Jehovah God is a jealous God, and is not to be trifled with as a consuming fire. If a person serves God with good intentions based merely on his own preferences and thoughts, I am sorry to say that God will not be pleased. To serve this jealous true God, one must turn to Jehovah with all one’s heart, soul, and strength, acting according to His will and laws. This statement appears in verse 25 of this chapter: Before him there was no king like him, who 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 (2 Kings 23:25).

Questions for Reflection:

What is the difference between idolatry and serving God?

What kind of service attitude pleases God?

Do you agree that the church should not make any demands? Why or why not?

Theme: Serving the Jealous God with All Your Heart, Soul, and Strength

When we review Josiah's removal of idols, we must extend this to the building of the church today. A pastor named Mike Bickle, when organizing a conference last year, spoke about what kind of church should be built in the last days. It comes down to this: how to serve this jealous God. How do we serve the jealous God? With all your heart, soul, and strength, love the Lord your God. If you do not have this intention of loving the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and strength, and you are like the kings of Israel and Judah and those who did evil in the eyes of the Lord, then it is terrible. These people were not ignorant of God, nor did they not know that Jehovah is God. They claimed Jehovah with their mouths, but they could not see the works of God among them. And what did they do? They went to idols! This is why the Israelites worshiped idols. Because God does not take orders from people; instead, people must learn to carefully obey His way, and they will see God's power.

A few years ago, our church was in a desolate state before the transformation, truly desolate! Prayers did not seem to be answered, and seeing the stories in the Bible where God answered prayers, there was a thought in my heart: this is impossible! That was the state! Thank God, now God has done great things among us, and most of our prayers are answered, truly answered. But can we reach the same level as the church in the Book of Acts? I think there is still a considerable gap. Why? Because we are not yet doing enough, have not yet turned to Jehovah your God with all our heart, soul, and strength.

Jehovah God is a Jealous God

Firstly, Jehovah God is a jealous God. Let's look at a passage in the Bible:

For the Lord your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God. (Deuteronomy 4:24)

Everyone must memorize this verse. From this scripture, we can know what kind of God we serve today, and then we know how we should act.

You might say that this chapter is about Josiah, right? Because Josiah is an example, a model of serving this jealous God. So today, we must begin to learn how to be like Josiah. Jehovah God, our God, is a consuming fire, a jealous God, and what does He command us? You must carefully observe all these statutes and carefully observe all His ordinances. Where is the problem with the church? The problem with the church is that it does not carefully observe all His ordinances, does not serve this jealous God with its heart, so it does not see God's answer. We believe that as our church moves forward, we will see greater glory from God! Because we know that our God is a jealous God, we will never serve Him casually in this matter.

Cannot Serve God Casually

God is a consuming fire, and cannot be joked with. So in the Old Testament, there was an incident where someone served Him casually, and fire came out of the Ark of the Covenant and burned them to death. Who was burned to death? The two sons of Aaron, the first high priest. Then Moses said: Aaron, you must not mourn! You cannot cry!

We must know that serving this jealous God is like playing with high-voltage electricity in your hands; you must be careful. He is a consuming fire, and we cannot serve this God casually. If you serve this God casually, you may not be burned to death, but you will definitely not see this God as灵 (Líng, efficacious), as written in the Bible, not efficacious at all. All your prayers will be in vain (see Leviticus 10).

First, Cannot Serve God According to One's Own Will, Casually Simplifying Things

Today, we must not simplify when serving this God. We cannot say according to our own will: Oh, this is not necessary, that is not necessary. If that is the case, what is the God we believe in? A God who is not efficacious at all. Because you say this is not necessary, that is not necessary, when you pray to God, God will say: this is also not necessary for you, that is also not necessary for you. He will also treat you as unnecessary. So today, if we serve this jealous God and let go of ourselves, your prayers will surely be answered! This is the first point: we cannot serve God according to our own will, casually simplifying things.

Second, Learn to Love the Lord with All Your Heart, Soul, and Strength

Serving this God requires learning to love the Lord with all your heart, soul, and strength, and to love worshiping the Lord. What is love? Love is thinking day and night, being so in love that you are willing to die for it. When people experience this kind of love, they feel that God is truly wonderful in their hearts. They think all day long about how to draw near to Him. Some of us brothers, those who have been in love before, know what that feeling is like, always thinking about seeing the other person, never getting enough time together.

But today, we serve God as if it were an obligation, a responsibility, a duty. We come because of what? Because if we don't come, the pastor and his wife will mark us absent, is that acceptable? You treat it as an obligation, that is not love. If you start learning to love God, I tell you that you will experience more grace. You love God, and God loves you in return. The Bible says: God knows if you love Him! God also knows if you do not love Him! So today, whether we are willing to draw near to Him, really willing to draw near to Him, God knows everything. In fact, you receive a lot of grace when you draw near to Him, right?

Third, Cannot Rely on Common Sense, Must Serve God According to God's Word

We must begin to learn to not serve this God according to human common sense. Because this God is an all-powerful God, He created the universe, and with Him, it is not according to human common sense, not according to human logic. It is according to what? It is according to all the words revealed by God. I once preached a sermon: we must act according to all the words that God has spoken! You must remember, according to all the words spoken by God, you cannot say that you don't want this sentence, you don't want that sentence. It is all the words, and you must also deal with the lusts of the flesh and pay the price. When you value eternal life, you will also gain it in this life. After Josiah read the Book of the Law, he discovered that many things he and his ancestors had done were not in accordance with God's requirements, so his country had experienced so many disasters. That is why Josiah tore his clothes and began to weep before God.

When we read the Bible, we see that the Israelites made so many idols, almost all the idols in the world were brought in, and we are very surprised! These idols did not give them any benefits, but they kept adding more and more, all the way up to Josiah's time. Josiah's father, Manasseh, also made a great number of idols. Today, when we serve this jealous God, we must be especially careful and learn a lesson from this: why did the Israelites make so many idols? The result was not good at all! The northern kingdom of Israel had already been destroyed by the king of Assyria, but the Jews continued to make these idols, which we find very strange. Everyone should carefully consider why these Israelites made so many idols.

I will tell you why. First, these idols are not jealous idols. Because they are not jealous, it is no problem to worship one; it is no problem to worship another; it is no problem to worship ten. But the God we serve is very powerful, but He is truly jealous. If you do not do it according to His way, He will not be efficacious. Our God is a jealous God. But those idols? Sometimes, they are quite efficacious in giving you what you want. Don't think that the things people seek in front of idols when worshiping idols are not efficacious at all; in fact, they are very efficacious! Because what they seek are things of this life.

When you read the Book of Jeremiah, you will see that what these people seek is what? They are things that satisfy their own desires, things that are carnal and of this life. If a person is carnal and of this life, and finds idols that are very efficacious, they do not know that the ultimate outcome is corruption. For example, these idol worshipers, before going to rob a bank, they first worship: please bless me to rob the bank. Why do people worship? Because those idols respond to them according to their will. Our God never responds to you according to your will. So if you seek God according to your own will, I think worshiping idols may be more suitable. But if we want to gain life, we must act according to God's words, and no longer act according to human will.

Today, some people themselves do not know that they do not need to serve God wholeheartedly. If you go to such a church, this church never asks anything of you, there are no requirements, as long as you come, that is enough. You do not need to serve this God wholeheartedly, or love this God; you just go there, everyone engages in some kind of MLM, and treats the church only as a social occasion, you will absolutely not see God solve any of your problems!

A couple once came to our church, and the girl's best friend had a relationship with her husband. Where did this best friend live? She lived in the church. We found this matter to be very strange. This best friend lived in the church. She came to Singapore from China, so she should rent a house, right? But she lived in the church, anyway, it doesn't cost money in the church. This is like we see the Israelites bringing male prostitutes to live in the temple, bringing in all the foul things. Can such a church see God's answer? You worship idols, you indulge your flesh, no problem, the idols will never blame you. But this jealous God whom we serve will never let you go. Think about it, why would the Israelites worship idols? It is because of these temptations.

How Josiah Served God

First, Josiah read God's law. When he read according to God's law, he found that many things did not conform to God's law. After reading these things, Josiah repented greatly, not only for his own deeds but also for the deeds of his ancestors. Today, you must read the Bible well, and when you read the Bible, you must read to the point where you must forsake something, no longer be controlled by these idols, and no longer be bound by these things.

Second, begin to remove these idols. Today, in the church, do we need to begin to remove the idols in our hearts? What are the idols in our hearts? They are anything that belongs to this life, satisfies your current life, and satisfies your needs to indulge the flesh but does not comply with God's law, all those things must be removed.

Third, begin to restore keeping the feasts. I was thinking: God, do you want us to keep feasts to You? I thank God today that God has done a very miraculous thing among us. All those who take leave to attend 三拜五 (San Bai Wu, a prayer meeting), have come to the church to pray together to our God. Not to satisfy our own desires, but for the transformation of this land, truly coming to the church to pray, truly paying our own price. These things that belong to keeping the feasts seem to be a waste of manpower and resources. Keeping the feasts truly requires paying a price, because you cannot do anything. If you observe the ordinances of Passover, apart from those few days when you prepare your own food, you should not do any work. Do you believe this? Can you do this? If you are a farmer, you will think: Don't miss the time to sow seeds; if you are a worker, you will think: I still have a deal, and I have to deliver the goods next month, I shouldn't delay my work. Do you need to pay a price? If you believe that God is your life, and God is the answer to all problems in your life, you will definitely be able to let go.

The church we are building is such a church, where we can put down the things in our hands. If you fail an exam, so be it! What does it matter? The exam is not my life. If work is delayed for a day, so be it, work slowly, anyway, you can't finish it. If you finish it, you will be unemployed, so it is best not to finish it. I think when we have this kind of mentality, you will not be controlled by these things. Keeping feasts to God is a test of people, this is restoring keeping the feasts.

Fourth, it is not only the leaders who worship God, not only King Josiah who begins to resolve to repent, but it should be every brother and sister in the church who worships God. Do you know why? Although Josiah did all this, the fierce anger of the Lord did not turn away from Judah; because only Josiah and a few leaders repented, and the other people seemed to be somewhat forced to carry out this command. There were also some people who were harboring resentment in their hearts: you have removed my idols, is that acceptable? I won't vote for you.

So today, we must begin to restore God's glory in the church, and begin not only with me, or only with my wife, being willing to offer such a price, but with the whole church keeping feasts to Jehovah God, the whole church knowing that Jehovah God is a consuming fire, and the whole church knowing that we must begin to walk this path of believing in the Lord by paying the price. I know it is not an easy thing, but I tell you that if you truly boldly make such a choice, and put down what you are doing in your hands, God will surely cause you to triumph, Amen!

Josiah turned to God, but the people did not. Today, if pastors turn to God, leaders turn to God, and our people also turn to God, our brothers and sisters in the church will begin to build a strong and glorious church, like the church of Philadelphia as described in the Bible. If Josiah had done this, and all the people of Israel, like the people of the great city of Nineveh in the Book of Jonah, from the king to the people, sat in ashes, covered themselves with sackcloth and ashes, confessing their sins, repenting, and calling out to God, God's anger would surely subside.

Constantly Receive God's Word and Live It Out

In the days of Josiah in 2 Kings 23, God's wrath was kindled against Israel and Judah. I wonder if God's wrath might be kindled against the church today? Recently, I saw a WeChat link of a sermon preached by Mike Bickle in 2013, speaking about being moved by the Holy Spirit: advocating wholehearted devotion, with the Holy Spirit establishing the first commandment, returning to the first place in the church. Then, disciples who bring these things into their lives begin to proclaim the excellence of Jesus Christ, knowing that He is the answer to all our problems in life. He also said that the church begins to operate in the power of God, with every believer, every disciple, being called and operating in the gifts of the Holy Spirit, completely dedicating themselves with a love for God when offering. But I think today God's will is what Mike Bickle spoke about.

Having read about Josiah's actions, are we willing to return to such a ministry? Even if it is such a ministry, you might ask why he died the way he did? Why was he killed in battle so suddenly? Brothers and sisters, we must live in eternity and not place so much importance on the physical life and death of this life, but rather on the life and death of eternity. In fact, Josiah did not care too much when he died. I believe that such people have seen through matters of life and death, and he did not care whether what he did was right or wrong. He did not think that if he had not gone to war, he might have lived, or what might have happened if he had not gone to war. In fact, there is no need to worry about these things. If you chose this job, or did this or that thing in the past, things might be different today. But in fact, all of these are vanity of vanities, and you don't need to dwell on them. We begin to let go of all worries, and begin to receive one commandment and obey it; if we can receive two commandments, we will obey two commandments; if we can receive three or four, we will continue to receive God's word and then begin to live it out, Amen!

Scripture

2Ki 23:1 Then the king sent, and all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem were gathered to him.
2Ki 23:2 And the king went up to the house of the LORD, and all the men of Judah and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem with him, and the priests and the prophets and all the people, both small and great. And he read in their hearing all the words of the Book of the Covenant that had been found in the house of the LORD.
2Ki 23:3 And the king stood by the pillar and made a covenant before the LORD, to walk after the LORD and to keep his commandments and his testimonies and his statutes with all his heart and all his soul, to perform the words of this covenant that were written in this book. And all the people joined in the covenant.
2Ki 23:4 And the king commanded Hilkiah the high priest, and the priests of the second order, and the keepers of the threshold, to bring out of the temple of the LORD all the vessels made for Baal, for Asherah, and for all the host of heaven. And he burned them outside Jerusalem in the fields of the Kidron and carried their ashes to Bethel.
2Ki 23:5 And he deposed the priests whom the kings of Judah had ordained to make offerings in the high places at the cities of Judah and around Jerusalem; those also who burned incense to Baal, to the sun and the moon and the constellations and all the host of the heavens.
2Ki 23:6 And he brought out the Asherah from the house of the LORD outside Jerusalem to the Kidron valley and burned it at the Kidron valley and beat it to dust and cast the dust of it upon the graves of the common people.
2Ki 23:7 And he broke down the houses of the male cult prostitutes who were in the house of the LORD, where the women wove hangings for the Asherah.
2Ki 23:8 And he brought all the priests out of the cities of Judah, and defiled the high places where the priests had made offerings, from Geba to Beersheba. And he broke down the high places of the gates that were at the entrance of the gate of Joshua the governor of the city, which were on the left at the gate of the city.
2Ki 23:9 However, the priests of the high places did not go up to the altar of the LORD in Jerusalem, but they ate unleavened bread among their brothers.
2Ki 23:10 And he defiled Topheth, which is in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, that no one might pass his son or his daughter through the fire to Molech.
2Ki 23:11 And he removed the horses that the kings of Judah had dedicated to the sun, at the entrance to the house of the LORD, by the chamber of Nathan-melech the chamberlain, and he burned the chariots of the sun with fire.
2Ki 23:12 And the altars on the roof of the upper chamber of Ahaz, which the kings of Judah had made, and the altars that Manasseh had made in the two courts of the house of the LORD, the king broke down and beat in pieces and cast the dust of them into the Kidron valley.
2Ki 23:13 And the high places that were east of Jerusalem, to the south of the Mount of Corruption, which Solomon the king of Israel had built for Ashtoreth the abomination of the Sidonians, and for Chemosh the abomination of Moab, and for Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites, the king defiled.
2Ki 23:14 And he broke in pieces the pillars and cut down the Asherim and filled their places with the bones of men.
2Ki 23:15 Moreover, the altar at Bethel, the high place erected by Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin, that altar with the high place he pulled down and burned, reducing it to dust. He also burned the Asherah.
2Ki 23:16 And as Josiah turned, he saw the tombs there on the mount. And he sent and took the bones out of the tombs and burned them on the altar and defiled it according to the word of the LORD that the man of God proclaimed, who had predicted these things.
2Ki 23:17 Then he said, What is that monument that I see? And the men of the city told him, It is the tomb of the man of God who came from Judah and predicted these things that you have done against the altar at Bethel.
2Ki 23:18 And he said, Let him alone; let no one disturb his bones. So they let his bones alone, with the bones of the prophet who came out of Samaria.
2Ki 23:19 And Josiah removed all the shrines also of the high places that were in the cities of Samaria, which kings of Israel had made, provoking the LORD to anger. He did to them according to all that he had done at Bethel.
2Ki 23:20 And he sacrificed all the priests of the high places who were there on the altars and burned human bones on them. Then he returned to Jerusalem.
2Ki 23:21 And the king commanded all the people, Keep the Passover to the LORD your God, as it is written in this Book of the Covenant.
2Ki 23:22 For no such Passover had been kept since the days of the judges who judged Israel, or during all the days of the kings of Israel or of the kings of Judah.
2Ki 23:23 But in the eighteenth year of King Josiah this Passover was kept to the LORD in Jerusalem.
2Ki 23:24 Moreover, Josiah put away the mediums and the necromancers and the household gods and the idols and all the abominations that were seen in the land of Judah and in Jerusalem, that he might establish the words of the law that were written in the book that Hilkiah the priest found in the house of the LORD.
2Ki 23:25 Before him there was no king like him, who 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, nor did any like him arise after him.
2Ki 23:26 Still the LORD did not turn from the burning of his great wrath, by which his anger was kindled against Judah, because of all that Manasseh had done to provoke him to anger.
2Ki 23:27 And the LORD said, I will remove Judah also out of my sight, as I have removed Israel, and I will cast off this city that I have chosen, Jerusalem, and the house of which I said, 'My name shall be there.'
2Ki 23:28 Now the rest of the acts of Josiah and all that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah?
2Ki 23:29 In his days Pharaoh Neco king of Egypt went up to the king of Assyria to the river Euphrates. King Josiah went to meet him, and Pharaoh Neco killed him at Megiddo, when he saw him.
2Ki 23:30 And his servants carried him dead in a chariot from Megiddo and brought him to Jerusalem and buried him in his own tomb. And the people of the land took Jehoahaz the son of Josiah, and anointed him, and made him king in place of his father.
2Ki 23:31 Jehoahaz was twenty-three years old when he began to reign, and he reigned three months in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Hamutal the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah.
2Ki 23:32 And he did what was evil in the sight of the LORD, according to all that his fathers had done.
2Ki 23:33 And Pharaoh Neco imprisoned him at Riblah in the land of Hamath, that he might not reign in Jerusalem, and laid on the land a tribute of a hundred talents of silver and a talent of gold.
2Ki 23:34 And Pharaoh Neco made Eliakim the son of Josiah king in the place of Josiah his father, and changed his name to Jehoiakim. But he took Jehoahaz away, and he came to Egypt and died there.
2Ki 23:35 And Jehoiakim gave the silver and the gold to Pharaoh, but he taxed the land to give the money according to the command of Pharaoh. He exacted the silver and the gold from the people of the land, from everyone according to his assessment, to give it to Pharaoh Neco.
2Ki 23:36 Jehoiakim was twenty-five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Zebidah the daughter of Pedaiah of Rumah.
2Ki 23:37 And he did what was evil in the sight of the LORD, according to all that his fathers had done.