In this audio message, Scott Brown provides us with some lessons that we can learn from the life of Jonadab, a man in Scripture. The honor that Jonadab's sons, the Rechabites, displayed for Jonadab was rewarded by God. They were still showing honor to Jonadab hundreds of years later. How can we likewise demonstrate honor to our parents?

Deuteronomy 5:16 (NKJV) - "Honor your father and your mother, as the Lord your God has commanded you, that your days may be long, and that it may be well with you in the land which the Lord your God is giving you."

The National Center for Family Integrated Churches is pleased to present Fatherhood. This message is entitled, Jonadab, 300 Years of Honor, by Scott Brown. We are going to go back and look at an ancient family that is on the earth today by the guarantee of God And we're going to go back to this family who for 300 years gave their father, Jonadab, honor. We're going to call this the 300-year plan. We're going to call this the 109, 500-day plan.

We've talked about the 3, 000-day plan, and now we're going to talk about this 300 year plan. It casts a vision for what it looks like when a family honors the words of their father for many generations. And what happens is it works to put faithful worshippers of God on the ground for all generations. That's what happened here. The honor that sons gave to their father certified that that family would be putting worshippers of God on the earth until the end of time.

That was the guarantee of God. It's really a stunning passage of scripture. How many of you have ever heard a walk through an exposition of this text of Scripture in your life. Not one, maybe one person here. It's amazing.

It's a text that is so inspiring. It really does cast a vision of hope. It's a very heartwarming story. Honestly, for all of us here in this room who are praying for our children, this should be especially heartwarming for us because there is a possibility that your desire could be fulfilled and that your desire would be fulfilled in the same way it was with the Recubites that there shall not lack a man to stand before God in your generations forever. That's just absolutely amazing.

That can happen with you and that can happen with my family and I know that many of you here because this is already the prayer of your heart for your family. God uses the devotion of a father to declare the glory of God for 300 years beyond his time. This is so unusual to have a transgenerational vision like this. It hardly exists in our times. We live for the here and now.

We live for our own 15 minutes of fame. Everything is fast. We love perpetual youth, but we don't have this Transgenerational mentality that I am here Somehow so that in 300 years my daughters and my sons will bring glory to God as Jason said earlier They will move into a neighborhood in 50 years and God will be there in that neighborhood because of their faithfulness. Let me give you the outline here. We'll follow this outline.

First of all, we see that God commands Jeremiah to test the Rechabites, the sons of Jonadab. Number two, the Rechabites respond. Number three, the Rechabites are an example of faithfulness and Israel's unfaithfulness. Number four, they receive a promise and a reward from God, and then we'll observe a contrast. Okay, let's dive into this text.

Let's first look at verses 1 and 2, where God commands Jeremiah to Jeremiah 35. First we see that God commands Jeremiah to test the Rechabites. The word which came to Jeremiah from the Lord in the days of Jehoiakim, the son of Josiah, the king of Judah, saying, Go to the house of the Rechabites, speak to them and bring them into the house of the Lord, into one of the chambers and give them wine to drink. Wow! And then we see this dramatic location and this demonstration in verse 3.

Then I took Jazaniah, the son of Jeremiah, the son of Habazaniah, his brothers and 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 and the sons of Igdalia, a man of God which was by the chamber of the princes, above the chamber of Messiah, the son of Shalom, the keeper of the door." And then we see right here in this amazing location the Recubites were tested. Verse 5, then I set before the sons of the house of the Recubites bowls full of wine and cups and I said to them drink wine and then the Recubites respond in verses 6 & 7 but they said that's interesting but they said you notice the theme here we will drink no wine. For Jonah Dab, the son of Rekhab, our father commanded us, saying, you shall drink no wine, you nor your sons, forever. You shall not build a house, sow seed, plant a vineyard, nor have any of these. But all your days you shall dwell in tents that you may live many days in the land where you were sojourners." These men are saying this 300 years after it was commanded.

And they're looking back and they say, But no, all of this wine, these cups are all there, they say not us. And they remember 300 years back and give this answer and then in verses 8 through 10 they explain their behavior they explain why before the Prophet Jeremiah they would defy him Thus we have obeyed the voice of Jonah Dab, the son of Rekab, our father, in that all that he charged us to drink no wine, all our days, we, our wives, our sons, and our daughters, nor to build ourselves houses to dwell in, nor do we have vineyard, field or seed. But we have dwelt in tents and have obeyed and done according to all that Jonadab our father commanded us." And then you see this interesting statement about the flexibility that it gave them in verse 11. But it came to pass when Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, came up into the land that we said, come, let us go to Jerusalem for fear of the army of the Chaldeans and for fear of the army of the Syrians. So we dwell at Jerusalem, meaning when hard times came they just were able to hit right on into Jerusalem without any encumbrances.

And then in verses 12 through 17 we see the Rechabites are an example of faithfulness, but it condemns Israel's unfaithfulness. Then came the word of the Lord to Jeremiah saying, thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, go and tell the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, will you not receive instruction and obey my words, says the Lord. You see what he's doing? He's contrasting these sons of Jonadab and the Israelites. He's saying, look at these men over here.

300 years, they won't drink wine, but what about you Israel? You never obey me. That's the point, this whole narrative. Verse 14, the words of Jonadab, the son of Rechab, which he commanded his sons Do not drink wine are performed for to this day They drink none and obey their father's commandment, but although I have spoken to you Rising early and speaking you did not obey me I have also sent to you by my servants, the prophets, rising up early and sending them, saying, Turn now everyone from his evil way, Amend your doings and do not go after other gods to serve them. Then you will dwell in the land which I have given you and your fathers, but you have not inclined your ear nor obeyed.

Surely the sons of Jonadab, the son of Rekab, have performed the commandment of their father, which he commanded them, but this people has not obeyed me." Do you see the contrast he's setting up? The sons of Jonadab obey, Why don't you obey? And then this terrible judgment for this ingratitude among Israel is spoken of in verse 17 Therefore thus says the Lord God of hosts the God of Israel behold I will bring on Judah and on all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, all the doom that I have pronounced against them, because I have spoken to them, but they have not heard. I have called them, but they have not answered." And then there's this amazing promise to the sons of the Rechabites. Jeremiah said to the house of the Rechabites, imagine this scene, this great prophet looking into the eyes of this crowd of people there, and he does this.

He says, thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, because you have obeyed the commandment of Jonah dab your father and kept all his precepts and done according to all that he commanded you therefore thus says the Lord the God of Israel, Jonadab the son of Rekab shall not lack a man to stand before me forever. What an amazing scene this is. It takes us directly into the house of worship and all of these things are happening eyes wide open now let's dive into the text and work through it first of all we see God commands Jeremiah to test the Recubites in the chamber of the temple The Levites were allowed to drink wine in the chambers, but Jeremiah is commanded to bring the Rechabites to offer wine to them. He knew that they would not do it. It's a setup.

God had not prevented wine drinking in Israel except among the priests. It was legal for them to do it. They had no legal or biblical obligation to deny this wine. These were the direct descendants of Rekab through Jonadab or Jehonadab in some some translations. Who is Jehonadab?

Let's just call him the greatest dad in the world, okay? Because whatever it was about this man, his sons obeyed him for 300 years. What do we know about this Jehonadab? They belong to the Kenite tribe, and they accompanied the children of Israel into Palestine and they had zeal for God. Jehonadab himself was a strong man.

He reminds me a lot of Joshua. Jehu came along with his chariot and was on his way to denounce and actually put to death the prophets of Baal. And he comes to Jehonadab and he pulls his chariot over and he says, come with me, I'll show you my zeal for the Lord. And Jehonadab jumps in his chariot and they go and have this amazing experience with the prophets of Baal I wish we could talk about it It's absolutely the most amazing story, but that's not what we're here to talk about But Jehonadab is there with Jehu. He's an action hero.

He's like George Washington riding through the hail of bullets. He really is. He's an amazing father. And we see a man who's consumed with zeal for God's holiness. He assists in the reformation under Elijah that was concluded under Jehu.

And they were direct descendants of Obed and Jethro, Moses' father-in-law. And so Jonah Dabb is a hero, he's a patriarch. He yields much influence and Jeremiah the prophet calls on this man, this manly man in Israel, to take he and all of his descendants that they could get their arms around into the temple. Notice the dramatic location that is chosen for this demonstration. By the way, this is a demonstration.

Something is intended to be proved here. And they are brought into this temple experience. Calvin says it was a notable theater from which to communicate a message. Perhaps Jeremiah wanted this scene to be talked about. So he chose the most amazing context for it, a most unusual high profile context, bringing all these people in, not priests at all, right there into this location.

How many were there? Well, I don't know. He took Jaseniah, who was the head of his clan, and all of these other people. There could have been 20, there could have been a hundred people here in this scene. Close quarters.

I picture them jammed up in there with Jeremiah the prophet, the weeping prophet there, who is known for many very, very interesting displays. And he's doing one now here under the command of God. So there's the head of the clan, Jaseniah, and all the rest of those family members that were there. And then we see that the Recubites are tested. Then I said before the sons of the house of the Recubites, bowls full of wine and cups, and I said to them, drink wine.

It's the moment of truth. I expect that it was as quiet as quiet has ever been when this announcement was given Imagine the pressures on these men imagine the political pressures It's it's the priesthood. It's the temple There they are and there's all this pressure and the prophet Jeremiah issues a command Drink wine He didn't say well if you feel like having some wine today. It's certainly available to you This was a highly charged high pressure Situation Let's just say that the political pressure and the peer pressure was pretty hot. You know, people talk about how you lose your soul when you go to Washington, because the pressures upon you cause you to lose all of your values when you get there.

Have you heard people talk about that? I think that's what was happening here. Enormous pressures being raised and the command of the prophet, drink wine. And That's the scene here. It is an amazing testing and then the Rekha bites respond and they say we will drink no wine For Jonah dab the son of Rekha our father now how far back can you?

Recall in your genealogy Most people can get back to maybe great-grandfather, most people. How many of you can get beyond great-grandfather, you know his name? There you go, Three people, four people, not very many. These boys could go back 300 years. That's a transgenerational vision.

That's this 300 year vision that was being fulfilled right before our eyes. We need to recover a multi-generational vision of life because we don't have that. Nobody around us has it. They think only of themselves and their own generation. But the Bible is full of this mentality.

The first 10 chapters of 1 Chronicles are genealogy. It's the fathers and the sons, the fathers and sons, for nine, almost 10 chapters. And you find this all through Scripture. I was tempted to walk you through scripture this afternoon and look at how this transgenerational mentality pervades the people of God. But that would take quite a long time here at a late afternoon.

But the Recubites respond and they say, and they look back 300 years, and they would not drink. Now there are four things that Jonadab commanded his sons. Four things. Number one, no wine. Now this brother here in the temple though, he says our wives or our sons and daughters have not done this since they heard the command 300 years before.

Is there a biblical restriction? Is there a biblical prohibition for drinking wine? No. But their father commanded them, none of the Rechabites are going to drink wine. Second, no living in houses.

Imagine that. But they would be nomads. Is that a biblical requirement? Is this father bringing a biblical requirement on his sons? No, not at all.

No agriculture. Is it a biblical requirement that sons do not participate in agriculture? No. We're encouraged to participate in all manner of work life, including agriculture, and no settling. They would live in tents.

They would be sojourners. Was Jonah Dabb doing the right thing to demand these restrictions? He kept them from agriculture, wine, fixed accommodations, and without land they would be nomads all their lives. And so for 300 years this family had lived the nomadic lifestyle. Does a father have a right to demand those kinds of things?

What we do know is they took it to heart and they obeyed it. I don't believe these brothers and sisters believed that these were biblical constraints, but they did it out of honor for their father. Matthew Henry says this, Tents were mean dwellings so that this would teach them not to think of settling or taking root anywhere in this world. They must dwell in tents all their days. They must from the beginning thus accustomed themselves to endure hardness.

And were they tempted to disobey the fifth commandment to honor and obey their father? Perhaps they were tempted, but they could not be enticed even when the prophet of God points his finger at them and says, drink. These were men of steel. These were men of principle. These were men who are operating by the principle of honor that we see communicated in Scripture.

And then we find that the Erechabites explain their behavior in these verses, verses 8 through 10. Thus we have obeyed the voice of Jonadab, the son of Rekab. It's just a simple matter of obedience. Our father in all, he charged us to drink no wine all our days, our wives, our sons and our daughters, nor to build ourselves houses to dwell in, nor do we have a vineyard, field, or seed. But we've dwelt in tents, and we've obeyed and done everything according to all that Jonadab our father commanded us.

But it came to pass when Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, came upon the land that we said, come, let us go to Jerusalem for fear of the army of the Chaldeans and for fear of the army of the Syrians. So we dwell in Jerusalem now, according to all that Jonadab, our father, commanded us. Think about this for a minute, brothers. Most of you are fathers. Think about the vision you'll cast for your sons and your daughters.

What will they be? Are your sons and daughters just going to go off to create a brand new life with no wisdom, with no direction at all? Well that's really where most fathers are part today. They just let their sons go. But here we see an example of a father who casts a very clear vision for a particular kind of life.

And so they explain why they take this perspective. And then we see the flexibility that Jonah Dabb's commands afforded. When they recognized this tumult, they were able to be flexible. They didn't have houses. They didn't have gardens and fields to care for.

So they were able to move about freely. And so when in exile, they could just collect their things up and move right away. You know how property can be an encumbrance, how difficult it can be to be tied down by a house or land or a mortgage that got flipped upside down or something like that. There are encumbrances associated with owning houses. This father understood that life is no different today than it was then.

There are always encumbrances and there are always freedoms. This father cast a vision for this type of freedom for his children. So we see the flexibility that it afforded them. They were free to move about and not be tied down by earthly possessions. How easy it is to be tied down by our possessions and not able to be flexible.

One commentator says this, hence poverty was a great advantage to them. Their austerity of life was also a benefit to them. They could without difficulty dwell in Jerusalem for they had no need of many luxuries. Had they been accustomed to wine and to other delicacies, they might have discussed the point, whether it would have been better for them at once to die than to suffer want in a besieged city moreover as they had lived frugally and had also been accustomed to an austere life no anxiety prevented them to come with confidence to Jerusalem, for they thought that they could gain a sparing and sordid subsistence on their own." So it gave certain kinds of freedoms. Then we notice that the recubites are used as an example of faithfulness in contrast to Israel's unfaithfulness.

You see this extreme contrast. Jonah Dabb's request was that these sons would walk in a certain way. What the prophet is saying here in this text is that the commands of God were really easy compared to the commands of Jonadab. God was just calling for simple obedience to revealed laws. But Jonadab was asking for something far more.

And the contrast is being made that Jonadab asks for something unthinkable that other people might think would be abusive or harsh and God wanted far less and why don't you obey God that's the point that he's making here and Then we see the terrible judgment that's announced for this ingratitude before God. Therefore, thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, behold, I will bring on Judah and on all the inhabitants of Jerusalem all the doom that I have pronounced against them, because I have spoken to them but they have not heard, and I have called to them But they have not answered so the Jews were condemned For their failure to obey God and his simple commands God was saying come unto me you weary and are heavy laden put aside your dumb idols God was saying let me be your shepherd God was not asking anything That would be hard at all for his people He was asking them to come to the water of life and drink. He was asking them to come to eat at his table and to be cared for by him for all generations and yet they spurned him.

Yet when a father asks something like, no wine, no land, no houses, and no agriculture, you find obedience. And so there's this judgment that is issued. And then we find this amazing promise and reward from God. And Jeremiah said to the house of the Rechabites, this was not long after he said, drink wine. Now he says this, thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, Because you've obeyed the commandment of Jonah Deb your father and kept all his precepts and done according to all that he commanded you therefore Thus says the Lord of hosts the God of Israel Jonah Dab the son of Rekab shall not lack a man to stand before me forever.

That was the promise. This was a promise of spiritual fruitfulness for all generations. This is the promise that everyone in this room desires. It's my desire. I know it's yours.

You came here because you desire to see the kingdom of God to be expressed from one generation to the next. You're here not because you're obsessed with this generation, but you desire to see God working from one generation to the next. You don't desire to be independent donkeys of men here. You desire to fulfill the commands of God for your families. That's why you're here.

And here, these brothers here are being blessed by everything that you and I want. God rewards those who keep his laws, and the Rechabites are rewarded with their faithfulness to outlandish, unreasonable commands of their father. Do you think, sons, that if your father issues an unreasonable, outlandish command, that if you obey him, God would bless you. Do you think so? On the authority of this passage of Scripture I would just affirm yes, yes, yes it may be hard, yes there may be privations, it may be the laughingstock of those around you who would say how could a father be so?

But God would bless you the world might curse you But God would bless you and he might do what he did to these brothers who? Trustfully faithfully obey their father sons daughters Let it be known today that your father may ask you to do things that you don't understand that make no sense to you. But God will bless you. The Bible says that God blesses those who honor their father and mother that it will go well with them And then they'll live long in the land. That's a promise Whether it's an outlandish command or not.

It doesn't have to be a reasonable command for it to be a blessing to you. Oh how I wish I'd known that a long time ago. Jonadab was commanding his children. He was like Abraham. For I have chosen him that he may command his children.

And that's what Jonadab was doing. And for this, and for the children of faithfulness, the Rechabites will have a special favor from heaven They will prosper across all the generations their lamp will not go out They will prevail no matter what happens on this earth. These sons will never have to worry about what will happen to them. No matter what tumults or deportations or pogroms will happen, whatever imprisonments, it doesn't matter. The sons of the Recubites will be there, and they'll be there worshipping God.

They will be in the prisons lifting up their hands before Almighty God. They will sit in their house and they'll praise God. They'll walk by the way and they'll give thanks to Almighty God. They will lie down and sleep in peace and they will rise up from their slumbers to serve the God of their fathers and it will be successful it will work they will have faith it will be a blessing and the joy of the Lord will be their strength that's what will happen to these sons and daughters and that's what will happen to your sons and daughters and mine if they obey because it will go well with them if they honor their father and mother regardless of whether the command is silly or not. Observe the contrast.

As the recubites demonstrate the blessings of those who honor and obey their father, Esau, on the other hand, is an example of those who despise their father's counsel. Esau sold his birthright, he despised his generation. He despised the gospel. He despised honor. And he rejected it.

And he did not want to be a priest in his tribe. He did not want to follow in the footsteps of Abraham and Isaac in obedience to the commandments of God. God desired that he would find a spouse among a godly people, but not him. He did not desire that at all. Esau rebelled against his parents' orders.

He married two Hittite women and they were a grief of mind. Esau was a grief to his mother. She was so upset she became weary of her life. Isaac charged Jacob to take a wife among the daughters of Canaan and Jacob obeyed. Esau took three wives of pagan influence.

Esau had a root of bitterness. He was a fornicator. How can one summarize Esau's character? He fell from grace because of his sin. We learned that in Hebrews 12.

He fell from grace. He was the firstborn. He should have occupied the rightful place. He had no concern for God's ways. He had no honor for his father.

He rejected all of his father's counsels and look what happened to him. He became a curse and a snare. Look at the contrast. The sons of Jonah Dabb always before God, always before... Can you imagine what a blessing it is to be before the face of God all of your life?

And that all of your sons and daughters would look up to heaven and God's pleasure and blessing would be upon them? Not Esau. He's a cursed man. And he's a wanderer in the earth. He's a profane man.

So the Recubites demonstrate 300 years of honor, 109, 500 days of honor. That would be a good program to introduce into the church. Let's have, instead of the 40 days of purpose, let's have the 109, 500 days of honor. How about that? And build a generation that will survive us by helping our sons and daughters honor and obey us.

So God gives the recubites what every father longs for. Children whose faces are before the Lord. Who have his strength. Who have his laws. Who have his joy.

What a blessing this is. And sons, you who are there please look at me now know this that if you honor your father it will go well with you teach your sons and daughters to honor their father and it will go well with them and perhaps these 109, 500 days could also be fulfilled in you as a result of your obedience to the Word of God. Sons are you always calibrating back to the words of your father? Or are you a wild donkey of a man going off in your own direction? You will eat the fruit of those labors one way or the other.

So if the sons of a human father would do this, then sons of a heavenly father should do the same. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. And these things which I command you today shall be in your heart, and you shall teach them diligently to your children, and you shall talk of them when you sit in the house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up. And they shall be as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes and you shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates and the Lord God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your descendants to love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul that you may live. Let it be so of us brothers.

We've just spent two days speaking of the particular ways of fatherhood in this world. God has given us many blessed mentors. It's a vision of hope. There is so much to do that is blessed in this life and let's rise up and do it. I know, I know we desire it.

I pray that God would give us a generation like the generation of the greatest dad in the world, Jonah Dab. Oh Lord we pray that you would fulfill all these promises in us. We pray that you would use us for the glory of Jesus Christ for all generations. We would care nothing about this world but everything about the Gospel being preached forever. Amen.

The National Center for Family Integrated Churches is dedicated to proclaiming the sufficiency of Scripture for church and family life and to the establishment of biblically ordered churches. For more information, resources, and products, please visit our website at www.ncfic.org. Thank you. Thank you.