I'm a huge fan of 20th century American literature, having taken courses in middle school, high school, college, grad school. But I have a special affinity for Southern writers like Eudora Welty, William Faulkner, Flannery O'Connor, especially Faulkner and O'Connor, who both died in my lifetime. Both of these have a perfect ear for regional dialects, which is a lost art, I think. And both take very seriously the fallen condition of man and the world and can describe the effects of depravity as well as anyone, especially Flannery O'Connor. But the chief reason why I appreciate these writers is that these authors have a mastery at the plot twist and the surprise ending. But Flannery O'Connor at least, if not Faulkner, O'Connor is honest enough to say she learned this from reading scripture. There's several locations in the scripture we have the plot twist and the surprise ending. For example, in Mary's Magnificat in Luke chapter one, Mary, after hearing the news that she's going to be the mother of the Messiah, Mary prophesies this way. Now think of what a plot twist this is, a surprise ending. Mary writes, he has put down the mighty from their thrones and he's exalted the lowly. He's filled the hungry with good things and the rich he sent away empty. Do you hear what Mary says? She says, by the coming of Christ, he's going to turn everything upside down. He's going to put the rich, the powerful, the royal, he's going to put them at the bottom of the heap and the lowly, the despised, the ignored, he's going to put them at the top of the heap. The apostle Paul picks up on this same plot twist and surprise ending in the text that when people have asked me, Carl, do you have a life verse? I still don't really know what that means, but I think that means something that's really important to me. I always say, yeah, 1 Corinthians 1. And Paul does the exact same thing that Mary does, but he states it even more didactically. When Paul gives the most surprising, shocking statement, it's the ultimate plot twist. When he says in 1 Corinthians 1, You see your calling brethren, there are not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble are called, but God has chosen, here comes the plot twist, the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise. God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong. God has chosen the base things of the world and the things which are despised to bring to nothing the things that are. Well, our text tonight, and I hope you have your Bible open at 2 Chronicles 35, has just such a plot twist and a surprise ending. Now, if you've not been with us for the last 22 weeks, we've been examining the family tree of Jesus. In fact, you could say we've really been looking at one verse, that verse in Matthew 1, where Jesus' genealogy is being given, and you have four names there in Matthew 1. Hezekiah begot Manasseh, Manasseh begot Ammon, and Ammon begot Josiah. For 22 weeks now, we've been dissecting these four men, rulers of Judah, part of the David dynasty, as David's descendants go from father to son. And so we spent 12 sermons on Hezekiah, one of the great kings of Israel. And then we spent three sermons on Manasseh, one of the worst, until he was converted. We only spent one week on Ammon, because he only reigned two years and then was assassinated. And tonight is our sixth and final sermon on Josiah. And so we have been at this for 22 weeks, but just to remind you of what the Holy Spirit says about Josiah, so you'll rank him properly. We're told in 2 Kings 23, before Josiah there was no king like him who turned to the Lord with all his heart, all his soul, all his might. According to the law of Moses, nor after him did any arise like him. And that's why the twist is going to be so surprising to us. Josiah, remember, was crowned at the age of eight. We saw him at the age of 26, a ready hearer of the word. When Josiah is the king, his workmen are repairing the temple. They discover the Deuteronomy scroll. It's brought to Josiah, read to him for two hours plus. He listens. That's going to be important in our story. He listens to the word of God intently. And when that final section of Deuteronomy is read to him that contains the covenant curses and blessings, he begins to weep and tear his clothes because he realizes. that the Israel he rules over is just the sort of nation that God says he's going to curse with the curses of the covenant. And so Josiah calls the entire nation together and he does something that still boggles the mind. He says, okay, I want everybody to come from all over Israel, from the hills, from the valleys, three days walk and ride where we have the reading of Deuteronomy. Remember that in May, when as a congregation for the month of May, we're reading the book of Deuteronomy together. Remember, people came from all over the nation for one single purpose, to hear their king unroll the scroll and read the book in their hearing for over two hours. Well, He then sums this all up by making a covenant with the nation and the Lord to repent and to repent specifically of idolatry, to follow close after God's word. And then what do you do after you make a covenant? You follow through. You do what you've promised. And so we saw Josiah in faithful acts of discipline and destruction of idolatry. We see him following through carefully on all the covenant promises he made. He spends months tearing down idols in the temple precinct right there under his roof. and then he even finds idols on his roof in Jerusalem and all through the Southern Kingdom and Northern Kingdom. And then continuing in that same covenant faithfulness, Josiah gathers the nation again to celebrate the sacrament of Passover, which had been ignored for decades. And what we see, as we said last week, is Josiah, just like we would say the three marks of the church are word, sacrament, and discipline, That's what Josiah does. He's heavily involved in the reading and the teaching of the word by the Levites. He's heavily involved in the restoration of the sacraments by promoting Passover. And he's heavily involved in dealing with sin as he goes around tearing down idols and even executing idolaters. And that's why this twist is so odd and jangling to our sensibilities. Here's this King Josiah, who's one of the greatest in Israel's history, if not the greatest king. And he's only 39. He's in the prime of his life. He's known for his wisdom. He's known for his judiciousness. And he makes two colossal blunders that bring to the end his reign shortly. He goes to war when he shouldn't, and the result is tragic. He doesn't listen to the word of God when he should, and the result is tragic. And in the most surprising turn of affairs, this great, perhaps the greatest, wise and godly king is killed before his 40th birthday. We're going to need help to understand this text because it's a little bit difficult. And we're going to not only look at this text, but at least two, maybe three others. And you're gonna need your Bible open on your lap to look at it. I'm always fascinated when we look at the text of scripture and you see folks with their Bible closed and they're counting lights. I'm thinking, no, you don't get who we are. So delve deep into your copy of God's word tonight as we are Bereans and seek to understand this, this tragic end to the life of a great man. We're gonna need the help of the Spirit, so let's ask for that now. Our Father, source of all light, in the same way that you spoke the light into existence on that first day of creation, now on this first day of the week, by your word, give light to our souls. Pour out on us the spirit of wisdom and understanding that our hearts and minds may be opened. We pray in the name of Jesus, our only Savior, amen. Look with me at 2 Chronicles 35, the first few verses of our context, beginning in verse 20. And the clock has just scrolled forward 13 years. So when we open verse 20, look at it carefully there where we read these words, after all this, if you're being a savvy interpreter, you know, this is kind of a basic rule of hermeneutics or biblical interpretation. You should stop right there after the first three words. And you should ask this question after all this. After all, what? Well, everything that has gone before in Josiah's life, up until his 39th birthday. So that would include the discovery of the Deuteronomy scroll in the dusty recesses of the temple. Hold this prophecy in 2 Chronicles 34, that Josiah would be gathered to his father's in peace, but soon after his death, Israel would fall to the Babylonians. This is after he reads the scroll to the nation. It's after he leads the nation in a covenant renewal ceremony. It's after the sacrament of Passover is reinstituted. After idolatry is purged from the land. And we're given a narrative then, our text. You need to recognize this. is a narrative about international relations. Now, let me just tell you a tiny bit about international relations in our lifetime. Most presidential scholars can easily agree. In fact, you have a hard time finding one who will disagree. that it's rare, in fact, most presidential scholars will say we've never had one in 46 presidents yet who was both good at domestic relations and foreign relations. And in fact, most we've had are both. But it's a rare thing to have a president who's good at international relations. It turns out that's actually kind of a description of Josiah. Look at our text. He is, Josiah by the way too, there was no excuse for any Israelite king to be poor at international relations because unlike our rulers, they had an inspired manual of how to do it. They had scripture that told them how to relate to the other nations. So let me remind you what some of that was. For example, in Numbers 23, Israel is called by God in Numbers 23 to be a people, quoting here, dwelling alone. not reckoning itself among the nations. In other words, a policy of isolation. Their trust was to be in Jehovah alone, not in treaties, diplomacy, or compromises worked out by clever diplomats. Israel was to be, and again, quoting Exodus 19 here, God's special treasure, a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. That largely occurred until Solomon. Solomon comes onto the throne and Solomon says, I'm going to move Israel out of our provincialism, out of our isolationism. And he moves them into the realm of international politics. Around our house, we say, how'd that work out? Not too good. Well, let me explain to you what just happened when Solomon does that. Here's his tool for international relations. He marries 700 wives. That's a bad start already. Most of whom represented treaties with their fathers or brothers who were the rulers of surrounding countries. And these treaties were told in 1 Kings 11, ended up drawing Israel into the idolatry of those nations. Just what God had warned them about. Don't make any treaties with the nations. be separate, be sanctified, set apart. They do, and of course they're drawn into idolatry. Had Israel obeyed the Lord and kept his covenant, let me show you what the promised blessing was. Now, by the way, this is the blessing that Josiah would have read. He would have heard it read. He would have read it in public to Israel when he had the public reading. He knew this. Let me show you what he should have known. Look at Deuteronomy 28. Deuteronomy 28 where God promises great blessing for his nation if, if they obey his covenant. Deuteronomy 28, look at the beginning of the chapter in verses one and two. Now it shall come to pass, if you diligently obey the voice of the Lord your God, to observe carefully all his commands, which I command you today, that the Lord your God will set you high above all nations of the earth. And all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you because you obey the voice of the Lord your God. Look over at verse 10, same chapter. Then all the peoples of the earth shall see that you're called by the name of the Lord and they shall be afraid of you. And then verse 12 and 13, the Lord will open to you his good treasure, the heavens to give the rain to your land in its season, to bless all the work of your hand. You shall lend to many nations, you shall not borrow. The Lord will make you the head and not the tail. You shall be above only and not beneath. if you heed the commandments of the Lord your God. And so this is the promise to them if they'll simply obey God's covenant, delight in his law, they'll have no problems on the international front. People will leave them alone, they'll even look up to them. But their disobedience led to defeat and dispersal among the nations of the region. Now, when it comes to the specific international flare up, we see in our text, look at the first few verses of our context beginning in verse 20. The war that we see, the little international tiff that's going on is between Pharaoh Necho of Egypt and the Babylonian army of Nebuchadnezzar II. National powers are warring against each other. Do you see that in verse 20, where we read, Necho king of Egypt came up to fight against Carchemish by the Euphrates. Carchemish is Babylon. And so Pharaoh Necho, this has to be understood. Pharaoh Necho of Egypt is just passing through. He's not bothering anybody in Israel. He just wants to go through sort of out there on the edge. He wants to go through because he's moving his armies into a battle position. He's not bothering anybody in Judah. He's not threatening anybody. He's just passing through. Now, what's so funny is Josiah should have taken a note from his history class because Israel 700 years earlier, when they were leaving Egypt, when they just wanted to pass through the land of Edom, That's Esau. They're cousins, right? They just wanted to pass through the land of their cousins, the land of Edom. These descendants of Jacob, here are the descendants of Jacob. They asked the descendants of Esau, can we pass through? No. We promise we won't touch anything. We won't drink any water. We won't take your livestock. No, go around. And so this was actually a cause of great bitterness for Israel. You'd think Josiah would say, you know, someday when people wanna go through, if they're not gonna bother anybody, what's the harm? Well, Pharaoh Necho is even very clear. Look at verse 21, what he wants. He sent messengers to Josiah saying, what have I to do with you, King of Judah? I've not come against you this day, but against the house with which I have war. For God commanded me to make haste, refrain from meddling with God, who is with me, lest he destroy you. Do you hear what Necho is saying? He says, I'm all about peace here, just passing through. He just wants to get through there very quickly. And what you'll notice is that Josiah has no warrant, no divine command, no word from a prophet to get involved in this fight. This is simply a decision on Josiah's part. There go the Egyptians, they're headed towards the Babylonians. I think I want to attack. Now, do you know what this is? This is, at our house, is what's called meddling. Josiah should know better than to meddle. I had the blessing, many of you didn't grow up in such a sanctified home, and I'll explain what I mean. I had the great blessing of growing up in a home, whenever I would stick my nose into something that was none of my affair, my mom, and she had like a list of about 50 songs that she would sing as a cautionary tale. and for this one anytime me or my brother or sister would stick our nose in mom and she actually had a good voice she would begin to sing that wonderfully wise hank williams song mind your own business now i think i should sing a stanza for you because no i'll just tell you hank says Minding other people's business seems to be high tone, but I got all that I can do just minding my own. Why don't you mind your own business? If you mind your own business, you'll stay busy all the time. Yes, Hank. Well, meddling, getting involved when it's unwarranted, is always foolish. And do you know what Josiah would have read by this point in his life? He would have read the Proverbs of his great, great grandfather, Solomon, who wrote this in Proverbs 26. Whoever passes by and meddles in a quarrel not his own is like one who takes a dog by the ears. As a descendant of Solomon, Josiah should know the Proverbs well, but he ignores or forgets this word, which is always wise and sound counsel. Turns out, This isn't just old covenant wisdom, but the New Testament writers pick up on this and expand it. For example, Paul in 1 Thessalonians 4, he writes to that Gentile church and he says to them, we urge you brethren, that you aspire to lead a quiet life and mind your own business. I think Hank had been reading 1 Thessalonians 4. Well, Peter, not to be outdone, the apostle Peter in 1 Peter 4 says, let none of you suffer as a murderer, a thief, or an evildoer, or as a busy body in other people's matters. Christians, by the way, let me just say that there are so many times when we feel the need to give our opinion on those two people who are having a little disagreement over there. You have plenty of things to take care of under your own roof. Well, this also holds true for the international sphere in terms of international relations. And let me tell you what happens when you meddle in other countries' affairs. It always seems to end up, in that worst of all situations, war. War, by its very nature, is a spectacle of violence and destruction and suffering and death, but it's been a common occurrence from the earliest days of the human race. There have been two Christian stances on war, two very different stances by Christians through the ages. On one hand, you have pacifists, believers who will say that all participation in war is always evil, period. On the other hand, you have Christians who believe just war principles. And they say a war may be just or justified if it meets certain criteria. And they begin, first of all, with five arguments that show that war is not necessarily sinful. For example, they use the argument God in scripture describes himself as a man of war. He engages in battle against his enemies. The Lord states he's mighty in battle. He's pictured repeatedly as a warrior in battle. Or a second argument, that God commanded Israel to engage in certain wars, for example, against the Canaanites, driving them out of the Promised Land. A third argument that war can be legit is the Lord gave specific instruction on the conduct of war in His law in Deuteronomy 20. A fourth argument that war can be legitimate, men of God, such as Abraham, Moses, Joshua, Gideon, David engaged in warfare. And the New Testament specifically uses these men and their warfare as examples of walking by faith. And then the New Testament doesn't repeal the Old Testament law regards to war and upholds the civil magistrates authority to go to war. In fact, John the Baptist and Peter don't command believing soldiers to quit their soldiering. But what the Christian tradition has come to is from Augustine and before Augustine through John Calvin to today. Roman Catholics and Protestants have agreed that for any war, any war, whether it be our nation or North Korea or any war to be just and justified, it has to meet eight criteria. Not one of eight, not seven of eight, but eight. Let me rehearse those for you because what the Bible has is it recoils from war. And what it states is texts like this in Romans, insofar as it's possible to be at peace with all men to do that. The Christian you see loves peace. What is one of the fruit that the Holy Spirit produces when he comes in and dwells the believer? The fruit of the spirit is peace. And so the believers not bloodthirsty, they're not looking for a fight, They will go to almost any extent to be at peace that's in the personal realm, in the familial realm, on the national realm. Those eight criteria are, first of all, just cause. All active aggression stands condemned. Only defensive action is legitimate. Only if the other side is clearly preparing for aggression is a preemptive first strike permissible. Second criteria. Remember, all eight Christian ethicists, Roman Catholic, Protestant, Augustine, Calvin. Sometimes these are even taught at our service academies in the ethics of war. There's huge agreement on this. Second criteria, just intention. The only legitimate motive for a just war is to secure a just peace. Wars for economic gain, for oil, for control, for revenge, for ideology are always unlawful. A third criteria that must be met. Last resort. War should only ensue when all negotiations for peace have failed, and there should be negotiations for peace. Fourth criteria. Formal declaration by lawful authority. War is the action of a civil government, not that of an individual. A state of war must be clearly declared by the government of the country. Fifth criteria. Limited objectives. Only efforts that can bring the war to a successful conclusion quickly are legitimate, so such things as blanket bombing, mass tear gassing are unwarranted. Sixth, and remember, all eight have to be there for a war to be legitimate and just. The sixth criteria, proportional means. The types of weapons employed and tactics used should be limited to secure limited objectives. Seventh criteria. Protection for noncombatants. Since war is an act of lawful governments, only armed agents of those governments should fight. An eighth criteria. Probable success. There should be a reasonable expectation of success before risking the lives of young men. Well, that should tell you that's the Christian tradition in terms of the history of ethics, that no Christian, whether in singularity or in national leadership, in military leadership, no Christian can just be spoiling for a fight and jump into any war. But that's what Josiah does. I want you to notice, look carefully at verse 21 and 22. We have to stop and we have to ask a very important question to the text. We have to ask this, we read Pharaoh Necho's words to Josiah. Now, a moment ago, our New Testament reading was from 1 John 4, to test the spirits, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. And so let's ask this, let's be Josiah. Let's test the spirits. What should Josiah have done when these messengers came to him in verse 21? Look, it's just one verse. You have the ability here to make an easy judgment, just one verse. You have from Pharaoh Necho's representatives. What should he have done? Well, he should have done a few things. First of all, he should have listened to the reasonable ambassadors of Pharaoh Necho. On a regular basis, you have people who want you to do unreasonable things. Usually they're under the age of six who want you to do unreasonable things. But I want you to look at verse 21 because this is profoundly reasonable. Can we pass by? We just want to pass through on your land, not gonna hurt anything. And so the first thing Josiah should have done is a man who loves peace and isn't looking for a fight would say, I'm listening. Second thing he should have done. He should have inquired of the Lord. He should have asked the Lord to reveal himself. How should he act? And third and most importantly, and he's done this before, remember? He should have sought out one of the prophets and listen to who was right within a few miles or even yards of his throne. Jeremiah, Zephaniah, Nahum, Huldah. all of whom had prophesied to his administration. It's not like there was a famine of the word of God. He was surrounded by godly prophets. He should have inquired of them. And one of the things that makes this incident so ironic is Josiah was known for listening. Remember how focused on hearing he was the first time when the Word of God, the Deuteronomy scroll, was discovered? And he sat still. He didn't make a move, a muscle, for two hours and even more. He sat on the edge of his seat as the scroll was unrolled and the whole book of Deuteronomy was read to him. He was a listener. When the word from the prophetess Huldah came to him, he listened. Sandy and I were talking the other day about friends we've had through the years who were great listeners. We could count them on less than one hand. These are people who pick up what you're saying, they hear you out, they ponder how to reply. And we contrasted that with so many people we've known who never listen, but they constantly interrupt, or they immediately forget what you said if they ever heard in the first place. But to the last person you think who will be a poor listener is, Josiah. That's part of what makes this ending such a plot twist and such a surprise ending. Because up until this point, for the first 39 years of his life, he's been marked by careful listening. He listened to those regents who guided him when he took the throne at eight. He listened to the word of God. He listened to the prophetess Holden. And he may be like those husbands who their wife is talking to them from in the kitchen. while they're watching the football game. And she says, did you hear me? Oh yeah, yeah, I heard you. What did I say? You said it's third and nine is what you said. Well, it's as though Josiah doesn't hear verse 21. Because when you read that, what reasonable person in this room would say, well, yeah, you ought to go to war with these people because they asked verse 21. And so we have to ask this question. This is a vital question for you to understand. And let me tell you why in just a second. We have to answer this question. Was Pharaoh Necho a prophet? Look at his words in verse 21. Was he a prophet? Now we are told very clearly, I'm gonna give you the answer very simply. The answer is yes. Because look at verse 22. We are told by the biblical narrator these things. Nevertheless, Josiah would not turn his face from him, but disguised himself so that he might fight with him. This is the narrator. This is the Holy Spirit speaking. And he therefore did not heed the words of Necho from the mouth of God. In other words, Necho is God's mouthpiece. Now, if you're sitting there and you're stunned, I got a bone to go pick with Carl. I don't think Neko is a prophet. Well, then my friend, you are surprised that God can use an Egyptian ruler as his mouthpiece. You are going to be shocked in the month of April when we come in our congregational reading to Numbers 22, and God puts his word in the mouth of a donkey. So if God can speak through a donkey, he can probably speak through an Egyptian Pharaoh. And that's what verse 22 tells us is that Josiah should have had the discernment to recognize that. Well, the text picks up and gains speed very quickly. Look at verse 23 and 24. We see the manner of Josiah's death. He goes out to battle with his men in disguise and he receives an arrow wound from a Babylonian archer in verse 23. And he's brought back home and he's going to be buried. in the tombs of his fathers. This is the equivalent in verse 24 of a state funeral. Now, let me just stop and speak to this because it's been a long time since I spoke to this. And this question does not come up like once a year, it comes up about every other week. Burial arrangements matter to God's people. Look at verse 24. What is the plain reading of the text? That Josiah was buried. This is not just some decaying flesh that you can put in an incinerator and treat any old way. This is Josiah. His soul is in the presence of Christ, but his body's here, and that too is precious to the Lord. This example definitely needs to be considered again in our day, because this historically, biblically-rooted practice of the Christian church is rapidly becoming passé on a scale that's unprecedented in Christian history. Cremation is coming to be, and I choke to say these words, accepted among Christians. Prior to 1940, you couldn't have found a Protestant minister in Greenville who would bury you if you were cremated. We're told it's cheaper, it's not right to burden the bereaved with a large bill for burial. We've been told by the environmentalist movement that land for cemeteries can no longer be justified since we're too overcrowded and we must find a different way of treating the dead. I don't blame humble believers for this. I blame the ministry entirely. Pastors haven't taught their flocks. So let me give you three quick lines of evidence that demonstrate this example you see in verse 24, circle it, draw arrows to it and say, this is the normal Christian way to deal with death. The practice of burial has the support of Holy Scripture from beginning to end, but cremation never does. This is striking since through the entire course of biblical history, the people of God were always rubbing shoulders surrounded by nations who practiced cremation. But the patriarchs in Israel and the church has always buried their dead. Every statement concerning the dead in the Bible assumes this practice. Jesus was buried. Enough said, argument closed. And we are said to be buried with him. Jesus said in John 5, 28, that all those who are in their graves will hear his voice and come forth on the day of resurrection. Some will say that, Cremation occurs in the Bible, and so the practice has biblical support. Well, they're right. Cremation does occur in the Bible. And you know who's always cremated? The wicked. Achan, who sinned at Jericho, brought Israel to ruin, and was stoned to death in the Valley of Achor, was buried and then burned as a sign of divine judgment. Josiah himself burned the bodies of the idolatrous priest in 2 Kings 23. Intentional creation is always a sign of God's wrath. Well, a second reason why burial is so important. The practice of burial attests to the Christian hope of the resurrection, but cremation is an insult to that hope. The New Testament repeatedly affirms it's the selfsame body that will be raised on the day of resurrection. Evangelicals have lost touch with this hope. I've heard believers stand by the casket of a parent and say, well, that's no longer mom, she's with Jesus in heaven. Well, to be sure if mom is converted, her soul is in heaven, but her body remains mom and that body will be raised on the last day. Paul affirms this in 2 Corinthians 5, when he speaks of the soul of the believer, groaning, longing to be clothed with their resurrection body. Those religion who practice cremation as an article of faith, such as Hinduism, They do so because they believe the body has no value. That's Gnosticism. Jesus values the body. He rose in a real body that Thomas could touch. He'll raise your body up on the last day. His salvation is a full and complete one, saving soul and body. When you tell somebody, giving your testimony, Jesus died to save my soul, I always kind of tweak people like that, and I'll say, and? What do you mean, Jesus died to save my soul, and? I don't know, what are you trying to say? And your body. Because he'll raise both up on the last day. Our creed states this, if you walk down the hall on Wednesday nights to our catechism class, you might hear six year olds saying this. In Shorter Catechism 37. Learning this answer, the souls of believers are at their death, made perfect in holiness and do immediately pass into glory, and their bodies, still being united to Christ, do rest in their graves to the resurrection. Julian, the apostate who sought to restore paganism to first place among the religions of the empire, said that Christianity's triumph was due to three things. Christians' benevolence to the poor, their scrupulous honesty, and their treatment of the dead, that they embodied to the world a new hope that the rest of mankind doesn't have. Their practice, the first century believers, was to carefully wash the body, wrap it in linen, then with ministers and friends, they would commit the body to the grave with prayer, singing, and the reading of 1 Corinthians 15, the exact same thing that we do today. It was a powerful testimony to their reverence for life and their hope of the resurrection. And for nearly 2,000 years, this has been the universal custom of the Christian church. No, let me correct that, for nearly 4,000 years. And what you see here is a 2700-year-old example. For what reason are people overturning this holy pattern now? Well, concerns about land are misplaced. There's plenty of land and many ways to make burial grounds go further than in the past. I'm not gonna justify the extravagant sums spent on caskets and funeral. I've left clear instructions to be buried in a cheap pine box. But what we see here is the practice of the church in all ages has been very simple, burial. Now notice, look at what happens when Josiah is buried. Look at the end of our context, verses 25 to 27, or 24 to 27. Josiah is deeply mourned by Judah and Jerusalem. And then we see in verse 25 and 27, he's lamented and remembered. Look at how his death is commemorated. The prophet Jeremiah pens an ode to Josiah entitled laments. Do you see it there in verse 25? This ode has not been preserved for us. This isn't the book of Lamentations, which is canonical scripture, but this lament that he writes for Josiah was written by a prophet. I think that tells you in what esteem Josiah was held when a prophet like Jeremiah writes. a poem exalting him. And then we see as well in verse 25 that mixed choirs, choirs of men and women composed dirges to sing, stating their deep sadness at the death of Josiah. And then these mournings take on a national character. Look at verse 25. This became a custom in Israel. Now notice what is focused on in all these acts of mourning. Look carefully at verse 26. What is everyone focused on? Look, Josiah's goodness according to what was written in the law of the Lord, his deeds from first to last. My poor wife, you should take pity on her because many a day she's gone down to Charleston with me and we've gone through graveyards trying to find my old friends. most of whom died before 1800. And Sandy, the sociologist, was the one who noticed it first after, this is probably our 50th or 60th trip to some of the graveyards to find my best friends down there, and she said, do you notice the difference in these graves and say the headstones up here at Graceland? I said, These are old and those are new. She said, no. She said, there's something much more profound. She said, would you notice when you go to a contemporary cemetery, here's what's written on the tombstones. Beloved wife and mother, Clemson fan, things like that. Served in the military. But what you'll notice is in a better, in a wiser, in a godlier, in a more mature time, people's character and their attachment to scripture and the church are written on their tombstones. And so what you would see is you would see beloved elder of the church and you would see scriptures written there. And you would see references to one who manifested the fruit of the spirit in his life. And then it testifies to that. In other words, what you have is these people mourn and they mourn biblically. They point out the Christian characteristics of this person. We're now in our secular age about the best we can do is to say, I served in the military and I was a dad. Do you notice the difference in maturity and attachment to scripture? Well, look at how this culture mourns Josiah. Look at the verse 26 and 27. We read, now the rest of the acts of Josiah, his goodness. according to what was written in the law of the Lord." In other words, what they're praising him for, what they're mourning is a man who obeyed the commands of God. How rare is that? Has passed off the scene, his deeds from first to last. And so whenever Josiah's name came up, when they were writing dirges, singing songs, writing poetry, here was always the emphasis. Look at verse 26 and 27. He loved the Bible. and he was committed to obeying it. What a glorious legacy. Now, let me just show you the end of the story. There's even more to love about Josiah and his legacy. Keep one finger here and look at Jeremiah and Jeremiah would know, Jeremiah was his contemporary. Look at Jeremiah 22 and Jeremiah adds to this, Jeremiah 22, Jeremiah is speaking to Josiah's son, Shalom. Notice in Jeremiah 22, verse 11. Jeremiah 22, 11, for thus says the Lord concerning Shalom, the son of Josiah, king of Judah, who reigned instead of Josiah's father. And then we have some pretty ugly things said about this son of Josiah, but pick up the narrative in verse 15 and 16. And this is Jeremiah talking to Josiah's son. Shall you reign because you enclose yourself in cedar? Did not your father, that would be Josiah, eat and drink and do justice and righteousness? Then it was well with him. He judged the cause of the poor and the needy. Then it was well, was not this knowing me, says the Lord. And so in addition to what we read in Kings and Chronicles, Jeremiah the prophet includes this section that says, not only was this a man who loved the law of God, he cared for the poor and those who usually were trampled down by the wealthy. How do we apply this word? Let me make three brief applications. The first is, Josiah shows us the power of influence of one man. One of the things that commentators and students of Kings and Chronicles always note is this, that Josiah through his reign is largely acting alone. One of the things you'll notice about David, I stood in the same pulpit several years ago when we preached through the life of David, and one of the things that was remarkable about David is he always surrounded by a large group of men, men who are intensely loyal to him, men who loved him and would do anything and did do anything for him. Josiah always seems to be alone. All through his reign, he seems to be, in almost every case, except maybe one, he largely acts alone. But that doesn't slow him down. He doesn't pout like Elijah and say, it's only me, what can one man do? He rolls up his sleeves and he gets busy. He uses his power and his authority to bring about righteousness. And he doesn't say, well, I'll wait for somebody else to come and join me. He would have waited till his death. He gets busy, and so if you're that person saying, well, I can't act alone, I can't stand alone, tell that to Noah, who stood alone for 120 years as he preached righteousness. And what we have with Josiah, we have a powerful example of what one man can do who is completely sold out and zealous for the kingdom of God. The second application, this is likened to the first. Josiah shows us how the godly live and prosper and thrive, even in an era of great wickedness. When we were preaching through Daniel last year, we focused on this a lot, where Daniel, for you who say, Carl, you don't get it. It's 2021. It is a wicked place. And the godly, you can't expect, you know, keep the Lord's day or tithe or be married to one woman for all the days of your life or not be a substance abuser or whatever, just fill in the blank. Because Carl, you know, how can the godly live in a time like this? Josiah is a great example because you remember how he begins his acts of reform and revival. He begins and he's going to knock down idolatry and he can't even get out of his house without bumping into idols. He looks up on the roof of his house and there are more. He walks by the temple of Israel and there are more. He walks to the city gate and there are more. And so say to Josiah, you can't thrive and prosper in a time of wickedness. Josiah does. He's a great example of how the godly can live and thrive when wickedness is all around. But a third and final application. I'd not be being fair to the text if I didn't say this. Josiah teaches us that no matter how godly and mature you are, and Josiah was, my friends, take any 10 of us combined and our sanctification pales to Josiah. He's a giant of godliness. But no matter, no matter how godly and mature you are, you are still liable to foolish errors in judgment and sinful independence. That's how Josiah's life ends. Not wanting to receive wisdom from God's servants. That was Josiah's great act of folly. He doesn't seek out one of the prophets. He doesn't seek out God. He just goes and acts in a warlike manner, foolishly, and it is his undoing. There's 70 and 80 year olds in this room. You cannot say, I have successfully passed through the minefield. There's no more temptation for me. I have complete and total wisdom. I don't need to seek counsel from the pastors or the elders. My friend, you are set up for a fall. Good men like Josiah, not good men, great men. can fall into sin and pride and foolishness. Even the most mature saints in this room have daily need to watch and pray and to put on the armor of God each morning. Let's pray together. Our Father, we thank you for your word, the richness of it. We thank you for revealing to us the family tree of our Lord Jesus. We thank you for showing us what to do in all manner of difficult situations. We pray that we would learn from the gracious acts of Josiah and as well from his foolish acts. And so we would learn how to stand alone, stand for righteousness, stand even in an ungodly age and stand upon your truth and love your word as our father in the faith Josiah did. Lord mature us through this word, we pray in Jesus name, amen.