Jeremiah 35:1-19 “A Godly Heritage”

.“A Godly Heritage”

An idol of our generation is to worship the contemporary as if it were ultimate reality. The heritage of our nation is quickly disregarded and dismissed. Few even know what that heritage is. Also in the church there is great interest in being contemporary to the culture - to be “relevant”. We see in this story a witness of how one family was obedient to God by honoring their forefather’s convictions and their family’s heritage.

I. The Voice of Heritage –

A. The Lord’s command to Jeremiah –

1. Sets the drama for this encounter with the Rechabites –

2. The answer of the Rechabite family –

3. The purpose of this command – to resist the life of luxury, laziness, and pride; therefore they lived in tents –

B. Obedience to their forefather Rechab

1. Rechab was one of the 7000 who had not submitted to the corrupt government of King Ahab –

2. Rechab’s son Jehonadab opposed Ahab and rode with King Jehu to purge the government of Ahab’s godless family 8.53. A hundred years after the story in , another family member rebuilt Jerusalem –

II. The Praise of God –

A. Obedience to godly parental counsel is to hear God’s voice –

1. Honor father and mother by heeding their counsel –

2. What is the heritage of the evangelical church with regard to the use of beverage alcohol?

3. Abstinence which led to Prohibition

4. Doesn’t everyone know that Prohibition was a failure and led to a rise in crime?

Consider this New York Times article dated October 16, 1989 – “Actually, Prohibition was a Success” by Mark Moore, professor of criminal justice at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government (copies are available in the foyer)

5. The facts are that during Prohibition…

B. The obedience of the Rechabites to their great-grandfather 250 years earlier

1. Is an example to the contemporary generation of Jeremiah –

2. Failure to listen to God’s voice results in contemporary judgment

III. God’s Blessing on the House of Rechab –

A. How do we know what to do when God gives conflicting views on alcohol?

1. Wine makes the heart glad –

2. Jesus turned the water into wine –

3. Wine as a medicine –

B. Yet there are warnings in God’s Word

1. Wine is a mocker –

2. Wine causes poor judgment – ;

3. Do not be drunk with wine but be filled with the Spirit – ;

C. Principle of self-control – filled with the Spirit of God

1. Self-control is submitting to Christ and His Spirit who yields the fruit of the Spirit –

2. May God grant our families generations of godly heirs

Worship the Lord as the Psalmist who rejoices in the godly inheritance passed on to him –