Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Evening Sermon Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/ev/ev20040627.htm

1 AND 2 KINGS: ENJOYING GOD'S BLESSING IN AN APOSTATE ERA
Part LIX: Motivation To Heed God WHATEVER Our Discipleship Level Is
(2 Kings 22:1-23:4; 2 Chronicles 34:3)
  1. Introduction
    1. So blind are we to God's truth in our culture that when we come to faith in Christ, we often take years to learn just how to align all of our lives to what God wants them to be even in the basics of Christian living.
    2. Realizing the depth of the change that must occur as we come out of ignorance, we may begin to think we now are unwittingly failing to please God due to some other "blind spot" we have that needs correcting. Such a thought can stifle obedience to God as we wonder if it is worth trying to do what we think pleases Him but which may not be fully Scriptural even now!
    3. King Josiah's life reveals how valuable it is to heed God wherever we are in our knowledge of the truth:
  2. Motivation To Heed God WHATEVER Our Discipleship Level Is, 2 Kings 22:1-23:4; 2 Chron. 34:3.
    1. When evil king Amon died, his 8 year old son, Josiah became Judah's next king, 2 Kings 21:25-22:1a.
    2. We read in 2 Kings 22:2 KJV that he did what was right in God's viewpoint, that he did not veer from the Lord's ways to the right or to the left, following God "in all the way of David his father . . ."
    3. However, there was a timetable involved in Josiah's arriving at this his great commitment to the Lord, one we must recall if we would evaluate how the Lord interacted with him (as follows):
      1. 2 Kings 22:3 with 22:8-11 tells us it was not until the 18th year of Josiah's reign when, in accord with 2 Kings 22:1, he would have been about 26 years old, that he first learned what God's Law taught!
      2. Then, 2 Chronicles 34:3a reveals Josiah began to seek after the God of David in the eighth year of his reign, or, in keeping with what we know from 2 Kings 22:1, when he was around 16 years old.
      3. 2 Chronicles 34:3b notes it was in his twelfth year as king that Josiah actually began to purge Judah of its idols, and that would have been when Josiah was around 20 years of age.
      4. If we combine all this information with the record of 2 Kings 22:1-23:4, we see a timetable of the development of Josiah's walk with God, and how God GRACIOUSLY interacted with him in accord with Josiah's LEVEL of AWARENESS of God's truth (as follows):
        1. Josiah quite possibly was involved in idol worship as had been his wicked father between the ages of 8 and 16 when he FIRST began to seek after the God that king David had followed!
        2. Learning more of God's truths, he began to purge the land of idols near age 20, 2 Chronicles 34:3b.
        3. Six years after that, when he was around 26 and he had learned more, Josiah heeded a precedent set by king Jehoash who was led by the godly priest, Jehoiada: he also sought to honor God by making collections for the temple's repair, 2 Kings 22:3-7; Ryrie Study Bible, KJV, ftn. to 2 Kings 22:4-7.
        4. After that, the high priest, Hilkiah found a stored copy of the Mosaic Law in the temple, and gave it to the king's Scribe, Shaphan who read it and who in turn read it to king Josiah, 2 Kings 22:8-10.
        5. The Law revealed judgment was due Judah for departing from heeding God's Law, a new concept to Josiah who had never read Scripture; this news shook him so deeply that he rent his royal robes, 2 Kings 22:11. Josiah then sought a prophetic message to see if he could gain God's mercy, 22:12f.
        6. He learned from a prophetess (apparently no more godly male prophets lived due to their being killed off by Manasseh) that God's judgment would surely come; yet, as Josiah had repented when he had first heard the Law, God promised to postpone judgment until after his death, 22:14-20.
        7. Learning of this good news of God's mercy, Josiah made a public covenant with the people in the temple to heed God's Law, and began in earnest to cleanse the land of its idols, 2 Kings 23:1-3, 4.
Lesson: Though it was EIGHTEEN YEARS in coming, AS the Biblically illiterate Josiah BEGAN to LEARN of GOD'S TRUTHS, and as he RESPONDED at each LEVEL in OBEDIENCE to WHAT he THEN KNEW of the truth, God PATIENTLY worked with Josiah to BLESS him as Judah's king!

Application: It is ALWAYS worthwhile heeding God WHOLEHEARTEDLY at the LEVEL of our KNOWLEDGE of His Word EVEN THOUGH our knowledge is PARTIAL; God is FAIR in dealing with us at EACH LEVEL of INSIGHT, so we must obey what we KNOW is His will and EXPECT Him to be merciful and patient with us regarding what we DO NOT YET know of His will and Word!