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Reading Jeremiah 29:24-32 where a false prophet named Shemiah speaks against the word that has come from Jeremiah because he does not like the message. Visit wwutt.com for all our videos!
There was this false prophet named Shemiah and he hated what Jeremiah was prophesying. He hated the word of the Lord because it confronted them in their sin. And we're gonna see a lot of that today as well when we understand the text.
This is when we understand the text a daily Bible commentary to help encourage your time in the word Monday Tuesday and Wednesday. We feature New Testament study an Old Testament book on Thursday and our Q &A on Friday.
Now, here's your teacher pastor Gabe. Thank you Becky and greetings everyone in our study of the book of Jeremiah. We've been in chapter 29. We've been in this chapter for the last couple of weeks. In fact, we've got one section to finish up and that's concerning Shemiah the false prophet in verses 24 to 32 now to kind of recap what we've read here in Jeremiah 29.
If you will remember the Jews have been exiled into Babylonian captivity and they think this is it for them. We have worshipped false gods. We have been surrendered into the hands of a brutal enemy the Babylonians and they're going to kill us all we're going to be Annihilated in Babylonian captivity, but God spoke to Jeremiah to write a letter and have it sent to the exiles so Jeremiah has this letter written and delivered by his scribe Baruch and It is said to them what we have in chapter 29 through about verse 23 Where it is said to them Build houses and live in them.
Basically the letter tells them to live their lives plant gardens and eat their produce. Take wives have sons and daughters give them in marriage that you may be fruitful and multiply. Seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile and pray to the Lord on its behalf for in its welfare, you will find your welfare and then a day is gonna come where you will seek me and you will find me when you seek me with all your heart and I am going to restore you to this land because I know the plans that I have for you declares the Lord a Plan to prosper and not to harm you to give you a future and a hope.
That's the very famous Jeremiah 29 11 now ultimately We know that the good God means to do through the Jewish people is to bring about the Messiah. So he's not going to allow them to be annihilated so that the Messiah can be born.
But even before that he promises to bring them back to this land though. Their exile would be 70 years. They would be restored to the land even seeing the temple walls rebuilt or or the the walls of Jerusalem rebuilt and the temple itself Reconstructed now all of those things were not going to happen for over a hundred years after these people would hear this letter.
After 70 years, they'll return but the reconstruction of Jerusalem and the building of the temple all of that's gonna take some time. So the people that are hearing this are not even going to be of the generation that will witness these things take place.
So Jeremiah reassures this people tells them to live their lives and even pray for the welfare of the Babylonians. While they are in captivity God will in his time Restore them back to the land. So then they and again, this was the letter that Jeremiah sent.
Then we have a letter that Shamiah sent and that's what we read about in verses 24 to 32. So let me read this here from the English Standard Version. Hear the word of the Lord. To Shamiah of Nehelam you shall say thus says the Lord of hosts the God of Israel.
You have sent letters in your name. To all the people who are in Jerusalem and to Zephaniah the son of Maaseah the priest and to all the priests. Saying the Lord has made you priest instead of Jehoiada the priest to have charge in the house of the Lord over every Madman who prophesies to put him in the stocks and neck irons now.
Why have you not rebuked Jeremiah of Anathoth who is prophesying to you for he has sent to us in Babylon saying Your exile will be long build houses and live in them and plant gardens and eat their produce.
Zephaniah the priest read this letter in the hearing of Jeremiah the prophet. Then the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah. Send to all the exiles saying thus says the Lord concerning Shamiah of Nehelam.
Because Shamiah had prophesied to you when I did not send him and has made you trust in a lie. Therefore thus says the Lord behold. I will punish Shamiah of Nehelam and his descendants. He shall not have anyone living among this people.
He shall not see the good that I will do to my people declares the Lord for he has spoken rebellion against the Lord. Now this perhaps may remind you of Hananiah. Remember reading about him in chapter 28.
Jeremiah had prophesied about this exile. Hananiah steps forward and says look this exile is not going to be long and even those that have been taken away. They will they're gonna come back. The vessels from the house of the Lord will be brought back.
Those who had been taken away will dwell again in Jerusalem and the exile will be short. It's only gonna be a couple of years and Then he breaks the yoke off of Jeremiah's neck and Jeremiah is even encouraged by this prophecy from Hananiah.
May the Lord's will be done. If this is indeed the case then we're gonna see it come to pass in the next couple of.
Years.
But the Word of God came to Jeremiah saying I have not spoken through Hananiah the prophet and he's gonna die because of his wicked words. In fact Hananiah would die just two months later and This exile that Hananiah said was going to be short.
It's actually going to be 70 years says the Lord. So then in this letter that Jeremiah is sending to the exiles and Telling them to live their lives He tells them to live their lives. He's real about the situation.
It's gonna be 70 years that you're going to be there, but God is not going to destroy you. So be encouraged in that sense live your life. However, the Babylonians prosper. You will get to prosper have children, you know.
Very in that in that very prophecy itself is the promise. You're going to be fruitful and multiply. So don't think you're gonna be annihilated here. The very opposite is going to happen. You're going to be in greater number when you leave this nation than when you came into it and That's going to be the proof to them that God was with them the entire time.
Indeed, they were going to be punished because of the wickedness that they had done against God. But the Lord would have compassion on them and deliver them out of this and bring them back into the land.
Well, then enters this other false prophet Shamiah, and he does the same thing that Hananiah did he is angry that Jeremiah is prophesying this long exile and Shamiah is saying hey who's in charge over there in Jerusalem.
So Jeremiah is writing this letter from Jerusalem to the exiles. Shamiah is among the exiles and he's writing back and going who's taking care of this whole thing. There's a new priest in town over there.
So take care of Jeremiah. He's speaking like a madman put him in the stocks and in the irons. Why are you letting this guy write to us? To say your exile will be long build houses and live in them and plant gardens and eat their produce like he's not encouraged by that word, he doesn't like it at all as If I'm supposed to make a home here you say my exile is going to be long.
It's almost as if he's blaming Jeremiah for speaking truth to power. Have you heard that expression before? So words become your reality and the reason why we're going to have this long exile is because Jeremiah is declaring it.
So somebody shut that guy up so we can get out of here. But who Shamiah was really rejecting was God. Not the Word of Jeremiah but the Word of God and So the Word of the Lord comes to Jeremiah and says don't listen to Shamiah.
And that was in the warning that that Jeremiah gave even in the letter previously in chapter 29. Don't listen to your diviners and your soothsayers and these guys who dream their dreams for they are Prophesying lies in my name.
I did not send them declares the Lord and Shamiah not only doesn't learn from Hananiah. He doesn't learn from the letter that Jeremiah sent to the exiles. So the gall he's got to now speak up and say hey shush Jeremiah so that we can get out of here faster.
But the Lord says no instead what's gonna happen with Shamiah? He will perish there in that land and he's not going to have any Offspring of all these offspring that God has promised will come out of the land back into Jerusalem.
He's not gonna have any no descendants are going to see the promises that God will fulfill to this people that he just gave in this letter. For he has spoken rebellion against the Lord. He says.
You.
Know there are there are people out there today that are rejecting and denying the Word of God. You know this and It it's not prophecy. It's not somebody that's stepping out and saying thus says the Lord Here's what's gonna happen in our days.
You know, it's not a prophetic utterance in that sense. It can be prophetic in the sense of Speaking the Word of God as though preaching scripture, you know, this is what God's Word says prophesying like that and so therefore you must submit to it, but people will hate hearing God's Word and They'll hate the messenger even.
Who is the one who delivers it? What they want to hear are positive affirmations. I want to hear you Approve of me in my sin. I don't want you to make me feel uncomfortable here I want you to make me feel like it's okay that I do this.
Even though the Bible explicitly says Marriage is between a man and a woman. One man one woman. That's the way God created. It's the way he established it from the very beginning as you've heard the old adage.
It was Adam and Eve not Adam and Steve if it was Adam and Steve the whole human race ends right there. God created marriage to be between a man and a woman and only a man and a woman can be fruitful and multiply.
It is a very simple basic Biological truth anybody can understand this by nature, but it is explicitly stated in Scripture. This is what marriage is supposed to be. It's not only stated in Genesis. Jesus repeats it in Matthew 19.
Have you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female and. A man will leave his father and mother also male and female be united to his wife and the two shall become one flesh.
So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God is joined together or what he has defined. Let no man separate. But there are people who will outright hate you. Because you said that. There are people who will kill you.
Because you won't let them have their sexual perversions. It's what happened to Charlie Kirk a month ago. He was murdered assassinated by a man who was in a perverse relationship with another man who thought he was a woman and Simply because Charlie Kirk would speak basic Biological truths according to God's truth and according to reality.
He was murdered for it. He was killed for it. I've been in the position many times where as a pastor that I've had to confront somebody because of their sin and I was Hated for it. I have looked in the faces of people before.
Who I could see it in their eyes and I could hear it in their voice if they could have gotten away with killing me right there. Just for confronting them in their sin. They most certainly would have. I could feel the hate it was palpable.
Simply because I was confronting them and saying to them. Repent of this turn from this to the Lord Jesus Christ so that you will be forgiven. Walk in holiness that you may not perish. Which is a loving message that is out of genuine concern for this person that I would not want them to walk in sin anymore.
Oh.
But the very fact that somebody would say to them that Their sin is worthy of the judgment of God that God is not actually on your side. But against you they hate that because they hate God so they would hate somebody that would confront them with the Word of God.
They would be like Cain who was of the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him John asks in 1st John 3 12 because his own deeds were evil and his brothers were righteous. Do not be surprised brothers that the world hates you.
There are a lot of people that are talking about Jesus right now. This is something I'm going to talk about on the Q &A because I got a question Related to this a question that's going to lead us into this discussion.
I suppose but There are a lot of people talking about Jesus right now because of Charlie Kirk. Because of what happened to him with his assassination and I mean we were starting to see that in the culture.
Anyway, more and more discussions about Jesus are popping up. There there are people going on to college campuses and sharing the gospel. More of this is happening in public than before. And it's not just doing it to get clicks and get social media attention.
Although some may have that motivation, but it's the Lord who knows the heart. It's people having genuine real conversations about faith. They're not afraid. They know it's dangerous because they saw what happened to Kirk.
But they're still out there doing it because they love people and they want to share Jesus with them. There's a lot of that going on what you're not seeing a lot of though. You're not seeing a lot of Confrontation of sin in the sense that people are being told you must turn from your sin and you must live.
Righteously it there. There's a lot of cultural Christianity that's coming about as a result of this. So a lot of people saying the name of Jesus, but you're not hearing a lot of repentance. I used to be this way and now I'm this way instead.
It's cliquish and Kitchy to say the name of Jesus. And just like it was when I was growing up in the 90s people wearing their wwjd bracelets. There were massive conferences and things like that open air concerts and all this kind of stuff.
All that was going on in the 90s, too. It's it's funny to hear people say there's a movement that's happening here. That's unlike anything i've ever seen before. I've seen it before. I was in the middle of it even back in the 90s.
It's not unusual to have a large group of people that are gathering and are singing the praises of god. There were a million christian men On the mall in washington dc for that promise keepers event stand in the gap was the name of it back in the 90s.
So there there has been up and downs in the culture like this a lot and right now. It's real popular to believe in jesus and have conservative politics. I'm, not saying that sin is not confronted at all.
Because it is in the sense that there are people out there saying abortion is wrong. And trans behavior is wrong, but they're still being accepting of lgb behavior. Maybe not the t. But the lgb is still acceptable like you can be openly gay now and Still call yourself a christian still call yourself a conservative be republican.
There are so many sins that are just becoming culturally acceptable. You can call yourself a christian. You're welcome to join the team. Pledge allegiance to jesus and you can join us. And it doesn't really matter as long as you're not, you know, woke or antifa or something like that.
You say you love jesus. You're on the team no matter what sins You are in. And that's a real real dangerous spot to be in. It's that cultural christianity thing again, they wear the label. But their heart is still far from god.
Jesus referred to this as Whitewashed sepulchers. You look good on the outside, but inside you're full of dead men's bones. And so there are a lot of people that even though they may say they're on team jesus.
They may say they're they're on team make america great again. They're on team republican. They're on team conservative. They still have a lot of sins they love. And once you confront that and say you're not where you think you are.
They'll hate you for it. It will come even from the right even from conservative america. Quote unquote conservative. They'll hate you for confronting their sins. They hate the word of god there. There's a lot of Of verbal affirmation of jesus being king christ being lord.
There's a lot of that going on. Praise god for that. But pray that those confessions are genuine and not in vain. Because in vain it's blasphemy. It's a breaking of the third commandment. You will not take the name of the lord your god in vain.
And this movement this kind of conservative movement that's going on right now. It's trying to be very very ecumenical so there's people from all different kinds of faith backgrounds that we can we can just welcome in and not worry about the the minutia.
And all the different doctrines and stuff like that that we disagree on. When there's actually major doctrinal problems and a lot of the people that are leading in this movement turn out to be outright heretics.
Doctrine still matters. Holiness still matters. It matters what jesus You are saying you believe in. Because the mormons don't have the same jesus of the bible. That's not going to save even the new apostolic reformation.
Nar they do not believe in the jesus of the bible either. They have a completely different holy spirit as i've said before with the nar folks. Their whole what they believe the holy spirit to be is like what the mormons believe jesus to be they have their own version of it.
But not the christ of the bible not the holy spirit of the bible. Anyway, all of that to say that we still live in a time living in an age where people are going to hate. Hearing god's word and they will hate the people who declare it.
But we but doctrine still matters and we have to hold fast to the truth. We have to call people out for sin and call them to repentance and living in holiness and righteousness. We will be hated for it.
But in the end will be our promised land being restored to the place that god has in store for us. Heavenly father we thank you for this time that we have had in the word. We thank you for your son jesus christ who died on the cross for our sins and rose again from the dead.
Whoever believes in him will not perish under the judgment of god that we all deserve. But we will have everlasting life help us to speak that message boldly and even call out sin where necessary. Jesus called out sin.
The apostles called out sin. Telling them to repent and turn to jesus so that they would be saved. It's not a popular message. But holiness is required praise. God holiness is given in jesus christ. But as said in hebrews without holiness, no one will see the lord.
So teach us to walk in right ways and direct others in that path. With boldness, it's in jesus name. We pray. Amen.
This has been when we understand the text of pastor gabriel hughes. For all of our podcasts episodes videos books and more visit our website at wwutt .com. If you'd like to submit a question to this broadcast or just send us a comment email when we understand the text at gmail .com.
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