Latest / Teachings On This Day On FerventWord / On Aug 18, 2019: Jeremiah 5:30-31 What God Finds Astonishing
Transcript
- ♪♪ We're working our way now through the latter half of the Old Testament and went through the prophet Isaiah and saw many great incredible things of the Lord about the future plans that he has of the call to repentance for his people and that is going to now continue on in the prophet Jeremiah. Not so much about the millennium and you know those kind of future things that Isaiah focused on a great deal but Jeremiah really is sent to call the people to repentance. And he's, for the nation of Judah, their last opportunity, their last chance to really come back and escape the judgment that is coming as a result of their rebellion against God. And so he has a hard ministry, Pastor Chuck, I would comment that Jeremiah probably had the most difficult task of any minister that's ever existed because it was a difficult ministry. He's known as the weeping prophet because he ministered, he prophesied, he was faithful to the Lord, but did not see much response as a result of the hardness of the hearts of And then ultimately saw the destruction of Judah because of their state of rebellion against God. So it's a more challenging book as we head into Jeremiah. And some of the concepts are important for us to wrestle with. And here in chapter 5, we have God addressing the leaders of the nation. And there's some things that are astonishing to God that we need to consider. And so we're going to jump into Jeremiah chapter 5. verse 30 and 31. Let me read that to you and then we'll pray. It says in verse 30, an astonishing and horrible thing has been committed in the land. The prophets prophesy falsely and the priests rule by their own power and my people love to have it so. But what will you do in the end? Let's pray. Lord, as we take this time now to get into your word, we pray God that you administer to our hearts by your word. Lord, that your truth would penetrate, that we would hear your voice, and Lord, that it would change us from the inside out. I pray, God, as we look at these examples, that you would help us to learn from them so that we don't fall into the same traps. But Lord, that we keep ourselves in the place of right relationship with you and in the receiving of all the blessings, the benefits, the joys, and the promises that you have for us. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. Well, this morning as we look at this passage here, Jeremiah chapter 5, verse 30 and 31, I've titled the message, What God Finds Astonishing. Here in these verses, we have some insight from the Lord on what's surprising to Him. Now, on the one hand, you would understand that God is never surprised by anything in that he knows all things. There's nothing that he ever learns, nothing he's ever surprised by that he's discovered and did not know before, did not anticipate or expect anything. And yet, although we know that is true about God and the omniscience of God is a part of who he is and it's a part that is hard for us to understand, we also see communicated throughout the scriptures times where the Lord expresses astonishment or surprise. And it should cause us to stop and take note. because again, we're not looking at something where God is saying, I never knew this before, but he is highlighting this for us to understand that the condition that is being presented is quite extreme. And we need to pay attention to that to understand what it is that's going on. And what does God find astonishing? In this case, it's not something that we want to model, but it's something that we need to learn from keep ourselves from astonishing God in the condition of our hearts in the way that we live our lives. And so we're going to walk our way through four points to consider what God finds astonishing here in these couple verses and consider together that we might go forward in a way that is not astonishing, not surprising, not marvelous as far as, you know, shocking in that regard, but but instead walking in the way that God would desire for us to walk. And so what is it that astonishes God? Well, first of all, point number one this morning is his prophets speak falsely. Here's what God says is astonishing. My prophets prophesy falsely. Verse 30 again says, an astonishing and horrible thing has been committed in the land. The prophets prophesy falsely. Now, to try to put yourself in the context a little bit, I want to just review the timeline a tiny bit here. I know it's not the most exciting stuff, but here we have a quick look at the nation of Israel and Judah. After Solomon was king and he died and passed on the kingdom to his son, the kingdom was split and the northern kingdom was uh, just walked away from the Lord from the get go. They didn't last very long as a result. And they were brought to destruction by the Assyrian empire because of their rebellion against God, the Southern kingdom, Judah. That's where Isaiah ministered. This is where Jeremiah is ministering. They also were on that path of rebellion, but they would have these revivals that would kind of give them a little bit, uh, of return to the Lord. And then whoever, you know, the Lord was using in that revival when they, uh, went on to be with the Lord, then the people reverted back to their idolatry and their wickedness. And so they lasted a little bit longer because of these revivals that brought them back, but they were on the same path to destruction as a result of their rebellion. And so we saw the messages that were going forth through the prophet Isaiah. Now with the prophet Jeremiah, we're right at the end. And in Jeremiah's lifetime, before his own eyes, he sees the destruction come. Babylon come and conquer Jerusalem and they experience the consequences for their rebellion against God right then and there while Jeremiah is fulfilling his ministry. And so it was a difficult ministry and a difficult task to fulfill. But one of the things that made it even more difficult is here they are. They're at the end. Of course, they don't know exactly the details of, you know, whether they're at the end or not. They see the threat of Babylon. And what's happening around Jeremiah and amongst the people of Judah is that there are these prophets who are declaring victory. All around Jeremiah, around the king, around Jerusalem, there are these prophets who are pronouncing in the name of the Lord, there will be peace, there will be victory. God's going to conquer Babylon. You're not going to have to fight them. There was great promises of victory. And here Jeremiah is, we saw in chapter one, his commission, the Lord called him. He was a young man and God says, I'm putting my words in your mouth. And as he began to fill Jeremiah with the words of the Lord, Jeremiah is a little bit confused. He begins to be perplexed because the message that he has from the Lord is different than all of these other prophets around him. Here's Jeremiah, prophet of the Lord. He receives a word from the Lord. Judgment is coming. Babylon will destroy Jerusalem. Meanwhile, prophet next to him says, We're going to have peace and victory. We won't even have to fight in the battle. God's going to defeat them for us. And Jeremiah wrestles with this. He's a little bit perplexed. He's a little bit confused. And he comes before the Lord and he says, God, I don't understand. Why are you saying two things? Why are you saying different things? In Jeremiah chapter 4, verse 10, Jeremiah says, Ah, Lord God, whereas the sword reaches to the heart, surely you've greatly deceived this people in Jerusalem, saying, you shall have peace. God, here I have this message of repentance. Otherwise, there's destruction. And the message that has gone out previously is you're going to have peace. You don't have to worry about this battle. You don't have to worry about this struggle. This is something that Jeremiah wrestled with throughout his ministry, throughout his life. We find it again in Jeremiah chapter 14. And God answers him in regards to that. In Jeremiah chapter 14, verse 13 and 14, Jeremiah says, "'Ah, Lord God, behold, the prophets say to them, "'You shall not see the sword.'" As Jeremiah wrestles with this with these announcements. You can see that kind of that conflict in his heart. He says, oh, Lord God, like I'm so confused. I'm so, I don't understand what's going on. The prophets are saying the people will have peace, but that's not the message you've given me. Why is there these two different messages? I don't understand. And here God explains to Jeremiah, here's the real situation, Jeremiah. These other prophets, these false prophets are, They are not prophesying from me. I've not sent them. I didn't command them. I didn't speak to them these things. They're making them up. He says they're prophesying the deceit of their hearts. They're proclaiming what they wish for, what they hope for. They're declaring what they want, but they're not declaring what the Lord has said. This is something for us to consider and to wrestle with a bit. Because here God says, says he is astonished. It's an astonishing and horrible thing he says that the prophets would prophesy falsely. Now, if you think about it, it's not astonishing that a false prophet prophesies falsely. Right? It's like, I don't remember the story well enough to retell it, but there's something about a frog and a scorpion and going across and he gets stung at the end. And why'd you do that? Well, I'm a scorpion, you know, like that's what I do. It's in my nature. It's not a surprise that a scorpion stings, right? In a similar way, it's not a surprise that false prophets prophesy falsehoods. So why is this an astonishing and horrible thing? Well, they're prophesying falsehoods, of course, in the name of the Lord, but Jeremiah prophesied doesn't know ahead of time that these are false prophets. You see, this is the real challenge. This is the real issue here. This is why Jeremiah is perplexed and confused. And Lord, the other prophets, he doesn't have them labeled as false prophets, right? He's saying, look, the other prophets, I'm a prophet. I've heard from the Lord. And here's the other prophets, right? There's this battle, this conflict within because, well, these are prophets. Now, we don't know to what extent They were prophets. We don't know whether or not they were used by the Lord previously. We don't know whether they had at some point heard from the Lord. We don't know if they had that place originally by falsehood or indicates that perhaps they even had been in the past used by the Lord and received from the Lord. But now at this time, the prophets speak falsely. In the name of the Lord, claiming to be on behalf of the Lord, They speak things that are not of the Lord. This is important for us to wrestle with a bit because it's not the first time that it happened in history where prophets spoke falsely. And it's not the last time that it's happened in history. But in fact, it's something that we will face until the return of Jesus Christ. There will be those who declare falsehood. that they speak on behalf of the Lord. There will be those who proclaim in the name of the Lord, but what they say is false. There's been a couple things that have come up in the news over the past couple months that have kind of caught my attention and I've been paying attention to because of my experience with the people. So there's a guy by the name of Joshua Harris. You might be familiar with him. A long time ago in the 90s, he wrote the book, I Kissed Dating Goodbye. And it had a really cool picture of him holding the hat like this on the front. And if you were a kid in the 90s, a teenager in the 90s, it was like, that was like the Bible for dating. It was impactful. And it... gained in popularity and it gave Joshua a big platform. He later on went to become a pastor of a church, a mega church that had a great many followers and people attending. But in the recent months, he's changed his course a bit. It came out, he announced him and his wife were separating permanently. They were getting divorced. The irony, of course, I kissed dating goodbye and here's the answer to have a long lasting marriage and then It didn't last. But then soon after that, he released some more updated information about his situation. It wasn't just that him and his wife were separating, but that he was departing from the Christian faith. One article in the Christian Post records it this way. Joshua Harris falling away from faith. He says, I am not a Christian. He no longer believes things he used to believe. And there's a lot of details I'm not going to get into, you know, about the things that he used to believe in. There was some indications of problems previously. But here he is at this point making the declaration. I'm departing from the faith. I'm departing from those things. I no longer believe those things. In fact, I believe the opposite of some of those things. And he's beginning now to teach things that are contrary to faith. And quoting him directly, he said, This, I would suggest, is the kind of situation where God says, an astonishing and horrible thing has been committed in the land. There's a turn. There's a change. And it's not in brokenness. It's not, instead it's in triumph. Things are great now is the idea. And it's not just that he himself is going through this crisis of faith, but now he's using this platform in his audience to proclaim things that are contrary to what the Lord has said and revealed. The prophets prophesy falsely. It's astonishing. It's horrifying. Another example sprang up this past week with a guy, Marty Sampson. And you might be familiar with him. You might not know him by name, but he is a songwriter, a musician, a worship leader that has been part of Hillsong for many years. In fact, he wrote a few songs that you would be familiar with. You remember that song? Jesus, I believe in you, and I would go right to the ends of the earth, to the ends of the earth. He was one of the authors of that song. He was the author of the song for who you are. Standing here in your presence, thinking of the good things you have done. Good songs, solid songs, songs we've done here. We will continue to do here. Songs that help us to worship God and draw near to God. And this week he also has come out and announced that he is turning away from the Christian faith. One such article that records it is on relevantmagazine.com. Marty Sampson says he's losing his Christian faith. Quoting from him directly, all I know is what's true to me right now. And Christianity just seems to me like another religion at this point. Love and forgive? Absolutely. Be kind? Absolutely. Be generous and do good to others? Absolutely. Some things are good no matter what you believe. He has some questions. He has some things he's wrestling with. And again, it's not so much that this... Person is having a crisis of faith and we all will go through times and periods where we have to reevaluate and re-think ourselves with the Lord. That's not really the issue here, but the issue is really that now there is this platform, this audience, that it's not just I'm going through this journey and I'm, you know, reconnecting with the Lord, but now the falsehoods are being proclaimed. So the, you know, the influence, the audience, the It's been built. It's been established. And now that's a platform to be used to proclaim falsehoods. The prophets prophesy falsely. John Cooper, the lead singer for Skillet, had a really powerful response to all of this. And, you know, we don't really have time to get into it this morning, but you can look it up. There's a couple articles that are released on it, and it's on his Facebook page and stuff, and you can check it out. But just really powerful, talking about, hey, we need to come back to the preeminence of the word of God. And we've allowed our Christian culture to be built on, you know, what 20-year-olds write about God in their worship songs. And now, you know, those guys have grown up and now they're like rethinking their faith. And that's not the way to establish our theology. It's not the way to establish our Christian life. But we need to come back to the preemines of the Word of God and the truth of God. of the word of God, above our emotion, above how we feel, above whatever's popular or catchy or all of that. And man, I really appreciated those things that he shared. Important stuff. Just as in Jeremiah's day, there were those who were prophets who were speaking falsely. We continue to face that today. And so it's important for us to be aware. And we'll see that a little bit further as we work our way through the passage this morning. But we need to be aware and filter out and catch what's Those who are no longer speaking the truth, even if they once did. But also I would encourage you to consider this this morning. God is astonished and horrified when his prophets speak falsely. And you are a prophet for God. You're a prophet for God as well. And it may not be in the same role, in the same position, the same sphere of influence as some others have. But that the word to prophesy means to speak on behalf of or to proclaim for God. Now we think of prophecy typically as telling the future, but prophets only tell the future when God tells them to tell the future, right? It's because they're speaking on behalf of God, whether it's about the present, the past, or the future, they're relating what God has said. And I would suggest, I would remind you this morning that you have that role for some people, right? You, in some people's life, you are a prophet for God. You are the one that God has placed there to speak truth, to represent God, to accurately declare what God says and God's perspective on the situations that are at hand. We can go back to Matthew chapter 28 in the Great Commission to be reminded of this. Jesus said, "...go therefore and make disciples of all the nations." He calls all his disciples. And so again, if you are a believer in Jesus, you're a follower of Jesus, you're a disciple of Jesus, however you want to, you know, they're not distinct separate things, you know, well, I'm a believer, but not a disciple, you know, like, no, no, that doesn't work. You're a disciple if you believe in Jesus and your mission is to make disciples. which means you're a prophet for God. You speak on behalf of God. Jesus says, teach them to observe all the things that I've commanded you. I've given you my words. Now turn around and teach those to others. Pass that on. Teach others. And you, naming the name of Christ, you believer in Jesus Christ, you person who shows up to church on Sunday mornings, you represent the Lord to people around you. Make sure you are not speaking falsely. Make sure that you are not allowing that role that you have, that position that you have, that authority, influence that you have to be an avenue for lies, for deceit, for things that are not of God. You are a prophet for God. Speak the truth. Well, continuing to consider what horrified and astonished God here in the nation of Judah, we'll look at the second thing now, and that is his leaders rely on themselves. Verse 30 again says, an astonishing and horrible thing has been committed in the land. The prophets prophesy falsely and the priests rule by their own power. The second thing that God points out here is that the priests rule by By their own power. The leaders of the nation of Judah. Now the word for priests here can be understood as priests like of the temple, but also could be understood as princes. So it's that place of authority, that place of leadership. And the leaders of the nation of Judah, they were given that role of leadership. The places of leadership were established by God. God created those roles and they were there by God's design, but That position was intended to be a position of receiving from the Lord in order to rule over the people, to have an authority that is in line with what God says and empowered by the power of God. But instead, here you have the priests, you have the rulers of Judah. They're fulfilling their role. They're exercising authority, They're making decisions. They're judging on cases. They're fulfilling their role, but they're not doing it by the Lord's power. They're relying upon their own resources, their wisdom, their strength, their might, their will, their agenda, their plan. It's themselves that they rely upon to help them fulfill that role and to accomplish the tasks that they have been given. God says a horrifying, astonishing thing has taken place. My leaders rely upon themselves instead of me. This has been an issue not just in Jeremiah's day, but well, for all time. Religious leaders ruling by their own power has always been a problem. You might remember in Jesus's day, he had some harsh confrontations with the religious leaders of the day, right? The scribes, the Pharisees, the Sadducees, there was some serious conflict. In Matthew chapter 23, Jesus addresses them. He says... He spoke to the multitude and to his disciples and said, Jesus calls out the issue here. Here's the religious leaders and they have that place of authority. They're in Moses' seat. Again, this is God's design. He has designed places of authority here. He has put people and put places of authority in the religious sphere, in the social sphere. There is these roles of authority that God has established. And these religious leaders, Jesus says, they're in that place of authority. So therefore, you need to follow their instruction. As they instruct you on the law of Moses, you need to do what they say. You need to receive that and allow that to impact and influence your life. At the same time, Jesus says, now you need to apply a filter and do not do according to their works. So they speak on behalf of Moses and in that you need to receive that. But, oh, but don't follow their example because they don't practice what they preach. They say, and they do not do. They teach the law of Moses, but they don't practice the law of Moses. They teach the truth of God, but they don't practice the truth of God. It happened in Jeremiah's day, happened in Jesus' day, it happens for us today. leaders who have positions of authority, roles that God has established, and yet those roles are not being used for the purposes of God or in the power of God, but instead those roles are being used to accomplish the individual's desires in his own resources. For us today, we can consider this in a few ways. Of course, we can look at the political arena. I don't think it's a challenge for us to consider are there any leaders who rely upon themselves instead of on the Lord. It's part of the condition and the tragedy of our nation. Our political leaders rely upon themselves. You know, it's hard for me. I don't talk about politics that much. And one of the reasons why is that it's just really hard for me to get excited about any political candidate because, you know, they're just, they're ruling by their own power. And I know that there's the declaration, no, no, I'm not. I believe in Jesus and all this, right? But my stance is usually, well, you know, prove it. Let's see the walk, you know? Okay, go for it. And so far, I haven't been overly impressed, right? So I don't get excited. I don't fall in love with any political candidate. It's like, this is not our savior. To me, it's kind of like falling in love with a hammer. You ever fell in love with a hammer? Listen, there's this one hammer that I have. I love this hammer, right? seriously, it's a framing hammer. It's hefty and it's been by my side. It's carried us through, you know, construction projects and light the night. And, you know, this thing is my trusty. I love this hammer. Whenever someone borrows it, I make sure you give that back to me. I bought that on clearance for like $13, right? It's a good hammer. I love it. But in the I love that particular one, but I don't have to have the one that I love to do the work that needs to be done. In a similar way, that's kind of how I liken it to political candidates. You know, I can't find one that I love, but I don't have to have the one that I love. I just got to pick some tool, right? Now, not trying to call political leaders tools. Maybe I am. You can work that out in your own mind, but... We still need to engage in the process. There's still, you know, a work that needs to be done and we still get the opportunity and privilege to be part of that. At the same time, I just don't fall in love with them because, well, the experience shows our leaders rely on themselves. They're not really after the Lord's will. They're not really after what God wants. It's not that surprising for us. We're not the nation of Israel. We are America. And so it's a bit different. But we can also consider church leaders. And the reality is that there are leaders within the church that also are in this condition, relying upon themselves instead of relying upon the Lord. That there is the positions that God has established, positions of authority within the church for the purposes of accomplishing the mission of the church and what God desires. And the horrifying and astonishing thing is that people in those positions of authority do not always believe. Rely upon the Lord. They're not always really after the Lord's will. They're not always after furthering the kingdom of God, but can be consumed with their own desires, their own will, their own plan, relying upon themselves to accomplish it. A.W. Tozer had this to say about the church. He said, if the Holy Spirit was withdrawn from the church today, 95% of what we would do would go on and no one would know the difference. If the Holy Spirit had been withdrawn from the New Testament church, 95% of what they did would stop and everybody would know the difference. Something important for us to consider this morning. Again, going back to the Great Commission. Not only do we all speak on behalf of God, but we all have that role of authority in that call to make disciples. And that role of authority is different for each one of us. Your role of authority in the home, that's a position that God has established. Your role of authority within the church, if you have that, that's a position that God has established. Your role of authority in making disciples and influencing others and instructing others in the ways of the Lord, that's a position that God has established with the purpose, with the understanding that you will not pursue your agenda. that you will not rely upon your own wisdom or strength or resources, but that you will allow the Lord to provide what is needed for those that he has placed in your charge. He's placed those people in your care. And when we rely upon ourselves to meet their needs, to establish them, to lead them, to guide them, to teach them, when we rely upon ourselves instead of, well, the power of the Holy Spirit, the wisdom of God, the working of God, It's astonishing. It's horrifying. Listen, you're a leader. You are an influencer. Be empowered by the Holy Spirit. Some of you teach the kids in kids ministry. I would remind you and I would challenge you. Don't do that by your own power. Don't do that by your own understanding. Don't do that by your own strength. Lead, teach by the Holy Spirit's power. Can you do Sunday school without the Holy Spirit? Of course you can. School teachers prove that every day, right? Daycare companies and facilities, they prove that every day. Teenage girls down the street babysit and prove that you don't have to be empowered by the Holy Spirit to get the job done of surviving for an hour and a half without losing any kids, right? That's proven consistently, continually, but you have a much bigger responsibility than just that. You need to be empowered by the Holy Spirit. You need to be led by the Lord. Worship leaders lead by the Holy Spirit's power. Can you lead a time of worship without the Holy Spirit? Well, you can call it worship. Musicians do that every day. Put on great shows, move people greatly, touch people deeply, right? There's all kinds of musicianship and music and songs that are powerful, that accomplish great things. But Your role, worship leader, is much more than just put on a good show, much more than just move people's emotions. Your role, it needs to be empowered by the Holy Spirit, empowered by the work of God and the plan of God with the agenda and the purposes of God. Parents, parent by the Holy Spirit, by the power of God. Don't parent in your own power. Don't seek out your own will and purposes for your kids. What's God's will? What has God provided? What is God's resources? You are a leader. God says it is horrifying and astonishing when my leaders rule in their own power, in their own resources. Well, moving on to the third thing, it's probably the most astonishing and horrifying thing of all. Point number three this morning, his people prefer false prophets and ungodly leaders. God says in verse 30, astonishing and horrible thing has been committed in the land. The prophets prophesy falsely. The priests rule by their own power. And my people love to have it so. My people love it this way, God says. This is astonishing. It's horrifying. Here are the people of God, God's chosen people. And they would prefer the lies of the false prophets to the truth of Jeremiah. Now, on one hand, who could blame them, right? If I stand up before you today and say, you're all going to be judged and you're going to suffer and it's going to be hard and terrible. And then Harvey stands up and says, you know, God loves you. He wants good blessings in your life. And he wants to, which one do you prefer? Right? Which one do you want? It's like, give me Harvey every time, right? So it's not a surprise that his people prefer the false prophets who were telling them, oh, things are going to be so wonderful. You're going to have victory. You're going to have victory. You won't have to fight Babylon. God's going to defeat them. It was a much nicer message, but it was not the message that they needed. And the people would rather live in the fantasy, the delusion. I don't have to change my ways. I don't have to turn it right and get right with God. I don't have to repent. I don't have to respond to the conviction of the Lord. I can just keep on doing what I want and God's going to bless me and he's going to give me victory and everything's going to be great. And they would rather live in that fantasy than to face the truth. And God says that is astonishing. Like the other points, this is not something that they only faced in Jeremiah's day. This is something that continues to go on today. There's a battle, even within our own hearts and minds. We would prefer the delusion. It's going to be a hallmark of the last days, the Apostle Paul tells us. 2 Timothy chapter 4 says, Paul says, Paul says, Paul says, And so what they will do, here's the thing with rejecting sound doctrine, rejecting God's truth, is you don't just like set that aside and then that's it. But you set that aside and you replace that with lies. And so instead of enduring sound doctrine, they heap up teachers who will turn their ears away from the truth and they'll be turned aside to fables. You can't reject the truth of God without embracing the lies of the devil. And this is a mark, a condition, right? of the church, Paul says. People will put an end. I don't want to hear sound doctrine any longer. I would rather you tell me good, nice things. I want to leave here joyful and happy and built up. And who doesn't? And God has those times for us too, but not at the expense of the truth, not at the expense of what is right and good and what is necessary for us. We need to be careful that we don't become those who will not endure sound doctrine. Charles Spurgeon says, if God's own people did not tolerate false doctrine, it would soon cease to be heard in many places. But it is when those who profess to know God's word endorse that which is contrary to the truth, that error is kept in power in the land. He says, look, the reason why it's prevalent, this false doctrine, is because people of God demand it. It's supply and demand. And if they refused it, if we refused the lies... the lies would stop being produced. But you know, there's big money in false prophecies. There's big money in lies and deception. And so if you're out to accomplish, you know, your own agendas and purposes and further yourself, there's great incentive to do that. But the Lord says it's astonishing. It's horrifying. And so this morning, I want to encourage you and I want to remind you of your need and your responsibility to see for yourself. You need to see for yourself. Whenever someone is teaching, Whenever someone is counseling, whenever someone is seeking to influence or pour out into your life, whenever you are receiving from others, you need to make sure that you see for yourself. The prophet Isaiah put it this way. Isaiah chapter 8 verse 20. To the law and to the testimony, if they do not speak according to this word, it is because there is no light in them. Isaiah says, test the false prophets. Test those guys. Test the words that are being shared. Test the words that are being taught. Test those proclamations that are being made. Go back to the law. Go back to the testimony. Go back to the word of God and check. Does the Bible say that? Is that what the Bible teaches? And he says, look, if they don't speak according to this word, there is no light in them. That message, if that counsel of that declaration is contrary to the word of God, You need to reject it, no matter how good it sounds, no matter how it makes you feel, no matter how much you like it or wish that it was true. You need to let God's word be the standard, and you need to double check for yourself that that word, that that message, that that truth is found in the word of God. Because there are those who will prophesy falsely and label, this is in the name of the Lord, this is on behalf of the Lord, thus says the Lord. There are those who approach it a different way and instead of like proclaiming the name of the Lord, they ridicule the concept. They ridicule and make you feel stupid for believing that, for thinking that. There's lots of strategies that the enemy will use to try to get you away from the truth. But listen, you need to see for yourself and go back to the word of God and let this be the standard for truth in your life. Now, some will respond to these kinds of ideas and go, well, maybe we should just shut down prophecy altogether. I'm not going to hear from anybody. Nobody tell me nothing. I'm not going to listen. I'm not going to receive. Nobody can speak into my life. And that's an exaggerated reaction, an overreaction. That's not what God wants us to do. He wants us to be open. We need to be able to receive from one another, but we need to be able to test it. Paul tells us this in 1 Thessalonians 5, rejoice always, pray without ceasing, and everything give thanks for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. But then he says, do not quench the spirit and do not despise prophecies. Test all things, hold fast what is good. We need to allow for the moving of the Holy Spirit and not shut down and say, no, no, don't speak to me. We need to allow for the moving of the Holy Spirit and the speaking forth of the word of God. But we need to do so With the intention of testing and holding fast to what is good. To the law, to the testimony. Check it out for yourself. We see that Bereans commended in Acts chapter 17 verse 11. Saying they were more fair-minded than those in Thessalonica. That they received the word with all readiness. And searched the scriptures daily to find out whether these things were so. Thessalonica, they believed the gospel. And they received it. They just accepted it. All right, we believe in Jesus now. Praise the Lord, that's great. But... Even better, the Bereans. They received it. Wow, that's a great message. Let me just double check that it's in the scriptures. Okay, yes, that is what the word of God says. Good job, Bereans. That is the model for us. Don't take my word for it. Don't take some popular song's word for it. Don't take a massive crowd's word for it. See for yourself. I think we kind of need to have an automatic response that's built in. And somebody's telling us, the Bible says that we just immediately say, where? Show me where. The Bible says this. This is one of the reasons why I put the scriptures on there, so that you can check it out for yourself. Don't just take my word for it. But there's a lot of times where someone says, the Bible says, and what they're saying may or may not be true. In fact, many times the Bible says, when they say that, they're basing that truth on something else that someone else told them the Bible says, and that was based on something else that someone told them the Bible says, and that was based on something else that, and you have this telephone game of what the Bible says. By the end, it may or may not reflect the actual truth of what the Bible says. So it might be good for you to develop that, just that natural reaction, that, you know, instinct. The Bible says where? God says this where? Like just immediately respond where? We don't just receive. We don't just accept. We don't just change. But we check. This is the truth by which we evaluate our life, our decisions, our doctrine. It's the measure that God has given to us. Well, finishing it up, the fourth point this morning here from verse 30 and 31 is that his people do not consider their end. Here's what's astonishing and horrifying to God. His people don't. They're not thinking about their end. They're not thinking about eternity. Again, verse 30, an astonishing and horrible thing has been committed in the land. The prophets prophesy falsely and the priests rule by their own power and my people love to have it so. But what will you do in the end? God here addresses his people and he says, you love the delusion, you love the fantasy, the wonderful prophecy, comforting words of victory that no change is needed, no challenge is necessary. You love that, but what are you going to do in the end when that delusion is removed and proven to be false? What will you do in the end? You can only live in that fantasy world for a shorter period of time and it's all going to come crumbling down. It's all going to fall apart. What are you going to do in the end? We need to live our lives with a perspective on the end, with a focus on, with an attention on the end. And the end is eternity. The end is that day that we stand before God. The prophets who are prophesying falsely, they were not considering their end. They weren't expecting to. They weren't thinking about and contemplating, what's it going to be like for me to stand before God and give account for my words that I've not heard from him, but that I label, that I say that he has declared. Jesus tells us in Matthew chapter 12, verse 36 and 37. He says, I say to you that for every idle word men may speak, they will give account of it in the day of judgment. For by your words, you will be justified and by your words, you will be condemned. What will you do in the end? When every idle word that you speak, you'll give an account of it. Boy, that's pretty tough. I say a lot of dumb things. If you're behind me in eternity, I apologize. I'm gonna take a while to give an account. His people do not consider their end. Hebrews chapter 13, verse seven says, Here you have the priests, the leaders of Judah, ruling by their own power, not watching out for the souls of the people, not thinking about the fact that they will have to give account for the influence, for the authority, for the way that they use those positions and roles that God had given to them. Do you have authority? Do you have a role in any capacity in that way of somebody's life? Listen, you better be thinking about the reality. You're going to stand before God. Consider your end. And you're going to have to give account for all the idle words, for all the agendas and manipulations and the things that you did to influence that, whether for good or for evil, you're going to give account. Did you honor the Lord with the responsibility and the role that he gave you? Finally, Romans chapter 14, verse 11 and 12. For it is written, as I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to me and every tongue shall confess to God. So each of us shall give account of himself to God. The people embraced, they loved the false prophets, the leaders who were after their own gain. They preferred it to God's plan, to God's agenda. And so whether we fall in a prophet category or a priest category, we fall in a prophet category. or an authority category or just a person category every one of us what we receive what we hear what we know what we believe the actions that we take we will give account of it to god you will stand before god face to face one day and say here's why i did what i did here's why i said what i said i'm ashamed of it or i'm proud of it which will it be you need to consider your end We're people of God. We believe in Jesus. We believe in eternity. But so many times, we don't have eternity in perspective. We're not thinking about having to give an account. We're not concerned about what that looks like in eternity. We're just after what we want, what we think right now. That's astonishing. God says that's horrifying. Let's not astonish God, guys. Let's speak the truth of God's word. And where we have authority and responsibility to lead, let's lead by God's power. Let's receive and be open to the work of God and the word of God from others, but let's check for ourselves and not just accept the messages that sound great, that help us to feel good, that put a smile on our face, but to evaluate the truth for ourselves and to be students of the word of God with our eye and our focus on eternity. Looking to enter into eternity and hear those words, well done, good and faithful servant. You know, that doesn't happen without considering your end. That doesn't happen without remembering. I'm gonna give an account. So I wanna live my life in a way that honors the Lord, that I won't be ashamed when I stand before him to give account of my life. Let's pray. God, I pray for us this morning. Would you help us, God, to come to a place where we do not astonish you, Like the people of Judah astonish you. Lord, would you protect us from speaking falsehoods, from speaking lies? Would you show us, Lord, those areas of our lives that need to be addressed and those times where we need to hold our tongue, where we need to stop speaking because we speak on your behalf, but we're not speaking your words. Lord, would you give us your words in place of our own thoughts and ideas and fantasies and delusions that we might speak forth what is useful and beneficial and helpful to people. And Lord, in our areas of responsibility and authority, I pray that you would empower us by your Holy Spirit. May we not settle for our strength or our resources or our wisdom or some good program or something we grabbed off the internet. Lord, would you help us to be desperate for you? Lord, would you lead? Would you direct that these roles and positions that you've given to us would be honorable to you and beneficial, not just for a moment, but for all eternity? for those that you've charged to our care. Lord, would you help us to be people who are students of your word. Lord, that we would examine your scriptures for ourselves to make sure what we receive is from you. We would receive your truth, but that we would reject that which is false. Help us to have the boldness to believe you at your word. And I pray, God, that you would direct our eyes and our hearts towards eternity. Lord, this life is short, but for a moment, it's a vapor. Would you remind us of eternity frequently, God, that we would be ready to stand before you, to give account, and to enter in to the blessings that you have in store for us forever and ever. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. We pray you have been blessed by this Bible teaching. The power of God to change a life is found in the daily reading of His Word. 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