False Prophets Exposed | Jeremiah 23 | Pastor William Hixson

Good to have you out at Bible class

tonight. We welcome you in the name of

the Lord.

We are in the book of Jeremiah and we're

in chapter 23. So I call your attention

to that chapter. We already studied the

first eight verses in chapter 23.

But there is a division between

uh 231-8

and 239 to the end. And so

our chapter divisions haven't completely

captured it.

But we are going to start with verse

nine

and we're going to read to the end of

the chapter.

And uh Jeremiah has dealt with the

corrupt kings.

He's dealt with the kings.

And now he's going to deal

with the false prophets.

Now if you picture the theocracy

there was a division of responsibility

just like we have president, senate,

congress, uh judiciary. There was a

there was a you know we have the three

branches of government. Well they had

priests, prophets and kings. And those

responsibilities were divided by God

just like America has divided the

judiciary and the executive branch and

the legislative branch of government.

And the priests were corrupt. We saw

that before.

Uh the kings were terrible. Right after

Josiah, there wasn't a good king. Five

bad kings in a row. That's not good. and

the prophets were probably worse all.

And so,

um,

verse 9 to 40 deals with the prophets,

and

Jeremiah is going to open up on them

with a very serious

exposure

and false

false prophets need to be exposed.

Uh, little levan

leavenvens a whole lump.

That's true of behavior in 1 Corinthians

5. A little leaven leavenvens the whole

lump. It's true of doctrine. That's in

the book of Galatians. A little leaven

leavenvens the whole lump. So whether

it's false doctrine or false living,

it's like cancer. It doesn't stay put.

it it spreads and it has to be dealt

with

radically and sharply.

So that's really what's going on. And

Jeremiah says what he says. And it

certainly wasn't easy to hear and no

doubt not easy for him to say, but God

was speaking. Verse 9 of chapter 23. My

heart within me is broken

because of the prophets.

All my bones shake. I'm like a drunken

man and like a man whom wine has

overcome

because of the Lord because of the words

of his holiness. Now this is Jeremiah

speaking and God is speaking through him

and Jeremiah is receiving the message

and it is just really hard for him to

receive and deliver.

For the land is full of adulterers.

For because of swearing the land mourns,

the pleasant places of the wilderness

are dried up, their course is evil, and

their forces not right. For both prophet

and priest are profane.

Yay, in my house, this is God speaking,

have I found wickedness, says the Lord.

Wherefore their ways shall be unto them

like slippery paths. In the darkness

they shall be driven on and fall on un

into them. And I will bring evil upon

them. That means calamity. Even the year

of their judgment, says the Lord. And

I've seen folly in the prophets of

Samaria. They prophesied

in Baal and cause my people Israel to

heir. Now those are the 10 tribes up

north, right? He's not talking about

Judah now, but he he just brings that

in. I saw it up there. Now I see it

here.

And I've seen also in the prophets of

Jerusalem a horrible thing. They commit

adultery and walk in lies. They

strengthen also the hands of evildoers,

that none doth return from his

wickedness. They're all of them unto me

like Sodom and its inhabitants

like Gomorrah. I think I'll stop there

with reading and we'll catch up with it

and then we'll go. Um,

you know, there's many good things that

are false.

Did you ever think about that? What if

we didn't have false teeth?

We'd look a lot different at our age,

probably. False teeth can be a good

thing. False hair can be a good thing if

you need it, you know. So there's some

things my dad had one eye as I put out.

So he wore a glass eye. I didn't he was

blinded as a child and u with a

firecracker and that somebody else shot.

But

I always knew my dad either had a glass

eye or a patch, one or the other. But

you know with a glass eye, unless you

were used to looking at people with one

eye with a glass eye, we could always

tell. But uh you know, thank God for

glass eyes and uh all the there's some

good things that are false and

uh thank God for

those things. Uh

false cameras are good. They protect

you. You don't need a real camera. You

just have a fake one and robbers will

say, "I don't know if I'm going to go

over there." And so false ceilings. So,

there's false things that are good.

Then there's some things that are

questionable. I never like false

Christmas trees. I'm not a big Christmas

tree person anyway, but false ones just

didn't do it for me. I don't care. I

didn't care for that one versus the real

one. False alarms.

That's not so good. False flags. that

well I suppose that could be good or bad

comparing to whoever's doing it if you

know what that term means. But when you

get to false witness,

that's bad. Now you're in your devil's

territory because he's a liar from the

beginning and the father of it. And thou

shalt not bear false witness is one of

the ten commandments, right?

And so false witnesses are very, very

bad, much worse than most people think.

But if you're false, it means you're not

genuine.

And

uh intentionally untrue is especially

bad. Sometimes we say something wrong

because we thought it was true, but it

wasn't. We weren't trying to lie. We

just were misinformed. That's not really

lying. That's just being misinformed.

you're saying something is false, but if

you know it's false and then you promote

it, that's bad. And false prophecy,

that's got to be way up there. That's

way up there

in the uh area of falsehood, false

apostles, false prophets, false

teachers, all of that same kind of

thing.

terrible falseness in the pulpit.

Falseness in the lives of those that are

teaching. Falseness in their uh

proclamations that are supposed to be

from God. That's bad. That's terrible.

By the way, a false witness is a bad

thing. I've seen people lie in court

and they take oath. I' I've seen it. I

remember as a young man, I saw a guy,

another fellow was getting divorced. He

wanted me to come to the trial and I

did. His wife flat out lied. First thing

out of her mouth.

I confess I was shocked by it. I mean,

how come somebody so flat out lie like

that? Take an oath before God. I swear

to tell the truth, the whole truth. And

then she lied. Then she got caught right

there in the court.

He got caught in her lie.

False witness is a terrible thing. A

false report, false divination.

uh

false dreams. The Bible uses those kind

of terms.

And so to be false when you're declaring

something that's God's word that's not

God's word, that's really bad.

And

all of us that teach the word of God

should be careful, right? I want to know

what the scripture says.

Don't want to be saying some I don't

want it to be saying something it's not

saying. I want to be careful to expound

it as much as I can carefully and take

time to do it well. Take time check read

it several backwards and forwards. Get

the context. Ask questions to the text.

Read commentaries, dictionaries,

whatever you got to read to get some

help with it. And so very very

important.

and

turn with me to second Peter. Hold your

place here. Second Peter 2.

I know most of you know this,

but some people don't like a warning

ministry.

They think that's too sharp or too hyper

critical.

I'll just give you something. I know

some of you have heard this before. You

know, there's 1 Timothy, 2 Timothy, 1

Peter, 2 Peter, 1 Corinthians, sec.

Every second book in the Bible is a

warning against false teaching.

Did you ever notice that? Now, that's

not the only place it is. Second John, 2

Thessalonians.

It's a very interesting fact. If you

want to know about warning ministry,

read the second letters, whether it's

from Paul or Peter or John, and you'll

be getting into that. Well, second Peter

2 Peter 2:1

chapter 2 verse 1. But there were false

prophets

also among the people. He's talking

about Old Testament. Even as there'll be

false teachers among you,

who secretly shall bring in destructive

heresies, even denying the Lord that

bought them, and bring on themselves

swift destruction. And many follow their

pernitious ways, by reason of whom the

way of truth shall be evil spoken of,

and through covetousness shall they with

fain words make merchandise of you,

whose judgment now for a long time

lingers not, and their destruction

slumbers not. Now, Satan gets a double

dose with a false teacher because one,

they corrupt the churches that they're

in from the truth. And two, they corrupt

the testimony of the church from people

that aren't there. Because most unsaved

people, they think, well, everybody's a

Christian, whatever your label is and

whatever you're teaching, and they just

put us all together, basically.

And they think, well, this person did

that, so I'm not going to be a Christian

because I don't be like them. Well, your

faith isn't in Christians, it's in

Christ. But Satan gets double duty out

of false teachers, especially when the

people uh get affected in the wrong way.

I I have a commentary on Jeremiah I was

reading that I found pretty helpful. And

this person is talking about a pastor he

had in California. Thought it was quite

interesting. He lives in Massachusetts

now, I believe, if he's still living.

But he said he speaks about this pastor.

He was the pastor of a church in

Southern California. One day I asked him

why he never preached on the great text

of the Bible that concerned sin,

salvation, eternal life, and atonement

of Jesus Christ. Why don't you ever

preach on that? He never was preaching.

He'd forgotten his appointment with me.

And so as I sat on the rim of the

bathtub, he talked as he shaved in

preparation for a Rotary Club dinner.

However, he stopped long enough to say

that he couldn't preach about everything

and that the reason he didn't preach

about the things I mentioned was that

there were so many other subjects in the

Bible to present and couldn't possibly

preach them on them all.

Now, there's a church in downtown

Athens. I won't mention it, but I went

there a couple of times when I was in

college. And one of our college group

fellas asked him, "I've gone to your

church several times. I've never heard

you teach about the new birth.

You do you do you believe in the new

birth?" He said, "I believe in it, but I

don't teach it."

That's a big church down in Athens

about that.

But I know which one it is.

And there's more than one

because I went to that church.

It's I'll I'll tell you this. It's near

parking garage.

Won't tell you which one.

Won't matter because they're both that

way.

So anyway, but but he said, "I believe

it, but I don't teach it."

Well, if you believe it, you'll teach

it.

And if this pastor, this fellow was

talking about if he really believed in

these things, if he really believed in

sin, salvation, eternal life, atonement,

he'd preach it, wouldn't he? What kind

of preacher never preaches those things?

I mean, that's the that's the bullseye.

That's the main thing. And so, but a lot

of these people just they people put up

with it. That's what's amazing to me.

But Jeremiah had that problem in his

day. We have that problem in our day.

Man was a Presbyterian. They had that

big liberal fight in the 30s, 1930s at

Princeton Seminary. And man, and a group

split off there in Princeton and started

Westminster Seminary in Pennsylvania.

And he wrote a great book on liberalism.

It's a it's a classic. It's not easy

read, but it's a classic. back in the

1930s

and he was talking about the so-called

liberal gospel. That gospel is a deadly

foe of Christianity

and those who herald it not ambassadors

of Christ. They're all false prophets.

Their religion is a false one.

And so basically that whole book is

showing that liberalism is not a

legitimate variation of real

Christianity.

Now there are legitimate variations of

real Christianity.

Christians, real Christians differ on

this and that and something else, but

liberalism is not one of them.

And so I'm not talking about political

liberalism. I'm talking about

theological liberalism.

And so

uh but liberalism parades itself and

presents itself as a legitimate

variation of true Christianity. Oh, you

believe in the inspirational Bible? I

don't. But we're both Christians. You

believe in the Virgin birth? We don't.

You believe in the deity of Christ? We

don't.

But you know, we're all Christians.

And people get sucked into that stuff.

Well, that's kind of what Jeremiah was

facing in Jerusalem

in the temple.

These people weren't honest with

themselves and they couldn't be honest

with each other.

And uh Jeremiah just stomped on it. And

John Charles Fineberg

uh in his writings on Jeremiah said this

is a classic denunciation of the false

prophets.

This chapter it's a classic and he goes

through seven things. Uh they use God's

name without authorization. They were of

low moral character. Number two, they

spread false hopes and promises among

the people. Number three, the source of

their message was their own minds or

those of other false prophets. Number

five, they were never called to God.

Number six, they were popularity

seekers. And number seven, they're

plagiarists.

Well, there's nothing in that resume

that looks good, does it? It pretty well

summarizes it.

And so, they were playing to the crowd

and Jeremiah wasn't.

And so that's what's going on.

Now, what we have, we got three parts of

this chapter. Let's go to three parts

now. Number one, a believer's reaction

to false prophecy. A believer's reaction

to false prophecy. A true believer's

reaction should be the same as God's

reaction. Right? How God thinks about it

is how we ought to think.

And in chapters 9 to 11

there, Jeremiah describes a shock at the

enormity of the fence

that's going on. My heart within me is

broken because of the prophets. All my

bones shake. I'm like a drunken man. I

can't hardly take this.

It's it's got me all out of joint and

like a man whom wine is overcome because

of the Lord and because of the words of

his holiness. In other words, I'm

overcome with God's word and what God is

telling me about these people and I'm

overcome with their offenses and how bad

they are. It's a dishonor to God. It's a

it's a it's something that shouldn't be

done in his temple and in his city.

Matthew Henry said, "The dishonor done

to God's name and the profanation of his

holy word are the greatest grief

imaginable to a gracious soul." Don't

you hate it when people consciously

interpret, misinterpret the Bible or

even unconsciously do?

Their mind's in the dark. They can't get

past the what they what they believe is

correct.

And the sad thing is false apostles,

false teachers, and false prophets want

to wear the label

of being people of the Lord.

Don't Mormons really want to be known as

Christians?

Yeah. How about JWS? They want to be

known as Christians. They want to be

legitimized. Liberals want to be known

as Christians. They don't believe

anything people,

but they're good Christians.

So that's and they might be nice people.

I'm not saying that there's difference

between being nice and being saved.

RK Harris RK Harrison said his mind

cannot grasp the way in which these

prophets have chosen to abuse their

professional vocation.

Can't believe

that they're thinking like this and

living like this and acting like this.

Now, Jeremiah the prophet never ceased

to denounce them. He had a warning

ministry all the way through.

Uh, I'll give you a couple of the verses

without going to them. Jeremiah 2:8,

Jeremiah 2:8

Jeremiah 5:31, Jeremiah 6:13-16,

Jeremiah 5:31 Jeremiah 6:13–16

Jeremiah 14:13-16.

Jeremiah 14:13–16

So, he stood up to him. He stood up to

him. Are we standing up to him? are

really seriously.

Jeremiah had a warning ministry. If your

church doesn't have a warning ministry,

you better get a new church.

And I'm not saying we should major in

that and only be known for what we're

against. I I I believe we should primary

primarily be known for what we're for,

not what we're against. But there is a

legitimate warning ministry. Jesus had

it.

Paul had it. Peter had it. John had it.

Jude had it. James had it. If we want

biblical Christianity, we got to have

it.

And so, true prophet stands up against

false prophets. And if you want to

really get some classic examples that in

the Bible, Micaiah has stood up against

all those false prophets that Ahab was

listening to. And unfortunately, not

just the unsaved apostate Ahab, but good

old Jehoshaphat, naive Jehoshaphat.

Ain't there a prophet of the Lord here?

But you got to these prophets of Baal.

Where's the prophets of the Lord? Oh,

there's one. His name is Micaiah. I hate

him. He never prophesies anything good

to me. And you know all that.

And Micaiah stood up and you remember

that one person said, "All the other

prophets are telling the king to go

fight. You better tell him the same

thing."

I'll give you the inside story.

Micaiah didn't fall for that. He ended

up in jail.

But thank God for the man.

How about Elijah and the Baal prophets?

He stood up against them, didn't he? One

against How many were there? I forget

400, 800, however many it were. Was that

a fair fight? No. He He He had them. He

He He smoked them, didn't he? The God

that answers by fire, let him be God.

And I've always been amazed he didn't

say, "The God that answers by rain, let

him be God." Because that was Baal's

specialty. But they needed judgment

and uh they needed atonement. and God

answering the sacrifice by fire. They

needed atonement more than they needed

rain.

It was a wonderful moment of Elijah. By

the way, they got a great big statue

right there in Israel of Elijah where

all of this happened. Martis just put a

beautiful statue of him standing up for

the Lord in that place. So Jeremiah had

a warning ministry as well as Micaiah

and Elijah. I think there's three are

major Old Testament prophets dealing

with warning. It's not the only one.

Many others did as well. But it's part

of being a real prophet

is having a warning. By the way, it's

part of being a real Christian

is to have a warning ministry.

You don't major in that, but you don't

pretend everybody's okay. I'm okay.

You're okay. I'm okay. Remember that

book? I'm okay. You're okay.

Everybody's okay.

Number two, in verses 12 to 15,

we have God's judgment on false

prophets.

9 to 11 is the believer's reaction to

false prophecy. That 12 to 15 is God's

judgment on false prophets. God takes

this very, very seriously.

Very, very serious.

And so, let's pick it up in verse 12.

Wherefore their way shall be to them

like slippery paths in the darkness.

They'll be driven on and fall into them,

for I'll bring evil on them, even the

year of their judgment, says the Lord.

And I have seen folly in the prophets of

Samaria, that's up north.

They prophesied in Baal and caused my

people Israel to heir. And I've seen

also in the prophets of Jerusalem.

That's the one he's talking to now. A

horrible thing.

They commit adultery.

And walk in lies.

They strengthen also the hands of

evildoers.

That none does return from his

wickedness. They're all of them like

unto me like Sodom and the inhabitants

like Gomorrah.

Doesn't see sound very much like God's

approving of that this particular group.

So

they were pretend prophets. They were

con men. They were promoting a false

message and using God's name. They had a

god and they they they

brought it out. They had different

varieties. Baal worship in the north,

that was outright idolatry. But

something more subtle in the south where

they're mixing idolatry and the worship

of Jehovah. There was a synratism going

on was pretty strange.

Now, there's no question in my mind that

it's not just the Old Testament warns

against false prophets and false

teachers and false apostles. The New

Testament's loaded with it, it ever read

2 Corinthians 11.

Ever read the book of Galatians?

If I or anybody else comes to preach any

other gospel than you've heard than the

one you've heard, let him be a curse.

And that wonderful use of the Greek uh

uh words there. It's not another of the

same kind. It's another of a different

kind.

It's a heteros gospel, another of a

different kind. It's not an all lost

gospel. It's not a legitimate variant of

the real gospel.

And so God's judgment on false prophets

is very very clear in the Bible and 12

to 15 put that out.

What's our reaction to false prophets?

Do we

just be polite? Never confront anybody.

We never call anybody out.

I'm not saying we should do that all the

time. I'm simply saying when it's

necessary, we ought to have a backbone

and do it.

Certainly not to pretend that I think we

should lovingly we speak the truth in

love. Lovingly tell people you're going

to hell. You're wrong.

You're wrong.

you're under false ideas and false

doctrine. And

second or number three, my last point,

the characteristic of false prophets.

How do you ide them?

How do you recognize them?

Well,

they encourage sin, promote sin in

others, and they indulge in sin in

themselves. You notice the talk about

they're all adulterers.

They live low lives. Now, David

committed adultery, but that was once

and that was bad enough. That wasn't his

lifestyle. Any a true Christian can fall

into sin, but a true Christian won't

live in sin. That's the difference

between a sheep and a pig.

sheep can get muddier in a pig, but he

won't can't live in it. The pig will

live in it and be happy in it.

And so how David committed adultery, but

these these prophets were living in it

and promoting it. Notice what it says in

verse 14. I've seen also in the prophets

of Jerusalem, horrible thing. They

commit adultery and they walk in lies.

You can't believe anything they say.

They walk in lies. They strengthen the

hands of evildoers

that none does return from his

wickedness. They're all of them be like

Sodom and its inhabit Gomorrah. So

lowife livers strengthening others in

sin, adulterers,

promoting it

and so forth. Here's a second thing

about them. Their message is

selfgenerated.

It doesn't come from God.

It comes from their own imagination

in their own heart. Notice in verse

well let's go down to verse 15.

Therefore thus says the Lord fost

concerning the prophets. Behold I'll

feed them with wormwood and make them

drink the water of Gaul for from the

prophets of Jerusalem is profaneess gone

forth in all the land. And that's

certainly right. That's their behavior.

But then verse notice 16. Thus says the

Lord, hearken not to the words of the

prophets that prophesy to you. They make

you vain. They speak a vision of their

own heart and not out of the mouth of

the Lord. This is a selfgeneration

generated message. They say still unto

those

they say still unto those who despise

me, the Lord has said you'll have peace.

And they say to everyone that walks

after the imagination of his own heart,

no evil will come upon you. That's not

bad. God won't judge you for that.

Or who stood in the counsel of the Lord

and has perceived and heard his word,

who's marked his word and heard it. See,

they're not getting their message from

God. They're getting that message from

their own fallen heart. And what does

Jeremiah say about the heart? The

heart's deceitful above all things. Who

can know it?

So their message is self-generated.

They're not commissioned. They haven't

been commissioned by God. God didn't

call them. And so he says, "Behold,

verse 19, a whirlwind of the Lord has

gone forth in fury. Even Even a grievous

whirlwind, it'll fall grievously on the

head of the wicked. The anger of the

Lord shall not return until he's

executed, until he's performed the

thoughts of his heart. In the latter

days, you'll consider it perfectly." Why

is he saying latter days? Because the

latter days are going to get worse than

ever.

Who's the sidekick of the antichrist?

The false prophet.

False prophet par excalance.

I've not sent these prophets yet they

ran. I've not spoken to them yet they

prophesy.

And so uh this is a selfgenerated

message.

a self-generated message

that if they'd stood in my counsel and

caused my people to hear my words, then

they should have turned them from the

evil way and from the evil of their

doings.

But they weren't getting their message

from God.

And so their message is self-generated.

And

uh

and nobody that listens to them is

better off

because they listen to them.

There's no spiritual nutrition. It's

like eating cardboard.

There's not much nutrition in cardboard.

Remember in Jude he talks about the

false teachers, they're clouds without

rain.

They're clouds without rain and they

don't they're not doing anybody any

legitimate good. And so uh in verse uh

oh see where we're at. God says in verse

21, "I've not sent these prophets and

they ran. I've not spoken to them yet

they prophesied. It didn't come from me.

They didn't get it from me.

But if they stood in my counsel and had

caused my people to hear my words, then

they should have turned them from me

evil way, from the evil of their doings.

Now, that tells you about a lot about

the churches that go along with all the

alphabet people and think that that's

all okay

and cuddle that. Now, we should welcome

anybody to come into church, right?

Yeah. Anybody regardless of their

background, regardless of their

behavior, but we certainly don't want to

put a stamp of approval on behavior that

God says is wrong.

And so God says in verse 22, "If they'd

stood in my counsel and have caused my

people to hear my words, then they

should have turned them from their evil

way, from the evil of their doings. Am I

a god at hand, and says the Lord, and

not a God a far off? Can any hide

himself in secret places that I'll not

see him? Says the Lord, do not I fill

heaven and earth?"

Pardon me.

Do not I fill heaven and earth? I've

heard what the prophets said, who

prophesy lies in my name, saying, I've

dreamed. I've dreamed. How long shall

this be in the heart of the prophets

that prophesy lies? Yay, they're

prophets of the deceit of their own

heart,

who 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 has a dream, let him

tell the dream. And he that has it my

word, let him speak my word. What is the

chaff to the wheat? That's one of my

favorite verses of Jeremiah.

Now, we know that God spoke to people in

dreams. Sometimes he did it in book of

Genesis, right?

And it's very clear, boy, wonderful

things. He's he's uh he spoke to Joseph.

Joseph interpret dreams and stuff. He

had them and he interpreted them in many

other places and God often used dreams.

But that's not what is these people are

putting. They're not getting God-given

revelation in their dreams.

They're just dreaming and making it

pretending it's something from God.

And so it's not.

So there's no spiritual nutrition in it.

There's they're clouds without rain. In

verse 28, the prophet that has a dream,

let him tell the dream. And he that hath

my word, let him speak my word. What is

the chaff to the wheat? Here's the

picture. There's a big difference

between chaff and wheat, right? You

don't eat the chaff. The chaff is

something that blows away. The

nourishment's in the wheat.

And so these prophets are similar to the

people in the New Testament that have

itching ears and have the people tell

them what they want to hear and all of

that.

Remember all the controversy of

President Biden and the whole auto auto

pen thing? Was he really there? Did he

really sign it? Well, this is what God's

saying. They didn't get it from me.

I didn't authorize this.

I didn't okay this. I didn't reveal

this. This is something that came from

them.

So, they got disgraceful. Warren Wesby

said they got disgraceful conduct. They

have a dishonest message and they have a

disrespectful attitude. And you know,

God doesn't have much use for it.

And God sees it all. He sees it all.

He hears it all.

And three times he says, "I'm against

him." Verse 30, verse 31, verse 32.

If God is for us, who can be against us?

If God's against you, who could be for

you? There's the other side of it.

The triune God gives an ultimate veto to

all this that's going on.

Now there this this this chapter is just

loaded with truth.

And uh let me go on and read a little

more of it.

He says in verse 30, "Behold, I'm

against the prophet, says the Lord.

Steal my words, everyone, from his

neighbor." Now, what were they doing?

One was saying to the other, "I had this

dream last night." And he says, "Oh,

that's good. I'll use that."

They were plagiarizing each other's

dreams. and getting ideas and just

getting a message out.

And God says, "Behold, I'm against the

prophets, says the Lord, that use their

tongues and says he says, "Behold, I'm

against those who prophesy false dreams,

says the Lord." Verse 32, "and do tell

them and cause my people to heir by

their lies and by their instability. Yet

I sent them not, nor commanded them.

Therefore, they'll not profit these

people at all. They're prophets that

don't profit." Is that a pun?

Is that a legitimate pun? They're

prophets that don't profit anybody. And

when this people or the prophet or the

priest shall ask thee, saying, "What is

the burden of the Lord?" This is often

this is language that's used of a

message from God that he gives and puts

a burden on uh a person's mind and

heart. What is the burden of the Lord?

He'll say to them, "What burden?" I will

even forsake you, says the Lord. and ask

for the prophet and the priest and the

people who say the burden of the Lord

all you and punish that man in his

house. Don't use that language.

Thus shall you say everyone to his

neighbor and everyone to his brother.

What has the Lord answered and what has

the Lord spoken? The burden of the Lord

shall you mention no more. I'm tired of

you using that term. That's my term.

This doesn't fit. For every man's word

shall be his burden.

For you perverted the words of the

living God and the Lord of hosts our

God. Thou thus shall you say to the

prophet, "What has the Lord answered

thee? And what has the Lord spoken?" But

since you say the burden of the Lord,

therefore thus says the Lord, because

you say this word, the burden of the

Lord, and I've sent you, saying, You

shall not say the burden of the Lord.

Therefore, behold, I even I will utterly

forget you, and I'll forsake you, and

the city that I gave you and your

fathers, and cast you out of my

presence, and I'll bring an everlasting

reproach on you, and a perpetual shame

that will not be forgotten.

That's pretty heavy stuff.

Now, what do we what what can we say

about this whole chapter as we think

about these three things here that we've

just looked at?

Um,

and as we look at this chapter and see

it unfold, believers reaction to false

prophecy, God's judgment on false

prophets, and then the characteristics

of false prophets, it's pretty well laid

out. This is for our benefit, right?

because this is this won't stop till

Jesus come

to get worse.

And so may God help us. You know in

Deuteronomy 13 the false prophet was be

put to death.

13 1-3.

And in John 10, Jesus said, "My sheep

hear my voice. They don't hear the other

one. They don't hear these other people

out here. They just listen to me."

Philip Reichen and I'm going to give you

some quotes from some of these people

that have studied Jeremiah 23. I picked

some of them out that I thought were

fairly good. Philip Reichen said, "There

are plenty of sources for false

prophecy, but only one source for true

prophecy."

What makes a true prophet true is that

he gets his prophecy straight from God.

That's true, isn't it? That's very

important. very important for pastors to

get their message from God. Now, we're

not prophets, but we need to read other

people. I read a lot of books on the

Jeremiah and the other books I'm

teaching, but you got to get something

from the Lord, right? Not just from

other people.

But Reichen said, "False prophets not

only get their information from false

sources, they also preach a false

message. Get it from a false source,

preaching a false message."

EJ Young taught at Westminster Seminary

and in 1952 he wrote a book the my

servants the prophets. It's quite a

excellent book 230 pages and he's got 27

pages on false prophets. It's got that

much of of information on that. And he

said the existence of these false

prophets and their ministry was

responsible for great calamity in

ancient Israel. That which distinguished

the true from the false prophet lay in

the fact that the true had received his

message from Jehovah whereas the false

did not.

And Leon Wood, one of my favorite Old

Testament commentators, he has a fine

book, The Prophets of Israel. He wrote

in 1979,

Prophecy in Israel. It false prophets in

Israel. False prophecy in Israel. And he

mentions Hosea dealt with it. Isaiah

did, Micah did, Zephaniah did, and

Jeremiah did. So, it was a big deal.

The true prophets themselves refer to

these false prophets frequently,

and he has he has uh

dealt with that very very very well.

Derek Ker said this.

There's far more concern here

and a a heartbreak over false preachers

than over brutal officials. In other

words, the prophets were doing worse to

the country than the kings.

It's bad when you got a good bad king,

but if you got a good bad prophet,

that's really bad, right? A bad

president is damaging.

A bad pastor is worse.

people don't and of course some have no

pastor then but you know a bad teacher a

false teacher is worse false teaching

false Christianity has done more damage

than anybody from the outside

so he said there's far more concern here

far more heartbreak over false preachers

than over brutal officials the shepherds

for without justice a nation suffers but

without truth it sickens And

he says, "Along with easy views of sin

go rosy views of judgment.

That's not sin. Nothing's going to

happen. There's no consequences."

And in the last part of the section, he

says, "God's speaking of the difference

between conjecture and revelation." They

were making it up, but

Jeremiah was getting it.

And the old British preacher G. Campbell

Morgan so good on this section.

He said of Jeremiah his chief trouble

came from them.

Jeremiah declared that the prophets were

defiled. To put that into another form

briefly. The teachers of truth were

untruthful. The teachers of purity were

impure. The teachers of right were

unrighteous. The teachers of morality

were immoral.

In that terrible day of Judah's final

decay, the prophets were characterized

by the loss of that aloofness of

character which creates power to touch

national life healingly.

You know, we all preach with our life

and not just with our lips, right? We've

all heard people say, "Your life

speaking so loud, I can't hear what

you're saying."

And uh so it's very important for us to

speak with both.

Douglas Joan said Judah

Judah recognizes the justice of the

judgment that fell on Israel and the

complicity of her prophets. And of the

complicity of her prophet, she's blind

to a far deeper guilt. The people down

in Judah. Oh yeah, they got it up there.

Those Baal prophets, they deserved it.

10 tribes in exile, but they they didn't

see

they didn't get the moat out of their

own eye.

The moat, they saw the they saw the moat

in Israel's eye, but not the beam in

their own. And Doug Jones says, "What

Jeremiah is saying is that when you are

facing the problem of true and false

prophecy, this is the fundamental

question to ask. Who has stood in the

council of the Lord? Does the message

come from the prophet himself or from

the Lord? It is the transcendental

source which makes prophecy. Otherwise,

it's nothing.

Um,

so may God help us to hear his word. And

finally, Kylin Dish, the German writers

on this. It's been translated into

English. Next to the kings, the pseudo

prophets who flattered the people's

carnal longings have done most to

contribute to the fall of the realm.

Therefore, Jeremiah passes directly from

his discourse against wicked kings to

rebuking

false

prophets.

So, who does the most damage? political

leader

who does bad things, passes bad laws, a

bad example, uses bad language. That's

bad. That's not good. Or the false

teaching in the churches.

What's the worst thing?

It's pretty clear from here that the

worst thing is the religious leaders

that are bad, worse than the political

leader. We get all excited about the

political leaders. Did you vote today?

All that. I'm not saying we shouldn't

vote. We should. I'm not saying we

shouldn't be concerned. We should. I'm

saying more important than that.

More important is that is what is being

taught about the Bible and about the

Lord. Father, we thank you for what

we've looked at tonight. Challenge us

and change us with this truth. Jeremiah

had it pretty hard. He was uh there was

a whole bunch of false prophets and in

that city Jeremiah was the only true

prophet for many years. There were

others that worked with him uh for a

little bit but a lot of time he was on

his own and very much outnumbered.

And so we feel the same way Lord

sometimes. We thank you for any church

and every church that teaches the gospel

in the Bible and and uh in this

community. But we pray that we'd all be

about your business because

we live

in a world

that lies in the arms of the wicked one

as John puts it in 1 John 5

and his lies. He's a liar from the

beginning and the father of it. And we

know our world is filled with satanic

falsehoods. so much that the truth can

hardly get a hearing.

And the worst place for falsehood

in any community

is where the word of God is to be

taught. The God of heavens to be

worshiped.

Jeremiah was dealing with not just any

place but Jerusalem.

Not just any place in Jerusalem, but the

temple.

Falseness there brought falseness

everywhere.

So help us father to be about your

business. May we value

the local church

which is a light in a dark place.

May we value the Bible

which is a light in a dark place to

which we should give heed

as we await our Lord's return. Amen.

as we go from this place

loving you more,

trusting you more.

May the power of your love and the light

of your word shine

to a sin darkened world.

As we go from this place,