WWUTT 2404 Do Not Listen to the False Prophets (Jeremiah 14:1-22)

As God promises he is going to bring judgment upon Judah, there are false prophets who speak contrary to this.

No, judgment is not coming. We're gonna be prosperous in the land, but God will consume them with their words 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. In our study of the book of Jeremiah, we come to chapter 14 today, and here

God continues to issue judgment against Judah because they worship false gods instead of the true

God. Now what's gonna happen in this chapter is that Jeremiah will bring before the Lord that there are other prophets who are saying things contrary to what

God has told Jeremiah. But God is going to say, I'm not speaking through them, I'm speaking through you.

And God will issue judgments against those false prophets for prophesying contrary to the word of the

Lord. So let's read here, Jeremiah 14. I'm gonna go through just the first 12 verses to start off.

Hear the word of the Lord. The word of the Lord that came to Jeremiah concerning the drought.

Judah mourns and her gates languish. Her people lament on the ground and the cry of Jerusalem goes up.

Her nobles send their servants for water. They come to the cisterns, they find no water.

They return with their vessels empty. They are ashamed and confounded and cover their heads.

Because of the ground that is dismayed since there is no rain on the land, the farmers are ashamed.

They cover their heads. Even the doe in the field forsakes her newborn fawn because there is no grass.

The wild donkeys stand on the bare heights. They pant for air like jackals. Their eyes fail because there is no vegetation.

Though our iniquities testify against us, act, oh Lord, for your name's sake.

For our backslidings are many. We have sinned against you. Oh, you hope for Israel.

It's savior in time of trouble. Why should you be like a stranger in the land?

Like a traveler who turns aside to Terry for a night? Why should you be like a man confused?

Like a mighty warrior who cannot save? Yet you, oh Lord, are in the midst of us and we are called by your name.

Do not leave us. Thus says the Lord concerning this people, they have loved to wander thus.

They have not restrained their feet. Therefore the Lord does not accept them.

Now he will remember their iniquity and punish their sins. The Lord said to me, do not pray for the welfare of this people.

Though they fast, I will not hear their cry. And though they offer burnt offerings and grain offering,

I will not accept them, but I will consume them by the sword, by famine and by pestilence.

So God brings this judgment against Judah and Jeremiah speaks on Judah's behalf to which the

Lord replies, do not pray for the welfare of this people. So that's how this section is broken up.

First of all, it's God's judgment, verses one through six, then Jeremiah's plea, verses seven through 10.

And then God saying to Jeremiah, don't plea for this people. After that, we're going to have the testimony regarding the false prophets starting in verse 13.

So let's go back up to verse one again, the word of the Lord that came to Jeremiah concerning the drought.

Now that's actually significant that this is the word of the Lord that comes to Jeremiah because we're going to see these false prophets later in the chapter that are speaking.

They're claiming to speak for God, but they're actually speaking to either for the benefit of themselves or just to please the crowds.

But God is not speaking through them. He has spoken through Jeremiah. So the word of the Lord that came to Jeremiah is a promise of judgment.

Verse two, Judah mourns, her gates languish, her people lament on the ground and the cry of Jerusalem goes up.

So you have what we read regarding those who were supposed to go to the cisterns and draw water, they feel shame, so they cover their heads.

The farmers have no water to water their crops, so they feel shame and they cover their heads.

This is all an act of mourning here, covering their heads as with a burlap cloth, with mourning garments or with ashes.

And then the wild donkeys, they stand on the bare heights and pant for air like jackals. So even the animals cannot find water and they are languishing also.

And then Jeremiah speaks up and pleads on behalf of the people, though our iniquities testify against us.

So Jeremiah recognizes, we've done wickedly against God and so we deserve this most certainly.

But Jeremiah nonetheless pleads for this people, act oh Lord for your name's sake.

For our backslidings are many, we have sinned against you.

So Jeremiah is pleading that God would act, that he would show mercy and this would be a testament to his people of his mercy.

But God has been doing this for hundreds of years. He has shown great mercy to this people for a long time.

At various intervals, there will be occasions when the people will be repentant, they will come before God, but then the next unrighteous king comes along and they go right back to doing the wicked pagan things that they were doing before, worshiping false gods.

I had somebody say to me recently, you know that the people of Israel in the

Old Testament were, they were actually polytheists. Now he was trying to argue with me, was attempting a gotcha, thought that I would be baffled by that or maybe

I would get angry and push back. No, no, no, they worship the one true God. He was surprised when I said to him, yeah, of course they were.

And he was like, okay, so you're a pastor who believes that the Jews in the

Old Testament actually worshiped a bunch of gods. And I said, yes, of course I do. I have taught that consistently throughout my ministry.

And he was shocked, he was like, I've never met a pastor that did that before. I said, oh, I guarantee you there's plenty of pastors that preach on this exactly right because this is exactly what

God exiled Israel and Judah for because they were worshiping false gods.

So yeah, every once in a while you'll encounter this skeptic who will say, yeah, we've dug up the ancient lands.

We've been to the Holy Land and we've found that the Jews were actually worshiping multiple gods.

They didn't worship just Yahweh, they worshiped all kinds of deities. And us Christians who know the Bible just stand back and laugh going, right, the

Old Testament testifies to that. This is exactly why God brought punishment on them.

It's because they were worshiping all these false gods. And so Jeremiah acknowledges this.

He says, yeah, our iniquities are many. We've been worshiping all these false gods. And we in the collective sense,

Jeremiah feared the Lord God. There were certainly people among the Jews who worshiped only

God. Jeremiah was not even the only true prophet. There were other prophets that God spoke through.

He had been merciful to this people for a long time, but now it was God's intention to bring judgment upon them.

Jeremiah pleads, oh, you hope of Israel, addressing God. You are the hope of Israel.

It's savior in time of trouble. Why should you be like a stranger in the land, like a traveler who turns aside to tarry for the night?

So as if God has kind of come through, he's looked and he's seen, and he's just continuing on.

He is not going to help this people. Why should you be like a man confused, like a mighty warrior who cannot save?

Yet you, oh Lord, are in the midst of us, and we are called by your name. Do not leave us.

Now that's pretty bold for Jeremiah to speak that way. For him to say of God, should you be like a man confused?

And Jeremiah is not saying that God is confused, but that's kind of the perception, right? Because you don't know what to do with us.

If you are our hope, why would you be like a mighty warrior who cannot save?

And God is not persuaded by this. He is therefore merciful to Jeremiah for allowing him to speak this way to the living

God. Thus says the Lord concerning this people, they have loved to wander thus.

They have not restrained their feet. Therefore the Lord does not accept them. Now he will remember their iniquity and punish their sins.

God is perfectly just to bring judgment upon this people for the wickedness that they have done.

So he goes on to say to Jeremiah, verse 11, the Lord said to me, do not pray for the welfare of this people.

Though they fast, I will not hear their cry. And though they offer burnt offerings and grain offering,

I will not accept them, but I will consume them by the sword, by famine and by pestilence.

Exactly what God promised he was going to do. Second Chronicles seven, where God answers

Solomon's prayer and says that he will dwell with this people. But if they do not worship me and do not keep my statutes, then

I will consume them by sword, famine and pestilence. And so that's what God is fulfilling here and telling

Jeremiah he is going to do so. You know, later on in this book, we'll get to this in chapter 29 in particular.

That's like the most famous chapter in the book of Jeremiah. But in chapter 29, God says of the

Babylonians, pray for the welfare of this people. So don't pray for the welfare of the

Jews, but pray for the welfare of the Babylonians. Why? Because in this place to which the

Jews are being exiled, if they prosper, if the Babylonians prosper, then you will prosper as well.

So it's good for you to keep peace with the people among whom you are exiled, pray for their welfare because you will benefit also.

But for the Jews, they are being driven off the land because they have sinned against God. God would certainly deal with the

Babylonians in their own time, but for the time being, God is bringing judgment upon this people who did not obey him.

Now we have the word against the prophets beginning in verse 13. Then I said, ah,

Lord God, behold, the prophets say to them, the prophets are saying to the people a different word than I'm giving them.

And here's what the false prophets are saying. You shall not see the sword. You shall not have famine, but I will give you assured peace in this place.

So the prophets are proclaiming peace, peace, where there is no peace. And the

Lord said to me, the prophets are prophesying lies in my name. I did not send them, nor did

I command them to speak, nor did I command them or speak to them.

They are prophesying to you a lying vision, worthless divination and the deceit of their own minds.

Therefore, thus says the Lord concerning the prophets who prophesy in my name, although I did not send them and who say sword and famine shall not come upon this land by sword and famine, those prophets shall be consumed.

And the people to whom they prophesy shall be cast out in the streets of Jerusalem, victims of famine and sword with none to bury them.

Them, their wives, their sons, and their daughters, for I will pour out their evil upon them.

So these people who listen to these false prophets, and the reason why they're listening to the false prophets is because the false prophets are saying things they like to hear.

They don't want to hear the word of Jeremiah bringing all this negativity. Oh yeah, of course, yeah.

Sword, famine, pestilence is going to consume us. Don't come to me with that stuff. They go to the prophets instead who are saying good things.

Oh yeah, we're not going to be consumed. We're going to be prosperous in the land so that the Jews can go right on sinning and worshiping false gods and doing all of the wicked deeds that they were doing, imitating the pagans around them.

They go right back to that stuff because they don't think that any judgment is going to come upon them at all.

There is no true repentant heart among them that turns from their wickedness to the Lord God so that they would be saved.

So God says to Jeremiah, I've not spoken through those prophets. They are speaking lies in my name.

And as a result, they're going to be consumed by the very things that they say are not going to happen. Sword, famine, pestilence are going to consume these false prophets.

And anybody who listens to them, they are going to be cast out into the streets of Jerusalem.

This is very much a statement of judgment that would come upon the false prophets even today.

Those false prophets, especially among the charismatic movement who proclaim things that God has not told them to say, the health and wealth prosperity.

If you sow a seed, if you give this much money, God will give you your healing. You know what's going to happen with those people who do these things?

These false prophets who proclaim, if you give this much money or you believe with this much faith and you're going to receive this much healing, those false prophets are going to be consumed by the judgment of God on the day of judgment.

They will be burned up and destroyed because they spoke a word in the name of the Lord that God did not give them to say.

Now, the people who listen to them, oftentimes whenever we will see those videos or we'll hear these reports of false prophets saying something and there's all kinds of victims that were conned out of their money that they gave to these false teachers.

And we will see those people who listen to the false teachers as victims and we will have pity on them and we will think to ourselves, well, they're innocent in the matter because they were conned by these people who were telling them lies.

No, they will face judgment too for listening to these false teachers.

What's going to end up happening to them? They're going to be consumed by the very things that they were asking the false prophets to relieve them of.

They come to these fake healers looking for healing and what's instead going to consume them?

The very diseases that they were asking those fake healers to heal them of. Why? Because those healers can't heal them.

And so while this people are listening to these false prophets say to them, you're not going to be consumed by sword famine or pestilence, what's going to happen to them?

They're going to be consumed by sword famine and pestilence. Why? Because these false prophets are lying and the very things they're saying are not going to come upon you are going to be the things that come upon them.

And so it's a very same kind of warning that should be given to those false prophets today and to anyone who would listen to them.

The things you want those false prophets to relieve you of are the very things that are going to consume you.

It's a symbiotic relationship between the false prophet and the one who listens to the false prophet.

They want to hear that prophet say those things. That's exactly why they're going to them. They are scratching itching ears the way the apostle

Paul puts it in 2 Timothy 4. So they accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions who will tell them the things that they want to hear.

And then the false teacher prays off of the person who is looking for somebody that will tell them what they want to hear and they get rich off of them or they gain prestige and notoriety and whatever else.

That's the symbiotic relationship that exists between the false teacher or the false prophet and the one that will listen to them.

And it doesn't just exist in the health and wealth movement in the largely charismatic circles,

Pentecostal. Even those churches that would claim to be LGBTQ friendly they're flying pride flags out front of their churches or they're doing all these woke type sermons and the sparkle creed and all this nonsense affirming people in their sin.

They're the same. They are also false teachers and the people will be consumed by the things that they are listening to those false teachers to affirm them in.

The very passions of their flesh that they want to be affirmed in will be those passions that will consume them.

And all of the consequences that come along with that sexually transmitted diseases, a massive amounts of depression, heartache, manipulation, abuse, everything that comes among that crowd and within that community will be the things that will consume those people who are looking for those teachers to affirm their wicked passions.

Again, it's not just a charismatic sort of a thing. It's among all different kinds of branches of false teachers even those that will say politically, you have a very politically driven church.

The politics that come from the pulpit that affirm the politics that I love. Even those things will eventually be what consumes you.

It will be the thing that God judges a person for on the day of judgment because they loved this stuff rather than God.

And so God tells Jeremiah to say, you shall say to them this word. Verse 17, let my eyes run down with tears night and day and let them not cease for the virgin daughter of my people is shattered with a great wound, with a very grievous blow.

If I go out into the field, behold those pierced by the sword. And if I enter the city, behold the diseases of famine for both prophet and priest ply their trade through the land and have no knowledge.

So this is judgment that God is issuing among the people through Jeremiah. You're gonna say to them, judgment is gonna come and here's gonna be the state of you when it happens.

You're gonna find bodies left in the field, slain by the sword. You will be weeping over those who are dead in the streets.

Verse 19, Jeremiah questions God. So we're continuing to see this back and forth between God and Jeremiah and Jeremiah raising a complaint.

Have you utterly rejected Judah? Does your soul loathe Zion? Why have you struck us down so that there is no healing for us?

We looked for peace, but no good came for a time of healing, but behold terror.

We acknowledge our wickedness, oh Lord, and the iniquity of our fathers, for we have sinned against you.

Let me stop there for a moment before continuing on and say, hell is gonna be full of all kinds of people who will acknowledge their sin before God.

They will acknowledge their wickedness and understand this is the reason why

I'm here, but they won't have a heart that actually repents of it. It doesn't necessarily mean that they acknowledge that they were wrong or that God was just to punish them.

They will recognize their wickedness, but they perish in it. It's not from a heart that repents or fears

God or desires to worship him, even among those that are in hell, burning under the wrath of God.

Verse 21, do not spurn us for your namesake. Do not dishonor your glorious throne.

Remember and do not break your covenant with us. Are there any among the false gods of the nations that can bring rain or can the heavens give showers?

Are you not he, oh Lord, our God? We set our hope on you for you do all these things.

And of course, Jeremiah is really not speaking on behalf of the people. He thinks that he is, but their hearts are still far from God.

And God is gonna bring this judgment upon them because they worship false gods. They turn to the false gods.

Are there any among the false gods of the nations that can bring rain? No, but the people keep turning to them.

And that's why God is going to turn on them and bring judgment. But Jeremiah also asked this question, remember and do not break your covenant with us.

But indeed God would remember his promises that he had made through Judah.

And a day would come that he would bring a savior from this people. It is not his intention to annihilate them utterly, but he will preserve them and bring the savior of the world through this people so that all who believe in him,

Jew or Gentile, we will be forgiven our sins and we have everlasting life with God in glory through Jesus Christ who saves us.

He is indeed the mighty warrior who lifts us up and delivers us from the hands of our enemies, delivers us into a kingdom in which goodness and righteousness have no end.

And we will dwell without sin or death or grief forever. Acknowledge your sin before God and ask for his forgiveness.

And he will uphold you with his righteous right hand. Heavenly father, we thank you for what we have read and I pray that it would indeed be our cry, our testimony that we would confess ourselves before you, that we would acknowledge our sin before you, but doing so because we desire to be forgiven our sin.

We want to worship God. We want your spirit to dwell with us. Let us not have hearts that go after this world or after false gods looking for satisfaction in things that cannot actually deliver or cannot satisfy.

We're not turning to the false teachers because they're telling us things that we like to hear. We want to hear from God.

We want to hear the truth however much it pains us to hear the truth because it honors you and gives glory to your name.

And so Lord blot out our iniquities. Remember our sins no more. Deliver us in Jesus name.

Amen. This has been, When We Understand the Text of Pastor Gabriel Hughes.

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