Now there in Jeremiah chapter
5, in verse 30, it says a wonderful, an astonishing, and a horrible
or a filthy thing is committed in the land. The prophets prophesy
falsely, and the priests bear rule by their means. And my people love to have it
so, and what will you do in the end thereof? These false preachers
were lying to the people about God, about God's salvation, about
their sin. They were ruling by their own
means rather than declaring the Word of God, which is the means
that God has been pleased to use. And another horrible thing
was happening with the people. The people, he said, my people
love to have it so. They love to hear these lies
and to have these false means being used. Now that same horrible
thing's happening in our day. If there was a physician in town
and that physician was prescribing poison to patients and they were
dying from his care, You would want to be warned about that
physician. And you would consider me unkind if I didn't warn you
about that physician. But a physician just like that
wouldn't be half as bad as a false preacher telling lies about God
and about the sinner's need for Him to save. So I want you to
be warned. I want you to be able to detect
a false preacher, or be able to detect when a preacher that
has preached the truth has proven himself to be a false preacher.
The subject tonight, I've titled this, A False Preacher's Ways. Our text shows us five ways of
a false preacher. Look down at Jeremiah 6 and verse
13. First of all, they're given to
covetousness. Jeremiah 6.13 says, For from
the least of them even to the greatest of them, every one is
given to covetousness. And then secondly, they deal
falsely. He says there in verse 13, from
the prophet even to the priest, everyone dealeth falsely. And then thirdly, they tell the
people they have peace when they don't have peace. Verse 14, they
have healed also the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly,
saying, peace, peace, when there is no peace. Then fourthly, they're
not ashamed of this abomination. Were they ashamed when they had
committed abomination? No, they were not at all ashamed,
neither could they blush. Therefore they shall fall among
them that fall. At the time that I visit them
shall they be cast down, saith the Lord. And then fifthly, they
will not heed any admonition to return to their old paths.
Verse 16, thus saith the Lord. The Lord, He spoke, is stand
ye in the ways and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the
good way, and walk therein, and you shall find rest for your
souls. But they said, we will not walk therein. Also, I sent
watchmen over you, the Lord said. I sent some true preachers to
you, saying, hearken to the sound of the trumpet. But they said,
we will not hearken. A false preacher and those who
follow him serve self and their own interest. They do not serve
God and they do not serve God's people. The first thing we're
told here is false preachers are given to covetousness. From
the least of them to the greatest of them, everyone is given to
covetousness. From the least to the greatest.
You'll have a preacher, he'll put on his false humility, and
he'll say, oh, I just preached to a small congregation. He'll
say, oh, I'm not educated. I'm nobody. I don't have anything.
But covetousness is from the least to the greatest. This is
not just preachers in mega churches. This is preachers in little country
churches, too. The problem is they're given
to covetousness. They covet the praise of men.
They covet the praise of men. Do you remember that there were
some that believed on the Lord? Among the chief rulers, there
were some that believed on the Lord. It says, but because of
the Pharisees, they did not confess Him lest they should be put out
of the synagogue. For they loved the praise of
men more than the praise of God. They didn't want to give up their
position in the church. They covet honor. He said, they
want to sit in the chief seats. They want to be acknowledged
by men. A man had come to a point where
he wants to be regarded as a wise old preacher, or he wants to
be regarded as a wise old believer that's been in the faith a long
time, and he sees an opportunity to have it, and he goes after
it. But chiefly, they covet money. the covet money. A man will see
religion growing around him. He'll see his congregation not
doing so. Or he'll see that his congregation
is beginning to diminish. Folks are dying off and it's
getting smaller and smaller. Or he sees that he runs the risk
of having his financial support cut off from outside from another
church or something of that nature. It's amazing. At that very moment,
When he begins to see those things is when he will re-examine his
doctrine and change it. God says, if you want to find
the root of the problem, follow the money. Turn over to Romans
chapter 16. Look at verse 17. Now I beseech you, brethren,
Romans 16, 17, Now I beseech you, brethren, mark them which
cause divisions and offenses contrary to the doctrine which
you have learned, and avoid them. Did you see what he said there? Mark them which cause divisions
and offenses contrary to the doctrine which you have learned. and avoid them, for they that
are such serve not our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly. And by good words and fair speeches
they deceive the hearts of the simple. Turn over to 1 Timothy
chapter 6. 1 Timothy chapter 6. You remember Peter said that
through covetousness they shall through fain words make merchandise
of you? That word fain words is a word
plastos. It means molded words. crafted
words. They'll make merchandise of you.
Here's Paul and he's speaking to Timothy. Timothy was a preacher
and he's telling him, he's giving him some advice and some counsel
on preaching. And he says, verse 3, if any
man teach otherwise and consent not to wholesome words, even
the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to the doctrine which is
according to godliness, he is proud knowing nothing. but doting
about questions and strifes of words. Whereof cometh envy, strife,
railings, evil surmisings, perverse disputings of men of corrupt
minds, and destitute of the truth, supposing that gain is godliness. From such withdraw thyself, but
godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing
into this world, and it's certain we can carry nothing out. And
having food and raiment, let us be therewith content." Now
he's speaking to a preacher, and he's talking to a preacher
about preachers, but this is true of all of us. Having food
and raiment, let us be there with content. But they that will
be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish
and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition.
For the love of money is the root of all evil." The love of
money, the covetousness for money, that's the root of all evil. And while some coveted after,
they have erred from the faith. and pierced themselves through
with many sorrows. But thou, O man of God, flee
from these things, run from them, run from them, and follow after
righteousness, godliness, faith, love. Patience, meekness, fight
the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life whereunto
thou art also called and has professed a good profession before
many witnesses. You remember Luke 14, the Lord
said, when you minister to those that are poor and lame and maimed
and blind that can't recompense to you again, He said, you'll
be blessed. That's who God saves, that's
who He sends His people to, the poor and the lame and the maimed
and the blind. We're as dependent upon God to
provide everything for us as we are for Him to provide all
salvation for us. We are poor, maimed, lame, and
blind. How then are we going to be blessed
if we're not recompensed by sinners? The same way we're recompensed
by all spiritual blessings, they're all given to us by God. And they're
all seen, they're all given when we behold the glory of God in
the face of Christ Jesus. That's how we're going to be
recompensed. to behold God doing the work,
to behold Christ doing it by His power and His might, by His
Spirit, not by our power, not by our might. Not by us molding
words and trying to make and set our nest upon high. So that's
the first thing. They're covetous. They're covetous.
Here's the second thing. False preachers deal falsely.
Look at verse 13. And from the prophet even unto
the priest, every one dealeth falsely. They deal falsely with
the word of God. That's where they deal falsely.
Isaiah 820 said, to the law and to the prophets, if they speak
not according to this word, it's because there is no light in
them. Now this book says, in Adam all
died. That's what the book says. Wherefore
as by one man sin entered the world and death by sin. And so death passed upon all
men for that all have sinned. David said, Behold, I was shapen
in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me. The wicked
are estranged from the womb. They go astray as soon as they
be born speaking lies. They don't have to be taught
to speak lies. They just do, because they're
sin. Sinners are dead in a twofold
way. We're dead judicially. We're
dead, that's we're in righteousness. has to do with that. Righteous.
Righteousness. We've broken the law. We're guilty. We're under the curse and condemnation
of the broken law as we come into this world. And we must
have our guilt put away. We must be justified. We must
be made the righteousness of God. Righteousness has got to
be brought in for us. And secondly, we're dead spiritually.
We're not holy in ourselves. We've got to be made holy. We're
conceived of incorruptible seed and so by nature we're children
of wrath even as others. Every elect child of God must
be born again of incorruptible seed and be taught of God inwardly
to cast all our care upon Christ. So you see, the two main problems
is righteousness and holiness. We're not righteous, we've broken
God's law, and we're not holy. We've got a corrupt nature, my
bird. Righteousness and holiness. This is where false preachers
deal falsely. in righteousness and holiness.
These are the two things. It's by the obedience of Christ
through his blood that both of these are accomplished for us.
First of all, judicially, the book says Christ came into this
earth formed in the womb of a virgin of the Holy Ghost. God the Son
came down, formed in the womb of a virgin of the Holy Ghost.
So He's perfect human nature and He's perfect divine nature
in one man. So He was holy from His mother's
womb. So everything He went about was
truth and holiness from the heart and righteousness indeed. Everything. Right? Holy and righteous is
that one. The book says Christ was examined under the law the
whole of His life. He was tempted of Satan. They
never sinned. Men judged Him, tried to find
fault in Him. They couldn't find any fault
in Him. God bore witness from heaven and said, this is my beloved
Son in whom I am well pleased, hear ye Him. The judge of heaven
declared, he's holy, he's just, he's spotless, he's without sin. And so he was fit being examined
just like in the Old Testament, that lamb had to be put up and
examined to make sure it had no spot in it and no blemish
in it. Christ walked this earth. Adam sinned in a perfect environment. Christ came forth showing how
much greater he is. He came forth in a cursed environment
with sinners all around him and walked through this life being
tempted of Satan and men and all unrighteousness and that
which is not holy. And he went about doing that
which was only righteous from a pure and holy heart. And so
he was the just one. willingly, who gave himself to
die for the unjust. He died the just for the unjust. He was just. There was no wrong
in him, no fault in him, and he died for the unjust. Now the
whole purpose for which he came into this world was to declare
the righteousness of God. That's what the book says. Now
is manifest the righteousness of God. Without the law, without
our deeds of the law, the righteousness of God is manifest by the faithfulness
of Christ Jesus. He came into this world to manifest
righteousness, to declare how God can be just and be the justifier
of His people and shower His elect people with mercy and do
it justly. That's the whole reason He came.
So for God to remain just in punishing Christ, In place of
His elect people, Christ first had to be made sin for us, or
else God's unjust. So the Lord hath laid on Him
the iniquity of us all, all the elect of God, and only the elect
of God. For He hath made Him to be sin
for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness
of God in Him. The Spirit of God says He Himself
bore our sins in His own body on the tree. The Spirit of God
says Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being
made a curse for us. The Scripture says He was numbered
with the transgressors, having been made sin in the place of
His people. Now, God was just to pour out
wrath upon Him, justice upon Him. I tried to show you last
week on the cross that Christ bore the judgment and the punishment
of hell for His people that's described over there in 2 Thessalonians
1, in verses 6-10. If you meet God under the curse
of the law, it's going to be righteous tribulation. Christ
was made a curse for us and he met holy God under that curse
of the law. And he endured in his body on
the tree righteous tribulation from God. So now those he represented
must be given the mercy of God because the righteousness of
God demands it. They're righteous. On that cross,
if you meet God under the curse, it'll be just vengeance. And
on that cross, when He was made sin for His people, God poured
out upon Him just vengeance in place of His people. And that
word vengeance has a two-fold meaning. It means vengeance,
justice being meted out, and it means acquittal, too. That's
what it means. So that now justice demands,
because he died and justice was meted out upon him, it demands
all those for whom he died must be acquitted of all our transgressions. They are and they must be in
the court of their conscience. On that cross, or if you meet
God under the curse of the law, it would be everlasting destruction. The worm that never dies, the
death that never dies, the second death, that first physical death
won't be it, it'll be the second death. And on that cross, Christ,
under the curse of the law, meeting holy God in justice, He endured
everlasting destruction. He was dying the death that never
dies on that cross, that living death that never dies. Through
the Eternal Spirit, because He offered Himself through the Eternal
Spirit, He condemned that second death. Because He offered Himself
through the Eternal Spirit, He made the worm that never dies
to die. That's what He did. So now His
people have paid the wages of sin, which is that second death. They've paid it. So they must
be given eternal life. And Christ on the cross was cut
off from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His
power. That's what hell will be. And that's what happened
on the cross. He cried, My God, My God, why
hast Thou forsaken Me? But by His being forsaken, He
assures His people, I will never leave you nor forsake you because
it's been done. We will be saved by the presence
and kept by the glory of His power forever. Now, the mystery
of the cross, brethren, is not that God poured out judgment
upon one who was innocent. God didn't do that. If God ever
once pours out justice on an innocent man, He's not just. God's just. The mystery of the
cross is that Christ, who knew no sin, who did no sin, who thought
no sin, who was the just one, willingly submitted to the Lord,
who laid the iniquity of his children upon him, making him
sin, so that God was just to pour out wrath upon Christ. And the mystery of the cross
is that while He was the scapegoat bearing our sins away to a land
not inhabited, and that justly, while He was the sin offering
dying that second death in place of His people, all in just judgment,
At the same time, in his heart, in his soul, in holy faithfulness,
he laid aside all his glorious garments, just like the high
priest did, and with his linen garments on, which is a picture
of the holy and pure faith of our high priest. He entered into
that holy place when he said, after he cried, my God, my God,
why hast thou forsaken me? He cried, my God, my God, while
he was being forsaken. That's a mystery that he was
justly being forsaken of God who is of two pure eyes to behold
iniquity when the sin of his people was laid on him. And yet
while he did it, he was crying, my God, my God. When he said he justified God,
he said, but thou art holy and I'm a worm and no man. When he
reviled not again, but cast all his care upon the Father. That
was our high priest entering in, in holiness, into that holiest
of holies, not made with hands, and offering his blood in the
presence of God. And by that blood, he justified
his people. By that blood, he made atonement
for his people. By that blood, he made his people
righteous. before the holy law of God, He
hath perfected forever them that are sanctified. And He's our
propitiation through faith in His blood. He's that seed of
mercy we come to continually confess in our sins. And God
is faithful and just to forgive us our sins because Christ has
put them all away. And His blood continually cleanseth
us of our sin. Therein is the righteousness
of God revealed. All our hope, brethren, is that
the judge of all the earth will do right. If God punished Christ
before making Him sin for His elect, then the whole purpose
of declaring the righteousness of God becomes void. And if God
punished again one sinner for whom Christ died, then God's
unjust. but the just judge does right. He does right. Beholding Christ
on the cross and beholding what God did in making Him sin and
justifying His people, that assures us, brethren, that God will do
right by us. We can trust Him. We can trust
Him. That's the first thing false prophets attack. In some way,
they attack that very righteous character of God, which is His
very glory. The second thing is God's elect
have to be born again. We've got to be created anew.
Because we're born the first time spiritually dead in trespasses
and sins. We're unholy. We've got an unholy
nature. And God won't have anybody coming
into his presence who's not holy. We've got to be saved spiritually,
in our nature, as well as judicially and righteously, which Christ
accomplished at the cross. He said, the Lord said to Nicodemus,
verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born again, he
cannot see the kingdom of God. And he said, that which is born
of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is
Spirit. When we're born of the Holy Spirit,
look at Romans 8. Look at Romans 8. When we're
born of the Holy Spirit, when a sinner is born of the Holy
Spirit, that believer is made up of flesh and Spirit. That which is born of flesh is
flesh, that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Paul said,
in my flesh dwells no good thing. And he also said, I delight in
the law of God after the inward man. So in every believer there's
an old man and there's a new man. There's a fleshly man and
there's a spiritual man. There's a body of death and there's
spiritual life. There's an old nature and there's
a divine nature we're made partakers of when Christ enters into our
bodies by the Spirit and sanctifies us. Look at Romans 8.8. Romans
8.8. So then they that are in the
flesh cannot please God. But ye are not in the flesh,
but in the Spirit, if so be the Spirit of God dwelt in you. Would
you see that? You're in the Spirit, if so be
the Spirit of God dwelt in you. Now, If any man have not the
Spirit of Christ, he's none of his. And if Christ be in you,
do you see this? If Christ be in you, the body
is dead because of sin. The body's still dead. That which
is flesh is flesh. But the Spirit is life because
of righteousness. Look over at Colossians chapter
three. Colossians chapter three. You remember when Paul said in
2 Corinthians 5.17, he says, Therefore if any man be in Christ,
he is a new creature. Old things are passed away. Behold,
all things are become new. That new creature is the inward
man. That new creature is the inward
man created anew by the Holy Spirit. When of God, ye are in
Christ. When of God, Christ is made all
unto us. As Christ just said, you in Christ
and Christ in you. Now look here plainly in Colossians
3 and look at verse 9. Lie not one to another, seeing
that you have put off the old man with his deeds, that's that
fleshly man of our first birth, look at verse 10, and have put
on the new man, that's the spiritual newly born man, born of the Spirit
of God, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created
him. Christ is not the new man spoken
of here, for Christ was not renewed in knowledge. Christ was not
created. but rather it's the newly born
again man within the believer which is renewed in knowledge
after the image of Christ who created him. That's the new man
where there's neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision,
barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free, but Christ is all and in
all. Do you see that? Look at Ephesians
4. Ephesians 4. The first thing
false prophets deal falsely with has to do with the righteousness
of God, what Christ accomplished at the cross. The second thing
they deal with is this thing of being made holy, being made
sanctified by God. Look at Ephesians 4.22. Put off concerning the former
conversation, former conduct, the old man. which is corrupt
according to the deceitful lust. That old man is corrupt according
to the deceitful lust. And be renewed in the spirit
of your mind, there's the inner man, and put on the new man,
which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.
You see the old man is corrupt according to deceitful lust,
the new man after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.
Like begets like. The old man is corrupt just like
our first father was. But the new man is created in
righteousness and true holiness just like our heavenly father
is. Do you see that? Like begets like. But the false
prophet deals falsely. He's not declaring man's totally
depraved. He's not saying that God elected
the people unto salvation and put them in Christ before the
world began. He's not saying that Christ died for the elect
of God only. He's not saying that in Christ
the righteousness of God is manifested, everything that took place on
the cross was done in righteousness, so that now God's just and the
justifier of His people. He denies the necessity of being
born again. He denies the necessity that
God will not have fellowship with anybody unless they've been
made holy and that God alone gets all the glory for making
a man holy. We don't make ourselves holy, He makes us holy. And there's
no place in these scriptures that holiness is given in a relative
sense, except for when it says, those that stand over here and
say, you stand over there, I'm holier than you are. That's the
only place where it's said that one is holier than another. And
God said, and they're a stench in my nose. So you see what I'm saying? He
denies that we're kept by the power of God, that we're going
to be presented holy and without spot, unblameable by Christ. A false prophet is wanting it
all to come back to you. He's wanting it to come back
to your righteousness, and your holiness, and your will, and
your wisdom, and your knowledge, and your works. And why does
he do that? The false prophet is dealing
falsely, not because he really cares one way or the other about
it. He doesn't care about the glory
of God. He doesn't care about the good
of God's saints. It's because he's covetous. Whoever will support
him most, to them he'll preach exactly what they want to hear.
Verse 13, read that again, Jeremiah 6. For from the least of them,
even to the greatest of them, everyone is given to covetousness. And from the prophet, even unto
the priest, everyone dealeth falsely. Do you see? The righteousness
and holiness of God is the very issue. We've got to be created
anew in righteousness and true holiness. And God gets all the
glory for that, or else we can't come into His presence. Now look
at the third thing here. It says, they tell the people
they have peace when they don't have peace. Verse 14. They've healed also the hurt
of the daughter of my people slightly, saying, peace, peace,
when there is no peace. I was looking up some notes that
Brother Henry preached on this, and he told a story that I thought
was a good illustration for this point. He was telling about a
meeting they had back in 1951. And he was talking about how
Brother Ralph Barnard had preached a message, and afterwards a man
come up to him after the services and said, I think I'm lost. And
Mr. Barnard told him, he said, well,
you seek Christ. And another preacher come up
to him, and another preacher started telling that man, oh,
you're not lost. You're not lost. You believe
Christ, don't you? You're saved. And Brother Barnard
looked that man in the eye and he said, the only person that
will try to convince a lost man that he is saved is another lost
man. False preachers try to convince
lost sinners that they're saved. That's what they try to do. They
give a sinner things to pray and the sinner prays it and then
they say, now you're saved. They give a center things to
do. Maybe it's just one, two, three step to do. Or maybe it's
a year long, two years worth of classes he's got to take or
whatever. He does it and he gets through and they say, now you
see. They've healed the hurt of the daughter of my people
slightly, saying, peace, peace, where there is no peace. You
can have a man who's got nothing, who can't recompense anything
to the preacher, and that man is out living like hell, and
he'll bring the yoke of his wrath upon that man and deal with him
harshly. And you got another man who'd
be guilty of the very same thing, but he's putting big checks in
the offering plate, and he'll just overlook that man's sin
altogether. Crying, peace, peace, where there is no peace. Senator,
how do you know you're lost? Everybody's wanting to talk about
signs to tell you how you're saved. You gotta be lost before
you can be saved. How do you know you're lost?
That's the question. How do I know I'm lost? God's
got to do this. He's going to reveal you, show
you that you've committed sins. You've broken His law. The whole
law of God. If you broke one law, you're
guilty of the whole law. That's the first thing. And then
He's going to show you that you are sin. That original sin is
the heart, it's the nature, it's the very corruption that you
are, that we receive from our father Adam. It's not just what
we do, it's what we are. And then thirdly, he's going
to show a sinner that his best works are evil. Not just our
sins that are evil, our best works are evil. A sinner may
acknowledge he sinned. And he may even acknowledge he
is sin, but then he goes right to work trying to fix it and
trying to repair himself and get himself all fixed up. That's
what Adam did. Soon as Adam saw he sinned in
the garden, he put on his Sunday best and went to church. That's
exactly what he did. A man may decide he's going to
hide himself amongst the believer, amongst the true trees of righteousness,
and he goes trying to hide himself and pass himself off as one of
God's own. But when God speaks in the heart,
he's going to find out that his best praying was evil. And his
being baptized was evil. And that is all joining the church
with just fig leaves. And everything he was doing was
from a motive of trying to fix it himself. And God makes him
to see that even that sin, it's just filthy rags before God. And then God's going to make
him see his greatest sin of all, unbelief. He hadn't believed
on Christ. It wasn't the dancing around
the golden calf that kept Israel from going into Canaan. You know
what it was? Unbelief. They didn't believe
God. That's what kept them from going
in. He said when the Spirit of God's come, he'll convince the
world of sin because they believe not on me. And then he's going
to make the man willing to cast all his care into the hands of
Christ. That's what's got to happen. Believe in God. Believe
in Christ. It's not just believing there's
a God. The devils believe and tremble. It's being persuaded
that He is able. It's knowing whom I have believed. Knowing whom I have believed.
And it's being persuaded that He's able. And it's committing
everything to Him. Paul said, I know whom I have
believed and am persuaded that He is able to keep that which
I have committed unto Him against that day. This is what faith
says. Though He slay me, yet will I
trust Him. That's faith. That's faith. Did your peace come from God
or did it come from something you did? I guarantee you if our
peace came from something we did, it won't ever last. We're
constantly trying to do something to get peace again. Isn't that
right? Constantly trying to do it. Peace
was thought by God when He elected the people unto salvation in
Christ and determined the end from the beginning. Look here
at Jeremiah 29. Jeremiah 29 and verse 11. I know the thoughts that I think
toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to
give you an expected end." How does he know that? He determined
the end from the beginning. He determined who he would save.
Peace was brought by Christ as it brought to his own by Christ. He said, peace I leave with you,
my peace I give unto you, not as the world giveth, give I unto
you. And peace is wrought in the heart by the Holy Spirit,
not the flesh. The Lord said, it's the spirit
that quickeneth, the flesh profiteth nothing. The words I speak unto
you, they're spirit and they're life. So first we got to be made
lost before we can have any peace. And then God's got to make us
see Christ is our peace. And that's, we don't look anywhere
else for peace. He's the peace. But the false
prophet, is telling you, you got peace. You're saved when
you're not saved, when you ain't even been lost yet. When a man
hadn't even been cast out and become to the point where he
loathes himself and hates himself and despises himself. We living
in a world where everybody's telling everybody how good everybody
is. And it's the most awful, filthy,
nasty place in the world than it's ever been. And we're going
around telling everybody how good everybody is and how holy
everybody is. You see, man, I heard somebody
the other day that was talking about Magic Johnson, you know,
talking about back when he was on Arsenio Hall and he announced
he wasn't a queer. And the whole audience stood
up and clapped and applauded. And they were saying how awful
that was nowadays that we've come so far that we realize it's
not awful if somebody's a queer. It is awful if somebody's a queer.
That's right, it is. God said it is. But just if you're
not a queer, that don't save you. If you never committed adultery,
that don't save you. We got to be made to see what
we are, brethren. What we are is sin. We got to
completely be made righteous and holy by God, by what He's
done. Let's look at the fourth thing
here. Jeremiah 6 verse 15. These false preachers and those
that follow them, they're not ashamed of this abomination that
they committed. Verse 15, were they ashamed when
they had committed abomination? He's talking about this very
thing right here. Look back in verse 30, he said, a wonderful
and horrible thing is committed in the land. The prophets prophesied
falsely and the priests bear rule by their means and my people
love to have it so. And now he says in verse 15,
were they ashamed when they committed this abomination? No, they weren't
at all ashamed, neither could they even blush. He says, therefore
they shall fall among them that fall. At the time that I visit
them, they shall be cast down, saith the Lord. This hardness
of heart is a description of judicial blindness, is what this
is a description of. Now, you let the false preacher
get caught so that he's about to get his channel of income
taken away, or you let him be trying to take over a church
somewhere and fool men and convince men that he's repented and all
this, and they'll cry big crocodile tears, and they'll try to convince
some that they have repented. But then they go right on making
merchandise of men's souls, dealing falsely with God's Word, dividing
and conquering brethren. And they prove, no, they were
not at all ashamed, neither could they blush. And God says, the
blind leading the blind shall both fall into the ditch. Verse 15, therefore they shall
fall among them that fall. At the time that I visit them,
they shall be cast down, saith the Lord. Do you think that what
I'm telling you is being too harsh? Does anybody think that
what I'm saying is too harsh? It's the Word of God. I'm preaching
the Word of God. I guarantee you it won't be nearly
as harsh as it will be when a false preacher meets God and those
that follow him meet God. It won't be, what I'm saying
to you won't be anything compared to them. I'm trying to tell you
something to keep you from going astray and following after these
ones that are telling men that they're being sanctified by their
keeping the law and they're being made righteous by they doing
this and that and the other. Christ is all, brethren. He's
righteousness and sanctification to His people. It's not just
being off the mark a little, it's being out of the way, out
of the way completely. Here's the fifth thing. They
will not heed the admonition to walk in the old paths, to
repent and turn to the Lord. They won't have it from the Lord
and they won't have it from His preachers. Look at verse 16. Thus saith the Lord, Thus saith
the Lord, stand ye in the ways, and see, ask for the old paths,
where is the good way, and walk therein, and you shall find rest
for your souls. But to do that you've got to
admit you're not in the right way. To do that you've got to
admit you've forsaken the old paths. To do that you've got
to admit you've forsaken the good way. To do that you've got
to confess that you don't have any rest for your soul. And so
what do men say? But they said, we will not walk
therein. Remember the Pharisees? Lord
said, if the Lord sets you free, you'll be free indeed. They said,
we ain't never been in bondage to anybody. They said, are we
blind also? And he said, if you were blind,
you'd have your sight. But you say you see, so you're blind.
Just leave you there. Look here, verse 17, also I sent
watchmen over you. I've sent some true preachers,
He said, saying, hearken to the sound of the trumpet. This gospel's
the trumpet. He said, I've sent them telling
you to hearken to the sound of the trumpet. But they said, we
will not hearken. We will not hearken. Look at
Titus 3. Titus 3, and we want to give
men the benefit of the doubt. We're not to be hasty to make
a man an offender for a word. God's long-suffering and the
Spirit of Christ dwelling in a man makes his people long-suffering.
But the Spirit of God tells us plainly, brethren, if a man insists
on striving about his false doctrine, leave him alone. That's what
the Scripture says. Look here, Titus 3, 9. But avoid
foolish questions and genealogies and contentions and strivings
about the law, for they are unprofitable and vain. A man that is a heretic
after the first and second admonition, reject him, knowing that he that
is such is subverted and sinneth, being condemned of himself."
He did it. He did it himself. What's a heretic? He forms an opinion contrary
to the scriptures based on vain reasons like covetousness. That's
what a heretic is. And or he takes away a fundamental
doctrine of Christ, something that makes God not to be righteous
and not to be holy and not to be the one that does the whole
work. And or he receives damnable heresy and follows after it.
He makes, he takes, he forms an opinion contrary to scripture
based on vain reasons like covetousness. He takes away fundamental doctrine
of Christ and he receives damnable heresy. And secondly, he obstinately
persists in it. He separates himself from brethren. He goes and forms his own party.
He creates division among the church. And it's always for this
filthy lucre. It's always to get him a higher
place somehow. And that praise and that honor
and that filthy lucre. And he says here, verse 10, a
man that is a heretic after the first and second admonition,
reject him, knowing that he that is such is subverted and sinneth
being condemned of himself. You listen to this. It's not
your place to reach out to such a one. It's not my place to reach
out to such a one. It's his place to reach out to
you. He left. You didn't leave. His
love grew cold, not yours. He separated from you, not you
from Him. You see? Do you see that? God's going to bring His people
down. He's going to bring them down. They're going to have to
confess their sin. I'd be coddled about it. So we've seen here, false preachers
are covetous. They use the Word of God falsely,
they're going to diminish the righteousness and holiness of
God. They speak peace where there is no peace. They are not ashamed
of this abomination. They parade it. They got a horse
forehead, the Scripture said. They parade it. Parade their
sin like Sodom. And fifthly, they will not hear
God or His messengers and return to the old paths. That's the
five ways of a false preacher. Now, why do you tell me this?
Why do you tell me all this? Because the Lord said this, beware
of false prophets. They will come to you in sheep's
clothing. Oh, they're so friendly and easy
to get along with and tell you funny stories and make you feel
good about yourself. But inwardly, they're ravening
wolves. Ravening wolves. Amen.