Amen. You can set your hymnals aside. Before I preach this morning, I'm going to sing a song that's written by a man in the States named Ron Hamilton. Ron Hamilton has that ministry we've talked about with you before, Patch the Pirate. It's a children's ministry. And God's really used him in writing music and hymns. A lot of our songs in this book, because it's published by them, are ones that he's written. But he wrote this when his dad passed away, I believe. And it's entitled, I Saw Jesus in You. It's a good one to think about Mother's Day as we celebrate the moms that God's given to us. We talked about Sunday school. Paul asked about Titus. Did Titus walk where I walked? Did he walk in my steps? And we talked about walking in the steps of Jesus and how we need to walk where those that follow us see Christ. And so I saw Jesus in you. When I enter heaven's glory and I see my Savior's face, I will offer Him ten thousand years of praise. Then I'll find that special one In whose life I saw God's Son, and through tears of joy with trembling lips these words I'll say, I saw Jesus in you I saw Jesus in you I could hear his voice in the words you said I saw Jesus in you in your eyes I saw his care I could see his love was there you were faithful and I saw Jesus in you When I stand before my Father to receive my life's reward, and my soul is bathed in God's eternal day, When this race on earth is run, And God sees the works I've done, More than anything, I long to hear my Father say, I saw Jesus in you. I saw Jesus in you. I could hear his voice in the words you said. I saw Jesus in you. In your eyes I saw his care I Could see his love was there You were faithful and I saw Jesus in you And if you love the Lord, I think you'd say, by God's grace, that's what I want, help Jesus to be seen in me. All right, we'll dismiss the little ones to go to crash with Mrs. Shore. You can go ahead and be dismissed. The rest of us, please open up our Bibles to Jeremiah 35. Was that band equipment coming in the door? All right. We might be OK, but if we start to hear music from the other hall or something, feel free to get up and help me by shutting those doors. But glad you're here today. It's good to have Alex with us today and glad. He's able to visit with us. He's at Faith Mission and came across from Northern Ireland to study there. I guess I look forward to talking with him a bit more. He's a student there and training for the ministry. Is that right? So praise God. It's great to see a young person that has a heart for the Lord, isn't it? It's really an encouragement to us today to have you with us. All right, Jeremiah chapter 35. You know, mothers are great. at accepting gifts this morning. We gave some things to my wife, you know, and I enjoyed doing that this morning. But I remember my mom was just great at receiving gifts. One time I went to a garage sale, we call them in the States, but it's kind of like a car boot sale in your garage and I bought a very nice glass. It was beautiful. It had this long stem on it. It went up to this nice part up here and it was gorgeous. I'd never seen anything like that in our house before. I thought mom would like that. And so I paid, I think, a dime for it or something. I brought it home. And I remember my mom just being very thankful for it and not saying, you know what? She didn't say, I think that's for drinking alcohol. She didn't say, well, where's the set or anything like that. She just had a good mom. She just took it and appreciated it. I remember also playing with some buttons and some glue. some thread and just I was kind of playing with it. All of a sudden I had this little man, you know, and just a little couple of dots for eyes. And it was this little kind of look like a little man. I don't think I really tried to make it, but I mean, it just kind of ended up being made. And I remember giving that to my mom. Hey, mom, here, you know, and that was I think mom still has it. I remember it being on a Christmas tree for several years. So moms are good. at taking a gift from their kids. And I know today mom's got some things much nicer than those things and can honestly appreciate them. But moms are good at taking those things and appreciating them. And I want to challenge us this morning. What I'm going to preach is not specifically a Mother's Day message. I say it's a Mother's Day introduction. But you know the best thing that you could give your mom today as a child Is the gift of obedience and that's what we're gonna look at in the Word of God. There's one thing that a godly mother would desire More than anything from their child is that is that my child would learn obedience and give the gift of obedience God who's the perfect authority says he'd rather be given our obedience than a great sacrificial offering offering 1 Samuel 15 verse 22, Samuel said to King Saul, as King Saul had tried to do his sacrifice, he wasn't a priest, he wasn't supposed to do that. Samuel was taking a long time coming to him and he's anxious to obey God and so he said he forced himself to sacrifice. And Samuel said, Hath the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams. If you want to give God something today that really delights the heart of God, God doesn't want necessarily a great sacrifice. God doesn't want necessarily a great offering where we can say, God, I gave this to you. What God wants is just obedience. First, just our willingness to say, God, I am striving to obey you and to please you in what I do. And so God accepts obedience as a great gift. I'm sure mothers would as well. Proverbs written by the wisest man, Solomon, Proverbs 10 verse 1 says, A wise son maketh a glad father, but a foolish son is the heaviness of his mother. I mean, how many moms have stayed awake at night, and moms can do this sometimes, they'll get something in their mind and they just can't sleep as they think about it. How many moms are losing sleep as they just think about a child that, especially a Christian mom, a child that's away from the Lord. We talked about it a bit in Sunday School, a child that has rebelled, a child that has gone away, how that breaks the heart of a godly mother. Proverbs 17, verse 25 says, A foolish son is a grief to his father, in bitterness to her that bare him. I can't imagine the mother of the man that took the lives of those people down in London this past week and the grief that causes to a family that looks at what they saw as that little child, that little innocent child, and thought, how could that child grow up to do this? And it ought to be a wake-up call to us as children of our parents, God helping me. I'm going to live a life that will never shame my family, never hurt my family. God, a life of obedience. And so our topic. This morning is obedience, our text again is Jeremiah chapter 35. But what we have is, and we didn't read the entire chapter, and it's a very interesting chapter, and I've read this in my Bible reading the last couple years, and I think every time I get to it, I go, I've not seen this story before. I don't remember this story, and why wasn't I taught this in Sunday school? It's interesting to me because it's kind of a story you think, and I understand with wine and things, maybe that's why it's not there in Sunday school, but it's a great illustration because it's a God-given illustration. God, we'll see in this story, takes the Rechabites, puts them in front of Israel, and says to Israel, Israel, look at the Rechabites. Look how they obey their dad. Look how they kept his word. Why don't you do the same for me? And so God uses them as an illustration of obedience. Our topic this morning is obedience. Again, the text is Jeremiah chapter 35. And before we really get into it this morning, let's pray and ask God to bless his word to our hearts. Father, I pray that the spirit of God to give us grace as we come to this passage. Father, I pray that you challenge us in our obedience. And Father, I pray that you'd help us to see different facets of obedience, different things that will impact how we obey, why we obey, when we obey. And Father, it would be very helpful to us this morning to be in a place of obedience to God. Father, that's the main thing. There's somebody or some today that would be disobedient to you with regard to the gospel. Father, you command all men everywhere to repent. Father, pray that Spirit of God work in their hearts about obeying the gospel. Father, some might be sanctification and getting sin out of their life and dealing with sin. Father, give us grace to obey you. Father, some that need to obey the Lord in believer's baptism. And Father, we pray that the Spirit of God give them grace to obey. But Father, I pray that the Spirit of God guide me as I preach. Lord, I'm not worthy to proclaim your Word. I praise you for the privilege. I thank you for the Lord Jesus Christ. I thank you for the Holy Spirit. And Father, we are the group that you desire to hear the Word of God this morning in this place. We thank you for each one that's here. And Father, I pray that you'd meet needs this morning, that you would speak to us. And God, that we listen. It's in Christ's name we pray. Amen. All right, so we're going to just start at the beginning of the passage. We're going to try to work our way straight down through it this morning. But God's going to take the Rechabites. He's going to put them center stage and say to Israel, Israel, this is my example of obedience. And so how does he do that? First of all, he calls the leaders of the Rechabites to meet with Jeremiah. And so beginning at verse 1 again, we've already read it this morning, but let's begin reading there again. It says, The word which came unto Jeremiah from the Lord in the days of Jehoiakim, the son of Josiah, king of Judah, saying, Go into the house of the Rechabites and speak unto them, and bring them into the house of the Lord, into one of the chambers, and give them wine to drink. Then I took Jezaniah, the son of Jeremiah, the son of Habazaniah, and his brethren, and all the sons of the whole house of the Rechabites." As you read about the Rechabites and study a bit who they were, they were a nomadic people. They were called also in the Bible, Kenites. They were descendants of Jethro, Moses' father-in-law, that was with them as they came out in the Exodus. And so they were later absorbed into the tribe of Judah. And they said today, I mean, you can't tell the difference to know who's of which tribe even, but they were absorbed into. So they're God-fearing people. And this man, Jonadab, that it speaks of, is also called Jehonadab, and he was a God-fearing man. You remember the story of Jehu, when Jehu had all the Baal worshippers come into the building and he said to them in 2 Kings 10.23, Jehu went And it says, Jehonadab, the son of Rekeb, into the house of Baal, and said unto the worshipers of Baal, Search and look, that there be here with you none of the servants of the Lord, but the worshipers of Baal only. And he said that because it was a trap. He was bringing them onto that place to kill them, just like the prophet Elijah on Mount Carmel. He had that big duel that took place as he called down fire from heaven. And afterwards, as they took care of the idolatry that had come into that land, they'd slew the prophets of Baal. So here, Jehonadab, this man of God, back then, this great-great-grandfather of these people had participated, with Jehu and getting idolatry out of the land. So he's a great man of God. He was a respected, also as God does this, a respected witness observed what took place. Verse 4 says, and I brought them into the house of the Lord, into the chamber of of the sons of Hanan, the son of Igdalia, a man of God, which was by the chamber of the princes that describes where it's at. But the man that was there, that Jeremiah's there, the Rehoboites are there, and a man of God's there, a man of God that's respected. And he's going to give verification to what takes place. As Jeremiah, with these Rehobites, and as he sets this test before them, the man of God is going to be there to give a witness and say, this is what took place. Jeremiah, at God's command, then puts the test before the sons of Rehob, as he says in verse five. And it's set before the sons of the house of the Rehobites, pots full of wine and cups. And I said, notice he doesn't say God said, I said unto them, drink ye wine. It's an interesting test, isn't it? I mean, here it is, Jeremiah, man of God, calls him in and says, drink ye wine. There's a big decision that's going to take place, but thankfully, by God's grace, they're going to be obedient and a great example of obedience. And so this morning, what I want us to look at is how God wants us to obey. How God wants us to obey and ask the question, am I an obedient child of God? We look at these principles about obedience that these men had in their life. Am I in a place where I'm going to obey God? And so principles about obedience, if you have a pen, you could jot down some notes this morning as we go along. But the first one is obey by deciding. Obey by deciding. It says in verse six, as they answered that, they said what they said, we will drink no wine. They didn't have to even think about it. They agreed together. Jeremiah sits in front of them, and they said, no, we'll drink no wine. Contemporary of theirs is a man by the name of Daniel. You know, Daniel had a similar test that was given to him as he was taken captive into the land of Babylon, and he's there, he's in a foreign land. He's a young man, but he has burden in his heart that I'm gonna obey God, I'm gonna please God, and there's set before him the drink and the food of the king that had been offered to idols, and he rejects that, and the Bible says in Daniel 1.8, but Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with a portion of the king's meat. nor with the wine which he drank. Therefore he requested of the prince of the eunuchs that he might not defile himself. Daniel is a young man. The Rechabites, we're talking about them as sons, but I mean, these are men. Daniel's a teenager. I don't know exactly, as far as contemporaries, exactly where he was at in this. Because later on, Daniel learns by reading the book of Jeremiah that the 70 years is determined. He begins to pray for the deliverance of Israel from Babylon after 70 years. So if he had, at that point in his life, access to Jeremiah, he might have known this story of the Rechabites and what they had done. And as a young man, he said, no, I'm not going to have anything to do with that. You know, that'd be a good decision, young person to make. And we're not here this morning to talk about what wine was in the Bible, what it is today. But that would be a great decision to have in your heart. I will drink no wine. I will drink no wine. But the Rechabites didn't need to discuss what they were going to do. As a test was put before him, you don't see the men talking to one another and naming each other and saying, what should we do? There's a decision that has already been made, that they don't need to even consider what they're going to do. It's good for us. And one of the things that will really protect us from temptation is by knowing ahead of time what we're going to do, having that in our hearts. It's not a temptation. If the decision has already been made and the answer is no, it's not going to happen. When I was a child growing up, we had a commercial that I remember on the telly would come on. Fire safety was big when I was a kid. And it was a situation where somebody catches on fire. And it was to drop and to roll to get the flames out. It's good to know ahead of time. Nobody expects someday to be in a house fire or something, a catch on fire, or be doing something and have a fire. But when the fire takes place, it's good to know ahead of time what you're going to do, that you're going to lay on the ground, you're going to roll. It's good for us as, again, we think about what's going to take place in life that we would have decisions made ahead of time that says to God, God, I'm not going to do that. God, I'm not going to smoke a cigarette. God, I'm not going to drink alcohol. God, I'm not going to look at pornography. God, I'm not going to swear. I'm not going to curse. I'm not going to go with these friends that do those kind of things. God, I know ahead of time by God's grace what I'm going to do. And the Recordbites had that. They didn't need to discuss it. but it was a real test of their obedience. They could have reasoned among themselves, and as we study the passage more this morning, you're gonna find that part of what they, and we read it this morning, part of what they had been commanded not to do was to dwell in houses. They're just to dwell in tents. And we'll talk about their coming into Jerusalem. but they're already in Jerusalem. And so it's possible they're living in houses and there's a reason for that, but they could have said, you know, we've already changed this about our culture and our society. And so let's change this as well about what had been commanded us. They could have said that. They could have said, well, you know, when in Rome, do as the Romans. They're in Jerusalem again. They could have said, you know, Jeremiah's asking us. Jeremiah's a man of God. They could have reasoned and said, you know, surely it's not wrong to listen to a man of God that's saying, hey, drink this. They could have reasoned that 250 years is a long time, and we haven't talked about this this morning, but Jonadab was way back in their family lineage. We say father to refer to our father. We don't say father to refer to grandfather, great-grandfather, great-grandfather. But when they spoke about Father, they're going way back and saying, our father, Jonadab. And what the Bible says, God said, they've kept their father's word. They're going way back. And they could have said, we've kept it all these years. But you know, they obeyed God. There's other contemporaries of them as well, and at this time, praise God, there were men of conviction. There was another group, three Hebrew children that we know as Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. In Daniel chapter 3, verses 16 through 18, it says, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, they're at that idol that the king has made, and the king has said, when you hear that music, you have to fall down and worship that idol. And if you don't, I've got a fiery furnace over here, and whosoever doesn't worship the image, they're going to be cast alive into that fiery furnace. And Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answered and said to the king, O Nebuchadnezzar, we're not careful or anxious to answer thee in this matter. If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning, fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of thy hand, O king. But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up." And as we talk about obey by deciding, it's a conviction, isn't it? It's a conviction. No, I mean, that's something that I won't do. And not only will I not do it, but I won't do it no matter what enticement, no matter what punishment, no matter what takes place. I have a conviction. I stand by that conviction and I'll die by that conviction. And I like what the three Hebrew children said. They said, but if not. Are God's able to deliver us? King, we're gonna defy you. We're not careful to answer you in this matter. We're not anxious about it. Our God is able to deliver us, but if not? Even if God doesn't deliver us? Do you have that kind of Christianity that says to God, but if not? I mean, there's things that we want to see. We want to see souls saved. We want to see lives changed. We want to see people respond to the gospel. But do we have the kind of conviction that says, like yesterday, we put out flyers that if nobody gets saved, but if not, we're going to be faithful. I was thinking about it last night. I mean, we desire, there's things that we're burdened about. We want to serve God. We want to see God do things. But do we have a but if not conviction? that says, I am resolved that I will stand here for the Lord. Obey by deciding. That's the first thing this morning. Do you have those decisions already in place so that you're ready to go? You'll not obey if you have not decided. And then obey by knowing. Obey by knowing. They knew the law of their father. It says in verse six, they said, no, we're not going to drink. For Jonadab, the son of Rechab, our father, commanded us saying, you shall drink no wine, neither he nor your sons forever. Neither shall you build houses, nor sow seed, nor plant vineyard, nor have any, but all your days you should dwell in tents that you may live many days in the land where you be strangers. And so they said, no drinking wine, no settled lifestyle. You know, it's like the Bible speaks about, when it speaks about as pilgrims, searching for a land, it's that they're living as if, in a sense, like the Nazarite vow that separated life, that lifestyle that was nomadic, and they didn't have vineyards because they're not going to grow grapes to produce wine. They're not going to be settled in their life. They knew as they thought about that the source of the law. It says in again in verse 6, our father commanded us. He's a God-fearing patriarch of the past that lived for God, loved God. And they look back at him and said, no, that's our father's law. He said, drink no wine. And so as it came to a test, they obeyed by knowing, first of all, that this is a law from our father. And it's his law that we're going to keep and obey. This past week we had two men into our home, a gas technician, an electrician, they were checking the gas and the electric. One man gave me the opportunity that I don't get very often, that's rather than me going up to somebody and saying, you know, a conversation about the Lord, he asked me, I said, I'm the Baptist minister in Lone Head. He started asking me about Revelation and some other things. I said, you know, we're studying that book on Thursday nights in our Bible study. And one thing I said to him as we talked about Revelation, I said, you can see it happening right now. And as we talked about that, I said, you know, one of the great things about that is that just emphasizes that this is a divine book. And I got one guy that's kind of interested and one guy that's really not interested, but he's listening. And I said, I said to him, I said, because it's a divine book, we don't choose and say, well, this is, this is true. This is not true because it's God's book. And that's important. Our society today, they don't obey by knowing because they've rejected that this is God's word. And they're not going to obey it. because they absolutely do not believe that God said it. What helps us as a believer, as we seek to mold our life to a life of obedience for God, is first of all, to know that this book is divine. A lot of obedience, I would say, in our society is probably due down to that fact, this unbelief that this book is a divine book. If people really understood today and ask yourself this, And understand, man's heart is hard, and they reject God. It's unbelief. It's sin on their part for rejecting this. But if they knew that this book was the Word of God as we know it as believers, in the sense of standing before a holy, awesome God about to be cast into a lake of fire based on this book, if they knew that in their heart, that's where obedience comes from, isn't it? I mean, isn't that the problem this morning? That they look at this book and they go, it's just a book. No, it's from God. See, what helped the Rechabites, they looked at the law and they said, wait a second, that is the law of our father. And they were going to obey their father. We got to look at this book today and say, you know, that's the law of God. So I don't change it. I don't try to get it to say what I want it to say, because God said it. It's God's Word. 2 Timothy 3.16, all Scripture is given by inspiration of God. It's God-breathed. It's profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness. What's really going to help us in our life is to say, that is God's Word. And the second thing, they knew the source of the law, but they also knew the law. They said, saying, ye shall. And they listed it, we already read it. But nobody would ever convince them. Even if Jeremiah said to them right now, he said, look, Rehoboites, that's not what your dad said. It's not what your father said. Your father said to drink wine. You know what? Those Rehoboites, every single one would have said, not so, because we know that our father said. Neither your sons, nor your sons' sons. These sons are passing it on. Next generation, next generation, next generation. That's what our father said. They know what the law is, and it's not to drink wine. You'll see from the very beginning, seeks to attack what God said. He doesn't just attack the fact that it's from God, he attacks what God said. Remember in the Garden of Eden, as he was tempting Eve, Genesis 3 verse 1 says, And in Sunday school last week, we just to kind of a simple, what does the Bible teach lesson that we had, and we're talking about this story. Satan says, hasn't God said that you can eat of every tree of the garden? It's partly true and it's partly false. God said you could eat of every tree of the garden, except for the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The day that you eat of that tree, thou shalt surely die. But Satan was trying to change it, wasn't he? As he said, hath God said. You know, Satan is going to come up to you and you'll be, you know, somebody say, hey, have a drink. Just a little alcohol, what's the problem? Didn't Paul say, take a little wine for thy stomach's sake? You could say something like that. Well, what does the Bible say about alcohol? Proverbs 20 verse one. One, wine is a mocker. Strong drink is raging. And whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise. I live across from a pub. I see the problems of alcohol visually. Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging, whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise. A lot of Christians say, ah, come on, I can social drink. Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging, whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise. Proverbs 23, verse 29. Who hath woe, who hath sorrow, who hath contentions, who hath babbling, who hath wounds without cause, who hath redness of eyes? They that tarry long at the wine, they that go to seek mixed wine, look not thou upon the wine when it is red, when it giveth his color in the cup, when it moveth itself aright, at the last it biteth like a serpent. and stingeth like an adder. Thine eyes shall behold strange women, sexual sin. Thine heart shall utter perverse things. Yea, thou shalt be as he that lieth down in the midst of the sea, or as he that lieth upon the top of the mast. They have stricken me, shalt thou say, and I was not sick. They have beaten me, and I felt it not. When shall I wake? I will seek it yet again." Yesterday, we're down in Princess Street, and an Irishman, who was talking to me this far away, and if I couldn't tell by his actions that he was intoxicated, I could tell by his breath. He'd been drinking. He's already drunk. And I said to him, I said, think about this when you're sober, because he said, I'm going to go to heaven because I'm a good person. I said, have you ever lied all the time? I said, well, let me tell you a verse. The Bible says, all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death. All liars shall have their part in that lake. And you're on the wrong way. And I said, when you're sober, think about that. And you see, I mean, it's grievous that Christians would even try to defend alcohol when so many lives have been destroyed by it. And so what's gonna protect me? What's gonna help me to obey? Obey by knowing, knowing what the word of God says. And we could this morning go into many other scriptures, scriptures about friends. Proverbs 13 verse 20, he that walketh with wise men shall be wise, but a companion of fools shall be destroyed. As I seek to obey, God give me good friends. What does the Bible say about dating? What does the Bible say about God's will? What does the Bible say about sanctification? What does the Bible say? Obey by knowing. So obey by knowledge and by decision. But then obey by habit. Obey by habit. It says in verse 8, Thus have we obeyed the voice of Jonadab, the son of Rechab, our father, in all that he hath charged us, to drink no wine all our days, we, our wives, our sons, nor our daughters, nor to build houses for us to dwell in, neither have we vineyard, nor field, nor seed. But we have dwelt in tents and have obeyed and done according to all that Jonadab, our father, commanded us. How long has this been taking place? 250 years. You could say they were obeying by habit. They were obeying by habit. You know, habits are interesting things. They're things that you do without thinking about them. If I asked somebody that's been married very long, tell me the habit of your spouse. I mean, it's probably something that we all do that we don't think about. I had a girl in my youth group. She liked to twirl her hair. I don't know if you've ever seen somebody that habitually twirls their hair. But she twirled her hair to the point where she had an inch wide bald spot on her head from twirling her hair. She had to get steroid injections into her head to try to get her hair to grow back. Habits, some habits are bad. But you know there is such a thing as a good habit. There are things that we can help ourselves in obedience by being habitually doing things, habitually obeying. I mean, you could think about it like this. Manners, you could say, are habits, aren't they? Holding the door for people, being kind, being gracious. I mean, those are good habits that we do habitually. Let me ask you this morning, what are your good habits of obedience to God? Do you habitually open this book every day and spend time in it seeking God? Do you habitually bow your head in prayer and spend quality time with the Lord? Are you habitually in church when the doors are open, getting there, seeking God's face? I mean, soul winning that we did yesterday. Are you habitually seeking those opportunities to give the gospel to somebody, to speak to them about the Lord? We're talking about obedience. How can I better obey God? One of the ways that will help us is to be habitually obedient so that it's a practice in our life. I don't know how many times the Rehoboites have been offered wine, but every single time they'd say, no, no, no. It was a habit. And so when the test came, it was just easy to say, no, that's not what I do. So obey by habit. Then obey by wisdom. Obey by wisdom. And in verse 11, it says, but it came to pass when Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, came up into the land, that we said, come, let us go to Jerusalem for fear of the army of the Chaldeans and for fear of the army of the Syrians. So we dwell at Jerusalem. And they offer that by way of explanation to Jeremiah. They've said to Jeremiah, no, we're not gonna do that because our father commanded us. And he said, dwell in tents, don't have vineyards, do these things. And Jeremiah could have said, well, what are you doing in Jerusalem? And so they explain, they say, we're in Jerusalem because of the time that we're in, the danger that's outside these city walls for the safety of our families, we've come into this place. And so they're obeying by wisdom. And I hope I can explain this as I prayed about this message, thought about this message. This is one area I hope I can explain in the way that I desire to. And that is this. I cannot stand up this morning and say, take this book and obey everything in it without fail. And let me add this, without God. See, obey by wisdom. There's some people that don't obey by wisdom. They pick up this book and they say, okay, I'm gonna do it. I'm gonna make myself go to church. I'm gonna do these things. I'm gonna do these things. I'm gonna do these things. And I'm gonna get to heaven. How? By my goodness. And it doesn't work. See, just obeying for obedience sake, not with grace, not with the Lord's help, not with the right spirit, not with all the other things. It's not obedience, is it? And so you look at what the Word of God is teaching, even in this, it's just that there's a bit of wisdom that goes with it. The Lord, on the Sabbath day, He's walking through the field and His disciples pluck the ears of corn and they begin to eat. Man wasn't made for the Sabbath, but the Sabbath for the man. He heals on the Sabbath day and restores life because anybody would know if your ox is in a ditch on the Sabbath day that you get your ox out of the ditch. So it's obedience with wisdom. That's a very, I think, vital principle as we talk about obedience this morning, that there's a wisdom that we must have as we come to applying principles of obedience. So obey by wisdom, by habit, by knowledge, by decision, and then obey by listening. As God, we're gonna continue with the story now. We've read this first part of the story now twice, but now as they get done talking about why we're not gonna do it, this is how God applies it. It says in verse 12, then came the word of the Lord unto Jeremiah saying, thus saith 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 word, saith the Lord? The words of Jonadab, the son of Rechab, that he commanded his sons not to drink wine are performed. For unto this day they drink none, but obey their father's commandment. Notwithstanding, I have spoken unto you, rising early and speaking, but ye hearken not unto me. I have sent also unto you all my servants and prophets, rising up early and sending them, saying, return ye now every man from his evil way and amend your doings and go not after other gods to serve them. And ye shall dwell in the land which I have given to you and to your fathers. But ye have not inclined your ear nor hearkened unto me. So as God comes now to Israel and says, Israel, look at this example of how they have obeyed their father, what he says to them, he says, why didn't you listen? Why don't you listen? Why aren't you hearkening? I am saying, I am sending. My prophets are getting up early. I mean, I'm not delaying, I'm getting the message to you. But what? But you're not listening. this morning. I mean, you're at church. Praise God. Are you listening? I mean, you open your Bible and you read it, but are you listening? How can I, how can I better obey God? Listen, listen, God, God is a great God. And as we come to God and say, you know, Lord, will you please lead me? Will you please guide me? Will you please give me wisdom? God's, God's not going to hold that back from somebody that desires it. But when we ask, we gotta listen to hear what God's gonna say. Are you listening? Are you listening? We're gonna talk about that a bit more tonight as we talk about the voice of God. Are you listening to God? And then obey by doing. Obey by listening, by wisdom, by habit, by knowledge, by decision, and obey by doing. Obey by doing. Verse 16, it says, because the sons of Jonadab, the son of Rekeb, have performed the commandment of their father, which he commanded them, but this people hath not hearkened unto me." As they obeyed, they didn't do obedience by saying, I know. Remember we talked about obey by knowledge, but knowledge though it is necessary for obedience, it is vain without it. You have to have knowledge to obey, but if you just have knowledge and you don't do it, it's vain. When I was in, it uses the word performed. When I was in college at Bob Jones, I got to be in a play called Merchant of Venice, and I just saw that they're doing the play again. But Merchant of Venice, it's a Shakespearean play, and my costume is the only time in my life where I've worn tights, had makeup, and a wig. Thank God, right? That's not a normal part of my life. But if you saw me, You'd look at me and say, Pastor Ben, you've been performing. You'd get done laughing and then you'd say, you've been performing. How do you know? Because of my dress? Because of my actions, if you saw the play? Let me ask you this, are you performing obedience to God? See, the word of God says, look unto me and be saved all the ends of the earth. God commands men to be saved. Have you obeyed? Have you performed it? Have you humbled your heart before God and said, God, I'm sorry, my sin stinks in your sight. Please forgive me. I want to accept Jesus Christ as my savior. Those of us that are saved, at some point we performed that act of obedience to God and accepting Jesus Christ as our savior. God says to be baptized, to be biblically baptized. Have you performed it? God commands me, go into all the world, preach the gospel to every creature. After they get saved and accept Jesus Christ as their Savior, what am I to do according to the word of God? I'm to baptize them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Have you been baptized? What about holiness? Are you sanctified? God commands, he says, be holy for I'm holy. See, the Lord Jesus Christ is clean. He's perfectly clean. God commands us to be like him in holiness. And it's not that we do that without failure. The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord. He delighteth in his way. Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down. For the Lord upholdeth him with his hand. Failures come. But sanctification is a constant process of the grace of God, where we go to God, confess our sin, forsake our sin, God cleanses us, but the reality is, it's not enough to know I should be holy, it's only enough to be holy. How are you performing the commands of God? You gotta obey by doing. And then the last one this morning. Obey by responding. Obey by doing, by listening, by wisdom, by habit, by knowledge, by decision, but obey also by responding. Verse 17, therefore, thus saith 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 I've pronounced against them, because I have spoken unto them, but they have not heard. I have called unto them, but this last phrase, but they have not answered. Obey by responding. Obey when God reaches out. Obey by responding. Last night, I was out of the house and I'd given the keys to my children. And as I'm walking back, I thought, oh, yeah, that's right. The doorbell that's wireless had fallen off, and they'd taken it inside the house. And we've got a double door, and our house is kind of long. And you don't always hear somebody knocking at the front door. And I thought, well, thankfully, I've got my phone in my pocket so I can call, so I don't have to go to the neighbors and say, can I climb over the fence and go pound on the back door to get into my house? So I call, and my wife answered. And she opened the door. You know, God is doing that all the time in our lives as he's speaking to us and he's knocking at the door and saying, you know what? There's something that I want you to do. I had a young person from a college in the States, every now and then we get emails saying, can I just ask you some questions about ministering in Scotland? And so we dialogue with those people. But I said, I said to that young man, I said, in my email, I said, there's five times that I can think of where God really called me. And specifically, when I got saved, as a little boy, God spoke to my heart. I went down, talked to my dad. I said, Dad, I need to accept Jesus Christ as my Savior. When I was in high school, and God burned in my heart about surrendering my life. I was at camp. There was a preacher preaching. And afterwards, I went out and I wept. And I told God, God, whatever you want me to do with my life, I'll do. When I was in college, I was at camp, I was a camp counselor, and God called me to preach. When I was in grad school, God called me to church planning. When I was married and praying about where He wanted me to start a church, God called me to Scotland. Those are times where God, in my life, I look back and say, God was asking, God was knocking, and I responded. And I said last Sunday, I praise God for where I'm at in life. I have no doubt, I'm doing exactly what God wants me to do with my life. No regrets. But we gotta respond. Today, as God's speaking to your heart, I hope he's speaking to your heart this morning, we're talking about obedience. Are you gonna respond? Are you going to let God have his way in your life this morning? Verse 18 and 19 says, And Jeremiah said unto the house of the Rechabites, Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, Because ye have obeyed the commandment of Jonadab your father, and kept all his precepts, and done according to all that he hath commanded you, Therefore, thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, Jonadab, the son of Rechab, shall not want a man to stand before me forever. There's some that believe that they were brought into the priesthood. Whatever it means, it means they were godly believers. The Rechabites, some also believe, also would accept the gospel and continue. in the church age to be Christian. But whatever the case, the Bible says, they'll not ever want a man to stand before them forever. Because of their what? Obedience. On the other hand, you got Israel. Disobedient. Under God's judgment, under God's wrath. Why? Because they didn't learn obedience. You know, it's a blessing today to think about the greatest gift you could give to your mother would be obedience. You know, the greatest gift that we could give to God today would be our obedience. Jesus said, my meat is to do the will of him that sent me. He's saying, my greatest passion is to do what God wants me to do, obey. This morning, you think about obedience. Do you have convictions? You're not gonna go far in obeying God if you don't have convictions about what you do, where you watch, where you go, who your friends are. Do you have those convictions? Are you obeying by knowledge? Do you know who this book is from, that this is God's book, and that what it says in it about whatever you're asking a question about, that you find what God says about it? Obey by knowing. Obey by habit. Are you habitually obedient? If you're not, I mean, if you've got the other habit going on, you've got to stop that, get rid of the bad habit and put the good habit there, get in the Word of God, get in prayer, get in church, get in that time with the Lord and soul winning. Obey by habit. Obey by wisdom. It's got to be by grace. Obey by listening. Obey by doing. And obey by responding. Verse 13 again says, thus saith the Lord of hosts, Will ye not receive instruction to hearken to my words, saith the Lord. Let's pray. Father, I praise you for your word this morning. Father, success in this area would make us dynamic for the Lord Jesus Christ. Failure in this area, Father, would destroy us. And I pray today, may the Spirit of God speak. And Father, decisions that need to be made need to be made because of obedience. Lord, there's some that need to get saved. Others, Lord, again, as we prayed at the beginning, need to make decisions about sanctification, about obeying the Lord and believers' baptism. And I pray, God, if that is your will for anybody that's here, then I pray, Spirit of God, they'd obey. And so I do pray, speak, help us to listen. It's in Christ's name we pray, amen.