Jeremiah 22 - Promise Breakers and Promise Keepers - Jeremiah 34-35

[Music] Jeremiah chapters 34 and 35 this evening again we're talking in this general phase of Israel's history actually the history of the southern kingdom of Judah the Northern Kingdom of Israel has already been captured they're already in conquest but in the southern kingdom of Judah the Babylonians are about to conquer the kingdom we'll get right into here verse 1 of chapter 34 the word which came to Jeremiah from the Lord when Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and all his army and all the kingdoms of the earth under his Dominion and all the people fought against Jerusalem in all its cities saying thus says the Lord the God of Israel go and speak to Zedekiah king of judah and tell them thus says the lord behold i will give this city into the hand of the king of babylon and he shall burn it with fire and you shall not escape from his hand but shall surely be taken and delivered into his hand your eyes shall see the king of babylon he shall speak with you face to face and you shall go to Babylon this prophecy against King Zedekiah and the city of Jerusalem came in the 10th through the 11th year of King Zedekiah Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonian army had come against Jerusalem and they had circled the city in a siege siege warfare especially in the ancient world was a particularly horrible kind of warfare where an army would simply surround a city prevent anything from coming in or out of it and wait for them to surrender they would surrender because of famine they would surrender because the walls were broken down or they would surrender because of disease and they had no more strength to fight anymore but eventually a city would surrender or the army would leave it was one or the other they were under siege now we have to talk about something that will make it help you understand something in this entire chapter verses 21 and 22 of this chat give keys to understanding it in the context you see God said regarding the Babylonian army look at verses 21 and 22 that they had gone back from Jerusalem or they would gone back from Jerusalem but that he would and this is verse 22 command and caused them to return to this city I see the events of this chapter are in the context of something that's explained more fully in Jeremiah chapter 37 and this is what happened in the final siege and conquest of Jerusalem the Babylonian army came and surrounded the city and was ready to conquer him then all of the sudden they heard that the Egyptian army was coming up from the south to rescue Jerusalem and the Judean King Zedekiah because the King Zedekiah had been trying to make deals with the Judean King except me with the King the Pharaoh of Egypt so when the Egyptian army came up from the south the Babylonians for a period broke the siege of Jerusalem went down met the Egyptian army and much of the events in chapter 34 happened in that time when the Babylonians had broken the siege and do you understand what Jeremiah is telling King Zedekiah dude they're coming back you think God has delivered you now put yourself in the shoes of the Prophet I Jeremiah here Jeremiah had been prophesying the Babylonians are going to destroy the Babylonians are gonna destroy they're gonna conquer the city you may as well surrender this is God's judgment upon us the Babylonians are gonna flatten us that's what he's been preaching the Babylonians come and surround the city and lay siege to it everybody say oh maybe Jeremiah was right maybe Jeremiah was right and all the false prophets had been saying don't worry the Lord is gonna deliver you don't worry the Lord is gonna deliver you and then what happens very suddenly the Babylonian army leaves the false prophets are going yes we were right all along Jeremiah's saying you just wait oh I know they left they're coming back and by the by they did come back they came back pretty quick they went down south whooped the Egyptians in a battle and they came back and destroyed Jerusalem but again you got to remember that context for this much of chapter 34 takes place during that time of the release from the siege when people thought we're rescued and we're okay instead God says look at verse 2 I will give this city into the hand of the king of Babylon despite the temporarily lifted siege God wanted Zedekiah to know that the city and the kingdom would be conquered not only by the Babylonians but by the will of God notice how he phrases it in verse 2 verse 2 doesn't just say the Babylonians will conquer God says I will give this city this wasn't the judgment of the Babylonians against Jerusalem this was the judgment of Yahweh against Jerusalem and by the way Jerusalem was indeed burned with fire just as prophesied 2nd Kings chapter 25 verse 9 says this he burned the house of the Lord and the King's house all the houses of Jerusalem that is all the houses of the great he burned with fire and the end result of it was in verse 3 you shall not escape from his hand now listen friends sometimes when a city Falls sometimes when a country is conquered the king escapes you know if anybody's going to escape shouldn't it be the king so it's not always the case if the king is captured Jeremiah looks Zedekiah in the face and he said you're going down you will be captured because you were put on the throne by Nebuchadnezzar you rebelled against him you will have to answer for your treason against King Nebuchadnezzar face to face is the phrase used there in verse 3 now the same phrase was used in the chapter we looked at last week and I'll make the same point here tonight that I made last week friends can you imagine how sobering it was for Zedekiah the rebel king to face the king over him by analogy can I say the King of Kings Nebuchadnezzar and realized I have rebelled against this man and now I must face him face to face this is the judgment that awaits those who rebel against God you will face him face to face you you're not gonna be judged by a bureaucracy some nameless clerk shuffling papers and stamping something and say okay here's your judgment you will face God face to face and have to answer for what you've done and I've talked to some people I've read the writings of some people who actually believe that when they stand before God on the day of judgment they're gonna tell him a thing or two really these poor poor people they have no understanding of who God is they have no recognition of his holiness of his majesty how when men stand before God every mouth is stopped have you ever stood before somebody who was so great at least in your eyes maybe they weren't great but in your eyes they were so great that you just couldn't say a thing uh-uh that's what it's gonna be like when every human being who rebels against God has to stand before him in judgment now what a contrast that is to the wide open welcome that God gives to his children when he sees them so we see here a very powerful analogy of meeting the king face to face and judgment now verse 4 yet hear the word of the Lord O Zedekiah king of Judah thus says the Lord concerning you you shall not die by the sword you shall die in peace as in the Sarah Oh news of your father's the former Kings who were before you so that shall they burn incense for you and lament for you saying alas Lord for I've pronounced the word says the Lord now Zedekiah had a terrible fate in front of him you know what is terrible Freight was they took Zedekiah and they took us two sons and they murdered his sons right in front of his eyes then they gouged out the eyes of King Zedekiah so that the last image he ever saw with his eyes where his two precious sons being murdered man that's brutal they put him in Chains and took him back to Babylon but at least he did not die by the sword he died in relative peace and it seems that God even ordained that there would be some recompense of Zedekiah he would be given a dignified honorable burial and that's what it mentions in verses four and five now verse 6 then jeremiah the prophet spoke all these words to Zedekiah king of judah and jerusalem when the king of babylons army fought against jerusalem and all the cities of judah that were left against lakish and azekah for only these fortified cities remained in the cities of Judah so Jeremiah spoke all these words with tremendous boldness we saw last week that Zedekiah to me that Jeremiah was imprisoned by Zedekiah and it was for just these kind of words that he was imprisoned you know Zedekiah wanted to believe the best when the Babylonian army took off and and lifted their siege yes we're saved yes we're ok and when Jeremiah came along and said you're not ok and you're going down that was just the kind of word that would get the Prophet in jail but Jeremiah didn't care he boldly prophesied now there's also very interesting reference in verse 7 to the cities of Judah that were left against lakish and azekah lakish and azekah are interesting cities to archaeologists especially lakish lakish lies some 30 miles southwest of Jerusalem and because of the Egyptian threat Nebuchadnezzar had to secure the strategic points to the south before the complete conquest of Jerusalem now this is what he did he conquered lakish he conquered azekah but he conquered azekah first and there's a remarkable archaeological find in lakish they call them the lakish letters there's actually a technical word for it that I can't pronounce all that well but archaeologists discovered in a pit in lakish the remains of about 1,500 casualties of Nebuchadnezzar's attack and the lakish letters which were written on pieces of pottery you know just like you will use scratch paper the lakish letters written on pieces of pottery describe communications between lakish and other cities saying it's really striking it's it's sad it's tragic we don't see the signal files from azekah anymore they must be conquered the Babylonians are now on their way here it's like the last communique x' from a city about to be devastated and this is all fit in and confirmed by the archaeologic going on now to verse 8 now with verse 8 we begin a second section of chapter 34 you're gonna find this interesting look at it here verse 8 this is the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord after King Zedekiah had made a covenant with all the people who are at Jerusalem to proclaim Liberty to them that every man should set free his male and female slave a Hebrew man or woman that no one should keep a Jewish brother in bondage now when all the princes and all the people who had entered into the Covenant heard that everyone should set his male and female slaves that set free his male and female female slaves that no one should keep them in bondage anymore they obeyed and let them go now this is a remarkable thing this seems to take place before the siege was lifted up through chapter 10 up through verse 10 of chapter 34 the Babylonian armies are still around Jerusalem now if a vicious army is around your city walls and you know that your destruction is very close isn't that the kind of motivator to try to get you to obey God isn't this kind of panic pity you know you're like I gotta do something God what do you want me to do suddenly you're interested in getting right with God when your whole world is falling apart so what did they do they said oh we're we disobeying God what should we do what we do and they realized we have unjustly held on to our Hebrew female and male slaves let's let them go that's why they say in verse eight King Zedekiah had made a covenant with all the people who were in Jerusalem to proclaim Liberty at some time in his reign likely when the Babylonians encircled the city King Zedekiah proclaimed an emancipation for the Hebrew slaves in Judah now listen friends in Israel as in the entire ancient world there were people who worked for other people on the principle of servitude they were slaves in some sense though not necessarily in the brutal and degraded way that we usually think of slavery in America we have a certain conception of slavery that's shaped by our history but if you think that Israelite slavery was really analogous to slavery in the South in the 17th and 18th and 19th centuries you're mixing it up altogether it wasn't the same thing at all and let me say something else about this some people think and you'll actually hear people say this that the Bible is responsible for slavery that if it wasn't for the Bible there wouldn't be slavery in the world friends that is about the most ignorant thing that a person can say or write if that were the case then cultures that had never been touched by the Bible they should have no slavery right cultures that have never been touched by the Bible they should just live in peace and harmony and love for one another because they don't have that icky old Bible leading them astray friends is that the case of course not slavery has been a universe so among human experience throughout history no no the question for the historian and for the honest observer is not why do cultures take slaves the answer is why did they set them free and the reason why slaves are set free is because of biblical culture that's not the reason why they're taken and basically in the Hebrew world there were four basic ways that a Hebrew might become a slave to another Hebrew I'll just give you the first and the most important the broadest one the one that covered most the basis most Hebrew slaves became slaves because in extreme poverty they sold their liberty there were no bankruptcy courts in ancient Israel when you had debts you couldn't pay you had to sell yourself to servitude to somebody else to pay off the debt it was a more formalized and of course a much more devoted kind of way of the old picture of having to wash the dishes in the restaurant because he couldn't pay the bill well you can't pay the bill so you can be my servant you can do this servant until your debt is paid or in the strict regulations of slavery in the Hebrew world you were a slave for a period of six or seven years it's a little bit unclear because it says you shall serve for six years and in the seventh year you should be set free what people debate about was at the beginning of the seventh year or the end of the seventh year we're not exactly sure but after a period of six or seven years the slave was to be set free the servitude was not to be forever the ideas of man's stealing the ideas of life long servitude those concepts that many people have of slavery in our day they simply do not apply to the practice of slavery in the Old Testament in the Old Testament normally slavery was chosen or mutually agreed-upon it was of limited duration and it was highly regulated now even so you had this group of Hebrew slaves usually people were a bankrupt and sold into their own slavery what did they do with them verse 10 they obeyed the word of King Zedekiah and they let them go because of tzedakah is command because of his leadership they immediately set their seed slaves free however from the words following in the chapter it does not appear that they let their slaves free before the appointed time let me tell you what I think is happening here what they let free was the slays that they had unjustly held on to past the six or seven years this was a great sin in Judah and Jerusalem God had strictly regulated this institution so that nobody should be enforced servitude for another six or seven for past six or seven years but they said no we're gonna make them serve longer Zedekiah said no because the Babylonians are at the gate and we got to get right with God we're going to obey God here we're gonna set those slaves free we're gonna do what God tells us to do and the slave said thank you that's great now kind of the question is why did they do it well if we're generous to the people of Judah and Jerusalem we might say that they set the slaves free because they were desperate and they were sorry under the Babylonian siege and they repented of their prior sin that's possible it's possible that they said God we see our great sin we see that we haven't set these people free as we should we're gonna let them go they're free now that's possible but to be honest I don't think so I think that this was as cold and calculating as you can imagine because you know the tough part about having a slave you got to feed that slave you got to take care of that slave and you know what's really hard to do in a time of siege feed hungry mouths you could see where slave owners would say number one I can't get access to my fields outside the city so what good are my slaves number two all I got to do is feed these guys it's better for me if I set them free and I don't got worried about providing for him go you could be free friends I have the feeling that they just set him free for their own convenience that they just did it because it was good for them and they dressed it up with some spiritual reasoning but no my friends at the very best this was cold and calculating or at the worse it was just an insincere thing that they did with a spiritual name upon it so look at what happened in verse 11 but afterward they changed their minds and made the male and female slaves returned whom they had set free and brought them into subjection as male and female slaves do you get what happened here did you see that word in verse 11 afterward after what after the Babylonians left when the Babylonian army is surrounding Jerusalem God will do anything to get right with you as soon as they leave it's like hey bring the slaves back do you see how they were do you see the wickedness of this people do you see how offensive that kind of fake repentance is before God you know what they did they repented of their repentance and they went back to the exact same oppressive sins that they had committed before France this was a horrible terrible thing that they did they changed their minds as soon as the Babylonian siege was lifted when the threat was gone there was no more need to radically repent and God forbid we should repent unless we absolutely have to it's nothing attitude of a lot of people oh I'll repent when I get caught ho I'll repent when there's no other way friends this heart is in me and it's in you we need to walk in the new heart that's given us by Jesus Christ the heart that loves and wants to please God we need to look for this better work of Jesus in our life than they had under this Old Covenant but this is something I want you to think about and this makes me scratch my head how did they get those freed slaves back in the servitude I don't know I mean it's an interesting question you can think of all sorts of hypothetical ways but how do you get somebody who's set free back into servitude what's an interesting question isn't it because by the law of God by the command of the king and by the action of their former masters these people were set free yet they were forced back into servitude and I don't know what power I don't know what threat they use to force them back maybe and I'll just speculate here maybe they worked very hard to persuade them that they weren't free after all and that they had to continue to live as slaves mamak a spiritual analogy out of this if you are born again by God's Spirit if he has given you new life in Jesus Christ you are set free you have the glorious liberty of the children of God but let me tell you you have the world you have the flesh and you have the devil and one of the biggest lies they want to beat down upon you is that you may as well just live as a slave because that's what you are anyway you need to be able to have the discernment and the strength and sometimes the assistance from a brother or sister to just kick the devil in the teeth and say stop lying to me about this stuff I Know Who I am in Jesus Christ I'm free I'm not a slave because of what Jesus Christ has done in my life friends do you realize what a wretched thing it is for a person who has tasted freedom to be drawn back into slavery no man never be may never be among God's people verse 12 therefore the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah from the Lord saying thus says the Lord the God of Israel I made a covenant with your fathers and the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt out of the house of bondage saying at the end of seven years let every man set free his Hebrew brother who's been damn and when he has served you six years you shall let him go free from you but your fathers did not obey me nor incline their ear then you recently turned and did what was right in my sight every man proclaiming Liberty to his neighbor and you made a covenant before me in the house which is called by my name then you turned around and profaned my name and every one of you brought back his male and female slaves whom you had set at liberty at their pleasure and brought them back into subjugation to be your male and female slaves you know I love what God does the first thing in verse 13 he goes listen every one of you used to be slaves back in the land of Egypt you should have more sympathy to those who have been sold into slavery and I told you exactly how to handle your slaves in my word but you didn't do what I told you I told you to set them free after six years but then he says verse 16 you turned around and you profaned my name friends going back to disobedience is an unholy thing before God especially because of the terrible oppression that it placed upon other people so look at what God says in verse 17 that's gonna blow your mind therefore thus says the Lord you have not obeyed me in proclaiming Liberty everyone to his brother and everyone to his neighbor behold I proclaim Liberty to you now if you were to stop right there go hey that's pretty cool no not cool keep on going says the Lord to the sword to the pestilence and to famine and I will deliver you to trouble among all the kingdoms of the earth you know you have not obeyed me in proclaiming Liberty the people of Jerusalem had a great opportunity to obey God and to do good to their fellow Hebrews by proclaiming Liberty to them by the way don't we under the New Covenant don't we have a marvelous opportunity to proclaim Liberty to people in the name of Jesus Jesus Christ is the great liberator he is the faithful Liberator and let me tell you he never set somebody free and then brings them back into bondage he never does that when the Sun sets you free you are free indeed not like these people but notice this God says verse 17 behold I proclaim Liberty to you to the sword to pestilence into famine you want Liberty okay I'm gonna liberate my hand to protection from you God says I'm no longer gonna protect you and you're gonna be to use an expression thrown to the Wolves the sword pestilence famine that's the kind of Liberty you're gonna enjoy verse 6 verse 18 and I will give the men who have transgressed my covenant who have not performed the words of the Covenant which they made before me when they cut the calf in two and pass between the parts of it the princes of Judah the princes of Jerusalem the eunuchs the priests and all the people of the land who passed between the parts of the calf I will give them into the hand of their enemies into the hand of those who seek their life their dead body shall be for meat for the birds of heaven and the birds beasts of the earth and I will give Zedekiah king of Judah and his Prince's into the hand of their enemies and into the hand of those who seek their life and in the hand of the king of babylons army which has gone back from you behold I will command says the Lord and cause them to return to this city they will fight against it and take it and burn it with fire and I will make the cities of Judah a desolation without inhabitant God appointed a special judgment upon those who made a covenant and broke it they said can I just tell you God cares about the promises we make God cares about the vows we make and I would like to ask you to do something in your own time with God the next time you get down for some time of prayer and just just communing with the Lord which I hope is very soon I want you to ask God in the spirit of the psalm that says search me O God and know my heart try me and know my thoughts see if there be any wicked way in me and lead me in the way everlasting in the spirit of that Psalm I'd like you I'm asking as your pastor ask God God are there any broken vows in my life that I need to set right with you just because you've forgotten about your broken vow doesn't mean God has and I believe that this is oftentimes a spiritual hindrance to many people there's a broken vow in their life that they've neither set right look if it's a bow and it's a wise vow it's a proper bell well then start doing it and that's God to forgive you for not doing it but listen it's possible to make a foolish vow isn't it well then repent of making the foolish vow and ask God to forgive you for that and consider yourself clear of it but do not ignore your foolish vows your broken vows get them right before God God was gonna judge them for their broken vows matter of fact the Egyptians were gonna be defeated and the Babylonians were gonna come back look at verse 22 I will command and cause them to return to this city because of that Egyptian threat the Babylonian army had gone and they repented of their repentance and the City of Jerusalem God says they are coming back get ready for them now in chapter 35 we have a happier story chapter 34 was about covenant breakers promise breakers should we get something a little more encouraging and look at some Promise Keepers some covenant keepers here look at verse 1 of chapter 35 the word which came to Jeremiah from the Lord in the days of Jehovah came the Senate josiah king of judah saying go to the house of the Rechabites 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 this all about well first you gotta understand something about the rekha bites we don't know much about the rekha bites but this is kind of what we do know they were a radically committed sect among the Israelites who emphasized a nomadic life like going back to the old days when Israel was in the wilderness on the way to the promised land their roots actually go all the way back to Jethro the can it-- the father in law of Moses judges one chapter 16 tells us how the descendants of the Kenites the descendants of Jethro the Kenites came from the area of Jericho and lived among the wilderness of Judah to the south they were nomads so they moved around from place to place from time to time but somewhere along the line they had an inspirational father named jonadab we're gonna read about jonadab in a little bit by the way jonadab is also God called jonadab in another place in 2nd Kings chapter 10 jonadab was an associate of a guy named Jay who now I don't expect you to know immediately who Jay who was in the Old Testament but you should learn a little bit about Yahoo Jah he was a crazy man and God lifted him up to bring judgment upon the house of Ahab and Jo was nuts in the way that he did it he was just like a crazy man bringing down judgment as God's instrument Jah who had an associate this guy named Johanna dem so Johanna Deb was a radical guy radically committed to the Lord radically against idolatry radically for purity and we're gonna find out some of the commands he made later on but his descendants were the rekha bites now it's possible that the rekha bites were not only a family clan but that they were also sort of a group that you could join you know sort of a monastic or a extreme group they had this thing where they were nomads and moved from place to place but at the same time they lived as if they belong to another age and they were like known for the radical purity immorality you know what they were like they were like a cross between hippies and the Amish think of like a dude and tie-dye with a straw hat they were nomads like hippies going from place to place just in simple and touch a thing they were like the Amish in that they lived a lot from like a previous age hoping to be in radical obedience to God now what did God tell Jeremiah to do invite him to the temple did you see verse 2 and give them wine to drink give them wine to drink what are you talking about well look at verse 3 then I took Jaz and ayah the son of Jeremiah the son of has buzina his brothers and all his sons and all the house of the Rechabites and I brought them into the house of the Lord into the chamber of the sons of Hanan the son of Aguada a man of God which was by the chamber of the princes above the chamber of Messiah the son of Shalom the keeper of the door then I said before the sons of the house of the Rechabites bowls full of wine and cups and I said to them drink wine you got to imagine the scene here first of all it was done at the temple in a public place this is a very public ceremony secondly it was being led by Jeremiah the Prophet Jeremiah the heavy dude third they brought all the rekha bites bring the whole clan here to me I'm gonna make this invitation jeremiah goes he brings him there's a bowl of wine he draws it from a cup and he gives it to the leader of the rekha bites and what does he say he says drink wine I set before the sons of the house of the wrecker bites bowls full of wine and cups and I told them to drink wine now there's something got to remember about this as well see in a minute here the rekha bites were absolutely committed to not drinking wine Jeremiah knew this but notice what happens next we'll just go on to the next verse verse 6 but they said we will drink no wine for jonadab the son of Rechab our father commanded us saying you shall drink no wine you nor your sons forever you shall not build a house so seed plant a vineyard nor have any of these but all your days you shall dwell in tents that you may live many days in the land where your sojourners thus we have obeyed the voice of jonadab the son of Rahab our father in all that he charged us to drink no wine all our days we are our sons our daughters nor to build ourselves houses to dwell in nor do we have a vineyard field or seed but we have dwelt in tents and have obeyed and done according to all that John adapt our father commanded us 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 the fear of the army of the Syrians so we dwelt at Jerusalem this was the response of the leader of the recombines what does he say no way we don't drink wine we're not gonna do it and we're not gonna do it because our Father jonadab told us not to do it now friends this is very interesting because the sons of jonadab here passed the test and refused the wine there was a lot of pressure on them the public nature of the ceremony the presence of their entire clan the prominence of the Prophet Jeremiah being in the temple in all its surroundings all of these things added pressure to them I'll give one other added pressure and this is kind of a big one they were instructed by John adeb don't live in the cities live out as nomads in tents they were living in the city of Jerusalem why necessity Nebuchadnezzar and his Raiders were out on line it wasn't safe they had to come into the safety of the city don't you realize that it would have been very easy for the say well we compromised on this one point out of necessity what's the big deal if we compromise on the other points but they didn't compromise the rekha bites the son of Jonah Deb they said no we're not going to drink the wine now friends please understand it's very important to hear this the point was not strictly the drinking of or not drinking wine it was obedience to the teaching of their spiritual father Jonah Deb Jeremiah did not use this as a point to talk about drinking wine but about obedience obedience to their spiritual father Jonah Deb and you'll see the point in a little bit but may I talk for a moment just about drinking wine about drinking alcohol friends the bible does not teach that it is a sin to drink at all I think it's a point of wisdom for Christian leaders to not drink and that's why I don't but I can't tell you the Bible commands you to consume no alcohol but I'll tell you with all my strength the Bible commands you to not get drunk and if you are over indulging an alcohol it's a sin and you need to repent of it and you might just need some help this is serious friends do you know why it's serious not only for the damage that it does to your own life before God but for all the other sins it leads people into isn't that true of alcohol it's not just a sin itself but all the other sins it leads people into in that point so friends we got to take this very seriously again as your pastor I got to be a Bible guy I can't make up rules where the Bible says I cannot tear the Bible says you must be an absolute abstainer I think that's a wise life choice but I can't tell you the Bible commands it but I can say the Bible commands it you do not get drunk if you do if you're getting drunk if you're getting buzzed then friends you got to realize this is not right and I need to make this right before God but here's the other point I want to make even though the point here in Jeremiah chapter 35 is not about drinking or not drinking it's about obedience to their spiritual father God honored the rekha bytes for not drinking and it is possible sometimes when Christians feel such a Liberty to partake of alcohol that they put pressure upon those who don't want to drink that they should let me tell you don't do that if you feel that you have the Liberty to moderately consume alcohol and let me say this is what I tell people if you're gonna consume alcohol you should be conspicuous in your moderation anybody who sees you drinks it Wow look they didn't even drain the glass Wow they didn't ask for another Wow look you should be conspicuous in your moderation but look let me say this don't you ever tease or mock somebody for not drinking if they're a believer because sometimes Christians do that I wonder if they do it out of a guilty conscience but don't you ever tease or mock somebody for not drinking because God didn't tease or mock the Recker bites he honored them for their not drinking this is what it is in the text alright verse 6 this is what jonadab said to them you shall drink no wine you know your son's forever and again it was part of a whole picture a larger pattern of sacrifice and self-denial they weren't supposed to build houses they weren't supposed to plant fields and vineyards why because they wanted to live this ascetic separated life this was not God's command over all Israel but it was what the jonadab descendants felt like they needed to do and they did it and God honored them for their obedience now verse 12 here's the contrast then the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah saying 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 obey my words it says the Lord the words of jonadab the son of Rechab which he commanded his sons not to drink wine are performed for to this day they drink none and obey their father's commandment but although I have spoken to you rising early and speaking you did not obey me I have also sent to you all my servants the prophets rising up early and sending them saying turn now every one from his evil way amend your doings and do not go after other gods to serve them then you will dwell in the land which I have given you and your father's but you have not inclined your ear nor obeyed me surely the sons of jonadab the son of Rechab have performed the command under their father which he commanded them but this people has not obeyed me you see the contrast trying to make God's trying to make here the rekha bytes obey their spiritual father jonadab from a couple hundred years before and he's a man and they obey Him yet you won't obey me and I'm God there's really a pretty radical contrast there verse 16 says this people has not obeyed me this is a contrast they would obey the rekha bites their spiritual father but the people of Judah would not obey God and look at all the contrast the rekha bites obeyed a fallible leader the people of Judah disobeyed the eternal God the rekha bytes received their command once from their leader and obeyed the people of Judah received their command from God again and again and again and they still disobeyed the recombines obeyed regarding earthly things but the people of Judah disobeyed in regard to eternal things and the rekha bytes obeyed their leaders commands above over 300 years the people of Judah continually disobeyed their God and Friends the rekha bytes were going to be rewarded the people of Judah were going to be judged verse 17 therefore thus says the Lord God of hosts the God of Israel behold I will bring on Judah and on all the inhabitants of Jerusalem all the doom that I pronounced against them because I have spoken to them but they have not heard and I have called them but they have not answered again the contrast is plain the rekha bytes obey jonadab you won't obey me verses 18 and 19 Jeremiah said to the house of the Rechabites thus says the Lord of hosts the God of Israel because you have obeyed the commandment of jonadab your father and kept all his precepts and done according to all that he commanded you therefore thus says the Lord of hosts the God of Israel jonadab the son of Rechab shall not lack a man to stand before me forever in that beautiful God didn't mock the rekha bites he honored them he honored them because they kept the command their spiritual father Jonah death and he said they shall not lack a man to stand before me forever they would have a special service and a special standing before God for ever so do you see the contrast between chapter 34 and 35 the rekha bytes were covenant keepers the people of Judah who took back their slaves were covenant breakers promise breakers promise keepers you see the contrast between the two but maybe I should just leave with this last thought you know who the ultimate promise keeper is of course Jesus himself listen it's within the nature of humanity to fail to keep our promises now when we do we humbly confess and repent before God we make it right wherever we can and we go on from there God doesn't want to condemn us for us he wants us to deal with it and move on but aren't you happy right along with me that God never breaks his promises that Jesus never gives up on his vows that we can stand before him and trust him and know him that he's the that can be your confidence today Jesus I need help I am weak in keeping my vows and promises you are strong you are the Covenant keeper father that's our prayer here tonight Lord I especially want to pray that you would do a genuine spiritual work in every one of us here as we take some time to pray before you and to ask you if there are broken vows that we need to address in our life if that's the case Lord teach us show us we need this Lord so pour out your greater grace upon us Lord we love you we praise you we thank you Jesus for being the ultimate keeper of the Covenant we praise you here tonight in Jesus name Amen [Music] you

Channel: David Guzik

Views: 3,638

Rating: 4.878788 out of 5

Keywords: jeremiah, prophet jeremiah, jeremiah 34, jeremiah 35, promise breakers, promise keepers, david guzik, guzik, enduring word

Id: vwKpUicjmAM

Length: 47min 5sec (2825 seconds)

Published: Sat Dec 14 2019