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The Sin Every Christian Admits Daily

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• I can assure you. Yeah, that'll be fine, thank you. We were singing that song, "Oh, How I Love Jesus," and just this past week I read about a brother who was dying. He was on his deathbed, and another pastor came up and said, "Well, brother, do you love Jesus?" And he said, "Well, yes, I do." The pastor said, "That's great." He said, "But I can tell you something even better than that." The pastor said, "What?" He said, "Jesus loves me."

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• And so I'm certainly thankful for that. I can assure you. I want you to open your Bibles tonight, if you would, please, to the book of Jeremiah, chapter 13. Jeremiah, chapter 13. And you need to keep your fingers limber tonight because we're going to be looking at a lot of scripture. Jeremiah, chapter 13. The title of the message is "The Sin That Every Christian Commits Daily." The sin that every Christian commits daily. Look in Jeremiah chapter 13, beginning there with verse 1.

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• "Thus saith the Lord unto me, Go get thee a linen girdle, and put it upon thy loins, and put it not in water." Watch, if you would. He said, "So I got a girdle according to the word of the Lord, and put it on my loins. And the word of the Lord came unto me the second time, saying, Take the girdle that thou hast got, which is upon thy loins, and arise, go to Euphrates, and hide it there in a hole of the rock. So I went, and hid it by Euphrates, as the Lord commanded me. And it came to pass after many days, that the Lord said unto me, Arise, go to Euphrates, and take the girdle from thence, which I commanded thee to hide there. Then I went to Euphrates, and digged, and took the girdle from the place where I had hid it: and, behold, the girdle was marred, it was profitable for nothing. Then the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, Thus saith the Lord, After this manner will I mar the pride of Judah, and the great pride of Jerusalem."

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• "This evil people, which refuse to hear my words, which walk in the imagination of their heart, and walk after other gods to serve them, and to worship them, shall even be as this girdle, which is good for nothing. For as the girdle cleaveth to the loins of a man, so have I caused to cleave unto me the whole house of Israel and the whole house of Judah, saith the Lord; that they might be unto me for a people, and for a name, and for a praise, and for a glory: but they would not hear."

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• "Therefore thou shalt speak unto them this word; Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, Every bottle shall be filled with wine: and they shall say unto thee, Do we not certainly know that every bottle shall be filled with wine? Then shalt thou say unto them, Thus saith the Lord, Behold, I will fill all the inhabitants of this land, even the kings that sit upon David's throne, and the priests, and the prophets, and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, with drunkenness. And I will dash them one against another, even the fathers and the sons together, saith the Lord."

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• "I will not pity, nor spare, nor have mercy, but destroy them." The sin that every Christian commits daily. You might ask, "What in the world is the sin that every Christian commits daily?" I suppose that we could begin by naming many different sins, such as lust, covetousness, prayerlessness, lack of study, sins of omission, sins of commission. There are a multitude of sins that I suppose that we probably commit on a daily basis. There is one main sin that we do commit, which will cover all of those other sins that I've mentioned, and a host of other sins as well. This horrendous sin isn't only committed on a daily basis. It is also committed on Sunday. And it is especially committed by Christians on the Lord's Day. You say, "Well, what sin is that?" It is the sin of refusing to hear the word of God. You see, we attend the preached word, we sit and we listen, and somehow we never really hear and we never really get changed by the word of God. Our lives are not changed.

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• We do not grow in grace. We do not grow in knowledge. We are not more conformed to the image of Jesus Christ. We're not transformed into obedience to his word. And thus, in truth and in matter, we really are not hearing the word of God. It seems as though this sin is a historical sin because it has been committed down through the ages. In our text, God is speaking specifically of Judah and Jerusalem. And may I remind you that Judah and Jerusalem were supposed to be the peculiar people of God.

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• And when I say that, you must understand that the northern kingdom had already apostatized, and they had been judged. And for a while now, the southern kingdom, Judah, particularly with the capital at Jerusalem, seemed to remain faithful to God, and they deemed themselves the covenant people of God, and they had the law of God. In fact, they had distinct advantages. Let me show you. If you would hold Jeremiah 13, but turn in your Bibles very quickly to the book of Romans chapter 3. Look in Romans chapter 3, and then we'll go to Romans chapter 9. But in Romans chapter 3, beginning there with verse 1, the apostle Paul delineates the advantages that Judah and Jerusalem held above all the other people. Notice he said in Romans 3 verse 1, "What advantage then hath the Jew?" or the Judahite?

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• "Or what profit is there of circumcision? Much every way: chiefly, because that unto them were committed the oracles of God." Now, Paul said there were many advantages that the Judahites had, but the main advantage was that unto them were committed the oracles of God.

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• Now, Judah was the southern kingdom, and certainly it was a tribe of Israel. So if you will look in Romans chapter 9, beginning there with verse 4, note, if you would please, what the Bible says. The apostle Paul now says, "Who are Israelites; to whom pertaineth the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the service of God, and the promises; whose are the fathers, and of whom as concerning the flesh Christ came, who is over all, God blessed for ever. Amen." So here are all of these advantages that the Israelites had, but particularly the Judahites, because that's where the tabernacle and the temple were located. The priesthood was there. That's where the sacrifices were offered. So they had all of these distinct advantages, but Paul said the particular advantage they had, they had the Word of God. You know, God did not reveal His Word then to the Hittites, the Jebusites, the Hivites, the Perizzites, and all the other "ites." He gave it to the Israelites and to them alone. And yet we're going to find out that they really and truly did not hear the Word of God.

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• Now you're going to probably object and say, "But now wait a minute, Brother Weaver. How can you say that this is a sin that I commit daily and especially on Sunday because I really do genuinely hear the Word of God?" Well, let me just remind you that according to the scripture, there are two distinct types of hearing. There is the external and audible hearing, which you're doing right now, and which you do every time that the Word of God is preached. But then there is that internal and spiritual hearing. One may hear externally and outwardly, and never really genuinely hear internally and spiritually. And that is basically where 99% of your professing Christians really are. Because their lives are never changed. They never become more and more obedient. They hear physically, but they do not really hear spiritually. So answer this question.

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• How is it that we can come to church so often, hear so much, and know so little? Well, how is it that we experience the same problems over and over? How is it that oftentimes there is no discernible difference between the unsaved and the saved when it comes to problems? Years ago, I had a brother and his wife come to me for counseling. I loved them. They were dear friends. I counseled them. They came back. I counseled them. They came back. I counseled them.

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• This went on for months. And finally, one day, the man came into my office and he said, "Pastor, I need to talk to you." I said, "OK, I'm listening." And he started in on the same thing that he had gone over month after month after month. And I looked at him and I said, "Brother, let me interrupt you." I said, "Could I just stop right now and tell you what I'd really like to do to you?" He said, "Well, yes." I said, "I'll tell you what I'd like to do with you. I'd like to take your shirt in my hand and hold you up against the wall and slap you silly."

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• And when I said that, you should have seen the expression on his face. And I said, "And if I thought it would help, that's exactly what I would do." And he was still in a state of shock. I said, "Let me tell you something. I can tell you the answer to your problem over and over and over. But unless you hear, unless you apply, unless you obey, you're going to continue having the same problem. Do you understand?"

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• He looked at me and he shook his head. He said, "Finally, finally." And he walked out of my office. And he and his wife have never had those problems again. Well, why? Why was he continuing to have those problems month after month after month? And the answer is simply because he was not listening. I want you to look in your Bibles. Hold Jeremiah 13. We're certainly coming back there. But I want you to look in your Bibles to 1 Samuel chapter 15.

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• It's important that you see this. 1 Samuel chapter 15. Notice, if you would, please, you know the story how God has sent Saul to war against the Amalekites. And you know that Saul spares Agag the king and the best of the oxen and the best of the sheep. And, of course, Saul then tries to blame everything on the people. Samuel is coming to see Saul, and when Saul sees him, he says, "Blessed be thou of the Lord. I have obeyed the Lord."

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• And about that time, something went bad, man. And Samuel said, "If you've obeyed the Lord, what meaneth then this bleating of the sheep in mine ears, and the lowing of the oxen which I hear?" If you've obeyed God, everything would be dead, for God told you to kill it all. And then Saul had to blame it on the people. He said, "But the people spared the best... in order that they might sacrifice it unto God." So look in your Bibles, if you would, 1 Samuel chapter 15, and notice, if you would please, verse 21. Saul says, "But the people took of the spoil, sheep and oxen, the chief of the things which should have been utterly destroyed, to sacrifice unto the Lord thy God in Gilgal." Now watch verse 22. "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. For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry."

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• "Because thou hast rejected the word of the Lord, he hath also rejected thee from being king." Now, look if you would at verse 22. The question is, "Hath the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord?" So let me just stop there and say this. God would rather have your obedience than anything you could ever give him. He'd rather have your obedience than a million dollars. He'd rather have your obedience than a hundred acres of land. He said obeying is better than sacrifice.

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• Notice if you would, please. He goes on to say, "Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams." Do you know what the fat of rams was? The fat of rams was the chiefest part of the sacrifice. It was always given to God. So he said to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken is better than the fat of rams.

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• So in this verse, hearkening and obeying are synonymous. So no one really hears the word of God until he obeys. And since Saul heard externally what God wanted him to do, all you've got to do is read the first of this chapter, because God gave him explicit directions. He heard audibly. He heard externally. But notice if you would what God says in verse 23, "Because thou hast rejected the word of the Lord, he hath also rejected thee from being king." So his disobedience, his non-hearing was considered a rejection of the word of God.

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• So obedience, he said, is better than sacrifice. And to hearken is better than the fat of rams. And the very obvious implication is Saul did not really hear. He heard, but he really did not hear. You remember what our Lord said in Luke 6 and verse 46? Our Lord asked this question, "Why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?" May I remind you that the word "Lord" is the Greek word kurios, which literally means boss, master, owner, sovereign. So I ask, why are you calling me sovereign? Why are you calling me Lord if you're not going to obey me? I want you to look in Luke chapter 6, because our Lord explains exactly what he means. So look in Luke chapter 6, if you would, please.

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• And let's begin reading at verse 46. Look at it. Luke 6, verse 46. Our Lord says, "And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?"

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• Now, in other words, if I'm your Lord, you're going to obey me. If I'm not your Lord, you're not going to obey me.

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• Now, he explains what he means. He said in verse 47, "Whosoever cometh to me, and heareth my sayings, and doeth them, I will shew you to whom he is like: He is like a man which built an house, and digged deep, and laid the foundation on a rock: and when the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently upon that house, and could not shake it: for it was founded upon a rock." Now watch. "But he that heareth, and doeth not..." Now, the man that did not obey, he heard as well, but he only heard externally. "But he that heareth, and doeth not, is like a man that without a foundation built an house upon the earth; against which the stream did beat vehemently, and immediately it fell; and the ruin of that house was great." So let me put it to you like this.

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• The absence of obedience indicates that you did not hear. So our Lord is making this exceedingly clear because those who really genuinely heard his words did them. Those who said they heard and did not obey did not really genuinely hear. Do you remember what our Lord said in John chapter 10? He said in verse 27, "My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me." The difference between a sheep and a goat is a sheep will follow when a goat will not. Our Lord said, "My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me."

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• So we have now two types of hearing, an external and audible, and we have an internal and spiritual. I want you to go back in your Bibles to Jeremiah chapter 13 because I want to ask you a question. I want you to see how God thinks concerning people who hear but do not obey. And then I could ask you, does this apply to you? Look in Jeremiah chapter 13 in verse 10. God says, "This evil people," and by the way, he's talking about Judah and Jerusalem. He's not talking about the heathen. He says, "This evil people, which refuse to hear my words, which walk in the imagination of their heart, and walk after other gods to serve them, and to worship them, shall even be as this girdle, which is good for nothing." Notice if you would, God says they are an evil people.

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• Now, what was God's original purpose for them? Well, look in verse 11. He says, "For as the girdle cleaveth to the loins of a man, so have I caused to cleave unto me the whole house of Israel and the whole house of Judah, saith the Lord; that they might be unto me for a people," that is, they should be his people, "and for a name, and for a praise, and for a glory."

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• Note, "but they would not hear." God said, "I intended them to be my people. I intended them to be a name, and a glory, and a praise, but they would not hear." Do you realize the problem that God had with his people in the Old Testament? They just refused to hear. They would not listen, they would not hear, and they would not obey. I want you to hold Jeremiah chapter 13. I want to show you several passages. I want you to turn back in your Bibles to 2 Chronicles chapter 36. 2 Chronicles chapter 36.

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• And let's begin reading there with verse 15. 2 Chronicles chapter 36 and verse 15. Watch carefully. Then we're going back to the book of Jeremiah and just go through the book of Jeremiah very quickly. But in 2 Chronicles 36 and verse 15, "And the Lord God of their fathers sent to them by his messengers, rising up betimes, and sending; because he had compassion on his people, and on his dwelling place." So let me just stop right there and point this out. Whenever God has compassion upon a people, he always sends his preachers. He always sends his prophets. He sends someone to preach and to teach his word. The pastor told me he was reading through the book of Judges.

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• I find it interesting that when the people began to cry out because of the oppression and the persecution that they were having because of the Midianites and some of the others... The Bible says, "And the Lord sent them a prophet." What? He didn't send them a warrior. He sent them a prophet. So when God is going to have compassion upon a people, he always sends someone to declare his word.

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• So watch it again in verse 15. "And the Lord God of their fathers sent to them by his messengers, rising up betimes, and sending; because he had compassion on his people, and on his dwelling place: But they mocked the messengers of God, and despised his words, and misused his prophets, until the wrath of the Lord arose against his people, till there was no remedy."

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• "Therefore he brought upon them the king of the Chaldees, who slew their young men with the sword in the house of their sanctuary, and had no compassion upon young man or maiden, old man, or him that stooped for age: he gave them all into his hand." Note, if you would, God had compassion on the people and sent his preachers, but they mocked the messengers of God. They despised God's word.

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• That is, they refused to hear. They refused to listen. They refused to obey. So if you will turn in your Bibles to the book of Jeremiah, chapter 7, and very quickly, let me show you how this problem was multiplied in the days of Jeremiah. We have the same problem, but look in Jeremiah, chapter 7 at verses 25 and 26. Jeremiah chapter 7, beginning there with verse 25, watch carefully.

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• God says, "Since the day that your fathers came forth out of the land of Egypt unto this day I have even sent unto you all my servants the prophets, daily rising up early and sending them: Yet they hearkened not unto me, nor inclined their ear, but hardened their neck: they did worse than their fathers." Yet they hearkened not unto me, nor inclined their ear. They would not listen.

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• Look in your Bibles to the book of Jeremiah chapter 11 verses 7 and 8. Jeremiah 11 verses 7 and 8. Again, God says it like this: "For I earnestly protested unto your fathers in the day that I brought them up out of the land of Egypt, even unto this day, rising early and protesting, saying, Obey my voice. Yet they obeyed not, nor inclined their ear, but walked every one in the imagination of their evil heart."

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• "Therefore I will bring upon them all the words of this covenant, which I commanded them to do; but they did them not." Look in Jeremiah chapter 25. Jeremiah chapter 25, at verses 3 and 4. Jeremiah 25 verses 3 and 4. Jeremiah says, "From the thirteenth year of Josiah the son of Amon king of Judah, even unto this day, that is the three and twentieth year, the word of the Lord hath come unto me, and I have spoken unto you, rising early and speaking; but ye have not hearkened. And the Lord hath sent unto you all his servants the prophets, rising early and sending them; but ye have not hearkened, nor inclined your ear to hear." Look in Jeremiah chapter 26, at verses 4 through 6. Jeremiah 26, verse 4. "And thou shalt say unto them, Thus saith the Lord; If ye will not hearken to me, to walk in my law, which I have set before you, to hearken to the words of my servants the prophets, whom I sent unto you, both rising up early, and sending them, but ye have not hearkened; then

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• will I make this house like Shiloh, and will make this city a curse to all the nations of the earth." Look in Jeremiah chapter 29 and verse 19. Jeremiah 29 verse 19. Again, God says, "Because they have not hearkened to my words, saith the Lord, which I sent unto them by my servants the prophets, rising up early and sending them; but ye would not hear, saith the Lord." Look in Jeremiah 32 and verse 33. Jeremiah 32 and verse 33. Again, he says it very plainly: "And they have turned unto me the back, and not the face: though I taught them, rising up early and teaching them, yet they have not hearkened to receive instruction." They turn to me the back and not the face. You know what it's like when someone turns their back on you? And the answer is, you really don't hear.

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• I have a good friend. Well, I had a good friend. He's now dead. I buried him a few years ago. I'm hard of hearing, he's hard of hearing. And we would talk to each other, face to face. And he would turn around to walk away, still talking.

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• Now I could hear sound, but I couldn't make out what he was saying. And I'd put my hand on his shoulder, and I'd catch him, and I'd spin him around. I'd say, "Don't turn around and talk. I can't hear you. Don't walk away talking to me." And then occasionally I'd say something to him and I'd turn and start. He'd put his hand on my shoulder and say, "Don't turn your back to me, I can't hear you." Well, this is exactly what God is saying. They turned their back to me. They weren't listening. They made sure that they could not hear. Wow.

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• Look in your Bible, Jeremiah 35 and verse 15. Jeremiah 35 and verse 15. He says, "I have sent also unto you all my servants the 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."

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• "But ye have not inclined your ear, nor hearkened unto me." You wouldn't listen. One last look at Jeremiah 44 at verses 4 and 5. It's astounding to me how often this is said just in the book of Jeremiah. And it's all through the scripture. But in Jeremiah chapter 44, beginning there with verse 4, God says, "Howbeit I sent unto you all my servants the prophets, rising early and sending them, saying, Oh, do not this abominable thing that I hate. But they hearkened not, nor inclined their ear to turn from their wickedness, to burn no incense unto other gods." Over and over throughout the book of Jeremiah, and over and over throughout the rest of scripture, God commands, He begs, He pleads, He threatens, He admonishes, He exhorts the people to incline their ear and to hear His word and obey His commandments. And over and over they ignore, they refuse, they fail to hear, they fail to heed, they fail to obey. And what did God do? God judged them, God chastened them, God whipped them, God delivered them over to their enemies over and over again.

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• They still would not hear. They still would not hear. Have you ever stopped to think about this? That many of the judgments that come upon us, not only as a family, but as a church, and even as a nation, is because we fail to hear and obey God. If you'll look in your Bible very quickly to the book of Amos. Daniel, Hosea, Joel, Amos. Look in Amos chapter 4, if you would, please. Amos chapter 4, and look, beginning there with verse 6. Look at it in Amos chapter 4, verse 6. I want you to see some of the things that God did to get the attention of His people. Amos 4, verse 6. God says, "And I also have given you cleanness of teeth in all your cities, and want of bread in all your places:" that is, famine.

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• "Yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the Lord." That didn't get your attention. Verse 7, "And also I have withholden the rain from you, when there were yet three months to the harvest: and I caused it to rain upon one city, and caused it not to rain upon another city: one piece was rained upon, and the piece whereupon it rained not withered. So two or three cities wandered unto one city, to drink water; but they were not satisfied: yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the Lord." Drought didn't get their attention. Verse 9, "I have smitten you with blasting and mildew: when your gardens and your vineyards and your fig trees and your olive trees increased,

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• the palmerworm devoured them: yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the Lord." All kind of plagues. He said in verse 10, "I have sent among you the pestilence after the manner of Egypt: your young men have I slain with the sword, and have taken away your horses;

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• and I have made the stink of your camps to come up unto your nostrils: yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the Lord." War didn't get their attention. Pestilence didn't get their attention. Verse 11, "I have overthrown some of you, as God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah, and ye were as a firebrand plucked out of the burning: yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the Lord. Therefore thus will I do unto thee, O Israel: and because I will do this unto thee, prepare to meet thy God." What's he saying? He's saying, "I've done this. You would not pay attention. You would not hear. You would not listen."

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• So let me ask you a question. Do you not consider it unnatural for a people not to hear their God? Do you not consider it unnatural for a child not to listen to his father? Stop and think about this. One of the most revealing passages in the Bible is found in Isaiah 1 in verse 3. You know what God said? "The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master's crib: but Israel doth not know, my people doth not consider." What? The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master's crib. But my people don't know. They don't consider.

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• I cannot even walk out in my pasture without all the cows running to me. But Allison, I will work on fences. Usually there's some cow rubbing up against me. And she has to watch my back. Oh, some of them have horns. Some of them do not. And I've got a 3000 pound bull that likes to rub up against me too. And I have to be very careful. Why? Because they know me.

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• Do you realize what God is saying? God is saying sometimes animals have more sense than his people. "The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master's crib: but my people doth not know, they do not consider," saith the Lord. They won't listen. They won't hear. I want you to look in your Bibles to the book of Jeremiah, chapter 35, and I want you to see at least a couple of illustrations. Jeremiah, chapter 35, and I would really like to take the time to read this chapter because there is a very, very important lesson in this chapter. Watch it very carefully. Jeremiah 35: "The word which came unto Jeremiah from the Lord in the days of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah, saying, Go unto 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 Jaazaniah the son of Jeremiah, the son of Habaziniah, and his brethren, and all his sons, and the whole 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 Igdaliah, a man of God, which was by the

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• chamber of the princes, which was above the chamber of Maaseiah the son of Shallum, the keeper of the door: And I set before the sons of the house of the Rechabites pots full of wine, and cups, and I said unto them, Drink ye wine. But they said, We will drink no wine: for Jonadab the son of Rechab our father commanded us, saying, Ye shall drink no wine, neither ye, nor your sons for ever: Neither shall ye build house, nor sow seed, nor plant vineyard, nor have any:

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• But all your days ye shall dwell in tents; that ye may live many days in the land where ye be strangers. 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. But it came to pass, when Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon came up into the land, that we said, Come, and 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. 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 ye not receive instruction to hearken to my words? saith the Lord.

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• 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 hearkened not unto me. I have sent also unto you all my servants the 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. Because the sons of Jonadab the son of Rechab have performed the commandment of their father, which he commanded them; but this people hath not hearkened unto me: 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 have pronounced against them: because I have spoken unto them, but they have not heard;

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• and I have called unto them, but they have not answered. 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 unto 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 for ever." Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, "Go and tell the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, Will ye not receive instruction to hearken to my words? saith the Lord." Wow.

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• Now, there are a number of observations that we must make on this passage. And the first one, I don't know if you've ever thought about it or not, but here it is. First, drinking wine or offering wine to someone is not sinful in and of itself.

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• Now, if you say it is, then you've got a real problem because it was God himself who commanded Jeremiah to offer this wine to these Rechabites. And by the way, he had them in the temple. You see, no alcohol is sinful in and of itself. Let me rephrase this. Nothing material is sinful in and of itself. Matter is not sinful in and of itself. Whenever you and I begin to place sin in anything material, then we have fallen into Greek dualism. We have fallen into what is known as Gnosticism. Gnosticism is an ancient heresy.

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• The Gnostics in the New Testament—and they're called Gnostics because it's from the Greek word ginosko, which means "I know"—and so they were people who claimed to have this special knowledge. And there were actually two types of Gnostics. One was the Docetic Gnostics, and it's from the Greek word dokeo, which means "I appear" or something that appears. And so the Docetic Gnostics always said that matter was inherently evil. So this pulpit would be evil, my arm would be evil, that water would be. Anything that's matter is evil in and of itself.

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• Now, before I explain this, I want you to look in your Bibles very quickly to the book of 1 John, chapter 1. I want you to see this. See, you cannot even understand the New Testament if you don't understand what I'm trying to tell you right now. Because the Apostle John is writing in 1 John against the Gnostics. And he's writing particularly against the Docetic Gnostics. Because since the Docetic Gnostics said that matter was inherently evil, they said that Jesus Christ did not have a real flesh and blood body.

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• That he was nothing more than a divine apparition. Because if Jesus Christ had a body, he had to be sinful because sin is in matter. So if you look in 1 John 1, look what he says in verse 1, "That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life; (For the life was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and shew unto you that eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us;) That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ." And then he goes on, but 1 John is written against these Docetic Gnostics.

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• Any time you place sin in something material, you've fallen into Greek dualism. You're saying, here is spirit and here is matter. Matter is evil, spirit is good. That's what you're saying. Now, let me just point something out. If you try to tell me that alcohol is sinful in and of itself, then you've got a problem with Jeremiah chapter 35. Because God is the one who told Jeremiah, "You get these Rechabites in here and you offer them this wine in the temple." And the Bible tells us very plainly in the book of James, chapter 1, verses 13 and 14, "Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man: But every man is tempted, when he is drawn

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• away of his own lust, and enticed." Sin is not in anything material, sin is in the heart. Because man is fallen, he can pervert anything. Drunkenness is a sin. Years ago, I was in New Jersey. I was there not just simply to preach, but also a good friend of mine was being ordained to the ministry and I was helping in the ordination. In fact, I was preaching the ordination sermon.

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• And it was the afternoon before the service that night and we were walking and he was coughing, hacking a little bit and reached in his pocket. He brought out this little bottle of cough syrup and took a swallow of it, capped it back up, put it back in his pocket. I was just teasing him. And I looked at him, I said, "John, why don't you just buy a bottle of wine and drink the wine and forget all that cough syrup?"

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• He said, "I would never do that." Why? I said, "Why not?" I said, "A bottle of wine is either 8 or 10, sometimes 12% alcohol, a whole bottle." I said, "Let me see that little bottle that you just stuck back in your pocket of that cough syrup." And I looked at it. 30% alcohol. I said, "No wonder you don't want to drink wine. You don't want to cut down on your intake." Yeah, I was just teasing but you understand if alcohol is sinful in and of itself, you can't take medicine because most medicine is alcohol-based. You could not take herbal tinctures because herbal tinctures are alcohol-based. You see what I'm saying? It is not sinful. Sin is not in anything material.

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• It's in the human heart. So when you get here and you see that God says, "All right, Jeremiah, bring him into the temple, offer him wine." By the way, wine was used in the offerings unto God as well. So you cannot locate evil in anything material.

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• Secondly, I want you to understand something. The Rechabites did not drink wine, period. They also did not build houses. They also did not plant vineyards. They also did not have olive yards. They did not have gardens. And by the way, I'll just point this out. If the Lord allows me to live to be, till September, I'll be 74. And I have never in my entire life had a beer. Never.

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• When I was 70, someone said—and I made that statement—someone said, "Well, you ought to have one." I said, "No, I've made it 70 years without one, I believe I can make it a few more years." I have no desire for it. But I'm just simply pointing out the fact these people did not drink wine. They were nomads. They did not live in a house. They lived in tents moving from place to place.

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• Now, let me ask you a question. Is it wrong? Is it sinful to have a house? I hope you would say no. Because most of you live in houses. Is it sinful to have a garden? No. Is it sinful to have a vineyard? No. Is it sinful to have fruit trees? The answer is no. What is the point of this? Here's the point that God is trying to make to his people.

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• These Rechabites honored the instructions of their father. They obeyed, they kept his commandments, even though his commandments were impractical, difficult, and of mere human origin. Their father said, "Don't ever build a house. Don't ever have a garden, don't ever have fruit trees, don't ever drink wine." They said, "Yes, sir. Yes, sir." So here were these instructions, here were these commands that were impractical and difficult. Exceedingly difficult. And yet they obeyed. And here is God, who's giving commandments that are holy, righteous, godly, and for our good. And yet they would not hear, and they would not obey. That is why God says, "Listen, you don't understand."

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• Look back in Jeremiah 35. Look in verse 14 again. He said, "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 hearkened not unto me." They listen to that man, but you won't listen to your God. Wow. And God says, "Because of this, I'll tell you what I'm going to do. I'm going to really, really judge you because you refuse to obey."

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• Now, let me give you another very quick illustration. You remember, Jeremiah was also put into prison. And while he's in prison, he couldn't preach. So he called his amanuensis, his scribe, his secretary, Baruch. And he says, "You write down everything I tell you." And so Baruch wrote it down. Then he took what he had written down and read it to the princes. And the princes said, "The king's got to hear this." So Jehudi was reading

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• this roll before the king. If you look in Jeremiah 36 verse 20, watch it. "And they went in to the king into the court, but they laid up the roll in the chamber of Elishama the scribe, and told all the words in the ears of the king. So the king sent Jehudi to fetch the roll: and he took it out of Elishama the scribe's chamber. And Jehudi read it in the ears of the king, and in the ears of all the princes which stood beside the king."

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• "Now the king sat in the winterhouse in the ninth month: and there was a fire on the hearth burning before him. And it came to pass, that when Jehudi had read three or four leaves, he cut it with the penknife, and cast it into the fire that was on the hearth, until all the roll was consumed in the fire that was on the hearth. Yet they were not afraid, nor rent their garments, neither the king, nor any of his servants that heard all these words." Isn't that amazing?

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• Of course, God had Jeremiah to write it again. But the king, "I'm not concerned." The Chaldean army was already surrounding them. But he refused to hear. So let me ask you this question. Do you not think it's strange that the Lord's professing people will not hear him? Do you not think it's strange that they will not obey him? Here's my question. Would you like to know what God thinks about his professing people who refuse to hear him and obey him? Let me show you. Go back in your Bibles to Jeremiah chapter 13. Go back to Jeremiah chapter 13. In this passage, God has instructed Jeremiah to do something very strange.

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• He told him to get him a new girdle, to put it on his loins, not to wash it, take it off and go to the river Euphrates and bury it. And then later he told him to go back and get that girdle. And when Jeremiah dug it up, it had rotted. It was rent. It was absolutely worthless. Look in verse 7, Jeremiah 13. He said, "Then I went to Euphrates, and digged, and took the girdle from the place where I had hid it: and, behold, the girdle was marred, it was profitable for nothing." Now if you really want to know the meaning of this exercise, you have to keep reading.

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• Why did God command Jeremiah to do this? It was a sign to Judah and Jerusalem. Look in verse 8. "Then the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, Thus saith the Lord, After this manner"—that is, just the way that girdle was marred—"after this manner will I mar the pride of Judah, and the great pride of Jerusalem. This evil people, which refuse to hear my words, which walk in the imagination of their heart, and walk after other gods to serve them, and to worship them, shall even be as this girdle, which is good for nothing." Did you hear what I just read? "This evil people which refuse to hear my words, which walk in the imagination of their heart, and walk after other gods to serve them and to worship them, shall even be as this girdle, which is good for nothing." I think it's proper to talk about good-for-nothing Christians. Wow. What does that mean? It means we're worthless. It means we're unprofitable. It means we're useless. Because we will not hear.

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• We will not hearken. John Gill, the Baptist commentator, in commenting on this verse, verse 10, says this: "As they were corrupt in their practices and were become useless and unserviceable to God, so they would be carried captive into a foreign country where they would be inglorious and unprofitable and uncomfortable in themselves and of no use to one another." Matthew Poole, another Puritan commentator, says this: "God expounds himself what he meant to teach the Jews by this, that he did intend that they should be consumed by the people beyond the river of the Euphrates as that girdle was marred."

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• And he also shows that their own sins and disobeying his word and following the imaginations of their own heart, particularly their idolatry, was what had brought this sore judgment upon them. God said, "This evil people, who refused to hear my words, shall be as this girdle, which is good for nothing." Let me try to push this together for you. You've got to remember verse 11. God said he intended these people to be for a name and for praise and for a glory and to be his peculiar people. Howbeit, because of their rebellion, because of their deafness, because of their lack of hearing and a lack of obedience, God now is going to bring reproach upon them.

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• They will become a byword. It should be properly noted that whenever we fail to hear the Lord and to walk according to his word, we end up walking after the imagination of our own heart.

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• Now, someone is going to say, "But Brother Weaver, I'm not going to bow down to a false idol. I'm not going to bow down to an idol of stone or an idol of gold or..." No. Well, you don't have to bow down to an idol of stone or gold or silver. If you're just walking after the imagination of your heart, that is idolatry. Because instead of obeying God, instead of hearing him and listening to him, you're doing what you think best. You've now just elevated your thoughts and your desires above God. And you're in essence saying, "I'm smarter. I know what is best. I do not have to listen to God." "This evil people," he said, "who walk after the imagination of their own heart." I said we could accurately talk about good-for-nothing Christians. But really and truly, there are no good-for-nothing Christians. They're always good for something. They're good for an example of chastisement and judgment. And that's exactly what God did to these people. He judged them. He destroyed them.

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• He said he's going to mar. Look at it. He said, verse 9, "Thus saith the Lord, After this manner will I mar the pride of Judah, and the great pride of Jerusalem." Do you know what's going to happen, folks? Our pride is either going to be marred to the extent that we humble ourselves before God and listen to him and admit and confess and acknowledge that God is right and we are wrong. It can be marred that way. Or it can be marred when God takes our nose and just rubs it in our pride and destroys us.

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• God said, "I'm going to mar it." God takes notice of the degrees of pride in the heart of man. All pride is sinful, but there are those who have great pride. And God says, "I'm going to mar it. I'll bring it down to nothing." I mentioned a verse last night. I want to mention it again. In light of what I've preached tonight, you need to make up your own mind and your own heart. You need to determine that you are not going to be a good-for-nothing Christian.

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• And it's not necessarily that which we do not know that troubles us so. It's that which we do know. For James 4:17 said, "Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin." And the truth of the matter is most of us know better. We know what's right. We just refuse to do it. We refuse to listen to God. We turn our ear away from him and we give him the back.

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• And we're saying, "I'm not listening. I'm not listening. I'm not listening." You can come to this church building, you can hear sermon after sermon after sermon. They could be the greatest expository sermons in the world, brought by the greatest orators in the world, but unless you obey, you have not heard. Unless your life is changed, unless you're brought into greater conformity to the Lord Jesus Christ and greater obedience to the word of God, you have not heard.

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• If you look at Jeremiah chapter 16 and verse 12. Jeremiah 16 and verse 12. Look what God says to these people. Do not be like these people. Jeremiah 16 verse 12, God says, "And ye have done worse than your fathers; for, behold, ye walk every one after the imagination of his evil heart, that they may not hearken unto me." When you do your thing and you ignore God and his word and his truth, you're walking after the imagination of your evil heart.

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• Do not commit this sin. You listen. You hear. You obey. You bring your life in conformity to the word of God. The greater the conformity to the word of God, the greater will be your blessings and the greater will be your peace. One verse that has always broken my heart is John 8:29, where our Lord said, "For I do always those things that please him." And I've often thought, "O God, if I could only do those things that always please you. How blessed my life would be." Our goal should be to be like Jesus Christ and to do always those things which please the Father. Father, in the name of Jesus Christ, we bow to thee this day.

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• We thank you for your word. We thank you for your truth. O Lord, we have to confess, we have failed to hear. We failed to obey. We failed to bring our lives in conformity to Jesus Christ. Although you've told us in Romans chapter 8 that we have been predestinated to be conformed to the image of Jesus Christ. And you've told us, Father, that we're to obey. Forgive us, Lord, for not listening, for not hearing. Forgive us for turning our backs unto thee and shunning thy truth and thy word. And give us, Lord, hearing ears and a hearing heart and a humble heart, an obedient heart. In the name of Jesus Christ, we ask and pray. Amen.

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deepseek | deepseek-v4-pro | clean_readable_transcript | 2026-06-06T01:13:39Z