JEREMIAH 23:30-402009 Teaching by Jerry B Simmons

Teaching Transcript: Jeremiah 23:30-40

Alright, would you turn with me please to Jeremiah chapter 23. Jeremiah chapter 23. Jeremiah chapter 23. We started chapter 23 last week.

And we didn't get all the way through, although I intended to, but the Lord had other plans. And so we're picking it up in the middle of the chapter in verse 30, and we'll be finishing up the chapter today. But as a way of recap, Jeremiah chapter 23 was really about shepherds. God was speaking to the shepherds of the nation of Judah.

And as we've been talking about, the nation of Judah was veering away from God, rebelling against God. And the spiritual leaders that should have been standing up to turn the tide, to cause the people to turn back to God, well, they were part of the problem. And in fact...

They were much of the problem because they had abandoned God and as a result the people had followed after them. And they had caused the people to turn from God and to worship these other gods. They had encouraged the people to continue on in their sinful ways.

And so God is writing to the shepherds through the prophet Jeremiah to address their state and to let them know really the judgment that is going to be coming upon these shepherds, these spiritual leaders that should have led the people to the worship of God, but instead led the people away from God.

God announces in verses 1 and 2 that he is going to deal with the shepherds who have scattered his people. Now, as we talked about last week, I want to encourage you once again this evening.

As we talk about the subject of shepherds, we can look at the context and we can look at what God is speaking to those specific spiritual leaders that were in place in the nation of Judah at that time. And yet, there's principles here that also apply to you and I, because you and I are called to be shepherds. You and I are called into the ministry.

In the book of Matthew chapter 28, Jesus tells his disciples, and a command that's given to all disciples of Jesus Christ, that our job, our commission, our task is to make disciples. We're called to go into all the world and make disciples, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Jesus said, you're to teach them all that I've commanded you, or teach them how to observe all that I've commanded you.

And so you and I are called to make disciples. And as a result, you and I have some spiritual responsibility. We have some spiritual authority that God has placed in our lives, people that he's called for us to disciple.

And so this chapter, although specifically and directly to those who are in place and in leadership in that day in the nation of Judah, this chapter also can speak profoundly to our own lives and our own hearts because you and I are called to a similar ministry.

And God is pronouncing here that there is judgment for those shepherds who scatter, for those shepherds who do not deal with God's sheep appropriately. Because God...

is very concerned about his sheep. And he loves his sheep. And he's placed those people in our lives so that we might impact them for the good. That we might help them draw close to God. But if we are scattering the sheep, well, there's going to be some repercussions to that. And God will deal with us just as He promised to deal with the shepherds here in Jeremiah chapter 23.

In verses 3 and 4 of chapter 23, God declares to them that He will gather His flock and He's going to set up new shepherds.

The old ones weren't doing the job. They've wreaked havoc among the flock and there's lots of casualties as a result. And so God says, you know what? I'm going to regather them, those that have scattered. I'm going to deal with you guys. You guys are going to get judged, He tells the shepherds. But my sheep I'm going to preserve. I'm going to gather them back and I'm going to set up new shepherds over them.

Verses 5-8 we talked about Jesus being the good shepherd, a reference to the coming Messiah and how Jesus fulfills that. Even in John chapter 10 where Jesus declared himself to be the good shepherd. He is the good shepherd and he is the one that God has established to tend for the flock.

Going on in the chapter, verses 9 and 10, Jeremiah was lamenting now over the state and the condition of the false prophets. He's mourning their condition and as a result, the condition of the nation. Again in verses 11 through 14, God says that the wicked spiritual leaders will be punished. These wicked shepherds, they will be punished.

We spent a few moments on, and it's worth considering again, verse 14. One of the problems of the spiritual leaders was they strengthened the hands of the evildoers. They didn't encourage them to repent. They didn't teach them that they need to turn from sin. But they encouraged them and said, no, it's okay, we're going to be fine. And they didn't cause them to turn back to God and to turn away from their sin. Instead, they strengthened them and said,

Oh, you're going to have peace and you're going to be blessed and you don't have to worry about the judgment of God. And so the people continued on in their sin and in their rebellion against God. And so God says, listen, you are going to be punished. And so we see here that the tremendous importance of repentance that we need to share with the world around us, that the...

to repent. That we don't strengthen the hands of those who are doing evil. That we don't just kind of like gloss over and ignore sin and those that God has placed around us.

but that we bring it up, that we teach them and encourage them to turn back to God, to get right with God. Even as we see in the New Testament where we're called to come alongside those who are sinning and to help them overcome. In Galatians 6, verse 1, the Apostle Paul says that, hey, when there's someone who's in sin, we're to come and we're to help them overcome that sinful condition in their life.

that habit that they're stuck in, the things that they're entrenched in, and we're to help them turn back from those things that they'd be restored and that they would be able to get right with God. And so we must teach repentance. God says, verses 15 through 17, that He will deal with the false prophets. He also tells the people not to listen to the false prophets.

We'll talk a little bit more about that in the portion that we'll be looking at today. Verses 18 through 20, we see that the people, the leaders, they had not stood in the counsel of the Lord. So they didn't know His plans, they didn't know what He was planning to do. And that powerful verse in verse 22, where God said, look, if they had stood in My counsel...

If they had stayed in my presence, if they would have heard from me and then caused my people to hear what I was sharing with them, my people would have turned, they would have repented, they would have gotten right. And this judgment, this punishment would not be about to be poured out upon them. There's such a great importance for you and I, having been sent out, having been called as shepherds, having been called to make disciples.

We need to be standing in the counsel of God. We need to be spending time in His presence and hearing from Him so that we can cause the people to hear His Word. Not our own words and not our own thoughts and not our own opinions, but to hear the Word of God because it's the Word of God that's living and active. It's the Word of God that's powerful and sharper than any double-edged sword. And you might say, "Well, Jerry, you shared all these things last week." Yes, I know.

But it's important enough that God has had us revisit it again this evening. We need to make sure that we are sharing God's Word with the people around us. This is not, you know, ideally you share God's Word, but if you can't think of a scripture, just make up something. That's not what God's saying here. That's not the point of what God is saying. God says, look,

if they would have stood in my counsel, if the spiritual leaders that were in place there in the nation of Judah had heard from me, my people would not be in this condition. There is a tremendous need for you and I to stand in the presence of God, to spend time with Him, to get to know Him. Sometimes we think of a devotional life and we think, you know,

It's not that important that I spend time devotionally. I mean, it's mostly just for me. And so, if I miss it, or if I don't have time, or if I'm too busy, or if I wake up too late, or if these things happen, it's not that big of a deal.

And you may go out through your life and you may, you know, hey, well, see, ministry still seems to happen and things still seem to go okay in this area and that area and everything seems to be working and no big deal. And we could think to ourselves that, yeah, see, it's devotional life, like, it's really good, but if you don't have time, if you can't do it, well, it's okay. You know, God kind of covers that for you. But what we miss out on, what we forget, is the big picture.

It's more than just about you. You see, your devotional life is important for you. It's tremendously important that you and I... I just realized I'm saying the word tremendous a lot. It's because it's tremendously important, so pay attention. It is important for us to spend time in the Word of God. We need to spend time in God's presence. We need to get to know God. We need to have a real relationship with God. That is essential. It's vital.

There's no real way to be a disciple of Christ without having a real relationship with Him. But it's not for only our own sake. And if we miss out on our devotional life, if we miss out on that time with God, it's not only us who are affected, but it's those that God has placed in our lives because He's called us to make disciples. In John chapter 17, when Jesus is praying there and

He's kind of checking in with the Father, recapping His ministry. He's about to go to the cross. Jesus tells the Father, I better turn there so I don't misquote it. In John 17, verse 19, He says, And for their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they also may be sanctified by the truth. Jesus lived...

A set-apart life. That's what sanctified means. He was set-apart unto God. He was devoted to God. He was set-apart from sin and set-apart to God. And he says, for their sakes I sanctify myself. Now, of course, Jesus being set-apart, being sanctified, yes, that was what was good and right for him. But he tells the Father, for them I set myself apart. For their sakes.

that they might be blessed, that they might receive a benefit. It's kind of like taking a shower. Now, taking a shower is good for you. It's good for you to clean up every once in a while and to get some of that dirt off. But you know, a lot of times, I take a shower for other people's sake. Because after a day, well...

For your sake, I shower because, well, the next day you may not want to have close fellowship with me. In fact, sometimes I have to shower a couple of times throughout the day because my wife won't have close fellowship with me. For her sake, I sanctify myself. I wash myself. I take a shower. In the same way, when you think about a devotional life, when you think about these shepherds, God says, look, they hadn't stood in my counsel.

And as a result, the sheep have been scattered. The sheep have been experiencing this judgment. They've walked away from God because they did not spend time with God. They did not sanctify themselves. They did not wash themselves in the water of the Word. They did not stand in God's counsel. And as a result, the people were affected in the same way. You and I, it's really important for us

to spend time in the presence of God, to spend time in relationship with God, but not only for our own sakes, but recognizing that you and I have been called as shepherds and we've been called to make disciples, we need to spend time in the presence of God. We must learn to hear the voice of God. We must learn to get to know Him, to share our heart with Him and to hear His heart. It's so important.

Because God has placed people in our lives and we're going to be an influence on them. We're going to be feeding them something. Just as God said the false shepherds, the bad shepherds were feeding the people, but they weren't feeding them God's Word. We will be feeding the people around us something. And if we're not spending time with God in His presence, well, we will not be feeding them His Word. But it's God's Word that brings life.

It's God's Word, Isaiah 55, 11, tells us that we'll not return void, but we'll accomplish what God pleases. It's God's Word that is effective and living and active and sharper than any double-edged sword. It's God's Word that is powerful. And so for their sakes, because we've been called as shepherds, because we've been called to minister to the world around us, because we've been called for our family's sakes, for our friends' sakes, for...

Those that we are discipling, for those that we are a witness to, for their sakes, we need to stand in the counsel of God. We must stand in the counsel of God that they will be able to hear the word of God. Well, the false prophets, they refused. They said, no way. And so, going on in the chapter verses 23 through 27, God explains to the prophets, look, you can't hide from me.

You're pretending like you're doing all these things off in a dark corner and I can't find you, I can't see you. Listen, I hear you and I know what you're saying and I know what you're thinking. You cannot hide from me. God calls them in verses 28 and 29 to speak His Word faithfully. He says, look, if you have the Word...

then speak My Word faithfully. That's what you and I have been commissioned with. That's what we've been called to. We don't have some dream. We don't have some made-up thing. We don't have some made-up religion. We don't have some religion that's passed down by deception. We have a relationship with God through His Son, Jesus Christ. And He has delivered to us His Word. It's real.

It's the only religion that is true and genuine. It's the only way of eternal life. We need to faithfully speak it. He says, what is the chaff to the wheat? He talks about, you know, the dream versus God's Word. Someone says, well, I have a dream and I have the sensation and I feel like this is what we need to hear. And God says, what is all that to the Word of God, which is like a hammer, which is like a fire?

which is powerful and effective, we have the Word of God. And so He calls us to speak His Word faithfully. And so we pick it up here in verse 30. God says,

So God here, as He's continuing to deal with these shepherds, these spiritual leaders, prophets, priests, there in the nation of Judah, He says, "...I am against the prophets."

there in the nation of Judah as Babylon was coming against them, going to be

the city entirely, taking all the inhabitants captive. Jeremiah is pronouncing this judgment on behalf of God. And the false prophets are saying, no way, this isn't going to happen. We're not going to be conquered. The false prophets were saying exactly the opposite of what Jeremiah was saying. And so they were encouraging the people to continue on in their sin instead of repenting and coming back to God. And so God says, I'm against the prophets.

Because they're continuing to push my people away from me. God says, I'm going to fight against you now. He says, who steal my words, everyone from his neighbor. The false prophets are stealing God's word from their neighbors. How are they stealing God's word from their neighbors? Two ways. First of all, they're speaking false statements in the name of the Lord.

And so the people, instead of listening to Jeremiah, are now listening to these false prophets. They're replacing the real message with this fake message. God's word is being stolen from them because they're being deceived. They're being led astray by these false prophets. But they're also stealing God's word from their neighbors because in the first place, they have not stood in the counsel of God to hear His word. You remember when God told the people...

that they had robbed Him because they had not given of their tithes, the book of Malachi. God says, you've robbed Me. And they say, how have we robbed you? We didn't go into the temple and steal money. No, God says, you robbed Me because you held back. You didn't give what is rightfully Mine. In the same way, God has called us to stand in His counsel, to spend time in His presence. He's commanded us to enter into His presence.

We dealt with this in great detail in the book of Hebrews. He's commanded us to have a relationship with Him. And when we fail to have a relationship with Him and stand in His presence, we steal, we rob the people around us of God's Word because we failed to receive God's message by spending time in His presence. So He says, I'm against the shepherds.

God's given us a great responsibility. We have responsibility to the people around us to spend time with Him. That we don't rob them of the Word of God. God says, I'm against the prophets who use their tongues and say, He says. They're speaking on behalf of God. They're speaking in the name of God. He says, I'm against the prophets who prophesy false dreams and say, Oh, I had this dream. I had this vision.

He says, they cause my people to err by their lies and their recklessness. Their lies and their recklessness. Some of it is outright lies and some of it is just carelessness. They're just kind of making it up as they go along. And God says, I didn't send them. I didn't command them. Notice what he says at the end of verse 32. Therefore, they shall not profit this people at all. The false prophets shall not profit this people. They will not profit this people. They're not going to help them.

They're not going to benefit them. The people will not be in a better place no matter what these false prophets say or how hard they try or how much they care. The prophets are not sent by God and so they will not profit the people. This is a lesson that you and I must learn. When we share with people what is not sent from God, it will not profit them. People don't need to hear what we think.

concerning life's issues, concerning things of eternity, concerning the problems that they're facing. They don't need our opinions. They don't need our understanding or our advice. You know what they need? They need the word of the Lord. They need God's word to them. They need to hear from God.

And if we share our own thoughts and our own opinions, and we give our own advice and our own counsel, and we give what is not sent from God for them, it will not profit them. And so we say, well, this is what's worked in my life. You do the situation this way, and you handle it this way, and you tell this person this thing. And that may be something that works very well in your life, but is that what God is seeking to speak to them?

Or I heard on the radio the other day, someone was facing that same situation and this is what the person told them to do. This is how to handle the situation. Or that was just on Oprah last week and I know how to take care of that and what to share in that situation. My mom experienced the same thing, we could say. Here's what she did. Who cares what all those people said and what all those people did? What is God saying? What is God's Word saying?

to the person that you are speaking with. You see, if we share anything else, it will not profit them. If it's not sent from God, it's no benefit. Oh, a plan may succeed, but that's not the profit that God is dealing with. A plan may succeed, but have they been drawn closer to God as a result? Has their heart turned towards Him? Are they seeking Him as a result? Are they growing in their relationship with Him? For the past week or so, I've been

My devotional reading going through the book of Job. I really, I enjoy the book of Job and I really do not enjoy the book of Job at the same time. Weeding through all of the junk. Where Job's friends are just spewing out nonsense continually. It's kind of like living in this world. And it takes some work. You know, I like reading when it's a little bit easier. I don't have to have my discernment on. You know, I don't have to be so attentive to...

Is this really how God works or is this just this guy and what he's saying and the junk that he thinks in his opinion? As Job's friends look at Job's life, they come up with their conclusions and for like 40 chapters, they're speaking their own conclusions and their own thoughts and opinions. But they're all wrong. God corrects them there at the end of the book. It didn't profit Job even though they spoke a lot and probably had great motives.

They probably cared for Job, but they didn't stand in the counsel of God and speak to Job the message that God gave them to deliver. They came to their own conclusions. They used their rational capacities and they used their understanding and they used examples of

their grandparents and life in general and they put all these things together and they determined, "Job, you must have sinned and that's the result or this is the result of your sin. This is why you're in this situation. You have some sin and you know about it but you're not repenting from it." It was profitless. In the same way, we can hear situations, we can have conversations and we can have all of our conclusions

But if what we share with the people around us is not sent by God, it will not profit them. Now on the other side of that, we also have those who have authority spiritually in our lives. And this is why it's important not to blindly follow anyone. We should never just take anybody's word and not run it against the scriptures.

See, does it measure up? Because if the people would have taken what the false prophet said and compared it with what the Scriptures that God had given to them said, the people would have learned that Jeremiah was indeed the true prophet and that these guys were false. Because Jeremiah's message, if you find it, it matched exactly. Read the book of Deuteronomy.

Jeremiah's message matches exactly with what God said would happen in the book of Deuteronomy to the people if they did not follow God. It matches. It's identical. In the same way, you and I, we must not blindly follow those who would lead us astray, whether by lies or by recklessness. We need to make sure that we check out what we're being fed. Does it line up with the Word of God? When we receive counsel and others speak into our lives and encourage us and advise us,

And they tell us about what their aunt did in the same situation and what their uncle is thinking about doing and what they heard on the TV show. And as they're telling us all these things, we must not blindly follow, but we must check it out against the Word of God. Verse 33, So when these people or the prophet or the priest ask you, saying, What is the oracle of the Lord? You shall then say to them, What oracle? I will even forsake you, says the Lord.

And as for the prophet and the priest and the people who say, the oracle of the Lord, I will even punish that man in his house. Thus every one of you shall say to his neighbor and every one to his brother, what has the Lord answered and what has the Lord spoken? Verse 36. And the oracle of the Lord you shall mention no more, for every man's word will be his oracle. For you have perverted the words of the living God, the Lord of hosts, our God.

Thus you shall say to the prophet, what has the Lord answered you? And what has the Lord spoken? Here God says, when the people, when the priests, when the prophet asks you, what is the oracle of the Lord? The word oracle, it's the word burden.

Many times the prophecies were written and called the burden of the Lord as God had placed this burden upon the prophets. We saw this a lot in the book of Isaiah. God had placed this burden upon Isaiah and it was a burden that he had to share. It was a burden that he was compelled to speak. And so...

became synonymous with prophecies or oracles. He says, when people ask, what is the burden of the Lord or the oracle of the Lord? Here's how you respond. What oracle? What burden? God says, I'm going to forsake you. Here's the situation that was going on. He says in verse 34, no, verse 35, Every one of you shall say to his neighbor and every one to his brother, what has the Lord answered and what has the Lord spoken?

The prophets, the false prophets, were going around saying, the burden of the Lord, or the oracle of the Lord. When they were making their false proclamations, they were saying beforehand, they were prefacing it with, the burden of the Lord. And as a result, God says in verse 36, you've perverted the words of the living God. They've claimed to speak in the name of God by using words

This phrase, the burden or the oracle of the Lord, and it was a phrase that, well, it caused people to pay attention because it had been used prior with such men as Isaiah and other prophets. They would come with the burden of the Lord, the prophecy from the Lord, the oracle of God. And people's antennas would go up, they'd start to pay attention. Ooh, the word of the Lord.

But the problem was they hadn't stood in the counsel of God. They weren't speaking the word of God and they were leading the people astray. And so God says, look, I don't want you to say the oracle of the Lord any longer. I don't want you to say the burden of the Lord because it's been abused too much. People were so moved by it. They would believe it whenever someone would say the oracle of the Lord ahead of time. And so God says, don't say that anymore. Instead,

Notice God's not saying, I'm not going to speak to you or I don't want to speak to you. No, instead just say, hey, what has the Lord spoken? What is God speaking to you? Just ask that. Don't ask about this burden. It doesn't have to be this hyper-spiritual thing. Just ask, hey, what's God answered? What is God speaking to you? Because they had perverted the word of the Lord. In Ezekiel chapter 13...

Verse 6, you don't have to turn there, but it's a verse that spoke to me quite a while back and continues to speak to me. It brings light for me to the state and the condition of the false prophets. They weren't necessarily trying to start their own religion. They weren't trying to destroy the people. Ezekiel 13, verse 6, in talking about the false prophets, it says they have envisioned things

and false divination, saying, Thus says the Lord. But the Lord has not sent them, yet they hope that the word may be confirmed. Gives a little bit of insight about these false prophets. They're not perhaps maybe what we would think of in a false prophet as some dark, mysterious man, you know, plotting against them and, Oh, I can't wait. I'm going to deceive them and lead them astray and they're going to be judged by God and put to death and it's going to be awesome.

That's not what these false prophets were like. Now these false prophets, they would say, "Thus says the Lord," even though God hasn't sent them, but what they were doing was they were hoping that the word may be confirmed. So they'd speak out a prophecy, they'd speak out, "Thus saith the Lord," and this and this is going to happen. Not because the Lord had sent them, but because that's what they were hoping was going to take place. That's what they wanted. They wanted God's people to be blessed.

They wanted God's people to have peace, but they were not helping them find the peace that God offers, that comes in right relationship with Him. And so they were speaking it forth, but they're just hoping. And so these people are going around saying, the burden of the Lord, not because they were trying to destroy the people, but because that's what they were hoping was going to happen. At the same time, you can understand that they were also selfishly motivated, the people

or the office of being able to stand up and say, the burden of the Lord. And the honor and the recognition, the power that would come from that prominence, that position. Well, yes, that would definitely be something that they were seeking after. But they weren't trying to destroy the people. They were just hoping. But see, it's not good enough to...

Be sincere to just hope that it will be confirmed or hope that it will come to pass or hope that this advice that I'm sharing with you is really good advice. It's not enough. We have more than just a, well, I hope it will work out for you. I hope this is what God wants you to do. We have more than that if we stand in the counsel of God. Because then we have God's Word to share. And it's not speculation. It's not...

Perhaps it will come to pass. Well, then we can share with confidence, with authority, with boldness. This is what God's Word says. That's what the people need. And so he says, don't use this phrase, the burden of the Lord. It's been abused too much. Just ask, what is God speaking? What is the Lord saying? God wants to speak. Verse 38 says,

But since you say, the oracle of the Lord, therefore thus says the Lord, because you say this word, the oracle of the Lord, and I have sent to you saying, do not say the oracle of the Lord, therefore behold I, even I will utterly forget and forsake you and the city that I gave you and your fathers and will cast you out of my presence and I will bring an everlasting reproach upon you and a perpetual shame which shall not be forgotten.

So God sends them the message, don't say this anymore. Don't say the oracle of the Lord or the burden of the Lord. But they refused. They continued to pervert the word of the Lord. Disobeying God is no small matter. Disregarding His word and His instruction is destructive to us. God says, look, because you continue to say this,

And we might think, well, it's just a little thing. God says, look, because you continue to say this, you continue to pervert my words, when I told you not to say this anymore, don't use that phrase, God said. I'm going to bring destruction upon this city. I'm going to bring the judgment that I've been promising because you insist on rebelling against me and you refuse to turn back and get right with me. So God delivers this very serious and severe message

to the shepherds, to the spiritual leaders of the nation of Judah. And again, for them, it was very specific. It was to them. They were called to respond and they refused. But it also carries on to us as spiritual leaders, as those who have been called to make disciples, as those to whom God has given others to encourage, to minister to, to edify and to build up

We must make sure that we stand in the counsel of the Lord, to hear His Word, so that when we speak, we are able to share His Word, to share what God has spoken. That we don't just give out our own thoughts and what we can come up with. That we don't give of ourselves, but we give of the Lord. We need to stand in the counsel of God. We need to spend time in His presence.

The world around us needs us to spend time with Him, to hear from Him, that they might turn, that they might hear His Word, that they might have the opportunity to respond, to draw close to God, to be forgiven, to be healed, to be redeemed. The worship team is going to come up and lead us in some worship. And I encourage you in this time, don't be thinking about what's happening later this evening or tomorrow. Don't be distracted by anything.

whatever things may come up in your mind, let's take some time this evening to spend time with the Lord. Take some time. Close your eyes. Sing the songs. By faith, not because you deserve it, not because you're worthy, but by faith, because of what Jesus Christ has done for us, ask God to take you into His presence. Get right with Him. Stand in His presence. Spend time with Him. Ask Him to speak to you.

And then, in a few moments, after we've worshipped for a little bit, we'll get a chance to ask one another, Hey, what's the burden of the Lord? No, no, no. What's the Lord speaking to you? God wants to use us to minister to one another, but first, we need to stand in the presence of God. So let's spend time with Him as we worship the Lord together.

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. Visit ferventword.com to find more teachings and Bible study resources.