321: Stephen Palmer- Josiah: Personal Discovery of The Word

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Welcome to Good Chris Selfie and
talks.

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I’m Levi, I’m Chris, I’m Jason,
and I’m Brian.

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Thank you for joining us this
week on this podcast.

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We select one talk a week to
help us get the Bible in our

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Daily News feed.
Each week we post a talk that we

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previewed from suggestions sent
in by listeners from around the

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world.
Then we record a short intro

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beforehand as a personalized
recommendation to you on why we

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are sharing the talk.
And now let’s talk more about

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this week’s talk.
Welcome to the good Chris

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Adelphian Talks podcast.
This is brother Brian.

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This week’s talk is a series
that was given by brother

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Stephen Palmer back in 99 at the
Los Angeles fraternal weekend.

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The four part series was called
Living on Appreciation for the

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Scriptures and what we’re
listening to is Class 2 which is

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about Josiah and the personal
discovery of the word.

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Brother Steven takes us into the
mindset of young King Josiah as

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the book of the Law was found
and how life changing that was

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for him and the nation as well.
And it brings up a lot of good

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questions about what knowing and
having easy access to the Word

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of God means and does for you.
And really like.

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Not just as a secondary
consumer, not just listening to

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what someone else tells you what
a passage means, but to soak it

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in for yourself.
Who are you becoming by what you

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read?
What further questions should

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you be asking yourself?
And then I’ll also embrace my

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old man get off my lawn moment
on this platform.

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So I personally am all about
having my own paper Bible,

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marking it up, wrinkling pages,
even spilling my kids applesauce

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on the page if that.
If that’s what it takes for

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Sunday school, so be it.
And I say that over relying on

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phones, tablets and laptops
simply for the ease of use and

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access that they provide you.
Brother Steven makes a great

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point about what you intend to
pass down for others to find and

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learn from, like the book of the
Law.

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And I’ve experienced for myself
and heard a lot of stories about

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inheriting someone else’s marked
up Bible and seeing how the word

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came alive for them.
But not once do I expect someone

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to be looking to inherit
someone’s flash drive or get

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access to their Bible app.
So hopefully that gives some of

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you something to consider.
But as always, we hope that this

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does strengthen your faith and
brighten your day.

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Brother Stephen.
Palmer, Josiah, and the Personal

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Discovery of the Word.
What we’ve seen it together in

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our first class when sisters,
young people, is this need for

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character development.
Notice the focus isn’t on works.

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It’s not about what we are
doing.

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We must do this, We mustn’t do
that, although of course there

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are things we must do and things
we mustn’t do.

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What the scriptures are teaching
us, we believe, is that in order

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to do the right thing and not to
do the wrong thing, what we have

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to address is the character
which leads us in a certain way.

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The character that we have can
change.

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It can’t be changed, and we have
to focus our minds on this.

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We have to change to be the
people we ought to be.

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It’s a process.
It’s a slow process, but it is a

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process of change.
I don’t know if you’ve ever said

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or heard anyone say, well, look,
that’s just the way I am.

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You’ve just got to take me as I
am because that’s me.

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That’s unacceptable.
That is not acceptable.

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Rather than system.
Did Christ die for nothing?

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God is changing us through His
Word, through the living example

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of the Lord Jesus Christ,
through the circumstances that

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come upon us, through the
angelic ministry working in our

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lives.
He is trying to change us so

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that we’re not just the way we
are, but that we become more and

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more, by God’s grace, like the
one who has died for us.

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And it’s our personal
involvement in this process

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which we are addressing our
personal involvement with.

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The power to change that is the
Word of God.

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And so this is for everyone,
especially for those who think

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they are small in the truth.
The work of Josiah was a

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tremendous example and we can
look at him as a personal

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example manifesting the things
that God requires of us.

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We’ll look at the King’s record
together.

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Second King’s chapters 22 onward
and sometimes go to the

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Chronicles record, but we’d just
like to point out one or two

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things about this man,
particularly in relationship to

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the qualities that he showed in
respect of the Word of God.

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In Second Kings 22, verse 8,
we’re told that Josiah was just

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8 years old when he began to
reign.

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We’re told in the Chronicles
record that when he was 16 he

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began to seek the God of David,
his father, and when he was 20

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he began to cleanse the land.
He was a remarkable young man.

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He must have had perhaps one of
the worst fathers, and certainly

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one of the worst grandfathers
it’s possible to conceive of a

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child ever having.
His spirituality at the age of

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16 had nothing to do with his
father, nothing whatsoever.

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It might just have had something
to do with his grandfather.

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But what Manasseh was the in the
record of the kings was just

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about the worst king who
introduced such a reign of

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corruption, such grotesque
idolatry, that the nation of

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Judah became unfit to survive.
It was because of the sins of

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Manasseh that Judah was to be
removed.

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Nevertheless, Manasseh repented.
It’s hard to believe this, not

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hard to believe he repented so
much.

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It’s hard to believe that God
accepted his repentance, hard to

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believe that God is so full of
compassion that even Manasseh

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could find grace.
It’s just quite startling when

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you read about the sins of
Manasseh.

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But he did find grace.
And it may well have been that

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in his later years, the last
part of his reign, that he made

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provision for his grandson was
going to be king, to be

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instructed in the things of God.
Possibly.

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But what you saw I couldn’t have
been instructed in was the word

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of God.
There was a man who must have

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been brought up knowing only
second-half the stories of the

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Bible.
It seems there’s an indication

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in the fact that he walked in
all the way of David, his

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father, that he had had a good
education in the history of his

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forebears, and that the man
David had been an inspiration to

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him.
It may be that there were still

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SARS in existence, but what he
didn’t have was the law, which

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Moses recorded because that had
been lost and it wasn’t until

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his 26th year, six years
interest reformation that the

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Bible of Moses was rediscovered.
So the first part of his life

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and the first efforts that he
made to cleanse the ways of his

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people didn’t really have the
same power that the second

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cleansing had.
The second cleansing is

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described in Second Kings 23,
the first cleansing in the

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Chronicles record.
If you put those two together,

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you can see there were two
actual cleansings of the temple.

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Just as the Lord Jesus Christ
cleansed the temple at the

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beginning and the end of his
ministry.

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There’s a pattern which is
repeated.

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When he went into the temple.
And they said by what authority

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to these things.
They also must have recognised

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the echoes of Josiah’s time.
It was the authority of the king

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by which he did these things.
But having understanding of God

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second hand is a poor substitute
for what God intends for us.

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Just learning what brethren
teach us is a poor substitute

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for listening directly to the
Word of God.

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Now we hope often times the two
things are the same, that what

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brethren teaches is the Word of
God, pure and simple.

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But it can’t be that we are free
from the weakness of our own

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nature in our understanding and
the way in which we put over the

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Word of God.
What brethren can do is to

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direct us perhaps to that Word
so that we can pick it up for

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ourselves and think for
ourselves what it’s saying.

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This personal discovery of the
Word of God that Josiah is

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teaching us about.
We just read about it.

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The book had been lost.
Look at the King’s record.

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Second Kings 22 and verse 8, and
Hilkiah the high priest said

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into shape.
And the scribe, I have found the

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Book of the Law in the House of
the Lord, until Kai gave the

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book to Schaffen and he read it.
How could the book have been

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lost?
But you could well imagine.

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Do you remember your history
from the days of the Protestant

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Reformation?
How the Bishop of London bought

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of every copy of the English
translation of Winning Tyndale

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and burns it outside Saint
Paul’s Cathedral?

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There was an eradication attempt
on the Word of God, and in

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Manassas reign perhaps that had
been successfully accomplished.

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Surely if there had been a copy
of the law anywhere in the land

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then wouldn’t you have thought
Josiah would have got hold of

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it?
He’d been up and down that land

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for six years trying to
institute a reformation.

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And in the sixth year a book is
found and he hears it being read

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for the very first time.
He is stunned by what he hears.

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He he tore his clothes.
He sent a message to hold on the

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protest.
What what am I supposed to do?

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We’ve just found the book and it
did mentions all these curses

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which are going to he’d never
heard of that before.

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It was all new to him.
So the book had been lost.

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Notice in verse 8 it says I have
found the book of the law and if

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we compare that with what we
read in Second Chronicles, it’s

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very interesting.
Second Chronicles 3414, let me

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just read you say it says Hilki
the priest found a book of the

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law of the Lord says in the AV
given by Moses.

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But in the margin it says the
Hebrew is the law of the Lord by

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the hand of Moses.
What they found was the very

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copy that Moses had written.
Do you remember in Deuteronomy

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it said what Moses wants to do?
He used to write a copy of this

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law, and he was to put it in the
side of the ark, that it may be

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there for a witness.
And now the witness is being

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made because they’ve just
rediscovered the very book that

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Moses had written with his own
hand.

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You can’t believe they would
have lost it.

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Where was it?
They’d lost it in the House of

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the Lord.
That’s where they’d lost it.

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What were they doing then?
In the House of the Lord, week

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after week, without a Bible.
We are the House of God,

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brethren and sisters, The House
of the living God of the Bible

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can be just as much lost in US
and our houses, our homes and

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our ecclesias as it was in those
days.

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When the television goes on
instead of doing the Bible

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readings, isn’t the Word of God
lost?

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When we pick up the magazine or
the newspaper, instead of doing

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our readings, where is the word
of God to be found?

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So some heart searching is
required for us in relation to

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this.
This isn’t just a historical

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incident, it’s a lesson of
rediscovery.

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When the book was lost, it can
be refound.

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It was difficult to read.
Hilkiah gives it to Schaefer and

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he read it, which is
interesting, isn’t it?

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We’re told that the Hebrew that
Moses would have written in

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would have been quite a
different sort of Hebrew.

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At least, you know, the the
alphabet and so on would have

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been written quite differently
from the Hebrew in the time of

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Josiah.
No wonder Ilkaya had to give it

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to Shaphan the expert to read.
It does seem to have been the

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very original copy, and it’s
just as well they found it.

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Rather, it’s just as well
because there were all sorts of

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versions of the Bible that were
going around.

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It’s a bit like, you know, the
Good News Bible.

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You’ve ever seen that which
teaches that we go to heaven

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when we die.
You know, you can find versions

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of the Bible in English which
teach false doctrine.

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And if people read it, well,
it’s the Bible.

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It’s not the Bible, it’s a
counterfeit and that is the

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worst thing men can do.
Have a look what was happening

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in Jeremiah chapter 8?
I would have to have the AV

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margin to help us here.
No translation is perfect.

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Is it Jeremiah chapter 8 and
verse 8?

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How do we say we are wise, and
the law of the Lord is with us,

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00:16:55,360 –> 00:17:00,840
Though certainly in vain made,
yet the pen of the scribes is in

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00:17:00,840 –> 00:17:04,079
vain.
Here was a boast of men in the

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00:17:04,079 –> 00:17:08,480
times of Josiah who were the
scribes, who were the experts in

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00:17:08,480 –> 00:17:13,400
religious teaching and they made
their boast that the law of God

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00:17:13,400 –> 00:17:17,880
was with them and Jeremiah is
challenging that.

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00:17:19,079 –> 00:17:23,160
And in the margin you may see in
the AV Oxford margin, it says

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00:17:23,839 –> 00:17:32,160
the false pen of the scribes
worketh for falsehood, the false

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00:17:32,160 –> 00:17:35,160
pen of the scribes worketh for
falsehood.

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00:17:35,160 –> 00:17:40,160
What was happening is there was
a counterfeit scripture being

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00:17:40,360 –> 00:17:44,680
written like the Good News
Bible, the Living Bible,

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00:17:45,720 –> 00:17:50,360
elements that we can recognise
as true, but there were key

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00:17:50,360 –> 00:17:55,480
points that had been turned and
corrupted to suit themselves.

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00:17:55,480 –> 00:17:58,840
You remember the message of the
false prophets was peace.

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Peace when there is no peace.
The message of the false

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00:18:05,480 –> 00:18:07,720
prophets was for brothers.
Sisters, we don’t need to

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00:18:07,720 –> 00:18:10,320
change.
You’re fine as you are.

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God will take you just as you
are.

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00:18:13,720 –> 00:18:17,080
There’s an evangelical song I’ve
heard Suck just as I Am.

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00:18:19,640 –> 00:18:21,920
They’ve got a lovely tune to it
just as I am.

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Well, that’s the starting point.
It’s not the finishing point.

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00:18:30,840 –> 00:18:32,880
There isn’t peace for the
wicked.

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So we have to change.
And it’s that process of change

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which the Lord Jesus Christ will
recognise when he comes.

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00:18:44,520 –> 00:18:48,200
He recognises it now, but he
will give us an account of it

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00:18:48,200 –> 00:18:51,440
when he comes.
The false pen of the scribes

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00:18:51,440 –> 00:18:53,760
worketh for falsehood.
You know, it’s like the

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00:18:53,760 –> 00:18:55,960
discovery of the Dead Sea
Scrolls.

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00:18:55,960 –> 00:19:00,440
This was it meant that the Bible
was back on course because left

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00:19:00,440 –> 00:19:06,000
to men the corruption of
translation and correction of

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00:19:06,000 –> 00:19:10,400
the text and think they can
actually correct the received

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00:19:10,400 –> 00:19:15,040
text, that they can detect
errors in it and put them right.

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00:19:15,400 –> 00:19:18,120
As that goes on through history,
you can imagine that the word of

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00:19:18,120 –> 00:19:22,000
God as translated in our
language would divert from the

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00:19:22,000 –> 00:19:25,680
truth.
Well imagine the Hebrew changing

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00:19:25,680 –> 00:19:29,600
over generations till the time
of Second Kings 22.

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00:19:29,600 –> 00:19:34,800
It had been lost.
So they discovered their Dead

252
00:19:34,800 –> 00:19:38,840
Sea Scrolls and they could see
what the truth was.

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00:19:38,840 –> 00:19:42,000
Of course, the Dead Sea Scrolls
has shown us that our received

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00:19:42,000 –> 00:19:46,680
text is pretty good.
There really are no material

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00:19:46,680 –> 00:19:52,280
differences in the the
scriptures that we have that

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00:19:52,280 –> 00:19:54,000
have come down to us over the
centuries.

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00:19:54,680 –> 00:19:56,800
Now, that’s the providential
work of God.

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00:19:57,760 –> 00:20:00,800
But it’s just as well, wasn’t
it, that they found that scroll

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00:20:00,800 –> 00:20:02,880
1 They did.
Clearly it was providential, for

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00:20:02,880 –> 00:20:08,360
God wanted to help Josiah
accomplish the burning desire of

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00:20:08,360 –> 00:20:11,360
his heart, which was to
transform that nation at that

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00:20:11,360 –> 00:20:17,360
time into a people for God.
So what was this reaction when

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00:20:17,560 –> 00:20:22,760
they found the word of God?
Second Kings 22 Chaffin comes in

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00:20:23,400 –> 00:20:27,000
with this great scroll on his
shoulder, talking about money

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00:20:27,040 –> 00:20:29,320
and the building of the
ecclesial hall.

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00:20:31,720 –> 00:20:35,520
That’s what he had on his mind.
You know, we’ve fixed the

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00:20:35,520 –> 00:20:36,920
temple.
It’s already.

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00:20:36,920 –> 00:20:40,080
And you know, oh, by the way,
it’s almost, it’s almost like

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00:20:40,080 –> 00:20:43,000
that.
But by the way, Hilki found a

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00:20:43,000 –> 00:20:46,720
book, but she asked me to think
to you.

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00:20:47,000 –> 00:20:49,640
He didn’t realise the
significance of it.

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00:20:51,000 –> 00:20:54,520
The verse 10 sheaf and the
scribe showed the king said how

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00:20:54,520 –> 00:20:59,320
Kaya, the priesthood delivered
me a book back in verse eight.

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00:20:59,320 –> 00:21:03,960
It was the book.
There was a scribe unfamiliar

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00:21:03,960 –> 00:21:11,280
with his responsibilities of
expounding the word of God, but

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00:21:11,280 –> 00:21:14,120
he read it and the king rent his
clothes.

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00:21:17,360 –> 00:21:21,520
He showed a contrition, which
you might say, well, why?

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00:21:23,040 –> 00:21:25,280
He wasn’t the one committing all
these sins.

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He was a godly man.
It was all these other people

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00:21:29,280 –> 00:21:35,720
that were doing all these
things, but Josiah was

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00:21:35,720 –> 00:21:40,680
identifying with his nation.
It was his people and he was one

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00:21:40,680 –> 00:21:43,240
with them.
So what does he do?

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00:21:43,400 –> 00:21:48,920
He sends his men to enquire of
the Lord in verse 13.

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00:21:50,520 –> 00:21:53,920
Enquire of Yahweh for me and for
the people and for all Judah

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00:21:53,920 –> 00:21:57,760
concerning the words of this
book that is found.

286
00:21:59,360 –> 00:22:02,720
He sought to understand what he
should do.

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00:22:03,320 –> 00:22:07,840
He showed an awareness and a
willingness to change, didn’t

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00:22:07,840 –> 00:22:10,440
he?
You know, if the Bible has not

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00:22:10,440 –> 00:22:13,160
been in our lives and then
someone tells us that it should

290
00:22:13,160 –> 00:22:16,440
be, we can say, well, it’s all
very well for him to tell me

291
00:22:16,440 –> 00:22:19,040
that.
What is he now about my life?

292
00:22:19,680 –> 00:22:24,760
I’m fine as I am.
We can say to ourselves, the

293
00:22:24,760 –> 00:22:31,960
cheek, the nerve.
How dare that sort of thought

294
00:22:31,960 –> 00:22:33,600
has ever crossed anybody’s
minds.

295
00:22:35,360 –> 00:22:41,200
Now let him sort himself out.
Of course that’s true, isn’t it?

296
00:22:41,200 –> 00:22:44,520
But if the Word of God is saying
that to us, then we better

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00:22:44,520 –> 00:22:51,600
listen.
Josiah was contract when he

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00:22:51,600 –> 00:22:56,720
heard those words.
He believed them and he acted on

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00:22:56,720 –> 00:22:58,600
them.
Who will find out what I’m going

300
00:22:58,600 –> 00:23:01,280
to do?
Ask the prophetess to tell me,

301
00:23:02,360 –> 00:23:05,720
what does God require of me?
He was the greatest man in the

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00:23:05,720 –> 00:23:08,480
land.
He was the king, showing the

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00:23:08,480 –> 00:23:17,800
humility of a child.
That’s the attitude we have to

304
00:23:18,120 –> 00:23:24,120
adopt ourselves.
We can, brethren, be so proud

305
00:23:24,880 –> 00:23:28,600
that we have refused to change,
to give anybody the satisfaction

306
00:23:30,600 –> 00:23:36,400
of seeing that change.
So proud that we will be

307
00:23:36,840 –> 00:23:40,960
unwilling to climb down from
that height that we have set

308
00:23:40,960 –> 00:23:45,400
ourselves up on.
Always unwilling to admit we

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00:23:45,400 –> 00:23:52,920
ever made one mistake, never
prepare to admit we were wrong

310
00:23:54,160 –> 00:23:58,080
or to say sorry.
Can’t be like that at home,

311
00:23:58,080 –> 00:24:03,040
can’t it?
Where a husband or a wife never

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00:24:03,120 –> 00:24:07,720
ever prepared to say I was
wrong, Only ever prepared to

313
00:24:07,720 –> 00:24:12,320
point out the contribution that
the other made to the problem,

314
00:24:13,360 –> 00:24:15,920
or if not that problem, some
other problem from years gone

315
00:24:15,920 –> 00:24:20,120
by.
You’re not so perfect yourself,

316
00:24:20,120 –> 00:24:24,800
are you?
Now these are human reactions to

317
00:24:25,240 –> 00:24:26,880
being told that we are in the
wrong.

318
00:24:28,960 –> 00:24:35,320
Josiah was told he was in the
wrong and he sought and enquired

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00:24:35,440 –> 00:24:46,260
of the Lord.
There is another clue in the

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00:24:46,260 –> 00:24:48,260
record as to what he did about
it.

321
00:24:51,220 –> 00:24:56,340
If you look at Second Kings 22
and verse 2, you find an

322
00:24:56,340 –> 00:25:01,560
interesting statement.
He did that which was right in

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00:25:01,560 –> 00:25:03,760
the sight of the Lord, and
walked all the way of David his

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00:25:03,760 –> 00:25:11,680
father, and turned not aside to
the right hand or to the left.

325
00:25:13,200 –> 00:25:17,080
That’s the verse.
Then he turned not aside to the

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00:25:17,080 –> 00:25:20,760
right hand nor to the left.
He just went straight down the

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00:25:20,760 –> 00:25:24,320
narrow way.
But that’s a reference to

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00:25:24,320 –> 00:25:30,800
Deuteronomy chapter 17.
You can find that by looking up

329
00:25:30,800 –> 00:25:33,240
a concordance.
Sometimes your margin will have

330
00:25:33,560 –> 00:25:36,720
these sort of cross references,
but just follow up these

331
00:25:36,720 –> 00:25:41,280
phrases.
You know, I the way of David,

332
00:25:41,280 –> 00:25:44,600
where does that occur?
It’s a very rare expression and

333
00:25:44,600 –> 00:25:46,600
so on.
But what about this expression?

334
00:25:46,840 –> 00:25:50,440
You turn not aside to the right
hand or to the left.

335
00:25:50,840 –> 00:25:58,080
You find it in Deuteronomy
chapter 17 and verse 20 where it

336
00:25:58,080 –> 00:26:02,480
says that his heart be not
lifted up above his brethren,

337
00:26:03,080 –> 00:26:09,040
that he turn not aside from the
commandment to the right hand or

338
00:26:09,280 –> 00:26:15,040
to the left.
That’s the reference that Second

339
00:26:15,040 –> 00:26:18,120
Kings 22 it’s drawing our
attention to.

340
00:26:18,560 –> 00:26:24,560
Josiah did, but Deuteronomy 17
says he should have done because

341
00:26:24,560 –> 00:26:29,920
Deuteronomy chapter 17 is the
chapter in the law which had to

342
00:26:29,920 –> 00:26:34,600
do with the king.
Now they’ve lost this.

343
00:26:35,080 –> 00:26:39,600
They didn’t have this book when
Josiah came to the throne, but

344
00:26:40,720 –> 00:26:43,560
once he discovered it, he was
not too proud.

345
00:26:43,560 –> 00:26:47,840
You can imagine him saying,
chiffon, read that again.

346
00:26:48,920 –> 00:26:52,040
What?
What the passage you just read

347
00:26:52,040 –> 00:26:54,600
Deuteronomy 17.
Read it again.

348
00:26:56,400 –> 00:26:58,480
Why?
Because it’s about me.

349
00:26:59,200 –> 00:27:07,040
Read it Deuteronomy 17, verse 14
Whether I come unto the land

350
00:27:07,040 –> 00:27:10,120
which the Lord thy God giveth
thee, and shall possess it, and

351
00:27:10,120 –> 00:27:14,600
shall dwell therein, and shall
say, I will set a king over me,

352
00:27:14,840 –> 00:27:18,880
like as all the nations that are
about me, thou shalt in any way

353
00:27:18,880 –> 00:27:22,520
set in king over thee, whom the
Lord thy God shall choose one

354
00:27:22,520 –> 00:27:25,720
from among thy brethren shalt
thou set king over thee.

355
00:27:26,120 –> 00:27:28,840
Thou mayest not set a stranger
over thee which is not thy

356
00:27:28,840 –> 00:27:32,640
brother, but he shall not
multiply horses to himself.

357
00:27:32,640 –> 00:27:36,800
And so it goes on verse 17.
Neither shall he multiply wives

358
00:27:36,800 –> 00:27:41,200
to his himself, neither shall he
correctly multiply to himself

359
00:27:41,200 –> 00:27:44,400
silver and gold.
We know that you don’t go to

360
00:27:44,400 –> 00:27:47,960
Egypt for horses.
You don’t multiply wives, you

361
00:27:47,960 –> 00:27:51,200
don’t multiply silver and gold.
The three things, of course,

362
00:27:51,200 –> 00:27:55,240
that Solomon contravene, which
took him away from the truth,

363
00:27:57,360 –> 00:27:59,640
the three things that kings
would delight to have.

364
00:28:00,320 –> 00:28:03,400
You know, if you were told you
could have whatever you wanted,

365
00:28:04,840 –> 00:28:09,560
whatever it is, you can have it,
but that’s what most men would

366
00:28:09,560 –> 00:28:15,400
go for.
Then it goes on to say in verse

367
00:28:15,400 –> 00:28:19,320
18, And it shall be when he
sitteth upon the throne of his

368
00:28:19,320 –> 00:28:24,960
Kingdom, that he shall write him
a copy of this law in a book,

369
00:28:25,560 –> 00:28:29,040
out of that which is before the
priests and the Levites.

370
00:28:31,160 –> 00:28:35,160
And it shall be with him, and he
shall read therein all the days

371
00:28:35,160 –> 00:28:39,560
of his life, that he may learn
to fear the Lord his God, to

372
00:28:39,560 –> 00:28:43,480
keep all the words of this law
and the statutes to do them.

373
00:28:43,680 –> 00:28:47,480
That his heart be not lifted up
above his brethren, and that he

374
00:28:47,480 –> 00:28:50,320
turned not aside from the
commandment to the right hand or

375
00:28:50,320 –> 00:28:53,320
to the left, to the end that he
may prolong his days in his

376
00:28:53,320 –> 00:28:55,560
Kingdom, he and his children in
the midst of Israel.

377
00:28:57,080 –> 00:28:59,400
So now Josiah knows exactly what
he’s got to do.

378
00:28:59,600 –> 00:29:03,320
He’s got to sit down.
He may be the king, but he’s got

379
00:29:03,320 –> 00:29:07,400
to sit down at his desk and he’s
going to get his scroll and his

380
00:29:07,440 –> 00:29:11,840
pen and he’s going to write his
own personal copy of that law.

381
00:29:12,800 –> 00:29:16,720
So now he’s got his own copy in
his home, and now he’s going to

382
00:29:16,720 –> 00:29:23,040
read in it every day of his life
to keep him in his rightful

383
00:29:23,040 –> 00:29:27,000
position, which is straight down
the line, turning neither to the

384
00:29:27,000 –> 00:29:30,160
left nor to the right.
And King said he did it.

385
00:29:30,720 –> 00:29:35,760
He did it.
He muster made a copy of that

386
00:29:35,760 –> 00:29:39,120
law, and he must have read in it
all the days of his life.

387
00:29:39,480 –> 00:29:43,320
That was the secret of Josiah,
that when the Bible was

388
00:29:43,320 –> 00:29:47,680
rediscovered, he made his own
personal copy of the law and he

389
00:29:47,680 –> 00:29:52,480
translated it into his life.
And that’s brethren, sisters,

390
00:29:52,480 –> 00:29:54,400
what we have to do, every one of
us.

391
00:29:56,920 –> 00:29:59,800
And if we haven’t been doing it,
brethren, how can we teach our

392
00:29:59,800 –> 00:30:03,760
brethren and sisters?
How can we exalt?

393
00:30:04,560 –> 00:30:08,000
How can we build up the faith of
the young ones in the truth?

394
00:30:08,360 –> 00:30:12,280
How can we instruct our children
if we haven’t made our own copy

395
00:30:12,280 –> 00:30:14,480
of the law written on our own
hearts?

396
00:30:16,760 –> 00:30:19,640
How can we speak the Word of
God, neither diverting to the

397
00:30:19,640 –> 00:30:24,960
left nor to the right?
How can the ecclesia be strong

398
00:30:25,320 –> 00:30:29,040
if we don’t get diligence to the
things that God has laid before

399
00:30:29,040 –> 00:30:32,920
us?
We can’t substitute the

400
00:30:32,920 –> 00:30:36,040
philosophy of the world.
We can’t substitute the

401
00:30:36,040 –> 00:30:39,080
religious writings of those
around us, or or business

402
00:30:39,080 –> 00:30:45,160
theory, or management theory.
This is the word of God which

403
00:30:45,280 –> 00:30:49,560
makes us go down that far.
Otherwise, we’re off to the

404
00:30:49,560 –> 00:30:52,200
left, we’re off to the right.
The children are going some

405
00:30:52,200 –> 00:30:54,200
other direction where we don’t
know where they are.

406
00:30:55,920 –> 00:30:58,040
Why?
Because we haven’t made our own

407
00:30:58,040 –> 00:31:05,400
copy of the Word of God.
That’s what you cited, that he

408
00:31:05,400 –> 00:31:13,560
was one of the nation that says
you will take a king, you shall

409
00:31:13,560 –> 00:31:18,600
take a king.
He says not a stranger from

410
00:31:18,600 –> 00:31:21,800
among thy brethren.
And this is the way he was going

411
00:31:21,800 –> 00:31:25,320
to keep himself in his true
understanding that his heart be

412
00:31:25,320 –> 00:31:28,720
not lifted up.
So there was the real danger

413
00:31:28,720 –> 00:31:32,040
that pride would take him a
different way and the people

414
00:31:32,040 –> 00:31:36,760
would follow.
Now, if that was true then, it’s

415
00:31:36,760 –> 00:31:41,480
true now.
We mustn’t let pride determine

416
00:31:41,480 –> 00:31:46,560
how our ecclesias are run and
how we speak to one another.

417
00:31:48,120 –> 00:31:52,280
We must let the Word of God,
rightly divided, be the rule by

418
00:31:52,280 –> 00:32:00,920
which we live our lives.
Now have a look at Jeremiah 22

419
00:32:00,920 –> 00:32:04,400
to see what this meant.
See, it’s not a matter of

420
00:32:04,800 –> 00:32:07,080
mechanics that.
I mean, there may be some great

421
00:32:07,080 –> 00:32:10,320
virtue in US writing out their
own copy of the Bible, but that

422
00:32:10,320 –> 00:32:13,600
wouldn’t wouldn’t actually make
the transformation.

423
00:32:16,560 –> 00:32:21,880
I’m told you can buy a computer
program now that you can read

424
00:32:21,880 –> 00:32:25,160
into the computer and the
computer will type it out here.

425
00:32:27,400 –> 00:32:29,920
Just take your voice, then it
will type it out.

426
00:32:31,560 –> 00:32:33,480
That doesn’t make the computer
spiritual.

427
00:32:35,880 –> 00:32:38,240
That computer has no mind of its
own at all.

428
00:32:39,880 –> 00:32:43,080
So it’s not the mechanics of it.
And it wasn’t mechanical for

429
00:32:43,120 –> 00:32:48,360
Josiah because we have this
wonderful insight into his

430
00:32:48,360 –> 00:32:55,800
character in Jeremiah 22,
Jeremiah 22, verse 16.

431
00:32:57,160 –> 00:33:00,680
This is the chapter where
Josiah’s sons, who sadly

432
00:33:00,680 –> 00:33:03,320
everyone was, was thoroughly
rotten.

433
00:33:05,360 –> 00:33:07,920
That doesn’t mean to say that
Josiah hadn’t instructed them

434
00:33:07,920 –> 00:33:11,320
properly because the law says
that he should instruct his

435
00:33:11,320 –> 00:33:14,160
children in the ways of God.
And there was nothing in that

436
00:33:14,160 –> 00:33:17,880
law that He didn’t do with his
whole heart and soul and might.

437
00:33:18,280 –> 00:33:21,200
He had a unique distinction.
There was no man like him before

438
00:33:21,200 –> 00:33:24,200
or since amongst the kings of
Israel that turned to Yahweh

439
00:33:24,200 –> 00:33:25,760
with all his heart, soul and
might.

440
00:33:26,880 –> 00:33:28,720
He put into practice everything
it says.

441
00:33:28,720 –> 00:33:31,680
Deuteronomy 6 and sauna, but
instructing his trouble, I am

442
00:33:31,680 –> 00:33:38,800
sure nevertheless, Nevertheless,
they turned to the ways of the

443
00:33:38,800 –> 00:33:43,560
world, that the reason lay in
themselves.

444
00:33:45,840 –> 00:33:54,120
The verse 21 Jehiakim Jeremiah
says, I speak unto thee, and thy

445
00:33:54,120 –> 00:33:56,480
prosperity.
But thou saidst thy will not

446
00:33:56,480 –> 00:33:59,560
hear.
This has been thy manner from

447
00:33:59,560 –> 00:34:03,040
thy youth, that thou obeyst not
my voice.

448
00:34:06,080 –> 00:34:09,120
So they had chosen not to follow
the example of their father.

449
00:34:09,760 –> 00:34:14,880
They had rejected the word of
God in their youth, and

450
00:34:14,880 –> 00:34:17,320
therefore they would not
prosper.

451
00:34:17,600 –> 00:34:21,600
Contrast the father himself,
Josiah in verse 16.

452
00:34:22,320 –> 00:34:25,560
He judged the cause of the poor
and needy.

453
00:34:26,320 –> 00:34:32,679
Then it was well with him.
Was not this to know me, Saith

454
00:34:32,679 –> 00:34:35,920
the Lord.
See the link with our first

455
00:34:35,920 –> 00:34:40,280
study.
There was not this to know me.

456
00:34:40,440 –> 00:34:44,800
That’s what Moses asked God,
show me thy way that I may know

457
00:34:44,800 –> 00:34:47,400
thee.
And therefore was revealed the

458
00:34:47,400 –> 00:34:50,679
loving kindness of God in his
name manifest.

459
00:34:51,520 –> 00:34:54,400
I just saw it taking hold of
what had been revealed, and he

460
00:34:54,400 –> 00:34:58,480
had translated it into his life.
So he judged the cause of the

461
00:34:58,520 –> 00:35:02,360
poor and the needy.
He manifested those qualities of

462
00:35:02,360 –> 00:35:07,560
mercy and grace for those who
needed assistance and help.

463
00:35:09,320 –> 00:35:13,240
There’s a lovely little point in
the Second Chronicles 35 record

464
00:35:13,240 –> 00:35:17,400
I just draw your attention to
when Jeremiah lamented for

465
00:35:17,480 –> 00:35:27,320
Josiah must have been a sad day.
It says in verse 26.

466
00:35:27,320 –> 00:35:33,080
Now the rest of the acts of
Josiah and his goodness,

467
00:35:33,840 –> 00:35:36,960
according to that which was
written in the law of the Lord

468
00:35:37,680 –> 00:35:41,440
and his deeds first and last,
behold there written the book of

469
00:35:41,440 –> 00:35:47,560
the kings of Israel and Judah in
verse 26, when it says His

470
00:35:47,560 –> 00:35:50,680
goodness.
That is the word Chess said.

471
00:35:50,680 –> 00:35:52,600
That is the word loving
kindness.

472
00:35:52,600 –> 00:35:58,120
It is the one word, the only
word that is used twice in the

473
00:35:58,120 –> 00:36:03,800
record of the divine character.
In Exodus chapter 34, there’s

474
00:36:03,800 –> 00:36:08,280
one word which is used twice.
It’s the word Chess said, the

475
00:36:08,280 –> 00:36:13,000
goodness, the mercy of God, or
the loving kindness.

476
00:36:13,280 –> 00:36:17,120
That is the word that Jeremiah
uses of this man.

477
00:36:18,520 –> 00:36:23,200
Do you see what’s happened?
He has become what he’s read.

478
00:36:24,760 –> 00:36:28,880
He has become like the God he
has served.

479
00:36:29,440 –> 00:36:35,080
He has been changed by the word
of God in his heart, soul and

480
00:36:35,080 –> 00:36:39,200
mind.
But how can that happen to us?

481
00:36:40,080 –> 00:36:45,120
How can we change, perhaps a a
bitter character into a sweet

482
00:36:45,480 –> 00:36:53,120
character, a selfish person into
a selfless person, a proud

483
00:36:53,120 –> 00:36:57,520
person into a humble person?
What are we?

484
00:36:58,000 –> 00:37:00,760
What are our failings?
Brethren and sisters?

485
00:37:02,840 –> 00:37:10,040
We know them and from time to
time we want to change to we say

486
00:37:10,040 –> 00:37:12,240
to yourself, or if only I wasn’t
like that.

487
00:37:13,200 –> 00:37:14,920
I wish I could have bitten my
tongue.

488
00:37:15,400 –> 00:37:20,320
Why can’t I control what I Why
can’t I feel differently towards

489
00:37:20,320 –> 00:37:25,920
brother X or sister Y?
Why can’t I rise above the

490
00:37:25,920 –> 00:37:30,360
problem, try to see it as God
would help me deal with it?

491
00:37:32,840 –> 00:37:36,960
Why do I always fall into the
same sin that I asked

492
00:37:36,960 –> 00:37:43,760
forgiveness for yesterday?
How are we going to change in

493
00:37:43,760 –> 00:37:48,760
this way?
Faith comes by hearing, and

494
00:37:49,520 –> 00:37:53,280
hearing by the Word of God.
And if we’re not prepared to put

495
00:37:53,280 –> 00:37:57,680
the television off and to open
our Bibles, we’re not going to

496
00:37:57,680 –> 00:38:01,640
change.
We have to make a sacrifice.

497
00:38:01,640 –> 00:38:08,400
It’s not a huge sacrifice, but
we have to start somewhere,

498
00:38:08,400 –> 00:38:11,880
don’t we?
If our eye offends, let’s pluck

499
00:38:11,880 –> 00:38:14,440
it out.
If our hand offends us, cut it

500
00:38:14,440 –> 00:38:16,640
off.
That’s what the Lord is

501
00:38:16,640 –> 00:38:19,920
expecting, You know.
He’s not going to say, well,

502
00:38:19,920 –> 00:38:22,320
there was a real secret to the
way in which you could have

503
00:38:22,320 –> 00:38:24,280
changed your life and you didn’t
find it, did you?

504
00:38:24,280 –> 00:38:26,000
He’s not going to say that to
us.

505
00:38:28,360 –> 00:38:30,480
We agonise over it, don’t we?
Why?

506
00:38:31,680 –> 00:38:35,920
Why don’t we just do it?
Remember, Brother Bob’s talk in

507
00:38:36,040 –> 00:38:38,640
Newport, I think, was just do
it.

508
00:38:38,880 –> 00:38:41,320
That’s the answer, brethren and
sisters.

509
00:38:41,320 –> 00:38:45,680
Just do it tonight.
Let’s start tonight.

510
00:38:45,680 –> 00:38:48,280
When we go home.
Don’t switch it on.

511
00:38:49,160 –> 00:38:53,840
Just don’t do it.
Yeah.

512
00:38:53,840 –> 00:38:58,800
I just wonder how many of us are
making notes of of expositional

513
00:38:58,800 –> 00:39:00,840
points that we haven’t heard
before.

514
00:39:01,000 –> 00:39:03,040
I don’t know.
Perhaps everybody’s heard it all

515
00:39:03,040 –> 00:39:06,000
before.
Yeah.

516
00:39:06,800 –> 00:39:10,800
So we never remember, will we?
Well, we will.

517
00:39:10,800 –> 00:39:13,000
Of course we will, We say to
ourselves now, of course I’ll

518
00:39:13,000 –> 00:39:16,360
remember.
And then tomorrow somebody asks

519
00:39:16,360 –> 00:39:17,600
us, what did they say?
I don’t know.

520
00:39:22,080 –> 00:39:27,040
So it’s worth, you know, having
a pen and paper and making a

521
00:39:27,040 –> 00:39:29,440
note, following it up.
Was he right?

522
00:39:29,880 –> 00:39:33,160
I says crazy brother who comes
over for two days from Cardiff

523
00:39:33,160 –> 00:39:36,880
telling you the truth.
Or did he make it all up?

524
00:39:39,800 –> 00:39:43,360
Is this some peculiar Welsh
theory that he was expounding?

525
00:39:47,560 –> 00:39:52,360
Well, what’s our personal
involvement in these things?

526
00:39:54,760 –> 00:39:57,480
How should we study?
Well, everyone has their own

527
00:39:57,480 –> 00:40:01,200
idea I suppose, but just look at
Second Kings 22 and see the

528
00:40:01,200 –> 00:40:07,360
emphasis that’s given in the
reaction of Josiah and the way

529
00:40:07,360 –> 00:40:11,160
in which the record through
repetition makes the point.

530
00:40:11,520 –> 00:40:14,760
If we see something repeated
then we really ought to take

531
00:40:14,760 –> 00:40:20,200
note of it.
In fact, you know, I have a

532
00:40:20,200 –> 00:40:21,840
child like approached these
things.

533
00:40:21,840 –> 00:40:23,880
I colour them in with coloured
pencils.

534
00:40:24,320 –> 00:40:28,040
Because it stands up and just
doing the readings with, with

535
00:40:28,040 –> 00:40:31,320
the children, you know, Ben,
who’s 10 now, he always comes up

536
00:40:31,320 –> 00:40:34,560
with the keyword in the chapter.
Sometimes it’s, and sometimes

537
00:40:34,880 –> 00:40:37,560
it’s his third.
Sometimes he’s right.

538
00:40:38,280 –> 00:40:44,400
But you see, because they’re
looking for repetition and, and

539
00:40:44,400 –> 00:40:48,920
key ideas, even a little child,
they can pick these things up.

540
00:40:48,920 –> 00:40:52,840
And, you know, surprising how
often Ben is the first one to

541
00:40:52,840 –> 00:40:56,880
see the point.
He’s he’s at least as good as

542
00:40:56,880 –> 00:40:59,320
any of the others at picking up
the point.

543
00:41:01,320 –> 00:41:04,640
Because a child’s mind is not
plattered with all sorts of

544
00:41:04,640 –> 00:41:07,840
clever thoughts.
What we’re looking for is the

545
00:41:07,840 –> 00:41:11,640
simple truth.
And when it’s this pointed out,

546
00:41:11,840 –> 00:41:16,040
now we say it’s obvious.
Now you mentioned it, but I

547
00:41:16,040 –> 00:41:19,200
never saw it.
And these obvious things are

548
00:41:19,200 –> 00:41:23,760
simply looking at the words
which are there nothing more

549
00:41:23,760 –> 00:41:25,760
than that.
And this is what comes up.

550
00:41:25,760 –> 00:41:28,480
Just stop talking and look.
That’s to me.

551
00:41:28,680 –> 00:41:34,240
Verse 11 came to pass when the
king had heard the words of the

552
00:41:34,240 –> 00:41:36,320
book of the law that he rent his
clothes.

553
00:41:36,680 –> 00:41:40,240
Verse 13.
The second Kings 22 concerning

554
00:41:40,240 –> 00:41:44,600
the words of this book that is
found for greatest the wrath of

555
00:41:44,600 –> 00:41:46,920
the Lord that this kindly
gangsters people, our fathers

556
00:41:46,920 –> 00:41:53,320
are not the words of this book.
Verse 16, Therefore even all the

557
00:41:53,320 –> 00:41:57,080
words of the book.
Verse 18, that’s touching the

558
00:41:57,080 –> 00:42:00,280
words which thou hast heard.
Chapter 23.

559
00:42:00,280 –> 00:42:05,240
Verse 2 And he read in the ears
all the words of the book of the

560
00:42:05,240 –> 00:42:08,040
covenant.
Verse 3 to perform the words of

561
00:42:08,040 –> 00:42:10,400
this covenant that is written in
the book.

562
00:42:11,160 –> 00:42:14,720
Now he could have just said the
book, He could have said the

563
00:42:14,720 –> 00:42:19,080
law, but it gives us this
extensive phrase, the words of

564
00:42:19,080 –> 00:42:26,280
the book of the Law.
That’s the way to study, to

565
00:42:26,280 –> 00:42:32,320
listen to the words of the book.
There is an exactness required

566
00:42:32,320 –> 00:42:35,280
of us in our appreciation of the
Word of God.

567
00:42:35,280 –> 00:42:39,720
It is not sufficient to have the
gist of it, the broad idea, the

568
00:42:39,720 –> 00:42:44,160
main theme that I got the
general sense of the passage.

569
00:42:45,600 –> 00:42:47,840
Read it quickly and go, yeah, I
got the idea.

570
00:42:47,840 –> 00:42:50,880
Now, No, brethren and sisters,
that is not Bible study.

571
00:42:53,360 –> 00:42:58,640
That is human pride replacing
the exact attention to the

572
00:42:58,640 –> 00:43:01,640
detail of the Word.
That’s why translation matters.

573
00:43:01,640 –> 00:43:04,400
That’s why it does matter what
version we’re using.

574
00:43:05,720 –> 00:43:08,480
Not that there is one right
version, but it does matter.

575
00:43:08,800 –> 00:43:12,800
If we were using the Good News
Bible or whatever, that wouldn’t

576
00:43:12,800 –> 00:43:16,680
be good for us.
It would so dilute the power of

577
00:43:16,680 –> 00:43:20,040
God’s Word as to remove the
exactness, the precision.

578
00:43:20,560 –> 00:43:24,120
Would you like to go into an
operating theatre, you know, to

579
00:43:24,120 –> 00:43:27,800
go under the knife of the
surgeon and know that the

580
00:43:27,800 –> 00:43:30,520
surgeon had taken the scalp, you
know, and he’d been knocking it

581
00:43:30,520 –> 00:43:36,720
around so the edge wasn’t clean,
but all jagged, blunt.

582
00:43:37,680 –> 00:43:39,400
And then he tried to do his
operation.

583
00:43:40,880 –> 00:43:44,640
Oh, no.
You want the surgeon’s knife to

584
00:43:44,640 –> 00:43:50,960
be sharper than A2 edged sword.
That is what the Word of God is.

585
00:43:51,440 –> 00:43:55,080
That’s what we have to get back
to an exact understanding.

586
00:43:55,080 –> 00:43:58,560
I was very impressed with the
sister I met at the Bible

587
00:43:58,560 –> 00:44:04,240
school.
She was, I think she was 91 and

588
00:44:05,560 –> 00:44:10,080
sitting talking to the sister
and she was blind in one eye and

589
00:44:10,120 –> 00:44:14,480
almost blind in the other.
And she had a Bible like this.

590
00:44:17,600 –> 00:44:20,480
And she said, ever since I lost
the sight of my eye, I’ve been

591
00:44:20,480 –> 00:44:26,480
very interested in words.
She could only see one at a

592
00:44:26,480 –> 00:44:30,560
time.
I mean, I was so impressed now

593
00:44:30,720 –> 00:44:34,480
because she could say, you see
that word there, but if you look

594
00:44:34,480 –> 00:44:38,320
it up in Strong’s Concordance,
it is such and such.

595
00:44:39,120 –> 00:44:41,640
And she was looking at her
concordance, Strong’s

596
00:44:41,640 –> 00:44:46,440
Concordance, in the lexicon,
following the numbers and going

597
00:44:46,440 –> 00:44:49,000
through the passage word by
words.

598
00:44:49,000 –> 00:44:52,040
That’s an interesting word.
She was 91.

599
00:44:54,480 –> 00:44:59,120
Now come on, brethren, who can
say that we can’t do it.

600
00:45:01,840 –> 00:45:04,680
It takes time.
It takes a lot longer than than

601
00:45:04,680 –> 00:45:07,920
getting our ideas from somewhere
else.

602
00:45:09,840 –> 00:45:11,640
And it’s not for brethren only,
is it?

603
00:45:11,640 –> 00:45:14,800
It’s not a matter of, well, I’ve
got to speak next week, so I

604
00:45:14,800 –> 00:45:16,920
better do some study.
Surely not.

605
00:45:17,400 –> 00:45:22,080
Surely Bible study isn’t
relegated to that unimportant

606
00:45:22,080 –> 00:45:26,080
level.
It’s the power to change your

607
00:45:26,080 –> 00:45:28,600
life, sisters, as well as our
husbands.

608
00:45:29,560 –> 00:45:32,440
It’s the power to instruct our
children in the right way.

609
00:45:33,960 –> 00:45:35,960
But have a look at Second Kings
23.

610
00:45:35,960 –> 00:45:41,320
What does God expect?
Here is Josiah trying to

611
00:45:41,480 –> 00:45:44,160
implement what he’s read.
And he’s brought all the people

612
00:45:44,160 –> 00:45:45,960
together, and he’s going to make
a covenant.

613
00:45:45,960 –> 00:45:49,600
He’s going to say, right?
Are you going to sign up now?

614
00:45:49,600 –> 00:45:52,720
Are you going to change with me?
We know what we’ve got to do.

615
00:45:52,720 –> 00:45:55,680
Are you with me?
Yeah, we’re with you.

616
00:45:56,160 –> 00:45:57,760
Yeah.
We’re going to change just like

617
00:45:57,760 –> 00:46:02,200
you, Josiah.
And so look at who he gathers

618
00:46:02,200 –> 00:46:03,920
together.
Verse 2.

619
00:46:05,560 –> 00:46:09,200
And the king went up into the
House of the Lord, and all the

620
00:46:09,200 –> 00:46:13,680
men of Judah and all the
inhabitants of Jerusalem with

621
00:46:13,680 –> 00:46:18,400
him, the priests, the prophets,
and all the people, both small

622
00:46:18,440 –> 00:46:22,680
and great.
And he read in their years all

623
00:46:22,680 –> 00:46:24,760
the words, the book.
Now that’s repetition.

624
00:46:25,120 –> 00:46:28,840
Everyone was expected to be
there, both small and great.

625
00:46:31,960 –> 00:46:37,640
So it was for everybody and
understanding the Word of God is

626
00:46:37,640 –> 00:46:42,240
not a competition.
It’s not so that we can shine in

627
00:46:43,720 –> 00:46:48,160
in our discussion group or by
the class or sisters class or in

628
00:46:48,160 –> 00:46:50,120
youth.
That’s not what it’s about.

629
00:46:52,080 –> 00:46:56,000
The measure isn’t whether I know
more than you and you know more

630
00:46:56,000 –> 00:47:00,400
than me, but whether we are
coming to know God.

631
00:47:02,120 –> 00:47:05,320
Let’s have an example of that.
If you look in Second Kings 23

632
00:47:05,320 –> 00:47:11,400
and verse 25, you notice there
it says about Josiah that he

633
00:47:11,400 –> 00:47:14,360
turned into the world of all his
heart, all his soul, and all his

634
00:47:14,360 –> 00:47:18,960
mutt.
The people didn’t know all those

635
00:47:18,960 –> 00:47:21,240
people that had gathered and
said, yes, we’re with your

636
00:47:21,240 –> 00:47:23,000
Josiah.
They were just trying to keep

637
00:47:23,000 –> 00:47:27,120
him happy, keep him quiet, keep
them, keep him off their backs.

638
00:47:27,840 –> 00:47:30,720
They weren’t with him really,
not in their hearts.

639
00:47:32,040 –> 00:47:36,680
Jeremiah 3 verse 10 says this.
People have turned unto me

640
00:47:37,360 –> 00:47:44,840
faintly, faintly.
It was almost on his own.

641
00:47:46,560 –> 00:47:50,720
He couldn’t take the people with
it because their hearts weren’t

642
00:47:50,720 –> 00:47:53,080
in it.
But there was a woman who

643
00:47:53,240 –> 00:47:56,480
exemplified the spirit of
Josiah.

644
00:47:56,760 –> 00:47:59,640
She’s recorded for us in Mark
chapter 12.

645
00:48:09,800 –> 00:48:12,800
I mentioned the parallels
between Josiah’s time and the

646
00:48:12,800 –> 00:48:15,240
Lord Jesus.
And when the Lord went in to

647
00:48:15,240 –> 00:48:18,800
cleanse the temple, He was doing
what Josiah had done before.

648
00:48:19,120 –> 00:48:22,240
When he goes into the temple, he
quotes Jeremiah Chapter 7.

649
00:48:22,760 –> 00:48:25,800
You’ve made the House of God a
den of thieves.

650
00:48:25,960 –> 00:48:30,360
He’s quoting a passage from
Josiah’s Ray when he offers them

651
00:48:30,600 –> 00:48:33,720
the parables.
He is taking hold of words from

652
00:48:33,760 –> 00:48:36,640
Chronicles about the way in
which Israel had dealt with the

653
00:48:36,640 –> 00:48:39,880
prophets over the years.
He’s drawn a parallel with

654
00:48:39,880 –> 00:48:43,960
Josiah’s reign and many
connections can be found.

655
00:48:44,160 –> 00:48:48,400
So when a a lawyer comes up to
the Lord and and challenges him

656
00:48:48,400 –> 00:48:52,400
to say which is the first
commandment in chapter 12 and

657
00:48:52,400 –> 00:48:55,840
verse 30, the Lord answers.
Thou shalt love the Lord thy God

658
00:48:55,840 –> 00:48:59,360
with all thy heart, with all thy
soul, with all thy might, and

659
00:48:59,360 –> 00:49:03,080
with all thy strength.
And as we say, there is only one

660
00:49:03,080 –> 00:49:06,240
man in Scripture who is recorded
as fulfilling that.

661
00:49:06,240 –> 00:49:09,440
Of course the Lord Jesus did,
but only one other man, and

662
00:49:09,440 –> 00:49:15,000
that’s Josiah.
So Josiah must have been in the

663
00:49:15,000 –> 00:49:23,480
mind of the Lord.
Lavin explained This was the

664
00:49:23,480 –> 00:49:30,600
first command to love the Lord
with all, and that was greater

665
00:49:30,600 –> 00:49:36,040
than all whole burnt offerings.
The Lord says to his disciples,

666
00:49:36,280 –> 00:49:38,000
come over here and have a look
at this.

667
00:49:38,800 –> 00:49:42,040
It’s there in the great court of
the temple where the the chests

668
00:49:42,040 –> 00:49:44,200
were where the people brought
their offerings.

669
00:49:46,720 –> 00:49:49,840
In the verse 41 it says, Jesus
sat over against the treasury,

670
00:49:50,280 –> 00:49:54,160
and beheld how the people cast
in money into the treasury, and

671
00:49:54,160 –> 00:49:56,800
many that were rich cast in
much.

672
00:49:58,440 –> 00:50:01,080
And there came a certain poor
widow, and she threw in two

673
00:50:01,080 –> 00:50:05,320
months, which make a Farthing.
And he called unto him his

674
00:50:05,320 –> 00:50:09,440
disciples, and said unto them,
Verily I say unto you, that this

675
00:50:09,440 –> 00:50:14,560
poor widow had cast more in than
all they which have cast into

676
00:50:14,560 –> 00:50:17,960
the treasury.
For all they did cast in of

677
00:50:17,960 –> 00:50:22,160
their abundance.
But she of her want did cast in

678
00:50:22,440 –> 00:50:27,560
all that she had even all her
living.

679
00:50:29,040 –> 00:50:32,680
You notice there by repetition
again Now what the Lord says

680
00:50:32,680 –> 00:50:39,000
about that woman is she cast in
all that she had and it’s

681
00:50:39,000 –> 00:50:43,440
obviously LinkedIn the chapter
cure O Israel, thou shalt love

682
00:50:43,440 –> 00:50:50,200
the Lord thy God with all and
the example the scriptures give

683
00:50:50,200 –> 00:50:56,440
is a woman who had nothing.
So the Lord wasn’t talking about

684
00:50:56,440 –> 00:51:00,840
the great kings of the earth.
He was talking about a woman who

685
00:51:00,840 –> 00:51:02,720
was a widow.
She had nothing.

686
00:51:02,720 –> 00:51:07,240
She was nothing and she cast in
more than they all.

687
00:51:07,320 –> 00:51:10,840
What does that tell us about God
and how he judges our

688
00:51:10,840 –> 00:51:13,280
contribution.
Is there anybody who is too

689
00:51:13,280 –> 00:51:18,840
small, who feels so
insignificant that they can’t

690
00:51:18,840 –> 00:51:25,560
give to God all this, this
lovely woman had a choice,

691
00:51:25,560 –> 00:51:29,520
didn’t she?
You know, she had two coins.

692
00:51:31,600 –> 00:51:37,680
She could have cast in half of
all she had, but she cast in all

693
00:51:37,680 –> 00:51:41,600
she had.
She made a conscious decision to

694
00:51:41,600 –> 00:51:45,720
give everything to God, to cast
herself upon the mercy of God,

695
00:51:48,000 –> 00:51:51,720
and she excelled all the rich
men of the earth in the faith

696
00:51:51,720 –> 00:51:58,720
that she shot.
How did she come to such a

697
00:51:58,720 –> 00:52:04,800
commitment to the truth?
Thou shalt love the Lord thy God

698
00:52:06,040 –> 00:52:08,160
with all.
She was a woman who loved the

699
00:52:08,160 –> 00:52:13,320
Lord.
That’s where the motivation was.

700
00:52:13,320 –> 00:52:20,880
That’s where the power was.
And so Josiah went out and the

701
00:52:20,880 –> 00:52:24,200
second time he cleansed the
land, it was more thorough and

702
00:52:24,200 –> 00:52:28,400
more complete than before.
It’s very interesting.

703
00:52:28,400 –> 00:52:31,440
You may have this in your home.
The Biblical Archaeological

704
00:52:31,440 –> 00:52:34,400
Review just came to my house
last week, the July, August

705
00:52:34,400 –> 00:52:38,040
edition.
It’s got on the cover a picture

706
00:52:38,440 –> 00:52:45,680
of a a pot in the shape of a
person, and it’s an idol from

707
00:52:46,040 –> 00:52:48,520
Israel.
And the article is called

708
00:52:48,760 –> 00:52:52,640
Smashing the Idols.
And they found from the Times of

709
00:52:52,680 –> 00:52:58,600
Josiah, a shrine in southern
Israel in which every idol is

710
00:52:58,600 –> 00:53:04,200
smashed to pieces deliberately.
And they’re wondering whether

711
00:53:04,200 –> 00:53:13,500
this was Josiah’s work himself.
But I think not.

712
00:53:13,940 –> 00:53:16,260
It may have been one of his
followers, but I don’t think it

713
00:53:16,260 –> 00:53:18,380
was his work because you won’t
see it.

714
00:53:18,380 –> 00:53:21,680
But there’s a picture here of a
woman piercing together the

715
00:53:21,680 –> 00:53:25,080
idol.
She’s taken all the fragments

716
00:53:25,440 –> 00:53:28,760
and she stuck them together, and
there she’s got the idol again.

717
00:53:29,400 –> 00:53:31,760
That’s exactly what Josiah was
worried about.

718
00:53:33,520 –> 00:53:43,000
If you look at Second Kings 23,
this is a feature of what he did

719
00:53:43,280 –> 00:53:47,680
with idols that he found Second
Kings 23.

720
00:53:47,680 –> 00:53:50,240
Just take verse 15 as an
example.

721
00:53:51,080 –> 00:53:54,720
Moreover, the altar that was at
Bethel and the high Place, which

722
00:53:54,720 –> 00:53:58,560
Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, who
made Israel to sin, had made

723
00:53:58,840 –> 00:54:01,360
both that altar and the high
place.

724
00:54:01,560 –> 00:54:07,000
He breakdown and burned the high
place and stamped it small to

725
00:54:07,000 –> 00:54:09,000
powder.
If you follow that through,

726
00:54:09,000 –> 00:54:11,280
you’ll see that that’s a feature
which is repeated.

727
00:54:11,800 –> 00:54:16,400
He literally pulverized these
images.

728
00:54:17,240 –> 00:54:19,920
Why?
So that they couldn’t do what

729
00:54:19,920 –> 00:54:24,920
this lady is doing.
They couldn’t repair the idols

730
00:54:25,160 –> 00:54:32,240
and be drawn back into idolatry.
And that’s what we have to do if

731
00:54:32,240 –> 00:54:36,400
we are serious about the truth.
We have to take those things

732
00:54:36,400 –> 00:54:40,880
which we know are stumbling
blocks to us, and we have to

733
00:54:40,880 –> 00:54:46,000
pulverise them so that we can’t
the next day replace them in our

734
00:54:46,000 –> 00:54:49,400
minds, in our thoughts, in our
hopes.

735
00:54:50,880 –> 00:54:59,200
Just one last point.
In Second Kings 23, verse 24, it

736
00:54:59,200 –> 00:55:04,400
says, moreover, the workers with
familiar spirits and the Wizards

737
00:55:05,000 –> 00:55:09,960
and the images and the idols and
all the abominations that were

738
00:55:09,960 –> 00:55:13,800
spied in the land of Judah,
Jerusalem, did Josiah put away

739
00:55:14,360 –> 00:55:16,880
that he might perform the words
of the Lord?

740
00:55:18,120 –> 00:55:23,000
The word images is the word
terraphim, and the terraphim

741
00:55:23,000 –> 00:55:27,360
were household gods.
These were the little gods that

742
00:55:27,360 –> 00:55:31,120
you could keep on the
mantelpiece in your own home.

743
00:55:33,160 –> 00:55:37,280
It’s not mentioned in the first
cleansing, but it’s part of the

744
00:55:37,280 –> 00:55:42,480
second cleanse where he was more
thorough because him was more

745
00:55:42,480 –> 00:55:45,360
exact according to the Word of
God.

746
00:55:46,360 –> 00:55:49,200
So not only did they go to the
land, they went into every home

747
00:55:49,200 –> 00:55:53,560
in the country and they cleaned
out everything which caused

748
00:55:53,560 –> 00:55:59,200
offence and they smashed it to
powder so that no one could ever

749
00:55:59,200 –> 00:56:02,680
replace in their lives anything
which would compete with the

750
00:56:02,680 –> 00:56:06,400
Word of God for supremacy.
May brothers, sisters, that be

751
00:56:06,400 –> 00:56:10,960
the spirit in which we implement
what we know of the Word of God.

752
00:56:25,150 –> 00:56:27,230
Thank you for listening to the
good Christadelphian Talks

753
00:56:27,230 –> 00:56:29,830
podcast.
We hope this talk helped you in

754
00:56:29,830 –> 00:56:31,350
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755
00:56:32,510 –> 00:56:34,550
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756
00:56:34,550 –> 00:56:37,070
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757
00:56:37,070 –> 00:56:41,190
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758
00:56:41,190 –> 00:56:43,640
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759
00:56:43,640 –> 00:56:46,440
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760
00:56:46,440 –> 00:56:50,520
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761
00:56:50,760 –> 00:56:53,320
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762
00:56:54,560 –> 00:56:57,040
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763
00:56:57,040 –> 00:56:59,560
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764
00:56:59,560 –> 00:57:03,080
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765
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766
00:57:05,000 –> 00:57:07,600
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767
00:57:07,600 –> 00:57:09,840
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768
00:57:10,440 –> 00:57:13,440
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769
00:57:13,440 –> 00:57:16,480
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770
00:57:17,080 –> 00:57:19,960
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771
00:57:19,960 –> 00:57:20,200
week.