They were God's visions given
to these men and they came true. This is the word of God. But
now the canon is closed. The book is revealed. All is
done. And so then when people have
visions and dreams and they come and tell you these things, That's
not our foundation. Our foundation is the Word of
God and this is revealed here in this text in Jeremiah chapter
23. The Lord in this passage presents
woes and warnings and rebukes prophets and priests in this
day who preach not the Word of God but rather the imagination
and visions and dreams of their own heart. Look at verse 2. It says, Therefore thus saith
the Lord God of Israel against the pastors that feed my people. You have scattered my flock and
driven them away and have not visited them. Behold, I will
visit upon you the evil of your doings, saith the Lord. And what was the evil of their
doings? Look at verse 11. He said, For both prophet and
priest are profane. Yea, in my house I have found
Their wickedness, saith the Lord." The Lord here warns or gives
a stern rebuke to these prophets and priests who scatter their
flock. Now look at verse 16. He said,
"...Thus saith the Lord, hearken not unto the words of the prophets
that prophesy unto you. They make you vain, they speak
of vision, of their own heart, and listen, not out of the mouth
of the Lord. They say unto them that despise
me, The Lord hath said, You shall have peace. And they said unto
every one that walketh after his own imagination of his own
heart, No evil shall come unto you. For who has stood in the
counsel of the Lord, and hath perceived and heard his word? Who hath marked his word, and
heard it? These false preachers and prophets
were preaching according to their own heart, after the visions
of their own heart. Not as Jeremiah, who had heard
the word of the Lord, and who was sent of God. And notice who
heard these people. People of like mind. People who
walked after their own imagination. These people who despised the
Word of God. They found solace in the Word
of these false prophets. And what was the vision and imagination
of these false prophets? It was this. Everything's alright.
Everything's alright. Peace. God wants you to be happy. God wants you to be healthy.
God wants you to be wealthy. How do you know? I had a dream.
I had a vision. God's Word said He was going
to destroy him. God's Word said they were going to be held captive,
that they were going into Babylon for 70 years. This was determined. This is what God sent His man
to preach. And they didn't like it. And so what did they do?
They heaped to themselves teachers having itching ears of like opinions. They like people who have the
same opinion as they do. And so they gathered together. They did not believe the Word
of God. And this is their reasoning.
Look at verse 19. This is their reasoning for not believing.
I'm sorry. Verse 18. Who has stood in the
counsel of the Lord and hath perceived and heard His Word?
Who hath marked His Word or heard it? They said, well, Jeremiah, you
say one thing and we say another. Who's to say? You have your opinion,
Jeremiah, of how things are going to go, and we have our opinion
of how things are going to go. Who's to say? Who's been there
to hear the... Jeremiah heard the word of the Lord. They just
didn't believe it. They didn't believe it. And so now let us see that these
false prophets are not any different than they are in our day. Are
they? We preach, thus saith the Lord. And they say, well, that's
your opinion. Well, that's just your interpretation
of the Scripture. No, thus saith the Lord. They say, well, I have a dream.
I have the Word of God. And these liars, I'm telling
you, they come in not knowingly, they come in unawares. Isn't that what Jude says? They
creep in unawares, these type of men. They come with zeal and
knowledge and passion. They flatter God with their lips,
but rather than declaring the Word of God, they would rather
preach their opinions and visions and dreams. They'd rather give
men their opinions of their mind and the thoughts of their flesh
rather than this. Thus saith the Lord, the Word
of God. These false prophets give to
the church their experiences and dreams and visions. Look
at that in verse 25. This same thing is happening
here. He said, I have heard what the prophet said, that prophesy
lies in my name, saying, I have dreamed. I have dreamed. How long shall this be in the
heart of the prophets, to prophesy lies? Yea, they are prophets
of deceit of their own heart. And these dreams, these dreams
and experiences of man, they sincerely believe them. Don't
think for one minute that somebody will come to you and say, I've
dreamed a dream, I've had a vision of God. And don't think that
they're not sincere. They are very sincere. They believe
it with all their heart that what they are hearing is the
Word of God in their dreams, in their experiences, in their
visions. But what they fail to understand
is the wickedness of their own heart. You know, last night I
had a dream. Who cares? Who cares? Most likely I had too much caffeine
or too much chocolate. Something went wrong. It was
not of God. Well, how can you know? It's not in the book. What they fail to see is the
corruption of their own heart. What does this word of God say
about the heart? The heart is deceitful. How deceitful? Above all things is deceitful. Who can know it? You found the
depths of your own wicked, depraved heart yet? I haven't. It's full
of deceit. Jesus said of the natural man,
he said, out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries,
fornications, thefts, false witness, and blasphemies. How long before
this God testifies of the heart, in the days of Noah, even before
this, didn't he testify of this? He said that every imagination
of the thoughts of the heart was only Evil, how long? Continually. The heart of man
is deceitful and desperately wicked. You should not trust
your thoughts. You should not trust your feelings,
or your visions, or your dreams. So then preacher, how can we
tell what's true and what's a lie? How do we know what's of God
and what's of my own heart? That's a good question. It's
one you should ask. It's one I should ask every time
I think of something, every time something comes to my heart and
mind. I should check it. Where? With the Word of God. And if it doesn't fit the book,
throw it away. Throw it away. It's no good. You see, and it's by this kind
of confusion. People creep into the church.
This confusion, these false preachers thrive on confusion, don't they? They thrive on opinions and debates. They thrive on that. Why? Because
there's always wiggle room, isn't there, with the debate. When
you start debating with somebody, you give a little, they give
a little. One thing it doesn't give is God's Word. God's Word
really doesn't care what you think or how you feel. God's
Word is the truth and everything else is a lie. And if that's
not the standard of our faith and practice, the Word of God,
surely we would be deceived. Isn't that what the Lord said
about those miracles that are to come? He said, if it were
possible, Those miracles are done by lying wonders that the
elect would be deceived. If it were possible, praise God
it's not. Timothy said this concerning
our days. He said, in the last days perilous
times shall come. You listen, we're living in perilous
times. We are living in a perilous age where the Word of God is
thrown behind men's backs and what do they take? Feelings,
opinions, thoughts of their own heart, visions and dreams of
their own imagination. We live in perilous times. Men
shall be lovers of their own selves. Not so? Covetous, boasters, proud,
blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural
affection, truth-breakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce,
despisers of those that are good. Traitors, heady, high-minded,
lovers of pleasure more than lovers of... Does that not describe
this generation? To a T, does it not describe
our generation? There has never been a generation
that fit that bill more than this one. And I want you to understand,
Paul is not talking about the people out in the world. That's
the first thing I think about. People out there. No. He said,
listen, having a form of godliness. Oh no, these are people in the
church. These are the people professing to believe in Christ.
Professing to love Christ and serve Christ. They have a form
of godliness. They're moral people on the outside. and moral. They have a religious
zeal about them. How do you know that they're
not of God? Listen, but denying the power
of godliness. Denying the power thereof. From such, turn away. Why? Because they creep into houses
and lead silly women captive. Of this sort, Are they which
creep into houses, lead silly women, laden with sins, led away
with diver's lust, ever learning and never coming to the truth?
Isn't that something? That's something that's happening. People
are ever learning. Oh, they're just so hungry for
doctrine. Hungry for theology. Hungry. Go to school for it. Spending thousands of dollars
to get a degree in theology. Hungry! But never able to come to the
truth. Why is it that they have no foundation?
Why is it that they cannot come to the truth? Because they don't
believe the Word of God is the truth. Here's the truth. Here it is. Here's the end of
all debate. Right here. This is it. The Word
of God. The Word of God. They deny the
power of God. What is the power of God? Don't
we who believe know this? That the Word of God is the power
of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth? The Word of God. The gospel of Jesus Christ, the
salvation by the free grace of God, without the works and merit
of man. They deny the Word of God and
its authority and salvation. Isn't this what most people are
doing in so-called churches? They're replacing preaching the
gospel with entertainment. Why? Because they deny the power
of God. They deny the Word is the power
of God unto salvation. To everyone believing. What are
they doing? Replacing it. Substituting it with other things. And these men creep in. They're
not seen coming. These hear the truth, they nod
their heads, say, yes, I believe in the doctrine of grace. I believe
in God's salvation by grace. But in private, they spy out
weak and silly folks, laden with lust, and try to lead them away. How? Experiences and dreams and
visions and fun, entertainment, things of that nature. They lead
people away to that. I'm giving an illustration of
this, it's very personal. There's a man I knew, a friend
of mine, dear friend of mine. For several years we would read
together, study together, we believed the gospel of God's
grace together, we trusted Christ, we loved fellowship together.
But there was always something wrong with him. He never was
content with the gospel of Christ. He
always wanted something more. There's got to be something more. He had reached the heights of
human wisdom and understanding and the doctrine of God's grace
and election as high as a man could go, and then he said, there's
got to be something more. Isn't that what people say when
you preach a gospel faithfully? They hear it for a while, they
love it for a while, and then pretty soon, where'd they go? Why? Because they say there's
got to be something else. Not just Christ and Him crucified.
There's got to be something else. There's got to be something more.
There's got to be a higher plane. There's got to be more feeling,
more emotion, more passion, more this, more that. No, Christ is
all. Christ is all. And this man began to work so
hard trying to obey God, and he found some people, charismatic
folks, Pentecostals. And they began to show him more.
He wanted more, and they showed him more. They said, oh, we got
tongues, we got miracles, we got gifts, we got powers, we
got all of these visions and dreams. You just need to be baptized
in the Holy Ghost again. And this man left the gospel
that he once professed to love for outward foolish and vain
visions and dreams of men. He abandoned the Word of God. So how do you know the truth
from a lie? It's as simple as this. The Word
of God alone is the sole authority and source of all truth. All
who oppose it are liars. Therefore say, let God be true
and every man a liar. So the experience of a man, the
miracles of a man, the dreams of a man, opinions of a man,
imaginations of a man are no indication of truth. You got
that? I do not care if a man walks
up and puts his hand on a dead man and that man rises from the
dead. If that guy's not preaching this
book, he is a liar. And I don't care about his miracle.
Miracles of no value. Judas did miracles. But he was a liar. Look what God says about it in
verse 28. Verse 28, he said, the prophet that hath a dream,
let him tell it. But he that hath my word, let
him speak my word faithfully. For what is the chaff to the
wheat? What is their dreams and visions?
They're chaff! They're nothing! There's no nourishment,
there's no salvation from them. The only nourishment comes from
the Word of God. He said, "...is not my word like
fire, saith the Lord, and like the hammer that breaketh the
rock in pieces?" The Word of God is like wheat. It nourishes the souls of men.
It is like fire. It gives light and heat to the
souls of men. The Word of God is like a hammer
that breaks the hard heart. and causes men to turn from their
sins and turn to Christ. That's what the Word of God does.
What does the chaff do? Nothing. Nothing. Behold, the
lies of men cannot break the heart by reason or debate or
education, but by the Word of God. And so I tell you, as John
did, try the spirits, whether they be of God. Try the spirits,
whether they be of God, because false prophets are gone out into
the world. Hereby you know the Spirit of
God. Everyone that confesses Jesus
Christ has come in the flesh is of God. Now, what is that
but the Word of God? Isn't that what the whole book
says? That Christ should come in the flesh? That Christ should
die for the sins of His people? That He should rise again for
their justification? Isn't that the sum of the Word
of God? It is. It's the whole book. Jesus
said, search the Scriptures, in them you think you have eternal
life, but they are they that testify of Me. What does the
book testify of? Christ. Christ. Christ. All Christ. That's what the book
testifies of. and everything else is anti-christ
therefore try the messages try the messages see whether they
be of the word of god now listen i love you but if i preach not according
this book you should never hear me again that is very solemn but it's
true paul said if i or an angel from heaven preach unto you another
gospel, and you should count us accursed. The Word of God is the source
and sum of our authority for faith and practice. Thus saith
the Lord, is our foundation. And all the dreams and miracles
of men that oppose the Word of God are of no value to the souls
of men. Leave them alone. When you hear
them coming, leave them alone. You don't need to debate with
them. Leave them alone. What is the Word of God? Would you debate somebody who
wants to talk about the tooth fairy? Really? Would you give
them much time? It would be frivolous, foolishness.
And so why would we debate dreams and visions and miracles when
we have this, thus saith the Lord. I don't need anything else. We don't need anything else. And listen, all those who preach
it, I know this, they confess that Jesus Christ is their Lord,
don't they? They say that. Well, I confess Christ is my
Lord. Jesus said, not every man that
sayeth to me, Lord, Lord, shall enter the kingdom of heaven.
But who? He that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.
What is the will of the Father? Believe on me. Believe on me. That's the will of the Father.
The will of the Father is that you be righteous. The will of
the Father is that you be redeemed. The will of the Father is that
you should believe on the Son of God. That's the will of the...
Why? That's the book. It's the whole book. Christ. Do you desire to hear the truth?
Then forsake the fables of men and cleave to the Word of God."
Listen, Jesus said, "...many shall say unto me in that day,
Lord, have we not..." Listen, "...prophesied in thy name?"
Have we not dreamed dreams? Have we not seen visions? Have
we not done miracles in thy name? Cast out devils in thy name? And what does He say to them? Depart from me, you that work
iniquity. So what was their dreams? What
were their visions? They were iniquity. They were
sin. They were nothing. Only those
who do continually the will of my Father, which is in heaven. What does that mean? And I want
now to take the rest of this time and declare to you the Word
of God. And I want to do it from the
very chapter of woe that we are looking at here. God says, I'm
going to destroy these people. These people aren't worth anything.
Matter of fact, He says, listen, in verse... Verse 32, listen,
he said, Behold, I am against them that prophesy false dreams,
saith the Lord, and do tell them, and cause my people to err by
their lies, by their lightness. Yet I sent them not, nor commanded
them. Therefore they shall not profit
this people at all. You see their big buildings?
You see their big congregations? You know what they do? You know
how much they profit the kingdom of God? God says not at all. So what are they doing? Nothing. Vanity. That's all they're doing. It's vanity. Empty. but i want now to preach to you
the word of god even from this section i go back to the very
beginning and look see that god even in the middle of this is
going to give us his word that's their word is dreams this is
his word look inverse these people that they've scattered these
people that they've tried to deceive this is what god says
i will gather the remnant of my flock Out of all the countries
wither I have driven them, and will bring them again to their
folds, and they shall be fruitful and increase. What's the Word of God? Here
it is. God has a remnant. Know what it said? Know what it said? I will gather
who? The remnant. The remnant. of my flock. I will gather the remnant of
my flock out of all the countries whither I have driven them. Behold,
the hope then of Adam's race is this, God has chosen a people
to save for himself." This is the Word of God. That God from
eternity has chosen a remnant. That God has purposed to save
some of Adam's fallen race. Now seeing we have sinned and
we have died spiritually in Adam, this is the only hope for us. You see, we were all born dead
in sins. Now is this my opinion? No. Romans 5 and verse 12, wherefore
as by one man sin entered into the world. And what happened?
Death by sin. So death passed upon all men,
for all have sinned. This is thus saith the Lord.
This is God's Word, that all have sinned and died in Adam. This is God's Word. Therefore
we could not by any works or merit of righteousness obtain
the favor of God, but God. but God in grace, in mercy, in
kindness, and in love chose and elect people that He would save. Now look at this remnant. Go
over to Romans chapter 11 and see the remnant. Romans chapter
11 and verse 1. I say, hath God cast away His
people? God forbid, for I also am an
Israelite, the seed of Abraham, the tribe of Benjamin. God hath
not cast away his people which he foreknew, want you not, what
the scripture saith of Elijah. How he maketh intercession to
God against Israel, saying, Lord, they have killed thy prophets,
dig down thy altars, and I alone am left alone, and they seek
my life. But what saith the answer of God unto him? Listen, I have
reserved to myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee
to the image of Baal. Even so, at this present time
there is a remnant according to the election of grace. This is the word of God that
God has a remnant. That God as a people behold God
in grace toward his elect. who have sinned, we have rebelled,
and yet God in grace testifies that He has chosen a remnant
according to the election of grace. Do you realize this? That
if there were no election, there would be no salvation. Now election
is not salvation. Election is unto salvation. But you mark this down, if God
had not had a remnant, none of us would have ever come to God. None of us would have ever chosen
to come to Christ. Ever, ever, ever, ever. Why? We were dead in trespasses
and sins. This is the Word of God. That
man is helpless, hopeless, depraved, ruined by the fall. How shall a holy God then make
the elect holy? That's what He purposed to do,
isn't it? According as He had chosen us in Christ before the
foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without
blame. How should we be holy and without
blame? God doesn't leave us to guess.
Go back to your text. God doesn't leave us to guess.
He said, I'm going to gather them. I'm going to bring them
in to the fold. They're going to be in my church,
and I'm going to love them. And I will set shepherds over
them, and they shall feed them, and they shall fear no more,
nor be dismayed, neither shall they be lacking. Oh, what a wonderful
hope for these people, isn't it? That they should not be lacking
any righteousness. Isn't that what God requires?
Righteousness. Be ye holy, even as I am holy. How then shall the elect be holy?
How then shall we be brought in? Here it is. Verse 5, Behold,
the days come, saith the Lord, I will raise up unto David a
righteous branch. and a king shall reign and prosper
and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth in his days
judas shall be saved and israel shall dwell safely and this is
his name whereby he shall be called the lord our righteousness
all this is talking about christ This is talking about Christ.
How is He going to gather those who rebelled, those who have
sinned, those who are dead, those who could not come, those who
could not merit holiness? How would He bring them in? Here
is His name, the Lord, our righteousness. God was going to send one to
come, and listen, He shall be, I will raise up unto David a
righteous branch. What does it say? He's going
to be a man. He's going to be a man. He's going to come to
be a representative man. That's what He's going to come
to do. You see, it was by man that sin entered into the world.
Even so, it must be by a representative man that righteousness should
come. This is God's Word. This is not
my opinion. This is what God has said. I'm
going to send a righteous branch. And it's not just any branch.
It's the branch of David. He's going to be David's seed. The seed of the woman. That's
what He promised from the beginning, wasn't it? A man should come.
A man should reign. A man should be king. The Lord
said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand, till I make thine
enemies thy footstool. Oh, He's going to be a king.
And what is He going to do? He's going to execute judgment
and justice. What does this mean? He is going
to accomplish for us what we could not accomplish for ourselves.
He's going to accomplish justice and judgment. Oh, my friends,
He's going to provide righteousness. This is what Christ came to do.
He came to provide righteousness. For who? His flock, His remnant,
His people. This is the Word of God. That
Christ should come and provide righteousness. Oh, not just any
righteousness. The righteousness of God. In Romans chapter 3, Paul declares
what we were. We're no good, no righteousness
in us, no goodness, full of envy and deceit and debate and all
kinds of sin. The law couldn't help us. The
law, it couldn't save us. Therefore, by the deeds of the
law shall no flesh be justified in its sight. Where's the hope,
Paul? He says, but now the righteousness of God without the law is manifest,
witnessed by the law and the prophets. Isn't that what we're
reading, the prophets? Isn't this being witnessed right here
in the prophets? What is he witnessing? Here it is, even the righteousness
of God which is by the faith of Jesus Christ. That's good. Hereby shall his name be called
the Lord Righteousness. Our righteousness. How can you be righteous? By
the righteousness of the Lord, our righteousness. By His righteousness. By the faith of Christ. He obtained for His people righteousness. And not only righteousness, passive,
active righteousness, but not only that, He paid for our sins.
He paid for our sins. How could you have the righteousness
of Christ given to you except your sins be expiated? Except
your sins be paid for? How shall they be paid? Without
the shedding of blood is what? No remission of sins. Therefore
our Lord Jesus Christ bare our sins in His own body on the tree. He suffered the wrath of God
in our stead and died for us so that what? We might be made
the righteousness of God in Him. This is it. This is the gospel.
This is the Word of God. Everything else is just a dream.
Everything else is just a fantasy. Well, I think I'm going to be
saved by my works. That's a dream. It's a fantasy. I think I'm going
to be saved by my decision. Nope. I'm going to be saved by the
Lord our righteousness. What about you? I'm going to be saved by that
man who came down and provided righteousness for me. Who is
he? He is the Lord. See, this is not just any man.
This is the Lord. God was manifest in the flesh
so that he might be all our righteousness. The Lord, our righteousness. And listen to this. In his days,
Judah shall be saved. Who? Judah. Who's that? All the elect of God. All the
remnant he calls. Every one of them. They're going
to be saved. Not one's going to be missing. And Israel shall
dwell safely. All who believe on Christ shall
be saved. Anybody not understand my Word?
Because it's not complicated, is it? Whosoever believeth and is baptized
shall be saved. That's not my Word, that's His
Word. It's His Word. It's not a dream. It's the Word
of God. And you who believe, You pay
attention. You are safe. Safe in the arms of Jesus. Safe on his gentle breast. There by his love or shaded,
sweetly my soul finds rest. Child of God, you stand before
God. If you are in Christ, listen,
you stand before God in the garments of Christ. And I don't hesitate to say this. Because Jesus is the Lord our
righteousness, this is the Word of God, you are as righteous
as He is. Yeah. Matter of fact, over in
Jeremiah 33, I want you to look at this. I want you to see what
you are. And this is no dream. This is no vision. This is no
opinion. I want you to see what you are in the Lord, our righteousness. Jeremiah 33 and verse 15, "...in those days, and at that
time, I will cause the branch of righteousness To grow up unto
David, and he shall execute judgment and righteousness in the land.
Same as before, right? In those days Judah shall be
saved, and Jerusalem shall dwell safely. Listen, and this is the
name whereby she shall be called. Who's she? Judah and Jerusalem. What's our
name? The Lord, our righteousness. You have his name because you
have his righteousness. Now is this a dream? Is this
a vision? Or did you just read it from
God's word? I like this song and I'll close
with this. When free grace awoke me by light
from on high, then legal fears shook me, I trembled to die.
No refuge, no safety in self could I see. Jehovah Tizka knew
my savior must be. my terrors all vanished before
this the sweet name my guilty fears banished with boldness
I came to drink at the fountain life giving and free Jehovah
tits canoe is all things to me Jehovah tits canoe my treasure
and boast Jehovah tits canoe I ne'er can be lost in thee I
shall conquer by flood and by field by cable my anchor my breastplate
my shield Ever treading the valley, the shadow of death, this watchman
shall rally my faltering breath. For while from life's fever my
God sets me free, Jehovah Tiskanu, my death song shall be. O Lord, our righteousness. This is the supremacy of God's
Word. Stand on it. and you won't fall. It won't fail. Their dreams will fail. Word
of God endures forever. And God put this in our hearts.