ecclesiastes 3 the Bible says to everything there is a season and a time to every purpose under heaven a time to be born a
Time to die a time to plant and what else a time to pluck down that which is planted
There's a time to tear some things down
There's a time to kill and a time to heal a time to break down and a time to build up
You know, there are certain things in our lives that we should be building and and trying to you know
Get better at as Christians, but you know a lot of times what we need to work on is getting is the breaking down
It's the tearing down of things in our lives
Breaking things down getting rid of them getting them out of our lives once and for all that's part of the Christian
The Christians growth. Okay, you're there in 2nd Corinthians chapter 7 looks look at verse 11 for behold the self same thing
That you sorrowed after a godly sort what carefulness it wrought in you yay, what clearing of yourselves yay
What indignation so Paul's referring back to his first letter the Corinth Corinthians, right and first Corinthians where he told them about
you know the one that
Committed for fornication that was not even as so much as mentioned among the Gentiles that one should have his father's wife
And he's telling him look need to put such and went out
You know put him out on a Satan for the destruction of the flesh, right and he's writing him say hey you did it
You did what I told you to do you got right with God because of the the hard letter I wrote, right?
He's saying look when you read that and you got right it did what it you sorrowed after a godly sort
You know what carefulness it rotten you what clearing of yourselves, right? They got right? Yay
What indignation not only these people just get they said well, you know what we need to get right with you know
Paul's mad. He's right though. He's upset. They read first Corinthians said we need to get right with God
Let's just clear our names of this and just you know, we'll put them out
No, they act when they read that and they realized how wicked they had been it says that they wrought what indignation
They actually got mad. They're upset. They're mad at sin. You know, that's why a lot of people don't get rid of the sin in
their life
That's why they keep dealing with the same sins over because they never get mad at it because it's their pet sin
Right. I mean think about that term a pet sin
You know, it's something that they keep going back to it's something that they keep hanging on to
Right why cuz it's their pet now anyone has a pet
I'm sure you know, I have a pet now right and and every now and then that pet makes me mad
You know, I have to get off me. He's always looking and you know scratching at me
Well, you know, I'm never gonna just be malicious towards that pet that dog of mine, right?
You know, I'm never gonna just pick it up and throw it across the room for no reason, you know, cuz he's my pet
Right. Look we shouldn't have pet sins. We should there shouldn't be sins in our nut in our life
So yeah, they might annoy us every so often we might have to say, you know go lay down or whatever
But they but we should never handle them with delicately with kid gloves. There should be no sin like that in your life
Well, yeah, I know I should quit this it bothers me it gets in the way every now and then
Sometimes I have to kick it out of the way because it just won't get it just gets in front of me
You know, there should know that you should not have a pet sin, right?
Why you should be taking sin and just smashing it in your life
And look I understand that this is a process. This is something that people have to work at
But this is the way it ought to be there ought to be what in our lives when it comes to sin indignation
You know, we commit something should be man. I'm mad mad at myself for committing that sin
You know, I'm sad. I'm disappointed. Why did I do that? I want to get right
You know and what else should be in our lives when sin comes into our lives. Yay. What fear?
You know that that'd be a good place to start to you know, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, right?
Maybe we should be more afraid of what's gonna happen if we sin
So look I don't want anything
I don't want to get allow the sin of my life because I'm afraid of God might judge me
I'm afraid of the consequences that might come
You know and you you name the sin, you know
You go ahead and think about what sin it is that that may or may not be
You know a pet sin in your life that you need to get rid of
Okay, you should think about the fact that you should be afraid of the consequences of that sin. Yay
What fame vehement desire? Where's he talking about here? There's zeal vehement desire. Yay. What zeal
Right, you guys you guys wanted to get right? That's why you were mad. You were angry. You're upset
There was this indignation which led to this clearing yourselves and I love that last part. Yay. What revenge
You know revenge
And all things you have approved yourselves to be clear in this matter go over to 2nd Corinthians chapter 10 just a few more pages
look there should be a
There should be a righteous indignation against the sin of our lives
To where we what revenge ourselves and we saying look you you you you had such revenge to the Corinthians
He's not saying that they went out and like
Slash the tires the guy that's committed for an occasion the church or something like they got back at him
Okay, they're saying that with their own selves there was rejected
They they were avenged themselves of the fact that they had allowed this sin to take place because they got right with God
You know, that's the way you got to look at getting right with God. You're actually taking vengeance on that old sin
You know, you're getting back at the devil
That's how you should look at it
I just thought it's got to get rid of the same because it's the right thing to do
There should be some zeal there should be some indignation and you should have this attitude if you know what I'm gonna get revenge on
that sin by never allowing it back in my life and
taking the steps necessary to do so and
Need to learn to smash these sins smash the sins of the past
Smash these things pulverize them grind them to powder it when you're gonna get right with God
You know the Word of God will help you with that
You know, and that's why the Bible says it's not my word like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces
You know
You need to take this holy hammer right here and smash the sin out of your life and pulverize grind it to powder
Read about that sin read about you know find verses to help you deal with it
Find verses that are gonna help you get the victory over that sin every time it rears its ugly head
It's gonna pop up and just gonna smash it because this book is like a hammer the Bible says
And if you're trying to grind something to powder, you know what you need is a hammer
I need something to really get some work done the Bible help you with that. Look at 2nd Corinthians chapter 10
He says in verse 1 now Paul
I might Paul myself beseech you by the meekness and gentleness of Christ who in presence is base and base among you being
Absent and bold toward you, but I beseech you that I may not be bold when I am present with you
Excuse me present with that confidence wherewith I think to be bold against some
Let's think of us as if we walked according to flesh
Verse 3 is what I would look at for though we walk in the flesh. We do not war after the flesh
You can't you're not gonna win the victory against your sin or your flesh by in the flesh. It's gonna take God's Word
It's gonna take God's Spirit. It's gonna take this hammer to break that rock into pieces
Right. So though we walk in the flesh
We do not war after flesh for the weapons of our warfare are not carnal
But mighty through God to the what to the pulling down of strongholds, right? Just like Josiah was doing
He's going around and he's just pulling down the idols. He's pulling down the groves
He's pulling down, you know, the the the weavings of the women in the grove
He's he's pulling down the houses of the sodomites
You know, there's that there's an action there and look we need to do that spiritually speaking
Through the spirit through God's Word through the reading of God's Word to the preaching of God's Word
You know
We need to understand that there's some things in our lives that ought to be pulled down and not just pulled down
But then what ground into powder and gotten rid of permanently?
And he ends there in verse 6 having a readiness to there
It is that word again to revenge all disobedience when your obedience is fulfilled
Look, we need to take vengeance on our sins in our lives
You know if you would go back to a second actually go over to 2nd Chronicles 29 keep something second 2nd Kings 23
Go to 2nd Chronicles 29
There's another king who did the exact same thing in a lot of ways that that Josiah did which was his king
Hezekiah and at another point when many generations later the nation of Israel gotten backslidden again
the you know, the the Egyptians had come the Assyrians had come and and
Isaiah has a chia, you know, he tried he's getting right with God and in a similar situation
Israel's backslidden look at verse 1 2nd Chronicles 2nd Chronicles 29 verse 1
Hezekiah began to rain when he was 5 and 20 years old and he rained 29 years in Jerusalem and his mother's name was
Abijah the daughter of Zechariah and he did that which is right in the sight of Lord according all that his father had
His that all that David his father had done
He in the first year of his reign in the first month opened the doors of the house of the Lord and repaired them
and he brought in the priests and Levites and gathered them together into the East Street and said of them hear me you Levites sanctify
Now yourselves and sanctify the house of the Lord your fathers and carry forth the filthiness out of the holy place
so again, you know after
You know after Josiah this Israel falls back into the same sin and what happens, you know
The temple the Lord goes by the wayside. It's filled with dirt and cobwebs. It's got filthiness in it
You know, the doors are broken down
They have to be repaired the Levites have to be brought back and told what to do
Right jump down to verse 16 and the priests went into the inner part of the house to the Lord
to cleanse it and brought all the
Excuse me the uncleanness and they found in the temple of the Lord and the
Excuse me
and they found in the temple of the Lord into the court into the house of the Lord and the Levites
I'm messing up here look at verse 17
Now they began the first day of the first month to sanctify and on the eighth day of the month
They came to the porch of the Lord
so they sanctified the house of the Lord in eight days and in the sixteenth day of the first month they made an end and
What they excuse me then that went in has a kayah the king and said we have cleansed all the house of the Lord
And the altar of the burnt offering and with all the vessels thereof and the showbread table with all the vessels thereof
Moreover all the vessels which King a has in his reign did cast cast away in his transgression
We have prepared and sanctified and behold they are all are before the altar of the Lord
Jump down to chapter 30 verse 1. So there's this cleansing again. That's taking place, right?
It has a kayah sent to all Israel and Judah and wrote letters to Ephraim and Manasseh
That they should come to the house of the Lord at Jerusalem to keep the Passover under the Lord God of Israel
So again, they're getting right
Okay
first 13 and they're assembled at Jerusalem much people to keep the feast of the unleavened bread in the second month a very great congregation and
They arose and took away the altars with that were in Jerusalem and all the altars for instance
They took away. So again, they're breaking down these these altars. They're breaking down the incense of altars
They're taking down all these false idols in the land
They're getting right with God, but it wasn't just that they put it away. No, how does it end there?
It says they cast them into the brook chidron again, which is exactly what you see Josiah doing back in his day
He's grinding these things to powder. He's casting upon the graves and he's also casting it into the brook chidron now
I think that you know, he definitely
you know a
broke these things up
as a kayah
You know wouldn't make much sense to just throw the altar into the brook because then it would just been like there
It would have been this big, you know, you know, just you know, they could have drug it back out my
What I think he did is he ground this thing to powder. He broke this thing up now
The Bible isn't explicitly say that but that's my opinion because that's just kind of what they did when they got right with God
And what we need to understand is that you know
Are these old ways these old sins these they have to be separated from there has to be a permanent break
It can't just be this light-hearted, you know, just halfway kind of attitude when it comes to breaking
Wait, you know parting ways with sins in your life
It has to be something that's done with some with some vehement desire with some revenge and some zeal in your life
You know a lot of reasons why people keep struggling with the same sense because they don't have any zeal
They're not really serious about getting right with God
They just want to they just want to do it just enough to maybe, you know, shut the preacher up, you know
Or get the spouse to quit nag me about about the sin, you know, or maybe it's gonna you know
They just they just want to do it just enough so it doesn't affect their kids too much
Look, we ought to love God so much that we want to break down the sins in our life break down these false ways and
Grind them to powder and get rid of them cast them into the Brook hydrant
You know and doesn't make a lot of sense to just throw the whole altar in the kyderin because it's it's right there
It can be drug right back out. You need to grind that thing up go back to second Kings 23
Second thing Kings 23. That's what Josiah did in his zeal
He didn't just break him down and then grind him up. He grinds him up and then cast them into the brook
If you look there in verse 12 of second Kings 23 and the altars that were in the top of the upper chamber of a has
Which the kings of Judah had made and the altars which Manasseh had made within the two courts of the of the house of the Lord
Did the king beat down and break them down from fence and cast the dust
So he's casting down that he's breaking him down and then what look to cast him to dust
Make a dust, you know, I've got a cast that you got a tournament into dust, right?
He's grinding him up and he's casting the dust them into the Brook hydrant. Now. Why did he do that? I
Mean you would think at this point
It's like going back to that picture earlier of the Catholic, you know who gets saved breaks down their Mary statue in the front yard
You know, they smash it and we're like, yeah, all right, but then are they surprises they grab the dust pan
They put it in the wheelbarrow and they grind it to powder like man. This guy's serious. He's really hates that idol
Yeah, but then what if he went inside and flushed that powder down the toilet?
You know, what if you went well, I'm gonna go down the river now and cast this powder
We might we might say well, it's powder, you know, it's it's alright. Just put it in the waste bin
You know the trash man will take it away, you know, you can just leave that there now
Obviously you're not gonna do anything it this is the kind of zeal
That he had see look. I'm not just gonna break it down. I'm not just gonna smash it
I'm not just gonna grind it in the powder after I've ground it into powder
I'm gonna take it down to the river and throw it upon the river
So they can be taken away and carried away by the stream
He cast the dust of them into the Brook hydrant and what's great about this is it's a picture of what the Word of God
Does for us, you know
The Word of God is that hammer that breaks the rock in pieces that we need
That's gonna help us to get the sin out of our life
But the Word of God is also, you know that living water that's going to carry that sin far away from us
You know and and the further sin gets away from us the easier it is to not go back to it
Right, that's kind of the picture there of him grinding this dust or these things into into dust and then getting them into the river
Because he wants them to be carried away. He wants them to be separated from us. Okay go over to Ephesians
chapter 5 Ephesians chapter 5
The Brook carried these things away look that's what the water the the water of God's Word will do for you
You know a lot of times when we start
Get in the Bible. We're getting right with God. We're getting the sin out of our life
You know God's Word starts in our mind starts to break up these past sins or maybe it's just you know
Guilt or shame over things that we've done, right?
Sometimes it'll you ever stir up, you know, you'll see like a stream that's really clear, you know
But as soon as you step in it all that
Silk comes up at the top and now it just looks like dirty muddy water, you know, sometimes that happens to us
You know, we might look okay on the outside. We might everyone might look us at us
We like that that stream that river that just looks crystal clear pure. You can see all the way to the bottom
Well, the problem is is what's on the bottom?
What's down there and we start to when we start getting right and start reading the Word of God
You know
God will start to stir some of that stuff up and all those old things will start to come up to the surface
Right that muck that dirt that filth God bring that to the surface so that it can get what washed away
It's kind of the picture there
Look at Ephesians chapter 5 verse 25 husbands
Love your wives even as Christ also loved the church and gave himself for it
That he might sanctify it and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word
You know, it's his word that is going to wash us wash these things away and make us clean
Now I understand that when we get saved our sins, you know, obviously are washed away they're under the blood of Christ
But I'm saying as far as living the Christian life
You know if you want to get right with God and do that
Which is right, you know
There has to be a cleansing that takes place in our hearts and in our minds and it's not gonna happen for people that aren't
Zealous to do it. You have to actually want to do this and it can't just be a lip service like Josiah
You know, well, actually it wasn't lip service to them. You can't you actually have to follow through with it
You can't just say well we're gonna covenant with God to get right and then just not break down these things and not smash these
Things and not cast them into the river that all has to follow
Promises must be followed up with action
You know, it's God's Word that's gonna help cleanse us of these things and carry these things away
You know and that's why the Bible says, you know, thy word is very pure therefore thy servant loveth it
That's why we love God's Word because it is pure because it does cleanse
It'll get cleanse us of the filthiness of the mind into the flesh if you look at Romans chapter 12 verse 1
I mean isn't that doesn't that what it exactly what it does in salvation? I
Mean, that's that that's what cleanses people in salvation. It's God's Word
We preach the gospel of Christ to them the shed blood of Christ the death-bound resurrection of Christ
People believe the Word of God by faith and their sins are cleansed
You know, they're made they're made whole again. The Holy Spirit comes into them. They're sealed in the day of redemption
They're made a new creature in Christ. All things are made new
Through faith right God's and it doesn't stop there. God's Word still has that power to cleanse us
to get to help us to get the sin out of our life to help it to get their sins out of our
Mind and to break these things and to get rid of them once and for all in our lives
The problem is you know, it's not that God's Word doesn't have any power
The problem is a lot of times is that we're just not in the Word of God
We're just we're not we're the ones that aren't reading it. We're not interested in getting clean. We're not interested getting right
We have no zeal we have no vehement desire, we don't care about revenging all our disobedience
We're not we're not interested in those things
Our life is just a little too comfortable the way it is and we don't want to you know
We don't want to stir up that water. We don't want to make things murky for ourselves
You know what that just means all that filth and all that soot and everything else is just gonna sit there in the bottom of
our lives for the rest of our life and
God's Word will stir that up if we get into it and help us to wash those things away
But not if we're not interested in doing it
If you look there in Romans chapter 12 verse 1 I beseech you therefore, what does it mean to beseech somebody?
Is that a suggestion? This is a mild suggestion for you
No, beseeching is begging. This is Paul begging these people. I beseech you he's saying
Brethren by the mercies of God that you present your bodies a living sacrifice holy and acceptable unto God which is your reasonable service
You know that this is you could kind of get an idea what it's like to be a preacher by reading that
I mean saying I'm begging you to do that which is your reasonable service
Right, this is just the preacher has to get up just beg people to just do just what it's just makes sense
Which is just reasonable live for God, you know if you're saved and you love the Lord live for him
You know do what you do that which is right present your bodies a living sacrifice
That's something that Paul had to beg these people to do
You know, that's a lot of time. That's what we do as preachers. I have to get up and beg people
Hey live for God get right with God
Because most people aren't just gonna do it on their own because because people get real comfortable with their sins, don't they?
And look, do you think that they started sacrificing their children to Molech overnight?
in Josiah's day and his grandfather's day I
Guarantee, it was a gradual build-up. I mean, it's look at the where we are as a nation
Is that something that just happened overnight? It was generations went by
People got a further and further away from the Lord. That's how it is in our own lives
You know, we don't read our Bibles today, then we don't read them tomorrow
Then we don't read them for a week then we don't for a month and then a year goes by we haven't read the Word
of God
We get out of church for a day then we got a church for a week
Then we got a church for a month, and then we're never back at church. We stopped soul-winning
We stopped living for the Lord, whatever. That's a gradual process. That's just human nature
That's why Paul has to get up and beseech people to do that, which is their reasonable service
and
He said in verse 2 and be not conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind and
How does that happen through through the Word of God through the renewing of the renewing of your mind?
That's something that the Holy Ghost does look that's one of the most them
You know when you're if you're not experiencing that you're missing out on the Christian life. I
Mean God has a power to renew our minds
To give us you know a new way of looking at life
Adopting new philosophies and not being conformed the way the world does things to me. That's exciting I
Want in on that I want to be changed
I you know the way the world does things isn't exactly working out for a lot of people
Their philosophies on marriage their philosophies on how to raise children
Their philosophies on what's right and wrong is not working out in case you haven't noticed
So I'm all for yeah renew my mind show me how to actually do things the way God wants them done
How to have a marriage that God wants how to raise children that are gonna honor God how to have a church
That's gonna honor God how to live my life in a way
That's going to be pleasing to the Lord that I can prove what is good and acceptable and perfect
But I can do the will of God
But that all starts with what presenting yourselves a living sacrifice
The renewing just doesn't happen automatically you have to say I'm here God. I'm ready to be renewed
I'm a living sacrifice whatever you want. Whatever you need me to do to live for you and do what's right?
I'll do that
But you know what the person has no zeal the person who has no desire is never going to do that
You know well, let me get a little specific here at the end
What what you know talking about smashing and grinding up and getting rid of things that are hindering us from this renewing
That's taking that can take place, right?
Well, you know a lot of that might be had might have to be you know breaking up with old acquaintances
You know and I'm not I mean if you look if you have if you have literal idols at home
Yeah, you need to go home and break them up and smash them to powder and get rid of them
Okay, that's probably nobody in this room. All right, but you know what we might have
Friends acquaintances
You know that are keeping us in the bondage of sin
we might still go to places that we know we shouldn't go because
That's just what we're used to doing
Friends family etc. Say friends and family. Yes, even friends and family
Because you know what when we get around them we fall back into those old ways of sin and look I'm not saying that
If you can't have fellowship with these people, you know from time I get it. We have family we have to see family
But look the Bible says that a man's clothes shall be they have his own house
That's what the Bible says and when we actually start to live for the Lord, you won't have to look for that confrontation
It'll come to you
They'll say you're different. Like I know I'm doing this now. I'm sorry. I can't I can't go to that function
I got to be in church
I'm sorry. I can't go to that function because you all get drunk and I can't I'm not gonna be around that
I'm not gonna raise my kids around a bunch of drunks
You know, and that's those are decisions that I had to make
And I think that's decisions that we all probably have to make if that's in our something that's in our past
Now go over to Genesis chapter 34. We're gonna end there
Genesis chapter 34 because what did you see with with Josiah?
You know was he breaking necessarily? I mean obviously he was breaking with with groups of people, right?
He was he was getting rid of the sodomites. He's smashing down, you know, the altars. He's getting rid of the priests
So yeah, he's he's breaking with old acquaintances old sinful people that are just gonna drag him down and keep him in sin
He's like I'm gonna I'm gonna smash that
Relationship and get rid of it and never go back to it because it's hindering me from living for the Lord
But what about you know, what about those of us that maybe have never formed those relationships?
Maybe there's those of us who have never don't have to deal with that because you know, we were raised in a godly home
We don't have ungodly friends and family that are gonna try and drag us into sin
Well, you know what? You need to break with generational sin. You need to break with generational sin
Sins that people just do because well, that's what my daddy did. You know, I just do that because that's what my mom did
These are just you know, I there's there's a fly in the ointment and my daddy had the same fly and it's always been there
It's it's the family fly and just from generation to generation
We just keep passing that down and putting that in our in our ointment and it causes it to stink
Right, you know, we need to reach in there and get that fly out and get rid of it
Not not bronze it and put it on the mantle and say, you know, this is my dad sin
I got one just like it. Okay, you need to break with that make sure that doesn't come back into your life
Break with generational sin you're there in Genesis chapter 34. Look at I had you the wrong one. I'm way off
I'll just I'll just quote it. Okay, the Bible talks about how the Lord, you know, he's long-suffering and merciful
But that he what visits the iniquities of the children, right?
He visits the iniquities of the fathers upon the children now a lot of times when you read that you might think
Is he saying that God
He gets back at the children for the sins of the Father
What he's saying there is that he visits I believe is he's visiting those same sins that the the father has passed down
It's not that the sons are
Free from those sins, right but that
That they're not doing them. It's just that they're doing the same sins that their father has done
Okay, and and God is visiting those iniquities
You know God might show up in your life
you know Christian young person who right was raised in a godly home and
Maybe never got into sins that your father your mother your grandparents got into
Well, you know what? He better make sure he doesn't find them eventually in your life. God's gonna visit that iniquity
You know, God will come back and say hey is this is this same sin that your parents are guilty of still in your generation
Are you still doing this? Are you still promoting this same sin?
And what kind of sins what kind of sins are they?
Well, how about drugs?
You know as cliche and stupid as that the ad was back in the 90s, you know parents who have drugs
Have children who do drugs, right? That's the true saying, you know, I learned these things by watching you remembers that commercial
All right, a couple hands. All right, right who taught you to do this son. He's got the drugs out
I learned it from watching you, right?
You know, it's kind of melodramatic, but it's true
You know the sins of the father get passed on to the son he that's where he learns them and God visits those things
You know alcohol is a big one
You know, that's why I don't want my kids at the at the family gathering where everyone's getting drunk, even if I'm not drinking
Because I don't want them saying oh, you know uncle so-and-so or grandma
These days, you know on her six glass of wine or whatever stumbling around bumping into things and acting a fool
Think well grandma did it uncle did it, you know, maybe dad's just a little too strict
Maybe my parents are just too straight legs. It's not that bad
Yeah, because they only see it at the family gathering, you know
They only see it that one time or a few times a year, right?
But they don't see the same uncle the same aunt or whoever else when they're on a you know
You know a week-long bender, you don't see them, you know the next morning with a hangover
They don't see them in court, you know getting their license revoked
They don't see them, you know sitting in County somewhere
They don't see all that. They just see them having a good time at the party
They don't get to see all that because just think about it. I'm not a drunk
You know if I'm not raising my if I'm not drinking in my home and showing my kids the consequences of drunkenness
You know, the only thing that they're gonna see is at the party or the gathering or whatever
You know, they might just think well, what's so wrong with drinking? I mean, I know the preacher gets up every Sunday and
Screams and yells and gets red in the face over alcohol
But I mean so what you know, every time I see it out in the real world, it doesn't seem that bad
That's why I break we need to break with these generational sins and break with these acquaintances of sin in our life
Here's another one divorce, you know, that's something that has to end
And say well my parents got divorced their parents got divorced. So I'm just gonna keep getting divorced
You know what's wrong with me and that's something we got to preach on and look I'm not mad at people that are divorced
I'm not angry at you. I'm not trying to embarrass you. I'm not trying to make you feel bad
I'm preaching the people in this room that have not committed divorce and
Divorce is so commonplace these days that people just it's like people get married and they just start a timer
It's just a countdown. Okay, two years two more years. We'll be at each other's throat within three will be will be divorced within five
I'll be remarried. It's just like that's an affair. It's just what people do
Someone's got to stand up and say look it's wrong. It's wicked. God hates it. God hates putting away
You know what man had joined us together let neck what God had joined us together let that man put asunder the Bible says
You know, someone's got to preach against that. Someone's got to say hey, we need to stop doing these things
You need to break with these sins break with these acquaintances if necessary
You know, but none of those things are gonna happen if there's a lack of zeal, isn't that what happened?
Isn't the story of Josiah great and it's one of my favorite. I mean people name their kids Josiah. Am I right? Amen
Right, I know more than one Josiah
Okay, I know more than one young person who's been named Josiah is they just pull that name out of a hat
No people like that name because of what he represents right Josiah is a great character in the Bible
Because of the you know, he took such a strong stand for the Word of God
You know, he got right and he saved that whole generation. God told Josiah. Look, I'm still gonna judge you
I'm still gonna judge the station and destroy it, but I'm not gonna do it in your day
Because of you know, you have a tender heart and you heard the Word of God and you got right, right?
He spared that hold me
He saved that whole nation and for one last time before they went in captivity, they got to experience revival in that land
But was that because just as I just you know, woke up one morning and just felt like well, you know
I think I'll live for God today. See how that goes. I think I'll try this Christian life out. No, he had some zeal
He had some vehement desire and
Revenge the disobedience of his father's he broke with that old tradition. He broke with those generational sins
He said I'm not gonna let these things get passed down into my life
You know and the zeal he grinds these things up. What was he willing to smash the past?
cast it into the into the waters and part with it permanently through zeal and
That's what we have to have in our lives if this is what we want
Look and if you don't want it, you know, I I don't know what to tell you
You want to keep having the same sins creep back in your life?
Keep having the same consequences come back. You want to pass those same sins right along to your children, you know, that's a shame and
Because you can be renewed in your mind. You can have that you can have that vengeance
You can break these things you can smash the past but you got to want it. Let's go ahead and close in a word of prayer