1. One of the frustrations of a pastor is seeing people – people in general, but especially Christian people – disobey the clear commands of the Word of God.
2. There are a million excuses people give for their disobedience, and like most preachers, I have heard most of them.
3. For example, some people say, "You are majoring on the minors!" That sounds pretty impressive, and very deep. But what exactly does it mean?
4. If a man is caught cheating on his taxes, does he tell the government, "You are majoring on the minors – go after the big crooks!" I think not.
5. If a man keeps coming in late for work, and his employer corrects him, does he say to his boss: "You are majoring on the minors. Some of your employees are stealing supplies, go after them." I do not think so.
6. If man is not swayed by these arguments, what about God? What does He think?
7. Oftentimes when we are reminded of our disobedience, we shrug and say, "Well, nobody’s perfect!" But what did Jesus say? (cf. Matt.5:48).
8. Things have not really changed that much in the past two or three thousand years. Back in the days of Jeremiah the prophet, the people were quite disobedient. As a matter of fact, their disobedience and stubbornness made him cry – he was called "the Weeping Prophet."
9. Today, I would like for us to look at a portion of Jeremiah’s second message. It begins at 3:6 (you can see he starts off with a bang – he certainly did not pull any punches) and ends at 6:30.
10. The people of Israel and Judah had rejected the Word of God, and so He had rejected them (6:19, 30). What a warning for our indifferent and disobedient generation!
11. I have entitled my message, "The Folly of Disobedience."

I. THEY REFUSED TO WALK THE RIGHT WAY (6:16).

1. The Lord wanted them to walk in "the old paths" (the "ancient paths" – Jer.18:15). This, we are told, "is the good way" (6:16).
2. This is good instruction for us today – we need to stick to "the old paths" :

• Daily Bible reading and Scripture memorization. It takes just 71 hours to read the entire Bible at normal speed. It takes only about two to three hours to read one of the Gospels – some Christians can spend that much time talking on the telephone or watching TV.
• John Quincy Adams was the sixth president of our country. He was the son of John Adams, our second president. He said: "I have for many years made it a practice to read through the Bible once a year. My custom is to read four or five chapters every morning immediately after rising from my bed. It employs about an hour of my time, and seems to me the most suitable manner of beginning the day. In what light soever we regard the Bible, whether with reference to revelation, to history, or to morality, it is an invaluable and inexhaustible mine of knowledge and virtue."
• Let’s stick to the old paths!
• Family devotions and family altar.
• Soulwinning – personal soulwinning, as well as corporate soulwinning (together with the church). There are millions of people out there who are lost – it is our responsibility to bring them the Gospel.
• When R.A. Torrey was preaching in Bristol, England, one of the men who was working with him went to a local restaurant for a meal. The Holy Spirit made a strong impression upon him that he should talk to the waiter about salvation, but the man kept putting it off. When the meal was finished and the bill was paid, he stepped out of the restaurant but felt so certain that he should speak to the waiter that he stood frozen on the sidewalk, finally deciding that he would wait for the waiter to get off work and then talk to him. In a little while, the owner of the restaurant came out and asked him why he was waiting. He replied that he was waiting to speak to the man who had waited upon him at his table. The owner said, "You will never speak to him again. He just went into the back of the restaurant and shot himself. He is dead!
• Let’s stick to the old paths of soulwinning. Jesus said: "Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature" (Mark 16:15).
• Let’s walk in the old paths of faithful church attendance – not just Sunday morning only. Dr. Lee Roberson likes to say, "It takes three to thrive."
• Let’s stay on the old paths of old-fashioned singing – churches that are bringing in worldly music are selling out to the devil.
• Let’s stick to the old path with the "old Book" – the King James Bible. The longer I am around the more convinced I am that they will never come out with a better English translation. They’re coming out with a new Bible every year and none of them are any good.

3. God told them that if they would walk therein, they would "find rest" for their souls (Jer.6:16). Maybe there are some people here who have never experienced this rest – today you can find rest if you’ll come to Jesus (Matt.11:28-30).
4. The problem in Jeremiah’s day and the problem today is disobedience – "But they said, We will not walk therein" (6:16b). What defiance! What stubbornness! They were stiff-necked and obstinate. Oh, the folly of disobedience!

II. THEY WOULD NOT HEARKEN TO GOD’S WATCHMEN (6:17).

1. God set "watchmen" over the people but they refused to listen (cf. Jer.25:4; Ezek.3:17).
2. One of the obvious reasons why people do not respond to Bible preaching is because they are unconverted. I had an interesting conversation with a preacher friend recently and he told me that in the Old Testament, God refers to those who are not born again as "uncircumcised in heart" and "uncircumcised in ear" (cf. Jer.6:10).
3. This is why some people have "no delight" in the Word of God. This is why they have no interest in spiritual things – "their ear is uncircumcised and they cannot hearken" (6:10; cf. Deut.10:16; Acts 7:51).
4. Is the Word of God a delight for you? Or are you like these unsaved listeners in Jeremiah’s day who could not hear because of an uncircumcised ear? If so, you can receive new ears, and a new heart, even now, if you will repent of your sin and receive Christ as your Saviour.
5. People today have their own "watchmen" – smelly rock and roll singers, Hollywood celebrities, sports heroes, and psychiatrists. I heard about two psychiatrists who passed each other on the street. One said, "Nice to see you" and the other said, "Have a nice day!" As they kept walking, each was thinking the same thing: "What did he mean by that?" You can be sure what God means!

III. THEY REJECTED THE WORD OF GOD (6:18-21).

1. God gets right down to the root of the problem – it is "the fruit of their thoughts" (Jer.6:19; cf. Pro.1:29-31).
2. It is dangerous to reject the Word of God (Jer.6:19; cf. 7:24; 8:9-12).
3. This is what is happening today in America – the majority of Americans have rejected the Word of God and we are seeing the sad results. Sodomites are defiantly demanding their "rights" and spreading their horrible diseases; mothers are aborting their children; some are throwing them out the window or putting them in garbage dumpsters; people are mad with drinking and gambling and dope and sex.
4. Our country is slowly sinking into barbarism and savagery.
5. Some would say, "But, our country is still very religious!" Yes, that is the problem – religion without regeneration is an abomination.
6. They were very religious in Jeremiah’s day also, and God said that their phony ritualism and externalism was "not acceptable" to Him (Jer.6:20,21).
7. 100 years before Jeremiah, the prophet Isaiah rebuked them for the very same thing (Isa.1:11-16).
8. God wants genuine repentance and true faith, not insincere formalism. Even many Baptists churches are guilty of this dead formalism – they start every Sunday at 11:00 sharp and end at 12:00 dull.
9. God hates this type of religious flim-flam. Notice He says, "Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hateth" (Isa.1:14). This is a recurring theme in the preaching of the O.T. prophets (Amos 5:21; Micah 6:6-8).
10. This was also one of the themes of the great revivalists of the past, such as George Whitefield, John Wesley, Gypsy Smith, D.L. Moody, R.A. Torrey, and Billy Sunday. These great preachers were adamantly opposed to formalism and sacramentalism and religious hypocrisy. They preached repentance, and the new birth, and salvation by God’s grace alone. They stayed on "the old paths."
11. Millions were saved through their preaching. Beloved, never forget that hell is full of religious church members who were never truly saved.
12. They brought "incense from Sheba" (south west Arabia) and "sweet cane from a far country," used in the incense (Jer.6:20), but this could not make up for their wicked ways (cf. Isa.43:24).
13. Because of their insufferable hypocrisy, God declared that He would lay a stumbling block before them (Jer.6:21; cf. Rom.11:9,10).
14. Today, the Lord Jesus Christ is either your Rock of Ages or a stumbling block, "a stone of stumbling" (I Peter 2:6-8).
15. Unsaved friend, you have a choice: you can repent and receive Jesus Christ as your Lord and Saviour, or you can continue in your folly and be lost forever (Matt.21:42-45).

CONCLUSION:

1. G. Campbell Morgan was conducting an evangelistic service in London years ago, and at the invitation a hardened criminal came forward for salvation. Dr. Morgan knelt down next to him and led him to Christ.
2. Then, the Mayor of London came forward, a well-respected man of high morals. He too, wanted to get saved and Dr. Morgan led him to Christ also.
3. The two men shook hands – the criminal and the mayor – and then G. Campbell Morgan grabbed their hands and announced to the congregation: "Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved."
4. What about you?