(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

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