Hello, you're listening to Let the Bible Speak. Let the Bible Speak is the radio ministry of the Free Presbyterian Church. Stephen Pollack is the pastor of Free Presbyterian Church of Malvern, Pennsylvania. The church is located at the junction of 401 and Mallon Road. Thank you for joining us today as Dr. Pollack opens the Word of God and lets the Bible speak. Hello and thank you for listening to another episode of Let the Bible Speak. We do appreciate you joining us week by week and trust the word of God with blessing to your souls. Today we're considering a very topical message, a message geared towards our young people, or more correctly geared towards all generations to pray for the next generation, to pray for God to raise up godly young people in our day. We all are very aware of the challenge we face in this world, a world marked by iniquity and a church marked by lethargy. And our desire is that God will work and raise up people with a burden and a desire to serve the Lord and to love the Lord with all their hearts. We're going to use the example of Josiah in the Old Testament, a young man who gave himself wholly to the work of the Lord. May God be pleased to use and bless his word in your souls today. Please your Bibles and let's turn together to 2nd Chronicles. 2nd Chronicles in chapter 34. We'll read the first seven verses of this chapter, although I'll mention some of the verses at the end of the chapter also in our study this evening. But 2nd Chronicles in the chapter 34, and let's read together from the verse number one. Josiah was eight years old when he began to reign. And he reigned in Jerusalem one and thirty years. And he did that which was right in the sight of the Lord, and 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, he began to seek after the God of David his father. And in the twelfth year he began to purge Judah and Jerusalem from the 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, and the groves and the carved images and the molten images he break in pieces, and made dust of them, and strode it upon the graves of them that had sacrificed unto them. And he burnt the bones of the priests upon their altars, and cleansed Judah and Jerusalem. And so did he in the cities of Manasseh, and Ephraim, and Simeon, even in Naphtali, with their marks round about. And when he had broken down the altars and the groves, and had beaten the grieving images into powder, and cut down all the idols throughout all the land of Israel, he returned to Jerusalem. Amen, may God encourage our hearts again in his word, the word of truth this evening to our souls. Last time I was bringing the word on this occasion, we thought about the text in Psalm 102 and the verse number 18, where the Psalmist says, this shall be written for the generation to come, and the people which shall be created shall praise the Lord. And we noted how that Psalm brought words to encourage stability, Stability for the young and stability for all ages. Well, tonight I want to continue to think about our young people again this evening. A major aspect of church prayer must be given to the future. We must be wholehearted and zealous in continuing to pray for future generations of the work of God. It seems to be the case, at least in my experience, that every generation fears that the next generation will go bad. It's almost this continual fear in the hearts of people in the church, and it's often the case. It is the very nature of apostasy. But I ask the question, is this inevitable? Do we simply live our lives in the assumption that the next generation will be worse than we are? That is a spirit of rank unbelief. and that is not faithful to the testimony of history itself. For there have been times, by God's grace, that a future generation has done much better than the one that preceded. And so to live this life with continual despondency, presuming the worst of the next generation, is to be falling in the trap of carnal unbelief. And we must fight against that. We must be careful, yes, we often will fear the pressures upon the future generation, we fear the temptations they're going to undergo, but it is not inevitable that they will do worse than we do. We pray, of course, in our prayer meetings, for thy kingdom to come. We are praying, therefore, in light of new converts, in the light of a future generation, in the light of continuation of gospel purpose. We pray for God to send forth labourers, That's a prayer for new pastors, new missionaries, new Bible teachers, for those who'd be faithful to the work of God. We're praying to the Christ of God to send forth labourers in his harvest. So it is, I believe, very easily proven that a church of prayer should be a church of prayer for the future, for young people coming behind, and for the next generation in the work of God. Of course our youth camp is just around the corner and that's really what's motivating my soul again tonight to bring this word. It is that we would give ourselves in the coming weeks wholeheartedly to pray for our youth camp. 67 young people around the Word of God day by day, being nurtured and discipled in the things of Christ, a camp that has borne fruit in previous years, seeing souls sanctified and converted, and some called even to Christian service. And so we pray for that camp, pray that God would use it again for the benefit of our denomination in the coming days. In light of this, I want to sit before you a model, a model young person that would move and stir hearts to pray. And of course it is one of the most famous young people in all the Bible. His name here is Josiah. And age is clearly in view. His age is expressly mentioned. Verse number one, Josiah was eight years old when he began to reign. Chronology and age is very, very important. Verse number three, in the eighth year of his reign, while he was yet young, he began to seek after the God of Israel. We might put it this way, Josiah is saved in around the age of 15 or 16 and then around 19 started the work the Lord had for him. His testimony in verse number two is that he did that which is right in the sight of the Lord and declined neither the right hand nor to the left. Not sinlessly perfect, but a good king. A king in the spirit of his father David who did what was right in the sight of the Lord. It's often the case in the record of the kings that their reign is judged according to the criteria of what they have done with idolatry. Do they promote idolatry or do they tear down idolatry? That's often used as the criteria to discuss and decide as to whether they were a good king or a bad king. Josiah goes to town on that issue. He tears down idols here, there and everywhere. Also repairing the house of the Lord in verse number 8, that house that had been neglected. He was a man wholehearted in promoting the pure worship of God, not given to the idolatry of this world, but rather given to the worship of Jehovah, the one true and living God. Gospel worship, promoting, again, the principle that God is only worshiped through means of a God-honoring sacrifice. Now, not all young people are called to be Josiahs, to tear down and to build up. But let me summarize his life another way. Here's a young man who's humble. under the Word of God. And he sought to live his life according to the Word of God. He allowed the Word to impact all of his life and ensured that his life had influence and impact upon others for good. Christ-centered, God-honoring impact. If you like, he is the epitome of Romans chapter 12, verse number two. He is not conformed to this world. He tears down the idols of this world. And he worships God and serves God according to the will of God revealed in the scriptures. And so verse number 29 and following it describes his reign in verse 32 says this, He caused all that were present in Jerusalem and Benjamin to stand to it. To stand to the word of God. He's a young person of influence. He's a young person who loves the Lord, who lives for God, who lives under God for the good and the glory of God. And surely he is a model for our admiration. He is what he is by the grace of God. And my desire tonight is to point your attention to him to see what God can do in young people. God's able to do this in young people, in our generation. By His grace, He can change and capture the heart of young people and make them like Josiahs. And so it's a model for us to pray over, to examine Him, to see Him, and then to call upon God to raise up Josiahs in our day for the honor and glory of the name of our Savior. And so first of all, we long for young people who are given to prayer. We long for God to raise up young people who are given to prayer. You see, Josiah's testimony is here in verse number three. While he was yet young, he began to seek after the God of David, his father. That's his testimony. Like Paul in later generations, the evidence of a new heart is in his seeking of God in prayer. This is so primary. so fundamental to what it is to be a Christian. Again, we see various evidence of Christianity in the hearts of people. We see a hungering for the word of God. We see a zeal to put away sin. We see all manner of things in young people. They can say, well, that looks like they're a child of God. And we praise God for those signs of grace. But first and foremost, we ought to see young people who are young people of prayer, who are seeking God in the place of prayer. And I would suggest both privately and publicly. You see, the seeking of God had a beginning here. And that's what it says here. While he was yet young, he began. There was a beginning. We might term it conversion. It's just like he hears the application of the gospel through the prophet Isaiah. Seek ye the Lord while he may be found and call ye upon him while he is near. This is the very essence of what it is to be a Christian. You're going to forsake your way, you're going to forsake your unrighteous thoughts as unrighteous men, and you're going to return to the Lord. And all of that is a seeking of God and a calling upon God. So in other words, those who come to know their sin, Those who come to recognize their guilt before God, they call upon God for mercy. But that's described by Isaiah in chapter 55 as a seeking of the Lord. And so these things come together. Someone who's been wrought on by the spirit of God, whose heart is being born anew, they will call upon God for mercy and they will begin in that first prayer, they'll begin a life of prayer. They'll seek the Lord for His grace. They'll seek the Lord for His mercy. You see, seeking God is really the first act of faith. Faith is born in our hearts as a resting in God, but that faith in our hearts is expressed in prayer, seeking for God. Yeah, we can start there tonight. And our young people in our church, in our camp, You'll simply pray for God to work in their hearts to make them young people of prayer. In other words, to save them. For a prayerless person is an unsaved person. And so you're praying for God to work in their hearts and save them by his grace. But this beginning that's mentioned here in verse number three, he began, of course also implies a continuation. Began. Doesn't say he sought the Lord once. It's the beginning of a pattern. He began to seek, and the obvious implication is, having began, he continued to seek after the Lord. It marked his life. His life was a life of seeking the Lord, as he was commanded in the Scriptures. Seek the Lord and his strength. Seek his face evermore, Psalm 105 in the verse number four. Look at that. Maybe we should turn there pretty quickly and see that text. It's a very interesting text in the Psalter Psalm 104. and the verse number five, because there are two things in this command. You're to seek his strength, and we're also to seek his face. Now, it is very possible that the reference to strength here in Psalm 105 is actually a reference to the Ark of the Covenant. Psalm 105, again, note that text, the verse number four, seek the Lord. and his strength, seek his face evermore. Again, Psalm 103, I'm sorry, Psalm 132 and the verse number eight refers to this matter of the ark. Arise, O Lord, into thy rest, thou and the ark of thy strength. And so there are very good and reliable commentators who comment on the Psalms and they see this connection between the term strengthen the Psalter and the Ark of the Covenant. You get that again over in 2 Chronicles. We're in 2 Chronicles and the chapter six. 2 Chronicles chapter six and the verse number 41. Now therefore arise, O Lord God, into thy resting place. Thou and the ark of thy strength, let thy priests, O Lord God, be clothed with salvation, and let thy saints rejoice in goodness. There's another one of the Psalms, I can't remember the Psalm right now, but it refers to the ark being taken into captivity, but it says, the strength of God is taken into captivity. Perhaps referring to the time of Samuel, again, when they take the ark into the battle and the ark is lost by the, or taken by the Philistines. Hard to know, but I think there is certainly strong drawings for suggesting that when the psalmist tells us to seek the Lord's strength, it's really a prayer to get to Calvary. pointing forward to the Ark of God as the symbol of the strength of God. And where is God's strength secured? But in the atoning work of Christ. And so really, we're praying for young people who will pray upon redemption ground, who'll understand the gospel, who'll understand their strength is not found in themselves. Their strength is found in the work of Christ. That's where strength is found. And so they seek the strength of God by looking to the cross, by understanding the atonement and realizing there is strength to be found. In a similar fashion then, to seek the face of God in our Psalm, Psalm 105, seek his face is to seek his grace. We want young people to understand that if they're to serve God in this world, they must seek his strength and they must seek his face. In other words, they're going to rest upon Calvary, depend upon the strength of God, in the grace of God. There are going to be people who are wholehearted in their awareness that they can do nothing, but in God and in Christ, they can do great things. ambitious young people, but not for their own glory or their own ambition, but ambition for the glory of God through the cross of Christ and by the grace of God through the work of the Spirit. That's what we pray for, isn't it? That's what we pray for here every week. We come here and we pray upon the ground of Calvary and we pray for the strength of God and the grace of God upon the work of God. And our young people need to realize that. and they must pray for that. Young people, when are you going to begin to pray in the prayer meeting? Are you going to wait until you get to a certain age? Are you going to wait until you get to the age of 40 and say, well, now I'm going to start praying now? Why wait? We believe in the priesthood of all believers. If you're saved by God's grace and you've got the spirit of God within you, there is nothing to stop you praying in the prayer meeting. apart from perhaps the fear of man. And that's a snare. That's a terrible snare upon your soul. Don't worry. There are people who have prayed for many, many years, myself included, and sometimes we mess up our words, we stumble, and we pray things that probably aren't very accurate and we shouldn't pray over. The Lord knows that. But he knows our hearts. We're born again in the spirit of God. We're seeking the Lord's strength in his face. We need to pray for young people to be young people of prayer. Secondly, we must long for young people who will live according to God's precepts. You see, Josiah did what was right in the Lord's sight. He was a king and he had particular duties as a king. You might well describe his work as a work of reformation. He's pulling down all manner of wickedness and he's building up those things that are righteous and true. Whatever the case was, and this is his work, and again, I said already, you may not be called to do the same work as Josiah, but there are two words that describe Josiah's work. His work was thorough and it was biblical. And those two words, I believe, can go a long way to describe our burden for young people in our day. You see, he doesn't go halfway to remove idols and doesn't go to some places and ignore others. He goes to many places across the land and he lives with all the idols. And crucially, the Word of God was his guide. Verse number 31 tells us, And the king stood in his place, and made a covenant before the Lord to walk after the Lord to keep his commandments and his testimonies and his statutes with all his heart and with all his soul to perform the words of the covenant which are written in this book. And as a reference to a book that was found, and I'm not going through all that history tonight, my burden again is to remind you of these two words. Josiah's work was thorough and it was biblical. And as a result of that, I'm encouraging you to pray for our young people in that regard. That their professed faith would affect every area of life. That they would not simply pick and choose those areas of their lives that they want to bring God into. That perhaps God's okay on a Sunday morning, but he's not welcome perhaps on the sports field on a Tuesday night. There I want to do my own thing in my own way. I'll have God in my heart at some times, but I don't want his influence all the week. We want to pray for young people who are wholehearted in the determination to be thorough in their holiness, in their relationship with their parents. in their work, in their studies, on the internet, in social media, in sport and in leisure, that there's no part of life untouched by the word of God. No time for compromise. Wholehearted and thorough in their obedience. The Bible having the rule over every area of their lives. This thorough biblical transformation is what the Bible expects of us, that we're saved by God's grace to be conformed to Christ's likeness. Was there any area of Christ's life not touched by the word of God? Any untouched areas? No. He was wholehearted in his obedience in every area. And if we're conformed to Christ's likeness, well, that's the standard. Thorough biblical obedience. Putting off sin and putting on righteousness. Biblical and thorough. Young people, they're often criticized. They make mistakes. They make sinful choices. At times the criticism is valid. Yet sometimes we here older forget what it's like to be young. We forget the immaturity of youth. We forget the mistakes we made when we were young. And we're impatient with our young people, expecting them to be entirely sanctified before they reach the age of 20. But yet we're okay with ourselves being less than sanctified before the age of 50 or 70, whatever the case may be. So often we criticize them and don't pray for them. We critique all of their mistakes and we don't call upon the Lord for God to sanctify them by His grace. Well here I'm setting before you a model. This is what God can do in a young person. He can transform their lives in such a way that they are thorough and they are biblical in their duties before God. That they put away their sin and they put on Christ. They mortify their members, Colossians chapter three, fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, concubines, covetousness, which is idolatry. They mortify those things. So yes, young people, he puts sin away. But also as young people in the same chapter, they put on therefore as the elect of God, vows of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, long suffering. We need to pray for these things. Pray for this radical transformation of life. So young people, who are young people of prayer, who have the right pattern, the right precepts to follow, the word of God. And thirdly, young people who have the right purpose. See, these are all connected. Seeking God, obeying God, but all to the right end. You see, we can't get this wrong. Again, Josiah, verse number two. He did that which was right in the sight of the Lord. That's where young people often go wrong. He didn't do that which was right in the sight of his peers, like some of the kings of old did. He didn't do that which was right in the sight of the popular press, that he would get fame and popular acclaim. He wasn't after fame or fortune. What he does is really unpopular in a climate of idolatry. When we live in an idolatrous age, and fight against idolatry were going to be unpopular. And Josiah was willing to have that unpopularity for the sake of truth. And he persisted despite the cost. His actions cost the people. Their pride was wounded as they saw the error of their former ways. They were cost financially as they were encouraged to give the Lord's work. But all of this, he was motivated by desire to do what was right in the sight of God. I need to pray for young people to make that their ambition. That that's their heart's purpose. That no matter what anybody says, they will do what is right in God's sight. Because it's God's sight that counts. That might count for some people above the sight of parents, parents who have no time for the Lord. For some young people, they may be involved in church practices that are not honoring to God. For others, it may be their peers and their peers are all against the Lord. We want young people who will say, what saith the scriptures and what does God think of my actions and my attitudes? That their hearts and their lives and their words are open to the scrutiny of God. God who sees all things, what does the Lord say? Again, that is Paul's prayer, that ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing. For to me, to live is Christ. And so my burden, I hope you've sensed the burden of heart tonight regarding our young people. We must not give up on them. We must not presume the inevitable, that they're gonna be worse than we are. And next generation falling in a deeper sin, God is able to do great things. He's able to raise up a young people band, a band of young people who will give themselves wholeheartedly for the glory of God. Please, let's pray to that end. Let's pray for God to do this in our generation. We'll see a generation come behind us who'll be more faithful than we are, more fruitful than we are, more obedient than we are, more glorifying to God than we are, and we'll watch them. And as we would leave this scene of time in God's will, we'll rejoice and be glad and we'll say, the Lord has done great things for us. We're off, we are glad. Thank you for taking the time to listen to this episode of Let the Bible Speak from Malvern Free Presbyterian Church. If you'd like more information about the gospel or the church, please call 610-993-3170 or email malvernfpc at yahoo.com. We extend an invitation to all to join us as we worship the Lord each week. You will be made very welcome. The church is situated at 80 Mallon Road, Malvern, Pennsylvania, at the junction of 401 and Mallon Road. We meet for worship on the Lord's Day at 11 a.m. and 6 p.m. A Bible study and prayer meeting is also held on Wednesday evening at 7 p.m. We preach Christ Crucified.