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Alright, so if you remember last week we talked about the captivity of Israel, the northern kingdom of Israel. We went through that and we compared it to modern day Israel and how they are the same and how it would be impossible for somebody who is a real student of the Bible, a real Bible believing Christian to look at Israel today and say, yeah, that's the apple of God's eye. Yeah, those are God's chosen people. There's no way in the world. That's true. Now, tonight what we're going to do is we're done with the northern kingdom of Israel. If you got your chart, look on the right side there. We are going to be looking at a overview of two kings, right? So we're going to look at Manasseh and we're going to look at Josiah and then we're going to skip a couple of kings here and we're going to go into the captivity and then next week we'll kind of go over the captivity from the angle of a second Chronicles and then we're going to go do an overview of the book of Ezra and so then we'll move on from there. So if you do have your chart, if you look down at number 14 you'll see Manasseh listed there and you'll see it says that he rained for 55 years and again, those dates that are there, those are just there don't, you know, don't, uh, don't dwell on those. We don't, we have no idea if those are really accurate and then if you jumped down to number 16 you'll see King Josiah there and you say, okay, I get it. We're doing two Kings and we're going to do the captivity of Judah. So what, what's, why is this important? Well, because these two Kings have something very important in common and that is they both defy the odds. I mean Manasseh or Manasseh was a very wicked King and we're going to highlight some of the stuff that he did. We just read it. The first 18 verses of a second Kings 21 highlight those things for us. Uh, but, but you're going to see that somebody who is that wicked actually winds up getting saved and now we're going to, after that we're going to, we're going to overview Josiah's life and you're going to see that Josiah was somebody who followed the word of God to a T and then at the end of his life made a mistake and wound up getting killed by an Egyptian King or an Egyptian Pharaoh named Nico. So that's what's going on right now. So like I said, just keep this, just this chart, like I said, it's just to help you kind of put into perspective what timeframe you're dealing with. So like for example, let's say you're reading in Ezekiel, Jeremiah, Daniel, one of those three books there, you can see them listed, you know, towards the bottom there on your, on your Judas side and you can kind of see which Kings were in charge and what the time was like. It just helps you understand the Bible better, you know, especially if you haven't read these things through several, several times, you know, like I said, it can be difficult to put this into perspective. So let's move on here. Let's look down to verse number one. It says Manasseh was 12 years old when he began to reign and he reigned 55 years. Now think about this, this guy starts reigning as King when he's 12 years old. What happens to a 12 year old or to a 13 year old or a teenager who gets too much power and too much fame too quickly? What usually happens? They usually wind up going into sin, right? I mean, how many of these, these child actors grow up to be successful fathers or husbands or just human beings for that matter, right? Not very many, right? Not very many at all. Well, you're going to see the Manasseh kind of has that. He kind of goes down that same road. The only difference is he's a King. He's got a lot of power. He makes a lot of people angry. He causes a lot of hurt. He causes a lot of false doctrine. The Bible even says that he seduces the people of Judah to do sins. So it goes above and beyond him just being, you know, a wicked person, right? Or a great sinning King. He actually seduced people at one point in his life to do evil. And so let's, let's look at a few of these things here. Look down at verse number two. It says, and he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord after the abominations of the heathen whom the Lord cast out before the children of Israel. Verse three, for he built up again the high places which Hezekiah his father had destroyed and reared up altars for Baal and made a grove as did Ahab King of Israel and worship all the host of heaven and served them. So keep that in mind. This guy worshiped the host of heaven and, and it says that he served them. Now why is that important? Well, let's think about it. Let's say that today, today in age, you know, we see somebody like this, a lot of our politicians are like this, right? You know, we might look at them and say the reprobates and they might be, and they might not be, you know, but I'll tell you one thing. If I was alive during this time, I'd probably be like, Manasseh is definitely a reprobate, but you're going to see that he's actually not. He actually does get saved and I'm not saying that Sodomites, you know, could get saved. We all understand. We've gone down that road several times. We know that's impossible, but nonetheless it is possible for somebody to do wickedness and you know, that may go beyond what we perceive and still wind up getting saved because that's what you're going to see here. Now look at verse number four. It says, and he built altars in the house of the Lord of which the Lord said in Jerusalem, I will put my name and he built altars for all the hosts of heaven in the two courts of the house of the Lord. And keep in mind who his father was. His father was King Hezekiah. Now if you study the life of Hezekiah, we've brought, I think we went over him a few weeks ago. You remember that he was a busy king. You know, he was a good king. He followed the laws. If you remember, he got a disease, he got a sickness. He told, or he asked Isaiah the prophet to pray for him as a, you know, he prays for him. He, you know, he inquires the Lord. God gives him 15 more years. And then after he's, after he's healed, you remember the Babylonians come and they want to see the temple and they want to see the different things that are going on in Judah. And Hezekiah shows him everything and shows him the kingdom, shows him the temple, all the stuff for the Lord. And then if you remember, Isaiah comes to him and he's like, what did these Babylonians want? And Isaiah says, oh, they just wanted to see the glory and they wanted to congratulate me. And I showed him everything. And then Isaiah tells him that these people will someday take your children and make them eunuchs and bring them into captivity. What's Hezekiah's response? He's like, well, good as the word of the Lord, you know, basically as long as it's not me. And so the reason why I'm bringing this up is because I think Hezekiah, though he followed God, though he did a lot of good works, though he did, you know, he was a hard charger. I think he neglected his family. And I think that's why Manasseh went his own way and started off the way that he did because of that. And so that's a good lesson for us. You know, we need to serve the Lord. We need to go sowing. But if you had a family, you need to spend time with your families. You need to take care of your, your family. You need to take care of your kids. You need to take care of your wife if you've got one. You know, family times is very important. You know, the Bible says that a false balance is an abomination of the Lord, you know? And so we need to learn how to balance these things. And so that's just something that came to my mind as I was reading this. Now look at verse six. It says, and he made his son pass through the fire and observed times and used enchantments and dealt with familiar spirits and wizards. And he wrought much wickedness in the sight of the Lord to provoke him to anger. Verse seven, and he set up a graven image of the grove that he had made in the house of which the Lord said to David and to Solomon his son in this house and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, will I put my name forever? Neither will I make the feet of Israel move anywhere out of the land, which I gave their fathers only if they will observe to do according to all that I have commanded them. And according to all the law that my servant Moses commanded them. You see, this is a passage here that the dispensationalists and the Zionists don't like to, to, to go over. There's a ton of these verses in the Bible. Look at verse eight again. He says, neither will I make my feet of Israel move anymore out of the land, which I gave their fathers only if, right? Only if so it's conditional, right? And a lot of people today, they want to say, well, that land was promised to them no matter what, no matter what they do, no matter what they say. And that wasn't true in the old Testament. And it's not true today. He says only if they will observe to do according to all that I have commanded them. And according to all the law that my servant Moses commanded them, they didn't keep the law. They didn't follow his statutes. They didn't have any regard for his testimonies. And this is why God is going to send them in to captivity, right? And you know what? The Israel that we have today is nothing but a fraud. It's fake. It's phony. And they're going to get what's coming to them. Look at verse number nine, but they harken not and Manasseh seduced them to do more evil than did the nations whom the Lord destroyed before the children of Israel. So that's what I was talking about earlier. He seduced the people because you got to understand there was a lot of people in land during this time that didn't want to follow these things. You know, there's people always that are hanging in the balances. And one of the techniques that evil people, politicians will do is to try to seduce. They'll try to enchant. They'll try to trick. They'll try to subvert your mind to do evil. That is how Manasseh was for a big portion of his life. Look at verse 10 and the Lord spake by his servants, the prophet saying, because Manasseh king of Judah hath done these abominations and have done wickedly above all that the Amorites did, which were before him and hath made Judah also to sin with his idols. Therefore look at verse 12, therefore, which means for that reason. So because he did these things, right? Therefore thus sayeth the Lord God of Israel, behold, I am bringing such evil upon Jerusalem and Judah that whosoever heareth of it, both his ears shall tingle and I will stretch over Jerusalem the line of Samaria and the plummet of the house of Ahab and I will wipe Jerusalem as a man wipe at the dish, wiping it and turning it up side down. And so keep in mind, this is Manasseh. If you look on your chart, you know, he's number 14. There's still Ammon, Josiah, Jehoahaz, Jehoiakim, Jehoiachin and Zedekiah. You know, God's saying like, Hey, look, I can see obviously the future. I understand what's coming. You know, even though Josiah, you know, he comes on the scene later. You know, Manasseh's grandson and he does a great job. He does good things. The Kings that are after him, they do very wickedly. They do abominations. The people don't turn back to God. And so he's saying, Hey, look, I'm going to destroy you. Verse 13 and I will, I'm sorry, look at verse 14. So now we'll forsake the remnant of my inheritance and deliver them into the hand of their enemies and they shall become a prey and a spoil to all their enemies because they have done that which was evil in my sight and have provoked me to anger since the day their fathers came forth out of Egypt, even unto this day. So that shows you how merciful God is, how long he's suffered these people, right? God, you know, a lot of people think, okay, well, you know, I did something bad, so God's just going to come down on me like a ton of bricks. Maybe not. You know, God is merciful and he is slow to anger, the Bible says. And here is a perfect example of that. Verse 16, moreover, Manasseh shed innocent blood very much till he had failed Jerusalem from one end to another, beside his sin wherewith he made you to sin in doing that which was evil in the sight of the Lord. Now turn to 2 Chronicles chapter 33. Chapter 33. Yeah. 2 Chronicles 33. Then he goes on to say that Manasseh slept with his fathers and was buried in the garden of his own house in the garden of Uzzah and Ammon his son reigned in his stead. We're going to skip Ammon. He had a short reign. He just did wickedly. He did evil. And if you were to just stop here, you would just be like, wow, Manasseh's, you know, just another wicked king, you know, and just go on with your life. That's why it's important to read the whole Bible, to read all the counsel of God, you know, and why it's important to study, not just the kings, not just Chronicles, but to put them together and line them up side by side and see because they both shed light on each other. Okay. Now look at verse number 10, 2 Chronicles 33 verse 10. Look at this. It says, and the Lord spake to Manasseh and to all, I'm sorry, and to his people, but they would not hearken wherefore the Lord brought upon them the captains of the host of the King of Assyria, which took Manasseh among the thorns and bound him with fetters and carried him to Babylon. So here's like a foreshadowing of what's coming to the nation of Judah, right? Because what happens later on? What happens when Zedekiah takes the throne or even before then, because I haven't talked about this yet, but Jerusalem or Judah, they get carried away in waves. It's not just a one shot deal like Israel was. They get carried away in waves and we'll get into that later on, but look at verse number 12, it says, and when he was in affliction, he besought the Lord, his God, and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers and prayed unto him. And he was entreated of him and heard his supplication and brought him again to Jerusalem into his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that the Lord, he was God. Now you might say, well, I still don't think he got saved. Well, what does it say there at the end of verse 13? What's that last part of the verse there? It says then Manasseh knew that the Lord, he was God. And so what I want to do is I just want to show you this concept because in the Old Testament, you're going to run into this phrase a lot where he knew the Lord, or do you know the Lord? It's just a reference to being saved. That's really what it is. Now, real quickly, go over to Matthew chapter seven. We read this the other day, but I just want to show you this, this, this language here. We're going to go to Matthew chapter seven real quick. And then we're going to go to first Samuel. We're going to look at a couple of verses in first Samuel. So Matthew chapter seven, see, look at Matthew chapter seven. Let's just look at verse number 21 says, not everyone that sayeth unto me, Lord, Lord shall enter into the kingdom of heaven, but he that doeth the will of my father, which is in heaven. And again, you can find that in John six 40, the will is to believe verse 22. He will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? And in thy name have cast out devils and in thy name have done many wonderful works. Now look at verse 23 and then I will profess unto them. I never knew you depart from me ye that work iniquity. So why does he throw them into hell? Why does he cast them into the lake of fire here in this chapter? Is it because they didn't do enough works? No, it's not. It's because he never knew them because they were never saved. They didn't put their faith and trust on the Lord Jesus Christ. That's why they were mixing their faith plus their works. And that is false doctrine and that's what sends people to hell. But the language is, is here. I profess unto them, I never knew you. So that tells me that a requirement to get to heaven is that you have to know God, right? You have to know the Lord. Now go to sec. I'm sorry. Go to first Samuel chapter two. So remember the Bible says in second Chronicles 33 about Manasseh that he humbled himself greatly. He besought the Lord, his God, right? Does that sound like somebody that's not saved? No, it sounds like he got saved. He humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers. And then it said that Manasseh knew that the Lord, he was God, right? The same language that Jesus uses to describe people that aren't, you know, that are saved He said, because I never knew you depart from me. So while you're turning to first Samuel chapter two, I'll read from you. First Samuel chapter three, verse seven, which says this. Now, Samuel did not yet know the Lord, neither was the word of the Lord yet revealed unto him. So there was a time, obviously, like in all of our lives where your children are too young to understand the Bible, whether you know, they're, they're not condemned, they're not going to hell, but they don't know the Lord yet, right? He's not saved. Now that doesn't mean if he was to die at this point, he's not saved. That doesn't mean if he was to die at this age, you'd go to hell. He wouldn't, right? He's innocent. He's a child. He doesn't know the law yet. He's, you know, he doesn't understand, but nonetheless, the Bible, the Holy Ghost in this verse tells us that Samuel did not yet know the Lord, meaning he had not matured enough to, to be saved. Now, let's look at this again here. First Samuel chapter two, look at verse number 12 and we'll see the same language here, right? To know the Lord. What does that mean? Verse 12 says, now the sons of Eli were sons of Belial. That's the devil, right? Now look at this next part. They knew not the Lord. So it says that Eli's sons were, were worshipers of the devil, right? And then the Bible tells us that they knew not the Lord. Now, does that mean they didn't know who the Lord God was? No, of course they did. Their father was Eli. These people worked in the temple. Let's keep reading here. Look at verse 13. So during this timeframe, the temple, there was a temple in Shiloh before everything went to Jerusalem, right? And his father was a priest. Look at verse 13. It says, and the priest's custom with the people was that when any man offered sacrifice, the pre-servant came while the flesh was in seething. That means boiling. With a flesh hook of three teeth in his hand and he struck it into the pan or a kettle or cauldron or pot, all that the flesh hook brought up, the priest took for himself. So they did in Shiloh until the Israelites that came thither. Also, before they burnt the fat, the pre-servant came and said to the man that sacrificed, give flesh to rose for the priest, for he will not have sodden flesh of thee, but raw. Verse 16, and if any man said unto him, let him not, or I'm sorry, let them not fail to burn the fat presently and then take as much as thy soul desireth, then he would answer him, nay, but thou shalt give it me now. And if not, I will take it by force. So these are gross violations of scripture. This is not how things were supposed to be done. Look at verse 17, wherefore the sin of the young men was very great before the Lord for men aboard the offering of the Lord. So look, don't tell me that, oh, well, Eli's sons, they didn't know who God was. He wasn't, no, they knew very well who the God of heaven was. The problem is they rejected him. They weren't saved. They were children of the devil and they knew not the Lord. You see that? So when the Bible says that Manasseh knew the Lord, guess what? He knew the Lord. He got saved. He believed. Now turn to Hebrews chapter number eight, Hebrews chapter number eight. You can go online. You can look up some, you know, people trying to, to, to teach about Manasseh and they'll say all kinds of weird things. You'll find people saying, well, the reason why he got saved is because he repented of all his sins, you know, and that's garbage right there, right? It says that he was in captivity. Now, when did he get saved? When he was in captivity, right? We just read the verses. Now, did he do a bunch of works and stuff like that first or at the same time? No, he humbled himself greatly. He got saved, right? The works that he did came later in his life and yes, we should do works. Obviously it's not a requirement to be saved. Hebrews chapter eight, look at verse number six. Again, keeping on with this theme about knowing the Lord. It's even in the New Testament. Verse number six, but now hath he obtained a more excellent ministry by how much also he is the mediator of a better covenant, which was established upon better promises. Now, do you think that this is talking about the millennium or just talking about the New Testament? Let's keep reading. Look at verse seven. For if that first covenant had been faultless, then should no place have been sought for the second for finding fault with them. He says, behold, the days come, saith the Lord when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. And look at verse nine, not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt because they continued not in my covenant and I regarded them not, saith the Lord. Now let's stop right here. What the dispensationalist will do and what a lot of Zionist people will do is they'll take this verse here and they'll say, okay, um, verse number eight is talking about Israel today, the 1948 Israel, and they'll, they'll try to bring you here and say, see this, this is talking about a day where all the Jews are going to get saved and they're going to accept Jesus Christ. And then they'll skip down to verse 10 and try to apply these things to the millennium or, or past that, that I've heard them do it. I, and see me after the service, I'll show you some videos, but just, let's just keep reading here. Look at verse nine. It says not according to the covenant that I made with her fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt because they continued not in my covenant and I regarded them not, saith the Lord. So what are we talking about right now? We're talking about the Old Testament, right? Isn't that when they were led out of Egypt? Wasn't that not the Old Testament? Yes, it was. Look at verse 10 for this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws into their mind and write them in their hearts and I will be to them a God and they shall be to me a people, right? Remember, what did we talk about last week? We talked about the Israel of God, right? Remember there's an Israel of God, which is made up of those of us that are saved. And then there's obviously an Israel of the world or physical Israel, which we still have today, right? And so it helps for you to really understand that when you're reading these things, look at verse 11 and they shall not teach every man his neighbor and every man his brother saying, no, the Lord for all shall know me from the least to the greatest. And this right here is where they'll take you to try to say, well, this doesn't apply to us today because we still go so winning, right? And we still go to our neighbor and knock on their door, don't we? And that's what they'll say. They'll say, don't you just go so winning? And you go knock on people's doors. So this can't be talking about us. But the reason why they teach that is because they don't understand the difference between the Israel of God and the Israel of the world, right? This is clearly talking about the New Testament, right? For example, I think everybody in here is saved, right? Now, Moses, do I come up to you after every service and say, hey, are you 100% sure if you die today, you go to heaven? No. Do I do that to you, David? Do I do that to anybody in here? No. Why don't I do that? Why? Is it because you're already saved, right? So you're my neighbor, right? Somebody who is saved. We're in the same nation that spiritual Israel, right? So when it says in verse 11, and they shall not teach every man his neighbor, that's what it's talking about. And every man, his brother's saying, know the Lord. I don't have to go up to you saying, hey, do you know the Lord? Because you're already saved. We make up the Israel of God. That's what this is teaching. For all shall know me from the least to the greatest. Guess what? The requirement to be in the Israel of God in the New Testament is to be saved, right? Now, in the Old Testament, it wasn't so, because God's people was physical Israel. So when people were born in physical Israel, right, in the Old Testament, people still had to go and go around saying, hey, do you know the Lord, right? Just because you were born an Israelite, just because you were born a Hebrew in the Old Testament did not mean you were automatically saved. But what do we have today? We have people today teaching that these Jews over here get a free pass to heaven. And you know, it's true. You've all heard it. We've all heard that doctrine. It is false doctrine. It's not true. Look at verse 12. For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness and their sins and their iniquities. Will I remember no more? Doesn't that sound like salvation? Doesn't that sound like John 3 16? Doesn't that sound like Acts 16 31? Believe on Lord Jesus Christ. Now shall be saved. I mean, come on. Let's talk about this. Look at verse 13. In that he saith, a new covenant he hath made the first old. Now that which decayeth and waxeth old is ready to vanish away. Basically saying that the New Testament is a better Testament. The New Testament is a better covenant. And I'm not saying that in the Old Testament they had to mix faith and works to be saved. We've already gone over that. That's not true either. He's just simply saying that in the Old Testament, in physical Israel, you know, you still had to get saved. People still had to go around saying, hey, do you know the Lord? I mean, read through the Psalms and, you know, through David's life, he spent a lot of time trying to find out whether or not people really knew the Lord. Read the Psalms sometime and think about that with that in mind. So go back to 2 Chronicles 33 and we'll move on here. Second Chronicles chapter 33. Look down at verse number 14. So after it says in verse 13 that Manasseh knew the Lord, he was God. Verse 14 it says, now after this, he built a wall without the city of David on the west side of Gihon and the valley, even to the entering in at the fish gate and encompassed about Ophel and raised it up a very great height and put captains of war in all the fenced cities of Judah. Look at verse 15, and he took away the strange gods and the idol out of the house of the Lord and all the altars that he had built in the Mount of the house of the Lord and in Jerusalem and cast them out of the city. You see why it's important to read the whole Bible? Because if you were to stop in 2 Kings 21, you would miss these great things that Manasseh wound up doing. Verse 16, and he repaired the altar of the Lord and sacrificed there on peace offerings and thank offerings and commanded Judah to serve the Lord God of Israel. Verse 17, nevertheless, the people did sacrifice still in the high places yet unto the Lord their God only. So they set up, you know, a little bit of new evangelical Christianity, right? Just actually, I think this is probably better than new evangelical Christianity is it says they're still doing it unto God. It wasn't right for them to burn and, you know, do sacrifices and stuff in the high places because that's what the pagans did, right? You know, and they're, they're still doing that, but they're doing it unto God. And so God's like, Hey, I'm not happy with it, but this is what they did. And that's, that's basically what you have going on here. Verse 18. Now the rest of the acts of Manasseh and his prayer unto his God and the words of the seers that spake to him in the name of the Lord God of Israel, behold, they are written in the book of the kings of Israel. Verse 19, his prayer also in how he was entreated of him and all his sin and his trespass and the high places wherein he built high places and set up groves and graven images before he was humbled. Behold, they are written among the sayings of the seers. So Manasseh slept with his fathers and they buried him in his own house and Ammon his son rain and instead. Now look at verse 18 again, it says, now the rest of the acts of Manasseh and his prayer unto his God. Now we just read second Kings 21, right? The first 18 verses deals with Manasseh. Now does anybody in here raise your hand? If you remember reading about his prayer, did anybody hear anything about his prayer? It's not in there, right? And so this is a problem that I want to deal with. I want to address this right now because there may come a time where somebody takes you here and tries to stump you. Okay. So verse 18, it says, now the rest of the acts of Manasseh and his prayer unto his God and the words of the seers that spake unto him in the name of the Lord, the God of Israel. Behold, they are written in the books of the Kings of Israel. So you go, okay, I want to find this prayer, right? And you go back to second Kings. Guess what? It's not in there. Now, does that mean that we have to dig it up with James White and all the stupid scholars of our day? No. What you have to understand is, all right, you look at this chart, look at all these different Kings here. Do you know how many of these Kings had scribes and people that wrote down history and things that they did? It was all of them. Okay. It was all of them. Now, could you imagine if we had everything written about Jehoshaphat? I mean, he reigned for 25 years. If we had everything that he did during his kingdom, you'd have a huge book here of just that. Now, multiply that by every King. I mean, David, right? Solomon. I mean, all the Kings of Israel. I mean, we would never get anything accomplished. Okay. But what God has preserved for us is what we need to know today. Okay. That doesn't mean that anything was lost. It just means that there were other things written down during that time that we don't need, right? That we don't have. Now, this prayer is not in Kings, but if you go onto Google and you say, where can I find the prayer of Manasseh? Something's going to pop up. The prayer of Manasseh is going to pop up and it's going to say Bible. And you're going to be like, Oh, what in the world? Which book is this in? And you're going to read it and hopefully be confused if you're saved. And so basically what I'm getting to here is that there is an Apocrypha letter or book or whatever. An Apocrypha means secret or hidden. You know very well what I'm talking about. We went soloing one time. I'm going to go off on a rabbit trail here. We went soloing one time. It was Brother David and I. I think it was when we first moved here and we knocked on this Catholic guy's door. Yeah. And this guy, I mean, it was, it was a bad neighborhood and it was just not a bad, like a ghetto neighborhood. It was just, nobody wanted to listen. Everybody was just, you know, had their noses up in the air. This was towards the end. Wasn't it? It was getting pretty close to the end. So we're like, ah, we'll just, we'll just scrap with this guy, I guess I, you know, this guy comes out, you know, right off the bat and he's like, Oh, I might, I might miss some details here, but he's like, Oh, you're all Christians, huh? Well there's books that aren't in your Bible. Yeah. You know, and he starts telling us why we should be Catholic and all this stuff and he's just attacking and just, you know, just mocking us and stuff like that, you know, and he's one of these people that thinks that, you know, whatever the Pope says is what's authority and he really believes this, you know, and, and, you know, we're trying to give him admonitions. We're trying to like see if there's any hope because what he would do is he would say something like this and then you kind of soften up a little bit and make you think that he's going to listen to you. And so you think, okay, well I should keep going. And so David was trying to go forward with him, you know, and then he just, just waits for the right opportunity. And then he just pours on more of his Catholic doctrine and he just wants to keep bringing up the Apocrypha, the Tobit, Maccabees, the prayer of Manasseh and all these things. And he said that and I, and I, I didn't remember this until I was, I was reading about Manasseh, you know, and, uh, you know, so there are people out there that will maybe take you to second Chronicles 33 here and say, see, where's it at? It says it's in the book of the Kings and then they'll take you to Kings and say, where is it? And if you don't know, right, if you don't know what's going on, you may get stumped or you may get confused or whatever. So I want to save you that pain. We didn't get stumped. We just basically looked, said, look, you're going to hell, bye. Because this guy was super rude. He's even being rude. And we had Kinley with us, you know? I don't know what it is. It must be her red hair, but she's like a beacon for trouble. You know, her and Kyle in the both of them, you know, people like Kate and people see Kayden and they're just like, what a nice young tall man. All right. I'll just be nice. You know, but the girls are like, I'm going to get nasty. I don't know what it is. So, so the key to understanding this, I printed this out, I'm going to read it for you guys. And I want you to just think as I'm reading this, you know, some things that maybe jump out to you that just scream, this is not scripture. This is not Bible. See, cause a lot of these people will say, well, you know, the King James translators, you know, they, they put it in the middle of the testaments because they didn't believe it was scripture and they didn't have the discernment and this and that. And it's like, look, just shut up. That just proves that they were probably saved because Jesus said, my sheep hear my voice and they follow me and I know them. So real quick, the key to understanding this is really in verses 18 and 19. If you just think about it, I'm just gonna read these two verses again. This is now the rest of the acts of Manasseh and his prayer unto his God. Okay. So somewhere there was a prayer written between Manasseh and his God and the words of the seers that spake it to him in the name of the Lord. So now there's two things, right? The prayer from Manasseh to God and words of the seers, remember seers means prophets that spake to him in the name of the Lord, God of Israel behold, they are written in the book of the kings of Israel, right? So if you were gonna find this scripture somewhere, you would want these attributes in that prayer, right? Verse 19, his prayer also and how God was in treated of him and all his sin and his trespass and the places where in he built high places and set up groves and graven images before he was humbled, behold, they are written among the sayings of the seers. So if you were gonna find this prayer and it was gonna be legit, right? You would want to see all of these things written in there because that's what God has told us are in that prayer and in these things. Now I'm gonna read for you this prayer of Manasseh, this apocryphal a little statement here. It's just a few verses and they call it a book, the prayer of Manasseh. I'm just gonna read this. You listen to it. Okay. And you tell me what you think. It says, Oh Lord, almighty God of our fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob of their righteous seed who has made heaven and earth with all the ornament thereof, who has bound the sea by the word of thy commandment and who has shut up the deep and sealed it by the terrible and glorious name whom all men fear and tremble before thy power. Now that should be a red flag right off the bat. Do all men fear God? Did all men fear God during this time? No, they didn't. And keep in mind, this is not scripture. Okay. Just keep that in mind. The majesty of the glory cannot be born and thine angry threatening toward sinners is importable. Okay. It's hard to read this without happening. But thy merciful promise is unmeasurable and unsearchable for thou art the most high Lord of great compassion, long suffering, very merciful and repentest of the evils of men. Thou, O Lord, according to thy great goodness has promised repentance and forgiveness to them that have sinned against thee and of thine infinite mercies has appointed repentance unto sinners that they may be saved. Now you don't really see that lingo in the Old Testament too often to you about being saved regarding salvation now. So yeah, keep that in mind. Thou therefore, O Lord, that art the God of the just has not appointed repentance to the just as to Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, which have not sinned against thee. Yeah. Did you know? You guys didn't know that, did you? Yeah. See, that's why you need this hidden junk. But thou has appointed repentance unto me that am a sinner for I have sinned above the number of the sands of the sea. My transgressions, O Lord, are multiplied. My transgressions are multiplied and I am not worthy to behold and see the height of heaven for the multitude of mine iniquities. I am bowed down with many iron bands that I cannot lift up mine head. Neither have any release for I have provoked thy wrath and done evil before thee and did not thy will. Neither kept I thy commandments. I have set up abominations and have multiplied offenses. Now therefore, I bow the knee of mine heart, beseeching thee of grace. I have sinned, O Lord, I have sinned and acknowledge mine iniquities. Wherefore I humbly beseech thee, forgive me, O Lord, forgive me and destroy me not with mine iniquities. Be not angry with me forever by reserving evil for me, neither condemn me to the lower parts of the earth for thou art the God, even the God of them that repent. And in me thou wilt show all thy goodness for thou wilt save me that I am unworthy according to thy great mercy. Therefore, I will praise thee forever all the days of my life for all the powers of the heavens do praise thee and thine is the glory forever and ever. Amen. So think about reasons why that passage of garbage isn't in our Bibles, right? You're saved here. That should just have red flags all over it. Okay. It was obviously written by, I don't know, some bozo probably not even too long ago. I don't know. Maybe it was written last year, but it wasn't. It was written a long time ago, but nonetheless, it's not in our Bible because it doesn't line up with second Chronicles chapter 33 verses 18 and 19 almost none of those elements were in there. There was nothing in that that's specific to Manasseh and so when somebody takes you there, you take them to second Chronicles 33, 18 and 19 say, okay, show me this. Where's this? It doesn't say anything in there about the Babylonians. It doesn't say anything in there about the seers. All it says is weird stuff about repentance, right? And being saved in all this other garbage. It sounds like work salvation to me. It sounds like a dispensationalist wrote that a long time ago and it's probably, um, Darby or Schofield or one of those idiots. I don't know. I'm just teasing. All right, so we're going to move on here. I just wanted you to see that just so in case anybody ever tries to hoodwink you with the Apocrypha, the Apocrypha is weird and if you don't believe me, you know, after you're done reading the Bible, not done, but you know, after you've read the Bible through cover to cover and maybe five, six times, you know, just go by and you know, the, the Apocrypha on, on the, on the internet and just read it. It's weird. It's bizarre. You know, it just, it just screams, not Bible, not Bible at all. It's just, it just that, that's just a little taste of what you could get there. It is weird. So let's move on here. Let's go to Josiah. So turn over to second Kings 22 and we'll just do an overview of Josiah. So like I said in the beginning, you know, Manasseh and Josiah, they have a lot in common. They defied the odds. And the reason why I say that is because Manasseh, you know, a lot of his life, you know, he was evil. He did a lot of evil things. He set up a lot of wickedness in Judah. And then what happened after he died? Ammon was a wicked King, right? Ammon did a lot of wickedness. We don't have time to get into it, but nonetheless, Josiah comes on the scene and he does good after being raised by wickedness in observing all this wickedness. He actually says, you know what? I'm going to do good. I'm going to do right by God. Look at verse number one, second Kings 22 verse one, Josiah was eight years old when he began to rain and he rained 31 years in Jerusalem and his mother's name was Jedediah, the daughter of Adiah of Boscath verse two. And he did that, which was right in the eyes of the Lord, I'm sorry, on the side of Lord and walked in all the way of David, his father and turned not aside to the right hand or to the left. And you're going to see that Josiah was a Bible believing Christian. He loved the word of God. He loved the written word. He loved to have the people teach the Bible, you know, the Levites and so on, you know, the leaders of the time, he commands them to actually teach the Bible. And I'm going to show you that here. Jump down to verse number eight. It says, so for sake of time, we'll jump down to verse number eight says, and Hilkiah, the high priest said unto Shaphan the scribe, I have found the book of the law in the house of the Lord. And Hilkiah gave the book to Shaphan and he read it and Shaphan the scribe came to the King and brought the King word again and said, thy servants have gathered the money that was found in the house and have delivered it into the hand of them that do the work. They have the oversight of the house of the Lord. And Shaphan the scribe showed the King saying, Hilkiah the priest hath delivered me a book and Shaphan read it before the King. Now look at his response here in verse 11 and it came to pass when the King heard the words of the book of the law that he rent his clothes and you know what that should be the attitude that we have when we receive word, when we get a passage of scripture that maybe rips our face off, steps on our toes a little bit, right? We should have our hearts rent. We should be willing to respond to that the same way that Josiah did. Look at verse 12 and the King commanded Hilkiah the priest and Ahichim the son of Shaphan and Akbar the son of Micaiah and Shaphan the scribe and Azahiah a servant of the King saying, So ye inquire of the Lord for me and for the people and for all Judah concerning the words of this book that is found. For great is the wrath of the Lord that is kindled against us because our fathers have not hearkened unto the words of this book to do according unto all that which is written concerning us. And you've got to kind of wonder, you know, it doesn't ever talk about Manasseh finding this book. Doesn't ever talk about Manasseh basically making, you know, making the Bible of that time, the scriptures of that time public throughout the land and really pushing it. Though he does get rid of his abominations, right? That's the difference between Manasseh, Josiah, Josiah, the, he hears the word of God, you know, they find it in the house of the Lord and they say, you know what? We're going to do better than Manasseh. We're going to actually follow these things. We're going to implement them and we're going to do right. So verse 14 says, So Hilkiah the priest and Ahichim and Akbar and Shaphan and Azahiah went unto Huldah the prophetess, the wife of Shelem, the son of Tikva, the son of Haras, keeper of the wardrobe. Now this is kind of backwards here, right? So you've got a woman that's a prophetess, right? You know, and she, she says great things to these guys, you know, I'm not knocking her. And then it says her husband's a keeper of the wardrobe. It's just my opinion. I think she'd be the other way around. Okay. I'm just going to throw that out there and you can do whatever you want with it. Verse 15, And she said unto them, Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, tell the man that sent you to me, thus saith the Lord, behold, I will bring evil upon this place and upon the inhabitants thereof, even all the words of the book, which the king of Judah hath read because they have forsaken me and have burned incense unto other gods that they might provoke me in anger with all the works of their hands. Therefore my wrath shall be kindled against this place and shall not be quenched. But to the king of Judah, which sent you to inquire the Lord, thus shall you say to him, thus saith the Lord God of Israel as touching the words which thou has heard because thine heart was tender and now has humbled thyself before the Lord. And now heard us what I spake against this place and against the inhabitants thereof that they should become a desolation and a curse and has rent thy clothes and wet before me. I also have heard these saith the Lord. Now look at verse 20, behold, therefore I will gather thee unto thy fathers and now shall be gathered into thy grave in peace and thine eyes shall not see all the evil I will bring upon this place. And they brought the King word again. So this prophetess here, she tells him, Hey, God is still going to destroy this place. He's still going to destroy this land. There's really nothing that can be done about it. The damage is already done. Nonetheless, I'm going to bring you to the grave in peace. And so, uh, second Kings chapter 23 and verse number one, we'll see the implementation of God's word here by Josiah. No worry. We're getting close to being done. It says verse number one in the king sent and they gathered unto him, all the elders of Judah and of Jerusalem and 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, both 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. No shame, no shame. Everybody needs to hear this is what he's saying. Uh, verse three in the king stood by a pillar and 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 that were written in this book and all the people stood to the covenant. Now notice that the Bible said Josiah was saved before this, right? So was it faith and works that got him saved? No, he was saved because he knew the Lord because he believed on God during that time. That's how people got saved in the Old Testament. The same way they do in the New Testament. Only they didn't call on the name of Jesus in the Old Testament. That's the only difference there. Verse number four and the king commanded Hilkiah the high priest and the priests of the second order and the keepers of the door to bring forth out of the temple of Lord all the vessels that were made for bail and for the grove and for all the host of heaven and he burned them without Jerusalem in the fields of Kidron and carry the ashes of them onto Bethel. So saying that he burnt those stuff outside of the camp and Josiah, I mean he meant business. I mean these people, they went and dug up the bones of the false prophets and burned them again. We don't have time to get into everything that Josiah did, but let's move on here. Verse number five and he put down the idolatrous priests whom the kings of Judah had ordained to burn incense in the high places in the cities of Judah and then the places round about Jerusalem. Them also that burned incense and to bail to the sun and to the moon and to the planets and to all the host of heaven. So what does that tell you that even though Manasseh got right, he really didn't get all the wickedness out, right? There were still people that just clung to that garbage and then when Ammon took over, they just spread again like wildfire. You know, when wicked people are in charge, wickedness abounds and it flourishes. Verse six and he brought out the grove from the house of the Lord without Jerusalem unto the brook Kidron and burned it at the brook Kidron and stamped it small to powder and cast the powder thereof upon the graves of the children of the people and he break down the houses of the sodomites that were by the house of the Lord where the woman wove hangings for the grove. And this is why Josiah is another household favorite, right? Verse number seven and he break down the house of the sodomites. Now where were the houses of the sodomites at during this time? By the house of the Lord. What do we have today? Sodomites trying to get into church, right? You have to let me in. You better marry me and all this junk. Not happening, okay? Not happening. This is what makes God happy here, right? Having no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness. That's been true from day one. It was true in the Old Testament and it's true today. You know these people today, they think they're doing such a great service to God by being all loving and all coexist and all tolerant and just Jesus loves you and there's nothing you could ever do for him to ever hate you and it's just sickening, it's just disgusting and it just shows you people don't read the Bible. They don't read the Bible. I mean Josiah did right by the Lord and just like Asa did the same thing, right? Just like Jehoshaphat did that, all these guys, they got rid of the sodomites. But why were there sodomites in the land in the first place? Again, it's like I said before, because of the wicked leaders. Anytime wicked people get in charge, guess what? The sodomites come up and all sorts of other wickedness comes up and guess where they like to go? To the house of the Lord, to the Christian. That's where they want to be. Why build your house there near the house of the Lord? You know? And also notice what it says, where the women wove hangings for the grove, okay? Now is the grove something that God ordained? Is that something that's biblical? No, it isn't. That's wrong as well. So you can see that the sodomites are always doing two things, right? They're always trying to accelerate wickedness that's against God and they're always trying to take over God's righteous people. They're always trying to come to the house of the Lord. That's what they want. Why? Because they're dogs, they're beasts. They're just trying to get in and infiltrate and destruct. You know, it's just like the swine that begged Jesus to send them over the cliff. They have that same spirit inside of them. You know, just send us over there that we can, you know, just into that herd of swine. You know, those, I'm sorry, the swine, the demons that approached Jesus and said, let us go into the swine and run over the cliff. Why do they do that? You know, it's kind of, that kind of reminds me of the sodomites. You know, they're just, if you say, okay, let's say our government passes a law today, right? That says, okay, you can no longer, you know, harass Christians. What do you think they're going to do? They're going to look for somebody else to harass what they would do. Now that's not going to happen, obviously, unfortunately, because we know that the end times are approaching and wickedness is abounding right now and you know what, that should never scare us. That should never influence us to get away from the things of God. It should just make us stronger. It should just make us bolder. It should just make us be that light that we are supposed to be, right? Like we talked about on Sunday, that well balanced Christian that not only goes out and shows people the real love of God, right? By telling them how to be saved, but also preaching what's right and just telling it how it is, telling the truth. Look, there's not, you know, people tell me this all the time, you know, when they find out I'm a pastor, they're like, why'd you come to Boise to start a church? Don't you know, there's like a thousand churches here. Don't you know, there's a church on every corner and it's like, yeah, I'm not blind, you know, but apparently there wasn't a man here that had the guts to stand up and preach against this garbage. So God sent me here. Maybe that's why. Did you ever think about that? You know, God obviously has a plan for this church. You know, God obviously had a plan for, has a plan for all of us. You know what? Maybe there wasn't anybody in Boise, any man ready. You know, maybe that's why he sent me here. I don't know, but I'm here and I'm going to preach the truth. Whether the media likes it or hates it, whether people like it or whether people hate it, it doesn't matter. It has to be taught. And you know what? In this day and age, it has to be brought up all the time. You know, it's brought up in the Bible a lot and it makes people nervous, but you know what? You got to get over that because it's in the Bible for a reason, because God's trying to warn us. He wants us to understand these people are dangerous. They're not your friends. They don't want to be your friend. They want to harm you. They want to harm your children. That's all. The only thing that they do is destruct and destroy. That's all they do. I mean, think about it, right? When I was a child, they wanted acceptance, right? When I was a teenager, they wanted to get married. And then as I was a young adult, what it was, it was, no, we, we want, we want equal rights in everything, meaning we want more rights than you. And what is it now? We want your children. You know, what's, what's, what's left after that, your soul. I mean, if they could take your soul, they would do it. But anyways, why am I going off on this? Let's get back to the study here. All right. Go to second Chronicles 35. Oh yeah. Cause of verse seven. All right. All right. See the stuff just triggers you sometime. All right. So Josiah, not only did he implement the word of God in Judah, not only did he stamp the wickedness in the, in the evil and the idols and stuff like that to powder, but he also kept one of the best Passovers that was ever kept since the days of Samuel. So second Chronicles 35, look at verse 18, it says, and there was no Passover like to that kept in Israel from the days of Samuel, the prophet, neither did all the Kings of Israel keep such a Passover as Josiah kept and the priests and the Levites in all Judah and Israel that were present and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. Now second Chronicles 35, look at verse number 20. So he does all of this good stuff, right? He does all of these great things. And again, we have to go to second Chronicles and we read verse 20. It says after all this, when Josiah had prepared the temple, Nico, King of Egypt came up to fight against Carchemish by the Euphrates and Josiah went out against him, but he sent ambassadors to him saying, what am I to do with thee thou King of Judah? I come not against thee this day, but against the house wherewith I have war. So he's like, Hey, I'm not starting trouble with you, Josiah. Leave me alone. This isn't your fight. This isn't your battle. And then he goes on to say this for God commanded me to make haste for bear thee from meddling with God, who is with me that he destroy thee not, and I'll tell you Josiah right here. He should have listened. He should have listened to Pharaoh Nico, but he doesn't look at verse 22. Nevertheless Josiah would not turn his face from him, but disguised himself that he might fight with him and hearken not into the words of Nico from the mouth of God and came to fight in the Valley of Megiddo. Now remember, as you're reading this, this is the narrator telling you this. That means this is the Holy ghost saying, Hey, yes, it is true. God put these words in Pharaoh Nico's mouth. You know, God was working with Pharaoh Nico. So Nico was right here. Josiah was wrong. Verse 23 and the archer shot at King Josiah and the King said to his servants, have me away for I am sore wounded. His servants therefore took him out of that chariot and put him in a second chariot that he, uh, that he had and they brought him to Jerusalem and he died and was buried in one of the sepulchres of his fathers and all Judah and Jerusalem mourn for Josiah and Jeremiah lamented for Josiah and all the singing men and the singing women spake of Josiah and their lamentations to this day and made them an ordinance in Israel and behold, they are written in the lamentations. Now the rest of the acts of Josiah and all his goodness, according to that, which was written in the law of the Lord and his deeds first and last behold, they are written in the book of the Kings of Israel and Judah. And so that's how Josiah ends his life. He disobeys God and God, you know, says, okay, you know, you're, you're done. You know, when he died as a result of disobedience. So just because he did all of these things, I mean, he was a hard, hard charger. So don't ever think of yourselves. We should never think of ourselves. There were such great Christians, right? That we can't make mistakes like this, that we can't do sins like this, that God wouldn't come after us. You get what I'm trying to say? These things are in here for a reason, right? You might think, well, I'm a three time a week soul winner, man. I do this. I read the Bible. I read the Bible, you know, 30 times cover to cover. I go to church. I give all that I have. You know what? But there may come a time of trying for you, you know, where you decide, you know what, I'm just going to get some glory. I'm going to go fight this battle over here. That really isn't mine, but I have no business fighting. You might just get an arrow through the heart. You know, you need to think about these things here, you know, being a good hardcore Christian also should include humility at all times because it, I mean, it does look at it. It didn't take long. I mean, it was just one time, one time he decides, you know, I'm going to disguise myself and I'm going to go out and I'm going to fight. I'm going to get me some of that glory. And you know what? He reaped what he'd sowed, you know, so you just never know. Don't even play with it. You know, it's not worth it. So let's move on here. We're almost done. I know I said that a few minutes ago, but we're really almost done here. We're going to touch on the fall and the captivity of Judah and second Kings chapter number 25. So Josiah, he is dead and it's time to move on here. You look at your chart, you got a few other Kings, you know, they don't reign for very long at all. They do wickedness. God says, okay, it is now time to be done. Verse number one, second Kings 25 verse one, and it came to pass in the ninth year of his reign in the 10th month of the 10th day of the month that Nebuchadnezzar King of Babylon came he and all his hosts against Jerusalem and pitched against it. And they built forts against it roundabout. And the city was besieged onto the 11th year of King Zedekiah. Remember, Zedekiah is the last King that the kingdom of Judah ever had. Verse three, and on the ninth day of the fourth month, the famine prevailed in the city and there was no bread for the people of the land and the city was broken up and all the men of war fled by night by the way of the gate between two walls, which is by the King's garden. Now the Chaldees were against the city roundabout and the King went the way toward the plane and the army of the Chaldees pursued after the King and overtook him in the plains of Jericho and all his army were scattered from him. So they took the King and brought him up to the King of Babylon to Riblah and they gave judgment upon him and they slew the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes and put out the eyes of Zedekiah and bound him with fetters of brass and carried him to Babylon. So the last thing that King Zedekiah ever saw was the death of his sons. I mean, think about that. These people meant business. They knew what they were doing. They killed his sons in front of him and then put out his eyes. That would be the last thing that he would ever physically see. Verse eight, and then the fifth month on the seventh day of the month, which is the 19th year of King Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon came Nebu-Zaradan, captain of the guard, a servant of the King of Babylon unto Jerusalem and he burnt the house of the Lord and the King's house and all the houses of Jerusalem and every great man's house burnt tea with fire. And again, Zedekiah was warned. He was warned by Jeremiah. He was warned by prophets to just give up, go into captivity. This is what God wanted. He, again, he declines to listen to the word of God. You know, even in his heart, he knew that's what he should have done. We don't have time to read those passages tonight. I went a little long, but the result of disobedience again is always having your sight removed. In this case, it was his physical sight. In our case, it could be our spiritual site. You want to go ahead and, you know, decline listening to God's laws. You want to turn your back on him. You want to say, okay, I'm not going to follow your wisdom. I'm not going to follow your statutes. Oh, sure. You're still saved. You know, you can't lose your salvation. I get it. We understand that. But you know what God will take from you. He'll take your judgment. He'll take your ability to see truth away. And that's what this is a picture of here. So you say, what? What we talked about this evening, we just wanted to overview Manasseh, Josiah, and just touch on the captivity of Judah. And like I said, we will, we'll kind of get more into it a little bit. Next week. But basically it's, it's pretty much the same thing we talked about last week on the only difference is now all Israel is in captivity and there's no more King. And you say, well, what are we supposed to do with all this information? Well, you know what, like I said, both of these Kings defied the odds. I mean, Manasseh, you know, he lived, you know, did some, some horribly wicked things, you know what? But he did turn his life around. You know what? Josiah got brought into captivity and he humbled himself and God rewarded him. God blessed him for that. He went from starting as a King, as a 12 year old to reigning for 55 years. Think about this. Josiah grew up with wicked parents and guess what? He didn't let that influence him. He lived most of his life saving the end of his life with doing righteous acts. You know what? So that should be a testament to us, a testimony to us that you know what? You might have some bad things in your life. You might have some things that you're not proud of and some wickedness, but you know what? We get those things which are behind and move forward, reaching to those things that are before us because there's a lot of work to be done and God doesn't remember your sin. So why do we hang on to them ourselves? You know why? It's because it's the flesh and because the devil wants nothing more than to stop you from doing the works. So let's pray. Thank you Lord for these stories in the Bible. I thank you for this church, Lord, and I just pray you bless a week, Lord, please bless the sowing this week and the fellowship later on in Jesus' name I pray, Amen.