Josiah: Youth for God

I'd like to read in 2 Chronicles chapter 33, beginning at verse 21. 2 Chronicles chapter 33, beginning at verse 21. Now, I've noticed in this audience this afternoon a whole pile of young people.

And are we glad you're here. And I think it's a bit unique. And we're very, very happy that you're here.

And hope that we can have a little something for you that might encourage you to get on for God. And our brother has mentioned to us that the Father seeketh such to worship Him. And you read in John's Gospel, God is seeking worshipers.

You read in John's Epistle, He's seeking your fellowship. So He wants your fellowship, young folks. And He wants you to be, He saves you to be a worshiper of Him.

You know, I understand that some of you are from a grassroots movement. And you weren't raised up in the assembly. Imagine that.

And here you are today. And how wonderful it is. And I wasn't raised up in an assembly Sunday school either.

And I was 34 years of age before I ever saw the inside of a Bible. So I kind of know where you're coming from. And I remember not long after the Lord saved my wife and I, I sat at a table at the house.

And I asked myself the question, What did the Lord save me for? Why didn't He save the man down the street that recovered the roast that I threw out in the weeds? Why didn't He save him? Why would He save the likes of me? And I really couldn't get that through my mind. And I come across the verse of Scripture in John's Gospel, chapter 4, The Father seeketh such, like the woman at the well, to worship Him. And you know that there are some folks that would say, Well, that person is an assembly material.

You ever hear that? You ever hear that comment? That's really sad. Because I'd like to know who, in their unsaved condition, is assembly material. You see, God saves the soul.

And then He turns you into assembly material. Because He's seeking worshipers of Him. Now, I want to read about a king.

He's a young feller. But I want to read about his daddy first. You can read about him in 2 Chronicles, chapter 33, verse 21.

Ammon was two and twenty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned two years in Jerusalem. But he did that which evil in the sight of the Lord, as did Manasseh his father. For Ammon sacrificed unto all the carved images with Manasseh his father had made, and served them.

Notice, and he humbled not himself before the Lord. As Manasseh his father had humbled himself, but Ammon trespassed more and more. And his servants conspired against him, and slew him in his own house.

But the people of the land slew all them that had conspired against king Ammon. And the people of the land made Josiah his son, king in his stead. Now notice, verse 1. Josiah was eight years old when he began to reign.

Imagine that. And he reigned in Jerusalem one and thirty years. And he did that which was right in the sight of the Lord, and he walked in the ways of David his father, and declined neither to the right hand nor to the left.

For in the eighth year of his reign, while he was yet young, sixteen years of age, he began to seek after God, of David his father. And in the twelfth year he began to purge or cleanse Judah and Jerusalem from high places, and the groves, and the carved images, and the molten images. And they break down the altars of Balaam in his presence, and the images that were on high above them.

He cut down the groves, and he carved images and molten images. He break in pieces and made dust of them, stowed it upon the graves of them that had sacrificed unto them. And he burnt the bones of the priests upon their altars, cleansed Judah and Jerusalem.

So did he in the cities of Manasseh, and Ephraim, and Simeon, even to Naphtali with their Maddox roundabout. And when he had broken down the altars and the groves, and had beaten the graven images into powder, cut down all the idols throughout all the land of Israel, he returned to Jerusalem. And that's as much as I want to read.

At the age of eight years old, this man came to the... He wasn't even a man, he was a boy. He was just a young lad. And he came to the throne.

He was the last good king of Judah, and he was the best. And I take it that he was living in the good of Deuteronomy chapter 6 and verse 5. Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. That's really what this eight-year-old was living in the good of.

And he was a good king with a bad father. Ammon was his father who trespassed, yet the Bible says, more and more. Which only goes to show the most important thing isn't where one comes from.

That's not the most important thing. But where one is going in life. That's what's really important.

I don't know where you came from. It isn't important to me where you came from. I'm not at all interested, I'm sure the brethren aren't either, anything about your life prior to the day you reached Calvary.

That's not real important. What is really important is what you're going to do with your lives since God has saved you by His rich, matchless grace. But when I think of grace, I think of my mother-in-law, Grace Anfinson.

You know, she came from a pretty seedy background. She came from down in Missouri. Not that people in Missouri are that way.

But in this particular household, there were some strange things that went on. She had bunions on her feet. You know what they are? They're one of those big old things that stick up about that high.

You know how she took care of the bunions on her feet? She didn't have the bunions removed, she just cut a hole in her shoe. Both of them. Bunions stuck right up through her shoes.

Just as comfortable as a hush puppy. And she liked to eat fresh eggs, so she had a hole in the screen door. And she never let her husband patch the hole in the screen door.

His name was Jim. He had one eye. He was a one-eyed man.

And he liked to whistle. Did you know when he lost his whistle, something was wrong in the life of Jim. Jim wasn't happy.

Something was going wrong. He lost his joy. You ever lose your joy? Well, if you do, it's because you need to make an adjustment.

Jim had to make an adjustment. He'd go out to the barn. He'd sit in the barn and wouldn't talk to anybody for days.

That's how he made his adjustment. One long old Jim was whistling again. The kids were happy.

And the old granny's name was Claudia Ellen. She liked fresh eggs, but she didn't really care to go to the hen house to gather the eggs. So her chickens were trained.

They came through the hole in the screen door, and they came up by the stove where the wood box was at, and they laid their egg. And the old hen had cackled, and out the door she'd go, and Claudia Ellen had her egg. Just like that.

But you know, Gracie, my mother-in-law, she never lived like that. That's what she came from. But she never lived like that at all.

She was absolutely clean. Her house was absolutely meticulous. And when Freddie came home from work, Gracie had already had a bath.

She had on a clean, fresh dress. The ladies wore dresses in them days, you know, way back. Antique-y like.

And then she put on a nice, clean, crisp apron. And she had a real nice meal on the table. And that's what Freddie came home to.

And he came home to that every night. So it didn't really make a matter where Gracie came from. It was really where Gracie was going.

And it doesn't really make a matter where you came from or I came from. And sometimes it's kind of good to look back, look to the rock from whence you're hewn and the hole of the pit from whence you're digged. And sometimes when we look, you know, some of us old-rank sinners that had a heart like a swinging brick and never heard the Gospel message, never had a mother that could take us up on her knee and teach us the old children's hymn and never saw our father stand in an assembly and worship God.

It doesn't make a matter where you come from, but it really matters where you're going. You know, we all have our individual potential. Is there potential in this room? There's piles of potential in this room.

There's young people in this room. They have their life ahead of them and they can live their lives for the glory of God. There is tremendous potential in this room for the glory of God.

And all God's people are happy, aren't we? Surely are. And every one of us that's redeemed by the rich, matchless grace of God have a personal responsibility to invest our God-given talent. You have talent? Use it for God's glory.

And you'll be richly rewarded. Talent to be used for the glory of God and the good of the human race. The best citizen in the United States today is a Christian.

A Christian. And he's not only here for the glory of God, but for the good of the whole human race. And you know that the whole human race needs you because you have the message of hope.

The dear unsaved don't have the message of hope. But the child of God, regardless of who they are, where they come from, if they're saved, if they're born again, regardless of their age, they have the message of hope. And the world really needs you.

Your fellow travelers to eternity, your peers, they need you. And they know they need you to give them the message of hope. Our brother's been reminding us of that even this afternoon.

You know, it's obvious that this young man had some godly influence in his life. And I can tell you where it didn't come from. It didn't come from his father.

It came from his mother. It came from his mother. 2 Kings 22, verse 1, Jedidiah, her name means beloved.

She's a daughter of Adiah. And his name means Jehovah adorns. Isn't it interesting, you've likely noticed this, that in relation to the kings, their mother's name is mentioned over and over and over again.

The king's mother's name is mentioned. Must be some significance to that. It's a common thing found in the Word of God.

And I take it it is because of the mother's influence upon her children. In so far as young men are concerned, the first woman in their lives is their mother. And the first woman in the life of this young man was his mother.

And she had an influence upon him. And God mentioned her name in relation to him. I read something that John Wesley said one time.

He says, I owe my usefulness in the Lord's work to the prayers of my mother. A praying mother. I'll tell you, that's a treasure.

I hope you appreciate your mother, young folks, older ones in the meeting. I hope you appreciate your Christian mother and the care that she has for you and the prayers that she sends heavenward on your behalf. Appreciate your mother.

Do you know what this young man learned? What a lot of young men learn. Young girls as well. Young ladies.

That their best friend, naturally speaking, is their mother. Naturally speaking, that is your very best friend today. I might have mentioned this before, but you'll excuse me if I did, because my world is so small.

You see, when my wife died, my boy who is about 47, I guess. 48, somewhere in there. He went down the hallway and he went into the bedroom where my wife died.

And he said some certain things. And he finally came out of the bedroom and he came into the living room and he sat down on the couch. Do you know what he said? He said, I've just lost the best friend I've ever had.

And I was his mother. I was his mother. This Josiah was a teenager.

Any teenagers in the room today? If there is, we're sure glad you're here. Very, very refreshing. Verse 3, he's a teenager, 16 years of age.

And do you know what he wanted in his life? What do you want in your life? Anything particular that you want in your life. He wanted God in his life. Isn't that something? I hope that you and I want God in our lives.

You know, some young men, they want a wife. And some young ladies, they want a husband. That's good.

But I remember something that was said here sometime back. Some advice that Ray Pryor gave to his daughters. Want to know what it was? You young folks.

He told his daughters, he says, Don't marry someone that you can live with. I'll let that sink in a minute. Don't marry someone that you can live with.

Marry someone you can't live without. I thought that was pretty good advice. Here's a man that wanted God in his life.

You want a wife? You need God in your life. You want a husband? You need God in your life. That's basic.

That's fundamental. You know, that was a good thing in relation to this king. And it was a good choice.

Sad to say, a lot of young people, a lot of middle-aged people, a lot of old people are making bad choices today. We got people in the government that are making bad choices. And when they make a bad choice, you know what they say? I made a mistake.

No, they didn't make a mistake. They made a bad choice. They knew exactly what they were doing.

But here's a young man that made a good choice in a time in his life when habits, good or bad, are formed. And some of you young folks, now's the time of your life when habits, good or bad, are formed. And later on in his life, this choice was God in his life, and so later on in his life, that choice proved to be wise and it proved to be weighty.

And as it was in that day, so it is in the day that you and I are living. I take it that's why Matthew tells us in chapter 6 and verse 33, Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and all these things shall be added unto you. That's a good choice.

Seek ye first the kingdom of God. You know, your teenage years are going to be the right years to fill your mind with the Word of God. You get to be an old codger like me.

You can read and read and read, and your brain's kind of like a sieve. It just kind of flows right on through. Hopefully it keeps it clean.

But some of you in the room today, you have young, keen minds, and you're able to retain what you read and what you study. In relation to the Word of God, your minds are sharp and able to retain divine things. And now's the time to form good habits.

A good habit of prayer and a good habit of praise. Praying to God, praising God. A good habit you could form is witnessing.

Telling your fellow travelers to eternity. You don't have to preach to them. You don't have to beat them over the head with a Bible like a hammer.

Drop a little word in their ear. A kind word. They're looking for it.

And seeking fellowship with students of Scripture. Seeking fellowship with those that are spiritually mature. Seeking fellowship with those that treasure God's assembly.

And seeking fellowship with the Lord's people. And the Word of God makes it crystal clear. They that walk with wise men, what? Shall be wise.

But how about the companion of fools? A companion of fools will become foolish. But they that walk with wise men shall be wise. The Lord bless these few thoughts for His name's sake.