1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:08,880 Two weeks ago, we began to look at Jeremiah's impassioned condemnation of the prophets, 2 00:00:08,880 --> 00:00:16,720 Jeremiah chapter 23. From verses 9 to 24, we reflected on the power and the fragility 3 00:00:17,360 --> 00:00:22,080 of God's Word. We were exhorted to resist the temptation to fortify the truth 4 00:00:22,080 --> 00:00:30,720 with falsehoods that people want to hear, but to remember that the power of God's Word is exercised 5 00:00:30,720 --> 00:00:37,760 through weakness, clothed in flesh. Today, we're going to be looking at the rest of the passage, 6 00:00:37,760 --> 00:00:46,480 verses 25 to 40. The first half tackles prophetic dreams. The second half condemns prophetic messages. 7 00:00:46,480 --> 00:00:56,640 Now, if you just look this up, I'm going to be reading it from the NLT. So, 8 00:00:56,640 --> 00:01:02,880 you might want to switch versions. We're reading the NLT in chapel this term, so I decided today, 9 00:01:02,880 --> 00:01:10,000 let's use the NLT as a preaching text. Of the four translations we read in chapel each year, 10 00:01:10,000 --> 00:01:17,840 the ESV is the most Hebrew-y and the NLT is the most English-y, but that doesn't make it the least 11 00:01:17,840 --> 00:01:25,440 accurate. There are some big translation challenges in this section and in my judgment, ESV and NLT 12 00:01:25,440 --> 00:01:31,920 get almost identical accuracy scores, so I thought let's try to model preaching from a Bible that's 13 00:01:31,920 --> 00:01:37,120 already done the work of explaining what the Hebrew means. I'll give it a go. Let me pray, 14 00:01:37,120 --> 00:01:43,520 then I'll read the passage. Heavenly Father, we thank You for Your Word, Your Word of life, 15 00:01:44,480 --> 00:01:52,320 and we pray that You would implant it in our hearts and transform us by it so that we may be 16 00:01:52,880 --> 00:02:01,520 like Christ, a light to the world. Amen. Jeremiah chapter 23, verse 25. 17 00:02:01,520 --> 00:02:08,480 I have heard these prophets say, listen to the dream I had from God last night, 18 00:02:09,440 --> 00:02:17,280 and then they proceed to tell lies in my name. How long will this go on? If they are prophets, 19 00:02:17,280 --> 00:02:24,160 they're prophets of deceit, inventing everything they say. By telling these false dreams, they're 20 00:02:24,160 --> 00:02:31,840 trying to get my people to forget me, just as their ancestors did by worshiping the idols of Baal. 21 00:02:31,840 --> 00:02:39,280 Let these false prophets tell their dreams, but let my true messengers faithfully proclaim 22 00:02:39,280 --> 00:02:48,560 my every word. There is a difference between straw and grain. Does not my word burn like fire, 23 00:02:48,560 --> 00:02:56,640 says the Lord? Is it not the mighty hammer that smashes a rock to pieces? Therefore, says the 24 00:02:56,640 --> 00:03:02,880 Lord, I am against these prophets who steal messages from each other and claim they're from me. 25 00:03:03,920 --> 00:03:11,120 Yes, says the Lord, I am against these smooth-tongued prophets who say this prophecy is for the Lord. 26 00:03:11,120 --> 00:03:18,720 I am against these false prophets, says the Lord. Their imaginary dreams are flagrant lies 27 00:03:18,720 --> 00:03:26,480 that lead my people into sin. I did not send or appoint them, and they have no message at all 28 00:03:26,480 --> 00:03:36,160 for my people. I, the Lord, have spoken. Suppose one of the people or one of the prophets or priests 29 00:03:36,160 --> 00:03:45,040 asks you, what prophecy has the Lord burdened you with now? You must reply, you are the burden. 30 00:03:46,560 --> 00:03:52,960 The Lord says he will abandon you. If any prophet, priest, or anyone else says, I have a prophecy 31 00:03:52,960 --> 00:04:00,000 from the Lord, I will punish that person along with his entire family. You should keep asking each 32 00:04:00,000 --> 00:04:06,400 other, what is the Lord's answer? Or what is the Lord's saying? But stop using this phrase, 33 00:04:06,400 --> 00:04:11,680 prophecy from the Lord, for people are using it to give authority to their own ideas, 34 00:04:11,680 --> 00:04:17,760 turning upside down the words of our God, the living God, the Lord of heaven's armies. 35 00:04:18,800 --> 00:04:25,120 This is what you should say to the prophets, what is the Lord's answer? Or what is the Lord's saying? 36 00:04:25,120 --> 00:04:31,280 But suppose I respond, this is a prophecy from the Lord, then you should say, this is what the 37 00:04:31,280 --> 00:04:37,360 Lord says. Because you've used this phrase, prophecy from the Lord, even though I warned you not to 38 00:04:37,360 --> 00:04:44,640 use it, I will forget you completely. I will expel you from my presence along with this city that I 39 00:04:44,640 --> 00:04:51,600 gave to you and your ancestors, and I will make you an object of ridicule, and your name will be 40 00:04:51,600 --> 00:05:05,920 infamous throughout the ages. Prophetic dreams, prophetic messages. I've heard these prophets say, 41 00:05:05,920 --> 00:05:12,000 listen to the dream I had from God last night. Think first of all, we need to clarify what the 42 00:05:12,000 --> 00:05:21,120 issue with dreams was. Over in chapter 31 of Jeremiah, after a vision of a gloriously renewed 43 00:05:21,120 --> 00:05:29,280 Israel, the prophet says, at this I awoke and looked around, my sleep had been pleasant to me. 44 00:05:29,920 --> 00:05:36,400 It sounds like God spoke to Jeremiah in a dream, just like he would do to Joseph when 45 00:05:36,400 --> 00:05:44,240 Mary fell pregnant with Jesus. The problem with the prophets in this passage is that they think 46 00:05:44,240 --> 00:05:52,080 it must be from God because it's a dream. But dreams are dangerous, aren't they? It's like 47 00:05:52,080 --> 00:05:57,280 that old saying, did God speak to you in a dream, or did you dream that God spoke to you? 48 00:06:00,720 --> 00:06:06,560 When the prophets say in verse 25, listen to the dream I had from God last night, 49 00:06:06,560 --> 00:06:13,440 I think we're meant to understand that they're being genuine. Yes, their dreams are lies, 50 00:06:13,440 --> 00:06:19,440 but the prophets of deceit deceive themselves before they deceive anyone else. 51 00:06:20,640 --> 00:06:26,320 Like many modern prophets, these ancient prophets believed that genuine prophecy is 52 00:06:26,320 --> 00:06:32,800 accompanied by a particular kind of experience. And that when you get that experience, it's 53 00:06:32,800 --> 00:06:40,480 got to be prophecy. The second thing about false prophets is that they tend to come in groups. 54 00:06:40,480 --> 00:06:47,920 The 450 prophets of Baal who opposed Elijah, the 400 prophets who opposed Micaiah, 55 00:06:48,800 --> 00:06:52,800 the numerous although unnumbered prophets who opposed Jeremiah, 56 00:06:53,680 --> 00:06:58,800 down to verse 30, God accuses these prophets of stealing messages from one another. 57 00:06:59,760 --> 00:07:04,640 Now, when a prophet wakes up with a dream, the first audience of his or her dream is the other 58 00:07:04,640 --> 00:07:12,320 prophets. And what do you know? They all say, yeah, that was what my dream meant too. It's like 59 00:07:12,320 --> 00:07:19,040 a social media bubble. These prophets are reinforcing one another and their combined 60 00:07:19,040 --> 00:07:28,880 voice overpowers the people's judgment. And finally, these prophets may be self-deceived, 61 00:07:28,880 --> 00:07:34,400 they may be encouraged by their bubble of all the other prophets who think exactly the same 62 00:07:34,400 --> 00:07:42,640 as them, but they are also fully responsible for what they say because they are deliberately 63 00:07:42,640 --> 00:07:49,680 using these dreams to deceive other people, to make God's people forget him. You know, 64 00:07:49,680 --> 00:07:57,760 even a self-deceived person could stop short of that. And it's the shameless evil of their plans 65 00:07:57,760 --> 00:08:05,360 that makes Jeremiah cry out, how long? In verse 26. You know, these prophets aren't actually telling 66 00:08:05,360 --> 00:08:12,000 anyone to worship Baal. They're more subtle than that. What they're doing is they're pointing 67 00:08:12,000 --> 00:08:20,640 their followers to a God who rewards evil behavior with peace and prosperity. And they call this 68 00:08:20,640 --> 00:08:30,560 God Yahweh, but that's not who he is. So how does God respond to these evil people? Well, 69 00:08:30,560 --> 00:08:39,600 verse 28 is a counter prophecy that contrasts the uninspired word tell with the authoritative word 70 00:08:39,600 --> 00:08:45,760 proclaim. Right? Let these false prophets tell their dreams, but let my true messengers faithfully 71 00:08:45,760 --> 00:08:55,920 proclaim my every word. So what is it that makes the Word of God true and powerful? Well, it's not 72 00:08:55,920 --> 00:09:01,840 the means by which the prophet received that word. It's the word itself, the words themselves. They're 73 00:09:01,840 --> 00:09:09,280 like the life-giving grain compared to the useless straw. You know, I think there's actually a bit 74 00:09:09,280 --> 00:09:16,800 of irony going on behind the words there because the prophets actually like being straw. You know, 75 00:09:16,800 --> 00:09:24,800 as the wind blows them up into the air, they say, look at me, I'm flying. Silly old grain sitting 76 00:09:24,800 --> 00:09:32,800 solidly there in the winnowing pan. But of course, in reality, God's word is not just solid, it is 77 00:09:32,800 --> 00:09:40,240 terrifyingly powerful. And it may not seem that way at first glance. It's much more exciting to be 78 00:09:40,240 --> 00:09:48,320 the grain that they are straw than it is to be the grain. But Jeremiah switches metaphors in the next 79 00:09:48,320 --> 00:09:58,880 verse, the word of God is like fire. Let's think about fire. Now, I can hold a lit mat between my 80 00:09:58,880 --> 00:10:05,760 fingers. A little breath could snuff it out. You'd never guess the power of that flame, would you, 81 00:10:06,320 --> 00:10:13,760 until you've seen it devour mountain sides with a roar of a freight train, until you've seen it rip 82 00:10:13,760 --> 00:10:21,680 through towns buckling concrete and melting steel. So this is what Jeremiah does. He picks up God's 83 00:10:21,680 --> 00:10:29,760 word, new image like a sledgehammer. And he swings it down on the prophets again and again. Verse 30 84 00:10:29,760 --> 00:10:38,640 says the Lord, I'm against, bang. Verse 31 says the Lord, I'm against, bang. Verse 32, I'm against, 85 00:10:38,640 --> 00:10:46,000 says the Lord, bang. And the result you've got to admit is a bit of an anti-clinics. 86 00:10:46,000 --> 00:10:52,640 None of the prophets felt a thing. It was just words. They turned their backs. They carried on with 87 00:10:52,640 --> 00:11:01,680 business as usual. But if Jeremiah is right, they're actually already dead. They just don't realize it 88 00:11:02,480 --> 00:11:07,920 quite yet. We're going to think more about that in a moment. But first, I want to look over the second 89 00:11:07,920 --> 00:11:16,400 part of this chapter, which shifts the focus to prophetic messages. These are a little bit cryptic. 90 00:11:16,400 --> 00:11:21,840 We don't know what form these messages took, but whatever it was, it seemed that the prophets were 91 00:11:21,840 --> 00:11:29,360 treating this as another mode of revelation that guaranteed authenticity. And they labeled these 92 00:11:29,360 --> 00:11:36,320 experiences with a name for a prophetic oracle that just happens to sound like the word for burden. 93 00:11:36,320 --> 00:11:43,040 And so Jeremiah turns it into this play on words. I suppose one of the people, one of the prophets 94 00:11:43,040 --> 00:11:48,240 or priests asked you, what prophecy is the Lord burdened you with now? You must reply, you are the 95 00:11:48,240 --> 00:11:56,960 burden. It's like they've become a load that God is no longer willing to bear, so he just tosses them 96 00:11:56,960 --> 00:12:04,960 onto the side of the road. And this time, it's not because of the damage they're doing to the people. 97 00:12:04,960 --> 00:12:12,080 It's God's own reputation. First 36. Every time they claim to have one of these messages, 98 00:12:12,080 --> 00:12:20,240 they're making it look like God is denying who he is. Do they really have any conception of 99 00:12:20,880 --> 00:12:30,960 who their prophecies disrespect and blaspheme? It's so dangerous, so reckless. 100 00:12:30,960 --> 00:12:38,000 To preach another whole sermon on the recklessness of false prophecy. In verse 35, 101 00:12:38,000 --> 00:12:44,080 Jeremiah tells the prophets that they are allowed to say, what is the Lord's answer? 102 00:12:44,800 --> 00:12:53,040 What does the Lord say? Now these expressions specifically describe the words that God spoke 103 00:12:53,040 --> 00:12:58,960 to Moses and to his actual prophets. In other words, what Jeremiah is doing is 104 00:12:58,960 --> 00:13:05,520 he's directing these prophets, these false message speakers to the law and the prophets, 105 00:13:06,400 --> 00:13:12,400 to the words that are preserved today as scripture. It almost feels like God is 106 00:13:12,400 --> 00:13:17,760 announcing the end of prophecy, but of course, that's not true, right? There's plenty of prophecy 107 00:13:17,760 --> 00:13:25,520 to come. The problem lies not with prophecy, but with the people Jeremiah is confronting. 108 00:13:25,520 --> 00:13:36,720 But they have lost the ability to recognize any prophecy that does not give them that self-affirmation, 109 00:13:36,720 --> 00:13:46,000 that cheap grace that they crave. The last verses of this chapter anticipate the prophets 110 00:13:46,960 --> 00:13:53,280 ignoring and rejecting God's warning. This rejection brings us back to the problem that 111 00:13:53,280 --> 00:13:57,280 I just flagged a moment ago, the problem that's really run all the way through this whole 112 00:13:58,000 --> 00:14:03,520 chapter. Right back in verse 22, God said that if the prophets had stood before him and spoken his 113 00:14:03,520 --> 00:14:09,040 words, they would have turned the people from their evil ways. So what about Jeremiah? 114 00:14:09,760 --> 00:14:14,240 And if Jeremiah really did speak God's words, why did the people not listen? 115 00:14:15,920 --> 00:14:19,040 In verse 30, Jeremiah brings a hammer of God's words, 116 00:14:19,040 --> 00:14:27,920 smashing down on the prophets, but seemingly to no avail. What's wrong? Why can't they feel the blows? 117 00:14:30,560 --> 00:14:41,680 I want to reflect on one fact and two implications about prophecy. So here's the fact, 118 00:14:41,680 --> 00:14:49,280 the discernment of prophecy, true or false, is not a matter of reason, but of desire. 119 00:14:50,160 --> 00:14:56,080 The discernment of prophecy is not a matter of reason, but of desire. It's not a simple matter of 120 00:14:56,080 --> 00:15:03,680 can my reason align this prophecy with Scripture. Prophecy is discerned through a kind of a cycle 121 00:15:03,680 --> 00:15:10,640 of recognition. With false prophecy, the cycle begins with a visionary whose charmed 122 00:15:10,640 --> 00:15:18,080 life gives authority to their words. As it says back in verse 16, they fill you with futile hopes 123 00:15:18,080 --> 00:15:26,080 and false prophecies are compelling because deep down we long for them to be true. 124 00:15:28,480 --> 00:15:38,640 Whatever you want, have it, do it. It'll be okay. Look at me, I'm blessed. You'll be blessed too. 125 00:15:38,640 --> 00:15:46,320 And so the prophets' lives authenticate their words because they resonate with the hearers. 126 00:15:46,320 --> 00:15:55,200 They resonate with our desires and our desires are shaped by what we worship, which is ourselves. 127 00:15:56,160 --> 00:16:03,760 And so when we hear sweet nothings for a self-worshipping prophet, we feel this tug of 128 00:16:03,760 --> 00:16:10,960 recognition and we get sucked in. Of course, it's the same for true prophecy. 129 00:16:11,840 --> 00:16:19,680 You will only be able to recognize the scriptural shape of true prophecy when the prophets' 130 00:16:19,680 --> 00:16:28,000 life and message create this kind of resonance, a glad recognition. And before that can happen, 131 00:16:28,000 --> 00:16:34,000 you've got to be shaped by your love of the truth. You see the circularity? 132 00:16:34,640 --> 00:16:42,000 The problem, Jeremiah, faced came to a head when the word incarnate entered the world. 133 00:16:42,000 --> 00:16:49,040 Remember what Jesus says in John 5. The Father's word does not dwell in you because you do not 134 00:16:49,040 --> 00:16:54,400 believe the one He sent. You study the Scriptures diligently because you think that in them you 135 00:16:54,400 --> 00:17:01,120 have eternal life. These are the very Scriptures that testify about me. Yet you refuse to come to 136 00:17:01,120 --> 00:17:09,920 me to have life. You see the circularity? If you read Moses, it points you to Jesus, 137 00:17:09,920 --> 00:17:14,640 but you can't understand Moses until you've come to Jesus to have life. 138 00:17:14,640 --> 00:17:26,640 So there's the fact discernment of prophecy, true or false, is about desire, not reason. 139 00:17:27,840 --> 00:17:34,000 And this leads to two implications that I want to reflect on. The first concerns the purpose 140 00:17:34,000 --> 00:17:42,400 of prophecy. I mean, why does God put up with false prophecy? Why does He order things this way? 141 00:17:42,400 --> 00:17:47,360 Why does He let our desires shape us into receptacles for only one sort of word? 142 00:17:49,600 --> 00:17:56,160 I think the answer very clearly from this passage is that God uses false prophecy to separate the 143 00:17:56,160 --> 00:18:05,120 righteous from the wicked. False prophecy is never neutral. It's only ever spoken out of moral 144 00:18:05,120 --> 00:18:13,760 corruption and believed out of moral corruption. It's fundamentally the work of Satan. From the 145 00:18:13,760 --> 00:18:20,240 beginning when the serpent says, did God really say to the devil's promise to Jesus that you won't 146 00:18:20,240 --> 00:18:27,200 strike your foot against a stone, the father of lies has always aimed to lead the whole world astray. 147 00:18:27,200 --> 00:18:38,080 But that doesn't let people who believe those lies off the hook. Failure to discern the truth is always 148 00:18:38,640 --> 00:18:45,120 a moral failure. Listen to Jesus again from John 8. Jesus said to them, if God were your 149 00:18:45,120 --> 00:18:50,800 father, you would love me. For I've come here from God. I've not come on my own. God sent me. 150 00:18:50,800 --> 00:18:58,240 Why is my language not clear to you? Because you are unable to hear what I say. You belong to your 151 00:18:58,240 --> 00:19:05,680 father, the devil. You want to carry out your father's desires. When he lies, he speaks with his 152 00:19:05,680 --> 00:19:11,840 native language for he's a liar and the father of lies yet because I tell the truth. You do not 153 00:19:11,840 --> 00:19:19,680 believe me. And nothing's changed today, hasn't it? You know, as long as the devil roams free 154 00:19:19,680 --> 00:19:27,280 false prophets will rise up to speak for him and God will use them to separate the righteous 155 00:19:27,280 --> 00:19:33,760 from the wicked. Remember, 2 Timothy 4, people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit 156 00:19:33,760 --> 00:19:38,480 their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their 157 00:19:38,480 --> 00:19:48,320 itching ears want to hear. So that's implication number one. It's pretty depressing. You cannot 158 00:19:48,320 --> 00:19:55,520 demonstrate the truth of prophecy by reason if the listener hates the truth. All you can do is 159 00:19:55,520 --> 00:20:01,760 preach the truth in the knowledge that it will push people to choose a lie and fall under judgment. 160 00:20:03,760 --> 00:20:12,400 There is, I think, a second implication of Jeremiah 23. And this concerns the power of true 161 00:20:12,400 --> 00:20:21,920 prophecy, the power of true prophecy. Because I think true prophecy demolishes in order to renovate. 162 00:20:23,200 --> 00:20:32,400 It demolishes in order to renovate. It took decades. But in God's timing, the fire of Jeremiah's words 163 00:20:32,400 --> 00:20:39,760 did take hold and burn the whole nation down. And the final words of chapter 23 came true. 164 00:20:39,760 --> 00:20:49,360 But when the smoke cleared, there was a remnant standing in the ashes with Jeremiah himself 165 00:20:49,360 --> 00:20:57,360 at their center. And this was the remnant for whom Jeremiah's prophecies were written down 166 00:20:57,920 --> 00:21:05,600 in this book. The remnant that started out as hostile listeners but ended up as repentant 167 00:21:05,600 --> 00:21:15,280 readers. Because the person who is destroyed by their embrace of the lie can be recreated 168 00:21:16,320 --> 00:21:24,160 when the word of truth kindles a spark in the wreckage of their life. God's word is like a fire. 169 00:21:24,160 --> 00:21:30,320 You strike a match, you let it fall to the ground. Its pale flame contracts on the way down until 170 00:21:30,320 --> 00:21:38,000 its light is lost in the undergrowth. But if you're not careful, that match can flare up and kindle 171 00:21:38,000 --> 00:21:48,480 the dry grass. And a true prophecy has the power to penetrate a person and transform them from the 172 00:21:48,480 --> 00:21:54,320 inside. And the person in whom we see this power at work in this chapter is actually Jeremiah himself 173 00:21:54,320 --> 00:22:02,400 back in verse 9 where God's holy words of judgment overcome him. And he models for us what it means 174 00:22:02,400 --> 00:22:11,520 to be a speaker of true prophecy. Somebody whose first task is to be overwhelmed by the truth you 175 00:22:11,520 --> 00:22:20,160 speak so that even as your words bring listeners to judgment, your life will stand as a prophetic 176 00:22:20,160 --> 00:22:29,520 testimony to life beyond judgment. As always, Jesus is the final reality to whom our lives point 177 00:22:29,520 --> 00:22:35,280 other people. As he says in John 12, now is the time for judgment on this world. Now the prince 178 00:22:35,280 --> 00:22:41,280 of this world will be driven out and I when I'm lifted up from the earth will draw all people to 179 00:22:41,280 --> 00:22:49,760 myself. And he said this to show the kind of death he was going to die. Heavenly Father, we 180 00:22:49,760 --> 00:22:57,920 thank you that death was not the final word for your son, the Lord Jesus. We thank you so much 181 00:22:57,920 --> 00:23:03,680 that in being lifted up he has drawn people to himself from every corner of the world. 182 00:23:05,440 --> 00:23:11,200 Please make us people who can speak your words of truth in the midst of death 183 00:23:11,200 --> 00:23:22,320 as those who have been lifted up with Christ. May death listeners see Christ in us and turn to him 184 00:23:22,320 --> 00:23:42,320 even as his word brings them to judgment. Have mercy on our broken world through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.