Study of Jeremiah
Chapter 23

Apparently those that were appointed to watch for the souls and well-being of the people were not doing so. This shows the complete lack of concern and love for those they were to watch over. They may have been available to perform weddings and religious rites but did not do the real work of the pastor such as getting back into the fold those that are lost, visiting the sick and those in trouble.

I have witnessed in recent weeks one pastor that in my mind has surpassed any other pastor I've ever met before. In fact I think this beloved man sometimes spreads himself too thin. He will travel great distances and go out of his way to try to win one soul to Christ if he thinks that person in dying and may die without Christ. He will leave his church service and go to the hospital if someone calls in and there is an emergency. I've never seen such compassion and willingness to obey the call of God on his life as this man. I didn't think there were any unselfish people like this in the world. He has such a burden for the lost. Yet there is such a joy in his countenance when he greets people.

I also recall David Wilkerson who at one point in his life left his church and family to go to New York to help some gang members find Jesus Christ. He actually risked his life to help those kids in trouble. That is how Teen Challenge got started. I'm not saying everyone has to be like these two people but whatever are calling is, we need to be faithful in it. I recall one of my favorite parables about the seed of the word. I believe we may be in danger of this third type of ground among thorns:

1.We see the first group of people hear the word but half-heartedly. The word they heard did not bring forth fruit.

2.The second heard and rejoiced but when they began to meet others who did not believe and even suffered persecution for the word they received, they began to become offended. If the life wasn't easy then they didn't want it.

3. The third is where pastors also can get caught up in it. Being so busy and caught up in activities that the word is neglected in them. If it is neglected in their own lives, surely they will not be able to minister it to their congregations. We also can get so caught up in our daily activities that the word we received at one time becomes choked and crowded out by the things of this life that it becomes unfruitful. We can get so busy doing necessary things, not necessarily bad things but we forget the great number of souls departing from this life into eternity without God, we forget that we are a dependent people who need daily refreshing and fellowship with God and His word, we fall away from our first love that we once had for the Lord and become wrapped up in other things that take priority over God.

4. Let us seek to become representative of the good ground that yields fruit hundredfold. This is not speaking of getting rich with this worlds goods. This refers to the word of God bringing forth fruit not only in our lives but the lives of others and the results will be eternal. True riches are spiritual things not the things in this life.

It is one thing for people to get offended if a faithful pastor is preaching the truth of the word but it is quite another if they scatter because the pastor is unconcerned, callous, and neglects to preach of word of God. Such a person should not be a pastor. A person who is holding a pastor's job just to draw a salary, is not a pastor. A true pastor has to be called of God and have a heart of compassion for people. The job is too difficult without this. They have to love what they are doing and be walking with God in order to be able to have the wisdom to lead and endure the trials that come with this position.

God will one day gather the outcasts of Israel back to Him.

It sounds like the pastors over them were ones that used their position to oppress rather than serve the people. He sounds like they were Lording over them in a cruel manner rather than lovingly guiding them in truth. The bible is not to be used as a hammer to bang on someone's head so that they do what the pastor wants. The bible is to instruct us in the way of truth and righteousness leading us to the one who will bring us eternal life.

Here God promises to appoint trustworthy pastors to watch over them. They will not be cruel taskmasters but gentle loving shepherds.

This prophecy foretells the wonderful reign of the Messiah. This is none other than Jesus Christ who was of the lineage of David but also the very Son of God. Jesus was crucified and rejected of men but was risen from the dead and waits at His Father's right hand until the day He will return and sets up His kingdom on earth. This is when scattered Israel will be gathered one final time and finally recognize that the one their ancestors rejected is the very Christ, Messiah promised by the Moses years before.

No more will any nation, group of people to terrorist ever be able to hurt them or anyone else. Jesus Christ Himself will be their protector.

This deliverance will surpass any other time in history for its greatness. After great tribulation Israel is delivered and saved by the coming of Jesus Christ and the power of God. Nothing can stop this, it will come to pass. The deliverance will surpass in greatness their deliverance from Egypt and deliverance from bondage in the days of Ezra and Nehemiah.

Here is a faithful servant of God in anguish because of the false prophets, unfaithful pastors and sins of the people. He is aware of the awesome holiness of God and His coming judgment that this prophet feels overcome. True faithful followers of God will always be grieved over sin.

This describes the Israel of that day. Nations of this world should take heed and fear God for we too are full of adulterers. We are full of evil and we are not right.

This was true then and is true today.

All we have to do is read the newspapers to see the evil that is in the pulpits across America today. Thank God there are still faithful pastors but they are not all this way.

Some churches have forsaken the preaching of the word and instead offer entertainment to please the crowds and keep the money rolling in. We need to seek God fervently that our churches are places for people to find God, and then grow closer to God being filled with the word of truth so that they will never desire to return to sin. Instead of the world influencing them, they need to learn to influence the world for the truth in Jesus Christ. The word of God should be a priority in our churches. Without the word, people will drift back into sin.

Pastors will have to answer to God for any neglect and unfaithfulness on their part. Being a pastor is a high calling. Their first calling is speaking the truth and not just what they think people want to hear.

Actually I think sometimes pastors may think people want to hear a watered down gospel but the kind of people I am acquainted with actually would rather hear a pastor who speaks the truth. I've met people lately that are actually hungry for the truth. They are getting tired of jokes, entertainment and funny stuff. Give us Jesus.

This is sad indeed if the prophets lead people away from God instead of toward Him. These false gods and religions bring no hope, no salvation and no eternal life.

The state that they had fallen into was that they:

1. Commit adultery - We need to pray that husbands love their own wives and wives love their own husbands. There is too much divorce among us.

2. Walk in lies - Making people feel good about them selves if they are living in sin just one example of lying.

3. Strengthening the hands of evil doers - Supporting and encouraging those that do evil instead of reproving them.

4. That none return from their wickedness - If we fail to preach repentance, we are allowing wickedness to go unchecked.

5. They became as Sodom and Gomorrah. Sexual immorality is one of the traits of those that forsake the truth of the word of God and do not repent of sin. After that, killing of the innocent prevails. People don't see abortion as killing the innocent but if it is, then the United States has already become as Sodom and Gomorrah.

It is one thing for people to do these things but when the pastors do them, we are in big trouble. Pastors should set the example. If they are not living right, how can they expect the people of the nations to live right.

A warning to all. Check out what us spoken, taught and preached with the word of God. If it doesn't line up, reject it. Desire to hear from God and understand God and He will bring it to pass. If you read God's word with a seeking heart, God will reward you with understanding. If you read God's word in order to get by with sin or to discredit the word, you will not get that understanding unless God has mercy on you and reveals it to you in spite of your purpose. The reason most do not understand the bible is because it is a spiritual book. It takes the Holy Spirit to give you understanding. You have to ask God for this and seek Him. It will not come with human understanding.

I've heard it said that it takes one of higher education to understand the King James Version of the bible. I do not agree with that statement. I have known people who have only been to the sixth grade and they can understand that book better than a college graduate that does not have the Holy Spirit. It takes the Holy Spirit to understand the King James Version, not man's education. I really believe that it takes the Holy Spirit or one that is teaching under the anointing of the Holy Spirit to give us proper understanding of the word of God. There is no other way to get the correct understanding.

This is what the prophet Jeremiah is trying to tell them. The false prophets were saying that no evil was coming and that the people would have peace. They were going opposite of what Jeremiah was saying.

That is a good message if it were true. We can't preach peace to people if they are living in sin and are apart or outside of the will of God. Its never God's will that anyone sins so if we see a group of people that have fallen away from God and are not living according to his word, we can't preach good things and peace, they need the message of repentance and getting right with God.

This is what Jeremiah was trying to tell them and he was getting no help from the false prophets. He was saying hey, bad is coming, judgment is coming if you don't change. They were saying, "Nah, God loves you, you are not bad, Peace be with you." We have both kinds of preachers today. You might wonder, how are they to know who needs to repent and who needs comfort? That is where a dear precious pastor has to seek the Lord first for himself for wisdom and direction from the Holy Spirit and then give the word to others. If he gets so busy that he can't do this then they will have to preach whatever comes to their minds and if its from the Holy Spirit, great but if its from their own imagination, the people suffer. We need the mind of the Lord also, not just the pastors. We are not to just depend on the pastors to receive the word of God.  Read it for yourselves.

If called has not called one to prophesy and preach, then they must not utter a word and claim its from God.

The biggest job of a prophet or preacher is to turn people away from evil and toward God. I don't hear as much messages on repentance as I use to and yet sin is greater and the need for repentance is greater. The worse thing a pastor can begin to do is worry about whether or not the people will like them. God will give them faithful helpers if they just preach the truth.

We think God is far away but actually He is closer than we think.

If a dream or vision does not line up with God's word, then it is a lie. There are those that actually will tell a homosexual that he is okay and does not need to change. That does not line up with the word of God. God says no to that stuff. The preachers who tell them that do not actually love them. If we love them we will tell them the truth. The truth is that homosexuality is sin. It is a sin that destroys both the body in this life and the soul for eternity. It is a sin that kills, steals and destroys and it is a sin that actually slaps God in the face and defies the way He created man and woman. It is sin and if those committing this sin does not repent, they will burn in hell for eternity. It is a serious grave sin against God and against all of mankind. It is unnatural and evil. One can be rid of it by coming to Jesus Christ, repenting and asking God for His power to save and deliver Him from this sin. People may get mad at me but I care enough to risk that and tell them how they can be saved and not spend eternity in hell.

If you listen to the feel good speakers and the political correct climate of this world today, you will listen to lies that will not bring repentance and everlasting life to the listener. Evolution is a lie from the pits of hell. Satan does not want you to be saved and have eternal life. He is the one behind evolution. Listen. As soon as we are born, we begin to die. The old body decays and rots. It is impossible to evolve into something better. The only way to get a new body that cannot die is to trust in Jesus Christ for salvation and turn from sin. After this body dies or if Jesus comes before that event, you will receive a new body that cannot die and will last forever. That is the only way. If you wait until you evolve into something better, you body will decay in the grave and your soul will spend eternity in hell.

Nothing is hid from God. He sees all. His word searches and desires to make us right. We can be right through faith in Jesus Christ.

For a pastor to withhold the word of God is equal to stealing.

If we say something like that, we better make sure that the Lord really said it. I fear for this. I've heard many say, "The Lord showed me this and the Lord told me that." If that is so, make sure it really is before saying it to someone else. Ask for discernment. Be zealous for the truth and check out everything by the Word of God. If it is opposite of the word, reject it as flesh or imagination and not the Spirit of God.

I think if we search deep into our hearts we will know who speaks the truth. If we realize that God is against lying and is against those that speak in His name if they do not speak the truth. What a great responsibility we have to speak the truth.

Some of the messages I've heard in these latter days is, "God wants you to be rich, God wants you to have the best, God wants you to be happy, God loves you the way you are." This is speaking of earthly things.

God does want us to be rich in the word and in His Spirit. God does want us to have the best which is a relationship with Him that lasts for eternity. God does want us to have the joy of salvation and the joy of the Lord but not forget the lost who do not yet have that joy. God loves us in spite of our sins but not in our sins. He sent Jesus to save us from that sin.

The people seemed to be mocking Jeremiah. He would preach about repenting and forsaking idolatry. He would warn and preach that God's judgment was coming. He would preach the word of God and they seemed to be saying in mockery, "The Burden of the Lord??" I hear that today. Fire and brimstone type of preaching or any preaching that warns against sin is mocked. I've even heard, not seen because I refuse to watch the stuff, of movies are made to mock preachers of the gospel who preach against sin. They make them look like charlatans and fakes. I admit there may be charlatans and fakes that are just after money but remember that whenever there is a real, the devil makes a counterfeit. Just because there is the counterfeit does not mean that there are not real preachers preaching the truth. I know of at least two that I mentioned previously in this study that are preaching truth.

Remember there are fake diamonds but there are also real ones.

God help us to love the word and not pervert it with our own philosophies and imaginations.

Its very serious to speak in the name of the Lord and speak falsely. It would be better for a preacher to quit preaching and go back to plumbing or some other occupation rather than stay in the pulpit and preach false doctrine or change the word in any way to accommodate the desires of the flesh. Just because we don't like one scripture, we don't have the right to change it to mean something else so that we can get by with sin. Some teach that you can receive Christ one time and that is sufficient for eternity even if you go back into open sin. I'm not talking about sin in which you do without thinking and repent of right away. I'm talking about someone who has once received Christ and deceives himself into thinking he can live in sin and still be a saved, born again Christian. Sin is what Jesus came to save us from because sin will take us to hell. He came to deliver us from sin, fill us with His Spirit and change our lives. We are not to go back into the filth that He delivers us from. If we do sin we need to go back to Him and ask forgiveness and not continue in the stuff Jesus died on the cross for to save us from.

We don't have to be a slave to sin, we can be free.

Study of Jeremiah 24

                           Webmaster: Dorna Chambers
                          newlight@dornaslighthouse.com