“Promises Kept” – Jeremiah 35:1-19

November 10^th, 2019

Jeremiah 35:1-19

“Promises Kept”

Aux. Texts: James 1:22-25

Call to Worship: Psalm 1

 

Service Orientation: Talk is cheap.   What pleases God is true saving faith that acts.

 

Bible Memory Verse for the Week:  Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. — James 1:22

 

Background Information:

• The Babylonians and Syrians were ravaging Judah (cf. v. 11; 2 Kgs 24:2). Like a flashback, chapters 35-36 interrupt the narrative flow of chapters 32-44 and take the reader back some seventeen years to the fourth year of Jehoiakim’s reign–a time when the Babylonians and Syrians had driven many in Judah, the Recabites among them, to take refuge in Jerusalem.  The dates given for chapter 35 vary from 606 B.C. (So Cheyne) to 602 B.C. (So Cunliffe-Jones) to 598 B.C. (So Cundall, Freedman, Bewer).  The fourth year of Jehoiakim’s reign (cf. 36:1) would appear to place it about 606 B.C.  (Frank E. Gæbelein, Expositor’s Bible Commentary: Jeremiah, 599) 
• Although this chapter returns us to the reign of Jehoiakim (609-598), its placing here makes the sharpest of comments on the promise-breakers of chapter 34. (Derek Kidner, The Bible Speaks Today:  Jeremiah, 118)
• (v. 2) The Hebrew term rkb means “(to) ride,” and the noun mekaba refers to a chariot. Since the Kenites (to whom the Recabites are related; 1 Chr 2:55) may have been smiths, the combination of name and possible vocation suggests the possibility that the Recabites were itinerant metalworkers.  (J. Andrew Dearman, The NIV Application Commentary: Jeremiah, 318)
• (v. 2) The Rechabites, these spartan characters, saw themselves as living witnesses to the pilgrim origins of Israel, shunning the settled life of farms and vineyards for the simplicities of tents and flocks. Their ancestor, Jonadab, had not only set them this pattern: he was the zealot who had joined with Jehu in setting up that king’s notorious massacre of Baal-worshipers.  All this had happened some two-and-a-half centuries ago, but the years had done nothing to weaken the family’s tradition.  (Derek Kidner, The Bible Speaks Today:  Jeremiah, 118)
• (v. 2) God didn’t ask Jeremiah to serve the Rechabites wine in order to tempt them, because God doesn’t temp us (Jam 1:13-15). This was another action sermon to give Jeremiah an opportunity to tell the leaders of Judah how unfaithful they had been to God’s covenant.  (Warren Wiersbe, Be Decisive, 162)
• (v. 2) God permits and even commends the drinking of wine.  Apparently it was appropriate for Jeremiah to bring wine into the temple.  Even great big bowls of it!  As long as they were off-duty, temple priests were permitted to drink wine.  This is in keeping with the rest of Scripture.  The psalmist praised God for the “wine that gladdens the heart of man” (Ps 104:15).  The Lord Jesus himself was not above turning the odd jar of water into fine wine, especially at parties (Jn 2:1-11).  Even young pastors, like Timothy, are instructed to have a little wine when they suffer form indigestion (1 Tm 5:23).  Anyone who claims that Christians are forbidden to use alcohol is adding a human law to the Law of God.

     However, Christians are also free not to drink.  Refraining from alcoholic beverages can be one expression of freedom in Christ.  Not all abstinence is legalism.  It is interesting to note that the nineteenth-century temperance movement in England adopted the name “Rechabites.”  (Philip Graham Ryken, Preaching the Word: Jeremiah, 542)

• (v. 6) The progenitor of the tribe charged his descendants to live a nomadic life, probably hoping to keep them from the lax living and allurements to idolatry that plagued Israel in city life. (Frank E. Gæbelein, Expositor’s Bible Commentary: Jeremiah, 600)
• (v. 6) The Rechabites apparently had been founded by Jonadab the son of Rechab in the time of Jehu king of Israel (842-815 B.C.). Jonadab was a fanatic for the worship of Yahweh, the God of the desert, and supported Jehu in his bloody slaughter of the house of Ahab and of the worshipers of Baal (2 Kgs 10:15-28).  The Rechabites were a puritan group, somewhat like the Nazirites (Nm 6:1-21).  They protested against the Canaanite corruptions of the pure religion of Yahweh of the desert days, refusing to live in houses, to till the soil, or to drink wine.  Their refusal to drink wine was not based on considerations like those of the modern teetotaler, but wine made from grapes symbolized to them Canaanite corruption.  Wine was unknown to the Hebrews in their desert period.  (George Arthur Buttrick, Interpreter’s Bible, Vol. 5, 1059)
• (v. 6) Jonadab son of Recab was one of the 7,000 in Israel who did not bow the knee to Baal during the days of Elijah (1 Kgs 19:18). He was the mighty man who rode in the chariot when Jehu purged Ahab’s palace in 842 B.C., killing that evil king’s entire family (2 Kgs 10:15-17).  (Philip Graham Ryken, Preaching the Word: Jeremiah, 537)
• (v. 7) The Rechabites were related to the Kenites of the southern desert region of Judah (1 Chr 2:55; cf. Gn 15:19; Nm 24:21-22; Jdg 1:16), and the incidental information provided regarding their way of life is of considerable interest. They lived only in tents, drank no wine (since viticulture was regarded by them as an alien “Canaanite” form of agriculture), and practiced no cereal-crop farming.  They represented an extreme cultural conservatism, hostile to any features of life associated with urban and agrarian life and religion of the Canaanite city-states.  (R.E. Clements, Interpretation: Jeremiah, 209)
• (v. 7) It should certainly be borne in mind that although the sharp reaction against involvement by the Rechabites in urban life and agriculture is presented as a praiseworthy action, this is not the overall perspective of the OT prophets nor is it typical of the Bible as a whole. Ultimately the true realm of human society, lived in the sphere of divine grace, is portrayed as a city–the New Jerusalem–(cf. Rv 21:2); this city organization is viewed as the gift of God.  Human culture, as a necessary expression of human nature and human achievement, can be redeemed, sanctified, and enriched by a true knowledge of God.  Without such knowledge human culture readily succumbs to tensions and pressures that render it formless and in conflict with itself.  (R.E. Clements, Interpretation: Jeremiah, 209-10)
• (v. 19) The particulars of their vows are not universally applicable in Jeremiah’s day any more than they would be in modern times. Houses, for example, are neither good nor bad in themselves; but the manner in which houses are used is a moral and spiritual matter.  The same can be said of wine, vineyards, and fields.  Jeremiah was not a Recabite.  Moreover, he owned property, probably lived in a house, and probably drank wine.  He affirms the Recabite lifestyle without himself being bound by its requirements.  (J. Andrew Dearman, The NIV Application Commentary: Jeremiah, 319)
• Amos was sympathetic with the Nazirites (Amos 2:11-12), as Jeremiah is here with the Rechabites. (George Arthur Buttrick, Interpreter’s Bible, Vol. 5, 1059)

 

The question to be answered is . . . What was there about the Recabites that God wanted Jeremiah and Judah to see?

 

Answer: The Recabites faithfully followed the 200 year old commands of their dead forefather Jonadab, the son of Recab — a mere man.  God’s people, in contrast, failed to obey God’s consistent commands from the Creator of the Universe’s prophets and Scriptures.

 

The Word for the Day is . . . Obey

 

What can we learn from this passage?:

I-  Obedience is verification of true faith, love and devotion. (Jer 35:6-10, 14, 16 see also: Nm 6:1-12; Ps 1; 119:167-168; Jer 7:23; Mt 5:16; 7:20; Jn 14:15-24; ; Rom 2:13;  Gal 5:6; Eph 2:8-10; 4:12; 6:1-2; Col 3:20, 22; 1 Tm 6:18; Heb 10:24; 13:16-17; Jam 1:22-25; 2:14-26; 1 Pt 2:12)

 

Background Information on the Paul vs. James — Faith/ Works issue:

*      . . . there is no real contradiction between James and Paul regarding faith, for Paul’s teaching about faith and works focuses on the time before conversion, and James’ focus is after conversion.  (R. Kent Hughes; Preaching the Word Series: James – a Faith that Works”, 108)

*      What Paul is saying in places like Ephesians 2 is that justification never results from good works; what James is saying, over and over again, is that justification always results in good works.  (John Blanchard, Truth for Life, 107)

*     Paul’s great theme is that nobody can procure salvation by the works of the law; James’ great theme is that nobody can prove their salvation except by works of love.  There is no disagreement here.  Indeed, when Paul wrote of those who “claim to know God, but by their actions they deny him” (Ti 1:16) he was exactly on James’ wavelength!  (John Blanchard, Truth for Life, 166)

*       Much of the difficulty has occurred because of a failure to understand that Paul and James use the term “righteousness” (or “justification”) in different, but not contradictory ways.  Paul uses the word to speak of God’s declaration that he has accepted a man on the exercise of faith; James uses it to speak of man’s demonstration that his faith is genuine and that he has been accepted.  (John Blanchard, Truth for Life, 175)

*       James has indicated that deeds complete faith (v 22).  They are the outworking of genuine faith.  Thus deeds are the evidence that saving faith is present in a person’s life (v 18).  James was combating a superficial faith that had no wholesome effect in the life of the professed believer.  Paul, on the other hand, was combating legalism–the belief that one may earn saving merit before God by his good deeds.  Consequently Paul insisted that salvation is not by works but by faith alone.  However, the following context of the Ephesians passage (2:10) reveals that Paul did not depreciate good works.  He declared, “We are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works.”  In Paul, therefore, as well as in James, good deeds are the product of genuine faith.  In both writers faith that produces no good deeds is incapable of saving a person.  (Frank E. Gæbelein, The Expositor’s Bible Commentary, Vol. 12, 185)

*      It has been well said that St. Paul and St. James are not soldiers of different armies fighting against each other, but soldiers of the same army fighting back to back against enemies coming from opposite directions.  (W. H. Griffith Thomas, St. Paul’s Epistle to the Romans, 132)

*       We are not saved by deeds; we are saved for deeds; these are the twin truths of the Christian life.  Paul’s emphasis is on the first and James’ is on the second.  In fact they do not contradict but complement each other; and the message of both is essential to the Christian faith in its fullest form.  (William Barclay, The Daily Study Bible Series: James and Peter, 74)

 

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The answer is that our deeds will be the public evidence brought forth in Christ’s courtroom to demonstrate that our faith is real.  And our deeds will be the public evidence brought forth to demonstrate the varying measures of our obedience of faith.  In other words, salvation is by grace through faith, and rewards are by grace through faith, but the evidence of invisible faith in the judgment hall of Christ will be a transformed life.  Our deeds are not the basis of our salvation, they are the evidence of our salvation.  They are not foundation, they are demonstration.  (John Piper, Future Grace, 364)

 

A faith without works is not real faith at all.  It is only a matter of words.  James is not saying that we are saved by faith plus works.  To hold such a view would be to dishonor the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ.  If we were saved by faith and by works, then there would be two saviors–Jesus and ourselves.  But the NT is very clear that Christ is the one and only Savior.  What James is emphasizing is that we are not saved by a faith of works only but by that kind of faith which results in a life of good works.  In other words, works are not the root of salvation but the fruit; they are not the cause but the effect.  (William MacDonald, Emmaus Correspondence Course:  The Epistle of James, 35-36)

 

If I hear the word of God but do not do what it says, I am treating the word as if it were useless.  I am deceiving myself about the very nature and purpose of the word of God.  (George M. Stulac, The IVP NT Commentary Series: James, 75)

 

Jesus is not saying that loving deeds earn heaven for us but that loving deeds are the marks of a heaven bound person.  —Alistair Begg

 

Jonadab had given his commands hundreds of years before, and his sons were still keeping them.  By contrast, God spoke to his people nearly every day.  His prophets kept coming to them to warn them of the danger of following after other gods.  Still, they refused to pay any attention. (Philip Graham Ryken, Preaching the Word: Jeremiah, 544)

 

The moral was clear:  the Rechabites were faithful to the command of a single ancestor.  For two hundred years they had observed faithfully and literally the command of Jonadab ben Rechab.  (George Arthur Buttrick, Interpreter’s Bible, Vol. 5, 1060)

 

If you are a follower of Christ, then you must have within you a deep desire to want to love and obey God’s Word because that is what drove Jesus.  Constantly, Jesus refers to his actions as being what His father told him to do or Jesus does what he does so that the Scriptures might be fulfilled.   How can you say you follow Christ and contradict the very principle upon which his life was based . . .  To fulfill the Scriptures.  You cannot call yourself a Christian and do less than read, obey and love God’s Word. Otherwise, to call yourself a Christian and to live contrary to what we have just said, is to make a mockery of Jesus. (Tim Keller; sermon from Acts 3)

 

It may help to understand exactly what James means by putting the first part of his challenge in the form of a question:  “In what other way can you possibly demonstrate to me that your faith is genuine except by living the kind of life that proves it to be so?”  The challenge remains relevant today.  It is not enough for a person to give mental assent to doctrine, not even to be a church member.  What Jesus said about false prophets is equally true about false professors:  “By their fruit you will recognize them” (Mt 7:20).  (John Blanchard, Truth for Life, 164-5)

 

The one common denominator of every person in Scripture who honored God by their faith is that they actively obeyed Him.  (Paul A. Cedar, The Communicator’s Commentary: James, 61)

 

Prove to me that you have faith without a life of good works.  You cannot do it.  Faith is invisible.  The only way others can know you have faith is by a life that demonstrates it.  (William MacDonald, Emmaus Correspondence Course:  The Epistle of James, 36)

 

Faith without deeds cannot be seen or proved to exist.  (R. Williams, The Cambridge Bible Commentary: John and James, 115)

 

It is pleasantly ironic that Martin Luther, who said such disparaging things about James, has given us, in his preface to Romans, as clear an expression of the idea of James as anyone: “Oh, it is a living, busy, active, mighty thing, this faith; and so it is impossible for it not to do good works incessantly.  It does not ask whether there are good works to do, but before the question rises; it has already done them, and is always at the doing of them.  He who does not these works is a faithless man.  He gropes and looks about after faith and good works, and know neither what faith is nor what good works are, though he talks and talks, with many words, about faith and good works.  (Martin Luther, Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans, 17)  (Kent Hughes, James, Faith That Works, 122)

 

As Jesus pointed out on several occasions, the purpose of a plant is to grow and to bear fruit–fruit representing its natural produce, whether figs, olives, nuts, flowers, or whatever.  Consequently, “Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.  So then, you will know them by their fruits” (Mt 7:19-20).  Bearing fruit is not a function added to a plant but is an integral part of its design and purpose.  Even before it is planted, a seed contains the genetic structure for producing its own kind of fruit.  When a person is born again through saving faith and is given a new nature by God, he is given the genetic structure, as it were, for producing moral and spiritual good works.  That is the sense in which faith is perfected.  It produces the godly fruit for which it was designed (Eph 2:10).  Just as a fruit tree has not fulfilled its goal until it bears fruit, so also faith has not reached its end until it demonstrates itself in a righteous life.  (John MacArthur, MacArthur NT Commentary: James, 139)

 

Jeremiah here commends the Rechabites for their fidelity to the rules of their order, but it is not to be thought that he approved of their rules as such.  (George Arthur Buttrick, Interpreter’s Bible, Vol. 5, 1059)

 

It is important to note two things which Jeremiah does not say.  In his approval of the Rechabites he focuses upon the single fact of their fidelity.  He does not approve their practices.  The Rechabite return to the practices of the wilderness is in no way comparable with Jeremiah’s insistence on the primacy of the wilderness covenant relation.  The two are dimensions apart.  (George Arthur Buttrick, Interpreter’s Bible, Vol. 5, 1061)

 

The reason the Rechabites drank no wine was not that they were opposed to intoxication, but because their ancestor believed that the planting of vines would attach them to the land and bind them to a permanent residence.  There is little of the ascetic in Jeremiah.  Indeed, as one thinks of his sensitivity to all the grandeurs of nature and his obvious hunger for “the voice of mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the voices of those who wing” (33:11), it is clear that he is far removed in spirit from legalistic disciplines.  (George Arthur Buttrick, Interpreter’s Bible, Vol. 5, 1062)

 

Viniculture could not be carried on under nomadic conditions; so it was banned (v. 7).  Wine drinking, so common in the ancient Near East, was an integral part of abstinence from wine and grape growing and led to an austere and nomadic lifestyle.  For over two hundred years this tribe had obeyed their forefather’s command (vv. 8-9).  Their lifestyle resembled that of the Nazirites (cf. Nm 6:1-21).  (Frank E. Gæbelein, Expositor’s Bible Commentary: Jeremiah, 601)

 

Too many Christians mark their Bibles, but their Bibles never mark them!  If you think you are spiritual because you hear the Word, then you are only kidding yourself.  (Warren Wiersbe, Be Mature, 54)

 

Mistake number 1 – Is to think that you can get to heaven by good works.

Mistake number 2 – Is to think that you can get to heaven without good works.  (Alistair Begg sermon Living with Significance – Part 2)

 

The Bible recognizes no faith that does not lead to obedience, nor does it recognize any obedience that does not spring from faith. The two are opposite sides of the same coin. — A.W. Tozer.

 

Well done is better than well said.  —Ben Franklin

 

The fact that Jeremiah has invited the Recabites to meet him at a room near the temple (v. 4) ensures that they are observed by other members of the community.  The incident contrasts Recabite obedience to their community standards with the faithlessness of Judeans to theirs.  (J. Andrew Dearman, The NIV Application Commentary: Jeremiah, 318-9)

 

Abstaining from wine or other strong drink was one of the vows the Nazirites took when they devoted themselves to the Lord (Nm 6:1-3; Jdg 13:7, 14).  Likewise, John the Baptist was instructed “never to take wine or other fermented drink” (Lk 1:15).  Even the good things of life can distract believers from their devotion to Christ.  Thus, on occasion it is good for Christians to show their love to God by refraining from alcohol.  (Philip Graham Ryken, Preaching the Word: Jeremiah, 542)

 

True obedience is on God’s terms, not ours.

 

II-  Disobedience reveals a lack of trust and conviction and brings disaster.  (Jer 35:16-17 see also: Dt 28:15-68; Isa 42:24; Jer 3:25; 11:3-4; 17:27; 18:10; 22:5; 32:23; 34:17; 40:3; 44:23; Mic 5:15; Hos 9:17; Dn 9:10-14; Mt 7:24-27;Gal 3:10-12)

 

Nobody paid any attention to the Word.  Many, in fact, were openly disrespectful and hostile toward it.  Their open unbelief, including their refusal to listen to God’s Word, was the chief reason for the fall of the city.  (David M. Gosdeck, The Peoples Bible: Jeremiah, 231)

 

Having tempted the Rechabites without success, Jeremiah now uses their refusal to compromise their ideals as an object-lesson to Judah.  Whereas Jehonadab’s injunctions had been obeyed over the succeeding generations, the commands of God at Sinai had long been disregarded and indeed rejected as an acceptable way of life.  The Rechabites will be blessed for their fidelity, but their contemporaries in Jerusalem will face the horrors of the coming slaughter.  (R.K. Harrison, Tyndale OT Commentaries: Jeremiah, 149)

 

Faith that does not act is a faith that is just an act.  (Lois Evans and Jane Rubietta; Stones of Remembrance)

 

The contrast is not, then, between faith and works, but between a faith that ‘has works’ and a faith that does not have works.  The latter is, like a body without a spirit (cf. 2:26), lifeless, and profits one nothing on the day of judgment.  (Douglas J. Moo, Tyndale NT Commentaries: James, 104)

 

Just as it is the inner desire of the believer to know and obey God’s Word, it is the natural desire of the unbeliever to disregard and disobey it.  Although unbelievers sometimes refer to certain passages of Scripture to support their own beliefs, standards, and objectives, they do not cherish it and submit to it as God’s authoritative Word.  At best, it is simply one resource among many others they may or may not agree with but will use to their advantage when it appears noble or seems helpful.  (John MacArthur, MacArthur NT Commentary: James, 67)

 

Never compromise yourself.  It’s all you got.  —Janis Joplin

 

The Bible looks at the Wrath of God as a product of His moral integrity. — Chuck Swindoll

 

Important lessons are given by this alternation of the two ideas of faith and unbelief, obedience and disobedience.  Disobedience is the root of unbelief.  Unbelief is the mother of further disobedience.  Faith is voluntary submission within a person’s own power.  If faith is not exercised, the true cause lies deeper than all intellectual reasons.  It lies in the moral aversion of human will and in the pride of independence, which says, “who is Lord over us?  Why should we have to depend on Jesus Christ?”  As faith is obedience and submission, so faith breeds obedience, but unbelief leads on to higher-handed rebellion.  With dreadful reciprocity of influence, the less one trusts, the more he disobeys; the more he disobeys, the less he trusts.  —Alexander Maclaren.

 

III-  God blesses faithful obedience, conviction or honor to parents.  (Jer 35:18-19 see also: Ex 20:12; Lv 26:3-13; Dt 4:1-40; 5:16; 28:1-14;  Ps 1; 19:7-14; Jer 11:3-4; 26:13; 38:20; 42:6; Mt 7:24-27; 15:4; 19:17-19; Mk 10:19; Lk 11:28; 18:20; Jn 13:17; 15:10; Rom 13:1-7; Eph 6:2; 1 Tm 6:18; Heb 11:6)

 

Stand before me sometimes has the sense of interceding before the Lord (15:1; 18:20), but it is a mistake to suppose that the Rechabites served in a priestly capacity.  Jeremiah recognizes their life as a form of service before the Lord.  (George Arthur Buttrick, Interpreter’s Bible, Vol. 5, 1062)

 

The man is not said to be blessed automatically in proportion to the amount of biblical knowledge he accumulates.  The blessing comes with his obedience to what God has revealed to him.  This is a truth on which the Bible is relentlessly insistent:  “By [the ordinances of the Lord] is your servant warned; in keeping them there is great reward” (Ps 19:11); “Blessed are they who keep [the Lord’s] statutes” (Ph 119:2); “Blessed…are those who hear the word of God and obey it” (Lk 11:28); “Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them” (Jn 13:17); “Blessed is he who keeps the words of the prophecy in this book” (Rv 22:7).  The Bible’s insistence on the relationship between obedience and blessing is inescapable.  (John Blanchard, Truth for Life, 99-100)

 

To the Rechabites, however, a brighter prospect was in view.  Because they had kept all the precepts of their ancient father, Jonadab would “never lack a man” to stand before the Lord.  Their tribute as a living example of filial devotion would be pleasing to the Lord as a service forever.  (Howard Tillman Kuist, Layman’s Bible Commentary: Jeremiah, 108)

 

God always blesses children who obey their parents.  This is in keeping with the fifth commandment:  “Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the LORD your God is giving you” (Ex 20:12).  (Philip Graham Ryken, Preaching the Word: Jeremiah, 541)

 

The essential message of the meeting with the Rechabites is remarkably simple and requires no elaborate religious or historical background to bring out its force.  The Rechabites were a small community who had displayed great consistency, integrity, and loyalty to their inherited traditions and way of life.  In contrast the heirs of the laws and traditions of Israel since the days of Moses had shown themselves to be deceitful, dishonorable, and disobedient since their very beginnings.  The presence of the Rechabites in Jerusalem, therefore, was a testimony to the righteousness and justice of God and an irrefutable condemnation of the citizens of Judah, who were without excuse in their disobedience.  (R.E. Clements, Interpretation: Jeremiah, 208)

 

Worship Point: God is not moved by worship from our lips only.  It is faith, love and devotion that is verified by obedience that makes our worship meaningful to God.

 

The finest worship we can offer to God is the giving of our “bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God–which is your spiritual worship” (Rom 12:1).  Worship that pleases God involves throwing ourselves on the altar and before the needy world in service.  We may plead a lack of time, but if we have time for recreation and social visits we have the time!  (Kent Hughes, James, Faith That Works, 84)

 

What James is saying is, “The finest ritual and the finest liturgy you can offer to God is service of the poor and personal purity.”  To him real worship did not lie in elaborate vestments or in magnificent music or in a carefully wrought service; it lay in the practical service of mankind and in the purity of one’s own personal life.  It is perfectly possible for a Church to be so taken up with the beauty of its buildings and the splendor of its liturgy that it has neither the time nor the money for practical Christian service; and that is what James is condemning.  (William Barclay, The Daily Study Bible Series: James and Peter, 61)

 

Jeremiah now draws a conclusion.  He argues from the lesser to the greater: If a family holds fast to a tradition or command laid down by a human father, how much more shouldn’t God’s people respect the wishes of their heavenly Father?  For which is greater: the word of a man or the Word of the living God?  (David M. Gosdeck, The Peoples Bible: Jeremiah, 232)

 

The true test of any religious profession, suggests James, is not the outward ritual of worship, which many go through unthinkingly and with little heart commitment.  No, the real litmus test of religion is obedience–without it, religion is vain: empty, useless and profitless.  (Douglas J. Moo, Tyndale NT Commentaries: James, 86)

 

This is the third time that James tells his readers not to deceive themselves (1:16, 22, 26).  As a pastor he is fully aware of counterfeit religion that is nothing more than external formalism.  He knows that many people merely go through the motions of serving God, but their speech gives them away.  Their religion has a hollow ring.  And although they may not realize it, by their words and by their actions–or lack of them–they deceive themselves.  Their heart is not right with God and their fellow man, and their attempt to hide this lack of love only heightens their self-deception.  Their religion is worthless.  (Simon J. Kistemaker, NT Commentary: James, 64)

 

Gospel Application:  Jesus’ obedience puts even the Recabites to shame.  Faith in Christ credits His obedience to us so we can avoid disaster.  (Rom 3:21-22; 5:19; 10:3-4; 1 Cor 1:30; 2 Cor 5:21; Phil 3:8-9)

 

Obviously the doctrine of justification by faith only is absolutely essential.  There has never been a revival but that this has always come back into prominence.  This doctrine means the end of all thinking about ourselves and our goodness, and our good deeds, and our morality, and all our works.  Look at the histories of revivals, and you will find men and women feeling desperate.  They know that all their goodness is but filthy rags, and that all their righteousness is of no value at all.  And there they are, feeling that they can no nothing, and crying out to God for mercy and for compassion. Justification by faith.  God’s act.  ‘If God does not do it to us,’ they say, ‘then we are lost.’  (David Martyn Lloyd-Jones; Revival, 55)

 

The reason why so few believers “through the Spirit mortify the deeds of the body,” is, a forgetfulness that the work has to do first and mainly with the root of sin in the soul: “Make the tree good, and the fruit will also be good”; purify the fountain, and the stream will be pure.  Oh, were there a deeper acquaintance with the hidden iniquity of our fallen nature,–a more thorough learning out of the truth,–that “in our flesh there dwelleth no good thing,”–a more heartfelt humiliation on account of it, and more frequent confession of it before God,–how much higher than they now are would be the attainments in holiness of many believers!  (Octavius Winslow, Personal Declension and Revival of Religion in the Soul, 172)

 

How do we prepare the soil of our hearts for God’s Word?  First, by confessing our sins and asking the Father to forgive us (1 Jn 1:9).  Then, by meditating on God’s love and grace and asking Him to “plow up” any hardness in our hearts, “Break up your fallow ground, and sow not among thorns” (Jer 4:3).  Finally, we must have an attitude of “meekness” (1:21).  Meekness is the opposite of “wrath” in verses 19 and 20.  When you receive the Word with meekness, you accept it, do not argue with it, and honor it as the Word of God.  You do not try to twist it to conform it to your thinking.  (Warren Wiersbe, Be Mature, 53)

 

If you are a lousy repenter, you are not going to get anything out of the Word of God.  (Tim Keller message Growth through Hearing Truth – pt 2)

 

“The real difference between a Christian and a non-Christian is not their attitude toward sin… . the difference is their attitude toward their good deeds.  The Pharisee repents of sin, but the Christian repents of his or her ‘righteousness’ as well, seeing it not only as insufficient, but sinful itself, since it was done in order to save ourselves without Christ.”  (Tim Keller; The Content of the Gospel, 27) 

 

The error of justification by works is in trusting to the discipline of your own soul to save your soul; but the opposite to trusting to your works is not to do nothing, it is to do everything but not to put your trust in any of it.  It is not the works that are wrong, it is the faith in your works, trusting in your works.  But what a subtle danger this is.  It seems to me that one of the chief dangers in Protestantism today, and especially in evangelical circles is that, in our fear of the error of justification by works, we have been saying that works do not matter at all.  We argue that faith alone counts, and because I am a man of faith it does not matter what I do and my life can be thoroughly lacking in discipline.  Out upon the suggestion!  The opposite to a false trust in works is not indolence, lack of discipline and doing nothing, it is to be diligent and more diligent, to be zealous, and to add to your faith.  (D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones; Spiritual Depression: Its Causes and Cure, 211)

                   

Watchman Nee tells about a new convert who came in deep distress to see him.  “No matter how much I pray, no matter how hard I try, I simply cannot seem to be faithful to my Lord.  I think I’m losing my salvation.”  Nee said, “Do you see this dog here?  He is my dog. He is house-trained; he never makes a mess; he is obedient; he is a pure delight to me.  Out in the kitchen I have a son, a baby son.  He makes a mess, he throws his food around, he fouls his clothes, he is a total mess.  But who is going to inherit my kingdom? Not my dog; my son is my heir.  You are Jesus Christ’s heir because it is for you that He died.”  We are Christ’s heirs, not through our perfection but by means of His grace.

 

Steward Briscoe: Tells kids to get in a 5 gal bucket and lift themselves off the ground.  He offers them $1, $5, $100, $1 million dollars if they can do it.  Then he lifts them up.  God’s grace.  We need someone outside the bucket to lift us up.  We cannot save ourselves.  Salvation can only come from Christ, not our good works.

 

Jay Kessler, president of Taylor University and writer once said, “If obedience is the only sign of a Christian, then my dog is the most mature Christian in our household.”

 

Spiritual Challenge: Ask God to help you live with as much conviction and devotion as Olympic athletes and suicide bombers.  The power to do this comes from a changed heart. (Jn 17:17; Acts 26:18;  Rom 1:5; 15:16; Gal 5:22-23; 2 Cor 5:17; 1 Thess 5:23; 2 Thess 2:13; 1 Pt 1:2)

 

How often God’s people are put to shame by the devotion and discipline of people who don’t even know the Lord but who are intensely loyal to their family, their religion, or their personal pursuits.  Even people who want nothing to do with the Word of God can be loyal to traditions and man-made codes.  If Christians were putting into their spiritual walk the kind of discipline that athletes put into their chosen sport, the church would be pulsating with revival life.  (Warren Wiersbe, Be Decisive, 163)

 

The kind of people who have been so transformed by their daily walk with God that good deeds naturally flow from their character are precisely the kind of people whose left hand would not notice what their right hand is doing–as, for example, when driving one’s own car or speaking one’s native language.  What they do they do naturally, often automatically, simply because of what they are pervasively and internally.  These are people who do not have to invest a lot of reflection in doing good for others.  Their deeds are “in secret” no matter who is watching, for they are absorbed in love of God and of those around them.  They hardly notice their own deed, and rarely remember it.  (Dallas Willard, The Divine Conspiracy, 192)

 

This is how transformation occurs:  The implanted word takes root deep within us and transforms us.  It brings conviction of sin and assurance of mercy.  It instills faith and creates new life, so that good fruit inevitably follows.  (Daniel M. Doriani, Reformed Expository Commentary: James, 48)

 

It happens all the time, often for good reasons.  We think that there has to be more discipline, more obedience, more holiness and more sanctification . . . and all of that is true.  It is just that those things don’t come from effort, they come from being free and loved. (Steve Brown; Living Free, 171-2)

 

Wicked men obey from fear; good men, from love.  —Aristotle

 

What does it say about mankind’s evil nature that we can be totally committed and dedicated to a doctrine of hate and violence (Isis) and yet only give half-hearted devotion to the message of the grace of Jesus.  —Brad Shaw and Pastor Keith meet 2-13-18

 

A life spent trying to produce works of righteousness and holiness will not produce them. . . and will be focused on the source of those works–the self.  But a life focused on the works of God will be focused on the source of those works–God.  So the secret is to not focus on your work for God.  The secret is to become the work of God.  Cease striving to do the work of God. . . and start letting your life become the work of God.  Let your doing become the doing of God.  Stop struggling to produce good works for God and let God produce His good work in you.  Let His goodness cause your life to become His good work.  Let everything you do and are begin with Him. Let your righteousness be the outflowing of His righteousness.  Your love, the outflowing of His love, and your life, the outflowing of His life.  And your life will become as beautiful as a lily of the field.  (Jonathan Cahn, The Book of Mysteries, Day 152)

 

Faithfulness without temptation to infidelity is not true faithfulness.  Faith without temptation of doubt is not true faith.  Purity without temptation to impurity is not true purity. (Paul Tournier; Guilt & Grace, 45)

 

A belief is something you will argue about.  A conviction is something you will die for.  —Howard Hendricks

 

     Some think they can’t do it; others refuse to change or grow.  They simply lack the faith to step out and do something.  “Where is your faith?” I wish to admonish them (and many times I do).  “Don’t you believe that God will enable you to obey Him?”

     The churches that mature in health and effect lasting change are the ones that come to God in brokenness and humility and beg Him to produce the obedience of faith in them. (Donald J. MacNair; The Practices of a Healthy Church, 231)

 

To see the law by Christ fulfilled,

And hear His pardoning voice,

Changes a slave into a child,

And duty into choice.  — William Cowper

 

The tongue and the heart are linked so that the tongue is an accurate index of what we are at the core of our persons.  Was James, we may ask, quietly recalling and accepting the words of the Lord Jesus; ‘How can you speak good, when you are evil?  For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks’ (Mt 12:34).  (J. A. Motyer, The Message of James, 76)

 

Spiritual Challenge Questions:

1. What creates the kind of devotion the Recabites displayed for their forefather Jonadab son of Recab? Is there anything we can do to cultivate that kind of heart?
2. What competing forces are there in the world that are calling for our hearts’ affections and devotion?
3. What is the feeling today towards an individual or group if they hold to a strong conviction and/or display unusual discipline or sacrifice for that conviction?

 

So What?:  Our desire to obey God’s commands reveals our love, faith and devotion.  It is not a prerequisite to our salvation.  Faith is.  But, our heart’s desire to be obedient is verification that our faith is genuine saving faith.

 

Actions do not emerge from nothing.  They faithfully reveal what is in the heart, and we can know what is in the heart that they depend upon.  (Dallas Willard, The Divine Conspiracy, 144)

 

It is important that each professing Christian examine his own heart and life and make sure that he possesses true saving faith, dynamic faith.  “Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves” (2 Cor 13:5a).  Satan is the great deceiver; one of his devices is imitation.  If he can convince a person that counterfeit faith is true faith, he has that person in his power.

     Here are some questions we can ask ourselves as we examine our hearts:

1. Was there a time when I honestly realized I was a sinner and admitted this to myself and to God?
2. Was there a time when my heart stirred me to flee from the wrath to come? Have I ever seriously been exercised over my sins?
3. Do I truly understand the Gospel, that Christ died for my sins and arose again? Do I understand and confess that I cannot save myself?
4. Did I sincerely repent of my sins and turn from them? Or do I secretly love sin and want to enjoy it?  Or do I hate sin and fear God?
5. Have I trusted Christ and Christ alone for my salvation? Do I enjoy a living relationship with Him through the Word and in the Spirit?
6. Has there been a change in my life? Do I maintain good works, or are my works occasional and weak?  Do I seek to grow in the things of the Lord?  Can others tell that I have been with Jesus?
7. Do I have a desire to share Christ with others? Or am I ashamed of Him?
8. Do I enjoy the fellowship of God’s people? Is worship a delight to me?
9. Am I ready for the Lord’s return? Or will I be ashamed when He comes for me?  (Warren Wiersbe, Be Mature, 85-6)

 

1. The Recabites obeyed a fallible leader (v. 14); Judah’s leader was the eternal God (cf. Mal 1:6).
2. Jonadab gave his commands to the Recabites only once; God repeatedly sent his messages to his people (v. 15).
3. The restrictions that bound the Recabites did not deal with eternal issues; God’s messages to his people had eternal as well as temporal implications.
4. The Recabites obeyed the commands of Jonadab for about three hundred years; the Lord’s people constantly disobeyed (v. 16).
5. The loyalty of the Recabites would be rewarded; for their disloyalty God’s people would be punished (v. 17). (Frank E. Gæbelein, Expositor’s Bible Commentary: Jeremiah, 602)

 

What is conviction of sin?  It is not an oppressive spirit of uncertainty or paralyzing guilt feelings.  Conviction of sin is the lance of the divine Surgeon piercing the infected soul, releasing the pressure, letting the infection pour out.  Conviction of sin is a health-giving injury.  Conviction of sin is the Holy Spirit being kind to us by confronting us with the light we prefer to ignore.  Conviction of sin is the severe love of God overruling our compulsive dishonesty, our willful blindness, our favorite excuses.  Conviction of sin is the violent sweetness of God opposing the sins lying comfortably undisturbed in our lives.  Conviction of sin is the merciful God declaring war on the false peace we settle for.  Conviction of sin is our escape from malaise to joy, from attending church to worship, from faking it to authenticity.  Conviction of sin, with the forgiveness of Jesus pouring over our wounds, is life. (Raymond C. Ortlund, Jr.; Preaching the Word: Isaiah, God Saves Sinners, 25-6)

 

“This is why a continual desire for worldly pleasures often signifies that all is not well.  Some of this world’s pleasures, even in moderation, will undermine a Christian’s spiritual life.  If a married man wants to flirt with other girls, even in moderation, one assumes that there is something wrong with his marriage—of if not, that there soon will be!  So it is when a Christian flirts with worldliness.  The command is clear and uncompromising:

                    Come out from them,

                    and be separate from them, says the Lord,

                    and touch nothing unclean;

                    then I will welcome you.  (2 Cor. 6:17)

We are to abstain from every form of evil (2 Thess 5:22).” (Kenneth Prior; The Way of Holiness, 144)

 

JESUS:

DEVOTED