Episode Transcript
Good morning.
Let's begin.
It's 10 o'clock and we are in 2 Kings chapter 22 verse 19.
2 Kings 22 verse 19.
Glad to see everybody here.
And if I could see the online people, I'd be glad to see them here.
But I'm just glad they're tuned in.
2 Kings 22, verse 19.
And we're studying about the reign of King Josiah.
Who ruled over the southern kingdom of Judah?
And if you're not familiar with what that means, Israel used to be one nation with 12 tribes, and then after Solomon's reign, when his son Re, and then a wicked king named Jerob.
Or one who became king.
During that time, those kingdoms were split in half, and the northern kingdom was still called Israel, also Samaria.
We see that quite often in our study.
And the southern kingdom was called Judah.
And so Judah is what we're looking at this morning.
And in our text, King Josiah's messengers are receiving God's word as it was spoken by a woman named Huld, the prophetess.
And these words have not been good up to a point.
And Josiah has read the book of the law of the Lord, and it said some really Terrible things about what was going to happen to Judah, and he was concerned.
He was very concerned.
That's why he sent his messengers to speak to this prophetess.
And this prophetess has given some pretty harsh words about what God is going to do to Judah.
And last week we studied verse 18, and we saw the word but.
And she said, But to the king of Judah, which sent you to inquire of the LORD, thus shall ye say to him, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, as touching the words which thou hast heard.
Because thine heart was tender, and thou hast humbled thyself before the Lord, when thou heard what I spake against this place.
And against the inhabitants thereof, that they should become a desolation and a curse, and hast rent thy clothes and wept before me.
I also have heard thee, saith the Lord.
So the words to Josiah.
Personally, we were about to be better than the words to the whole nation of Judah, as we studied the word but at great length to show that.
And specifically last week, we looked at the tenderness of Josiah's heart toward God's word.
The Bible said he was tender.
The Bible said that his heart was humble.
He humbled himself toward the Lord.
And God recognized that.
And we know God recognized it because the prophetess told us so in this verse.
And you know, the prophetess wasn't there when Josiah prayed.
She wasn't there when Josiah rent his clothes, when he tore his clothes.
She wasn't with Josiah when he mourned over the words that were written in the book of the law.
So it brings me to an important point here, and it's actually in the form of a question.
How do we know when a person's heart is tender toward God's word?
Are we able somehow to tell when somebody is sincere?
Do we Judge their outward actions like their words and their deeds to figure out if their heart is tender toward the Lord.
Well, the answer to that question is the same as the answer to another question.
How do we know if another person is saved?
Do we say, well, he's saved because his life has changed, his lifestyle has changed, he doesn't do the things that he used to do?
Or is it because they come to church regularly?
Well, the answer to both questions is this: we can't know for sure.
And I've heard preachers on both sides of that say, Oh, we can know for sure if somebody's saved.
No, we can't.
I've been fooled.
I've been fooled by people who said they were Christians and turned out later on that they admitted they were not.
And so we don't go by that.
I'm thinking of a person I know right now who I believe, if I ever believed anyone was saved, I believe this person is saved.
He seems to love the Bible.
He seems to love people, and outwardly, he lives a righteous life.
In fact, I'm so convinced that this man is saved that I'm 99. 9% certain.
But the only ones who really know are the man and God.
So only ones who really know.
And so that is a message by itself for people, whether you're here, whether you're watching, or somebody who may never hear this lesson.
Is you may be able to fool me.
You may be able to fool everybody around you, but you can't fool God.
And that's who you'll see, whether at the white thr judgment or at the judgment seat of Christ.
You won't see me there.
You'll see God there.
Now, you may see me there as in some way that I don't understand, but God will be the one, His Son, Jesus Christ, who is your judge.
Well, what about the original question?
How can we tell if a person is tender toward God's word?
Because those are the words we're dealing with in our text.
Is in Josiah's case, is it because he rent his clothes?
Is it because he reads and memorizes scripture?
Is it because he weeps openly?
I've been around people who claim to love God's word, who say they're saved and have done all those things that I just mentioned.
I believe they're tender towards God's word, but I can't know for sure.
And you know what?
It's not important whether I'm 100% certain about it.
Because God is the judge of men's hearts.
Listen to 1 Corinthians chapter 4, verses 4 through 5.
If you're taking notes, just write that down and I'll read it.
1 Corinthians 4, verses 4 through 5, where Paul wrote to this church, For I know nothing by myself.
Yet am I not hereby justified, but he that judget me is the Lord.
Therefore, judge nothing before the time until the Lord come.
Who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsel of the hearts.
And then shall every man have praise of God.
So, who is it that shines the light on a man's heart?
It's the Lord.
And he will do that in due time.
I don't shine the light on the eldest heart.
The Lord does.
And the verse that I just read you says that it will be God, not Andy, not Hil the priest.
Not the Apostle Paul, who will make manifest or make known the counsels of the heart.
I do not know the counsel of your heart, and you don't know the counsel of my heart.
I only know what my senses tell me, what they show me.
And even H the prophetess did not know the counsels of Josiah's heart until God revealed them to her.
God had a specific purpose for her, and that was to reveal something to her that she was supposed to tell the messengers of Josiah.
That's it.
And when God knows, and we're thinking of Josiah's outward appearance here, this rending of his clothes and all of that, when God knows, That your outward appearance of sincerity is a result of your actual sincerity toward his word.
Then it can truly be said your heart is tender toward his word.
It can truly be said that you've humbled yourself to God's word.
But it has to be God who recognizes it.
I used to go to church with a lady who I believe was a Christian.
But she had a habit that was really annoying to me.
Now, I'm sure I had ten habits that were annoying to her.
There's no doubt about it.
But she had a habit that was really annoying to me.
Whenever we would have a guest speaker, like a missionary or a traveling evangelist.
She would give a testimony at the end of the service.
Oh, she would sob and cry and make a big spectacle of herself.
But when our pastor was the one preaching on what you would call a normal Sunday ser, she didn't do that.
At the end of the service, even if the pastor asked if someone had a testimony.
And because of that pattern, I developed doubts about whether these actions were truly sincere.
Or was she just acting out in the flesh for attention?
You know Christians can do that too.
Well, you know what?
She never had to prove to me that she was sincere because God already knew.
And so I didn't spend a lot of time trying to figure that out, trying to catch her or any of that.
I just observed what I observed, and that was between her and God, wasn't it?
Just like God already knew that Josiah was tender and humble.
Whether anyone around him thought so, whether the high priest thought so, didn't matter.
God knew it and he revealed it to this prophetess.
Now we read verse 19 just a little while ago.
And I'll take you back to last week toward the end of the lesson.
We learned, we were reminded.
Because Josiah rent his clothing, his kingly robe, his kingly clothing, the garments that marked him out as a king and not just someone else who was walking around the streets.
Last week, we were reminded that we don't go to God as a king, as a patrol sergeant, as a company president.
As a driver of a new Corvette like Brother Jesse, I asked him if he had a trailer hitch on that thing.
He said he didn't think he could haul hay with that.
But we don't go to God because of who we are or what we have in this world.
We go as a naked sinner, clothed only in the righteousness of Christ.
God doesn't care that I'm wearing blue or if I wore green.
He doesn't care about that.
But he does care, and he knows what my spiritual garments are.
And I'm clothed in the righteousness of Christ, and that's the only way I can go before him.
And using that truth, you think about what Josiah has done with his clothes when he rent them, when he tore them.
He's a king.
But his position on the throne of Judah as the king of that nation cannot turn away the wrath of God from Judah.
So there's no use in him getting all dressed up to go to the throne of grace and appeal to the Lord.
None at all.
And when Josiah rent his kingly clothes, he showed us that he did not come to God as a king, but as a man who was naked and helpless.
When it came to dealing with the wrath that God was about to pour out upon Judah, he rent his clothes.
Now, let's apply this to another case.
This is even better.
Let's look at how Jesus did this as well.
Reminding ourselves that Jesus is and was God and always shall be.
He was active in the creation of all things.
As recorded in John chapter 1, it's very clear to you.
He was born of a virgin, by the normal human conception process.
That took place with the birth of the rest of humankind, like us.
He knew no sin.
He was tempted in all points, like as we are, yet without sin.
He was called the king of the Jews.
That's why they put that robe on him to mock him.
He was the king whose kingdom was not of this world.
And yet, when Jesus lay down his life, For us, he did something that no man could have dreamed of.
He did something that no religion could have imagined.
He could have died and gone to his Father in all of his holiness.
He could have skipped the part about taking our sin upon him.
He could have just become a victim of murder, and that's it.
In the Garden of Gethsemane.
Before Jesus was arrested, Simon Peter was trying to defend the Lord, and he cut the ear He cut off the ear of the servant of the high priest.
This man's name was Malchus.
And listen to what happened next.
This is recorded in Matthew chapter 26, verses 52 through 54.
Matthew 26, 52 through 54.
Then Jesus said unto him, Put up again thy sword into his place, for all they that take the sword shall perish with the sword.
Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to my Father, and he shall presently give me more than twelve legions of angels?
Now, right there, Jesus is saying, I could go to God as the creator of all things and as the The perfect son of my heavenly father, and have twelve legions of angels come down here and take me away from all this.
I could.
But the next thing he said is wonderful.
But how then shall the Scriptures be fulfilled that thus it must be?
He said, If I do that, I make my father a liar.
Because his heavenly Father, through the pen of each of the prophets in the Old Testament, Told us how Jesus would come and how he would die and for whom he would die.
Jesus did not come to God in the Garden of Gethsemane as the captain of all of the hosts of heaven's armies.
He said, I could have.
I could have called 12 legions of angels, or my father could have given them to me.
He didn't come as the captain of the host of heaven's armies.
Do you know how he died on the cross?
Listen to Matthew chapter 27.
Verses 27 through 31.
And I want you to focus on his clothing here because we're learning something about the significance of Josiah renting his clothes.
Matthew 27, verses 27 through 31.
Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the common hall. and gathered unto him the whole band of soldiers, and they stripped him and put on him a scarlet robe.
And when they had plaited a crown of thorns, they put it upon his head, and a reed in his right hand.
And they bowed the knee before him, and mocked him, saying, Hail, King of the Jews.
And they spit upon him, and took the reed, and smote him on the head.
And after that they had mocked him.
They took the robe off from him and put his own raiment on him, now raiment, that's clothing, and led him away to crucify him.
Now, if you skip down to verse 35 in that passage, it says, And they crucified him and parted his garments. casting lots, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet they part my garments among them, and upon my vesture did they cast lots.
So they took his clothes away and they gambled for them.
John 19, 24 tells us That the garment that Jesus wore was not rent, it wasn't torn, because there was a prophecy that it would not be.
That was in Psalm 22, 18.
Psalm 2, 18 said that His garments would be parted, which means divided.
Doesn't mean they would be torn in half.
So these soldiers cast lots like rolling dice.
For the raiment, for the clothing, Jesus went to the cross and died without kingly clothing on his body.
He died covered in spit and bl and all manner of vile things.
But most importantly, he died covered with the sins of mankind.
His heart was tender toward God.
Even though God's requirement was that sin must be paid for, and as God, Jesus knew.
That God would turn his back on him because he said, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?
And I believe it was that moment right there that Jesus was describing that moment when Jesus was in the Garden of Gethsemane saying, If it be possible, let this cup pass from me.
I think it's pretty evident that that's what he was talking about.
I'm going to become that which is unholy, and my F.
With whom I have had perfect union for all eternity, is going to forsake me because I've got sin on me.
And his heart was tender toward God, even though the requirement was that sin must be paid for in this way.
And the only way that could happen.
Was for Jesus, the innocent substitute, to become that vile sin in our place.
Here's a passage that tells us about how Jesus' heart was tender toward his heavenly father.
That's what Josiah's heart was.
It was tender toward God, toward his word.
Luke 22, verses 41 through 45.
Luke 22, verses 41 through 45, and I mentioned this a moment ago.
Speaking of Jesus, it said, and he was withdrawn from them, that is, from the disciples, about a stone's cast.
And kneeled down and prayed, saying, Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me.
Nevertheless, not my will, but thine be done.
That's a tender heart.
And there appeared an angel unto him from heaven, strengthening him, and being in agony, he prayed more earnestly.
And his sweat was, as it were, great drops of blood falling to the ground.
Now, let's just look at the man Jesus.
You're looking from afar, and you recognize that this is some person who appears to be praying.
So if you saw someone kneeling and praying, appearing to be in great agony, sweating on the ground as though he were sweating blood, You might say, wow, that guy is really agonizing in prayer without knowing it's Jesus.
That guy's heart must be tender toward God.
Well, friend, this was God the Son praying to God the Father.
So there is no doubt about his tenderness.
And his humility toward his father's will.
He already had proven that tenderness and humility.
To his father.
But when he went to the cross, he came clothed not as a carpenter.
Not as the creator of all things, not as the captain of the armies of God.
But as the bearer of all of our sin, as the bearer of the sin burden of the world, those were his clothes.
The Bible clearly says he became sin for us.
So, in this respect, Josiah was a type of Jesus Christ.
He wasn equal to Jesus Christ.
He was a type of Jesus Christ, just like Moses was.
And just like several figures in the Bible were what we call types of Jesus Christ.
In other words, when you look at that person, and his actions, you learn about Jesus.
You learn how that is a forecast of what Jesus would do in some way or another.
And so Josiah was a type of Jesus here.
And we've already learned that he had not only Judah on his heart, but he had all of Israel on his heart.
Also called Samaria in some of our prior lessons.
Now, as further evidence of Josiah's tenderness and humility toward God's word.
Look back in your text in verse 19.
It says toward the end of the verse. and wept before me.
Josiah wept before God.
And this is the prophetess revealing that to the messengers.
The prophetess wasn't here, she wasn't with Josiah when he wept.
But God told her that he wept.
This meant something to God, not just because he was crying.
Jos's tears meant something to God, and they hit your tears mean something to him.
Psalm chapter 56, verses 8 through 9.
Psalm chapter 56, 8 through 9.
The psalm wrote about God, Thou tell my wanderings.
Put thou my tears into thy bottle.
Are they not in thy book?
He's got your tears in a bottle, he's got them in a book.
When I cry unto thee, then shall mine enemies turn back.
This I know, for God is for me.
When those tears are tears of tenderness and humility toward God's word, he not only sees them, he not only hears that weeping.
Those tears are in a bottle.
He said, Put thou my tears in a bottle.
Are they not in thy book?
It wasn't Josiah's tears alone that appealed to God.
It was his tender heart and humility.
Which led to the rending of his clothing, which led to the shedding of the tears.
You know, not everyone who cries is to be pitied.
You might think, well, that person's crying.
They need pity.
Maybe not.
I was in a store one day.
And there was a spoiled brat little boy who was throwing a fit because his mother wouldn't buy him some M.
He was crying and yelling.
So I took out, you thought I was going to say I took off my belt.
Well, I did up here.
But I took out my cell phone and I looked at him.
His mother wasn't paying any attention to him.
She was just run her stuff through the self-checkout.
And I started filming him while he was throwing that fit.
And then he took that bag of M and he punted it.
Just like a football.
He punted those M across the store.
And I thought, boy, I probably need to go home right now.
I'm going to get myself in trouble.
When he saw that I was filming him, he did that and then he turned his face toward his mother's leg.
And of course, she didn't pay him any more attention.
Than she had before when he was throwing that fit.
Now that child was not tender toward his mother's words.
His mother said no.
And like a lot of gener today, just hearing the word no is more than they can take.
I work around that group, I know.
And so when I see a young person who is able to take direction and self-discipline, correction in the workplace, I think, man, this is wonderful.
There's still hope.
But this young man, I'm afraid if he kept going that way, that's not going to happen with him.
See, his tears did not show his heart to be humbled toward his mother's words.
His tears were born of rebellion, not humility.
His tears were the result of the hardness of his heart.
Josiah's tears were born of humility.
They were born of tenderness, so the Lord took special note of them, just like the prophetess told these messengers.
And the result of those tears, born of humility and tenderness, was: look back in the text, God said, I also have heard thee, saith the Lord.
God heard Josiah, and he heard him in a way that was different than the way he hears other people.
In the big picture, there's nothing that God cannot hear or does not see, and we know that.
However, in the text, the word here can mean much more than just the recognition of a noise or a voice.
Right now, we're hearing all kinds of stuff.
And as we discipline ourselves to focus on what God's Word says.
Then, when it starts raining outside, we don't go, oh, hey, it's raining.
We listen to the preaching.
Well, most of us, right?
If the air conditioner comes on or goes off or a light flickers over here, we'll notice it.
But we direct our attention back to the reason that we're here to hear the Bible taught.
So there's nothing God misses.
And when the scripture says where God said, I also have heard thee, that doesn't mean, well, there are other things I don't hear.
He's telling him he heard him, and this Hebrew word for hear, we've studied many times before.
In a lot of places, it's translated as the word heark.
And it's also transl 81 times in the King James Translation as the word obey.
Now, it's not that God said, I also have obeyed thee in the sense of God doing what Josiah tells him to do.
Not at all.
As we've learned before, we understand this the application of this word for hearken or hear.
When we say to a child, I want you to do this, I want you to take out the trash.
And then when we see later the task has not been done, we turn to the child and say, Did you hear me?
What we're saying is, did you obey me?
It's the same word.
So that means when we gave the command, or when we said the thing to the child, or in Josiah's case, when he said what he said to God.
He was looking for a response.
He wasn't looking for God to subject himself to Josiah's wishes.
He was looking for a response, and that's what obedience is on our part.
That's what answering prayer is on God's part: a response.
And God's response was: look down in verse 20 now.
Behold, therefore I will gather thee unto thy fathers, and thou shalt be gathered into thy grave in peace.
Now let's stop right there.
Without going any further in this verse, we can already tell that God's response to Josiah is going to be one of grace, not wr.
Already we see that.
A little different answer, quite a different answer, than the answer for the nation of Judah, which was that he would pour out all manner of evil on that place.
God's mercy toward Josiah was written all over this response.
And this phrase That he would gather thee unto thy fathers.
That's a way, that's a biblical way of saying that Josiah would die and be buried with his forefathers.
I mean, he's only got one earthly father.
But the word fathers is translated as four, is also translated as the word families in the Bible.
So it has to do with your ancestors, your fathers.
We would say our ancestors, wouldn't we?
Those who came before us.
And it's clarified in this verse.
That he would die, that gather thee unto thy fathers means you're going to die like your forefathers because it says, Thou shalt be gathered into thy grave.
That's pretty clear.
Being told that you're going to die and be buried with your fathers may not sound like good news.
If somebody walked up and said, You're about to die, well, we don't go, well, great.
Now, a Christian will say, Well, I guess this is when I'm going go be with the Lord, if that's true.
But it's a man telling me I'm going to die.
And that's something that God's in charge of, by the way.
But the two words that make this news good are the words in peace.
Josiah would be gathered together with his fathers into his grave in peace.
So right away, we can conclude that Josiah's humility and tenderness toward God's word Was going to result in this outcome: that he would die, but he would die in peace.
In other words, he wouldn't see violent days or some terrible pestilence that would come upon Judah.
He wouldn't see the killing of his family or the conquest of the nation over which he was a king.
He would die before all that, he would die in peace.
Here's what he would not see.
Look down in your text, and thine eyes shall not see all the evil which I will bring upon this place.
Now, God could have told Josiah, look, this nation is deserving of wrath, and you're going to see every bit of it before I take you to be with me.
There's no doubt Josiah was a Christian.
None at all.
The Bible tells us that at the beginning of his reign, he did that which was right in the sight of the Lord.
And all of that.
But God here showing great mercy.
He could have said, Josiah, yes, I'm taking you to be with me, but.
Part of the wrath that I'm pouring out here is that you're going to stay here and you're going to see every bit of it.
And then I'll bring you to be with me.
But God showed great mercy because He chose to spare Josiah this agony.
Now, I want you to contrast that with what another king saw before he went to his grave.
It's found in Jeremiah 52, verses 10 through 11.
Jeremiah 52, verses 10 through 11.
And the king of Babylon slew the sons of Zedekiah.
Who was the king, the Jewish king, slew the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes.
He slew also all the princes of Judah in Riblah.
Then he put out the eyes of Zedekiah.
And the king of Babylon bound him in chains, and carried him to Babylon, and put him in prison till the day of his death.
Now let me tell you, the Bible teaches us that Zedekiah was an evil king.
He was a king whose heart was not tender toward God's word.
He wasn't humble toward God's word, so what did God do?
God humbled him, didn't he?
You've got Josiah on one hand.
Whom God told you're going to die, but you're not going to see any of this evil.
You've got Zedekiah, on the other hand, who was appointed to see all of this evil.
What worse thing could you see before you die than to watch your two sons be killed?
There is no worse thing on this earth that you could see.
And then he had his eyes put out, and that wasn't the end of it.
Then he went to prison, then he died while he was in prison.
Absolute agony all the days of his life.
Now taking both of those exam, we might learn this when a loved one dies.
We do well to remember that God has spared that loved one from seeing any more evil, any more heartache.
Any more sin.
And we may say, well, his life was cut short.
In our eyes, it was.
In God's eyes, it was right on time.
My maternal grandfather, and if you don't do crossword puzzles, that means the grandfather on my mother's side.
Who was my hero and the greatest Christian I've ever known?
Died when I was 15 years old.
And I was devastated, absolutely devastated.
I wasn't ready for that.
He had a heart attack.
Nobody was ready for that.
This man walked five miles a day.
He took all the natural supplements.
He didn't do anything bad for his body.
He was in good shape.
And he was studying his Bible.
He went out in the garage and he had a heart attack and died right there.
It's a tremendous loss for me.
And I didn't understand why God took him from me.
But years later, many years later, I considered what God spared my grandfather from seeing.
He didn't have to see the death of his grandson, my brother.
He didn't have to see the death of his son.
He didn't have to see the death of his wife.
He didn't have to see the last church where he pastored before he retired turned from a Bible preaching church into a food pantry.
Where all the meth heads could come get freebies.
And although I didn't understand at the time of his death this principle.
I now know and have known for some time that God was merciful to my grandfather just as he would be to Josiah in our text by taking him before all of this evil happened.
Now we looked at how God heard Josiah and that God obeyed, meaning he responded.
You have to get your notion of the word obeyed out of your head right now and understand both sides of it.
How he obeyed or responded, if you want to use that word, in grace and mercy.
But some of the people.
God hears, do not receive such grace and mercy.
Numbers chapter 11, verse 1.
Numbers chapter 11, verse 1.
Remember, God hears everything.
And when the people complained, this is the children of Israel, it displeased the Lord, and the Lord heard it.
And his anger was kindled.
And the fire of the Lord burnt among them and consumed them that were in the utter parts of the camp.
Listen, God didn't have to extend his grace to Josiah.
He could have made Josiah see all the evil.
That he would bring upon Judah, just like he consumed those people in the book of Numbers when they complained.
God didn't owe Josiah anything. sim because Josiah prayed and was humble and tender toward his word.
As we learned in prior lessons, sometimes humility means accepting the full weight of the punishment that you've earned.
That's humility.
And we also know that we don't earn God's mercy or grace by our humility or by our tenderness.
In fact, we owe that to God anyway.
Romans chapter 4, verse 4.
Romans 4, verse 4.
Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt.
All the good works we do, all the prayers we pray, all the sincerity, the tenderness, the humility of our hearts toward God and His Word.
All of those are debts that we owe him in the first place.
And that's why mercy and grace are so special and so precious.
And Josiah was a recipient of that wonderful grace when God, through the prophetess, said, Thine eyes shall not see all the evil.
Which I will bring upon this place.
And with that, we'll close and come back and finish out verse 20 and go into chapter 23 next week.
Father, thank you so much for what you've taught us this morning.
Thank you for how your Spirit bears witness with us that we are your children.
And that your word bears witness of your truth.
And Lord, I pray we just let it soak in this morning.
And as we leave here, that we would be a people who are built up in the most holy faith.
That our light may shine before others and they may see our good works and glorify our Father which is in heaven.
In Jesus' name, amen.
