Josiah and Family

Josiah and Family

Well here we are back again.

I have preached on how people around you can affect your proximity to God, then my next sermon was about how God uses troubles and trials to bring us to become closer to Him, and then my last sermon was about how we can spend more time with God through the method of praying and reading the Bible. Each of them are methods God uses to bring people to a closer communion with God, or possibly the Devil may use the same methods in drawing you further from God. So today we are going to look at another aspect which will make a huge difference on a Christians walk through life. And that is the Family.

We will look at the family today mostly in connection with King Josiah of Judah, and how the family shaped his walking with God.

The hard part, however, is that family is something we are born into and we don’t get to choose our family. And we know from experience that Christians are drawn in from all walks of life, some are born into very Godly families, some are born into very wicked families. But one thing is certain, that they will take note of how family life affects a person, and seek the Lord’s help when they are called to start their own family.

It is true that the family plays an important role in our lives, but it also follows that we also make a big impact on other members of our family.

I get the feeling that maybe I’m waffling on a little bit, so I hope that in the following sermon that I will be able to make the subject a lot clearer to you by studying the life of King Josiah.

King Josiah’s story can be read in 2 Kings 22 and 23 and also in 2 Chronicles 34 and 35.

I will be turning to quite a few verses in the Bible, so I advise you to keep it handy.

I’m sure you have all heard of King Josiah. He was one of the few Godly kings of Judah. After the reign of a few ungodly kings, it was Josiah who ordered that the temple of God be re-established and encouraged the nation to worship God as He should be worshipped. We must always that the Lord if He blesses our nation with Godly rulers.

But it’s not really with Josiah that I want to start my study, it is with his grandfather King Manasseh, where our narrative really begins. Remember the subject of our sermon, it is the family, and we shall see what effect King Manasseh had on his grandson.

If you know your Bible well you will know that king Manasseh was the wickedest king Judah had ever seen. He completely led Israel astray, encouraging them to worship all kinds of false gods. Why could someone be so wicked? Well, Manasseh was probably thinking that adopting all these false gods was doing Israel a favour... you see, he adopts a god from Egypt, and one from Arabia, one from Babylon, and one from the Persians, and in this way he is bringing Judah closer to the other nations, in effect stopping all chances of war occurring. In a way it looked as if Manasseh was a great king, he might even been labelled the Peaceful King. See how that when we are in sin, the greatest sinners can look like saints!

Well time passes and God brings Manasseh into trouble, he is taken captive by the Assyrians and brought into Babylon and put in prison.

Remember what I said about troubles and trials? God only chastens his sons... if you are a child of God and you are walking in sins, God will not leave you like that, He will cause trouble to come on you that you will realise that you are not doing that which is right in the sight of the Lord.

So it happened that while Manasseh was in prison in Babylon that he saw the error of his ways, and he was given a spirit of true prayer, and prayed unto the Lord, and the Lord heard his prayer, and delivered him out from prison, and he was restored unto his kingdom.

The evidence of Manasseh’s repentance is shown in that he cast out all the idols, and rebuilt the sacred places of God. You see, we can’t repent one day and then live like sinners ever after. If we are living like sinners now, it is quite likely that we never repented in the first place. Paul Washer says that the evidence that we truly repented then was that we are still repenting today.

So in relation to Josiah, how would he have viewed his grandfather? Would he have seen him as the most ungodly king in history?

Well, if we do a bit of mathematics, we can look in the book of 2 Chronicles, and in 34:1 we see that Josiah was 8 when he became king, his father Amon reigned for 2 years (33:21) and the King before him was Manasseh, so we take away 2 from the 8, so Josiah was 6 when Manasseh died, just old enough to understand a lot of what his grandfather taught him. If we look in 33:14-16, we will see all the work that Manasseh did after his conversion, and that must have taken quite a few years, so it’s quite likely that through Josiah’s life he had a Godly grandfather to look after him..

You could imagine the conversations the Godly Manasseh would have with his young grandson. Manasseh would tell Josiah all about how he was the chief of sinners but God had mercy on him, and if God could have mercy on such a wicked sinner why couldn’t He have mercy on his young grandson? I’m sure in those six years, Manasseh had the time to teach his grandson how to pray.

I could talk all day about King Manasseh, but there are a few other family members I need to talk about.

So at the age of 67 King Manasseh dies, and his 20 year old son Amon becomes the new king. In 2 Chronicles 33:22 it tells us that king Amon “did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord”.

Let’s look at it from Amon’s point of view for a moment. Amon was a prince, that means he could do whatever he wanted; he had a great dad whose philosophy was that life’s short so enjoy it and get the most out of life. Amon just wanted to party all the time, and that’s just what he was able to do, and his dad was fine with that! Then while Amon was still in his early teens his dad is taken off as a captive, but that’s not the worst thing... Dad comes back bonkers! Insane! Dad thinks that there is a God, and that God says we can’t have fun and get drunk every night. Dad’s a real killjoy isn’t he now?

Amon won’t listen to his father’s instructions... he falls in love with a girl when he’s 14, he marries her when he’s 15, even though his father advised that he wait until he is mature enough to lead a household to pray and worship God. Amon’s philosophy is have as much fun as you can so he marries the girl, and she becomes pregnant, and their first Son is born, and they call him Josiah.

At the age of 20 Amon’s father dies, and he is left with the responsibility to lead the nation of Judah! It is no wander that such a foolish young man leads the nation astray.

But I don’t reckon that Amon was so much a popular king, I don’t think his servants really liked his arrogant attitude, and eventually Amon is murdered in his own house by his servants.

And now at the very young age of 8, King Josiah was crowned and placed on the throne of Judah.

Josiah was a great king, he remembered what his grandfather taught him, and encouraged all Judah to worship the one true God.

One thing I would like to mention about Josiah is that he found the book of the law in the temple... that would be the first 5 books of the Bible that Moses wrote under the inspiration of God. And he ordered that the book be read to him, and in reading that book he was convicted of things that he wasn’t doing right and those wrong things he was doing, and he repented. It is important to prayerfully read the Bible and when given a word from God to seek to do what He commands.

There’s so much that I would like to say about Josiah but I seem to have run out of time.

One last thing I would like to point out is Josiah’s son and successor of the crown: Jehoahaz.

In 2 Kings 23:31 it says that Jehoahaz’s mother, and presumably Josiah’s first wife was from Libnah, presumably a foreign woman, a non Jew, who was not brought up to serve to Lord. All I will say is that in choosing a wife we must be aware of what effect it can have on our children. Josiah’s wife was a non believer and so her children were not taught the fear of the Lord, and they did that which was wrong in the sight of the Lord.

All I want to end with today is that I hope you will think prayerfully about the things we have discussed here, and think of the ways in which you affect the people around you, both in your family and close friends, and I hope you will be shown ways in which you can influence them for good.

There is a warning, however, you alone are responsible for your walk with God, and you must never blame your upbringing for the way you act. You are responsible to God, not your parents. The point of this sermon is that you will look to future generations and help them in their walk with God.

The Lord bless his word.

Amen!

Sermon - Pray Without Ceasing

Pray Without Ceasing

1 Thessalonians 5: 17 says “pray without ceasing” which is the title of our sermon today.

I have recently been reading the biography of George Muller, and like many others I have been very much inspired in reading about his amazing prayer life. It is recorded that on many occasions, Muller had to rely on God for his provision of food and daily necessities, as he was not given a set wage from his church but received only money from offerings, and trusted wholly in the Lord to supply his wants. Well, on many an occasion it is recorded that he is virtually down to his last meal and he prays for provision from God and god sends some money by some miraculous means. He tells us that this happened on many an occasion, but God has always given him something, never has he gone without a meal or necessities of life.

Well, I don’t know how you feel, but I find the thought of completely relying on God for all my necessities quite daunting, and I fear I don’t quite have the faith do such an act.

But it’s not only Muller that has had experiences like this, I remember Hudson Taylor, the great missionary to China, being in exactly the same situation.

So what the big difference between Muller and Taylor and myself? The answers right there in front of us in our text. PRAYER! These two great men had a great prayer life. But don’t think that they are any kind of super human and not on our level. We all have the potential to become great prayerful men and women of God! And in the following sermon I’m going to show you how. And don’t think I’m standing here telling you to do something I’m unwilling to do myself; I too need to take the following measures to procure a closer walk with God!

Paul Washer notes that those men of God who are used so powerfully in the work of God and in revival have also been those men who have had a great prayer life.

I remember once there was girl I loved so much in my youth, I thought that we would be together forever, and I thought that I could never live without her! But now I hardly ever thing about her... the truth is that I really can live without her. So what changed between then and now? I’ll tell you what changed... I spent time away from her, I moved thousands of miles away, so I never saw her, I didn’t hear her voice and she didn’t hear mine, there was no conversation. For weeks after that my soul was pining for her, but in time I forgot that she even existed, I started to like other girls etc etc.

The same thing can happen with God. Soon after my conversion, I loved to hear about God, I wanted to know whatever anyone said about Him, I lived and breathed Him, I prayed without ceasing. Then things seemed to go really well I was on top of the world, but I soon developed a proud nature, and got it (subconsciously) in my head that it was because of my good deeds that everything was going so well, and because in some manner I had become a semi-god, I gradually done away with my prayer life little by little, I even got to the point where I wasn’t praying in the morning when woke up, indeed the only time I ever prayed was if I was in dire need.

So what are some of the problems here?

Pride is one of the major things here, there’s not much we can really do about pride, but a great prayer is that God would give us a thorn in the flesh like He gave to Paul, that ever reminder that we are mortal and need the help of our great Redeemer. Sometimes God will give you a disease or a disability that will always remind you that you are a frail worm. George Muller had some major sicknesses which were instruments to bring him closer in prayer. These things are really hard to think about, but what is a thorn in the flesh compared with eternal condemnation and separation from God?

Another thing that was a big problem with my prayer life was that I thought that it was only the big things that needed to be prayed about, like family troubles or if I was worried about my health. But let me be clear, if you can’t decide what breakfast cereal to have in the morning PRAY about it! God wants to hear about the little things too!

Do you remember when we were little children? We used to think that dad knows everything! And the slightest question we would go and ask dad! Well God tells us to be like little children, and that means that every little thing we should ask our Heavenly Father! Even right now, when I’m thinking of what to say next I’m saying a little prayer in my head to God asking Him!

Let me be clear, Prayer is our only connection to God in this life. Forsake prayer and you forsake God!

Another thing that was wrong with my prayerless life was that I hadn’t planned any time for daily communion with God in reading the Bible and praying. I had an idea that it was stupid to arrange a time of prayer because prayer was something that just happened and that I should only pray when the spirit of prayer fell on me. That sounded Biblical and all, but now that I have a bit of experience and all, I realise that it was a very stupid thing, and it gave my sinful nature the excuse to give up reading and prayer altogether. So the first thing I did after I became aware of my prayerless state was to introduce a morning and evening devotional session. A time of Bible reading and prayer.

Have you noticed that reading the Bible and praying is very much like having a conversation with God? We read a portion of the Bible which is God’s way He chooses to talk to us, then we respond in prayer.

Have you noticed that when you hang around with a group of friends for a long time, they might introduce you to a kind of music which previously you didn’t like, but because they play it so often you gradually became used to it and started to prefer it more that the former music you used to listen to? This is kind of like communion with God, the more time you spend praying and reading the Bible, the more you will become like God, loving the things God loves and hating the things God hates. This is what it was like for Muller and Taylor, it wasn’t any great deeds of their own, but through spending much time with God, they began to mirror God!

We’re kind of like monkeys in a way, you know, monkey see monkey do. So this is a great piece of psychology for all of you, if you want to be a pop star all you need to do is hang around all the pop stars, if you want to be a movie icon, hang around the movie stars, if you wanna have a fun time, go to the pubs and the clubs where everyone is well versed in how to carnally amuse themselves. I assure you, spend time with them and you will learn their ways and become like them. But if you want to be like God, read the Bible and pray!

Now there are endless examples in the scripture of people praying and their pray being answered, here are just a few:

Jonah: Jonah’s just like me, he was told to go and preach to Nineveh, but, probably because of prayerlessness, he refused and took a ship to Tarshish, but in God’s mercy, Jonah was sent a thorn in the flesh, Jonah was cast into the sea, he saw his life flash before his eyes, and he was eaten up by a whale or a big fish. There was just enough air in the belly of the whale for Jonah to breath, but I imagine that he had great difficulty breathing, and seriously feared for his life. I think that Jonah must have been in such a wayward state for God to have to use such measures to bring him into submission. I don’t reckon he spent much time in Bible reading and prayer. But in God’s mercy, even Jonah wasn’t beyond hope, and neither are you or I. Jonah prayed, and renewed his relationship with God.

I’m sure the road was a bit rough in places and Jonah had times when he forgot to pray, and I’m sure those times felt far too many, but I’m sure after an ordeal like that, Jonah started to have a deeper prayer life!

Manasseh: Manasseh was probably the most wicked of all the kings of Judah, he was responsible for turning all Judah away from the true God and got them worshipping idols, but even he, at the end of his life was given that wonderful gift of prayer, and He prayed to God to forgive him of his sins, and I am sure that if I were to die this very evening I with go to Heaven and see Manasseh there worshiping at the foot of the throne worshipping God that had mercy on such a sinful sinner as he.

David: I could say so much about King David and prayer, but I have run out of time. But let me finally point you to the Psalms, and you will see that each one of them is a prayer and most of them are Davids. Some of them are short like Psalm 117, some of them are long like Psalm 119, God doesn’t care about the length of the prayer, all God cares is that you pour out your soul to Him, just say everything that is on your mind!

And remember, God is only a prayer away!

God be with you all, and I look forward to seeing you become a praying people!

Amen.