1202. Proclamation to the Faithful

Welcome to The Daily Platform from Bob Jones University in Greenville South Carolina today on The Daily Platform were continuing a series from seminary chapel on proclaiming the invincible word in the canceled culture today speaker is Dr. Gary Reamer's pastor of cornerstone Baptist Church in Greenville, South Carolina. We are under constant pressure to adopt the changing cultural norms of our society. Sometimes that pressure is overt, intense and insistent while other times it is more subtle and more intangible but it's always at work trying to turn people away from God's way. That's a powerful influence in Jeremiah 35. One place where God presents the answer, but it does so in an unusual way.

This is a dramatic portrayal at a dramatic object lesson that that clarifies the issues involved. When people are in a society facing that kind of pressure are pressure is and is great in our day. That kind of pressure is not new. It was already going on in Jeremiah's day, example in chapter 35 is a family, a clan known as the Ricoh bites the message here is a call to guard your heart to listen to God that God is speaking through his word. Wants to do that this morning he wants to do that in every Bible class that you take.

You want to do that every time you open his word. You have to guard your heart to make sure you are inclined to listen because that goes against all the voices in our world today was a good end of this passage. This falls naturally into two parts versus one through 11 are the portrayal and the end and the hands-on lesson that God wants us to derive from the from what he describes in these verses, and so the example here is a family.

This family has an ancestor's name is Johnny Depp. Johnny Depp is the son of re-cab and so the family goes by Johnny Depp's father's name, but Johnny Depp is the key character here in in this story.

The story tells us that a father has authority over his children as an authority that many fathers are hesitant to to take advantage of, and to impose on their family date.

We all, of course, do so to some degree, but when it comes to life long decisions. Children have to make up your own mind right or not, Johnny Depp's experience. He commanded his people is descendents and is expecting obedience that obedience as this passage opens faces a test.

This is actually a low spiritual point for the people of Israel is worth one tells us this episode took place during the days of the holy account.

I do imagine a lower point for God's people than the reign of Jehoiada, Kim the instruction the Jeremiah not going to go through all of the verses of remind you of the story read this before you don't have time to read all the verses but God instructed Jeremiah to locate there in the city of Jerusalem, the clan of the Ricoh bites might be somebody that Jeremiah has hardly paid any attention to, they tended to be on the outskirts of society, but they were there in Jerusalem and he'll tell us why they are there, and he instructs them instructed Jeremiah to bring the family into the temple, and in one of the chambers of the temple, he is to offer them wine to drink and so then Jeremiah relates that he located this family name some of the leaders of the family verse four.

He says I brought them into the house of the Lord into the chamber, and he describes the particular place you might've thought one of the chambers of the temple thought there only to. There is the holy place and the holy of holies, which one is he going to use what actually there were some others and I'm going to go ahead here just a bit because I found this in the ESV study Bible. It's a drawing based on all of the instructions that we have in the and descriptions we have in first kings of the construction of the temple and so you see the holy place and the holy of holies represented there. But on the outside walls are all of these other rooms. In fact, there are three stories high, and access each one of them. Some of those are storage rooms, others are apartments where officials in the temple could live but I'll probably just temporarily while they are on duty, they would cycle off duty for a period of time. Go back to their own homes, but Dick one of these chambers was instruction the Jeremiah so he did that and the assembled all the family of the Ricoh bites in verse five and placed before them, pots or vessels are pictures of wine and cups and he said unto them, drink wine that's the test it's a test because these very same people have been commanded by their ancestor Johnny Depp not to do that. This is God directing so this is not a temptation. God doesn't tempt people to sin. This is a demonstration demonstration of the grace that God can make available to do what they ought to do. We are now 250 years after Johnny Depp and these people are facing a test because they had already committed themselves to obey their ancestor's go back up on this case as described here involves what we call personal convictions. The issue right at the forefront is a matter of drinking wine that was not a matter of command for God. There is no command that says do not drink wine and under any circumstances.

In fact, it was an acceptable practice not just among the wider society as it is in our day as well. It was acceptable among God's people acceptable to the Lord, we have to understand, there was a difference and what they were drinking that have alcoholic content. Of course there is no other way for it to be preserved without refrigeration or modern canning process. So yes there was an alcoholic content.

There was limited to natural fermentation and virtually all of the historical and archaeological evidence says that they always mix their wine with water, typically with three parts water, one part wine that's not just the standard for God's people.

There was no distinction between God's people in the wider society. That's where we get a vast majority of our historical and archaeological evidence laws. It's mixed it violation of biblical principle and so what drop what the Jeremiah setting in front of the Ricoh bites that day in one of the chambers of the temple is not a violation of any command of God is will see it is a violation of their ancestors command, but this is a personal conviction on the part of that ancestor. In verses three through five.

This includes sum up what we could see as reasonable pressures bring them into the temple that be an intimidating experience when you think is individuals are probably never been that close to the holy place ever before in their lives and who's instructing them to drink wine. It's none other than Jeremiah, a well respected prophet of God among those who take God's word seriously. And besides, there is tasty. These people don't drink wine for their pretty much limited to water and may be some milk on occasion there was nothing else. There was no other beverage for them to drink. This would have been a challenging circumstance in all of those respects and we get there answer. Beginning in verse six, but they said we will drink no wine. Why for John a dab, the son of re-cab our father commanded us, saying you shall drink no wine, neither ye nor your sons forever. This wasn't just during his lifetime now long over forever.

Our family is not going to do this and is not done.

He issued some more commands. Verse seven, neither shall ye build a house nor sow seed nor plant in your nor have any of the but all your days you shall dwell in tents that you may live many days in the land where EPH strangers, other commentary literature has a strong element of opinion about John a dab and his personal standards. The opinions allow widespread is that this is ridiculous. These are random issues that he settled on. These are just things he thinks would be best personal preference for him and he is imposing this on his family, even suggesting that he should've done that and furthermore their dad is dead now that I have no obligation to continue to follow the ants the commandments that he gave to them, but remarkably they still do as he they want to remove the content of the commands entirely from the point of the chapter. All the chapter is about is that a father gave commands what he commanded. Doesn't matter. Actually the kind of weird, but that he commanded, and they obeyed.

That's all there is to this point. I think though that they overlook some evidence in the text.

Some of it occurs already in verse seven where he commands them all these things. For this reason that the end of verse seven that she may live many days in the land where ye be strangers, aliens, and their own society in their own country. What could prompt this man to want his descendents forever to live as nomads with a degree of separation, but they were not hermits. People that plant no garden.

The that there essentially like modern Bedouins. There dependent on their animals that they raise and in graves from place to place, and there also dependent on trade and the some of the things they got to have other kinds of food and they they're not raising it themselves, so they're not entirely separate from society.

But there is a removal here into very deliberate phrase that you may live many days in the land is not just prescribing a lifestyle that's healthier you live longer if you live like this.

He seems to be responding to a couple of things one is God's promise. Just promise that if you follow my ways obey God, that God would would extend the opportunity to serve him will will see God confirming that by the end of the chapter. The something else here as well. Something else we need to know about Johnny Depp. Remember the account of Jay who, when he killed the of the current king and the neighboring king and took over the government and as he is in the midst of of of the taking over this and this coup he he was a military general. He was in his chariot and he came across a man by the name of Johnny Depp and he extended his hand and it was a greeting and looking for for somebody that would affirm the good things that he's doing brings them up into his chariot and he says, come see my zeal for the Lord that Johnny Depp is the son of re-John a dab Johnny Depp.

It's the same name just a slightly different spelling. Johnny Depp when he brought was brought up in that. That's because Jay who already knew that John a dab was really concerned about the direction of their society about the prevalence of bail in their day and Jay who wanted Johnny Depp to see his zeal for the Lord, which included trying to eradicate realism from the land of Israel. That's the John a dab that here sensitive to the issues of society and apparently able to discern the harmful direction that society and in their current culture would have on his family decided he needed to institute some safeguards and so these safeguards he has designed because he and perceive there's danger here and I want to help protect my family.

See the content here is integral to this message, he could see it when many others couldn't and he was willing to make some changes in his own life that we would say deprived him of some things that I was actually hard to see how there's anything wrong with it as long as you follow the biblical standards what's wrong with wine. What could possibly be wrong with planting a garden in your backyard and a house. Why do we have to avoid houses, Johnny Depp's motivation is. I just don't want myself or my family to be that close to society associating that closely. We need to have some distinctions here, and even the stations that Thomas might seem to be arbitrary.

That's always the nature of personal convictions. Somebody has a personal conviction, that is something where there is no explicit command in Scripture and two other people I don't see why personal convictions are a personal way to obey God to follow his ways and not be just like other people in this world.

Fathers can perceive danger and when the issue commands God's plan is that children must obey their parents the testimony through verse 11 then is from the current Ricoh bites there in that chamber in the temple talking to Jeremiah and they explain we been obeying 250 years later and the current Ricoh bites are still obeying God we get no sense here that their attitude is can you believe it.

These monstrosity commands is given to us and we still have to obey.

I think he also succeeded in passing on the motivation. They're okay with the distinctions they have to explain up. We are currently living in Jerusalem. That's because of the Babylonians there. There they making a better life dangerous over here but is only temporary son is at danger is gone, were ready to move back. I knew a man wants that we were having lunch together and people serving the table, brought us up a bowl of potato chips.

I handed it to him and his all and no thanks okay potato chips today. That's okay, but he felt compelled to give an explanation as I don't eat potato chips was unaware that this this man had quite a health consciousness and is a well it's actually not directly related to health and although he says I think I missing anything valuable here, but he says I noticed years ago a weakness in one of my sons, a weakness that pertain to food and other areas, but food as well, and he said we made a pact back then that neither of us would eat potato chips and that's kind of a low the biblical convictions standard right.

The point is, he discerned a problem and he took steps to put up some guardrails hoping that his son would not just get victory over potato chips, but food and indulgences of a wider scale, and even beyond food. He wanted to teach his son.

Discipline there think that's largely what's going on here with with Johnny Depp and the lesson here is that he gave a command and his descendents followed what God has given an opportunity to hear wisdom that God himself can speak through your parents. You are blessed to have living parents. Further, if you are blessed to have Christian parents don't miss the opportunity to hear God speak through them. We let a lot of other people speak you might need to reassess how much input you let Hollywood have in your thinking Facebook as well Facebook's under intense scrutiny this week hope that scrutiny will continue. How much influence should that have on your life like to ask. Have you thought about sending some guardrails in your life.

This had a direct impact on me when I first weeks for my wife and I first started our family and I realized this child and the children God provides.

They're going to be looking to me for. What's the best way to live any connection with that, I had the first church family that I was pastoring.

I thought, for the most part, these people are going to follow the direction I set for them. I'd better make sure I take that responsibility seriously and ask God to help me set appropriate guardrails things that might not even have a direct biblical command behind them, but their goal is that this society in which we have to live will not have undue influence on me. I family. Even my church family of the lesson and the rest of this chapter is actually quite simple. The Lord claims to have authority over his people, that authority includes a warning of judgment here, God asserts that in comparison with John a dab and his descendents.

God should receive greater obedience. He's arguing from the lesser to the greater. Look what they're doing for a 250 year dead ancestor, and here he is the living God, issuing repeated warnings as he describes in verses 12 through 16. God deserves greater obedience and further God can provide greater incentive Johnny Depp and do nothing of his family decides we've had this we been doing this long enough, God can do something and he describes here the discipline that he has available and hear impending consequences fulfilling past prophecies if if if we are currently in this episode in about the year 601 BC about 14 years later when these consequences took place. But on the positive side, and there are two things going on here. One, God commands obeying your parents honoring your parents. So in verse 18 God observes your relationship with your family. Jeremiah says report reporting God's sentiment because you have obeyed the commandment of Johnny Depp, your father, and kept all his precepts and done according to all that he is done a little biblical promise. There obey your parents you will live long in the land.

So God gives that statement of fulfillment.

He says therefore thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel.

John a dab, the son of recap shall not want his foot will not lack a man stand before me forever is an amazing promise a guarantee of future descendents. We don't know who they are today.

They're not identifiable over this promise person Ricoh bites guy would like us to have some more. They have more individual say I am going to set and follow safeguards that will help keep me from the influence of the society. Verse 15 describes that influence as serving other gods, other gods are things that you love and deep down, the reality is you love them more than you love God how can you tell what those are, what you do when you've got spare time is are probably things you love, and they might be legitimate but assess those things.

Whether it's social media or sports are, whatever your your your inclinations are not saying that those are wrong, but you must not love them more than God. How can you know about proposing a test and go without them for a period of time.

The real point of this whole chapter though is you guard the influences of others to make sure you can listen to God word. Listen occurs repeatedly both positively and negatively.

Throughout this chapter. It's the key word.

Commit yourself then to to control the other voices so that you can hear God in your daily Bible reading, ask God what must change, whereby already lit the world influence me. Would you help me change that now as well for prayer. Father, we are thankful that you have given us this instruction. The example of the Ricoh bites father.

They instituted safeguards not because they were so smart but because you gave them grace. Father, we plead for that same grace for your forgiveness for those instances when we have let the voices of our society have too much impact on its father.

We pray that your word through our intense listening and obedience would by far the greatest.

We pray in Jesus name, amen. You been listening to a message preached by Dr. Gary Rivers join us again tomorrow is we continue the series proclaiming the invincible word in a cancel culture on The Daily Platform