Lessons From a Young King

I thought I would start by turning to Matthew 18, which is another scripture about Christ dealing with little... or talking about your children. And bring a point about that. So let's turn to Matthew 18, starting from verse 1. Matthew 18, verse 1. At that time, the disciples came to Jesus, saying, Who then is greatest in the kingdom? And you can see that the disciples had a little problem at that time. They were not converted yet. They had not received God's Holy Spirit. And they had this little thing of the flesh that says, Who's going to be the main man around the after? The one on top. Who's going to be in charge? Who's going to be more important? And this thing came up a number of times. And the I, they asked Jesus, Who's going to be the one on top? Who's going to be more important? Because I want to strive for that. So they had this little challenge. And then Jesus called the little child to him. And that's why I bring in the sermon today around this thing being typically a day that we think of an attitude of a little child. And Jesus brought a little child to him, sent him in the midst of them, and said, Assured I say to you, unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven.

In other words, you will not even enter the kingdom of God. You will not even get there. Much less talk about who's the big one. You won't even get there. And it's two basic things. It's not just being like little children. It's converted and become like little children. And it is important to look at both of them because converted means you have to change. And become means, it's not just be occasionally like little children, is have a permanent ongoing attitude like that of a little child.

Have an ongoing changed attitude of becoming like a little child. Therefore, whoever humbles himself as this child, and therefore whoever takes this attitude and becomes humble like this child, as this child is, therefore whoever humbles himself as this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. So, to be somebody of any value in the kingdom of God, we have to be humble. But he's saying we've got to be converted and become as little children. Now, once we get into the kingdom of God, what are we going to become?

Because it's the kingdom of God, the kingdom of heaven, the kingdom of God. What is the kingdom? The kingdom is that we are going to become kings and priests. Turn with me to Revelation chapter 5. Revelation chapter 5. Because to enter into the kingdom of God means to enter into that family, to become what? Members of that royal family. And look you up in Revelation 5. Revelation 5 verse 7 through 9. Revelation 5 verse 7 through 10.

It says, Then he, that's Jesus Christ, came and took the scroll out of the hand of him that sat on the throne, that is, out of God the prophet, and when he, Jesus Christ, had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down to worship the Lamb. They worshiped Christ, each having a log and golden balls full of incense, which are the prayers of saints.

Again, interesting, the symbol of incense is the prayer of the saints. Anyway, continue verse 9. And they sang a new song, saying, You, that's Christ, are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals. For you, Christ, were slain. And you have redeemed us, that's mankind, that's people, that's human beings. So it's a song reflecting what human beings will be singing, who redeemed. Obviously, it was not redeemed the twenty-four elders, it's mankind that's been redeemed, that's been brought back, brought back.

So you've redeemed us to God by your blood. That's the blood of the new covenant, of course. Out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation, out of every language and people, out of every color or every country or whatever continent, Christ brought people through His blood and did what? And made us, these people that have been brought back, that have been redeemed, made us kings and priests to God. And we shall reign on earth. That's the kingdom of heaven. That's the kingdom of God.

That we're going to reign on earth and we're going to be kings. That's why when Christ comes and says He's the King of kings and Lord of lords, He's basically made us kings and priests. He was kings and lords. And so some of us will be kings and priests and different roles will be given to us. And so for us to enter into the kingdom, we have to be converted and become like children.

And when we enter into the kingdom, it means we're going to be royal family like kings and princes and priests and lords teaching other people. So we'll be a royal family. So I thought of taking some lessons today from kings of the Old Testament that God was pleased with. Because those were kings and we are to be kings and we need to be converted and become like little children. So let's look at those lessons from those kings that God was pleased with and see how they were changed.

And their attitude was one of submission and one of change and change their hearts and get some lessons from that so that we can apply them in our lives. And so today I have three lessons that I'm drawing out from kings. And particularly as we narrow down these kings, we are going to look at the young king because after all, little children. So let's look at the king that is young. So we'll first look at the little history of the kings and then we'll further down, we'll narrow down onto, most specifically, one king, a very young king.

That was good things in the way that was pleasing to God. And the first lesson, so that you know exactly where I'm going into, the first lesson is that we need to prepare our heart to serve God. That's the first lesson. We need to prepare our heart to serve God. And part of that means that we need to change ourselves and be humble and humble ourselves like little children. So what?

So that we serve God. That is it. We need to be changed. Because for instance, even today in the sermon, we heard how people just want to go to places with unkeen foods and things like that. Why? In the end, it's really not to obey God. That's why there's this thing about cleaning clean foods, you know, or about the salad or whatever. Why? It's because God says, why being a people are fighting that continuously to serve God or not.

It's a point. And so we need to prepare our hearts to serve God is the lesson. And behind that is we need to be converted and like little children, change ourselves so that we can serve God. That's the way we prepare ourselves. So that is the first lesson that I want to cover in a nutshell. But now let's go into details so that you're not lost. You follow through what I am covering it. So let's first start.

The Israelites lived Egypt. They lived Egypt. And as you know, you can read the Bible. And they went through 14 years through the wilderness. And they went into the promised land. And then they had judges. And they had some good judges. And bad judges. And things just started going haywire. And then they had a good judge, which was Samuel.

You might remember Samuel was a good judge. And he was called by God for that role. And then he was getting old. And even his children were not really being a good example. And so the people came to Samuel and said, Listen, you're getting old. And we really need somebody that is going to take us through day to day. And we need a king. We need a king. And let's look when Israelites approach Samuel asking for a king. And that's in 1 Samuel chapter 8. 1 Samuel chapter 8.

So I'm just going through a little bit of background to see the story of kings. And then we'll narrow down to the lesson. 1 Samuel chapter 8. We're starting verse 5. And says, And said to him, this is the elders of the nations, said to Samuel, Look, you are old, and your sons do not walk in your ways. Now make us a king to judges like all the other nations. But the thing displeased Samuel when they said, Give us a king to judges.

So Samuel then was very sad, and so he went and he prayed to God. And then verse 7, Then the Lord said to Samuel, Hear the voice of the people in all that they say to you. For they have not rejected you, Samuel, but they have rejected me, God, that I should not reign over them. Because God was their king of Israel, of all the covenant Israel. And we're not seeing it that way.

And then jump to verse 9. Now therefore, said God to Samuel, Hear their voice, however you shall solemnly forewarn them, and show them that the Edward of the king will reign over them. So you will now, yes, give them a king, but make them aware that it's all not going to be a bit of roses.

You know, roses that form, you know? So there's going to be problems with it. So, now we have a situation that the people who rejected God as king. And God could have said, No, I'm the king, you've got their kings. But God allowed them. God gives people latitude. You know, sometimes people do so by, and God gives them, it's like he's in the road. God gives them the road. He mercies, gave them latitude. But they are the essence, yeah, from the kings. They are the essence from the kings.

And so, let's look at the first king that we have, which is just one or two pages ahead, which is in 1 Samuel chapter 10. 1 Samuel chapter 10 started in verse 17. And then Samuel called the people together to the Lord at Mesbah, and said to the children of Israel, That says the Lord God of Israel brought up Israel out of Egypt and delivered you out of the land of the Egyptians, and from the land of all the kingdoms, and from those that were oppressed you.

But you have to that rejected your God, who himself saved you from all your adversities and all your tribulations. And you have said to him, No, sit the king over us. Therefore, present yourselves before the Lord by your tribes, by your clans. And then he called, he had lots. And then upon the lots they selected a tribe and ended up with his Lucre Jad. When they called the tribe of Benjamin, they selected Benjamin, verse 21.

And then they selected the family of Matri, who was chosen, and so the son of Kish was chosen to be king. But when they looked for him, they couldn't find him. Where is he? Where is he? Come find him. The family was there, he had come there, but he couldn't find him.

And they just could not find him. And then they inquired of the Lord further, verse 22, as a man, not Kami'ah. And the Lord said, Yeah, he's here. He's here in the Maguansa bank, you know, the equipment somewhere else, you know, the warehouse, or somewhere even amongst some of the equipment, amongst the tractors, or whatever he was, somewhere even in the body yard, or whatever, you know, whatever they had. He was here in some way. And now we see an attitude that when he was small, when he was, quote unquote, nobody, he didn't want to be important.

He was humble in a sense. And God called him in that attitude of humility. The problem is he did not stay that way. Because when he succeeded in the One Wars, etc., he went to his head, and he became important. And that's a problem. Even happens in the church with elders, etc., you know, with elders start becoming more known, etc., and then goes to their head.

And that's a problem. We've got to all very, very careful, because we've got to remain, be converted, and become like little children, which means you've got to stay that way. Not just there like that, get ready, and then get out of it. You've got to stay that way.

And that is the thing that we all have. But suddenly we have prosperity, or God blesses us, and things and goes right, or whatever it is. We've got to remain in a humble attitude in everything we do. And you can think about many attitudes of children they have, how they submissive, and how they listen to parents while they are the earliest children. But you know that a nice child, etc., very submissive, etc., that's a lovely, lovely thing to see.

Lovely thing to see. And that's what God wants in us as well, keeping that way. So he became uncoappointed. And now if you just turn a few further pages ahead to chapter 15 of the same book, 1 Samuel 15, verse 17, we see a situation in which God had given him an instruction to wipe out the Amalekites.

Now the reason why, to wipe out the Amalekites, because Amalekites had been the type of people that when they realized we're fleeing through the wilderness and getting into the Promised Land, they came behind them, quote-unquote, using terrorist warfare tactics, healing the ones who were behind the little children and the women. And they were going after them, and God was at very disgraceful to Amalekites.

And at that time he says, I'll wipe them out. And so, had opportunity to wipe them out, and he did not wipe them out. And because of that, you can read further elsewhere in the Bible, in the later years, Amalekites kept cropping up. They still, today, crop up. A few years back, the Israelites, an English-Relatish army, one of their war cries amongst the troops in Israelites says, let's go after that Amalekite.

You know, it's still today, and that spirit of the Amalekites is still existing. It would have not been there at all, fulfilled the instruction. And therefore, we see the troops today, the Amalekites, still creating or spreading that spirit of the tactics that they used. So, yeah, in 1 Samuel 15, let's look at verse, starting in verse 10. Now, the word of the Lord came to Samuel, saying, I greatly regret that I have set up Saul as a king. Now, it's very interesting to think about.

God says, I greatly regret. Think about what it says. Then God had decided something, and now he was sorry he had made that choice. That's interesting, isn't it? That's what it says there. And sometimes people say, well, you know, God cannot be sorry for making some decisions. Well, you now are saying, I made a decision and I regret that I've made that decision. That's what it says. For he has turned back.

You see, he was humble, like a little child, and he was... but he did not say that way. He has turned back from following me. You see, that's the lesson. Prepare your heart to serve God. In the end, I'm going to serve God, to follow God, to serve God. And has not performed my commandments. And when Samuel heard this, he grieved him. Samuel was very sad to hear that God was also... that was displeased.

And he cried out to the Lord all night. I mean, he prayed all night. I mean, it's like sometimes I pray for some of the brethren and I hear that sometimes people do certain things that are disappointing. And I pray and I can't sleep the whole night. You know, I don't have a good sleep, either.

Disturbed sleep at night. Sad, because some of the brethren are not doing certain things right, you know. And it hurts you. And you feel for those people. And that's what he says. He cried out to the Lord all night. And then he continued there in that. And let's jump a little bit further in verse 13. Then Samuel said to Saul, and Saul...

I beg your pardon. Then Samuel went to Saul. And Saul came to him and said, now this is what Saul, king, said, blessed are you of the Lord. I have performed the commandment of God. Now God has just finished saying, I regret that I have made him king, because he did not obey me. And Saul is saying, how will I bring God?

Well, these are disjoints here. A big disjoint. A big disconnect. But... You know, it reminds me. You know, people say, well, I didn't do this. Or whatever. And it's typical sometimes you see that in politicians, you know, saying, well, no, that's not true. It's not true. Well... What is true? Is God or what the person is saying? You know? And then... Let's jump a little bit further down to verse 17. So Samuel said... Listen, Saul... Because in verse 16 he says, you'll be quiet. You know, he says, you need to read a story in your own time. Some very interesting story in your own time. In verse 16 he says, he said to Saul, listen, just...

That's enough. Just... You know, I don't want to use that word for that. It's like... Just shut down and don't speak anymore. You know, let it out. Be quiet. And then Samuel said to Saul, when you were little in your own eyes, were you not the head of the tribes of Israel? When you were humble, didn't God make you the king? And did not the Lord anoint you? King of the Israel? And now the Lord sent you on a job, on a mission. And he said, after me destroy the sinners, the Americans, wipe them out. And fight against them until you're consumed.

Why then did you not, papa? God, why did you not wipe them out? I mean, look, all the problems in future generations that would have been awaited. Think about it. Why did you swoop down on the spoil and do evil in the sight of the Lord? And then Saul said to Samuel, but I will make God. I don't disobey him. I will make him.

You know? And okay, I brought and brought back a king of the Malek. But how about you to destroy the Malekites? It did not utterly destroy the Malekites. That's also a lie. Because we know in future verses of the Bible, we can see the Malekites are cropping up again.

But the people, I mean, it wasn't my fault. It was the people. You know, that finger. Oh, and I know what's me. It was the people. Took off the plunder, sheep and The best of the things which should have been utterly destroyed. Well, in Europe, they should have been But they took the best to what? To sacrifice to God. What an honorable deed the people have. To give God a sacrifice.

So Samuel said, as the Lord, great, the light, he burnt offerings and sacrifices, as he not baying in the voice of God. What's more important? Sacrifices? What about him, God? Behold, to a wise benefit, sacrifice. In the universe, twenty-three, says, for a rebellion is the sin of which grows. And stubbornness as iniquity and adultery. Stubbornness is not a humble spirit like a little child. It's just stubborn.

It's just about that stubborn spirit. So you see, brethren, to be converted and become humble goes hand in hand. You've got to be changed and you've got to become. It's not just be for one specific moment, but it's become. It's a full stack of permanent stain in that stack of such hunger. And it is a man of the heart. And that's why the lesson I'm saying now is we need to prepare ourselves to serve God. How? By being converted and humbling ourselves to serve God. Now, let's just look at 1st Peter, chapter 5.

1st Peter, chapter 5. You'll start in verse 5. Likewise, you younger people submit yourselves to your elders. And so get back to the point of submit. I'm of yourself. And he says to young people, but he says to him, yes, all of you, not just young people, all of us, need to submissive to one another and be clothed with humility. We all mean this. It's like a beginning step and be clothed with humility.

So we need to be converted, be changed, and become humble and stay humble. Because it means be clothed and stay in that clothed status. And he says, God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble. Therefore humble yourselves. And of the mighty hand of God, that he may assault you in your tongue, costing all your care upon him for he cares for you.

Be solvent, be vigilant, because in 1st Peter, verse 6, he walks about like a roaring lion, sticking when he made a bow. Now, one of the things that if we're not humble, if we're arrogant, we are opening a door, a big door for Satan to push us over the hills.

Really, that's what it means. And so let's be careful, because that can slip us all the way back. So let's be careful not to be arrogant, not to be proud, not to be accident, not to be stuck in it, particularly when we succeed. When we success, we need to be careful. But let's get back to the story of the kings. So we saw Saul was humble initially, and then he wasn't, and therefore he was punished, because then he was not a king any further.

After that, King David became the next king. As we know, King David is cited as a man after God's own heart. Well, he was tested a number of ways, and he became a man after God's own heart, except in the matter of Uriah, as you read. So I'm not going to go into that. I'm just kind of giving you a summary of the story. And then after that, Solomon came up, and Solomon succeeded.

He became very successful. Because of success, I was sworn to his head, and he started to surveil God in one way. He had water wires and concubines, and he went the wrong way. And because of that, he started following other gods. And because of that, God divided the kingdom. The kingdom of the Solomon was divided. He became two kingdoms, the kingdom of the north and the kingdom of the south. The kingdom of the north, which was Israel, and the kingdom of the south, was Judah.

The kingdom of the north had 20 kings, and they all disobeyed. They all disobeyed. They all disobeyed. And right at the end of that story, they were punched, and they went to slavery. Let's pick up at the end of that story there, in 2 Kings, Chapter 17. Second Kings, Chapter 17. Second Kings, Chapter 17. I want to bring something here important for us to know, to understand. Second Kings, Chapter 17. Start in verse 13. 1-3.

By all of these prophets, every sea of sign, turn from your evil ways. You know, it's repent. Be converted. Repent. And keep the commandments. You know, it was, I'm going to yourself to serve God. You know, it was prepare your heart to serve God. Repent, prepare your heart to serve God. According to all the law, etc. And then in verse 14. Nevertheless, they were not here, but stiffened, stiffened. Then, X. Then, X. In other words, they can stiffen X. They, they, they just obsolete. They were not obedient. Like the next of their fathers, who did not believe in the Lord their God. Can you see? What did they do? They disobeyed God, right? They disobeyed God. Right? We know they disobeyed God. And what does it say? They were like their fathers, who did not believe in the Lord their God.

Can you see the connection? Every time you see the word believe in the Bible, beyond it, is obituary. If you believe, you will obey. If you believe somebody that tells you to do something, you will obey what they tell you to do, because you believe them. And so, yeah, again, it says, they did not believe God. In other words, they disobeyed Him. They did not believe God. So, whenever you see in the Bible, the word believe, think about it, is obey Him.

And they rejected. They did not believe the Lord God. Verse 15, and they rejected. It's strategies, commandments, etc. So, you can see they disobeyed. Then down to verse 18. Therefore, the Lord was very angry with Israel. God was very upset with the kingdom of the North, with Israel, and removed them from Israel. And there was none left but only the kingdom of the South, which is the tribe of Judah. So, after those 20 kings, they were taken away to Assyria and removed them. The southern tribe, Judah was paid, but the northern, Israel, was removed.

Also, Judah did not obey, as you can see in verse 19. So, they went any better. But then what happened is, so that the land was not empty, what did the Assyrians do? They brought other people to that land. Learn, read with me, please, in verse 18. No, we're really verse 18. Sorry, verse 23. Verse 23 and 3.25. And the Lord removed Israel out of his sight, as he had said about all the servants of prophets. Israel was carried away from the unland to Assyria, as it is to this day. And the king of Assyria brought people from Babylon. From Babylon. In that time, it is like we're Iraqis today.

They brought people from Babylon. Specifically, from Qut'ah, Ava, Hamah, and from Sepharvaim. And placed them in the cities of Samaria. That is, in the cities of that region. That's the northern area. Samaria is the northern area, where the Israelites were. Instead of the children of Israel. And they took possession of Samaria and the wealth in its cities. And so you read, at the time of Christ, they talked about the Samaritans. Who are the Samaritans? With Babylonians, they had been brought in from Babylon. There were Babylonians, they were brought in from Babylon. By Assyria. Because Assyria at that time was the king. Or was the god of the world, the government. Let's put it this way. The world, the government nation, type of thing. The kingdom. So that's where the Samaritans. And in verse 25, at the beginning of the dwelling day, they did not fear God. So, they brought in the Samaritans, which completely foreign people to that land with Israelites. Where the northern part of Israel, which basically they call the area of Samaria. Those people did not know the true God. And therefore, they did not know, they did not fear the true God.

And you read that section there, they had certain problems. And because of the problems they had, they started to have some respect for God. And you look in verse 32. So they feared the Lord, so then they started having a fear of God, of the true God.

And from every cross, they appointed for themselves priests of the atlas, who sacrificed to them in their shrines in the atlas. So, they were still sacrificing to pay in God, but they feared God. You see this dichotomy thing, this kind of mix of things.

Verse 33, They feared the Lord, yet served the young gods.

They feared the true God, yet they served the pagan gods.

You see what we have here, is what in religious terms is called syncretism.

In other words, it's mixing two things, God's way with the pagan way and putting them together into one. They started bringing in syncretism. And that did affect you now, later on, as we'll see. So, to this day, verse 34, they continue practicing the former rituals. They do not fear the Lord.

They continue practicing the pagan practices. They do not fear God. But you've just read in the verse before, they fear the Lord.

They fear God, yet they serve the young gods. And in verse 34 it says, to this day, they continue practicing the former rituals, in other words, the pagan gods. And they do not fear God. So how is this possible? Is the Bible contradicting itself? No. Because what it is is, in their heart, they really do not fear God. But lip service, outside, they appeared as they feared God.

That's syncretism. That is, from outside, they appeared that they feared God.

Yet they serve the young pagan gods. And verse 34, to this day, they continue practicing the former rituals, in other words, the pagan things. They do not really, from their hearts, fear God. So from their hearts they do not fear God, but they appear to be very religious and very Godly from outside. That's what it is. That's syncretism. So that became a thing that affected them. And you can read in verse 41. So these nations fear the Lord. Now you understand, they don't really fear God. They appeared to fear God. Yet so they caught images. So they appeared. They had an outward religious appearance.

But in other words, they were keeping the pagan rituals.

This affected Judah. So now, what happened is, the king, the southern, you know, I mean, they were right next door. These things started affecting them. And so they had pagan beliefs, but doing things still appeared to be to God. But doing pay-in practices. And so we can see later that when we have these, the king of the south, interesting, they also had 20 kings, the king of the south. And most were disobedient, but they did have eight kings that were obedient. And if you read now in 2 Kings chapter 21, just one or two pages ahead, chapter 21, that's the story of a king that became very evil, which is Manasseh, who's a very evil king, right towards the end of the series of kings of Judah, of the south. Manasseh, he was 12 years old, and he ran for 55 years, and he became very evil. Look at the things he did, verse 2, 2 Kings 21 verse 2. For he did the evil in the sight of the Lord, according to the abomination of the nations of the Lord, and cost out before the children of Israel. For in both the high places, the high places is like on top of hills, you put always the places of worship on the top of hills. And you know what? What you find today, quite often on top of hills.

You find a lot of churches today, in high places. And then he goes on, which Hezekiah's father had destroyed. He raised up altars for Baal, for those pagan gods, and made a wooden image. A wooden image, it's like a, was basically like a wooden pole. If you read on a margin, some Bible says, is a wooden image to worship a Canaanite goddess called Asherah. Asherah, which was called by the Babylonians as Astart, or Istah, and where we get the word Istah today.

So, they create this pole. If you study into that, it was a pole resembling a male vogue, because there was a lot of prostitution there. It was a terrible pagan thing that they did. And this was like to worship the goddess of fertility, which was Istah. And then he says, as Aoth the king of Israel had done, and he worshiped all the hosts of heaven and served them. You know, it was different things like Jupiter, and all the other things like the Zodiac, and all these other things. And he bought altars in the house of the Lord. So, he mixed it with worship in the house of the Lord, which lives in the temple.

So, he put this in the temple. So, he mixed, started mixing pagan with God, as the Samaritans had basically introduced it. And verse 5, and he built altars for all the hosts of heaven in the two courts of the house of the Lord. So, he had, and in looking verse 6, also he made his son pass through the fire, practiced suits, saying, use witchcraft, consulted spiritus and mediums. He did much evil in the sight of God, provoking to anger. And he even said that carved image of Asherah.

A carved image of Asherah. Asherah was a goddess. So, think about it's a woman, a lady, and they made images of this lady, and they worshiped.

So, you think about it. These traditions are still being carried through today. Albeit, dressed up with slightly different names, appearing very religious, appearing to worship God, but you still have these sort of tall steeples and windows that look like, I don't want to say it yet, but we can talk a little later. And things like that. It's still being spread out, and we have worship of a certain woman in certain churches and things like that. It's there that those carved images of that Asherah, which is that Canaanite goddess. So, that is still being happening today. I mean, and then look at verse 16.

And we'll see that, and they had drums there, beaten, making noise, a lot of drums to hide out the cries of the people suffering, so they wouldn't hear these people that they were being sacrificed. So, you shared a lot of it in the simple life. So, you can read more about that in Jeremiah 7-10.

There's a whole lot about that in Jeremiah 7-10, and how some of those things are still coming through today. But let's just look at one or two points about Jeremiah 9, somewhere in the middle there, in Jeremiah 9. Jeremiah 9.

Starting in verse 5.

And it taught their tongue to speak lies.

I mean, it is an art when somebody asks you a question, and you don't answer it like we've seen on TV recently. And they actually divert the thing and go and say one thing, which semantically may be correct, but the spirit of it was wrong, and say, oh, you're lying and things like that.

And it's an art. You have to study to actually do that. And that's what it says here. They taught their tongue to speak lies. They waited themselves to commit ubiquity. Your dwelling place is in the midst of deceit. Through deceit, they refuse to know me. That's what's happening in the world today, Brittany. It's happening in the world today. It's happening in our society. Therefore, the Lord of ours says, we all, I'll refine them and I'll try them. For how shall I deal with the daughter of my people? How shall I deal with the children of these are like these people that are doing these things. Their tongue is an arrow shot out. It speaks deceit. One speaks peaceably to his neighbor with his mouth, but in his heart he lies in wait.

And that's what's happening today. Shall not I punish them for these things? Shall I not avenge myself on such a nation as this? And brethren, Israel, the whole nation went into slavery.

In Judah, they went into slavery and God brought back a few people and even then God has been working with them. And into their society, the whole society is going wrong. Wrong.

And let's go on reading a bit further in verse 11.

It is frightening when you read these things. And it says, Who is the wise man who understands this? And who is he to whom the mouth of the Lord has spoken that he may declare it? Why does the land perish and burn up like a wilderness so that no one can pass through? The Lord said, Because they have forsaken my Lord, which have said before them, and have not obeyed my voice, nor walked according to it. But they have walked according to the dictates of their own hearts, and after the bowels which their fathers took them. They followed their own hearts. They did not get converted. Their hearts were not converted and become like their children. And therefore they were not behaving in that humble humility. Therefore says the Lord of us, Behold, I will feed them these people with warm wood, and give them water of gall to drink. I will scatter them also among the Gentiles, whom neither they nor their fathers have known, and I will send a sword after them until I have consumed them. So there is some serious punishments on to Israel and on to the nations. That was Jeremiah. Now understand that Jeremiah spoke at the time of the end of Manasseh, and at the beginning at the time of Josiah, which is the next king. Now let's read a little bit about Josiah in 2 Chronicles chapter 34. Because then Manasseh was a very bad king and then came out Josiah. 2 Chronicles chapter 34. Josiah was eight years old. 2 Chronicles chapter 34, starting in verse 1. Josiah was eight years old when he became king. Eight years old. And he did what was right in the sight of the Lord and won in the way of his father David. He did not turn the sight to the right or to the left, for in the eighth year of his reign, he became a king when he was eight years old. On the eighth year of his reign, in verse 3, that means he was 16 years old. When he was 16 years old, while he was still young. Yes, he was young, 16 years old. He was a young man. He began to seek the Lord, to seek the God of his father David. You see, when he was young, he was only eight, 16 years old, only the eighth year of his reign. He began to set his heart to serve God.

And he did not turn to the right, no to the left. He went straight. And that's the first lesson that I wanted to bring to you. And that's what you saw in it, but look what he did afterwards. What he did afterwards. Once he did that, how did he do that?

He did, first by preparing his heart. That's what we need to do the same. And then he started cleaning up the land. He cleaned up the land. Look at it. In the twelfth year, he began to purge Judah. So he was 16 years old, on the twelfth year, which was like four years later. So that was about 20.

So he started from age 16, he started to say, look, I've got to be right with God. And then four years later, when he was 20 years old, he said, that's it. I'm going to clean up the land.

And he said in the twelfth year, he began to purge Judah and Jerusalem of the high places, the wooden images, the carved images, and the molded images. He started to clean up the land.

And that's the second lesson for us, that once we set our hearts to serve God, we must purge our lives from sin completely. And he purged, he cleansed that land from top to bottom. He went everywhere. He cleans, cleans, cleans, cleans, cleans, cleans, cleans, cleans, cleans, cleans.

And look at it in continued reading in verse 8, it says, and he went on cleaning, and he says, in the eighteenth year of Israel, when he had purged the land and the temple. So you see, it took him from when he was 20 years old, till the year when he was 26 years old. It took him six years, a period of six years, from when he was 20, 20, 26, and he purged the land. And then when he completed, then he went on the next stage. But let's look what he did as far as purging, how he cleaned it, how he thoroughly he cleaned it. Because understand, understand, there is an analogy between him cleaning the land and the temple, because he sees Yah, he cleans, he purged the land and the temple. And we heard in the sermonate how we are the temple of God. We are in the sermonate, in the sermonate we turned to 1 Corinthians, I think it was chapter 3, and when he says, we are God's temple, and we are the holy and clean. That we saw in the sermonate, we can't have, because we purge ourselves to be holy, to be clean. And that's, he purged everything in every area, the land, because we are God's temple. In the end, Christ lives in us, and we, as a temple, have to cleanse the temple of God, which is our bodies. We are the temple. Christ lives in us. And we've got to look at ourselves, and we can't compromise with idols. Another structure that you may want to look at, I'm not going to turn there, is for instance 2 Corinthians 6, verse 16 through 18, 7 Corinthians 6, 18 through 18, because it says, we cannot have off-metals. We cannot go and have idols in our lives. We've got to purge all that. We've got to be clean. The example we are going to purge, the spiritual example is that we've got to do that to ourselves. But it does to the land. Let's look how he purged the land. Look at how far out he was purging the land. And that, we have an explanation of that in 2 Kings chapter 23. So we've got to go back a few pages to 2 Kings, back a few pages, 2 Kings chapter 23, starting in verse 4. Just look at how far away he was. And the king commanded Heol-Kadai priest, the priest of the second order, and the doorkeepers to bring out of the temple. So he was cleansing the temple. Bring out the temple of the Lord, all the articles that were made for Baal and for Asherah, and for all the hosts of heaven. In other words, all the articles that were made for this false god and for this lady that had different statues and sculptures of her there and things like that. And all of the hosts of heaven, all the other so-called angels and saints and things like that, we're there. And he burned them outside Jerusalem in the fields of Kidron and carried the ashes to Babel. He completely burned them. Let's continue then in verse 5. And he removed the idolatrous priests from the room the kings of Judah had ordained to burn incense on the high places in the cities of Judah and in the place all around Jerusalem. And those who burned incense to Baal, to the sun, to the moon, and to the constellations, to Saturn and to all the other different gods of the zodiac they had, and to all the hosts of heaven. And he brought out the wooden image, the wooden image, from the house of the Lord. You see, it was mixed. It was right there in the house of the evil devil. To the book of Broom of Kidron outside Jerusalem, burned it at the Kidron. He burned it, destroyed it, completed the book of Kidron and grounded to ashes. He grounded to ashes. He utterly destroyed all those heightened things and grounded to ashes and threw its ashes on the graves of the common people.

And he tore down the ritual booths of the perverted persons that were in the house of the Lord, where the women were hangings, wealth hangings for the wooden image. And there was the wealth tunings and garments to worship this lady, which they were used to worship. So you can see, he completely cleaned. And he brought all the priests from the citizens of Judah, and he filed the high places where the priests had burned incense from Geba, that's in the north, to near Sheba, which is in the south, from north to south. And he broke down the high places of the gates, which were at the entrance of the gate of Joshua, the government of the city, which were to the left of the city gate. So he completely cleaned it, looking verse 10, and he befiled topeh, that is, that god they had of drums, that made all those drums, which is in the valley of the son of Hinnah, in the words of Gohannah, which would become Gohannah, that no man might make his son or daughter pass through the fire to moment. That's where they were doing human sacrifices in that valley. So he destroyed all that. And further down in verse 13, then the king befiled the high places that were cast in Jerusalem, that were east of Jerusalem, which were on the south of the Mount of Corruption. The Mount of Corruption is what today we know the Mount of Olives, because they made that, the Mount of Corruption, which Solomon, king of Israel, had built to Ash Astorit, it was to that same goddess. The abomination of the Sudanians, of Kimosh, the abomination of the Moabites, and for Milcham, the abomination of the people of Hammur.

And he broke in pieces the sacred pillars and cut down the wooden images and filled them in places with bones of men. Moreover, the altar that was at the Bepple and High Place, which Jerome, the son of Nieb, who had made Israel's son and maid, both that altar and High Place, he broke down and he burned the High Place and crushed it to powder and burnt the wooden image. He destroyed, he went through that place top to bottom, north to south, temple and mountains, everywhere, he destroyed everything. The lesson there is that we need to purge our lives.

Likewise, everything, all remains of anything and the wrong thoughts. We've got to clean them. We've got to clean them. We've got to be converted and become like little children. So that's what he did. Now, why did he do that? Why did he do that? We were reading a little moment ago that he did that and the temple and he cleaned it all and he took him six years.

And look in verse 21 through 25 and he says here, verse 21, Then the king commanded all the people, saying, Keep the boss over all the Lord your God, as if he's written in the book of the covenant. Why? So the first lesson is set your heart to be straight. The second lesson is wipe out all the remains of dirt. We've got to look at it. Even the Hebrews sense that we don't see it.

Go through it. Scour everything. Clean it up. Why? The third lesson is so that we can really worship God in the right way. So once he had cleaned that, at the end of those six years of cleansing the land, he then said, Let's now keep the boss over the right way. And he says, Keep the boss over to the Lord your God, as if he's written in the book of the covenant.

Such a boss over surely had never been held since the days of the judges who judged his law. Yeah, as a young king, he was now only 26 years old. And look at that. He turned his order by God. He cleansed the land and he instituted the right worship. And he said, It had never been held since the days of the judges who judged Israel, nor in all the days of the kings of Israel and the kings of Judah.

There was not even during the days of David was kept like that. It's amazing. It's amazing. Now, in the 18th year of the king, in the 18th year of King Josiah, the first boss over was held before the Lord in Jerusalem. So that is the 18th year of his reign, which means he started reigning when he was eight years old. That means he was 26 years old. He was 26 years old. Josiah put away those who consulted mediums and spiritists and all that stuff. And then he says, that he might perform the words of the Lord, which were written in the book of Ilkad, the priest found in the house of the Lord.

Verse 25, Now, before him, there was no king like him, who turned to the Lord with all his heart, with all his soul, and with all his might, according to the Lord Moses, nor offered him that any arise like him. You know, you think about that these lords, these are likes, never really kept them. They never really kept them.

They were rebellious all the time. It's unbelievable. They never really kept them. And so, yeah, we have a situation where he really then returned to true worship. And there are other sections in the Bible that shows how he encouraged him to worship the right way. I'm not going to turn there, but if you want, in your own time, to a little additional study, that's in 2 Chronicles chapter 35, 2 Chronicles chapter 35, where it shows that he told them to serve God, to be holy, to prepare for their duty, to give willingly so they could keep the boss over.

The seniors were set back the right way. He did everything, and he was only 26 years old, to worship the right way. He had a very strong commitment to God's law, particularly the first two commandments. They said, put God first, and they had no idols before him. He really pleased them. And it's a lesson to us, because brethren, those Israelites were old. They were called by God, but they never pleased God, as we can see.

They never pleased God. And turn with me to 1 Peter chapter 2. 1 Peter chapter 2. 1 Peter chapter 2. They were a nation, but they never really pleased God. 1 Peter chapter 2, verse 9. But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation. Brethren, we are a holy nation. We're not a people. In other words, we're not just priests of a specific race. We are of different nationalities and backgrounds, with God's brethren around the world, from different nations.

But we are His own special people. That you may proclaim the praise of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous life. Who once were not a people. You were not a specific nation. But now you are the people of God, who had not obtained mercy, but now has obtained mercy. Beloved, I beg you, so journers and pilgrims abstain from the flesh of the lusts and conduct yourself to do things the right way.

So we're not a people. We're not a people. But now we are a people to be kings, to be kings in His kingdom. And what are we going to do? We are going to pull out all those things. And we're going to follow these examples of the kings, particularly of the Messiah. And we look how it through the story of kings, how interesting it is how God called them. God called Israelites. They didn't obey. They got punished.

And then I was in the middle, right at the end, there was one king. A young, very young king. Yes, there were others. But particularly this young king, Josiah. There's no other king that kept the black king. And that kind of is a little light in the middle of all these doctrines.

And brings an example of how one young man, with that attitude that he was converted, he changed his art and put his art into submission to submit to God to serve God. And he purged his life, purged our lives, purged the nation, purged everything, told them to serve God, and then restored the true worship. That's a lesson to us. Those are three lessons to us that we can learn from this king that we can take home and take from the point of when we read in the Bible, surely I say to you, unless you convert it and become like little children, by no means will you be in the kingdom of God.

You are some lessons from the kings that we can learn and put practice in our lives to become, number one, true servants of God, cleansing our lives to be holy and worshiping Him the way He wants us to do.