Jeremiah chapter 23. I thought
I was going to Isaiah. It's been a long, hectic week. I got this prepared Tuesday before
the festivities started. Jeremiah chapter 23. And in this passage Verses 1 through 8 of the 23rd
chapter of Jeremiah, we have four divisions in our text this
morning. Verses 1 and 2, we see false
pastors and false preachers. Verses 3 and 4, then we come
across true pastors and true preachers. Verses 5 and 6, the
Messiah, which is the message of the true pastors. And verses
7 and 8, we have a comparison to see the ultimate and true
deliverance of God's elect. We have a comparison made between
two types of deliverances, and one is to be preferred above
the other. Let's start here. I'm going to
read all eight verses, and then we'll begin with the first division,
verse 1 and 2. Jeremiah, the prophet of God,
says, Woe unto the pastors that destroy and scatter the sheep
of my pastor, saith the Lord. Therefore thus saith the Lord
God of Israel, against the pastors that feed my people, you have
scattered my flock, driven them away, have not visited them. Behold, I will visit upon you
the evil of your doings, saith the Lord. And I will gather the
remnant of my flock out of all countries, whether I have driven
them, and will bring them again to their foes, and they shall
be fruitful and increase. And I will set up shepherds over
them, which shall feed them, and they shall fear no more,
nor be dismayed, neither shall they be lacking, saith the Lord.
Behold, The days come, saith the Lord, and I will rise unto
David a righteous branch, and the 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 the name whereby
he shall be called, this righteous branch, who shall save his people,
the Lord our righteousness. Therefore, behold, the days come,
saith the Lord, that they shall no more say, The Lord liveth
which brought up the children of Israel out of the land of
Egypt, 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 whither I have driven them, and they shall dwell
in their own land. This first section, verses 1 and 2, we see false
pastors, false preachers, and they are also termed in John
chapter 10, where Scott read they are called hirelings. He
said the hirelings flee because they're hirelings and they don't
care for the sheep. A wolf comes and they leave. They're hirelings. They're not
the under shepherds. They're not true pastors. They're
not true preachers. They're false pastors, false
preachers and we have in verse 1 and 2 The woe pronounced unto
them, woe unto the pastors that destroy and scatter the sheep
of my pasture. Thus saith the Lord, the God
of Israel, against pastors which feed my people. They've scattered
the flock, driven them away, and not visited them. God himself
says, I will visit you, upon you, the evil of your doings. Now, this is nothing new. There have been false pastors,
false preachers since time began. Turn with me to Matthew chapter
7. Let's look at a couple passages and see the terrible indictments against them. And
we have some common characteristics among these who are termed false
preachers and false pastors. Matthew 7. verses 15 and 16,
he says, Beware of false prophets which come to you in sheep's
clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. You shall know
them by their fruits. You shall know them by their
fruits. Turn to 2 Peter, who perhaps
has about the most to say against such who mislead people through
the preaching of the word. 2 Peter chapter 2 verses 1, 2, and 3. But there
were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall
be false teachers among you, who privately shall bring in
damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and
bring upon themselves swift destruction. And many shall follow their pernicious
ways, by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken
of, and through covetousness shall they with feigned words
make merchandise of you, whose judgment now of a long time lingereth
not, and their damnation slumbers not." Now, these false preachers,
false pastors, this serious charge against them, They all have several
things in common, or at least a few things in common. The common
denominator in the first two verses seems to be destroy and
scatter the sheep and or starve and drive them away. Woe to the
pastors that destroy and scatter the sheep. Woe against the pastors
that feed my people, scatter my flock, and drive them away. That seems to be the common denominator.
It doesn't matter what denomination, it doesn't matter what title
they have, it doesn't matter how many degrees they have, whether
they have a PhD behind their name or not. The prophet of God,
under inspiration of God, has a serious charge against them. And the common denominator is
they destroy and scatter the sheep, they starve them, and
they drive them away. Now, Jeremiah perhaps has more
to say about these false preachers and false pastors than any other
Old Testament prophet. He has a couple charges against
these. One, two, three, four, he's got
at least five in this book of Jeremiah. Turn to chapter 6 and
look with me at verse 13. Jeremiah 6 and verse 13. 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 deals falsely."
Now, it might appear to be sweet and genuine and sincere and honest,
but again, we're comparing what God says about these and what
the scripture says about these and he alone is the only one
that can look into the heart. But we see one charge that the
prophet has is that they are full of greed and covetousness. Some of these churches, they
can't keep preachers, they're bouncing back and forth. Now
you would think if a man truly loved those people, the money
wouldn't matter. They would stay. But you know,
it's almost like a business to some people. They've got to have
more money. They've got to make more money.
They do job interviews. They fill their resumes. They
do all these things. Verse 14 of the same chapter. They have healed also the hurt
of the daughter of my people slightly, saying, Peace, peace. when there's no peace. And this
can be done doctrinally, this can be done emotionally, physically.
They give people false hope and tell them about a false peace,
which would be trusting in anything or anyone other than the Lord
Jesus Christ. Now, I could spend way too much
time going over specifics, but I'm just going to use what Jeremiah
says, read it, and make a few comments because That's not what
we want to spend our time on today. But suffice it to say
that there is false prophets. There always has been. There
always will be. Some are easily seen. Some are
not so easily seen. Some are the counterfeit. Skye
and I were talking about this on the way over last night. Sometimes
that counterfeit is just right there. So when you talk about
the counterfeit, that's all you're going to hear. But when the truth
is preached, the counterfeit is seen. But it's seen, not by comparing
false with false, but knowing the truth. Taking that straight
stick. How do you know that this podium
up here is level? Well, there's a device that you
take and you put a level on it. And the Word of God is a leveler. It's a straight shooter. It tells
the things as they are. And this prophet is saying the
same thing. He's telling what he's seen in his day and warning
the church. Turn to Jeremiah chapter 14. Verses 13 and 14. Jeremiah 14,
verses 13 and 14. Then said I, ah, Lord God, behold
the prophets say unto them. They're preaching. They're going
around saying these things. You shall not see the sword Neither
shall you have famine, but I will give you assured peace in this
place. Now, what did Bruce tell us last
Sunday and the Sunday before last? Preachers around, they don't
want to talk about hell. They don't want to talk about God's
wrath. They don't want to talk about the sword of God's justice.
Everything's OK. Everything's OK with you and
your children and mom and dad and grandma, grandpa. Everything's
OK. Don't worry about it. The prophets
say unto these people, you will not see the sword, don't worry
about it. God is smiling at everybody,
everything is fine. Verse 14, 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, a divination, and a thing
of naught, and the deceit of their heart. Lies, they talk
about themselves, and they have their own standards. Not God's
standards. That's pretty clear. Jeremiah
chapter 23, where we're at this morning. Look at verses 16 and
17. Thus saith the Lord unto of hosts,
hearken not unto the words of 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 They
say, still unto them that despise me, the Lord hath said, you shall
have peace. And they say unto every one that
walks after the imagination of his own heart, no evil shall
come upon you. Does that sound like what's going
on today? Does that sound like what's going
on in this country? Tradition. The doctrine of men's
tradition instead of I asked a preacher one time,
you know, as far as how you get ready for a message. Well, the
denomination sends me messages from their denomination book.
And it's dated. And it's got the dates. And you
just go Sunday, January, Sunday, the next day. And that's what
we, so what about the Bible? Well, you know, there's some
references of it in there. Okay. The words of 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. This
book. Add things or take things away.
Jeremiah 23, the same chapter, verses 25 to 32. I have heard what the prophets
said, that prophesy lies in my name, saying I have dreamed,
and I have dreamed, 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 prophets
that have a dream, let him tell a dream, and he that hath my
word, let him speak my word faithfully. What is the chaff to the wheat,
saith the Lord? Is not my word like a fire, saith
the Lord, and like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces? Therefore,
behold, I am against the prophets, saith the Lord, that steal my
words, every one from his neighbor. Behold, 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 lies
and by their likeness, yet I sent them not, nor commanded them.
Therefore they shall not profit this people at all, saith the
Lord." I'm so thankful that God is over all things. It's so easy
to be entangled and ensnared in the lies of false prophets
and false preachers. I have this question. I'm going
to read a passage out of John or James. You stay there out
of James. I have this question to you and to myself. James tells those who he's speaking
to, he says, my brethren, be not many masters, teachers. knowing that we shall receive
the greater judgment. People come up and say, well,
I've been dreaming about, as one man says, I've been dreaming
about preaching. What do you think? I said, well,
I don't do it. Don't do it. God better be in
it or it's going to be a nightmare. And James tells those those who
he's speaking to, to the church, he says, Brethren, don't be many
masters or teachers, knowing that we're going to receive the
greater the word's condemnation, but it's in the Greek, it's judgment.
The question I have is this, which is a more abomination? Which abomination is greater?
The harlot? or the false prophet that's standing
behind a pulpit and telling lies on God? Which will receive the
greater condemnation, the drunk or the Sunday school teacher
who spews false doctrine? We have the tendency to categorize
sin. God does not. He holds those
who preach this book or try to preach this book lying or from
their own tradition or for their own doctrine or whatever who
are not sent of God in higher condemnation. Higher condemnation. Verses 3
and 4, we have a contrast. True undershepherds, or true
pastors, verses 3 and 4, God says, I will gather, there's
the great thing right there. We've got, Skye and I were talking
on the way over, this thing of preaching the gospel, believing
the gospel, it is so far above me. It is so far, I stand up
here and proclaim God's gospel and His message, and it's hands
off. It's so much, you know, it's
so much bigger than me or any other man. It's so much greater
than us. It's such a privilege to be able
to stand up here and speak. But the only reason why anybody
will believe anything that's ever spoken in truth is because
God says, I will gather the remnant of my flock. His elect. out of
all countries, whether I have driven them, and will bring them
again to their foals, and they shall be fruitful and creased.
And God says, I will set up shepherds, that is true pastors, preachers,
under shepherds, over them, which shall feed them, and they shall
fear no more, nor be dismayed, neither shall be they lacking,
saith the Lord." So you have the false preachers who are destroying
the flock, scattering the flock, Fleecing them and starving them
and then you got true preachers who are nobodies, who are nothing,
who are less than the least, as Paul said, stand up and feed. Counsel, if somebody needs help,
we're here for that. But the main responsibility is
not visitation, is not this, is not that, it's feeding the
flock. He says, verse four, they shall
feed them. What did Christ say to Peter?
Peter was going to go fishing. Peter, do you love me more than
these? Probably referring to the nets and the hooks and his
trade. Yes, Lord, you know, I love I love you more. What do you
say? Feed my flock, feed my sheep, feed them, feed them. God will,
and therefore He does, have an elect people. And we are not
the only ones left to do His bidding because He's going to
call preachers and bring His flock too. These true preachers
will be used of God, that's God's means, to bring the elect unto
Himself. And redeemed sinners are elected
of God, yes, that's true, called of God, yes. They will hear the
Gospel and they will repent and believe Christ is crucified because
He brings under shepherds to feed the sheep they feed them