Jeremiah 35:14: “Jonadab son of Rekab ordered his descendants not to drink wine. His orders have been carried out. To this day his descendants have drunk no wine because they have obeyed what their ancestor commanded them. But I have spoken to you over and over again, but you have not obeyed me.”

So God is saying, “Look at this father who gave this commandment to these people and they obeyed him. But I am your Father, and you have not obeyed Me.”

Yesterday I was talking about the fact that we are children of God, that we have been given to Christ to belong to Him, but that we are now supposed to obey Him—that we live a life that aligns with obedience to Him.

To highlight that fact, we read in the book of Hebrews that God disciplines His children: “The Lord disciplines the one He loves and chastises every son whom He accepts… if you are without discipline… then you are illegitimate and not sons… He disciplines us for our benefit, that we may share His holiness” (Hebrews 12:6–10).

Being a partaker of His holiness is so important to God. It is part of the reason you have been called: that you can be a partaker of God’s holiness—both within you and outside of you.

When you read the Sermon on the Mount, you see the instructions there. You may ignore some of those instructions and say to yourself, “This is not for me; that is not for me.” But remember: this is God in the flesh giving you instruction and direction. And we have this passage in Jeremiah saying, in effect, “That father told his children not to do this thing; they did not do it, regardless of peer pressure, regardless of how it made them look, regardless of how people might mock them, regardless of how weird or inconvenient it seemed. They did it because their father had said it.” And God is also your Father. You are to obey your Father—God in heaven.

When you go to the book of Proverbs, repeatedly you read, “My child, listen to your father’s instruction; do not forsake your mother’s teaching” (for example, Proverbs 1:8). Sometimes the instruction may not be clear to you in the immediate sense. You do it because that is what God wants you to do.

“Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path” (Psalm 119:105). It tells you the right way to go. It tells you the right things to do, the right words to say, the right life to live. That is so important.

Paul, in another place, said, “So I say this, and insist in the Lord, that you no longer live as the Gentiles do” (Ephesians 4:17). So the pattern of life that we adopt, that we embrace, that we express—that pattern of life is important. That is why James says, “Faith without works is dead” (James 2:17). That means faith without works is a pseudo‑faith.

It is almost like Jesus saying that some people receive the word, but “when trouble or persecution comes because of the word, immediately they fall away” because they have no root in themselves (Mark 4:16–17). That is not what we are being called to. We are being called to have the root of obedience to God in us. Jesus said, “If you continue in My word, you are truly My disciples” (John 8:31). And in another place we read, “The one who practices sin is of the devil” (1 John 3:8).

So we see a line in the sand being drawn: it is not so much about what you are saying; it is about how you are living. Paul wrote, “The Lord knows those who are His,” and, “Everyone who confesses the name of the Lord must turn away from iniquity” (2 Timothy 2:19).

We have to see Christianity in our lifestyle. There is no gainsaying that. You cannot explain it away. That is the basic thing.

Look at these people here: “Jonadab son of Rekab ordered his descendants not to drink wine.” It does not say he explained to them. It does not say he argued with them. It does not say he called a conference. He ordered his descendants. God is saying: you have your orders. Go and execute on the order He has for you in His word for how you should live your life.

God bless you. See you later.