Josiah was eight years old when
he began to reign. And he reigned 31 years in Jerusalem. And his mother's name was Jedidiah,
the daughter of Ediah of Boscath. And he did that which was right
in the sight of the Lord. And walked in all the way of
David, his father, and turned not aside to the right hand or
to the left. And it came to pass in the 18th
year of King Josiah, the 18th year of his reign, he was 26
at this time, that the king sent Shaphan, the son of Azaliah,
the son of Meshalah, the scribe to the house of the Lord saying,
Go up to Hilkiah, the high priest, that he may sum the silver which
is brought in the house of the Lord, which the keepers of the
door have gathered of the people. And let them deliver it under
the hand of the doers of the work that have the oversight
of the house of the Lord, and let them give it to the doers
of the work which is in the house of the Lord to repair the breaches
of the house, and to carpenters and builders and masons, and
to build timber and hewn stone to repair the house. Albeit there
was no reckoning made with them of the money that was delivered
into their hand because they dealt faithfully. And Hilkiah the high priest said
unto Shaphan the scribe, I found the book of the law in the house
of the Lord. Talking about the five books
of Moses. And Hilkiah gave the book to
Shaphan and he read it and Shaphan the scribe came to the king and
Brought the king word again and said, thy servants have gathered
the money that was found in the house and delivered it into the
hand of them that do the work. They have oversight of the house
of the Lord. And Shaphan the scribe showed
the king saying, Hilkiah the priest hath delivered me a book.
And Shaphan read it before the king. Now he'd never heard the
scriptures read before. And it came to pass when the
king had heard the words of the book of the law that he rent
his clothes. And the king commanded Hilkiah
the priest, and Iacom the son of Shaphan, and Achbor the son
of Micaiah, and Shaphan the scribe, and Azariah, a servant of the
king, saying, go ye, inquire of the Lord for me, and for the
people, for all Judah, concerning the words of this book that is
found. For great is the wrath of the
Lord that's kindled against us, because our fathers have not
hearkened unto the words of this book, to do according to an all
that was written concerning us. So Hilkiah the priest, and Ahiakim,
and Akbor, and Shaphan, and Azahiah, went unto Huldah the prophetess,
the wife of Shalem, the son of Tikva, the son of Horus, keeper
of the wardrobe. Now she dwelt in Jerusalem in
the college, and they communed with her. Somebody's thinking,
a woman was a prophetess? Yes. Yes, she was. Somebody says,
explain that to me. I can't. But there it is. She
was a prophetess. Verse 15, and she said unto them,
thus saith the Lord God of Israel, tell the man that sent you to
me, thus saith the Lord, behold, I'll bring evil upon this place
and upon the inhabitants thereof, even all the words of the book,
which the King of Judah hath read. Because they have forsaken
me and have burned incense unto other gods, that they might provoke
me to anger with all the works of their hands. Therefore, my
wrath shall be kindled against this place and shall not be quenched.
But to the king of Judah, we seek you to inquire of the Lord.
Thus shall you say to him, thus saith the Lord God of Israel,
as touching the words which thou hast heard, because thine heart
was tender. And thou hast humbled thyself
before the Lord, When thou heardest what I spake against this place
and against the inhabitants thereof, that they should become a desolation
and curse and as rent thy clothes and wept before me, I have also
heard thee, saith the Lord. Behold, therefore, I will gather
thee into thy fathers and thou shalt be gathered into thy grave
in peace. And thine eyes shall not see all the evil which I
will bring upon this place. And they brought the king word
again. Let's pray. Lord, how thankful we are that
you've given us your word that reveals the word thy son. How thankful we are for who you
are. How thankful we are for all your
glorious attributes. How thankful we are for thy salvation,
the revelation of yourself. How thankful we are for the complete
forgiveness of sins. Lord, we ask in the name of thy
son that you would meet with us, that we'd have your presence,
that your gospel would be preached in the power of your spirit.
that you give us the spirit of hearing. Lord, we ask in Christ's
name that you would drive away anything that would hinder us
in hearing your gospel. Give us grace to love you more.
Give us grace to love one another more. Lord, we pray for our nation.
We pray for your guidance on our leaders. We pray for your
mercy and grace in this day. Bless us for Christ's sake, in
his name we pray, amen. Now Josiah is one of the most
endearing men in scripture. I love to read his history. As a matter of fact, what is
interesting about Josiah is he was prophesied 500 years before
his kingship took place. Turn back with me to 1 Kings
chapter 13. Verse two, and it came to pass
when Jeroboam, I'm sorry, I was in chapter 12, chapter 13. Behold,
there came a man of God out of Judah by the word of the Lord
unto Bethel. And Jeroboam stood by the altar
to burn incense. And he cried against the altar
in the word of the Lord. This is that altar, that false
altar that Jeroboam had built. O altar, altar, thus saith the
Lord, behold, a child shall be born in the house of David, Josiah
by name." The man we just read about. Josiah by name. And upon thee shall he offer
the priests of the high places that burn incense upon thee,
and men's bones shall be burnt upon thee. And that's exactly
what took place under his reform. You go on reading in chapter
23, he had all the bones of the false prophets burned on this
altar. He destroyed all the altars. in the land. Now his name means
Jehovah heals. And I love that name, Jehovah
heals. And indeed Jehovah heals. He's the great physician who
heals those who have need of healing. Now, if you read in
the Chronicles account, and we're going to get more into that next
But he began to seek the Lord when he was 16 years old. I think there's something very
special about that. This young man, 16 years old, seeking the
Lord. And then when he was 20, four
years later, he starts destroying all the idols. That's what happens
when you seek the Lord. He becomes indignant of that
which is contrary to the gospel, and he destroyed all these idols.
And then when he was 26, we read of this time when the scripture
is discovered. He'd never seen a copy of the
Bible. It had been hidden in the temple somehow, but here
it's brought back out and it's read before him and he weeps
at the thought of what had taken place. Now, notice though in
verse two, he did that which was right in the sight of the
Lord. Oh, may God give us the grace
to look to Christ only and do that which is right in the sight
of the Lord. Look in chapter 23, verse 25. This is the summary of his life. Josiah, and like unto him was
there no king before him that turned to the Lord with all his
heart and with all his soul. and with all his might, according
to all the law of Moses, neither after him arose there any like
him." Now, what a commendation. Don't you want to be this man?
Somebody who turns to the Lord with all your heart, with all
your soul, and with all your might. I admire this man, Josiah. Now, when he read or heard read
the law for the first time. Scripture says he rent his clothes.
He was so upset over what he heard. You see, he didn't realize
that things were this bad. And when he heard the words of
the law, he realized how bad things were. And he was upset
and he said, go inquire of the Lord as to whether this wrath
that I read of is going to take place with us. And he sent to
a prophetess. And there are other women prophets
in the scripture. Um, they were in the old Testament
and he's sent to her and she brings back word. She says, because
your heart was tender. That means weak, weak before
God. And you can't be before God and
not be weak. week before God, your heart was humbled. You saw
what we have coming. You rent your heart because of
that, because you humbled yourself before me. And I couldn't think
about it. When somebody humbles themselves before the Lord, good
things happen, don't they? Always, may God give us the grace
to humble ourself before the Lord. Now, when this took place,
he said, you don't need to worry. This is not going to happen in
your time. And you go into this 23rd chapter,
into the Chronicles account, we find out what a great scriptural worship is restored
under him. He kills all the false prophets,
puts them to death. Somebody says, well, was it a
true reform? I don't know. Maybe they were
just afraid of Josiah. They knew what was going to happen.
If they didn't line up, he's going to have them get to death because
he did that. He burned the bones of the false prophets on the
false altar. He got rid of all the high places and the groves
that had come into the land. He got rid of all the prophets
of Baal. I mean, he just God says there's
nobody like him before him or after him. That's how special
this man was. But look at verse 13 once again,
after he'd heard the scripture read. Go ye, verse 13, inquire
of the Lord for me and for the people and for all of Judah concerning
the words of this book. the words of this book that is found for great is the
wrath of the Lord that's kindled against us because our fathers
have not hearkened unto the words of this book to do according
to all that which is written. The words of this book, that
which is written. Now you have heard of what is
called the five solas of the Protestant Reformation. I bet
everybody's heard of those. Sola is Latin for alone, scriptures
alone, Christ alone, grace alone. faith alone and the glory of
God alone. Those have been called the five
solas of the Reformation. But with all due respect to the
reformers, those are not the five solas of the Reformation.
It's what the church has always believed. That's what every believer
has always believed. They've always looked to the
scriptures alone, to Christ alone, to grace alone, to faith alone,
the glory of God alone. And as far as that goes, I don't
even like the term reformed. The truth never needed reform. The truth's always been what
it is. Well, we've reformed the truth. I mean, we've brought
back the truth. No, you haven't. It's always been. God's never
left himself without witness. And the very idea of reform is
contrary to the scriptures in the first place. Come out from
among them and be separate, saith the Lord. Not reform that which
men have corrupted, but come out and be separate and touch
not the unclean thing. That's always been the message
of scripture. And this idea of these solas beginning in the
Reformation is just not so. It's the gospel that Abel believed. It's the gospel that Noah believed. It's the gospel that Abraham
believed. It's certainly the gospel Moses believed. It's the
gospel that David believed and that Josiah believed. They've
always believed the words concerning this book. So I want us to take
this and kind of use it as a springboard into considering these five,
called the five souls of the Reformation, they're not. It's
what every believer has always believed and what we rest in,
who we rest in. First, First and foremost, and
I love the way Peter said, knowing this first, that no scriptures
of any private interpretation. Scriptures alone. Scriptures alone, the Bible is
the inspired, inerrant word of God. 2 Timothy 3.16 says, all
scripture is given. by inspiration of God, all the
scripture. From Genesis to Revelation, the
39 books of the Old Testament, and the 27 books of the New Testament,
every word is inspired. We believe, I was trying to look
for this word Wednesday night, and I looked it up. We believe
in the verbal, plenary, I think that's the way you say it, inspiration
of the scriptures. Now, what's that mean? I mean,
when you hear that, all those things, that's strange, what's
that mean? Verbal means every word is inspired. Plenary means
every word is authoritative. We believe the Bible is the inspired
word of God. Somebody says, well, that's kind
of hard to believe. No, it's not. Is it hard to believe
that God created the universe? Is that hard to believe? It's
hard not to believe. As a matter of fact, it's just
unreasonable to believe anything else. It's not hard to believe
that God created the universe. Nobody begins an atheist. They
might go in that direction and say, well, I really don't believe
in God, but they didn't begin that way. Everybody knows intuitively
and just by virtue of looking at the creation that God created
the universe. Now, if he can create the universe,
it would not be hard for him to Inspire a book and keep it preserved
with it. It's not difficult for God in
any way. And if we don't have this written
revelation, you know what we're left with? My opinion and your
opinion. Where's that going to leave us?
In trouble. In trouble. Our thoughts are
wrong thoughts. We have to have this revelation. And if we don't have the scriptures
as the word of God, we're in trouble. I love what Peter called
it. Peter called it a more sure word
of prophecy. When these holy men of God spake
as they were moved by the Holy Ghost, it's a more sure word
of prophecy. Now, Peter had been talking about
his experience on the Mount. When he saw the Lord transfigured
before him, him and James and John and his face shined like
the sun, the scripture says. Now, what an experience. I've
never had an experience like that. You know, any experience anybody
talks about with the Bible's better. The Bible's better. Any experience, well, I had this
experience. Maybe you did, maybe you did,
I don't know. I hope you did. But the Bible is better. It's
the more sure word of prophecy. It's better than any experience
anybody has. We believe the scriptures alone
as our only rule of faith and practice. Well, so-and-so didn't
believe what you believe, and look how the Lord used him 200
years ago. That doesn't matter. We look
to the scriptures alone. I don't care what so-and-so believed.
I don't care what this denomination believes, or that denomination
believes, or this church believes. What does God's word say? Scriptures alone. Now, the second soul, I'm sure
you've heard of that, is Christ alone. Christ alone. And there isn't any two words
that go better together than Christ alone. There isn't anybody
like him. There isn't anybody you can compare to him. He only
is the message of scripture. The scripture is not some book
telling us how to live. That's the way most people look
at the Bible. The Bible teaches us how to live
and how to act. Everybody already knows how to
live. I can't say that strong enough. Everybody's born with
the law of God written in their heart. That's what Romans 2.16
says. Everybody knows it's wrong to lie. Everybody knows it's
wrong to steal. Everyone knows it's wrong to
kill. On and on and on. Everybody already knows that.
That's why I just get kind of annoyed when people say, well,
the scripture's given to teach us to live. You already know
how to live. Scripture's given to teach you who God is. That's
the purpose of the scriptures. And Christ alone is the only
message of scripture. He's not the most important message.
He's the only message. You believe that? He's not the
most important message. He's the only message. He's not
the most important theme. He is the only theme of scripture. I love what Paul called in second
Corinthians. I want you to see this. I know
you've seen it. Turn to second Corinthians chapter
11. Verse three, but I fear Paul had a legitimate fear here. But
I fear lest by any means as the serpent beguile thee through
his subtlety, through his deceit, so your mind should be corrupted
from the simplicity. Now that word means the onlyness. The onlyness. I love those two
words, the simplicity that's in Christ. We have a simple salvation,
Christ only. It's not complex. It's not compound.
It's not putting two things together. Christ only is my salvation. Christ only is my ground of salvation. Christ only is the message of
this book. Christ only is my assurance. That all God requires of me,
he looks to Christ for. Christ only is the object of
my faith. I look to him only. Faith doesn't have anything to
do with what you believe about yourself. Now, someone says, well, I think
I'm saved. Well, that doesn't mean you are. I'm afraid I'm
not saved. That doesn't mean you're not
really. It doesn't mean you're not. Do you believe on the son
of God? That is the only issue. Christ. He's the only message
we preach. We believe in Christ alone, don't
we? The onlyness of the Lord Jesus
Christ. I love what Paul said in Colossians
chapter three, verse 11, Christ is what? All. All. And let me remind you that
the only way he is all to you is if you don't have anything
else. All you have is Christ. If Christ is all to you, you
don't have anything else but you have all, don't you? Christ
only. This wasn't new to the Reformation. This is what Abel believed. Christ only is all in salvation. Then the third sola is known
as grace alone. Grace alone. Now this is the
only message of the scripture, grace alone, not grace and. Not grace and my cooperative
efforts with it. Not grace and the things that
I do. Not grace and my experience. Not grace and anything. Grace
alone. Now what does grace alone mean? Ephesians chapter two, Ephesians chapter two, verse four, but God, you were dead in sins,
but God, You were by nature the children of wrath, just like
everybody else. But God, who is rich in mercy
for his great love, wherewith he loved us, even when we were
dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ. Now
how much did you have to do with that? You were dead. and He gave you
life. You know what that means? By grace are you saved. When we speak of grace alone,
we say every aspect of our salvation. You talk about being chosen by
God, elected, that's by grace. You talk about being justified
before God to have perfect righteousness before Him where He sees you
as without sin, that's by grace, isn't it? When you talk about
being redeemed, your sins being put away, that's by grace. When
you talk about being regenerated, it was the grace of God that
gave you life, that said live. When you talk about being preserved
and not falling away, if you're a believer, you know the only
reason you're preserved is by the grace of God. You know you'd
fall away if he didn't keep you and cause you to persevere in
the faith. I tell you, when I'm really gonna understand salvation
by grace, it's gonna be after I'm dead. I have some limited
understanding of it now, but I love that song. When I stand
before thy throne, dressed in beauty not my own, when I see
thee as thou art, love thee with unsinning heart, then, Lord,
shall I fully know, not till then, how much I owe. The fourth
sola is faith alone. That's what Abraham believed.
I once again say with all due respect to the reformers, I'm
not being disrespectful of Calvin or Luther or Zwingli or all those
men. I thank the Lord for them. But
this didn't arise with them. Abraham believed God. Genesis
15, six. Abraham believed God and was
counted to him for righteousness. The only evidence, now listen
to me. The only evidence of salvation
is faith in Christ. That's it. Now, if you can look
at yourself and say, well, I see things, I can tell God's done
something for me. I pray more, I sin less, go on
down, whatever that is. If you can look at something
that you've done and think, well, I'm in good shape. You missed
it. Faith only. To him that worketh
not, but believeth. On him that justifies the ungodly,
his faith is counted for righteous. That's the way it's always been.
Never been any other way but that. This is not new with the
reformers. And then the fifth sola is God's
glory alone. Now, God gets all the glory in
my salvation. How about you? Does God get all
the glory? Does any of it go to you? Can
you take credit for anything? No. No. If any preaching gives
man any glory, it's not of God. That belief that, well, God's
done all I can do, and it's up to you to do something to make
what he did work, that gives the glory to man. That's all
it does is it gives glory to man, and if any glory goes to
man, it's not true. I want him to get all the glory,
and I've said this several times, and this might show my character,
but I want him to get all the glory, because if he doesn't
get all the glory, something's expected out of me. There's something
I need to do, and I don't want to go there. I do not want to
go there. I want him to get all the glory
because that means he does it all in salvation. That gives
his sinner hope. That's all I have hope in is
what he has done. And if there's anything where
man gets any of the glory, that means there's something I have
to do to save myself. And that's not good news. That's
a message of salvation by works. Now, once again, He talked about
all the words of this book, and we're going to consider next
week the reform that took place under him after the Lord did
this. Somebody says, why are you using
the word reform? I don't know. It just comes natural,
but it's not a reform from what? I love to think the truth doesn't
need to be reformed. I hate the word reform doctrine.
It ain't reform doctrine. It's God's doctrine. It's the
truth of the scriptures. That's all we care about. I love what he said about all
the words of this book. Amen.