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Obey All the Way |
Josiah, An Obedient King – Part 2
Today we will finish our study of Josiah’s
obedience to God with some comments on the last four points
listed in yesterday’s lesson.
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Josiah found the truth because he had an
honest desire to honor and follow God. Josiah knew about God
from his mother as we discussed yesterday. But he did not have
the word of God. Copies of the word of God were not in the
general possession of the people of God. The originals, carved
on stone had long since been lost. When the children of Israel
had entered the promised land, they built a very large altar,
plastered it and wrote the entire law on it (Deut. 27:1-11;
Josh. 8:30-35). No doubt, that altar had long since been ignored
or destroyed. Without the written word of God, Josiah was trying
to serve God with all his heart. That included repairing the
temple. It was during the repair that the workers found a copy
of the word of God. Let me use this event to explain an
important principle of God’s word.
Many times people ask if others who have never
heard God’s word are lost. Can they not be saved if they are
ignorant of the word of God? The Bible is clear. All have sinned
(Rom. 3:10, 23). Salvation is only in Christ (Acts 4:12; Jn.
14:6). Forgiveness comes only through the blood of Christ (Eph.
1:7; 1 Pet. 1:18-19). That means that those who have not heard
the word have sinned and they must come to Christ for salvation.
How can they if they have never heard of Him? Just as Josiah
found the law of God because he was fully desirous of serving
him, God promises the same to those today, who, though ignorant
are searching for the truth. God will get His truth to such
people. Consider Acts 17:24-27 where Paul addresses the
condition of men all over the world and their responsibility to
seek God. God is not far away from anyone and can be found by
those who seek him. You may ask, how do they know whom to seek?
They may not know him by name. But a reasoning young man or
woman is expected by God to look around at the wonders of
creation and properly arrive at the truth of a creator (Rom.
1:19-20; Acts 14:15-17; Ps. 19:1). Having arrived at the correct
conclusion, they should continue their search for truth. If they
do not love truth, they will be allowed to be deceived by false
ideas (atheism, agnosticism) or false religion (idolatry,
denominationalism, a perverted gospel) (2 Thess. 2:10-12). But,
if they love the truth and are diligent in their search, God has
promised that He will get his revealed will into their hands. We
all will be judged by the word (Jn. 12:48). Our God is just and
loving. As Josiah found the truth because he was willing to obey
it, so shall all who have that spirit of obedience.
I will try to keep the rest of these a little
shorter for your reading pleasure.
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He accepted God’s word as the authoritative
standard. Did you notice in 2 Kgs.22:11 that Josiah tore his
clothes in abject penitence at his and Israel’s failure to obey
the law of God? Did you notice in the following verses that his
first thought was to inquire of the Lord to escape the wrath of
God? Did you notice in 2 Kgs. 23:2-3 how may times the word all
is found. 1: And the king sent, and they gathered unto him all
the elders of Judah and of Jerusalem. 2: 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. 3: And 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. This is the reverence that
should be shown before the word of God, our standard for
salvation and living.
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Josiah followed the law and restored the true
worship of God. Josiah did not lament only. As always when we
come face to face with the word of God, it is not time to
hesitate, it is time to change. Josiah changed. So many with
whom I study will acknowledge certain truths, but never make any
changes in their faith or practice. Some somehow have the idea
that they will be able to convince God that His word was good in
a general way, but its details were really too much to follow or
change our lives over. The very idea of repentance is changing.
There can no growth without changing.
Another thought based on this principle. When
Josiah found the law book and followed what it said, he did not
form a new religion just because he was starting over again. He
restored the religion of God that had been ignored for decades.
Today, in 2004, when men in any city, state or country take the
New Testament law of Christ, the standard of Christianity, and
follow it, they will not have formed a new church. If I take the
Standard Manual of Baptist Churches and organize a group after
it, I will not have formed a new church, but a new congregation
of the Baptist denomination. It I take the Book of Discipline of
the United Methodist Church and form a congregation, I have not
established a new denomination, but a new congregation of the
Methodist church. If I take the Book of Order and the Book of
Confessions of the Presbyterian Church and follow them to start
a congregation in a new city, I have not begun a new
denomination. Each of these books is the standard of faith and
organization for their denominations. When we follow them we
make a carbon copy of the other congregations of that
denomination. By the same token, if I take the Bible, and form a
congregation based on it’s instructions, I have not begun a
denomination. Rather, I have begun a new congregation of the
church of Jesus Christ. The Bible is the only standard for his
church, so the new congregation will be a carbon copy of the
Lord’s church in the New Testament. The Lord’s church, of
course, is not a denomination (which means to divide). If we
follow the standard, the Bible, I can build Christ’s church in
the same way Josiah restored Mosaic worship.
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His obedience included fighting against sin in
the land. When we read chapter 23 of 2 Kings, we find that
Josiah was militant about destroying false religion and false
living in Judah. We too, in the New Testament church are to be
militant. We are an army (Eph. 6:11-17). We are taught not to
tolerate false teaching or false living in the church (1 Jn.
4:1; Rom. 16:17-18; Jude 3; Tit. 2:10; 2 Thess. 3:6, 14). May
we, like Josiah, turn to God with all our heart to do all his
commandments.
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Studies by Mike Glenn |
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The
church of Christ
