All right, if you will, take
your Bibles and turn with me to Jeremiah chapter 23. Jeremiah chapter
23, we'll be looking at verses 1 through 6 this morning. The title of the message this
morning is, The Lie and the Truth. The Lie and the Truth. Now, in the day that Jeremiah
wrote this prophecy was a great dark time in the nation of Judah. You remember those two kingdoms
were divided into the north and the south, and the north had
been taken away already. And Judah thought themselves
to be safe. They thought themselves to be
secure. Nebuchadnezzar had come and taken
some of the articles away, but they figured, well, he's not
going to come back. Everything will be okay. But these rulers, these rulers
of the nation of Judah were evil men who led the people into great
error by their example. These people were worshiping
other gods. Now, on the Sabbath, they would
be in the temple. But as soon as they left that
show of religion, they went to their gods. The gods in their
house, the gods in the streets. Matter of fact, Jeremiah says
this. He said there are as many cities in Judah, that's how many
gods there are. And how many streets, that's
how many altars. There's an altar for every street
and a god for every city. Is that not familiar? Is that
not sound familiar in our day? There are five churches on this
road and I tell you that there are five different gods being
preached and five different altars by
which we offer our sacrifice. But there is only one true and
living God. There is always a lie and the truth. And these two cannot
be mixed. They cannot be mixed. And this people was so, so rebellious
and so vile a people that God said in Jeremiah 15, he said,
even if Moses and Samuel stood before me, I will not hear this
people. I will not hear them. I will
not repent of doing them evil. God had purpose to do them evil. He purposed that Nebuchadnezzar
would come and destroy Judah. And so, if you'll flip over a
couple of pages, I want you to read this with me, 27. Look at
27 and see this picture the Lord gave to His prophet. Look at verse 2. It says, Thus
saith the Lord to me, Make thee bonds and yokes, and put them
upon thy neck. And send them to the kings of
Edom, and the king of Moab, and the king of the Amorites, and
the king of Tyrus, and the king of Zidon, by the hand of messengers
which come to Jerusalem, to Zedekiah the king of Judah. And command
them to say unto their masters, Thus saith the Lord, of hosts,
the God of Israel. Thus shall you say to your masters,
I have made the earth, the man, the beast, and that upon the
ground by my great power and by my outstretched arm and have
given it unto whom it seemed meet unto me." And he's told
them later he gives it to Nebuchadnezzar, this king, this heathen king.
He said, look, send these yokes out. And you tell them, if they
don't put on these yokes, if they don't bow down to the king
that I send, they will be destroyed. And imagine the prophet of God
walking around with this big yoke that he'd put on like it
goes on an ox. And he's walking around with
this and they say, what is that yoke? And he tells them, God
gave Judah. to Nebuchadnezzar. And when he
comes, you better bow under his yoke, or God will destroy this
city. But they were so rebellious.
They would not hear this word. They would not yield. The rulers
of this country, what is called pastors in verse 1, it says,
Woe unto the pastors. That's rulers. These rulers were
so blinded so blinded that they would rather die than obey. The sins of Judah and its rulers,
is it not a picture of us by nature? You bet it is. God says, bow under the yoke
of my Son. And you shall live. But if you
refuse. I'm against you. My friends, it is nothing for
me to be against you. You should never have any worries
about that. It's altogether different if
God is against you. This is a picture of who we are. We are rushing, born rushing,
mad to hell. Is not sin pleasant to the flesh? You bet it is. You bet it is. When you turn on the television
and you watch the commercials, everybody seems to be having
so much fun. Woo! Yay! Look at us! We're having a great time. Come
and join us! All the while rushing madly against
God. Shaking their fist in the face
of God saying, I will not yield. I will not bow. I will have my
own way. Even though it kills me. Why is this? God says this. Can an Ethiopian
change his skin? Or a leopard change his spots?
Well, if they can, then so may ye also do good that are accustomed
to doing evil. Impossible. You and I, by nature,
are so rebellious, it is impossible for us to do any good. Any good. The truth is, we are completely,
by nature, completely, absolutely full Our sin gauge doesn't read half
full. Friends, this nature is absolutely
so full you can't pack any more sin into it. It's absolutely
full. That's how vile our flesh is. That's how vile our nature is. Believer in Christ, we were talking
about growth this morning. If you would know that, I don't
know the fullness of that yet. I know it. I know it. I know it to be the truth. That in my flesh dwelleth no
good thing. Do you know that? Have you seen
who you are? I'm not saying who you were. I'm saying who you are. Paul said, O wretched man that
I am. We are vile by nature, sinners. All that we can do by nature
is sin, and the only thing The only thing that would deter
us from this being the most vile sinner upon the face of the earth
is God's hand. The only reason that you or I
are not murderers, adulterers, or robbers, or such people is
by the restraining hand of Almighty God. That's it. Man should never praise himself
for keeping himself from some sin. Because we didn't keep ourselves
from anything. God did. You want to see that? Go to Psalm chapter 76. Psalm
chapter 76. Verse 10. Surely, absolutely, positively,
without a doubt, surely, the wrath of man shall praise thee. You mean all those people that
are shaking their fist in the face of God will praise thee? The only reason they're able
to shake their fist at all is because God gave them breath
and life to do it. God let them do it. Why? For His own glory. Everything
that happens is for the glory of God. Everything. God does all things. And what
happens if man is trying to do something that doesn't glorify
God? It says, the remainder of wrath
shalt thou Restrain. When I was lost truly, I desired
to do more sin than I was able. That's just so. But I know this, I was restrained
from many dangers, many troubles. Not because I restrained me,
but because God restrained me. He restrains us. The message of the gospel, friend,
the truth of this, if we are to preach the gospel, the truth
of this gospel must be declared concerning the judgment of God
against sin. Nobody likes to read woe. That's just not a... Not, whoa,
hey, you're beautiful. No. It's, whoa! He's pronouncing
a curse. He's pronouncing judgment when
he says, whoa, to you. Pain is coming. Heartache is
coming. Death is coming. Judgment must
be preached. That God has promised to destroy,
just as God promised to destroy Judah and the sin of Judah, the
rulers of Judah, so has God promised to judge every sin of every man. If you were to sit and count
my sins, you would get tired in the first 15 minutes. Surely,
you would just leave off counting. See, God doesn't leave off this
counting. God's justice is so meticulous
that every thought is brought into judgment. Every motive of
the heart. Even if you, for a moment, desired
something that was sinful, it is sin and God must punish it. I don't care how petty we think
it is. It doesn't matter. We're not
the judge. God is. And because God is holy,
He must judge in strict holiness. These rulers, they are speaking about the leaders
of the country of Judah. But truly, are we not leaders
by example? Is not every man an example to
some other man? You bet. You ever thrown a stone
in the pond and see the ripples? Well, that's what happens every
time we do something. Every time we do something, there's
a reaction. There's something that happens. Are we parents? Leaders of children? Teachers
of others? instructors of others? Yes. And surely we, by our sin,
have led others to sin. I want to make this very clear.
Don't make any mistake about this. Vitally important that
You understand this is true. If you are not as righteous and
holy as God Himself, you will in no wise enter into
heaven. Woe unto you, rulers! Woe unto you, sinners! God will judge sin. Sinners hear the solemn word
of God. Behold, I am against thee. Look at that in verse 2. It says, Behold, I will visit
upon you the evil of your doings. The Lord will visit in righteous
judgment. Although men are full, of sin
by nature. That doesn't mean that men aren't
religious. Isn't that right? The truth is, men are very religious.
These rulers, they were not only evil, but they were religious.
They were religious. They were so religious that they
even sacrificed their own children. They burned their own children. You talk about dedication. These
people were dedicated. You talk about sincerity. These
people were sincere in their worship. But they were sincerely
believing a lie. And God says, I'm against you.
I've never told you. I've never commanded you to offer
your children in sacrifice. And yet, is that not what people
are doing today? No, they're not burning their
children with fire. But what are they doing? They're
leading them into false religion. They're sacrificing their children
on the altar of their God because they will not believe the truth.
They would rather believe a lie. Now, these prophets In this chapter
that claimed there were some prophets who claimed to hear
the word of God. There were some prophets who
claimed to be of God. But God said they were false. How do you know a false prophet? God's word. Is he simply declaring God's
Word or is he making it up as he goes? Not here to make up anything
new. Everything I've told you this morning, I have told you
before. And by God's grace, I'll tell it again. But a false prophet only seeks
the glory of man, not the glory of God. That's the first rule
of thumb. You want to know if a man speaking
the truth, is he glorifying man or is he glorifying God? The
true prophet will glorify God. The false prophet will glorify
man. God says in Isaiah 48, for mine
own sake, even for mine own sake will I do it. For how should
my name be polluted and I will not give my glory to another. Woe unto every man who preacheth
and heareth the lie." The lie that glorifies man in salvation. God says, I will save sinners. That's good news. It is if you
are a sinner. If you are in need of salvation,
it is the best news in all the world. But I know this. If God's going
to save a sinner, it will be for his own glory, because he
does it. He says, it's my name I do this,
because of my own namesake. The lie of the false prophets
is designed to rob God of his glory and share it among men. The false prophet says that all
is well. In Jeremiah, he says that These
false prophets have healed the wound of my people slightly." If you had a six-inch gash on
your arm with blood spewing out, you wouldn't want a, what is
it, a SpongeBob SquarePants Band-Aid, would you? Just foolish. That'd be foolish. But this is
the deal. We have cancer and they're giving
us penicillin. It doesn't do anything for the
disease. False prophets say, all is well,
everything's fine. Smile, God loves you. My son asked me that. He said,
Daddy, does God love me? And I said, I don't know. Ask
Him. That's not for me to say. Friends, I don't know. I don't
know ultimately who's God's and who's not. I can only tell by
what I see. And so can you. But God knows. False prophets say God loves
everyone without exception. Prophets preach a God of their
own imagination and a Christ that is not the same Christ that
we serve here in this place. The Christ of their gospel is a lie and not the truth. This is true of all freewill
works religion, friends. I believe that's the most murderous
doctrine in all the world. I do. Why? Because it only heals
the wound slightly. It only heals the wound slightly.
It doesn't save anyone. Anyone who preaches this free
will, works religion, is a liar. And the Lord says that all who
were in Adam died. Now, they don't believe that. False prophets would have us
believe that man is spiritually okay enough. He's partially wounded. He's partially good and He's
partially evil depending on the circumstance, not upon His birth. But the Scripture concludes that
we were born dead in sins. And anyone who preaches anything
else but the full corruption and original sin of the human
race, He is a liar if he preaches anything but that. Why? Because
that's man honoring and God abasing if they preach anything else. We all died spiritually and are
worthy of nothing. Not worthy of God's acceptance. Our will is not free but bound
in chains of sin. For the carnal mind is enmity
against God. When that baby comes out and
you look at that little tiny baby and you say, oh how innocent. No. Guilty. Guilty. Why? Because we are guilty and
we can only produce sinners. That's it. Well, friends, is there any hope?
Well, yes, there is hope. The truth of the gospel gives
us a great hope because God, before the foundation of the
world, chose some to eternal life. This is the message of
the gospel, that God, in eternity, chose of His own free, sovereign
will to save some. There's the message of good news.
Why is that good news? Well, because if God had not
chosen any, then none of us would have been saved. None of us would have been saved. Had God not purposed to save
sinners, then there would have been no salvation. We would be
like the angels reserved in chains of darkness. Friends, it is a lie to believe
that man is good. It is the truth to recognize
that we are altogether lighter than vanity. The lie of false prophets is
also that God chose based on something in man, that He saw
something in you. If your God saw something in
you that appealed to Him, if He saw something in you that
caused Him or moved Him to save you, then your God is a God of
your own imagination and a lie. You remember the picture of that
baby that was cast out in the field and left to die. I'll tell you what, you throw
a brand new baby out in the middle of the field and you leave him
alone, he's going to die. There's no hope. No hope. There's no hope that a pack of
wolves will come and raise him and make him a monkey man. There's
no hope in that. That's fantasy. And friends,
there's no hope that child will get up and take care of himself.
What's his hope? That someone pass by and say,
live. That someone have compassion,
someone have mercy and pass by and pick it up and raise it and
care for it. That's the only hope that he
has. There was nothing in that baby
that would move a Jewish man to pick him up. Why? He was a
Gentile child. He was soaked in blood. He would be unclean if he picked
him up. It was out of mercy. And that's
how God saves sinners. Absolute free mercy. and nothing based on the man. Look at that in our text. Even
though God has promised to pronounce a judgment, God has also promised
that He has a remnant that He will gather. He said, I will
gather the remnant of my flock out of all countries. There's
a promise of the gospel. Had we not had that, there would
have been only damnation for us. But here is a glimmer of
hope. Here is a ray of hope. God says,
I will gather My people. My people. How will He do it? How can we escape the eternal
wrath of Almighty God? Only if God raise up a mediator.
And that's what he purposed to do in verse 5. Behold, the days
come, saith the Lord, and I will raise up unto David a righteous
branch, and a king shall reign and prosper and execute judgment
and justice in the earth. And what is his name? The Lord
our righteousness. This is the narrow way. There is only one Savior. There is only one. He is the Lord, our righteousness. The only word of peace found
in this is that God would raise up a king after David. In other words, a man. You see,
I need a sacrifice, but I also need someone to represent me. And Christ, the Lord our righteousness,
was to become the seed of David, a man, so that He might, so that
He would accomplish for us what we could not do for ourselves. But I'll tell you, there is a
lie, there is a Christ that is a lie and a dreams of the false
prophets of our day. You see, there is a Christ who
only made righteousness and salvation possible. That Christ is a lie. That Christ is blasphemy. That's his name. If God by His grace give us eyes
to see the wickedness of this, to say that Jesus Christ died
for men in hell is blasphemy. Our Lord Jesus Christ was not
a failure, but He accomplished redemption. He accomplished righteousness. for all His people. How did He do this? The Scripture says, He shall
execute judgment and justice in the earth. And that's exactly
what He did. He executed justice and judgment. Where? At the cross. All of that wrath that God had
for our sins. All the punishment that He had
determined upon our iniquities. Jesus Christ had all of our sins
laid on Him. He bore our sins in His own body
on the tree. He bore our guilt. I told you
that God must punish sin. And He did punish the sins of
His people. He did execute judgment. He did
satisfy justice. Only through the Lord Jesus Christ. And when my Savior said, it is
finished, friends, it was finished. The work was done. And anybody
who says anything else is a liar. And the truth is not in Him. Any Jesus that needs me to do
anything is not Jesus at all. But He is a God of their own
imagination. elect. You see, salvation is
an eternal matter. It's not just a matter of time.
It is a matter of eternity. It is something that is accomplished
in time, but it is a matter of eternity. God eternally chose
me. He eternally justified me in
Christ, and in time He accomplished it, and in time He called me
to it. When you get a Christmas present,
everybody likes Christmas presents, so this is easy. You get a Christmas
present, you don't know what it is. It's a mystery. Especially
if you're a kid, you want to shake it, you want to throw it
up and down, you want to kind of tear the paper a little bit
just to look and see and peek. Mystery! It's already been purchased. It's already yours. There's just
an appointed time to open it. And that's how it is. God had
from eternity purposed to give us eternal life. Jesus Christ
accomplished it in time and paid for our sins on the cross. And
at His appointed time, He comes and reveals it to us. And we believe Him. In his days Judah shall be saved. Did Christ save his people from
their sin? That's one of the prophecies,
isn't it? Matthew chapter 1 verse 21. You shall call his name Jesus
for he shall save his people from their sin. Now either he
did or he didn't. The truth is he did. The lie
is he didn't. Jesus Christ is the Lord, our
righteousness. Friends, God has raised up a
king. We're not expecting or waiting
for Jesus to rule anything. He rules all things. I'm not
waiting for a time where you're going to come up and set a little
chair and sit on it and rule the world And make people listen
and obey. No. He rules now. And men obey His voice now. They
believe. His people believe now. I believe
now. Because He's sitting on the throne.
And I know this. Because He's on the throne, He
will gather His sheep into His fold. Why? Jesus Christ is their righteousness. He is their righteousness. That's His name. And for my righteousness to be
diminished, His righteousness would be diminished. And that
just ain't going to happen. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
as all your righteousness And the promise of God is, Judah
shall be saved. Israel shall dwell safely. I'm so thankful for His grace
to save a wretch like me. To send someone so precious Or someone so vile. I pray that every one of you
would turn. Repent from your sins. Repent from your religion. If you're holding on to being
a Calvinist, repent from that. Turn from that. And turn to Christ. the Lord our righteousness. May God be gracious and have
mercy on us and bless His Word to your hearts. Let's stand and
be dismissed in prayer.