God's Word Keeps Us From The Deception Of Man's Heart - Lamentations 2:14

Hello, welcome back to the God-Centered Podcast. This is Andy Cain, and it's time for another God-Centered Bible study. This time out of Lamentations once again. Today we're in chapter 2, verse 14. Now we're only going to be focusing on one verse out of Lamentations this time, but we're also going to be looking at a passage in Jeremiah as a cross-reference and just as something to go along with this.

False Visions, Moral Accountability, and Judgment on Leaders

And so it says in verse 14 of chapter 2, "...your prophets have beheld for you worthless and ineffective visions.". Now when it comes to our moral standing and our peace with God, every Christian is equally justified, and their sin makes them equally guilty before God.

We all need to be justified, we all need peace with God. Now in time, in reality, in terms of how our Christian lives are lived out, in terms of what we do for the kingdom and what we do for God, there will be different weights and measures and how God looks and judges us as individuals in terms of rewards and in terms of, you know, the things we do in this body and there is a sense in which we will be judged for what we've done.

And we will be judged based on the light that we have, the amount of truth that we take in, how we apply it. And while there is no difference between the moral expectations of, say, elders, pastors, and Christians, there is an expectation of behavior and a higher level of stricter judgment for those that would teach or put themselves out as leaders or one that would tell you, thus saith the Lord.

And so while, yes, you know, when I talk about God-centered church and things like that, you know, I'm very much against congregational rule and I think there's a lot of reasons for that, but make no mistake, I'm not one of those that just, you know, it's all about the congregation, it's all about them people sitting in the pews and how they're doing wrong.

No, I'm for all of it. And so here we're going to see very pointed messages towards the leaders. Now, in context, in the narrative and in the text that will be before us, it's primarily Jeremiah dealing with the false prophets and leaders and teachers that were there in this day that were prophesying false and worthless and ineffective visions to those people, telling them lies about what was coming, whereas Jeremiah was trying to tell them the truth.

But in application, we can make an application to our day because, my friends, there are a ton of bad pastors, false pastors. There are unsaved Christians, or excuse me, unsaved people professing to be Christian that are in these positions of leadership that do not need to be there.

There are, born again, saved Christians in positions of leadership that should not be there. We have to take the biblical qualifications for pastors and elders seriously. We can't just be lousy, fair about it.

You know, hey, we've got to have somebody, right?

This person's living and breathing. Just put them in the role. No. Churches have got to be patient and be actively seeking what God has prescribed and commanded for His church. We can't be lazy and just put anybody there.

It's very specific, and it's a high level of expectation and a high and a stricter level of judgment for leaders, for elders, for pastors. There's just so many out there that are harming the name of Christ because they're preaching all sorts of hot garbage.

Now look, there are preachers and pastors I know that would disagree with me on certain things like eschatology or even, you know, my Presbyterian friends would disagree with me on baptism, and that's fine.

We've been through all this before when we've dealt with theological triage and understanding, sorting doctrines to know that, yes, there are some things that would raise to the definitional level of Christianity that we would say this is definitionally Christian.

If you don't believe this, you're a heretic. We've got to be careful with that label. We so easily let the word heretic flow off our tongues nowadays to where you've got people that would say, well, your eschatology is different than mine.

You're a heretic. I'm like, fundamentalists do that. Everything is raised to the level of definition. Now liberals take it the other way. Everything is lowered down to where there's no clear cut truth.

But there are definitional things, and so, you know, we need to be graceful when dealing with people, of course, but that doesn't change the fact that there are a lot of bad preaching. There is a lot of bad preaching, period, going on in our world.

I tell people all the time, and this isn't about God-centered church today, but when we do talk about a God-centered church, I say it all the time, programs come and go, people come and go, things change over time.

The number one component of your church needs to be centered around the consistent preaching and teaching of the Word of God. If you have a group of elders that are qualified and are faithfully teaching the Word of God, everything else will take care of itself.

If you do not have that, I don't care if you have millions of dollars in the bank. I don't care if you have a thousand people sitting out there in the pews. I don't care if you have the best children's program that's ever been seen on planet Earth.

You're sinning. You're going to find sin. There's going to be sin, you're not going to be building for the kingdom, you're not going to be nearly as effective as you are if you've centered yourself around God, been God-centered, and centered around the pulpit, centered around teaching and preaching.

That is what we are to be. And we see here in Jeremiah's day, one of the biggest reasons these people had issues, the biggest reason they went astray and found themselves in a place where God would send judgment in the form of Babylon is because it starts with leadership.

They failed to be consistent preachers and teachers of the Word of God. They're preaching their own message, their own thoughts, and I've said this so many times and it's gotten me in trouble with so many people, but I'll keep on saying it.

It matters not what man thinks, but what God has said. Now what that means is, in the realm in which God has spoken, what He says is the final word. Certainly what we think, and we need to analyze and think things through, and we have minds for a reason.

What we're talking about here is about authority. If you think that what you think is more important or should carry more weight than what God has said, you're sinning. It matters not what man thinks, but what God has said, and that's the problem.

That's where we find ourselves. And you see God all throughout Scripture putting this level of expectation on His teachers and elders. That's why, if you're thinking about becoming a pastor or an elder, you need to carefully consider it.

You need to make sure you're called to it. Now I know very well that I'm going to answer for everything that I teach, which is why I want to make sure I am submitted to and consistent with Scripture and not just some system or the flavor of the day.

And you see so much progressive thought in quote-unquote preaching today. It's just sickening. Our pulpits need to be restored very quickly. And so that's where we find ourselves here. And God just, for lack of a better terminology, tears these elders a new one.

He just really hits them hard here. He says, after all that we covered last time, how Jeremiah is just lamenting... Lamenting and lamentations. Get it? Get it? He's lamenting. He's crying. His innermost being is disturbed.

His heart's being poured out. He's wondering who can heal us from this sin. And then God says here, or the writer says, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, your prophets, this is God speaking, He says, your prophets have beheld for you worthless and ineffective visions.

And they have not uncovered your iniquity so as to return or restore you from captivity. But they have beheld for you worthless and misleading oracles or burdens. Notice here, and this is very common in our day, you see so much in this health and wealth, prosperity nonsense, this whole sow a seed.

Oh, send me $1 ,400 and God will send it back to you tenfold. Uh, Elias?

Oh, and we want healings and signs and what?

Spare me. When you preach nonsense, it's translated here, oracles and legacy standard, but it's something that means burdens. What he's basically saying is, these people claiming to speak for me and claiming that they're preaching good tidings of great joy, peace on earth to all men, to you, are really preaching worthless and misleading burdens that are going to be on your shoulders.

That's what sin ultimately becomes. If you try to carry your sin and try to live up to the standards of the law, you're carrying a yoke that you weren't meant to carry. That's why Jesus says, my burden's light because you're giving it all to me.

I can carry it. You can't. I can. That's what Jesus says. And notice the issue here. Prophets preaching worthless, ineffective visions, so translated in our day, ineffective sermons, little topical feel-good fireside chats.

God is for you.

God just wants you to be happy.

A better you by Friday. I mean, all this just nonsense. That's what they got. Babylon's not coming. They've lost their minds. Jeremiah, he's a crazy old man. There's no judgment coming. Everything's great.

Well, until it's not. But see, notice here. Don't miss this. He says, this is what they're doing. But then it also says, this is what they're not doing. What are they not doing? They're not uncovering or showing your iniquity.

Now look, as a preacher, I never step into a pulpit and think, Oh, bless God, I'm gonna step on some toes today. I'm gonna make sure they know they're sinners. It's not about me. And if you're a pastor doing that, and I have beers, a lot of you do it.

Get over yourself. It's not about you. And you can show off your preaching skills. No, everything is God-centered. Preaching's God-centered. Your preaching should be God-centered, which means you're not there to display your oral abilities.

Notice how well I speak. Spare me. You're there to preach the Word of God consistently, contextually, for what God has said, inspiring these authors that wrote these books so that we can understand the original audience's understanding.

We can understand the original application. We can understand how it applies to us. We can understand what holiness looks like. And the vast majority of our preaching comes from text that's going to show us our sin.

So yes, it will naturally, quote-unquote, step on some toes. It's not the point. But if the preaching of the text leads to conviction, good, so be it. These people were avoiding that. He says, you're not trying to uncover their iniquity.

You're not trying to tell them they're sinning. That's what they need, because he says, so as to return or be restored. What's being said here is, if you have been preaching against their sin, if you've been telling them this is what you're doing, you've sinned against God, and you need to turn from this, that would have been the thing that they actually needed for restoration.

But that's not what was going on. And that's why he says they're ineffective and worthless visions, because they're not going to restore you from captivity. Now, in this context, in time here, when this actually happened, yes, we're talking about literal restoration from captivity.

Their sin led them into a literal captivity in Babylon. But ultimately, for these people, for us, and even when examples in history like this are used, there's this greater understanding that the ultimate restoration we need is from our own sin.

And that's the issue. If you don't uncover sin, if you don't deal with sin, there can be no return from it. There can be no restoration from it. That's why when we talk about God-centered church discipline, the goal is not to expose sin in the sense that you're exposing people and berating them or embarrassing them or ruining their Christian life.

It's about restoring them. That's why so much of church discipline, the focus is on privately handling these things so you can get that person restored and deal with it without unnecessarily burdening them or embarrassing them.

Now, I mean, it can raise to the level of making it public, but we shouldn't be looking to do this. But this is where we're at. This is what we're dealing with here. So the cross-reference here is in Jeremiah 23, beginning in verse 9.

Notice here it says, ask for the prophets. So direct... One of our keys to interpretation is understanding what is being said in the text in terms of who it is addressing. Here it's very clear. It says, ask for the prophets.

Directing my attention to you. Hey, perk up, because I'm dealing with you now. It says, my heart is broken. Even if you go back to verse 1 of chapter 23, it says, woe to the shepherds who are destroying and scattering the sheep of my pasture, declares Yahweh.

God takes very seriously what comes out of the mouth of anyone that claims to stand and speak for Him and uses this term shepherds. That's no mistake, because elders and pastors are to be under-shepherds.

Shepherds were to be examples of how Christ's shepherds were to model that. And so He says, you shepherds, you pastors, you elders, you priests, you prophets that think, or in some cases, they're not lying to themselves.

In some cases, they may just be mistaken. In some cases, they know what they're doing. You know what you're doing. He says, my heart's broken within me in verse 9. All my bones tremble. I become like a drunken man, even like a man overcome with wine because of Yahweh and because of His holy words.

The land is full of adulterers. The land mourns because of the curse. The pasture of the wilderness have dried up. Their course also is evil, and their might is not right. For both prophet and priest are polluted.

Even in my house, I have found their evil, and their evil declares Yahweh, declares the Lord.

The Pollution of Prophets, Priests, and the House of God

So this is the issue.

In the temple, in the house of God, in the places where God's word was to be declared and sinners were called to repentance, this not only was not happening, but it went far enough from going away from what they should be doing all the way over to the other side.

It's ineffective, worthless preaching. And that's what ultimately is the view here. They're polluted. They polluted themselves. In my house, this is evil. That's why, and we're going to do a series starting here in probably a couple weeks on God-centered church.

And people sometimes say,.

Well, why is there so much tea? Why is there so much tea with this?

Because it matters to God. See, whether you're in the congregation, sitting in the pew, or up on the stage, or wherever you're at, you have a role in making sure that God is pleased with how your church carries out its business.

And if you're acting in a way that he has not prescribed, he's going to deal with you one day if you had a means to make change. He takes very seriously what happens in his house. So if you have a place of worship, a house of worship, and you're a part of a body of believers, part of a church, your number one concern should not be, well, did they play the music I wanted?

Did they have a choir?

Did they have the right bulletin? Did they do the order of service right?

Did they do those things I want.

Because of my preferences?

No.

And look, we can all be guilty of this. I'm not sitting here as some kind of separated being that, you know, I've never done this, and I'm so much better than all of you. No, I've had to deal with that in my own life.

Our key and our goal and our focus should be on are we learning and being obedient to Scripture, developing our gifts, edifying the body, serving Christ, growing holiness, all those things that are important.

Because if you don't, this is how you're going to end up. And God's going to say about your church, what is this evil going on in my house? It says here verse 13,. Moreover among the prophets of Samaria I saw an offensive thing.

They prophesied by Baal and led my people Israel astray. So he's going into some of the history here talking about appalling things. Verse 14, committing of adultery, walking and lying, all these things.

This is not just here.

Oh, come on, Andy.

Nobody's prophesying by Baal today. So child sacrifice isn't going on today. There's no abortion clinics. There's no churches out there that are progressive teaching this drivel. It's okay. I want to think that one over again.

Verse 16,. Thus says Yahweh of hosts, Do not listen to the words of the prophets who are prophesying to you. They are leading you into vanity or into emptiness. They speak a vision of their own heart, not from the mouth of Yahweh.

If it is not from Scripture, if it is not from the consistent contextual teaching and preaching of the Word of God, or if you use the Word of God to teach your own message, that is a vision and a sermon and a teaching from your own heart.

And it does not come from the mouth of Yahweh. God's making this clear. If you're not speaking and saying the things that I want you to say, don't claim that it came from me because it didn't. Preachers, pastors,.

We need to make sure.

That if we stand before God's people, not your people, now I understand in a sense we say these are my people and stuff of my church. We understand what we mean there. We're not saying that you can't say that.

But when we stand on the Lord's day before the Lord's people, and if we take our Bible.

And we open it.

And we say, Thus saith the Lord, you need to make sure that the words that come out of your mouth are not proceeding from your heart unless that heart is fully submitted and obedient to God and His Word.

Otherwise, you can't say that came from God. Very serious stuff going on here. Verse 17,. They keep saying to those who spurn me, Yahweh has said, You will have peace. See, I've said this so much throughout the book of Lamentations.

That we've been studying.

They're out there saying,.

Peace, peace and safety.

Everything's great.

Everything's going to be fine.

Jeremiah's lost his mind. Everything's good. As for everyone who walks in the stubbornness of his own heart, they say, Evil will not come upon you. People always say, I want to know what the will of God is.

I want to know what God thinks about this or thinks about that. Largely those things aren't that important, but here's a very direct quotation. God Himself speaking, telling us exactly what He thinks about sinful, bad preaching that is not consistent with what He has sent.

He says, They keep saying you have peace. He said, But there are people that walk in the stubbornness of their own heart that try to say evil will not come upon you. As Jeremiah's telling them, Judgment's coming.

Babylon's coming.

Why?

Not because God's doing something mean to you. You hear that all the time when we hear these conversations that are framed around suffering and trials.

Woe is me.

I don't deserve this.

None of that applies.

Every bit of this judgment's based directly on the woeful and stubborn sin of the people. And so He's telling us and all these prophets who should be in concert with Jeremiah saying the same things or have their own agenda.

And you know what?

If you pay attention very closely to people, you can tell who has an agenda and who doesn't. Who's truly concerned with thus saith the Lord and who's really concerned with thus says me.

No.

Standing in the Counsel of Yahweh

So verse 18,. But who has stood in the counsel of Yahweh that he should see and hear his word who has given heed to his word.

And heard,.

Behold, the storm of Yahweh has gone forth in wrath, even a whirling storm. It will whirl down on the head of the wicked. The anger of Yahweh will not turn back until he has done and established the purposes of his hearts.

In the last days you will clearly understand it. I did not send these prophets, but they ran. I did not speak to them, but they prophesied. But if they had stood in my counsel, they would have caused my words to be heard by my people.

It's the point.

If these preachers and leaders and priests and prophets, if they were speaking for God, God saying, they would have been speaking my word. They would have been speaking the things that I told them to say.

He says they would have turned back from their evil way and from the evil of their deeds. So you could always know if you have a preacher or a pastor or a leader that doesn't want accountability, doesn't want to deal with their own sin,.

You know,.

Shies away from that kind of thing, it's usually a red flag. Finally, as we draw to a close here, verse 23 says, Am I a God who's near, declares Yahweh, and not a God far off? Can a man hide himself in hiding places so I do not see him?

Do I not feel the heavens and the earth? And notice what he says here in these last few verses. Verse 25. I have heard what the prophets have said who prophesy a lie in my name saying I had a dream,.

I had a dream.

These prophets are going around. It's no different than today, y 'all. The charismatic movement. These prophets say,.

I had a dream,.

I had a dream. Oh, the Lord has spoken to me. I have a word from the Lord.

What is it?

Peace and safety.

Jeremiah over there who knows God's word and is just shaking his head like, No, no. Same thing today.

People flock. You have no problem.

Filling up a building if somebody's talking about.

Increase, prosperity, miracles.

I have a dream.

Oh, the God has spoken to me.

And usually what it is is you need to put all your money in a plate and give it to me. They don't speak for God either. You got people like me sitting here going,.

Nope, nope, nope, nope, nope, no, no, no, no.

They don't speak for God and they chastise and say,.

Oh, how dare you?

You know, it's like, Oh my goodness. They say nothing's new under the sun. Here it is.

I have a dream. I have a dream.

How long? Is there anything in the hearts of the prophets who prophesy a lie, even these prophets of the deception of their own heart? Notice, God doesn't pull any punches. They're not just simply mistaken.

This is the deception of their heart who intend to make my people forget my name by their dreams, which they recount to one another just as their fathers forgot my name because of Baal. The prophet who had a dream may recount his dream, but let him who has my word speak my word in truth.

What does straw have in common with grain and so on and so forth? He's saying, you know, the prophet wants to claim to have a dream, let him recount it. But him who has my word just simply speaks my word in truth.

This is the nail that is sunk in the coffin of the charismatic movement. When I get up to speak, if I get up to preach, if I'm teaching a Sunday school class, I don't have to get there and say,.

Hey, y 'all, let me tell you something.

I had a dream.

I've got a vision.

Oh, I've got just what you need to hear. I don't have to present it. I don't have to market it. I just get up and simply teach. God's word as truthfully and faithfully and as accurately as I possibly can based on my understanding of the text that particular day.

That's it.

All these churches think we need this program or this event or this type of sermon series or this thing or... You see all this gimmicks nowadays. People think golf clubs and cars and all this nonsense on stage to make it more interesting.

Look, we need to be interesting when we speak. We need to be engaging, all these things. But if what you're doing is overshadowing the truth of the text, get rid of it. We need to do better. And so, harsh words here for our prophets and priests and elders, but good lesson for all of us that claim to be preachers, isn't it, as well?

Conclusion and Call to Faithful Bible Teaching

So, all right, y 'all. Well, that's a good study for lamentations. I want to thank you for joining me on the God-Centered Podcast here as we are continuing our Bible study. And I encourage you to subscribe and all those good things that come with it.

I'm not one that's going to get on here and be saying that all the time. I appreciate it if you do, but I'm more concerned with this. How is the text of Scripture affecting your life?

Amen?

Well, thank you for joining me on this God-Centered Bible study.