Clean Transcript

The Sin Every Christian Commits

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• Well, there's a lot to cover tonight, so I want you to turn in your Bibles with me, if you would please, to the book of Jeremiah, chapter 13. And please keep your Bibles open because we will be looking at an awful lot of Scripture tonight as well. The message I'm going to be bringing is entitled, "The Sin That Every Christian Commits." The Sin That Every Christian Commits. Look at Jeremiah chapter 13 and let's read the first eleven verses.

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• "Thus saith the Lord God unto me, Go get thee a linen girdle, and put it upon thy loins, and put it not in water. 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 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 hid it. And, behold, the girdle was marred, and 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 own 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 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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• Now, if I were to ask you tonight, what is the sin that every Christian commits? I suppose I could get many, many answers and probably every answer that I got would be right. You could say, well, every Christian commits the sin of lust or the sin of covetousness or the sin of prayerlessness. We could go on and name sins of omission as well as sins of commission. So instead of outlining a lot of different sins tonight, I want to give you a sin which will cover everything that has just been mentioned and an awful lot more. And let me just tell you this, that the sin that every Christian commits is a sin that is committed not only on a daily basis, but it is especially committed on Sunday. You remember that old song, "Never on a Sunday"? But here is a sin that every Christian commits, especially on Sunday. You say, well, what in the world is this horrendous sin that you're talking about?

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• I'm going to show it to you from the Word of God and especially from Jeremiah 13. Let me tell you, it is the sin of refusing to hear the Word of God. For instance, when we come to church, especially on the Lord's Day, we sit and we listen. But somehow we never, ever really hear. We never really heed, we never really obey the Word of God. And the proof of that is very simple. Our lives are not changed, we never grow in grace and knowledge, and consequently, we're never transformed into the image of Christ, and we're never conformed to the Word of God.

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• Now, let me point out the fact that this sin that I'm dealing with today is what you and I would call a historical sin, because it is a sin that has been committed through all of the ages. In our text in Jeremiah chapter 13, this is primarily the sin of Judah and Jerusalem. And may I remind you, that Judah and Jerusalem particularly were to be the people of God. Certainly all Israel was.

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• But you remember after the northern kingdom apostatized and they made Jeroboam the son of Nebat their king, at least the southern kingdom for a while continued to act as if they were God's people. In fact, those people in the southern kingdom really had advantages. They had advantages not only over all the other nations, they had advantages even over all of Israel. You say, how can you say that?

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• Well, let me just show you. I want you to hold Jeremiah 13. We're coming back there. But look in your Bibles, if you would please, to Romans chapter 3. And then we'll go to Romans chapter 9. But notice in Romans chapter 3, beginning there with verse 1, the Apostle Paul is asking a question. Watch what he asks. Romans chapter 3 verse 1, "What advantage then hath the Jew, or the Judahite, that is someone of the tribe of Judah, what advantage then hath the Judahite, or what profit is there of circumcision? Much every way chiefly, because that unto them were committed the oracles of God."

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• Now there were many advantages that the Judahites had. Many advantages that the Israelites had, but chiefly, Paul said, this is the chief advantage that unto them were committed the oracles of God.

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• Now, we know that the tabernacle was in Judah. We know that the temple was in Judah. We know that the teaching priests, the Levites, were in Judah. Everything centered around the tribe of Judah and especially Jerusalem. That's where the temple was built. That's where the tabernacle was set up after David took over. But if you look in Romans chapter 9, there is certainly a further illustration of this truth. Romans chapter 9, beginning there in verse 4, here the Apostle Paul makes this statement.

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• He says this, "...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 forever. Amen." Now, notice if you would, he says in verse 4, "who are Israelites?" And then he begins to outline everything that pertained to Israel. He talks about the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the service of God, and the promises.

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• And most of these were particularly evident in the tribe of Judah, or especially the Southern Kingdom. Of course, Benjamin was in the Southern Kingdom as well. It certainly applied to all Israel, but if you were of the tribe of Dan, if you were of the tribe of Manasseh, if you wanted to worship God, you still had to come to Jerusalem. That's where the tabernacle was. That's where the temple was. That's where the teaching priests were. So I'm just simply pointing out the fact that here is a great advantage that Israel had, and Judah particular.

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• The law, the promises, the glory, the covenants were not given to the Babylonians or the Assyrians. No, no. It was given to Israel and particularly in the tribe of Judah. So Judah then had a definite advantage because the tabernacle and the temple were right there. So they had a greater responsibility to hear the Word of God. Now someone's going to object and they say, wait a minute, Pastor, but I hear the Word of God every Sunday. Or I hear the Word of God every Wednesday night when I go to church.

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• Well, let me explain something to you. According to the Bible, there are two distinct types of hearing. First of all, there is that external and outward hearing which you are doing right now. But there is secondly, that internal and spiritual hearing. One may hear externally and outwardly and never hear internally and spiritually. And let me just point out the fact, this is where 99% of all professing Christians are in their lives. They're in that group that hear externally and outwardly, but very seldom ever hear internally and spiritually.

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• How can I say that? Well, just stop and think about this. Some of you have been going to church for a long time. But have you ever thought about this? How is it that we can go to church so often, hear so many sermons, and know so little? The average Christian cannot explain justification, sanctification, election. They can't explain any major doctrine of the Bible. They may say, I believe it, but there's no way in the world they could ever defend it.

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• Let me ask another question. Have you ever noticed that Christians seemingly have the same problems in their lives that the unsaved people have? What in the world is that? How in the world can we trudge through life having the same problems over and over and never understanding and never experiencing the liberating power of the Word of God? There is something wrong with Christians when they have the same problem year after year. Everybody has problems. But we should learn from our problems and we should not have the same problems year after year. Why is there not a discernible difference between the Christians and the non-Christians, especially when it comes to problems?

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• Now, let me show you. I want you to turn in your Bibles, if you would, to 1 Samuel, chapter 15. We're coming back to Jeremiah 13, so just hold on there. But if you will turn in your Bibles to 1 Samuel 15, I hope you know this story. God has sent King Saul on a mission. And his mission is to utterly destroy all of the Amalekites. Man, woman, boy, girl, ox, suckling, ass, gosset, destroy everything. And you will remember the story how that it was Saul who spared Agag, the king of the Amalekites, and the best of the oxen, and the best of the sheep. Now, he destroyed all that was refused, but that which was the best, hey, he spared. And when Samuel, the prophet, started coming to Saul, Saul being the hypocrite that he was, he said to Samuel, "Blessed be thou of the Lord, I perform all of the word of God."

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• And about that time, something went bad. Samuel said, "Saul, if you've obeyed God, what meaneth then the bleating of the sheep and the lowing of the oxen in mine ear?" And you know how Saul then said the people spared them, that they might do sacrifice to God. Now, look in 1 Samuel 15 if you would, and let's begin reading there with 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, look what Samuel tells him. "And Samuel said, Hath the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord?"

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• "Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken is better than the fat of rams." Now just stop there and think about this. First of all, in this passage, God tells us that He would rather have our obedience than anything else. I don't care how many oxen you have. I don't care how many sheep you have. I don't care how much money you've got in the bank. I don't care how much you can give to God. God said I'd rather have your obedience than anything else.

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• Notice what he said in verse 22. "Hath the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as in obeying the voice of the Lord?" And then he makes this statement. "Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice and to hearken is better than the fat of rams."

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• Now, I'm not sure that you are aware of this or not, but in those offerings in the Old Testament, the fat was considered the chiefest part of the sacrifice, and it was always given to God. Now, notice what he said. "Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice." OK, "to hearken is better than the fat of rams."

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• Now, what has Samuel just said? He has just equated hearkening, hearing, and obeying as being synonymous. They're one and the same. Let me say it like this. No one ever really hears the Word of God until he heeds the Word of God. No one ever really hears the Word of God until he obeys the Word of God. So we may sit here and hear externally and outwardly, and we may walk out that door and say, "I heard the Word of God," which you did, externally and outwardly. But unless you apply it to your life and bring your life in obedience to it, you have really never heard the Word of God.

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• Now, let me show you. Look in your Bibles to the book of Luke chapter 6. Luke chapter 6. And let me begin reading there with a verse that everyone can quote, verse 46. And it's what follows verse 46 that I want to emphasize. But in Luke 6 and verse 46, our Lord makes an astounding statement. Listen to what he said. In Luke 6 and verse 46, our Lord asked, "And why called ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say? Why called ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?"

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• Now, let me just back up and tell you that the word "Lord" is the Greek word Kyrios, which means boss, owner, master, sovereign. So here's this question. Why are you calling me boss? Why are you calling me sovereign? Why are you calling me master if you're not doing the things which I say?

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• Now, look how he explains it, beginning with verse 47. Watch. "Whosoever cometh to me, and heareth my sayings, and doeth them, I will show you to whom he is like. He is like a man who built a house, and digged deep, and laid the foundation on a rock. And when the flood arose, and 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, is like a man that without a foundation built a house upon the earth, against which the stream did beat vehemently, and immediately it fell, and the ruin of that house was great."

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• Now, I want you to notice what our Lord asks. He asks, "Why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say unto you?" Then He says, let me give you an illustration. Let me explain what I mean. He that hears my word and does them, He equates the hearing and the doing or the hearing and the obedience or the hearing and the application with the man who really and truly hears. But he says the man who hears and does not, that is the man who does not obey, who does not really and truly apply, that man is never really heard.

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• That man's life is on a course of ruin and devastation. So our Lord is saying, look, there is a way that you hear and you obey. And there's also a way that you hear and you don't obey. So there's actually two types of hearing. So when someone says, well, I heard the word of God, well, you may or you may not. It was Augustine, one of the early church fathers, who said that he heard the word of God all of his life. And then one day he heard it. And that's true. We don't really hear until we obey. Do you remember what our Lord said in John 10 in verse 27? I'm sure you can quote this verse. Our Lord said, "My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me." The sheep hear, and the sheep follow.

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• Now, I want you to look back in your Bibles to Jeremiah chapter 13. That's our text. I'm going to make an application and explain it just shortly. But there's a lot that I want to show you in between. But if you look in Jeremiah chapter 13 and verse 10, and I want you to remember now that God is talking particularly about Judah and Jerusalem. In fact, read verse 9, "Thus saith the Lord after this manner will I mar the pride of Judah and the great pride of Jerusalem." Now remember, Judah and Jerusalem were part and parcel of God's covenant people. They were people who professed openly that they belong to the Lord. But look what he says in verse 10.

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• "This evil people who refuse to hear my words, who walk in the imagination of their hearts, and walk after other gods to serve them and to worship them shall even be as this girdle." Notice what he said, "this evil people who refuse to hear my words." Isn't that amazing? Well, did they not hear the reading of the law? Oh, yes. Did they not hear the teaching of priests and Levites? Oh, yes.

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• They heard audibly, they heard externally, but they never heard internally or spiritually. They did not obey. In fact, in verse 11, if you look there, look what 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,

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• and for a name, and for a praise, and for a glory." Here it is, "but they would not hear." God said, I had great designs for them, but they would not hear. Let me point out a problem. And this is a problem that has existed since the beginning. The problem is God's professing people refuse to hear him. They will not and they do not obey him. Let me just show you. I want you to turn first to 2 Chronicles chapter 36, and then instead of taking you all through the Bible, I'm just going to take you through the book of Jeremiah since we are in the book of Jeremiah. So look in your Bibles to 2 Chronicles chapter 36. And let's begin reading there with verse 15, 2 Chronicles 36, verse 15. I want to show you just one passage outside of the book of Jeremiah, so that you can see that this truth is elsewhere in Scripture. But notice in 2 Chronicles chapter 36, beginning there in verse 15. Here's what the Bible says.

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• "And the Lord God of their fathers sent to them betimes by his messengers, or sent to them by his messengers, rising up betimes and sending. Why? Because he had compassion on his people in his dwelling place. But what happened? What happened when God sent His Word, but they mocked the messengers of God and despised His Word, that is God's words, and misused His prophets until the wrath of the Lord arose against His people till there was no remedy." And what did God say? God said, I sent them My messengers. I sent them My prophets because I had compassion on them.

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• I wanted them to hear. I wanted them to obey. But what did they do? They mocked My messengers. They despised My words. They misused My prophets until My wrath arose against My people until there was no remedy.

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• Now, here is how people respond naturally normally to the Word of God. Look in your Bibles, if you would, to Jeremiah, chapter 7. Let me just show you several passages in Jeremiah, chapter 7. Notice, if you would, beginning there with verse 25. Jeremiah 7, verse 25. Just to show you this has been a historical problem, God says in Jeremiah 7, verse 25, "...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 hearken not unto Me, nor incline their ear, but harden their neck, and did worse than their fathers." Wow! God said, I sent, but no one would listen. Look in Jeremiah 11, verse 7. God says, "For I earnestly protested unto your fathers in the day that I brought them up out of the land of Egypt, even in 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 will I 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 25. Let me just point this out, and I hope as I read these verses to you that you're thinking the same thing that I do, and that's this. Some people just never learn. Some people just never learn. Look in Jeremiah, chapter 25, beginning there in verse 3.

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• "From the thirteenth year of Josiah the son of Ammon, king of Judah, even to this day, that is the third and twentieth year, so he's talking about ten years, the word of the Lord hath come unto me, and I have spoken unto you, rising early and speaking, but you have not hearkened. And the Lord hath sent unto you all his servants of prophets, rising early and sending them, but you have not hearkened, nor inclined your ear to hear." They would not listen to God.

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• Look in Jeremiah 26 and verse 5. In fact, let's read verse 4. Jeremiah 26, verse 4, "...and thou shalt say to them, Thus saith the Lord, if you 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 near, but you have not hearkened." Look in Jeremiah 29, verse 19. Jeremiah 29, verse 19. "Because they have not hearkened to my word, saith the Lord, which I sent unto them by my servants the prophets, rising up early and saying unto them, But you would not hear, saith the Lord." God says, I kept sending you my word, but you would not listen. Look in your Bibles to Jeremiah 32 and verse 33, Jeremiah 32 and verse 33. And by the way, you talk about an insult to God. Watch this, Jeremiah 32, verse 33. In fact, let's go back up to verse 32. Let's read verse 32, just so you can see the context.

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• We're talking about Judah and Jerusalem. "Because of all the evil of the children of Israel and of the children of Judah, which they have done to provoke me to anger, they and their kings and their princes, their priests and their prophets, and the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, 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." What did God say? They've turned to Me the back. Let me ask you, especially parents, when your children get a little older, might get to be teenagers, and they get that little rebellious streak in them, and here you're trying to help your child, you're trying to teach that child, and the child is so impotent and so stiff-necked, He turns His back to you while you're trying to talk to Him and walk on. Now, let me ask you. Be honest.

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• As a father, does that not infuriate you? Yes, it does. You know why? Because it's a slap in your face. What that child is saying is, I don't recognize your authority. I don't appreciate your advice and your counsel. And I refuse to listen to you. That's exactly what these people did. They showed God their back. They said, God, we're not going to listen to you. We don't appreciate your counsel. We don't respect your authority. We're going to do exactly that which we want to do.

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• Now, look at Jeremiah, chapter 35, verse 15. Jeremiah 35, verse 15. Notice what he says, Jeremiah 35, verse 15. We'll come back to this passage in a moment. God said, "I have sent also unto you my service 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."

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• "And you shall dwell in the land which I have given to you and your fathers, but you have not inclined your ear, nor hearkened unto me." Over and over now, God says, you just will not listen. And if you'll look in one last passage before I start making some applications, look in Jeremiah 44. In verses 4-5, the sin that every Christian commits is a historical sin. It's a refusal to listen to the Word of God. Look at Jeremiah 44, verse 4, "Howbeit I send unto you all my servants the prophets, rising early, and sending them, saying, O do not this abominable thing that I hate. But they hearken not, nor incline their ear to turn from their wickedness to burn no incense unto other gods."

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• So over and over throughout Scripture, here's what you find. God commands, begs, pleads, threatens, admonishes, and exhorts His people to hear His words and hear His commandments. And over and over in Scripture, they refuse, ignore, and fail to hear and heed His words and refuse to obey Him. He judged them. He chastised them. He whipped them. He delivered His people over to their enemies again and again, yet they would not hear. It seems as if nothing would get the attention of God's professing people. Let me show you how drastic the measures were that God took. Turn in your Bibles.

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• to the book of Amos chapter 4. Amos chapter 4. And we'll begin reading there with verse 6. Amos chapter 4 verse 6. Everyone has heard the old story about the farmer who sold the mule. And he told the man who bought the mule, the mule was very obedient, very compliant. Well, the man tried to get the mule to go and the mule refused to go. Finally, he called the old farmer back to sow the mule and said, look, that mule won't budge. I can't get him to do a thing. Oh, said the farmer, said, let me take care of it.

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• He walked up, picked up a tube of corn, hit him upside the head and said, now command him, now that you've got his attention. Well, you understand the joke, but it's no joke when it comes to God. Look in Hosea, I'm sorry, Amos chapter four, verse six, look what God says.

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• Now, once again, he's talking to his people. He's not talking to His enemies, He's talking to His people. "And I also have given you cleanness of teeth in all your cities, and want of bread in all your places. Look, yet have you not returned unto Me, saith the Lord." God said, I sent famine to get your attention, but you still wouldn't listen. You still wouldn't repent. Now, look what He says in verse 7. "And I also 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 into one city to drink water, but they were not satisfied. Yet have you not returned?" And he said the Lord." Now look what God says. God said, I sent famine. That didn't get your attention. Now I sent drought. Yet you still wouldn't listen. Now you're talking about famine and drought together.

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• But it gets worse. Look in 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, the palmer worm devoured them, yet you have not returned to me, saith the Lord."

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• Now, God said, look, I sent famine, that didn't get your attention. I sent drought, that didn't get your attention. And the trees and the vines that survived the drought, I sent palmer worms to eat and destroy. That still didn't get your attention. Well, what happens next? Look in verse 10. "I have sent among you the pestilence after the manner of Egypt. Your young men have I slain with a sword, and I have taken away your horses, and I have made the stink of your camps to come up into your nostrils."

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• "Yet have you not returned to me, saith the Lord." Now, I want you to note in verse 10, he's not only talking about disease, but he's also talking about war. He says, your young men have I slain with a sword. God said, yes, you haven't returned to me. Now, he's used famine. He's used drought. He's used pestilence. He's used disease. He's used war. Yet nobody pays any attention. And then he says in verse 11, "I have overthrown some of you as God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah and you were as a fire band plucked out of the burning, yet you've not returned to me, said the Lord."

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• In other words, here were some supernatural judgments, some miraculous judgments. And yet what does God say? He still didn't listen. You wouldn't listen to famine. You wouldn't listen to drought. You wouldn't listen to insects devouring your crops. You wouldn't listen to pestilence. You wouldn't listen to war. You wouldn't listen to miraculous judgments against you. You just will not listen. Nothing seemingly gets your attention. Look in verse 12. "Therefore, thus will I do unto you Israel, and because I will do this, prepare to meet thy God." And by the way, when he tells them, prepare to meet thy God, it's not going to be a blissful reunion. What it means is he's going to judge them. He's going to kill them. Wow. You know why? They wouldn't listen. They would not hear or heed or obey the Word of God. If you look in your Bibles, Isaiah chapter 1, here's a verse to show you how unnatural it is for people not to hear their father and their God. Notice in the book of Isaiah chapter 1 and verse 3, look what God says.

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• "The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master's crib. But Israel doth not know, my people doth not consider." In this passage, God says that His people are oftentimes dumber than dumb beasts. I have cows. I call them and they come. Everyone knows where to go to eat. They know their stall. They know my voice. And I can take, and I usually feed with a golf cart, but I can take that golf cart. And boy, when they see that golf cart, they immediately begin coming to that golf cart. They want that golf cart. They know food's in that golf cart. My father, before he died, had hundreds of cows. He would go out in the field with a truck, and the cows would just swarm his truck.

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• They knew who fed them. They knew who their master was. This is what God said in Isaiah 1 and verse 3. "The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass knoweth his master's crib, but Israel doth not know. My people doth not consider." So He says sometimes, we're worse than dumb animals. We just will not hear. We will not listen.

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• Now, if you look in your Bibles to Jeremiah 35, I want to take the time to read this in light of Jeremiah 13. That's our text. And we're coming back to Jeremiah 13 in just a moment. But here is a wonderful illustration of how ridiculous it is not to hear the Word of God. I want to take the time to read Jeremiah 35, all 19 verses. I want you to follow me. Watch. "The word which came unto Jeremiah from the Lord in the days of Joachim, 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 Jeazaniah, the son of Jeremiah, the son of Habazaniah, and his brethren, 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, who was by the

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• chamber of the princes, which was over the chamber of Messiah, the son of Shalom, 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 to them, Drink ye wine. But they said, We will drink no wine. For Jonadab, the son of Rechab, our father, commanded us, saying, You shall drink no wine, neither ye nor your sons for ever, neither shall you build houses, nor sow seed, nor plant vineyard, nor have any but all of your days you shall dwell in tents, that you may live many days in the

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• land where you be strangers. Thus have we obeyed the voice of Jonadab, the son of Rechab, our father, and all that he hath charged us, to drink no wine all of our days, we, our wives, our sons, and our daughters, nor to build houses for us to dwell in, neither have we vineyard, nor field, nor seed. But we have left in tents, and have obeyed, and done according to all that Jonadab, our father, commanded us. But it came to pass, when Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, came up into the land, that we said, Come, and let us go up 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, and Jeremiah saith, 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 word, saith the Lord? The words of Jonadab, the son of Rechab, that he commanded his sons not to drink wine, are For to this day they drink none, but obey their father's commandment.

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• Notwithstanding, I have spoken unto you rising early and speaking, but you have not hearkened unto me. I have sent unto you also all my servants the prophets rising up early and sending them, saying, Return ye now every man from his evil way, and amend your doing, and go not after other gods to serve them. And you shall dwell in the land which I have given you, and to your fathers.

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• But you have not inclined your ear, nor hearken 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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• 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 you have obeyed the commandment of Jonadab your father, and kept on 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 for a man to stand before me for ever." Now, I want you to note what God says. God tells Jeremiah, To get the Rechabites into the temple and to offer them wine. Tell them to drink the wine.

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• And that's exactly what he did. Now, there's several implications here. First of all, let me make a statement. I'm not preaching on this tonight, but I'm just explaining. There is nothing material that is sinful in and of itself. Sin is in man's heart. It is not anything material. This table is not sinful. This microphone is not sinful. Alcohol is not sinful in and of itself. If it was, you couldn't have any medicines because all of your medicines are basically alcohol-based. Even your herbal tinctures are alcohol-based. Alcohol or wine is not necessarily sinful in and of itself.

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• If you want to say it is, then you've got a real problem. Theologically, because the Word of the Lord came to Jeremiah and told Jeremiah to offer this to these Rechabites. And that's exactly what he did. You've got to remember, in those days, they drank wine the way we drink tea. I mean, it was just simply a common thing back in those days. So he offered it to them. And they said to Jeremiah, we're not going to drink any wine. Well, why would they not drink wine?

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• Not because they thought it was evil, not because they thought it was sinful. They said we're not going to drink any wine because our father, Jonadab, commanded us not to drink any wine, not to build any houses, not to plant any vineyards, not to sow any seed, and we've obeyed Him. And we're not going to drink anyway.

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• Now, let me show you the point of Jeremiah 35. The point is very simple. The Rechabites honored their father's instructions and they kept their father's commandments. Jonadab's instructions and commandments were impractical. They were difficult. They were from a mere human origin. But none of those things deterred the Rechabites from obedience.

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• Now, you contrast that with God's commandments which are righteous and pure and holy and for our good. Yet, the people would not hear. They would not obey. They would not listen. The interesting thing is this. Skip down to verse 14. Jeremiah 35, verse 14. Look what he says. "The words of Jonadab, the son of Rechab, that he commanded his sons not to drink wine are performed unto this day. They drink none, but obey their father's commandment.

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• Notwithstanding, here it is, I have spoken unto you, rising early and speaking, but you hearken not to me. I have sent also unto you all my servants the prophets, rising early and sending them, saying, Return you now, every man, from his evil way, and amend your doings. Go not after other gods to serve them. Watch, that you shall dwell in the land which I have given to you and to your fathers.

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• But you have not inclined your ear, nor hearkened unto me." He wouldn't listen.

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• Now let me ask you a question. Would you not find it extremely impractical and difficult not to live in a house? Wouldn't you find it impractical and difficult to never have a garden, never have a fruit tree, never have a grapevine? The Rechabites obeyed their father's instruction in all of those things. No matter how impractical, no matter how difficult, they obeyed. And Judah and Israel and Christians today refuse to obey the pure, holy Word of God which is for our good and for His glory.

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• Now, before I go back to Jeremiah 13, since we're in Jeremiah 36, let me show you another example. This time, the example deals with the civil rulers. Jeremiah has been preaching, and guess what? They don't like Jeremiah's preaching, so in Jeremiah 36, they throw him in the dungeon. He's written the words of the Lord. He can't preach because he's in the dungeon, so he gets Baruch, his secretary, and he dictates to Baruch, and Baruch then goes and reads the words of Jeremiah. Well, let me show you what happened. Look in Jeremiah 36, beginning there with verse 20.

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• "And they went into the king, into the court, and they let up a roll in the chamber of Elisha, mother scribe. That was the roll that Baruch recorded Jeremiah's words 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 Elashimah the scribe's chamber, and Jehudi read it in the ears of the king and in the ears of all the princes which stood before the king.

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• Now the king sat in the winter house, and the ninth month 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 a penknife and cast it in 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 ripped their garments, neither the king nor any of his servants that heard all these words." Ah, so it's not just the people who refuse to hear the Word of God, it's the king. It's the princes. It's the civil rulers. And they were unafraid. Why? They had no regard for God.

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• They did not respect His authority. And they just simply said, we will not listen.

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• Now, let me ask you, don't you think it's strange that the Lord's professing people will not hear Him? Don't you think it's strange that a child will not listen to his father or mother? My wife can tell you one of the things that I absolutely despise, and I tell her, I will not have an animal that will not obey me. I can't stand that. I don't even want a grandchild that will disobey me. I want a child to be obeyed as the Word of God commands.

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• My youngest grandson just turned 16, and when he was about 8 or 9, I asked him to do something for me. And he looked at me and he said, "Papa, I don't want to do it." I said, "I respect that, son, and so since you don't want to do it, I will give you a choice. You may either do it or you may get a whipping and do it." He said, "Papa, I think I'll just do it." I said, "I think you're a wise son."

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• Now, you understand what I'm saying? If I will take it as an insult and I would, that my child or my grandchild would not obey me. What do you think it is like? To a holy, righteous, sovereign God, when we thumb our noses in His face and clench our fists and say, we will not listen to you. Now, I want to take all this and put it together. I want you to go back to Jeremiah 13. Jeremiah 13 is a wonderful passage. But in Jeremiah chapter 13, God commands Jeremiah to do something that you and I would count very strange. What is it that God commands him to do?

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• Well, look in verse one, "Thus saith the Lord unto me, Go and get thee a linen girdle, and put it upon thy loins, and put it not in water." All right, you get yourself a new girdle, you put it on, you don't wash it. Verse 2, "So I got a girdle according to the word of the Lord, and I put it on my loins. The word of the Lord came unto me the second time, saying, Take the girdle that thou hast got, which is upon my loins, and arise, go to the Euphrates, and hide it there in a hole of the rock. So I went and hid it by the Euphrates, as the Lord God commanded me." So he has this girdle. He wears it. It becomes soiled. He takes it off, he goes to the river Euphrates, he digs a hole, he buries it. Now, the river rises and falls, and everybody knows what water does to garments, especially a linen garment. And hey, it's there. But watch verse 6. "And it came to pass, after many days that the Lord sent unto me, Arise, go to the Euphrates, and take the girdle from thence, which I commanded thee, to hide there.

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• Then I went to the Euphrates and digged, and took the girdle from the place where it was hidden. And behold, the girdle was marred. It was profitable for nothing."

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• Now, you've got to ask yourself this question. Why did God command Jeremiah to do what you and I would call such an insane thing? Why get a girdle, wear it, take it off, bury it, go back and get it? And now the girdle, when you pick it up, it just falls apart. It's rotten. You can't wear it. You can't do anything with it. Well, watch. Here's what it means. Look in verse 7. "Then I went to the Euphrates and digged and took the girdle from the place where I hid it. Behold, the girdle was marred.

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• It was profitable for nothing. Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying, Thus saith the Lord, after this manner will I mar the pride of Judah and the great pride of Jerusalem. This evil people, remember he's talking about his people, who refuse to hear my words, who walk in the imagination of their own heart and walk after the other gods to serve them and to worship them, shall even be as this girdle which is good for nothing." Oh, wait, wait.

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• Did I read that right? What did God say? God said, Jeremiah, you had that girdle.

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• Now you go back and get it. You dig it up and it's worthless. It's useless. It's rotten. It's not good for anything. God says, here's the application of that. This evil people who will not hear my words shall be as this garment, which is good for nothing. Wow. Do you realize it is proper and it is biblical to talk about good-for-nothing Christians. That's what God said about His people. They're good for nothing. Christians who will not hear, who will not heed, who will not obey, who will not apply the Word of God to their lives are basically good for nothing. They're worthless. They're useless. They're unprofitable.

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• I got news for you folks. That is God's attitude toward those who will not hear. I preached for 42 years. I have seen people sit in church year after year after year after year and never, ever have one change in their life and yet they're willing to profess to be God's people and profess to be Christians and they go on and on in the same old sins and the same old trouble and the same old problems. Nothing ever affects them. God says, those who will not hear, or like that girdle, good for nothing. Those are God's words in verse 10, not mine. Let me give you what two commentators said on this verse. Two respectable commentators, just to show you I'm not making this up.

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• This has been a historical interpretation. Here's John Gill, one of the old Baptist preachers. He says this. Commenting on verse 10, "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, uncomfortable in themselves and of no use one to another." Then Matthew Poole says it like this, "God expounds Himself what He meant to teach the Judahites by this, that He did intend that they should be consumed by the people beyond the river Euphrates as that girdle was marred.

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• And He also shows them that their own sins in disobeying His Word and following the imagination of their own hearts, particularly their idolatry, was what had brought this sore judgment upon them." Now, what did Jeremiah say? Jeremiah wrote, "this evil people. This evil people who refuse to hear my words shall be even as this girdle, which is good for nothing."

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• Now, let me make some applications tonight, and I want you to think with me. Look in verse 11, Jeremiah 13, verse 11. "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.

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• But they would not hear." Now what did God say? God said, I had intended Judah and Jerusalem to be for me a praise and an honor and a glory. I wanted them to be built up. It's just like a girdle on a man, and especially if you would think of the girdle on the high priest, that curious girdle which was for beauty and for glory, the Bible says.

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• It was supposed to be something that would be honorable and right. God said, I wanted to have you as a showpiece, but now, God says, you have refused to hear My Word and you have become what He calls an evil people and are good for nothing. In other words, it is our sins. It is our rebellion. It is our refusal to hear and heed and obey and apply the word of God that brings such reproach upon us. Now, let me show you something else. Look in verse 10. Here's another application. He says "this evil people who refuse to hear my words, who walk in the imagination of their heart and walk after other gods to serve them and to worship them." People, listen. It should be properly noted that when we fail to hear God, when we fail to obey Him, when we fail to walk after His Word, we are walking after the imagination of our own hearts.

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• which is idolatry in and of itself. You do not have to bow down to an idol of stone to be an idolater. All you have to do is walk according to the imagination of your own heart. The Bible tells us, "let this mind be in you which also was in Christ Jesus." The Bible says that we're to bring every thought into subjection and captivity to Jesus Christ. When we refuse to hear and heed and obey the Word of God, we're walking in the imagination of our own hearts. We're doing that which we think best for ourselves. Here's a third application. Although I mentioned earlier, it is proper and right to talk about good-for-nothing Christians because that's what God said in verse 10. These evil people, they're good for nothing. In one sense of the word, they are good for something. They're good for chastisement, and they're good for judgment.

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• Do you remember that passage in Hebrews chapter 12? "Whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth, and he scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. If you be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are you bastards and not sons." You see, let me put it out to you like this. God has ordained it that we are either living a changed life or a chastised life. The Bible says in the book of Micah chapter 6 and verse 9, "Hear ye the rod and him who hath appointed it." So God is going to speak to us first by His Word. If we hear His Word, He does not need the rod. But if we refuse to hear the Word, the rod will always fall.

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• So those Christians whom God calls good for nothing, they're in reality good for one thing. They're good for chastisement. And they're also good for an example to others not to disobey God and not to refuse to hear Him. I want you to notice something else. Look in verse 9. God takes notice of men's pride. God says in verse 9, "Thus saith the Lord, After this manner will I mar the pride of Judah and the great pride of Jerusalem." There are degrees in pride. You know, the Bible says "God resisteth the proud, but He gives grace to the humble."

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• The word "resist" literally means fights against. God fights against the proud, but He gives grace to the humble. Pride goes before destruction and a haughty spirit before downfall. Let me tell you something. The surest way to be brought down by God is to exalt yourself in pride. You lift yourself up. And I can assure you that God is going to bring you down. He's going to put you in the dust and show you that your pride is absolutely nothing. And it is justice, it is God's righteous justice to destroy our pride and mar our gifts when we are proud and arrogant of Him in disobedience to Him and His Word.

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• You've got to remember this. God did not even spare His temple. He brought it to ashes because of the people. Remember the disciples said to our Lord, "see these great stones?" And our Lord said, "verily, there shall not be one stone left." But I get through with it. The more you exalt yourself in pride, the more you're going to be humbled by God. He'll kick the feet out from under you. Here's my last application. We need to determine in our hearts that we're not going to be good for nothing Christians. We need to determine in our hearts that we're going to hear the Word of God, that our lives are going to be changed. And by the way, the only way our lives can be changed is if we apply the Scripture to our hearts. If you walk out this door tonight, and you are never changed, and you are never more obedient, and you never conform yourself to the Word of God, mark it down. You have not heard tonight. But if you say, I'm not going to be a hearer only, but I'm going to be a doer of the Word, as James teaches, then you've probably really heard.

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• You know what the Bible says in James 4 and verse 17? "Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not to him, it is sin." Now think about that. Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not to him, it is sin. If you know you ought to obey and you don't, it's sin. If you know you ought to apply the Word of God and you don't, it's sin.

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• My wife and I had some dear friends who were older than we were. In fact, they have children older than we are. They're both dead now, but they counted us as their children, and we were always invited to a family reunion every time they had one. And I was in a meeting, and we left the meeting and came right to the family reunion. And we always called them Mama and Papa, like I say, although we were not related. And when I got there, Francis, one of the daughter-in-laws, began to bombard me with questions, one right after the other.

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• And I was answering them as best I could. And finally, Papa Morris looked at Francis, and "Francis, why don't you shut up and leave him alone? Can't you see he's tired?" Francis said, "because, Papa, I don't know the answer to these questions, and it bothers me." And I've never, ever forgotten what that old man said. He said, "huh, it's not what I don't know that bothers me. It's what I do know."

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• "Therefore, to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin." What we do know should bother us as well as what we don't know. One last verse. I want you to look in Jeremiah 16 and verse 12. Jeremiah 16, verse 12. Make up your mind that you will not be like these evil people that our Lord talks about. Who professed to be the people of God? Jeremiah 16, verse 12, look what our Lord says, "And you have done worse than your fathers. For behold, you walk every one after the imagination of his evil heart, that they may not hearken unto me." Isn't that interesting? He says you're walking after the imagination of your evil heart. Why? That you may not hearken unto me. In other words, you not only will not, you're purposely doing this so you will not listen to me. You want your own will and your own wording. So he says you're worse than your fathers. Make up your mind that you're not going to be a good for nothing Christian, that you're going to hear the Word, you're going to obey the Word, you're going to apply the Word, and you're going to bring your life in conformity to the Word of God.

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• Let's pray. Father, we are thankful tonight for Jesus Christ, our Lord. We do ask that you would teach us, build us up in the most holy faith, and show us the absolute importance of hearing and obeying the Word of God. Give us grace that we may serve Thee acceptably with reverence and godly fear. In Thy name we pray, Amen.

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• We hope that we'll all take heed to what you've had to say to us through the Lord. I want to remind you tomorrow night we will be next door at Second Baptist Church, and 7 o'clock tomorrow night and Friday night as well. We don't, as most of you know, we don't, nor does he demand that we pay Pastor Newell when he comes up here to speak. So, any free will offerings you'd like to give, you can give to Miss Alice out there at the table, tapes and CDs and books and so forth as well.

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• Also just wanted to make a mention of something I found out this week. Many of you know and follow Dr. Chuck Baldwin. He has a radio program, website, chuckbaldwinonline.com if I'm not mistaken. And we have in our midst two of his recognized Black Road Regiment pastors. Pastor Weaver and Pastor Romo, he's made a list of, or collecting a list of men that are willing to stand, as did the Black Grove Regiment in the early formation years of this country. And both of you men have been so nominated, so we're pleased the Lord has made that so.

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• You're dismissed, and we hope we'll see you tomorrow night. Feel free to visit with each other, and Pastor Weaver, and barraging with those questions of things you don't know the answers to.

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deepseek | deepseek-v4-pro | clean_readable_transcript | 2026-06-06T04:02:03Z