Now you look back here with me
in Jeremiah 23 and I want to talk about the Lord our righteousness,
the Lord our righteousness. You know the scriptures are so
applicable to our day in which we live especially when you read
those first few verses and the prophet here in this chapter
he deals up to verse 8 he deals with four powerful present truths. First, he does in verses 1 and
2, he pronounces woe, judgment on false preachers, false pastors. Secondly, in verses 3 and 4,
he promises, promises that God's elect will be called out of all
nations and true shepherds and pastors. He'll raise up after
his own heart and will feed them. And then the third thing he brings
out in this chapter is he presents the Messiah, the Redeemer, our
Lord Jesus Christ. He's the hope of all believers.
He's the hope of every believer. He's our blessed hope, our glorious
hope, our precious hope. And He's the message. The Lord
Jesus Christ is the message of every true preacher. He's the
message of every preacher. And then fourthly in verses 7
and 8, He shows thus that in comparison with the salvation
of Christ, what Christ did for us and what Christ did for his
people, the deliverance of God-saving Israel out of Egypt is not even
worth mentioning in light of what Christ did for his people.
Because that was just a picture, just a picture. Christ is the
reality. Verses 1 and 2, Woe be unto the
pastors that destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture, saith
the Lord. Therefore, thus saith the Lord
God of Israel against the pastors that feed my people. Ye 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. You know, ever since there's
been a prophet, there's been a false prophet. Ever since God
set up somebody to preach, there's been those who have been false.
That's just the nature of life. You know, you make a dollar bill
or a $20 bill and there's people out counterfeiting them. And
that's the way it is with preachers. The Bible tells us often, often,
just false prophets and false preachers. Our Lord Jesus called
them wolves in sheep's clothing. Paul says, you know, beware of
them that are creepy and unawares. Creepy and unawares. And Peter
himself said there was false preachers and teachers among
Israel in those days. And then Paul said, they'll bring
in damnable heresies. And he also said this, that many,
many shall follow their pernicious ways. He said, you know over
in 2 Corinthians 11, they call them the ministers of Satan,
apostles of Satan, false apostles. disciples of Christ, ministers
of Satan, angels of light, transforming themselves. And then Paul told
Timothy, he said, they come preaching doctrines of devils. That's what
he called them, doctrines of devils. But no more, no one spoke
more against the doctrines of, against the false prophets in
Jeremiah and Ezekiel. And he was called the weeping
prophet. If you wish to look in chapter 9 in verse 1, you
don't have to do that, but you'll find him over there and say,
Oh, that my head was full of water, and my head, my eyes was
flowing down my face for Israel, for what God's done for His blessed
people. And I'll tell you what, you know
what God charged these people with? He charged them with greed
and covetousness. And that's the very thing he
charges them with for filthy lucre. They're out there. They're
called hirelings. But look with me over here in
Jeremiah. I believe it's chapter 6. Jeremiah chapter 6. Look what he says over here about
them. You know, they're greedy. Isaiah said it like this. He
says, they're slumbering dogs. Love to sleep and slumber. Look what he said here in Jeremiah
6.13. For the least of them, even unto
the greatest of them, everyone is given to covetousness. And
from the prophet, even unto the priest, everyone deals falsely. From the greatest to the least.
From the big shot to the nobody. That's what he's talking about.
And he said they always gave a false piece. They cried, peace,
peace, when there was no peace. They told God's people, and look
again there in Jeremiah 6, 14. Should've stayed over there.
Look in verse 14, look what he says here. They have healed also
the hurt of the daughter of my people, slightly saying, peace,
peace, when there is no peace. Oh, I'll tell you how many people
have a false peace, have a false hope. How many people have peace? I've talked to people that's
unconverted and know that they wasn't believers. And they say,
well, I've got peace. I'm not afraid to die. I've got
peace. Now what they done when it come time, I don't know. I
don't know. And then he charged them with
denying God's judgment against sin. Look in Jeremiah 14. Look
in Jeremiah 14. He charged them with denying
God's judgment against sin. And this is one thing that the
preachers do. This is really, really something
they do. And that's the first thing that
Satan told Adam and Eve. Oh, listen. God's not going to
punish sin. He can't punish sin. He said, oh no, He wants you
not to have to face the judgment. Listen, you listen to what I'm
telling you. It's what Satan told them. And you eat of that
fruit and you'll know. You'll know some things you never
know before. And He said, God ain't going to punish you. God
ain't going to send judgment on you. God ain't going to cause
you to die with sin. But look what He said here in
verse 13. Then the Lord said unto me, The
prophets prophesy lies in my name. I sent them not, neither
have I commanded them, neither spake unto them. They prophesy
unto you a false vision, and a divination, and a thing of
naught, a thing that is absolutely nothing, and the deceit of their
own heart. And look at verse 13, excuse
me, I got ahead of myself. Look back up at verse 14. 13,
excuse me. Then said I, O LORD God, behold
the prophets say unto them, listen, here he said, you are not going
to see no trouble at all. You shall not see the sword,
there will be no war, you are not going to have no famine,
and you shall have You, but I will give you assured peace in this
place. That's what they said, these
false prophets said to all these people, all these people of God,
denied God's judgment against sin. Todd told me about a preacher
that called him. And he said, now you're Calvinist
ain't you? He said, yeah, I guess I am.
He said, you're a five point ranch. He said, yeah, I guess
I am. He said, you know, he said, I believe just the opposite.
I believe that God's, you know, he has to give everybody a chance
and that choice is really left up to man. Other than that, we
see eye to eye. Other than that, we see eye to
eye. You couldn't get farther apart
than that. You couldn't get farther. And that's a false prophet. He
wants to find comfort in identifying with somebody that knows the
gospel when he himself don't do it. And I tell you, their
message, these false prophets, their message is not the Word
of God, but their own thoughts, their own visions, their own
things that they thought. And again, look with me down
here in Jeremiah. Look in verse 16. Oh, listen,
they ain't interested in what God says. You know, those preachers
that get up don't even use a Bible. Don't even use a Bible. Huh? Look what he said in verse 16. Thus saith the Lord of hosts,
hearken not unto the prophets that prophesy unto you. They
make you vain. They speak a vision of their
own heart and not out of the mouth of the Lord. They say still
unto them that despise me. The Lord hath said, Ye shall
have peace. And they say unto every one that walketh after
the imagination of their own heart. Now evil is going to come
on you. No, God is not going to deal
with you severely. Oh, He loves everybody. Listen,
preachers tell you, no, God really loves you. I hear preachers say
that. God loves you. Well I'm glad because I love
me too. And he got a wonderful plan for
your life. That's wonderful. I got a wonderful plan for my
life too. That's what people ought to tell preachers when
they tell them that mess. Me and God's on the same page. That's
what they ought to tell them. When they say that awful mess.
They dream dreams and visions. Look what it says down here in
verse 25. I have heard what the prophets
said, that prophesy lies in my name. Listen to what they say,
I dreamed a dream. How long shall this be in the
heart of the prophets that prophesy lies? Yea, they are prophets
of the deceit of their own heart, which think to cause my people
to forget my name by their dreams, which they tell every man to
his neighbor, as their fathers have forgotten my name for Baal.
The prophet that hath a dream, let him tell a dream. But he
hath my word, let him speak my word faithfully. What's the chaff
compared to the wheat? Is not my word like as a fire,
saith the Lord, and a hammer that breaketh in pieces? Therefore,
behold, I am against the prophets, saith the Lord, that steal my
words, every one from his neighbor. But I am against the prophets,
saith the Lord, that use their tongues and say, he saith. Behold,
I am against them that prophesy false dreams, saith the Lord,
and do tell them, and cause my people to err by their lights,
by their likeness. Yet I sent them not, nor commanded
them, therefore they shall not profit, this people at all, saith
the Lord. And you know, here's the sad
thing about it. We read about all them false prophets. God
talked about these false prophets. The world's full of false prophets
right now. I mean, they're just, one thing, they're not even close
to the Word of God. And the sad thing about this
is, because of man's utter and absolute depravity and the deceitfulness
of the human heart, people love to have preachers like that.
They would prefer hearing the false preachers and the false
prophets than they would somebody standing up preaching the Word
of God. I've been two or three meetings
before after I've preached two nights, they say, listen, we've
got to shut this down. Can't take your message. Can't
take your message. People call me all night and
say, oh, what's that preacher saying? What's that preacher
saying? But that ain't happened in a
long, long time. But that's why, you know, God
told them, He said, oh my, they'd rather, rather have a false prophet. than to hear the word of God.
And then look here in verse 3 and 4, back up here in Jeremiah. God says this, and I will gather
the remnant of my flock. And that's what it is. God has
a remnant according to election of grace. And I will gather the
remnant of my flock out of all countries where I've driven them.
and will bring them again into their foes, and they shall be
fruitful and increased. And then not only am I going
to do that, but I'm going to set up shepherds over them, which
shall feed them, and they shall not fear, nor be no more, nor
be dismayed, neither shall be they lacking. And you know, when
we look on this vast, vast religious organizations all over, I mean
just huge, huge organizations, All bound by tradition, bound
by doctrine, bound by false doctrine. And you know multitudes of Christians.
I read today that 65% of Americans when they were surveyed said
they believe they're Christians. Said they're Christians. 65%.
Would you believe that? 65% of Americans say they're
Christians. Eight people were saved in the
ark. Eight people. Three people got out of Solomon
Gomorrah. Three people. Three people. And I tell you, but these people
who claim to be Christians have no knowledge of God, no love
for the Lord Jesus Christ, no evidence of ever having a new
birth, and all the popular preachers with their message of works and
free will, no wonder Elijah said, Lord, am I the only one left? And the disciples asked him,
said, Lord, are there few that be saved? But here's what God
said He's going to do. He said there in verse 2, I'm
going to gather my flock. It's my flock. I'm going to gather
my flock. Our Lord has an elect people. He's always had elect people.
The Father gave them to Him in the eternal covenant of grace.
And everyone He gave to His Son, they're going to come to His
Son. They were chosen in Him, called in Him. Christ Himself
loved them and gave Himself for them. And I mean, beloved, and
here's what, we know this because of the Gospel. They shall all
be justified, they shall all be called, and every single one
of them is going to be glorified. Because that's what God said.
He said, I'll gather them. I'll gather them. And then look
what He says next. But oh my, he says there in verse
four, and I'll send up my shepherds over them which shall feed them.
Oh, I'm gonna have somebody that's gonna feed my sheep. I'm gonna
have somebody that's gonna, you know, election's not salvation,
it's unto salvation. And I tell you what, when God
sends a shepherd, sends a preacher, sends a pastor, a shepherd, And
I tell you what, He uses those shepherds, He uses those preachers.
And the Son redeemed these people and chose these people, and then
He sends a preacher. And the preacher preaches the
gospel. You know, and God uses His Word. Here's the thing. By
His own will beget He us with the Word of Truth. The gospel,
the gospel is what God uses to save His people. And He uses
faithful preachers, faithful preachers. But yet everybody
who hears the gospel, and we preach this, everybody who hears
the gospel must repent and must believe that gospel. He said,
we thank God who from the beginning hath chosen you unto salvation
through sanctification of the Spirit. That's where he sets
us apart. And belief of the truth. And I preach the gospel unto
you, being born again, not of corruptible seed, but incorruptible,
by the word of God, which liveth and abideth forever. And I tell
you what, in this one thing about persons, people who believe the
gospel and have repented and have faith, it's been brought
to that. They never stop repenting and
they never stop believing. It's not one thing that we do
at one time. We don't believe once and then
forget about it, worry about it. What it is, beloved, that
is this, that when you repent, you're constantly repenting.
You're repenting of your thoughts, you're repenting of your feelings,
you're repenting of your actions, you're repenting of your words,
you're repenting of your sorrows, you're repenting of a thousand
things that you go through in a day. And then you never ever
stop believing. You're constantly saying, Lord,
I believe. Help my unbelief. Oh my! And then look what else
it says about them in verse 4. And they shall fear no more,
nor be dismayed, neither shall be the lacking, saith the Lord.
You know why they won't fear anymore? Because they know the
gospel, they heard the truth. They heard what God has to say.
And the true preachers and the true pastors will comfort them.
And He'll comfort them with one thing, the promises of God that
He gave us in the Lord Jesus Christ. Huh? And I tell you what, and this
is another thing, they'll be established and the preachers
and the pastors will establish them in God's blessed Word. And
they'll grow in grace without a shadow of a doubt. They'll
grow in grace and they'll grow in the knowledge of the Lord
Jesus Christ. And that's something that happens
to all of you. You don't fear no more. You're
not dismayed. And you're not lacking. Why not? Because God's
raised up a preacher and raised up a pastor. And he's got lots
of them in this country. And every one of them, they feed
God's people. They comfort God's people. They
tell them what God's done for them, what Christ did for them.
And when they get established in the Word, that's why you may
not, I went to, how many verses did I go to? Get established
in the Word of God. And I'll tell you what, and look
here in verse 5 and 6. Behold the days come, saith the
Lord, that I will raise unto David a righteous branch, and
a king shall reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment and
justice in the earth. In his days, Judah shall be saved,
and Israel shall dwell safely, and this is his name, whereby
he shall be called, the Lord our righteousness. Here's the
gospel. Here's the good news. The hope
of every brethren. And the central truth of the
scriptures. The history of redemption, the
story of redemption, and the one way to God. Through the Lord
Jesus Christ, our righteousness. And look what God says there
in verse 5. Behold the days come. When God said a day is coming,
mark her down, it's coming. All days, all events, all promises,
all pictures, all patterns, showed the Lord Jesus Christ
and pointed Him to coming to this earth one of these days.
And in that day, in that behold the days come, saith the Lord,
that I'll send my Son in the fullness of time, made of a woman. And everything that was pointing
to Christ coming, and He came, and everything now from here
on looks back to what Christ did. Here He says the day is
coming when He'll come. And He'll come into this world.
And I tell you, looking for that hour when our Lord Jesus Christ
died for sinners. And then I'll raise up, look
what He said, I'll raise up unto David. Christ was the Son of
David. And he said, I'll raise up a
righteous branch. A righteous branch. Do you know the Lord's called
the branch of the Lord over in Zechariah? Called the branch.
And what this is telling us is that salvation is of the Lord.
The Father purposed it. And I don't like to say God planned
it. God don't plan things. He purposes
things. He wills things. He decrees things. And the father purposed, and
he sent his son, the Lord Jesus Christ. And I tell you, God's
blessed will was that God came, when he came into this world,
God prepared him a body. Prepared him a body. Made him the son of David and
also the son of God. He was both of them. And I tell
you what, he was made as the son of David, he was a king.
A king shall reign. Ain't that what it says? A king
shall reign. David reigned. But David, Peter
told us, he's in his grave. But God raised up the Lord Jesus
Christ, whom you slew and hung on a tree. And this king shall
reign. He's a king and he reigns. And God made him a body. and
prepared him so in that body he could die, in that body he
could suffer, in that body he could bear sin, in that body
he could be our substitute and bear our sins in his own body
there. And then look what else it says about him. And this Lord who raised up this
king, you know what he's going to do? He's going to execute
judgment and justice in the earth. You know our Lord Jesus Christ
He said, you know, all judgment is committed into my hand. And
he told him this, he says, you know, for judgment I've come
into this world, that you which see, you're going to stay blind. But you which are blind, you're
going to see. And I'm the one who makes the
judgment, it's who sees and who stays blind. I'm the one who
makes that judgment. And he said, he comes here to
execute judgment. And beloved judgment was executed
on him, and he executes judgment still to this day. And he brings
justice on this earth. It don't look like justice is
going on right now. But everybody that dies, and
die today, and will die tomorrow, and die tonight, they'll find
out that he executes justice. For his elect, they're going
to glory. For those who are not his and
don't believe him, justice will put them in a place where they'll
never bother anybody else again. I tell you, our Lord Jesus Christ,
the Son of Man, the Son of God, He's Jehovah's Servant, bone
of our bone and flesh of our flesh, and yet He's God Almighty. And listen to this, in verse
6, In His days, in His days, Judah shall be saved, and Israel
shall dwell safely. And this His name, whereby He
shall be called, the Lord our righteousness. You know who's
going to be saved? Judah and Israel. They're going
to be saved and they're going to dwell safely. He said, I give
unto eternal life and nobody's going to pluck them out of my
hand. Now you know who true Judah is and true Israel are? They're
not that Old Testament nation. That was a national people. And
only two of them that left Egypt, only two of them, two of them
that left Egypt entered the Promised Land. Only two of them. And I
tell you what, that was just a picture. But the true Israel
and the true seed of Abraham are God's elect. He said, they
that are of faith are the children of Abraham. And I tell you, and
all of them are God's elect. And I tell you, Christ brings
them and saves them out of every nation, kindred, and tongue,
and people on this earth. And that's what he says. He said,
they shall be saved. They shall be saved. And you
know what? They're going to dwell safely.
And then look what He's called. The Lord our righteousness. He is our righteousness. You
know how He provided righteousness for us? By being made sin for
us. By living a life that God could
accept and would accept. That God would take everything
He did And God would accept everything He did. And God being holy, He
accepted everything the Lord Jesus Christ did. And when He
made His soul an offering for sin, our Lord God Himself said,
because He became sin for you, you're going to become the righteousness
of God. Where? In Him. In Him. Now I'm telling you, old Scott
used to say, you know, people have, they talk about having
a pasted on righteousness. What that means is, is that they
think it's something that you put on when you get saved, that
you start reaching a righteous life, and you talk about imputed
righteousness all the time. But the scripture says, He is
our righteousness. He is our righteousness. It don't
say nothing about here, about imputed. He is our righteousness. You know, how in the world could
we face God if He wasn't righteous? How could we face God if we wasn't
perfect? How could we face God if we didn't
have everything that God required? Well, I'll tell you where He
got it at. He got it in His blessed Son. And all the perfection He
got out of His Son, He turned around and gave it to us. Gave
it to us. bless his holy name oh he's our
justification has come the law says thou shalt by the deeds
of the law shall their flesh be justified Christ honored the
law so by my deeds I will be justified but by his I will huh
it's his name Jehovah is the kid in you that saves us. His
name is what we call upon. In His name we are called the
righteousness of God in Him. And then look at the last thing
here now. Verse 7 and 8. Therefore, behold,
the days come, saith the Lord, that they shall no more say.
They won't say this anymore. The Lord liveth which brought
us up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt. But
this is what they are going to say. But the Lord liveth which
brought up and which led the seed of the house of Israel out
of the north country and from all countries which I had driven
them and they shall dwell in their own land. Behold the days
come and they're here in the Lord Jesus Christ. The people of God, we've been
redeemed by the Lord Jesus Christ. We rejoice in his blessed grace.
And we're not going to talk about being saved out of Egypt like
they did by the hand of Moses. But you know what we're going
to talk about? We're going to talk about the Lord Jesus Christ,
our righteousness. You know, he saved us from the
wrath to come. by His blessed life and His precious
blood, what is compared to what Christ did for us, what is it
compared to them people coming out of Egypt? What Christ did
for us and what God did for them, not even comparable. That was
just a picture. This is our reality. Those folks
died in the wilderness. We're not going to die in the
wilderness. We're going to leave the wilderness. All hail the power of Jesus'
name. Let angels' prostrate fall. Bring
forth the royal diadem and crown Him Lord of all. Let's stand
saying that. 42. I believe it's 42. Boy, it's
hot in here, ain't it? 42. Let's stand and sing this together
when we get through here at Liberty to go. All hail the power of Jesus'
name. Let angels prostrate fall. Bring forth the royal diadem
and crown him Lord of all. Bring forth a royal diadem and
crown him Lord of all. Ye chosen seed of
Israel's race, ye ransomed by the fall. Hail Him who saves
you by His grace and crown Him Lord of all. who saves you by his grace and
crowned him Lord of all. Let every kindred, every tribe
on this terrestrial ball To Him all majesty ascot, and crown
Him Lord of all. To Him all majesty ascot, and
crown Him Lord of all. O that with yonder sacred throne
we at his feet may fall, we'll join the everlasting song and
crown him Lord of all. Will John be everlasting song,
and crown him Lord of all. See you Sunday, God willing.