Jeremiah 23:11-40 | They Make You Worthless | 1.22.1997

So, beginning here in Jeremiah 23 at verse 11, let's read verse 11-15 and move into our study as we continue through the book of Jeremiah. I chose to entitle this particular installment of our study of the book of Jeremiah simply this. I've chosen to entitle it, they make you worthless. And you'll see why in just a moment. Verse 11. For both prophet and priest are profane. Yes, in my house I have found their wickedness, says the Lord. Therefore, the way shall be to them like slippery ways. In the darkness they shall be driven on and fall in them. For I will bring disaster on them, the year of their punishment, says the Lord. And I have seen folly in the prophets of Samaria. They prophesied by Baal and caused my people Israel to heir. Also, I have seen a horrible thing in the prophets of Jerusalem. They commit adultery and walk in lies. They also strengthen the hands of evildoers, so that no one turns back from his wickedness. All of them are like Sodom to me, and the and her inhabitants like Gomorrah. And therefore, thus says the Lord of hosts, concerning the prophets, behold, I will feed them with wormwood and make them drink the water of Gaul, and from the prophets of Jerusalem, profaness has gone out into all the land. So notice what he says in verses 11 and 12. He begins by saying, "For prophet and priest are profane. Yes, in my house I have found their wickedness." Now the word profane speaks of something that is defiled or polluted. It speaks of something that is corrupt. And so when he says prophet and priest are profane, he's simply saying that the prophets and priests are corrupt. And because they are corrupt, they are leading the nation into corruption. There's an old saying, like shepherd, like sheep. If a shepherd is corrupt, if the church pastor doesn't have the integrity of the things of the Lord, then eventually what will happen is people who are like him will begin to make up the congregation because there's a tendency on the part of people to identify with the chief shepherd of that congregation. And so the things that are in that person's heart that come out continually are the things that make for the norm of the congregation. So if things are being said that appeal to the hearer, they remain. And as they remain in the church, perhaps a new person comes, listens, doesn't like it, they move on, somebody else comes, listens, they like it, they stay. And normally what happens is the church takes on the personality of the chief shepherd. The things in other words that are the things of their heart are the things that are communicated because out of the abundance of the heart the mouth will speak. And so the things that cause this person great joy or great sorrow are the things that will come out through illustrations or even the approach to scripture. And so as somebody opens the word of God and and a congregation develops around that person, ultimately they're pouring into these people the things that are important to them. And if the priest and if the prophet in the Old Testament, we'll say the pastor teacher in the New. But if the priest and prophet of the Old Testament are corrupt, then the inevitable result is that their corruption will be spread amongst the people, especially people who trust them that they are speaking in the name of the Lord. And so what happens is corruption begins to defile all the people of God. We see that to be taking place to this day. There are indeed wolves in the pulpit. It's been called predators in the pulpit. And they will introduce ungodly doctrine or perhaps they live in an ungodly fashion. And and they become the model. They become the template for the for the body there. And whatever the chief shepherd and the elders recognize as being okay, well that becomes the norm of the church. And so when this takes place, when people are not not setting their sights on the things of the Lord and are reducing the demands of the gospel and living in a a cheap kind of grace where everything's okay, then ultimately what happens is this decay filters through the entire congregation and it really isn't a place of godliness at any time. It becomes an ungodly place. And what is taking place here as we're looking at these passages is the pollution has entered even into the temple into the house of God. Now Jeremiah has cried out about this already in chapter 7. Remember in Jeremiah chapter 7 at verse 11? Remember the question that was asked, "Is this house which is called by my name become a den of robbers in your eyes? Behold, even I have seen it, says the Lord." And so the church in the Old Testament in the context here, the temple has become a place where there's nothing but corruption. Now, corruption isn't brand new, by the way. In the time of Jeremiah, it's something that has been part of the uh of the history of the nation. Corruption had been there uh for for quite some time. And the various people that were corrupt that we that we know in scripture. For example, there was uh one by the name of Eli, a priest, a high priest by the name of Eli is found in 1st Samuel 2. And Eli had some sons who are called sons of Bile. And what they would do is they basically were despising the Lord's offerings. So when people would bring in some offerings and they they would get these hooks and and they would boil the meat and they would stick the hooks into the this cauldron and they would take out choice pieces for themselves and in doing so were robbing God of his offering and they had gone so far as to actually sleep with some of the women in the very temple itself and so they were corrupt and Israel was was aware of the corruption. They were fornicators. There was one by the name of Manasseh, king. And the Bible tells us in 2 Kings 21:5 that in the courts of the temple of the Lord, he built altars to all the starry hosts. So he introduced worship of the stars and various pagan rights there to the nation. Manasseh did that in the time of Ezekiel. There are various sins that are listed concerning what was taking place. And Ezekiel is basically a contemporary of Jeremiah. And in the book of Ezekiel, and I'd like you to turn with me for a moment to the book of Ezekiel, chapter 8, we see some things that are listed concerning what was taking place in his day. These are the things that are contemporary to the time of Jeremiah. And this is why Jeremiah is crying out. And he's saying to them that the prophet and the priest are profane. And in my house, he says, I found their wickedness. It's even crept into the church itself. It's even crept into the temple of God itself. We find that to be true today. By the way, as you're turning to Ezekiel, I mentioned to you a pastor who had committed adultery and yet was continuing there in the church. He went so far as to take his assistant pastor with him to beg a lady that he had been having an affair with for a number of years. He took his assistant pastor without telling him what he was doing. and he took him to this woman's house and began to beg for her to come back with him and wanted the assistant to help him to get this woman to return to him. He had taken money from the body of Christ and bought her a house, bought her a car, and bought her a business. And he's asking his assistant for help to bring her back to him so he can continue in his adulterous relationship. The assistant just couldn't believe it and just left him right there. This happens today. This happens today. There are there are men who stand in pulpits who are in sin and are infecting the body of Christ. Not only that, but there are people in the church of Jesus Christ, who are having sexual sin frequently, don't think anything of it, who get depressed and go to the store and buy a six-pack or buy some bourbon or buy some wine and down it. And but if you talk to them and they're all drunk, you talk to them, they'd say, "Oh yeah, I'm a Christian." Don't think anything of it. Don't think anything of being married and checking out the girls or beating up their wife. They don't think anything of it at all. Committing incest. don't think anything of it. They don't say, "Oh, God forgive me. I'm such a wretch. I feel so bad." And yet, they go right back to that vomit. They go back to the sin. They never really repent. They just regret. They They got the pornography and they hide it in the bathroom under certain drawers they think nobody will look into. Hide it in their rooms. They siphon money out of the till when they're working. But they come to church, they don't think anything of it. They bring that pollution right into the body of Christ and think that it's okay and think that nobody sees and because nobody's confronted them. It's okay. Or just because we fornicate once in a while say, "Well, God understands I'm a person of flesh. It's okay. I really love the Lord." No, no, no. Your heart is deceitful above all things. It's desperately wicked and it's lying to you. Now, I was sharing with somebody just the other day. I said, "Don't think for a moment that you outgrow sin. You never do. You repent from it. You don't outgrow it." And just because you say, "Well, I was raised in a home where I was abused and and anger was justifiable and it's just the way I am because that's the way I was raised." Now, wait a minute. If any man be in Christ, he's a new creation. Old things are passed away. Behold, all things are become new. Are you telling me that the God who raised his son Jesus from the dead can't give life to you? He can. He can transform your life? Absolutely. He can make you brand new. Absolutely. But you need to hunger and desire righteousness. You see, but sin today is so acceptable. It's something that we have. They're like our pets. We keep them around. We like them. We're comfortable with them. It's who we are. God says, "No, I want to make all things new." You see, we can't bring this profanity into the body of Christ and think that God winks at it because he doesn't. The age of his winking at these things is long gone. He doesn't wink at it because if you sow to the flesh from the flesh, the Bible says you shall reap corruption. Absolutely. Oh, because we don't get caught the first time doesn't mean that we won't get caught eventually. And sometimes the Lord gives us grace to give us a space to repent. But ultimately, the Lord will deal with it. And he does it because he loves you. Because he wants you right with him. You see in the time of Ezekiel chapter 8 at verse 6 the Lord was speaking and he said to me Ezekiel says son of man do you see what they're doing the utterly detestable things the house of Israel is doing here things that will drive me far from my sanctuary but you will see things that are even more detestable. The Lord said to him notice verse 10. So I went in and looked and I I saw portrayed all over the walls all kinds of crawling things and detestable animals and all the idols of the house of Israel. Basically it was it was profane graffiti that he saw all over the inside of the temple there. People were bringing this filth in is the point that the Lord is making in verse 14. He brought me to the entrance of the north gate of the house of the Lord and he said and I saw women sitting there mourning for Tamuz. Now, who in the world is Tamuz? Well, let me share with you just a little bit why this is stated here. Because Tamuz, for those of you who take notes, Tamuz was the Babylonian sun god. He originally was called Damuzu. Du mu zu. The Greeks knew him by the name of Adonis. You know that name, I'm sure, cuz some of you go to the beach and you see these guys that think they're Adonis, right? running around these tight little speedos. They're so disgusting. You know, you see these guys and you say, "Why don't you go home or put some pants on? You make me sick." You know, I hate that. I hate it. It's wear those kind of funky bathing suits all over South America. And you look at R wears them. It's sickening. I hate it. Tamuz Reese. But anyway, the Egyptians also worshiped Tamuz. Now in mythology, Damuzu or Tabuz was the husband of Ishtar. Ishtar is also known by the name Aarte. You might find this interesting. That's where you get the name Easter from. I'm going to say anything. We'll talk about that some other time. But she was also called Aphroditi. So the Egyptians worshiped them under the names of Osiris and Isis. You see how this floated through a lot of ancient cultures. Now the Babylonian myth portrayed Tamuz as a young shepherd who was killed by a wild boar. Now the wild boar in their mythology represented winter and Ishtar long mourned for him and finally descended into the underworld to deliver him from death. Now in memory of this supposed death, the women of Babylon would mourn for him yearly on the second day of the fourth month of their calendar. Later in history, the women of a certain area called Gibbal, Syria, would come to a temple that had become the center of Tamuz's worship and would stay there during the midsummer. And there arose sexual orgies in connection to this right of summer. Now, Tamuz's death was intended to symbolize the long dry summer of Syria when vegetation perishes and his return to life symbolized when the land once again bore its fruit. There was a secondary thought too and that would be that his death reflected the long cold time of winter and the spring that would follow. And so to weep for him, God said, is ultimately great blasphemy because it's idolatry because it's replacing the God of Israel with a pagan myth. And so when these people were there mourning for Tamuz during the day of Ezekiel, he's simply saying that they have replaced the God of Israel with Babylonian mythologies and in doing so, God would bring judgment on them. This is what was taking place during that day. Back in Jeremiah chapter 23, the Lord is saying, "You can't be doing this, and I will deal with you for it." And so he said again in verse 11, "Both prophet and priest are profane. Yes, in my house I have found their wickedness, says the Lord." Therefore, in other words, because they are profane. Therefore, he said, "Their ways shall be to them like slippery ways. In the darkness they shall be driven on and fall in them. Slippery ways. We all understand if you've ever slipped. And I have plenty. You know, I had a pair of leather what do you call moccasins and uh with no they didn't have they had a leather sole to them. And I didn't realize how slippery they could be. But I used to deliver flowers when I was 18 years old and I had some flowers in my hand and I was running up some steps and I hit the step in this apartment complex and went flying in the air, landed on my back, shattered the, you know, the flowers just shattered and the vasees shattered and the flowers are thrown everywhere. And that's when I realized what slippery ways really are because you have no balance. There's no way you can keep your balance. You ever been in the backyard or maybe cleaning something in the patio and you know I've done this also. I' I've hurt myself millions of ways. Um you know pour some some soap on the patio and you're washing it down to clean off and and and if you hit it in just the right way your feet just slide out from right underneath and bang you're on on your back slippery ways. And that's what the Lord is speaking about. He's saying there's going to be no firmness in their walk. He said, 'Ive made the way slippery ways because there's no way they're going to remain in balance and on their feet if they're worshiping these false gods, bringing profanation into the temple. I will deal with them. I will bring them to a penalty. And that's what he's saying. Their penalty is disaster and punishment because he said in the darkness they shall be driven. Now, in Psalm 73:18, the psalmist said to the Lord, you place them on slippery ground. You cast them down to ruin. And that's exactly what's going to take place. Now in verse 13 he goes on to say this. He says I have seen folly in the prophets of Samaria. He said they prophesied by Baal and caused my people Israel to er also I have seen a horrible thing in the prophets of Jerusalem. They commit adultery, walk in lies. They also strengthened the hands of evildoers so that no one turns back from his wickedness. All of them are like Sodom to me and her inhabitants like Gomorrah. Therefore, thus says the Lord of Hosts, concerning the prophets, behold, I will feed them with wormwood and make them drink the water of Gaul. Uh, for from the prophets of Jerusalem, profaness has gone out into all the land. So, he says in verses 13 and 14, I've seen the folly of the prophets of Samaria. Now, when he speaks concerning the prophets of Samaria, that's another way of speaking of what was called the northern kingdom. As you've been going through the scriptures with me and perhaps as you've read on your own or been in other fellowships that have taught you concerning the nation of Israel, you know that originally it was 12 tribes. There were 10 tribes that remained together that consisted of what was called the northern kingdom and then the two southern tribes, Judah and Benjamin consisted of what is called the tribe of Judah or Judah. So you had the 10 northern tribes called Israel and the two southern tribes that were called Judah. And so when he's speaking concerning the prophets of Samaria, he's speaking about the northern tribes, the 10 northern tribes. And he's speaking consistent uh uh concerning their history and how that they initially turned away from God and eventually began to follow Baal. And they did that uh earlier than the Judah or the kingdom of Judah. As a matter of fact, God brought judgment on the nation of uh of Israel, on the 10 northern tribes in 7:22 by allowing the king of Assyria to come down and he decimated that area as a result of their evilness. Now, the other two, Judah and Benjamin, the two southern tribes, did not follow initially in the evil of the 10 northern tribes. And so, they continued on until 605. And then in the year 605, that's when the Lord allowed Nebuchadnezzar uh of Babylon to come and to in a series of three different campaigns decimate the two southern tribes. So he's beginning to speak right now concerning the northern tribes. And he's speaking concerning their spiritual and their physical adultery. They followed false prophets and were indifferent to repentance and had hardened the nation in sin and immorality. And that's exactly what had taken place through the prophets of Samaria. It's the same kind of thing that took place in Jerusalem. That's what he's pointing out in verse 14 when he said, "I've seen a horrible thing in the prophets of Jerusalem. They commit adultery. They walk in lies. They strengthen the hands of evildoers." In other words, instead of living pure lives to the Lord and physically pure lives instead of walking in truth and instead of instead of bringing a ringing kind of denunciation of the uh the evilness of the nation, they basically just flowed with it. And as a result of that, the nation was profane and was well, like he says, all of them are like Sodom to me. Her inhabitants are like Gomorrah. So in verse 15, therefore thus says the Lord opposed concerning the prophets, behold, he says, I will feed them with wormwood, make them drink the water of Gaul. In other words, seeing that they rejected the living water, all that is left to them now will be bitterness. So you ask the question, what is it that keeps people from the living water of the Lord Jesus Christ? I know the difference, and some of you do, too. I know the difference between pure spring water and gutter water. I know the difference because I've drunk both. When I was a little boy, about seven years old, I used to like to gross out girls by drinking water from the gutter. But I would we'd be walking home from school, the little girls would be walking and I'd just take a drink right out of the gutter and they go they'd go, "Oh." And they'd get all sick and everything. And I just loved it. I just loved it. And then I came to my senses and then I started drinking, you know, perier and that kind of stuff. I know the difference. And you know, there's so many people today who are content drinking gutter water. They drink gutter water. And to them, well, it quenches my thirst. You know, it's wet. Yeah, but it's filled with all kinds of things you really don't want to be ingesting. Why would you do that? And that's what happens. You know, the Lord said, "These people have have committed two two evils. They have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters and hed for themselves sistns, broken sistns that can hold no water. When you turn away from God and you create a system for yourself, it is a broken system that cannot bring fulfillment to you. And yet Jesus Christ said, "Come unto me and drink." And as the scripture says, out of their belly shall flow rivers of living water. And I can't understand why somebody would want gutter water when they can have living water. Why would we continue in the sin that makes us so miserable? It's like the little child who their entire life is filled with turning on a a hydrant in the inner city and and forming a puddle and splashing in that calling it their pool who reject the invitation to go to the beach because they can't conceive of what going to the beach would be all about. So for them this is just fine. For them this is all right. I don't have any aspirations for anything greater and and there's really nothing else out there anyway because they can't imagine that. Oh, just just 5 10 minutes away you could have a public pool or just a half hour away you could have a beach. There are so many kids who have no concept whatsoever that so every summer they go out and they get their wrenches, they turn on hydrants and they play in that because that's the best they're going to have. And a lot of people are that way. I see that today even more clearly now than ever before. There are so many people who are willing to take so little when God has so much. We need to understand that God wants to bless and our imagination can't contain God. He's so beyond what we can ask or think. He has so much more for us. And yet, for some reason, we're still in these works trips. We don't understand that God just wants us to know he loves us, that he forgives us. that he can change your life and he can give us so much more than we can imagine. I'm just amazed by that. I met a little boy. His name is Jorge George when he was four years old. His mother and father and he were on a bus and his mama said to him, "Take a nap, baby. We'll wake you up when we get there." He woke up all right at the end of the line with no mother and no father because they abandoned him on the bus at four. At four, he hit the streets for five years. From the age of four till he was nine and he scred out five years of life on the streets. At the age of nine, he ended up in a place called Via Vasencia, Colombia. And while he was there, he entered into the Calvary Chapel. And they have a little home there. It's actually a farm outside of the city there where they take abandoned children and they minister to them on a farm. And so George lived there for two years. But at the age of 11, he decided to hit the street again. He took off. And for another year, he was on the streets. Then he realized that what he had on the streets wasn't anything compared to what he had there with these believers. And he returned and he would stand next to me. He was he's a very little guy. He's 14 years old now. Probably comes up to my shoulder. But he was there at every Bible study. Every Bible study. And he'd have his Bible open. And he he tried to speak to me and some of the guys. We didn't understand what he was saying. He speaks very rapidly. And it was really hard. And we'd slow him down and talk to him. He had some questions and all. Before you know it, we've got our arms around this little guy's shoulders and just loving him. And he's what you call the little church mouse cuz a pastor has given to him a place to stay there in the church and he sleeps there every night and he takes care of the church. That's his responsibility. 14 years old and he does a good job. He knows the difference. He knows the difference between living on a street and living with people who love him. Don't you think some of us adults ought to learn that difference? We really ought to. Why we would live on Satan's streets when God has a place for us. Jesus said, "I've got a mansion prepared for you. I just don't understand. And why we would would scour the trash cans to get something to eat when the Lord has a banquet prepared for us. I just don't understand." And yet there are people who just can't fathom that. So they just as soon go into the trash than to eat off of what God has for them. And all it takes is a little humility to say, "God, forgive me a sinner. I want what you have for me. Forgive me, Lord." But you know, these false prophets had been lying to the people so long. So he says, "Listen, if you don't want the living water, then you're going to have bitter because that's all you can have." In verse 16, thus says the Lord of hosts, do not listen to the words of the prophets who prophesy to you. They make you worthless. They speak a vision of their own heart, not from the mouth of the Lord. They continually say to those who despise me, the Lord has said, "You shall have peace, and to everyone who walks according to the imagination of his own heart, no evil shall come upon you." So, he's speaking concerning these false prophets. And he says, "Don't listen to the words of the prophets who prophesy to you because they're liars. They're misrepresenting me." He said, "They speak visions from their own hearts." In other words, the visions that they're giving originates in their own corrupt souls because they're denying future judgment. These would be what are called success prophets. God wants you to have so much more, but you don't even have to renounce your evil. So the message he's speaking of marks them out as false because God has been pronouncing judgment, not peace through the whole book. Remember in Jeremiah 8:11 how the Lord said they dress the wound of my people as though it were not serious. Peace, peace, they say when there is no peace. In Jeremiah 14:13, but I said a sovereign Lord, the prophets keep telling them you will not see the sword or suffer famine. Indeed, I will give you lasting peace in this place. That's what the false prophets have been saying. There's no judgment coming. Jeremiah's just a cosmic party pooper. Don't listen to him. This is what they've been saying. You know, every once in a while, people get upset at what I have to say. I don't know why, but they do. Sometimes they get up and walk out. They're angry. But you know what? You got to say what the book says, don't you? You can't twist it to suit the hearers. You have to say what the book says. And if the book says this is what it says, that's all there is to it. Because sometimes the Lord will give you what is called the bad news before he gives you what is called the good. And he says to you, look at if you want me, some changes do have to take place. You have to repent. You need to be open to receiving forgiveness. You need to confess your sins. And and if you do these things, then I'll bless you. But if you refuse to do that, well, you can gather around you all you want. All kinds of people saying, "Oh, you're just a wonderful fellow. You're just a great great great gal." But that's man's estimation of what you are. What is God's estimation? Because really, ultimately, guys, um, every day that I'm alive without Jesus Christ is compounded interest in my debt to God. every day is compounded interest in my debt to God. It's like the national debt never gets paid off. It only increases $750 million a day and never gets paid off. And that's your debt to the Lord. So unless you have Jesus stamping over your debt, paid in full, cancelled because it's been dealt with, you're going to pay it yourself. and you can't pay it yourself because you don't have the revenue because what the Lord requires is perfection and that means not one of us is capable of paying that debt. So he sends his son Jesus who is capable of doing it on our behalf and we by faith simply receive it as being paid in full. Praise the Lord for that. But false prophets, well these false prophets are constantly saying, "No, it's okay. There's no judgment. Don't worry about it. You'll have peace." in verses 18- 20. For who has stood in the counsel of the Lord, and who has perceived and heard his word? Who has marked his word and heard it? Behold, a whirlwind of the Lord has gone forth in fury, a violent whirlwind. It will fall violently violently on the head of the wicked. The anger of the Lord will not turn back until he has executed and performed the thoughts of his heart. In the latter days, you will understand it perfectly. He says, so he says, who has stood in the counsel of the Lord and has perceived perceived and heard his word. So verse 18 reveals how a true prophet differs from the false because a true prophet stands in God's counsel. When it speaks about standing in counsel, standing in the council of the Lord in the Middle East, this speaks of intimate open communication. And when it speaks about them perceiving and hearing, that word perceive simply means they see it clearly. And when it speaks of hearing, it speaks of obedience. So they would see clearly and obey the word of the Lord. Why? Because they were in intimate communion with him. The false prophets, on the other hand, were speaking the prophecies of their own heart and imagination. But the true prophet had a face-to-face relationship with God. And so he communicated to them openly the things of his heart. And they communed that communicated that to the people. So that's the contrast of the false and the true. The false prophet opens his own heart up and says what he's thinking. The true prophet communes with God, perceives God, and and hears God, and these are the things that they have to say. Now, in verses 19 and 20, he predicts or prophesies that God is bringing judgment, which is contrary to the false prophets. Notice he says, "In the latter days." Now, in this context, it's speaking of the time that is yet to come, but it's near. And he's simply saying when the judgment hits, you will understand. When he says in verse 21, "I have not sent these prophets, yet they ran. I have not spoken to them, yet they prophesied. But if they had stood in my counsel and caused my people to hear my words, then they would have turned them from their evil way and from the evil of their doings." There are a lot of people today that I have seen, and may I say this very quickly here, I have to say this. Um, I don't know exactly how to say it, but I know I have something I have to say. One of the things that a lot of you already have discovered by coming to this fellowship, some of you I recognize you've been here for years, but I I probably should say this. There are a lot of things that the Lord has given me an opportunity to do that you never hear about. I never come and share from the pulpit. They don't say to you this is what I'm doing and all of that because I'm always afraid of accusations of some kind of weird pride or bragging from the pulpit. So I keep my mouth shut so you don't hear a lot of stuff. I don't come up and say this is where I went or this is what I did and anything like that because I'm always afraid that I'm always afraid that it may come off wrong. And so I don't tell you things. And yet I probably ought to share some things with you so you know why I have these strong feelings. Because you may think, well, David goes to his office and he sits there for a few hours and he comes out and speaks to us and that's it. But a lot of times that's not exactly what I'm doing. I'm doing that and more. As you know, I just got back from South America. Next month I'll be going to India. Um, there are a lot of things that I do, a lot of conferences, a lot of teachings, a lot of fellowship. My entire life to be honest with you. I'm taking a chance by even saying this at this point, but my entire life is the Lord. That's what I do. That is who I am. That's what my life consists of. So to to to open the Bible isn't a hobby to me. To open the Bible is a daily regimen. And to study the Bible isn't something I do for five minutes here and five minutes there. It's something I do for hours a day every day and then go different places. Tomorrow night I got a call just today. you know, I just got back from South America on Monday. I got a call today and they said, "You know what? Steve Mace is going into the hospital. He's got uh some planned surgery. Can you cover his Thursday night?" I'll be there tomorrow night. Then next week, and the week after that, and the week after that, I'll be in one place after another. Every weekend, sometimes like like Friday, I'll be doing something February 14th, and then Saturday, I'll be doing something February 15th. And then on Sunday, I'll do my Sunday morning. And then February 16th, I'm flying out to India. I'll be I'll be back in eight days. And then I'm going to be teaching 500 pastors to me for a week. Then I'll come back here and share with you. And I don't necessarily tell you you, you know, this happened here and this happened there. But you need to know, you need to know that when I stand up here and I say, "These are the things I'm seeing." It's not because I'm sitting trending on the TV set seeing these things. It's because I'm out in the field doing these things. And there's a certain amount of authority that God has given to me now. 23 years of doing this. 23 years. Think in your own life for just a minute. What have you been doing for 23 years? if you're even that old yet. So for 23 years, I've been doing this. For 23 years, sometimes five, six, seven times, eight times a week, teaching the word of God for years and years and years. So when I stand up and say something, it's not like I've got an opinion and I close the book and I sit down. It's because that's what I do. And I'm watching the church very closely right now and I see carnality in the church. And the church is indeed very sick and is filled with sin. And a lot of the pastors aren't willing to stand up and say so. I gave a seminar and a young man walks up to me afterwards and he says, "Oh, you're a brave man for saying that. Our pastor wouldn't say that." I said, "No, it doesn't require bravery. It requires just saying what God has to say and let the chips fall where they may." I spoke at a conference just recently last week when I was in Colombia and I shared some things and I named some names and a guy walks up to me immediately afterwards, an assistant pastor in a church and he says, "Did you see that couple get up and walk out when you said that about those those those teachers you called false?" And I said, "No, I didn't even notice it." He said, "Oh, they were angry." And he's speaking to me through an interpreter. And I said to him through the interpreter, "Truth causes anger." And that's just the way it goes. And they need to hear these things. They need to know these things. I would be doing you a disservice if I didn't tell you the truth. You don't come here to have your ears tickled. I don't think you do. If you do, it amazes me. You want to know the truth, don't you? That's why you're here. And this is not to say the truth isn't someplace else because God has a lot of pastors who are telling an absolute truth in the word of God. And a lot of people are up there who are speaking out of their own hearts and resources. Unfortunately, there are quite a number who speak out of their own resources. Basically give you book reports and never go anywhere outside of their their office and their homes. And they have no authority because they're not out there in the field doing works for the Lord. They don't understand these things. Not because oh, we have such gnostic knowledge. we're out there in higher and deeper. No, I'm not saying that. I'm simply saying that that you need to hear what the truth is and it sets you free. And these prophets are self-appointed false prophets. He said, "I did not appoint them yet they ran." And there are a lot of people today, I have to be honest with you, who are not appointed by God and yet they're running. and they open up a church and they create some humble story of how the church began and they really didn't ever really want to be the pastor but they were basically forced into it. And then people say, "Oh, what a humble pastor that is." When in reality, they're fabricating stories that cause the church to look at them as some humble pastor when in reality they are self-appointed. They they started a work not because the spirit so much led but because they had a selfish ambition and desire to be a leader and they did anything they could to get that church. There are a lot of churches like that. And the Lord speaks about the false prophets here and he says I didn't appoint them yet they ran. I haven't spoken yet they prophesied. Now had they been true prophets righteousness would have been the result. In verses 23 and 24 when he says, "Am I a god near at hand, says the Lord, and not a god a far off?" In other words, he's simply saying this. He's saying, "I am not a tribal god. I'm not some localized god." He's saying, "I'm everywhere at all times, and I see everything." That's what the the writer of Hebrews in 4:13 says to us in Hebrews 4:13, "Nothing in all creation is hidden from God's sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account. The Lord sees all things. In verses 25- 27, he says, "I have heard what the prophets have said, who prophesy lies in my name." In other words, I hear what they're saying. They're not getting away with anything. He said, when he says in verse 28, "The prophet who has a dream, let him tell a dream. And he who has my word, let him speak my word faithfully." What is the chaff of the wheat, says the Lord. Is not my word like a fire, says the Lord. like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces. Well, I'll tell you the Lord's word does hammer, doesn't it? It really does. And it breaks the rock. Absolutely. So when he said the prophet who has a dream, let him tell a dream. He has my word. The point he's making is if a prophet had a dream, he was simply to relate it. When he speaks about this wheat, now wheat is the substance of God's word which is able to feed us and chaff is the word of the false prophet. So he says in verses 30 through32, "Therefore I am against the prophet, says the Lord, who steal my words, everyone." He said, "Who steal my words, everyone, from his neighbor. Behold, he said, I'm against the prophet, says the Lord, who use their tongues and say, he says, behold, I'm against those who prophesy false stream, says the Lord, and tell them and cause my people to heir by their lies and by their recklessness. Yet I did not send them or command them. Therefore, they shall not profit this people at all, says the Lord. So, he speaks about three classes of false prophets that he's crying out against. He speaks first about lying prophets who are opposing the true prophets by influencing others to reject him. Secondly, he speaks about those who are liars speaking in his name falsely and pretending to be greatly anointed. And then thirdly, he speaks of false prophets speaking forth their own dreams as if they're anointed to reveal God to the people. And so he speaks about these classes of prophets in verses 33 and 34. The false prophets have been mocking Jeremiah because it says when these people or the prophet or the priest ask you saying what is the oracle of the Lord or the burden of the Lord? You shall say to them what oracle? I will even forsake you says the Lord. And as for the prophet and the priest and the people who say the oracle of the Lord, I will even punish that man and his house. Thus every one of you shall say to his neighbor and everyone to his brother, "What has the Lord answered and what has the Lord spoken?" And the oracle of the Lord you shall mention no more. For every man's word will be his oracle, for you have perverted the words of the living God, the Lord of hosts our God. Thus you sh you shall say to the prophet, "What has the Lord answered you? And what has the Lord spoken? But since you say the oracle of the Lord, therefore, thus says the Lord, because you say this word, the oracle of the Lord, and I have sent you, saying, Do not say the oracle of the Lord. Therefore, behold, I even I will utterly forget you and forsake you and the city that I gave you and your fathers, and will cast you out of my presence. And I will bring an everlasting reproach upon you, and a perpetual shame which shall not be forgotten. So the false prophets have been mocking Jeremiah and speaking about the oracle or the burden of the Lord. The word oracle in its original speaks concerning something that is heavy weight, a heavy weight that is being lifted. It speaks of a burden. And so when he's speaking concerning this oracle and they're mocking him and they're saying, "Well, what is this burden?" His answer is you. You false prophets are a burden because you're speaking lies in the name of the Lord. So during this time, especially as we just read verses 35-4, the term burden of the Lord had become kind of like a catchphrase. It's like the words born again. Born again. Back in the Jesus revolution, the words born again began to be very popular. Some of you may remember, if you're old enough, in the 70s, everything was born again. Even Datson's, they used to call them Datson's Nissan, they had bornagain cars. And it was just amazing. I mean, I remember hearing these things. They It was a catchphrase. Billy Graham used to speak more often of born again, and he had to use different terms instead of born again because it became an overused phrase. So, a lot of people running around saying that they were born again when in reality, they'd never been saved. They had never been regenerated. They'd never confess their sin. It became a catchphrase. And so the Lord is saying, don't be using the oracle of the Lord anymore because it's lost its substance. When you overuse the word, it loses its power. So he said the mark of a true prophet, he will not be using the words oracle of the Lord. And the false prophets will continue using that term. And that's what the Lord is saying here. Now, since the false prophets had rejected God's words, they're going to live to fulfill them. they will be utterly forsaken by God. In conclusion, the Lord I I really really strongly believe as I'm going to conclude this that the Lord has a tremendous work that he wants to do and he wants to use you. He wants to use you. All I believe the Lord wants for us right now is for us to simply be open to be used by him. And I'm going to ask every person in this room to really seriously ask yourself tonight if you've even used the term born again as a catchphrase in your own life. Check yourself today very carefully spiritually. Are you truly born again? Is your life absolutely transformed? Do you know that? Do you know that? Do you know beyond a shadow of a doubt that you're a genuine Christian, that you really are saved? Do you know beyond a shadow of a doubt if you were to stand before the throne of God tonight without any fear, you know beyond a shadow of a doubt that the Lord would allow you into the kingdom? You know that not because you've done good things or you're a good person. You know beyond a shadow of a doubt that the Holy Spirit indwells you, empowers you, strengthened you. Not based on your your works of righteousness, not based on your denominational affiliation, not based on whether you have been baptized as a child or you read the Bible every night or you serve in children's ministry or you give a tithe. But beyond a shadow of a doubt, you know right now that you're right with God because you don't want to be guilty of the same kind of thing that these false prophets were guilty of. Just melding words with no substance. Just speaking about, "Oh, I love the Lord." Hey, I've met so many people over the years who will tell me, "Oh, I love the Lord, but I just have this one problem. When I get mad, I hit my wife." Now, wait a minute. Now, wait a minute. How can you say that? How can you say you love Jesus Christ when you you beat up on your wife? How can you say that, Billy? Oh, I really love the Lord, but man, you don't understand. I'm living with my my boyfriend and and we've had children, and if I were to leave him, I have no no support. Wait a minute. I thought my God shall supply all your need. Have you learned that? Do you know that? Are you sure of that? See, these these are the things that make the difference. They really do. You say, "Well, pastor, it's easy for you to say you're the pastor and we support you really in the way that you give. Would you like to be supported in that way?" I wonder. You see, we use words, but we don't understand their substance. It's one of our great problems today. We've learned to repeat things, but we don't know them. My son David, when he was a young teen, said to me, "Daddy, I love you." He tells me that every day, and I love it when he does. He's 18 now. He's a young teen. He's going through some of his rebellion. But he'd say, "Daddy, every day I love you." Finally, I said, "Honey, honey, if you love your daddy, obey him. That's the only way that I know you love me, son." Cuz you see, if you keep saying, "I love you," and keep doing wrong, I don't think you know what the word love means. You see, if I told my wife Maria, "Honey, I love you," I could actually corrupt that word by my actions. In Colombia, the Colombian, one of the Colombian pastors was speaking to me, and he said, "Pastor," he said, "did you know that some men in Colombia beat their wives and will tell their wives, I hate you because I love you." And he said, "You won't believe this, but it's true. If the husband doesn't beat the wife, she begins to ask him, "What's the matter? Don't you love me anymore?" Do you see how that gets twisted, guys? It's that association game. I love you. I hate you. That must be love. And do you want to know something? We use words with not under without understanding what they mean. So when we say we repent, what does that mean? When we say we're spiritfilled, what does that really mean? When we say I love you, Lord, what does that really mean? And I have to ask you to examine your hearts tonight because I believe with all of my heart that there are great numbers of people who are backsliden right now, but think that's the normal Christian life. God has much more for you than that. So I ask you tonight, do you know the Lord?