The title of the sermon is, The Word of God, Rejected, Abandoned, Abused, and then Fulfilled. Praise God. Scripture, 1 Kings, Chapter 13, series, The Eternal Kingdom. If you have the Word of God open and you'd like to stand as I read the Word of God, you may do so. And behold, a man of God came out of Judah by the word of the Lord to Bethel. Jeroboam was standing by the altar to make offering, and the man cried against the altar by the word of the Lord. And he said to the altar, O altar, O altar, thus says the Lord, behold, a son shall be born to the house of David, Josiah by name, and he shall sacrifice on you the priest of the high places who make offerings on you, and human bones shall be burned on you. And he gave a sign the same day, saying, This is the sign that the Lord has spoken. Behold, the altar shall be torn down, and the ashes that are on it shall be poured out. When the king heard the saying of the man of God, which he cried against the altar at Bethel, Jeroboam stretched out his hand from the altar, saying, Seize him! And his hand, which he stretched out against him, dried up, so that he could not drive back to himself. The altar was also torn down, and the ashes poured out from the altar according to the sign that the man of God had given by the word of the Lord. And the king said to the man of God, Entreat, intercede now for the favor of the Lord your God, and pray for me that my hand might be restored to me. The man of God entreated the Lord, and the king's hand was restored to him, and he became as it was before. And the king said to the man of God, Come home with me and refresh yourself, and I will give you a reward. And the man of God said to the king, If you give me half of your house, I will not go in with you, and I will not eat bread or drink water in this place. For so was it commanded me by the word of the Lord, saying, You shall neither eat bread, nor drink water, nor return by the way that you came. So he went another way, and did not return. by the way that he had came to Bethel. Now an old prophet lived in Bethel, and his sons came and told him all that the man of God had done that day in Bethel. They also told to their father the words that he had spoken to the king. And their father said to them, which way did he go? And his sons showed him the way, and the man of God who came from Judah had gone. And he said to his son, Saddle the donkey for me. So they saddled the donkey for him, and he mounted it. And he went after the man of God, and found him sitting under an oak. And he said to him, Are you the man of God who came from Judah? And he said, I am. Then he said to him, Come home with me and eat bread. And he said, I may not return with you, or go in with you, neither will I eat bread nor drink water with you in this place. It was said to me, by the word of the Lord, you shall neither eat bread nor drink water there, nor return by the way that you came. And he said to him, I also am a prophet, as you are. And an angel spoke to me by the word of the Lord, saying, Bring him back with you into your house, that he might eat bread and drink water. But he lied to him. So he went back with him, and ate bread in his house, and drank water. And as they sat at the table, the word of the Lord came to the prophet who had brought him back. And he cried to the men of God who came from Judah. Thus says the Lord, because you have disobeyed the word of the Lord and have not kept the command that the Lord your God commanded you, but have come back and have eaten bread and drunk water in the place of which he said to you, eat no bread and drink no water, your body shall not come to the tomb of your fathers. And after he had eaten bread and drunk, He saddled the donkey for the prophet he had brought back. And as he went away, a lion met him on the road and killed him. And his body was thrown in the road, and the donkey stood beside it. The lion also stood beside the body. And behold, men passed by and saw the body thrown in the road, and the lion standing by the body. And they came and told him in the city where the old prophet lived. And the old prophet I brought him back from the way, heard of it. He said, it is the man of God who disobeyed the word of the Lord. Therefore the Lord has given him to the lion, which has torn him and killed him according to the word that the Lord spoke to him. And he said to his son, saddle the donkey for me. And they saddled it. And he went and found his body thrown in the road. And the donkey and the lion standing beside the body. The lion had not eaten the body. The lion had not torn the donkey. And the prophet took up the body of the man of God, and laid it on the donkey, and brought it back to the city to mourn for him, and bury him. And he laid the body in his own grave, and they mourned over him, saying, Alas, my brother! And after he had buried him, he said to his sons, When I die, bury me in the grave in which the man of God is buried. Lay my bones beside his bones. For the same that he called out by the word of the Lord against the altar in Bethlehem, against all the houses of the high places that are in the city of Samaria, shall surely come to pass. After this thing, Jeroboam did not turn from his evil way, but made priests for the high places again from among all the people. Any who would, he would ordain to be priest on the high places. And this thing became sin to the house of Jeroboam. so as to cut it off and to destroy it from the face of the earth. A lot of questions, huh? It's an incredible passage. Lord willing, God will speak to us. Father, we thank you for your word, and we pray, oh Lord, that you would speak to us mightily through it, that you would open our minds and our understanding to truth, oh Father God, that are contained with it. And Father, we pray that none will leave here, Father, the same as they walked in. either knowing you better, loving you more, repentant for sin, whatever it might be, Lord, we pray that you would do that work in us today. In Christ's name and for his sake, amen. And you may be seated. So the events of chapter 12, Jeroboam starting his own religion, if you remember, flow right into the events of chapter 13, where we see how serious God's word is and the consequences of not obeying it. Our story reminds us of God's holiness, the importance of his word, and the need to stay faithful and the need for us to be discerning people. Our sermon will focus on the four individuals mentioned in our story and the lessons we can learn from each of them. It's going to be a little different. We're just going to look at the four individuals. And the first individual that I want us to study is the king, Jeroboam. We see him in verses 1 through 10. And then 33 through 34. And what the scripture teaches us, or talks to us about, is the mercy of God's word rejected. The mercy of God's word rejected. Our passage opens with God's divine word shattering Jeroboam's false worship in Bethel. Remember, he had created this whole religion in order to keep the new kingdom of the north from going down to the south and worshipping God like they were supposed to. He had created altars, and he had created calf gods, and he had said it's the same thing as worshipping the one true God. He knew it wasn't. He didn't care. His whole idea was to consolidate power. He thought if his people kept going to the south where the temple was, and where the line of David was, that eventually their hearts would be drawn and say, why have we divided? Let us reunite. And there can only be one king. And obviously, it wouldn't be his line. It would be the line of David. And so that eventually he would be killed. And he would lose everything and eventually killed. And so he said, we're not going to keep worshiping in the south. We won't worship the right way. Let me invent my own religion. And he used the scriptures, if you remember, twisting the scriptures to make it seem like this was a legitimate form, a legitimate way of worshipping God, and the people bought it. And they started worshipping in that way. And he started worshipping, making his own feast days, and his own holidays. He started appointing his own priests that weren't Levites. And it was in the middle of one of those celebration, pagan celebration, where he's sitting there by the altar, standing by the altar, worshipping and sacrificing as if this were real, misleading the people. And as the people fervently are worshipping, God in his mercy sends a prophet from Judah to confront the king's idolatry. This very act was a profound kindness of God. God did not leave Jeroboam in his sin without warning him. I want you to put the thought of what's going on in your head. Jeroboam did not see it as a mercy of God or as an opportunity to repent. So enraged by the boldness in the message of the prophet, Jeroboam stretches out his hand and commanded the guards to seize this prophet. Look at this in your head. He's worshiping, the music's playing, the people are bowing down. This man breaks through the crowd, gets to the front, and starts screaming, The Word of God. It's an incredible scene, isn't it? And he doesn't speak to Jeroboam, and he doesn't speak to the people, but he addresses himself to the altar, to the false altar in a form of personification. He speaks to the altar as if it was a person. O altar, O altar, thus says the Lord to you. You're an abomination to him. I can imagine All mouths being silenced. Everybody looking at this man. Who do you think you are? Who do you think you are coming here and telling us that our worship isn't legitimate? Who do you think you are telling us that our way is not the right way? It's an incredible scene. And as he's prophesying, he prophesies that God would send a king one day. to, to, to remove the idolatrous worship. And as a sign He says, you today will be split in half. Which was God showing that He was the High God, the only God. By crushing this false altar and this calf worship. And the ashes falling to the ground made common because they weren't holy. So He says that will happen right now so that you can see that God will in the future send a king. It was a sign. The king got enraged. He stretches out his hand. He says, seize him. But at that very moment, God's judgment falls upon Jeroboam. His hands withered, frozen in place. The muscles in the sinews contract and locked in. He cannot remove his hand. His hand becomes completely useless. The king, who thought he was going to lay hands on God's messenger, was held fast by God's hands instead. It's an incredible thought. The sovereign God was protecting his servant and displaying his authority over Jeroboam and over the people of the north. These were his people who had turned their back on him. The king understood this. He was again meeting with the God of heaven whom he had despised. The God who had appeared to him through the prophet Ahijah. The prophet Ahijah had come and says, because Rehoboam, the king of the south, has sinned. And because Solomon has sinned, his father, I'm going to tear the kingdom and I'm going to give you ten tribes. You're going to, you're going to be king. Only follow me and love me and I will establish you as king. And so God had given him the kingdom and he had despised God. Instead of doing what God called him to follow Him, he introduced idolatry. And he was meeting with this God again. Here was God who had given him the kingdom, now condemning him for his willful disobedience. Jeroboam knew that his made-up gods could not stop the one true God. So this wicked king is forced to plead for intercession. He asked the prophet, please restore my hand. Ask God to restore my hand. Here is God correcting him. And all he has to do is say, you know what? God, I'm sorry. Oh prophet, pray to the Lord that God would forgive me. That God would put away my sin. That God would allow me the grace of repentance. If God has sent you, He must be giving me another opportunity. But instead he says, all I want is my hand restored. He chose the lesser over the greater. I hope you see that. Instead of saying, Intercede for my soul, he says, intercede for my physical hand. And so he would have his physical hand for the rest of his life. But what good was it to him when he ends up in hell? God had already split the false altar in two showing that what the prophet had declared regarding the future of this false religion would come to pass. God's chosen king, Josiah, would one day come and destroy Jeroboam's idolatrous legacy once and for all. Yet God gave more than signs of judgment. He gave us signs of grace. At the prophet's intercession, Jeroboam's hand was restored. God didn't have to restore his hand. But again, another sign, another mercy, another proof that he is God, another call to repentance. This was God's kindness. It was an invitation to repent and return. However, Jeroboam refused God's mercy. Instead of listening to the warning, verse 33 and 34 tell us, he simply repaired the altar and continued his idolatry. He would not be corrected by God. He would not be corrected by God's Word. He received the Word of God as a mercy, and he despised it. Many people today respond to God's warning and kindness, like Jeroboam did, with stubborn hearts that refuse to repent. God still speaks through His Word, and through the faithful preaching of His Word on the Lord's Day, and even through the trials of life, calling sinners to turn back, to repent of their sins. But instead of listening to God, many, if not most, ignore His warnings. continue to worship in an unlawful way, idolatrously, worshiping self, worshiping this world, the pleasures of this world. Beloved, there is a truth that each of us must consider. We only harden our hearts further if we keep rejecting God's mercy. True wisdom humbles itself, submits to God's authority and repents. And the only way to do that is through the Gospel, through the confession of sin, through the realization that we are broken people from the very beginning, sinners by birth, separated from God eternally, that we're not good people, that God doesn't owe us anything but death and hell, and that apart from Him there's no hope for us. And then to look at God's mercy in sending His Son, who became one of us and lived the life of perfection that you and I could not live, keeping the law of God that you and I have broken, going to the cross as a perfect substitute for you, then suffering the disgrace of your sin so that you can have His law keeping put to you so that you can be saved. That is the gospel and until you repent, until you come to Christ in that way, you are like Jeroboam, a false idolater, a worshiper of things other than the true God. So we see God's mercy, the Word, rejected. And in verses 11 through 24, we come through our second person, the man of God. We learn through the scriptures that the safety of God's Word was abandoned. The safety of God's Word was abandoned. The man of God from Judah is a mystery. We don't even know his name. He was fearless, though, in his proclamation. Imagine the faith it would take to come from the southern kingdom into the northern kingdom to interrupt the king of the northern kingdom at this pagan worship ceremony. That's, that's bravery. That's faith. It was incredible faith. And we see a man willing to risk it all to share God's Word with the unconverted because God had called him to do so. I admire him. Yes, he messes up at the end, but I admire this faith that says, I will go, God. I will interrupt a king and his people as they worship, and I will proclaim your word. That's an incredible thought, isn't it? Incredible faith and incredible bravery. And yet, although he knew God's clear command, twice he repeated it with conviction in verse 8 through 9 and 16 through 17. that he was not allowed to eat anything, drink anything. He couldn't come, he couldn't leave the same way he had come. God was excommunicating the northern kingdom. He could have no fellowship with them. When the old prophet in Bethel claimed to have received a new revelation from God that contradicted God's word, he followed it. In verse 19. We don't see him protesting. Wait a minute, how can God give you a new revelation when he already spoke to me? Clearly, we don't see him debating the situation. All he did was go. He showed no discernment. He knew the Word of God, but he showed no discernment. It's a sad affair. That was his fatal error. He accepted a so-called new word from the Lord over the sure word he had already received Beloved, that is always a recipe for disaster. Brothers and sisters, faithfulness matters, and we're not to accept spiritual authority without testing its words against the truth of Scripture. Just because somebody opens their mouth and says, this is what God told me, does not make him a man of God. And it's high time that the Church of God wise up to this, and start living with some discernment. Listen to what 1 John 4 says, Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirit to see whether they are from God. Focus in on the last clause. For many false prophets have gone into the world. In other words, many people have been sent into the world to deceive you. So you need to know the truth, so that you can hold on to it. And you need to hold the truth, listen, more than your emotions, and more than what you see. Because we know that our emotions mislead us. We walk by faith, not by sight. Is there a more important warning for us today? Many in the so-called Christian churches claim, the Lord told me to tell you. Or, Jesus appeared to me and I saw a vision. Or, I died and went to heaven and let me tell you what I saw. Or, I died and went to hell and let me tell you what I saw. Or, I had a dream, or I had a vision. What are we to do with these people? We are not supposed to believe these claims. Instead, we are supposed to cling to God's sure and written word, delivered by the prophets and the apostles. There was a time where God spoke this way, through dreams, and visions, and prophets. We see that in the scriptures. Amen? But what does the Bible tell us? God has spoken to us now finally through His Word. You see, there was a time when the Word of God wasn't complete, and so God was speaking in this way to fulfill and to complete His Word, to give His Word. But now He has given us His Word from Genesis to Revelation. And that's how He speaks to you and me, the Church of God. Amen? Outside of that there is nothing else. So 1st Kings 13 makes it clear. God's written word is sufficient for us. I hope that you can hear that again. God's word is what? Sufficient for us. If we're going to receive the testimony of another person, we're saying that the Bible is not enough for us. I need extra curricula, extra biblical revelation. No, the Bible is enough. We have all that God intended us to know. The Bible is enough for us to study for the rest of our lives and never fully comprehend its depth and its riches. The Bible is sufficient for us. It is never safe to receive any teaching that goes beyond the Bible or that contradicts the Bible. What has already been spoken is enough for the people of God. Well the man of God did believe in prophecies and visions. He was still in that period where the Word of God was being given that way. But God had appeared to him in some way, some shape, some form. And God had spoken to him directly. And he knew the command and he set it aside. And that is a danger. The death of this man of God stands as a warning to you and me. It teaches us that straying from God's Word leads to spiritual ruin. To death. The author also teaches that each of us then is responsible for the revelation that God has given to us. Just like the prophet was responsible for the revelation God gave him. We must walk according to God's Word and have discernment when it comes to false doctrine. We cannot blame others when we abandon what we had already received and what's been revealed to us. In other words, we're all sheep. Amen? But being a sheep does not excuse us for spiritual stupidity. Just following along and following anyone at a whim. Listen to Ephesians 5. Let no one deceive you. Do you see how God is putting an onus on you? God is putting a responsibility in your life. Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. Let no one deceive you. How? By holding fast to the Word of God. Amen? Or Matthew 7, 15 through 16. Beware of false prophets who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves. Be careful. Hold on to God's Word. That's what the The prophet of the Lord teaches us. Jeroboam teaches us that the mercy of God's word was rejected. The prophet of the Lord teaches us that the safety of God's word was abandoned. And then we get to the third person, the old prophet, the one that we all seem to have a huge problem with, and we should, in verses 18 through 32. And the scriptures teach us and talk to us about the profession of God's word abused. He abused God's word. Before I even get started, let me be clear one thing. Verse 18 clearly labels the old prophet a liar, a false prophet, a deceiver. It clearly states, but he lied to him. Do you see that? So there's a lot of question whether he was really a prophet or not, because he did prophesy later, and it was the Word of God, and he believed the Word of God, but he lied. Is he really a man of God? He is a liar. And therefore he cannot be a true man of God. If we accept him as a true man of God, we can say, the man of God today can be liars, deceiving you, leading you into death, and still be men of God. We, we cannot accept that, that, that thought. And Deuteronomy 18.20 tells us the following, 100% accuracy or death was the litmus test for the prophet of God. And it wasn't even 100% accuracy. It was 100% accuracy And it was, and it was biblical living attached to that 100% accuracy. Or death. That's the calling. Why? Because they represent the God who's holy and perfect. Who doesn't make mistakes. So here we encounter such a man, a man who according to God's word is worthy of death because he purposely lied and spoke as if God had sent him when he had not. And he comes to the prophet from Jerusalem and invites him home. And the prophet from Jerusalem declines the invitation because he knew God's command to leave that ungodly land without eating anything from it. And as I alluded to it before, this command of God spoke of the excommunication of Jeroboam and the excommunication of Israel. God in His mercy had sent the prophet to confront them of their sin. If they had repented, who knows what would have happened. But they didn't refuse to repent. And so he was to leave and not touch or eat anything, drink anything, to show that God would have nothing to do with him again. The prophet from Jerusalem was to have no fellowship with what God had labeled anathema. We must remember that Jeroboam introduced this idolatry, but all of Israel was there worshiping. They all accepted it. So the entire kingdom was guilty. So he was to have nothing to do with them. And the Bible says this, but now I am writing to you, not to associate with anyone who bears the name of a brother if he is guilty of sexual immorality or greed, or is an idolater, reviler, drunkard, or swindler, not even to eat with such a one. It's talking about someone who has sinned and refuses to repent, obviously. We see David sitting in this area, but yet he repented and obviously was restored to fellowship with God. So we're not talking about someone that sins and repents, and so we're never going to have anything to do with them. There's grace in God. Praise God for that. It's talking about someone who's living in this way, saying, I am a Christian, and refuses to back down from this area. That person, we're to have nothing to do with them. They are excommunicated from our fellowship and from God. Unfortunately, the prophet from Judah listened to the lying prophet. As they ate together, then God's true word of judgment came. And it surprises us from the very mouth of the deceiver. The prophet from Judah would die, he says. And you ask yourself, but how can, if he's a deceiver and a liar and a false prophet, how can he then speak the word of God? Well beloved, God can make the rock speak. Amen. And he once spoke through the mouth of a donkey. So, there you go. So when we look at it, this man's life proved him to be a false prophet, but this one instance God gave him his word, because that man of God needed to hear that he had failed God. The judgment on the man of God was anything but normal. If the lion had simply attacked and eaten him, or chased after the donkey and eaten the donkey, People would have thought it was just a lion being a lion. That's what lions do. Amen? But this was different. The lion killed the man but did not eat him. And the donkey was left unharmed. As a matter of fact, I get the picture of the donkey sitting in one place, the man of God who's dead in the middle, and the lion sitting in the other. They're just kind of sitting there waiting. And that's not what lions do. That's not what lions do. So this was clear proof that God himself was bringing judgment. The lion was not acting on instinct, but was under God's control, carrying out his divine discipline. Yes, God is sovereign even over the animals. Then we read something that kind of shocks us. Who handled the funeral? The false prophet. And it kind of strikes at us as being slightly or majorly unfair. The same man who deceived the prophet, the old liar, from Bethel is the one that buries him. He buries him and he cries, alas my brother, poor man. And you want to sit there and go, but it's your fault? What do you mean alas my brother? And he says, when I die, bury me with him. Because, if you remember, the prophet had prophesied that when a king comes, he would open up the tombs of the false prophets, dig up their bones, and burn them as a sign of their dishonor. And he says, I am a false prophet. So bury me with the bones of the what? True prophet. So when this Josiah comes, and he will come, he says at the end, he won't disturb my bones. He will say, I don't know whose bones are whose. unless I burn the prophet's true bones, the true prophet's bones, let us not disturb the grave. He knew himself to be a false prophet, and he makes arrangements so that he would have honor even after death. And we're sitting here going, God, this doesn't seem right. He just got away with it, and he lived the rest of his life, and he died. And he was buried with the false prophet. And when Josiah does come, and he says, oh, this is the grave of the man who prophesied these things. I cannot disturb him. And his bones remain undisturbed. And we're like going, that's just not right. Something should happen. Some sort of lightning from heaven. Amen. A rock. Something should happen on this man. He should die. If the man of God dies, the false man of God should die. What are we to think about this old man, this liar? Scripture doesn't tell us his motives. It doesn't explain why he lied. In the end, it doesn't really matter. He lied, because that's what liars do. He deceived, because that's what deceivers do. And his deception led a true servant of God to his death. And the fact that God later spoke a true word of judgment through him, does not erase his guilt. Yes, the man of God from Judah should have been discerning, but that doesn't excuse the old prophet's deception. His lie had deadly consequences. So here we see a sobering truth. The old prophet spoke the Word of God, yet he also led a servant of God to death. He spoke the truth, but he had no integrity. At one point he had right doctrine, but he didn't have holy living. Jesus warns us about men like this. In Matthew 7 21, Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do mighty works in your name? And then I will declare to them, I never knew you departed from me, you workers of lawlessness. There'll be many people, beloved, who will stand before Christ bragging about their ministries, only to be revealed as frauds. They spoke the truth, but their hearts were not right, like the old prophet. The old prophet of Bethel was one of these men. He used God's Word, but he didn't love God's Word. Do you see it? He used God's Word, but he didn't love God's Word. Be careful with such people. Amen? They know the Word of God, but they don't love the Word of God. Here's the troubling part for us. Like I said earlier, he seems to get away with everything he does. He buried the man of God, mourned for him, and even said that his bones should be laid next to his when he died. No immediate judgment came upon him. And when later Josiah comes on the scene, he doesn't disturb his bones. And this frustrates us, doesn't it? If we're honest, we want to see justice right away. We want the wicked to be punished before our very eyes. Those who have hurt us need to pay. God needs to make them pay today. But God's justice doesn't always work on our timetable. His judgment is sure, even if it's delayed. Beloved, God is not blind to deception. He is not indifferent to false teachers and false brothers, again, Not those who have sinned against God and repented, but those who are continuously on purpose leading others away. The old prophet of Bethel may have avoided immediate judgment, but he did not escape God's watchful eye. We need to understand this. Delayed judgment is not the same as denied judgment. Amen? We say, but it's not fair. That guy killed his wife and that waiter, and he got away with it. Did he? Did he? That was one of the questions when that happened that people had asked me. But how, he's going to get away with it. I'm like, oh no, no. He might escape man's justice and judgment here on earth, but he's not getting away with anything. Do you see it, beloved? We have to see this and understand this. This lion prophet today, he was a real person that really did these things. This lion prophet today, is suffering the agonies of sin and hell. Did he get away with it? He might have had 10, 20, 30 more years of life on this earth without the consequences being revisited on him. But did he get away with it, beloved? No. He will never know relief again. He will never know joy again. He will never have a moment's peace again. He is screaming in agony right now. He is forever condemned. Just because he lived and died without facing judgment on earth does not mean that God was fooled. We need to be careful and understand that. This is why I believe that the scripture calls us to the following. Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God. For it is written, vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord. So we have looked at Jeroboam, who rejects the mercy of God's word. The man of God who abandons the safety of the word, and the lying prophet who abuses the word of God. Let's talk about the fourth person that kind of is only mentioned in one verse, but I think it's the most significant person that can possibly be here. Look at verse 2. The fourth person mentioned here is Josiah. What does the word teach us about him? God's word is always fulfilled. God's word is always fulfilled. It can be rejected. Abandoned, abused, but at the end, it's always fulfilled. Amen? And the Church of God should say amen. It's a good thing. In our chapter, Josiah is mentioned. But beloved, did you know that he hasn't even been born yet? He wouldn't be born for another 350 years later to fulfill the prophecy spoken in our passages. By the way, let me take a side note here just to say really, This one verse settles the abortion debate, does it not? It's not a person, it's a clump of cells. Josiah was a person by name and by deeds 350 years before he was even in the womb. God sees us as people even before we're people, right? And if that's the case, if Josiah was a person before he was even a person, before his mother was born, before his grandmother was born, before his great-grandmother was born, before generations of him were born. God says there is this person. His name is Josiah. He will come from this line and he will do these things because I have ordained it. And Josiah is a person. Doesn't the Bible say that God has loved us with an everlasting love? And doesn't the Bible say I knew you before there was a world? So let's forget whether the clump of cells in the womb is a person or not. We could say the person's a person even before they're born. Just a thought for you to consider today. But let's go back to our story. He would come 350 years later. So what can we learn from him? What can he teach us since he's not even going to come for another almost 400 years? Simply put, one of the most important truths every Christian must hold, that God is absolutely sovereign again. We always fall back here, don't we? Beloved, look at our God. He promises to raise a king, but not just any king. He says, a child will be born. Josiah became king at eight years old. He was what? A child. Josiah by name. Did you know that your name, when your mom saw, oh, I found your name on this thing, and I loved it, and I gave you that name because it was my favorite movie actor, or my favorite singer, or whatever. And God said, no, no, no, really, I gave you your name. Your mom, you know, my mom named me after my uncle, Ismael. She named me after my uncle because my dad wanted him to name me after a baseball player named Sanguine. And my mom's like, I'm not doing that to the child. I remember asking her once, I said, why did you name me Ismail? All the kids call me It Smells, and It's Terrible, and I hate that name. And she goes, would you rather be Sanguine? And I'm like, OK, fair enough. We're good. But I look back, and I think about it. And yes, my mom named me. My dad was upset that she didn't give him the name that he wanted. But God named me. God called me by name. That's an incredible thought, isn't it? And so, God says a child will be born. A child king will come. He was eight when he becomes king. Josiah is his name. He will be of the line of who? David. Therefore in the line of whom? Jesus Christ. And he will deliver. He will come to usher in a new kingdom. Do you see what Josiah looks like to us? He looks very much like whom? Jesus Christ. He's coming. He will purify the people. He will usher in a new kingdom. Who does that sound like, beloved? No other than Jesus Christ. And he will do A, B, and C. And God calls him by how old he is, by his name, and by his deeds. Everything has been decreed in this child's life, just like everything is decreed in your life and in mine. including your present troubles. That's an incredible thought, isn't it? Josiah's parents would eventually choose a name, but they had no idea that that name had been decreed by God. Beloved, here we find the doctrine of election once again. I know many people fight against it, but I don't see how you can when the Bible repeatedly shows us Josiah was God's even before he was born. Josiah was decreed to walk in holiness even before he was born. Josiah was decreed to love God even before he was born. I don't know how we can fight against the doctrine of election, but here it is. Is this not God's chosen? Here is God's chosen vessel, chosen instrument to do the work ordained by God. Our passage tells us that God decreed the very good works that would come from Josiah's life. And Ephesians 2.10 tells us the very same thing about you and me. For we are His workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. Excuse me. And the amazing thing about all of this, beloved, something that just, oh, every time I think about it just overwhelms me. When Josiah is finally born 350 years later, he fulfills all of God's will. without knowing he was fulfilling God's will. You would say, well, wait a minute. If he had the word, it was recorded in the word. When Josiah was born, his grandparents and his grandfather and his father had been ungodly kings. And they had destroyed every copy of the word of God. One faithful priest, we don't know who he was, grabbed the last copy of God's word and hid it inside the temple and plastered over it. inside a wall, hoping that one day the people would return to the abandoned temple of God, and fix and repair it, and find the Word of God again, and reproduce it, and give it back to the people. Does God protect His Word? Yes. And Josiah was born at eight years old. He becomes king, and at 16 years old, he goes into the northern kingdom. And it's important. I've got to give you a little history lesson. I'm sorry, but I've got to do it. By the time he's born, 350 years later, the northern kingdom doesn't exist anymore. It had just been invaded by the Assyrians. And some members of each tribe had, right before the invasion of Assyrians, had come to the south. That's how God protected the 12 tribes. But the 10 tribes on the south were lost. Israel calls them the lost 10 tribes of Israel. They were taken into captivity. They would never come back. Only the South would come back. And the 12 tribes would be represented in the South as some of them immigrated down before the invasion. But most of the Northern Kingdom was wiped out. And what was left was few from each tribe in the Northern Kingdom. And they were pagan. And they had no king. And they had no leader. And when Josiah was born at 16 years old, At eight years old, he loved the Lord, the Bible says, which is an incredible thought that an eight-year-old, you would trust not only to love God, but to run a nation. Can you imagine? Giving the keys to the kingdom to your eight-year-old and saying, here you go. So that's usually a recipe for disaster, isn't it? But God had moved in his heart and he loved the Lord at such a young age. And when he purified Israel south from the idolatry of his parents and his grandparents, he looked at the north and he saw them as sheep scattered without a shepherd. And what does he do? He goes into the north. And he says, after all, you're still Israelites. And he goes with his soldiers and he destroys every evil house of worship. He finds this altar and he destroys it. He digs up the bones of the false prophets. and he burns them to show his contempt for false worship. And then he calls the remnants and says, come to the south. Come back home. Come and worship God. We're having a feast. We're having Passover. We're going to, we're going to celebrate. We're going to celebrate our Lord. Come, come home. Come to your God. And then he gets home and he worships God. And some of them come and they worship God. He restores true religion, a man that Love got 16 years old. And then he realizes that the temple is broken down and he decides to what? Have it fixed. And as they're fixing, they tear down a wall. And guess what they find? God's word. And they read it to him. And in that word, he hears, a child shall be born. Josiah by name, who will do these things. Can you imagine? He's overwhelmed. It's an incredible story. It's an incredible story. When he reads, he discovers that God had called him long before he existed. God had loved him before there was a time, and he was flabbergasted. He was amazed, and we should be too. Why? Because what's true of him is true of you and I. If we belong to God, he has called us from eternity past. He has named us and prepared the very works that we should do. He will correct us when we fail, but he will always welcome us home. Can there be any greater truth for you to glorify God over today than this? Amen. Let's pray. Father, we thank you for your word. Beautiful word today. Thank you for carrying me through, Lord, as I've been so sick. I thank you. For being able to preach today, even though I sniffled through the whole thing, I glorify you for that ability. And I pray for your people, O Father. They have heard your word. They may have seen Father God. The danger of refusing God's mercy when he gives us his word and calls us to repentance. The danger of abandoning the safety of your word. The danger of the men who abuse God's word. May they have seen and glorified you, Father God, that no matter what happens, God's word is always fulfilled. We thank you, O Lord. We give all things to you. Comfort the brokenhearted. Restore, O Father God, Our souls and our relationships cause us to put our eyes on you. In Christ's name and for his sake, amen.