Obedience Among Disobedience | Jeremiah 35 | Pastor William Hixson

Right. Glad to be here with you

and we are in the book of Jeremiah

and I I trust it's been a good journey

for you. Jeremiah is a hard book to

teach. It's just a lot of repetition. Uh

70 times he rebukes him for idolatry.

Think about that in one book. I counted

them. I underlined them all the way

through Jeremiah before I started it.

And it gets a little worrisome. But

after all of that, all those

confrontations,

you get into the good section, the new

covenant. And wonderful stuff. We are in

the most precious part of Jeremiah when

you get to chapter 30, 31, 32, 33, 34,

and 35 even as part of it. It's just the

heart of the book. And there's such

wonderful stuff here. And so if you're

new with us, you're picking us up.

you're picking up the book of Jeremiah

with us uh in the kind of long after mid

series, but it is a wonderful book. The

stuff's on our messages are online

and I have to say I've really enjoyed

teaching this and I hope you've enjoyed

hearing it. This is the second time in

this church we've thought this book all

the way through. Uh and uh I've enjoyed

going through it the second time.

uh and uh just a wonderful experience

for me. Tonight

we have a very interesting section

especially

in light of the place where we're living

in Ohio.

Uh Jeremiah does something here.

He brings in a group of people who

actually migrated from the north,

Israel, that had been in captivity for a

long time down south.

And they were a group that were not

acclimated into society, into Jewish

society.

Uh they had particular and peculiar

ideas of how to live. And that's the

whole point of this really. And we'll

see why when we come to it.

And there's going to be a contrast to

their faithfulness

to their family tradition

passed on

to the unfaithfulness of the nation

to God's revealed will.

Family traditions are great. We all have

them. And but they kept theirs. And

theirs was a little different. It was a

little off off the wall, but they kept

it. And the thing they've been keeping

it for two and a half centuries.

You try that with a family reunion, it

doesn't work, right? Family reunions

usually last until the parents die or

the grandparents and then everybody kind

of falls apart.

And uh so he used to have the Hixon

reunion in Wilmington. My great

great-grandfather had a fishing camp uh

on a river uh over there near Cincinnati

or Wilmington. We go there every summer.

every fourth of July, everything. We

knew where we were going. Uh we went

over there and it was fishing, shooting

guns, and uh doing stuff like that and

uh being with family and tons of food.

That was a tradition. There was no

question of what you did on the 4th of

July. Get in the old 53 Chevy and get

over there and enjoy your time. Maybe

swim in the river or fish in the river

or whatever.

Well, watch what's going on here.

These people that Jeremiah brings in

were faithful to their family tradition,

even though it was a very odd kind of

tradition.

And they've been faithful for over 250

years.

And they refuse to break it.

And the contrast with them was that the

nation of Israel had broken not a family

tradition

but God's revealed will.

And so it's a tremendous contrast going

on here. And if you get this, it will be

a very big blessing to you

and a challenge to all of us.

Okay, let's read chapter 35 and see if

you can follow along in your mind.

The word Jeremiah 35. The word which

came to Jeremiah from the Lord in the

days of Jehoakim, the son of Josiah,

king of Judah, saying, now this is a

flashback.

Jeremiah is already living in the days

of Zedekite,

but he's doing a flashback

to something that happened before that

with Jeremiah and this group of people,

and he's doing it for a reason. So, the

word which came to Jeremiah, it's in

this particular section, for a reason.

the word which came unto Jeremiah from

the Lord in the land of Jehookim, the

son of Josiah, king of Judah, saying,

"Go unto the house of the Recabites,

and speak to them, and bring them into

the house of the Lord, into one of the

chambers, and give them wine to drink."

What's the problem there? Everybody

drank wine there. They didn't drink it

like American alcohol content, which is

a lot bigger than theirs, but it was

alcohol and you could get drunk if you

drank a g several gallons of it. But,

you know, the point was give them give

them wine to drink. Then I took uh

Jezaniah, the son of Jeremiah, the son

of Havaniah, and his brethren, and all

his sons, and the whole house of the

Recabites, and I brought them into the

house of the Lord. So he invites these

people into the temple which was still

standing at this point. Now remember in

our previous chapter, the city's under

attack by the Babylonians. It's going to

be the city's going to be destroyed.

Temple's going to be destroyed. All

that's going to happen. This is a

flashback for a reason. And we'll we'll

get back to that in a moment.

And uh he says in verse four, I brought

them into the house of the Lord in the

chamber of the son of Hanan, the son of

Egdallayia, man, a man of God, who was

by the chamber of the princes, which is

above the chamber of Messiah, the son of

Shalom, the keeper of the door. And we

don't have to remember all those details

or even try to figure them all out.

These are people lived long ago. Uh and

uh but he brings them in. And I set

before the sons of the house of the

Recoites pots full of wine. We're not

talking about a bottle of wine. We're

talking about a big pot of wine,

pots full of wine

and cups. And I said to them, "Drink

wine."

But they said, "We will drink no wine.

We will drink no wine."

Now, some some Bible people use this as

a anti-drinking

chapter. It's actually not.

I I'm a tea totter. I don't drink. Uh

but that doesn't mean we don't require

that in our church uh for others. Uh but

uh I like the taste of it too well, so I

just stay away.

But anyways, these people are told,

they're commanded by a prophet of God,

a prophet of God, tells them, "Drink, I

said to them, drink wine." And they

said, "We will drink no wine."

Why? For Jonadabad,

the son of Raab our father, commanded

us, saying, "You shall drink no wine,

neither ye nor your sons forever."

Wait a minute. That guy lived a couple

hundred years before this. He told us

not to do it, so we're not doing it.

Neither shall you build houses, or seow

seed, nor plant vineyards, nor have any.

But all your days you'll dwell in tents,

that you may live many days in the land

where you are sojourers.

Now again, this is not an anti-alcohol

chapter.

The reason they weren't to drink wine

was that they weren't allowed to stay in

one place to plant vineyards.

If you plant a vineyard, you got to you

got to take care of the vineyard.

They were people who were to be on the

move all the time.

They weren't to stay in one place. Kind

of a gypsy thing. They were to move

about up and down the land, up and down

the land, copying Abraham, Isaac, and

Jacob who went up and down the land, up

and down the land. That's the lifestyle

that their ancestor put on them.

And they lived that lifestyle

kind of a gypsy lifestyle.

And the wine is not the main. Neither

were they allowed to build houses. Did

you get that?

So it's not just an anti-wine thing.

It's an anti-house thing.

Or seow seed.

You You're not to be sewing seed. You're

not to stay in one place and have a

garden and harvest out of it. You're not

to build a house and stay in one place.

You're on the move. You're on the move.

You're on the move.

Nor plant a vineyard. There comes the

wine. If you're going to have wine, you

had to plant a vineyard. Ask Noah.

So, the point is none of that for you.

You are to have a uh an existence that's

on the move. You're to dwell in tents,

not in houses. You're to be on the move.

you're not to stay in one place. Now,

actually, this was in contrast to God's

biblical ideal for them

because in Old Testament religion, the

12 tribes were to go to the land. This

is your farm. You keep that farm in the

family. You marry within this group and

you that's your that's your plot of

land. You stay on it that your father

was on, grandfather, great-grandfather,

great great-grandfather, and keep it

going. That was the ideal. each drive

out a spot. That's your spot. Stay in

your spot.

So that's what God commanded them after

they got into the promised land. Right?

Now before that they were slaves in

Egypt and before that they were wonders

with Abraham. It's what Abraham, Isaac,

and Jacob did. But that wasn't a pattern

for the whole nation. That was just a

pattern for a period of time until God

brought him out of Egypt and brought him

into the promised land. The right thing

for them to do then, the right thing,

biblical thing was to what?

This is my land. I'm marrying within.

I'm not leaving this land. I'm sticking

on where God put me and that's my life.

Have kids, grandkids, great grandkids.

Let them do the same. Pass it on.

Now actually that's not a bad life

but it was it there there was a reason

for that life that God commanded them to

do that this tribe gets this this this

this you live here you live here you

live here

and they were to develop it and over the

time pass it on.

But this group was commanded not to do

that by their ancestor. They were to

break the mold.

And when we see who that ancestor is

and what he had to deal with in his own

life in Israel, the northern kingdom,

you'll see why he did that.

So, but anyway, in verse 12, a verse 8,

thus we've obeyed the voice of Jonadab,

the son of Rachab, our father, in all

that he's charged us to drink no wine

all our days. we, our wives, our sons,

or our daughters, nor to build houses

for us to dwell in, neither to have a

vineyard, nor field, nor seed. But we

dwelt in tents and have obeyed and done

according to all that Jonadab our father

commanded us. So there are people on the

move.

And the idea is here, don't settle down

in one place because the temptation may

be too great because of idolatry in all

these places.

He had a reason for that, right?

Remember what what happened to Abraham's

nephew when he went over to to the

well-watered plains of Sodom?

That is a good place. I was there's a

lot of a lot of places to put your

cattle and sheep, goats, and he wasn't

thinking about the people that were

living there. And when you think about

what was going on in the north, the

northern kingdom, when Johnab lived,

Johnab was in the same chariot as the

man that wiped out all the idoltors

in Israel.

He was he was in on that. He was sick of

that. He didn't want his descendants to

be involved in that again. And that's

why he made the charge that he did. But

anyway, they're fulfilling it. But

that's not the real point here yet. It's

the point is they were faithful to the

traditions of their ancestor in a way

the whole nation was not faithful to

God.

We should be family traditions are

great. Everybody's got them and it that

that those are good things.

that some people are more faithful to

their family traditions than they are to

God's revealed will.

And that's what the whole point is.

And so in verse 10, the answer to

Jeremiah was, "But we have dwelt in

tents and have obeyed and done according

to all that Johnab our father commanded

us. But it came to pass when

Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, came up

into the land that we said, "Come, let's

go to Jerusalem for fear of the army of

the Calaldanss and for fear of the army

of the Syrians. So we dwell in

Jerusalem. We're here, but we don't want

to be here. It's because the Babylonians

are coming and we got to have a place to

be. A tent's not going to protect us. So

we're in Jerusalem. We're not city

people. We're we're people on the move,

but we're not we're still not drinking

any wine and we're still not doing live.

We don't want to live like you people

have been living over here.

Then the word of the Lord came to

Jeremiah saying, you see, God commanded

Jeremiah to do this. He must have

scratched his head or his beard to to do

it, but he did it. And then God

explained why he did it. It was another

one of Jeremiah's

uh tasks like wearing the underwear over

his clothes, the linen underwear and

walking around getting the soiled in the

Euphrates River and going to the

potter's house and all the other stuff

God was asking him to do

to illustrate his message. It's another

one of those things.

And so in verse 13, then said, ' Thus

says the Lord of host of God, go tell

the men God of Israel, go tell the men

of Judah and the inhabitants of

Jerusalem, will you not receive

instruction to hearken to my words, says

the Lord, the words of Jonadab, the son

of Reachab, which he commanded his sons

not to drink wine or perform, for unto

this day they drink none, but obey their

father's commandment. Notwithstanding,

I've spoken to you, rising up early and

speaking, but you hearken not to me.

There's the lesson. They're listening to

their ancestor. You're not listening to

your God.

They're obedient to their ancestor.

And they've been doing it for 250ome

years. You aren't listening to me at

all.

And so their obedience to their ancestor

for his traditions

is a contrast to the nation's

disobedience to God and his word.

How many people have a Christmas

tradition?

Everybody from right our family when our

kids were little, we went to Toledo to

Linda's dad on Christmas. We went to my

parents uh a few days later over in New

Philadelphia every year. Same thing.

Toledo, Christmas, uh New Philadelphia

before New Year's.

That was it. Every time. But you accept.

And every Thanksgiving we went to my

sisters in Gal.

So that was us. You probably had

something similar. families do stuff.

And so that's and what he's saying is

here, you've been faithful to your

family traditions, but you haven't

faithful to my word and telling you and

telling you

how to live.

You haven't been doing

get away from the idols. Give them up.

You haven't been doing.

And so that's really what God's saying

in verse 13. Thus says the Lord of

hosts, the God of Israel, go and tell

the men of Judah and the inhabitants of

Jerusalem, will you not receive

instruction to hearken to my words, says

the Lord, the words of Johnab, the son

of Reichab, which he commanded his sons

not to drink wine, are performed to this

day. They drink none, but obey their

father's commandment. Notwithstanding,

I've spoken to you, rising up early,

speaking, but you've not hearkened to

me. They're listening to their ancestor,

but you're not listening to your God.

How many churches do things because

we've always done it that way?

The famous words of a dead church. We

can't change. We've always done it that

way. Now, some of those things are good.

Just keep doing them. But there's some

things that weren't that good in the

beginning or they're not the best and

they're just we can't change.

People are more loyal often to tradition

than they are to God's word.

God's word should be able to break

through any traditions we have, right?

Or any issues we have.

And it it takes it should take

precedent. We all ought to be sensitive

to what God is saying in the Bible.

It might go against our desires. It

might go against our dearest thoughts.

It might convict us. And I've told this

story probably 10 times in this pulpit,

but I was assistant pastor at Dober

Bible Church. And

there was a man that he had a fair

amount of money in town and he knew all

the bankers. He was a builder and he he

did a lot of uh projects here and there.

And he got we we needed a new building.

We were meeting in an old building. We

had about 300 people. We were way uh

under staff for what we needed. And we

had a piece of land to buy and we needed

to raise money. And he got the idea. He

says, "I know all these bankers,

preacher. I'll get some money out of

those bankers for the church." He meant

so well. He he meant well. And I bet he

could.

And here I am, a young preacher. I mean,

I'm 20. I'm in my 20s. This guy was

probably

60 at least.

And he says that to me and I know he's

really wants us to do that. Go to the

bankers and get money to raise the

church. I bet he can do it because he

knew them all.

And I had to deal with him on it. And I

said, I called him by name and I said,

"Boy, I really appreciate I prayed

first. Lord, help me say the right thing

to this man. I'm a young man telling an

old man trying to correct an older man."

I said, "Boy, I want to thank you for

your idea. That's it's really good that

you want to help the church that way,

but there is there's a problem. There

was something about it that's not going

to work.

And I took him to to uh third John

that the the missionaries went out and

they took nothing of the Gentiles.

You don't use unsaved people's money to

build churches

of biblical. you don't raise money uh to

build churches

from unsaved people. That doesn't mean

you have to anybody comes in the door.

You can't put any money in the plate

because we we don't know if you're saved

or not. We don't do that. That's not

what I'm saying. I'm saying it's God's

God's people support God's work.

And I I just I'll tell you that man was

such a blessing to me. I was scared to

do that to him because I didn't want to

have to contradict him. He was so

excited about his idea. I read that

verse and he said, 'Well, if that's what

the Bible says, then that's what we got

to do. He just did a 180. I've never

forgot what that man did.

I I hope that I could be as sensitive to

God's word that man is or was. I'm sure

he's been in heaven for a long time

because that's 50ome years ago and he

was 60 then. So um this is the point and

this is the review and this is what God

wants people to see. We should be

sensitive to his word. If God says it,

that settles it.

If God says it, that settles it. Once we

have the mind of God, once we know what

the Bible says on any subject, it may

cross our dearest desires, our greatest

plans. Nope. that settles that God's

word takes priority over my plans or

anybody else's plans.

And so

that's the picture here. And the problem

was they obeyed their ancestor, but the

Jewish nation was disobeying God. And it

was chronic disobedience. It just wasn't

a slip here or slip there. Chronic

disobedience. Hundreds of years of

disobedience.

prophet after prophet. And God says in

verse 15, "And I've sent also to you all

my servants, the prophets, rising up

early, sending them, saying, "Return now

every man from his evil way, and men

your doings, and go not after other gods

to serve them, and you'll dwell in the

land. All you got to do is stop the

idolatry. I gave you the land.

Even after you've done it, just stop and

that'll be it.

and you'll dwell in the land which I've

given to you and to your fathers, but

you have not inclined your heart nor

hearken to me.

So, because the sons of Jonadab, the son

of Richab, have performed the

commandment of their father, which he

commanded them, but this people have not

hearkened to me. Therefore, thus says

the Lord God of hosts, the God of

Israel, behold, I will bring upon Judah

and upon all the inhabitants of

Jerusalem, all the evil, that means all

the calamity. That Hebrew word means uh

calamity. Uh doesn't mean God does bad

things. It means he's going to bring

calamity or bad things on people

that I've pronounced against them

because I've spoken to them and they've

not heard and I've called to them, but

they've not answered.

That's the contrast. Everybody get that?

I think it's a powerful contrast.

It's a humbling thing.

And Jeremiah said to the house of the

Recoites, "Thus says the Lord of Hosts,

the God of Israel, because you've obeyed

the commandment of Jonadab, your father,

and kept all his precepts and done

according to all that he's commanded

you. Therefore, thus says the Lord of

hosts, the God of Israel, God, the son

of Reab, shall not lack a man to stand

before me forever. I'm going to work in

that family. I'm going to bless them.

Somebody's going to get saved every

generation.

Amazing thing. And God appreciates

obedience,

submission.

The greatest thing we can do for our

children and grandchildren is to be

sensitive to God's word.

And doesn't mean all our kids are

necessarily get saved when we want them

to get saved. We we know that that's

that's probably asking more than than we

always get. But you you know it does

mean that God will God sees who sens it

and he he will help us with our children

and God's working in their lives sooner

or later.

Now to try to illustrate this and think

about what we're talking about, take a

ride in Amish country, right?

My wife had just assumed go to Amish

country as the beach.

I'd assume go to the mountains as the

beach. We kind of do both. We try to go

to the Smokies and then Myrtle Beach.

And sometimes we do that. Try to get

both. But normally we got to choose.

If you go to Amish country, what do you

see? You see people with horses and

buggies.

Why are they doing that? Cuz their

ancestors did it.

And they're just they're they're they're

they're doing it. And many of the Amish

are very uh legalistic. They think

they're Christians. Some of them are,

but I think a lot of them don't even

know the gospel. I I pastored up there.

A lot of them don't know the gospel. A

lot of the Menanites do. Some do, some

don't. I'm sure some of the Amish do.

But uh you know, they they have their

ways and uh they dress plainly. They use

hooks and eyes instead of buttons. They

got different things that they do.

And they refuse to take part in civil

affairs to vote or serve in the military

or have more than an eighth grade

education. And they do they have their

rural existence. And there's a lot of

beauty in it. There is a lot of beauty

in it. And I've taken many people up to

Amish country just to enjoy what goes on

there and ride on an Amish buggy and

visit an Amish farm and eat Amish food

and all that.

Now, uh,

what an interesting thing all of this

is.

And how did the Amish become the Amish?

A fellow by the name of Jacob Aman in

the 17th century, a Swiss fellow, a

Menanite bishop, he started all this

stuff and Amish life began and we've had

it ever since.

Well, here the Recoites are an Amish-ike

group, if we can just say it. 6th

century BC,

they rejected the modern ways of people

in the promised land of houses,

vineyards, and farms and and so forth.

They didn't own land. They lived in a

tent.

They didn't settle down. They just kept

on the move. And they did it because

idolatry is dangerous.

you get too comfortable and they did it

for 250 years at this point. Kind of

like that's what the Amish. It's almost

the same. The Pennsylvania Dutch came

from Egypt and and and of course ended

up in Ohio. We got more Amish than they

got there now. But uh and the ancestor

that's mentioned here that told him not

to drink wine, he actually rode in the

chariot with Joo, who killed off a bunch

of Baal worshippers. He was in his

chariot. That's how far back it goes. 2

Kings chapter 10:15 and 23. And Jonadab

was austere. He was well respected. And

he saw the handwriting on the wall for

the northern kingdom. And he he judged

that right.

And he saw the captivity that took

people into idolatry. And of course they

moved south and just kept moving on. But

then ultimately they're in Jerusalem for

for

uh the time that the Babylonians are

attacking.

So the Recabites are followers of him

and uh they're not anti-alcohol

anymore than they're anti-land.

They they're just doing it because he

told them to do it. So they're not tied

down. They're they're they're flexible

and they move about

and they were a separation group and but

actually it kind of worked

in one way but it's not that the Bible

approves of everything they were doing

but God is saying they were sensitive to

their ancestor and you're not sensitive

to my word.

And so that's the picture.

Now by the way Jeremiah drank himself

So, it's not an anti-alcohol thing. I

hope we understand that. And and some

churches are anti-alcohol, some aren't.

Uh I grew up in a Baptist church. We

always were anti-alcohol in that church.

Uh but that didn't stop people from

drinking. I know that. But anyway,

people would say it on Sunday and be

different sometimes. But uh having said

that and I'm thankful for some of those

warnings I got as a young man and even

though I don't see all of it the same

way. But uh we have alcoholism in my

family and I don't want any part of it

because I've seen what it does to people

not in my parents but in family before

that great greatgrandfather.

So anyway that's the picture. So we have

the prophet Jeremiah's offer. We have

their recobitees response and

uh they said we won't do it just because

a prophet asked us to do it. We're not

doing it. That was pressure.

So we see a prophet's offer. We see the

Recabites response and then we see God's

pronouncement.

This is what I'm trying to teach you

from this message. Don't mistake it.

John Calvin wrote this on this section.

His council is not commended but

obedience which his sons rendered to

him. So Jeremiah is not recommending

that everybody become a recite and do

what they do. He is pointing out their

obedience

versus the nation's

disobedience.

You obeyed a mortal man but you won't

you disobey.

They obeyed a mortal man, but you

disobey a living God.

So that's the picture. I hope we get it

because it's very very important. Um,

so Johnab didn't want them tied to

property because of the idolatrous uh

nature of the nation and so he made them

be not connected so much with everybody

around him.

Now the main lesson is what

they obeyed a mortal man, an imperfect

man

with a little bit stricter conditions

than you would expect.

God's people wouldn't obey him.

God was wanted allowed him to live in

the land. God allowed him to drink

alcohol was a different content and

percentages, but they did. It was real

wine. He he he allowed them to build

houses and build a family farm. It was a

good life. But they disobeyed.

And the point is God is not regarded by

his people the way Jonadab was regarded

by his children and grandchildren and

great grandchildren.

Let's turn to Isaiah. There's an even

greater

example than this. If you go to the

prophet Isaiah, hold your place in

Jeremiah. This one really gets me.

Jeremiah Isaiah starts off with this.

Isaiah chapter 1.

Isaiah 1 · chapter mention

I hope you love the book of Isaiah. I

do. And notice how it starts.

The vision of Isaiah the son of Amos

which he saw concerning Judah and

Jerusalem in the days of Uzziah Jotham

Ahaz Hezekiah king of Judah. Hear O

heavens. Isaiah 1:2.

Isaiah 1:2

And give ear for the Lord has spoken.

I've nourished and brought up children

and they've rebelled against me.

You think you got problems with your

kids? Listen to this. I've I've I've

raised and brought up ch I've nourished

and brought up children. They've

rebelled against me.

And then he says, "The ox knows his

owner and the ass his master's crib,

but Israel does not know. My people do

not consider.

Animals know who feeds them.

Animals know who feeds them. Animals

have respect and even affection for

those who feed them. The ox does. The

dumb ox. He knows. He's saying, "You

people are dumber than an ox." The ass

knows his owner. They know where their

food comes from. They know who's taking

care of them. But my people don't know.

You're dumber than donkeys. You're

dumber than than oxen. You You people

are really thickheaded. That's what he's

saying.

You don't know.

I want to tell you the animals in my

house know who feeds them.

They know.

And I'm sure it's the same thing in your

house. You feed an animal one time and

you're on a different level with them.

On a different level.

My my son moved has been living with us

for a while, but uh uh when he moved in

with his dog, that dog didn't want

anything to do with me. I confess I

bribed it with cheese.

I did it. And once I did that, I'm on a

different level. I can't call that real

love. I know that. I bribed him with

cheese. I understand what happened,

but you know, I'm allergic to dogs. I'm

allergic to cats, but we got a whole zoo

in our house.

But but the do the animals know who

feeds them. They know who takes care of

them. They know.

But my people don't know.

That's that's convicting to me.

How do we treat God?

How do we do are do are do are do are do

are do are do are do are do are do are do are we so thankful

are we thankful to our creator the way

animals are to us?

That's a

that's a shocking that's a shocking uh

exposure of the unnaturalenness

of sin.

And he says, "Ah, verse four, sinful

nation, a people laden with iniquity, a

seed of evildoers, children that are

corruptors. They've forsaken the Lord.

They provoked the Holy One of Israel to

anger. They've gone away backward." You

want to know where backslid is? There it

is. They've gone away backward. Why

should you be stricken anymore? You will

revolt more and more. The whole head is

sick, the whole heart faint. From the

soul of the foot, even to the head,

there's no soundness in us, but wombs,

bruises, putrifying sores. They've not

been closed, neither bound up, neither

mullified with ointment. Obviously, God

sees a big problem there.

It's very similar. You're not acting

like you. You're not acting normal.

Animals are better than you.

They know who feeds them. You don't

know.

And so, how many times has God blessed

you in a way, maybe a surprise?

You had a big bill coming and then you

all of a sudden there's some surprise

income that came from an a direction you

didn't even know about.

God is so good to us.

How many things has God got us through?

And the whole point is God is less

regarded by his people than Jonadab was

by his posterity.

And that's not a good thing.

So

God God notices it.

He notices it.

And Johnab knew that humility and

contentment and obscurity was often a

best policy in times of great apostasy

and idolatry.

Now, we can take man's tradition and

obey them more than the commandments of

men. Jesus taught on that. You're taking

the traditions of men and putting them

up above the commandments of God.

Matthew 15, Mark 7, those kind of

things.

Uh, the unsaved can be very jealous,

zealous for tradition. But the point is

not the animals or the unsaved and their

traditions. The point is this. They're

loyal to someone less than me. You're

not loyal to me. That's the picture.

Alexander McLaren, the Baptist pastor,

said, "The opinion of the the the the

click, the dogmas of a sect, the habits

of a set, the sayings of a favorite

author, the fashions of our class. These

rule men with a sway far more absolute

than is exercised in them by the known

will of God. We got to do it this way

because we've always done it this way.

We got to do it this way because the

pastor, three pastors back did it that

way. That locks people in. That could be

a bad thing. But loyalty is a good

thing. But we don't want to be more

loyal to the commandments of men than we

are to the commandments of God.

Ultimately, the Bible is our final

authority, right? Not Pastor Hixon, not

what we because we've always done it

this way. The abiding fact is God's

word.

And so, um, think about all the things

churches do. In my day, you weren't

allowed to eat fish on Friday.

Some of you are old enough to remember

that.

And as an unspiritual person in high

school, I would date Catholic girls and

take them to or take them to McDonald's

on Friday. That was before they sold

fish.

That's terrible, isn't it? They'd order

French fries.

So that was a cheap date for me.

But think about when you are when you

are um following man's tradition

even in it's not just the Catholics that

do that. Some Protestant churches, some

uh fundamental churches have their

traditions that you dare not break.

Don't cross the line on that.

And

they're not If they could just submit to

the word of God. Just submit to the word

of God. Just be sensitive to the word of

God. If God's word says it, no matter if

you've ever done it that if it cuts

against your most dear thing, God said

it. I believe it. That settles it. God

give us insight to read our Bible that

way.

And to submit to his word that way,

respect to the past itself, it can be

valuable, but the present can be harmed

by a misguided loyalty to the past.

Right? It's possible.

But we should learn by people who are

loyal to this tradition or that

tradition.

I want to be faithful to God's word.

I want to be submissive to God's word. I

want it to tell me how to live. I want

it to show me what to do.

And so very important.

I hope that this has been a challenge to

us. Everybody has their traditions,

don't they? I was reading about the

Hell's Angels. They they ride those

bikes. The Hell's Angel club average

12,000 miles a year. They're nomadic.

Did you know they have traditions, very

important traditions to them,

and they they expect you to uh follow

those traditions or they're not

interested in you. You get in trouble

right away. Well, how can how come a

bike club can be more loyal to tradition

than we can be to the word of God?

And very important for us to be

submissive to the word of God. Charles

Fineberg said on this, the contrast to

the obedience of the Recoites with the

disobedience of Judah, the episode is a

rebuke to the nation for their

unfaithfulness to God. They were a they

the Recoites were a separatist group

stemming from Jonadab in 840 BC

and uh

desiring to return to simplicity of

nomadic life. They banned all sedendary

occupations.

Don't stay in the land. Keep on the

move. Can't have gardens. Therefore, you

can't have grapes and therefore you

can't have wine. That's the picture.

Um, Philip Reichen, the Presbyterian

uh,

pastor and now I think I believe he's

president of the Wheaten College. He

said, "Like the Amish, they separated

themselves from the pleasures of popular

culture."

And the Recoit way of life had been out

of fashion in Israel since the day

Joshua crossed the Jordan River. In

other words, they were supposed to

settle down biblically.

But they chose this because of the

idolatry.

And he said Christians are to be

different. They keep their promises to

their own detriment. Christians are to

be different. We keep our word and we

keep the promises. And he he he he uh

illustrated this by Booker T. Washington

who recounted uh a wonderful uh uh in

incident about a promisekeeper. He was

an ex-slave in Virginia. This man was an

ex-slave and he made a contract with his

master two or three years before the

Emancipation Proclamation to the effect

that that's the slaves would be uh

permitted to buy themsel out. And you

know, he kept the contract. He didn't

have to. He didn't have to. He just kept

working. He he agreed for so much and he

went down to Virginia, paid off what he

owed the guy and and left.

And uh and Reiken said Washington's

friend sounds like a long lost

descendant of Rayab or maybe he was just

a Christian.

Um may God help us to keep our

agreements as much as we can. And I know

that life's hard. Sometimes you get in

situations where it becomes almost

impossible to do that. But we should be

people of our word. We should be people

that do what we say we're going to do as

much even if it's at cost to oursel. Uh

and of course we know there's a tyranny

of tradition and we don't want to be

under that. And uh uh G. Campbell Morgan

said uh he says there's some

illustrations of how men are under the

tra tyranny of tradition, the power of

precedent and the grip of a dead hand.

We've always done it that way. Tyranny

of tradition or the power of precedent.

We've already set a precedent. We're not

going to break it. Or the grip of a dead

hand. Somebody that was dead told us to

do this and we're not changing.

Sometimes that's the right thing to do.

Sometimes that's the wrong thing to do.

And uh God help us to know the

difference.

I hope that that's helpful. Uh and uh I

want you to notice in this chapter the

word land is used in verse 9, verse 11,

and verse 15. You watch that word land.

It's all about that in uh and uh that's

part of what's going on in this whole

section. Well, we're going to continue

to work on Jeremiah. We are also and

probably this Wednesday we're going to

not be in Jeremiah I think and we're

going to we've been doing the premill a

mill thing and we're working on that and

uh uh I've already give you some

information about the premillennial

position

on the millennium and uh we're probably

going to go to the a mill position and

talk about that. Okay. To educate

ourselves.

Uh not doing the post mill. It's not

that relevant to church history. But the

aail position is a big one. We're going

to look how that started. We've already

looked at that. That the earliest church

fathers were premill. No question.

Nobody even denies that. Even the Als

don't deny that.

And by the church fathers, I mean the

people who lived after the apostles.

We've already dealt with that in the

previous class, but what I want to do is

talk about the amaloism and how it

started and we'll learn a little bit

more about origin

Bible teacher at that time and we'll

learn a little bit about Augustine.

Those were wonderfully powerfully very

very diligent scholars very powerful men

but actually omalism started by them and

they weren't inspired men they were just

intelligent men and uh and so it began

there and we need we need to know some

of these things it's very helpful church

history can be helpful to us to

understand stuff and you can't

understand church history if you don't

understand on the limb ism because that

started an awful lot of things.

The state church idea in Europe

and all the wars in Europe, the

religious wars and a whole bunch of

other stuff

and merging uh the church and the

kingdom uh might have been consistent

for some things, but it was disastrous

for others. And we're going to look at

that. And remember, there's very many

very good allmale Christians. Some of

them are sitting here right now. I know.

So, so I'm not out to I'm not out to rip

somebody. I'm simply out to explain the

word as we see it. And it's helpful when

we are doing this. And this is the place

to do it because the new covenant is

mentioned right in these chapters. These

are the chapters. Chapters 30, 31, 32,

33, 34. This is all new covenant stuff.

And 35 was part of that. And actually 36

next week whenever we get to back to

Jeremiah

was a king who dared to burn the Bible.

He cut it up

and then he burned it.

The original book of Jeremiah was cut up

and burned by a theocratic king.

And we'll look at that in chapter 36.

and you'll see what happened to that

guy.

And it's very interesting how God dealt

with that

that situation. And that guy was a

descendant of King David. He went way

back. He certainly wasn't acting like he

and God's judgment came down on him very

hard. So, we're going to look at that

one after we look at that. That will

either be Wednesday or it'll be next

Sunday night. One of those two we'll be

working on. Father, we thank you for

what we have been hearing tonight. Help

us to be sensitive

to your most holy word.

May we amend our lives to revelation.

May we may we we have the motalistic

way, but in a a way of loving submission

and recognition of your authority over

us as a church and as an individual.

Whether you're dealing with us about our

personal life or our family life or our

church life or what we're supposed to be

doing or what we're not supposed to be

doing,

the entrance of your word brings life

and light.

And so, Father, may the light of your

word be always over us and may it we

always be following it even when it cost

us in Jesus name. Amen. Amen. You'll

stand and turn to page 120.

120

loving you more,

trusting you more.

May the power of your love and the light

of your word shine

to a sin darkened world.

As we go from this place,