Covenant Theology: Blessings, Curses, and Sanctions: The Hallelujah of Confession

America's Curse - Part 1

Transcript: AI Transcript

Professor: John Weaver

Subject: Covenant Theology

Genre: Sermon

Dictation Name:

Date: 2006-04-30

Synopsis: John Weaver argues that the root cause of America's moral and spiritual decline is the prevalence of false and foolish preachers who desecrate God's name, denounce His truth, and devastate the people by leading them astray. Drawing from Jeremiah 23, he parallels the situation in ancient Judah with modern America, asserting that God imposes sanctions—negative judgments—on nations that tolerate a corrupt ministry. The sermon calls believers to reject false teachers, know Scripture personally, and recognize that national restoration depends on God-called preachers faithfully proclaiming His Word.

[John Weaver] Let's open our Bible today to the book of Jeremiah chapter 23. Jeremiah 23. And let's begin reading with verse 9. Jeremiah 23. And we're going to read from verse 9 to verse 32. Let me say that this message today is going to be in two parts. The first part is entitled America's Curse. And then, Lord willing, week after next, I will be finishing the second part, and it will be entitled, America's Hope. So, notice if you would, Jeremiah 23, beginning with verse 9. Jeremiah writes, My heart within me is broken because of the prophets. All my bones shake. I am like a drunken man, and like a man whom wine hath overcome, because of the Lord and because of the words of His holiness.

[John Weaver] For the land is full of adulterers, for because of swearing the land mourneth. The pleasant places of the wilderness are dried up, and their course is evil, and their force is not right. For both prophet and priest are profane. Yea, in my house have I found their wickedness, saith the Lord. Wherefore their way shall be unto them as slippery ways in the darkness, and they shall be driven on and fall therein. For I will bring evil upon them, even the year of their visitation saith the Lord.

[John Weaver] And I have seen folly in the prophets of Samaria. They have prophesied in Baal, and caused my people Israel to err. I have seen also in the prophets of Jerusalem a horrible thing. They commit adultery and walk in lies. They strengthen also the hands of evildoers, that none doth return from his wickedness. And there all of them unto me is Sodom, and the inhabitants thereof is Gomorrah.

[John Weaver] Therefore, thus saith the Lord of Hosts concerning the prophets, Behold, I will feed them with wormwood, and make them drink the water of Gaul. For from the prophets of Jerusalem is profaneness gone forth into all the land. Thus saith the Lord of Hosts, Hearken not unto the words of the prophets, that prophesy unto you. They make you vain. They speak a vision of their own heart, and not out of the mouth of the Lord. They say still unto them that despise me, The Lord hath said, Ye shall have peace. And they say unto every one that walketh after the imagination of his own heart, No evil shall come upon you. For who hath stood in the counsel of the Lord, and hath perceived and heard his word? Who hath marked his word and heard it? The whole whirlwind of the Lord has gone forth in fury, even a grievous whirlwind.

[John Weaver] It shall fall grievously upon the head of the wicked. The anger of the Lord shall not return until he has executed, until he has performed the thoughts of his heart. In the latter days you shall consider it perfectly. I have not sent these prophets, yet they ran. I have not spoken to them, yet they prophesied. But if they had stood in my counsel and caused my people to hear my words, then they should have turned them from their evil way and from the evil of their doing. Am I a God at hand, saith the Lord, and not a God afar off? Can any hide himself in secret places that I shall not see him, saith the Lord? Do not I fill heaven and earth, saith the Lord?

[John Weaver] I have heard what the prophets said, that prophesy lies in my name, saying, I have dreamed, I have dreamed. How long shall this be in the heart of the prophets that prophesy lies? Yea, they are prophets of the deceit of their own heart, which think to cause my people to forget my name by their dreams, which they tell every man to his neighbor, as their fathers have forgotten my name for Baal. The prophet that hath a dream, let him tell a dream. And he that hath my word, let him speak my word faithfully.

[John Weaver] What is the chaff to the wheat, saith the Lord? Is not my word like as a fire, saith the Lord, and like a hammer that breaketh a rock in pieces? Therefore, behold, I am against the prophets, saith the Lord, that steal my words, every one from his neighbor. Behold, I am against the prophets, saith the Lord, that use their tongues, and say, he saith. Behold, I am against them that prophesy false dreams, saith the Lord, and do tell them, and cause my people to err by their lies and their likeness.

[John Weaver] Yet I sent them not, nor commended them. Therefore, they shall not profit this people at all, saith the Lord." Now let's stop there. And remember, I told you that I'm going to be speaking today on America's curse. Let me just say one word and think for a moment of what enters your mind. The word is sanctions. We have heard that word and have understood its meaning politically and diplomatically. But when it comes to the biblical law, most of us do not understand what sanctions really are.

[John Weaver] It is a foreign term to us. Legally speaking, sanctions refers to that part of the law that is designed to secure its enforcement either by imposing a penalty for the violation of the law or by offering a reward or blessing for its observance. Simply stated, sanctions may be either negative or positive. When one in a position of higher authority sanctions an act or conduct or an attitude, that just simply means he approves it and he puts his blessings upon it. On the other hand, when someone in higher authority sends sanctions against someone, that means he disapproves of that conduct, action or attitude, and therefore he judges or chastises them. Let me just say in light of sanctions, I want you to think for a moment that we're in a desperate situation in America today and the majority of Americans do not comprehend the enormity of our situation. I could today dwell on the political and the judicial corruption that abounds, the congressional fraud, the spineless politicians, the Federal Reserve System, the economy, the immorality that is rampant, the rebellion of an entire generation, and the ignorance and the obtuseness that exists not just among Americans in general, but among professing Christians specifically.

[John Weaver] Now, today instead of trying to deal with the symptoms, I want to try to deal with the real cause and the real root of the problem. You know, there are some people that do not like apples. And yet there's an apple tree in their yard. If you do not like apples, it is vain and foolish for you to go out each year and pull the apples off and curse them as you throw them to the ground saying, I don't like you. I don't like you. I don't like you.

[John Weaver] The truth of the matter is this. If you really don't want the apples around, all you have to do is take the axe and hew the tree down. That'll take care of the problem. So today, what I want to do is show you the root of the problem. in America. If you do not like what America has become, if you do not like the corruption, the filth, the vileness, the rudeness, the wickedness, the faithlessness and rebellion, then you just simply need to lay the axe to the root of the tree that is producing all of that fruit and all of those symptoms. And once you hew the tree down, then the poisonous fruits will disappear. Now, you're going to probably ask me, since I read this passage, what is the tree that has produced all the poisonous fruits in America? The answer is simple. False and foolish preachers. Do you realize the problem that we have in America today is exactly the same problem that Judah had and Israel had in Jeremiah's time?

[John Weaver] There were men who were preaching and prophesying in the name of God that God had never called, had never sent, and never sanctioned. And consequently, they were teaching error, falsehood, and outright lies. They denied God. They denied God's Word. They denied God's truth. And they substituted for God's Word and God's truth their own whims, dreams, plans, and desires. They were and are false and foolish creatures who led the people astray. Look what God says in verse 14. Watch it, Jeremiah 23, verse 14.

[John Weaver] I have seen also the prophets of Jerusalem a horrible thing. They commit adultery and walk in lies. They strengthen also the hands of evildoers that none doth return from his wickedness. They are all of them unto me as Sodom and the inhabitants thereof as Gomorrah. Likewise, today, if you look around at the preachers that are in our pulpits, think with me, please. The majority of the preachers that occupy the pulpits of America are not scholars. They are not exegetes. They're not expositors. They're not expounders of the word of God.

[John Weaver] No, not by far cry. In reality, the vast majority of them are humanistic to the core and deal with humanistic philosophy, such as I'm OK, you're OK, or the purpose driven life or how to build self-esteem or the power of positive thinking. Or how about this one? God wants you to be rich now. And above all. We want you to feel comfortable and included in our church. It really doesn't matter to the vast majority of preachers today about sin, repentance, reconciliation, regeneration, conversion.

[John Weaver] Their thing is just come on in and join us just the way you are. Believe it or not, I read an article of several women who had a ministry, quote unquote, Going to the strip joints in Vegas and several other places and asking women to do lap dances on them. And then when the woman consented, then they would say, well, we don't really want the lap dance. You can do it if you want to. We just want to pay you and tell you about Christ. And then if you want to come and join our church, that's fine. You don't have to change your occupation. You don't have to change your lifestyle. What? What about sin? What about repentance? What about regeneration? What about conversion? Let me tell you something.

[John Weaver] The truth of the matter is this. The average preacher in this country is more concerned with building a building or building a work than he is with building people. They had rather grow numerically than they had spiritually. This same attitude God condemned in Israel in the book of Hosea chapter 8 and verse 14 where God said, for Israel hath forgotten her maker and buildeth temples. That's what we've done in this country. We've forgotten God and we're building churches on every corner of the street. And yet, the truth of the matter is there's very little preaching and teaching of the Word of God.

[John Weaver] Now, let me give you a surprise today. It may surprise you to learn that God forbids you to listen to some preachers. How's that for a shocker? Look in Jeremiah 23 and verse 16. Look what God says concerning the prophets. Thus hath the Lord of hosts hearken not unto the words of the prophets that prophesy unto you. They make you vain. They speak a vision out of their own hearts. and not out of the mouth of the Lord. What did He say? Hearken not to them. Don't listen to them. Look in verse 25. I have heard what the prophets said, that prophesy lies in my name, saying, I have dreamed, I have dreamed. How long shall this be in the heart of the prophets that prophesy lies? Yea, they are prophets of the deceit of their own heart. So what does God say? Don't listen to these preachers.

[John Weaver] You would be amazed at the people that I run into that have had the craziest, and I'm going to use this word, it's correct, stupidest, and the most unbiblical ideas imaginable, and they got it from a TV preacher. What does God say? God says don't listen to these preachers. You know what God calls these preachers? I want to show you. Look in your Bibles. Hold Jeremiah 23, but look in your Bibles to Isaiah 56. I know I could read this passage, but I want you to see it. Look, if you would, Isaiah 56 at verses 10 and 11. Isaiah 56, beginning there in verse 10. Look what God says about these types of preachers. I'm not making this up. Here's what God says, Isaiah 56 and verse 10, His watchmen are blind, they are all ignorant, they are all dumb dogs that cannot bark, sleeping, lying down, loving a slumper. Look, yea, they are greedy dogs which can never have enough, and they are shepherds that cannot understand.

[John Weaver] They all look to their own way, every one for his own gain from his own quarter. What does God say about these prophets? He says they are dumb dogs that cannot bark. What good is a dog that will not bark and let you know when danger is approaching? He's worthless. And then God calls him a greedy dog. He says they're interested not in His word, not in His truth, not in His people, not in His work, but for their own gain. Well, here are preachers, prophets that God calls dumb dogs and greedy dogs. I want you to look in Jeremiah 23 at verses 30 and 32. I'm going to deal with this more next time, but here are the prophets that God is specifically speaking against. In Jeremiah 23 and verse 30, God says, therefore, behold, I'm against the prophets. That's just what I want to deal with right now. Look in verse 31. Behold, I'm against the prophets, verse 32, behold, I'm against them that prophesy false dreams. Note three times God says, I am against the prophets.

[John Weaver] So God does not just simply forbid us to hear them. God specifically says, I am against them. What does that mean? That means that God appears in arms against those preachers.

[John Weaver] Now, let me ask you a question. If you listen to those whom God is against, and if you follow those whom God is in arms against, where does that place you? In the ranks that God is going to fight against. God says don't listen to them, and don't follow them, and don't side with them. If you do, I'll be against you, as well as against them.

[John Weaver] Now, the point I'm making is this. The curse of Israel in Jeremiah's time and the curse of America is exactly the same. We've listened to preachers who've led us astray. We refuse the right way. We refuse the true way. And what is Americans done? What have professing Christians in America done? They followed the blind. And they were led blindly into the ditch themselves. Now, Jeremiah begins this passage, and I want you to look there, Jeremiah 23 and verse 9. He begins this passage with these words.

[John Weaver] He says, My heart within me is broken because of the prophets. All my bones shake. I'm like a drunken man and like a man whom wine have overcome because of the Lord and because of the words of his holiness. Now, Jeremiah begins this section by saying, I've got a broken heart. He's all my bones shake. I am like a drunken man whom wine has overcome.

[John Weaver] Now, what does that mean? It means you're stunned. You're senseless. Jeremiah said, I am shocked beyond measure. Why? There are three reasons given in verse nine. First of all, he says, because of the prophets. because of the prophets, that is because of their sin, their false doctrine which they preached, the wicked lives which they lived, and especially it filled him with horror that they were making use of God's name, claiming to be God's preachers, claiming to proclaim His word, and having received their instruction from him. Jeremiah said that's the furthest from the truth. He says there have been none to abuse the Lord and to abuse his truth like these prophets. They've abused his name. They've abused his holiness.

[John Weaver] By the way, I hope you understand to dishonor God and to dishonor his word, to profane his truth, should be the greatest grief imaginable to a gracious soul. And so, Jeremiah said, I can't believe this. I'm just stunned, senseless. I'm shocked out of my wits. Look at the men who claim to be the prophets and the preachers of God, look at their lives, and look at what they're saying, and look at what they're doing. Let me ask you, does it not grieve you today that men ignore the truth of the word of God? Does it not grieve you that Jesus Christ is dishonored? Does it not grieve and upset you that the true preachers of God are despised and counted as despicable individuals? Does it not upset you that our politicians, our civil leaders, even our religious leaders do everything in their power to overlook and condemn the Word of God?

[John Weaver] Stop and think about that. Anytime a preacher is used on TV or in the movies, usually he's portrayed as an adulterer, or as an ignorant, stupid individual who knows nothing and can do nothing. Jeremiah said, I'm just shocked. I'm just stunned because of these prophets. I can't believe it. He gives you a second reason in verse 9. He says he's shocked and stunned, secondly, because of the Lord.

[John Weaver] What's he mean by that? He means because of the Lord's judgments, which are going to fall like a flood. Jeremiah trembled to think of the desolation and the judgment that was coming from the face of the Lord. He knew that just as surely as night followed day, and evening followed morning, that judgment was coming from God upon those who rebelled and were disobedient to Him. So he said, I'm shocked because I know what's going to come.

[John Weaver] And then he said, thirdly, because of the words of his holiness. In other words, he knew that God was absolutely holy. It is his power that would bring forth the judgment. But it was his holiness that would require the judgment. So he gives you three reasons. He said, I'm shocked. I'm stunned because the prophets, because the Lord and then because of his holiness.

[John Weaver] Now look at verse 10. Because verse 10 gives us an excellent summary and the result of the false and foolish preachers in the land. Look what he says. For the land is full of adulterers, for because of swearing the land mourneth, and pleasant places of the wilderness are dried up, and their course is evil, and their force is not right. Now, note if you would, he says, here's the result of these false and foolish preachers. The land is full of adulterers. That is, it's full of sin and wickedness. And then he says that even nature itself is witness against the land. Even the land itself mourns and fights against men.

[John Weaver] Now, I want to give you a quote. I want you to listen. The quote is from John Calvin on this verse. And this is what he says, and then I'll explain. Calvin says, whenever then God raises his hand to punish men for their sins. If they perceive it, not the very land, which is without sense and feeling ought to fill them with shame for their madness. for mourning, that is M-O-U-R-N-I-N-G, for mourning appears in the very land as though it knew that God was displeased with it. When, therefore, men sleep in their sins, and thus disregard God's vengeance, how monstrous must be their tupor, that is, their numbness, their insensibility.

[John Weaver] And if this be intolerable in the common people, what can be said of the prophets who ought to proclaim such words as these? Cursed is he who transgresseth the precepts of this law, or cursed is he who has corrupted the worship of God, or cursed is he who deedeth unjustly with his neighbor, and whatever else the law continues."

[John Weaver] Now listen to what he says. If men do not perceive the hand of God against them, the very land itself will cry out against them. Have you noticed the floods, the tornadoes, the hurricanes, the droughts, the fires? What is the land doing? Crying out and saying, wake up, folks. God is highly displeased. God is judging you. Can't you see?

[John Weaver] Now, there's about four things I want you to consider with me today. I hope we'll be able to cover them all. When we talk about the false prophets, the false preachers, first of all, I want you to consider their desecration. Consider their desecration. Look in verse 11. God says, for both prophet and priest are profane. Yea, in my house have I found their wickedness, saith the Lord. Now skip down to verse 13. He says, I have seen folly in the prophets of Samaria.

[John Weaver] They have prophesied in Baal and caused my people Israel to err. So God says in verse 11 that they are profane. He's found wickedness in them. He's found folly in them. So here is their desecration.

[John Weaver] Now, when I use the word desecration, I'm using it as a synonym for profanation. They profane the name of the Lord. They profane or desecrate His word and they leave the people astray. Now, the word profane in verse 11 is the Hebrew word kanaf, which means to pollute, to defile, to desecrate. to become greatly corrupted and profane. So God is saying that the false preachers then desecrate His ministry, His word, His calling, His house. Now, notice He said they desecrate not only Him, but His house, and their wickedness was found in His house.

[John Weaver] because that's where they have opportunity to send it forth. They are representing themselves as God's preachers, but yet they are not preaching His Word. What are they preaching? They are preaching a figment of their imagination. Look in verse 16. He says this, Thus saith the Lord of hosts, hearken not unto the words of the prophets that prophesy unto you. Why? They make you vain. They speak a vision out of their own heart and not out of the mouth of the Lord. In other words, they're just simply Preaching whatever they want to preach. Look down in verses 25 and 26. He says, I have heard what the prophets said that prophesy lies in my name, saying, I have dreamed, I have dreamed. How long shall this be in the heart of the prophets that prophesy lies? Yea, they are prophets of the deceit of their own heart. So what are these men preaching if they're not preaching the word of God? They're preaching lies. They're preaching deceit. They're preaching imaginations of their own hearts. Rather than following the Word of God, they're preaching their own whims, their own desires, their own vision, their own dreams, anything and everything other than the Word of God.

[John Weaver] Let me give you another quote, because these men say this so succinctly. Here's Calvin again, and he's commenting on the fact of the Lord is talking about the profanity of these false preachers. He says this, he that is Jeremiah enhances what he said of their impiety for they were not only infamous and wicked in common life in the duties of the second table, but they were also corrupted the whole service of God and the true prophets were derided by them.

[John Weaver] Let me just stop there. He said they corrupted the whole worship of God and the true prophets were derided by them. I want to ask you a question. When it comes to politics, when it comes to religious services, name the big name preachers that always are put on TV and put in the political circles. Now, I want you to think about the true preachers and prophets of God who are put up there to say, here's what God really says. None of them. He goes further. He says this. For what was found to be the priest's wickedness in the temple, except that they practiced a sort of merchandise under the cover of the priesthood, and then the prophets viviated and adulterated God's worship, and what was religion to them but the means of filthy lucre or gain? When therefore the prophets thus trod underfoot the service of God, corrupted and perverted the law to make gain or to acquire power, Their impiety was not only seen in the habits of daily life, but also in the very temple of God, that is, with regard to the priestly office."

[John Weaver] What was he saying? They had corrupted everything in the worship and the service of God for money or for power or for both. Thus, in their rebellion, they desecrated God and His word. Not only that, they desecrate the office of a minister. They desecrate the calling. They desecrate the work. You look in this country at the number of men who present themselves as the preachers of God, and yet they never declare His word. They never enunciate His principles. They never stand against wickedness. They never demand that sinners repent and believe, and yet they call themselves the preachers of God.

[John Weaver] Let me tell you something, folks. We have sired a generation of so-called pastors who are sweet, effeminate, successful church administrators whose desire is to build a big work and a name for themselves, who desire to be praised and recognized of men, and who know absolutely nothing of the real calling and work of God. We have sired a generation of men who labor mightily in the preparation of sermons just to make sure that they do not upset or offend or make anyone mad. While seeking the praise of man, they ignore the praise which comes from God only. Our Lord spoke of those people in John 12 and verse 48 when He said, For they love the praise of man more than the praise of God. And then in John 5 in verse 44, he asked this question of those Pharisees, he says, How then can you believe which receive honor one of another and seek not the honor that cometh from God alone? Desiring the recognition and praise and honor of man makes faith impossible.

[John Weaver] You know, I've often said, I cannot possibly imagine how much work the average liberal or uncalled preacher does in order to make sure that he really does not teach the Word of God. Can you imagine all of the little sob stories, anecdotes, and illustrations that he has to come up with to entertain the people while he says absolutely nothing? Such men are farce and not only are they are farce.

[John Weaver] They're laughing stock to the world. And they cast dispersion upon the true preachers of God because they desecrate the calling of the office while profaning the name of the Lord.

[John Weaver] Now, let me show you. You say, what is the result of this desecration? What is the result of this profanation? Look at it. Verse 15. Here it is, black and white. Therefore, thus saith the Lord of Hosts concerning the prophets, Behold, I will feed them with wormwood and will make them drink the water of Gaul. Why? Watch, for from the prophets of Jerusalem is profaneness gone forth into all the land. Where did it start? In the pulpits. In the preaching.

[John Weaver] Because the preachers were profane. Profane is then scattered throughout the entire land. Let me say it very bluntly, the truth of the matter is this. Most of the problems that we're facing in our land has to be laid at the feet of preachers. Many of them false and foolish preachers who refuse to teach the word of God, and in doing so, they promote a false and a fictitious gospel.

[John Weaver] Matthew Poole said this, listen carefully, those whose work was to reveal the mind of God to the people and who pretended to that office and those that were employed in offering sacrifices and other works which belonged to the priestly office, according to the law, the whole ecclesiastical order, all of their ministry, were profane, not merely hypocritical, but lewd, immoral, and debauched. Yea, they were grown to that impudence that they made the temple which was the house of the Lord a den of thieves, a place where they committed wickedness, Thus it was in the time of Eli and more generally afterwards. There is no more certain sign of the ruination of a nation than when God allows in it a lewd and a corrupt ministry." Isn't that amazing? There's no sure sign of the ruination of a nation. when God allows in it a lewd and a corrupt ministry.

[John Weaver] If I were to begin naming names today, I could go a good while on the pastors who have been rightly charged with adultery, fornication, Pornography? When you have a lewd and corrupt ministry, you have a ruined nation. Why? Wickedness in the pulpit begets wickedness in the pew.

[John Weaver] Now let me connect the charges that God lodges against the preachers with the result. Look at it. Let's go back to verse 13. He said, I have seen folly in the prophets of Samaria. What was their folly? They prophesied in Baal. That is a false gospel, a false god. And they caused my people to err. I have also seen also in the prophets of Jerusalem a horrible thing. They commit adultery. They walk in lies. They strengthen also the hands of evil doers.

[John Weaver] And none doth return from his wickedness. They are all of them unto me as Sodom, and the inhabitants thereof as Gomorrah.

[John Weaver] Now watch verse 15, the latter part. For from the prophets of Jerusalem is profaneness gone forth into all the land. Everything that God charged the preachers with was spread now throughout the entire land. Let me tell you, when those who are in positions of power and authority refuse to live holy, godly lives, They cannot expect those over whom they exercise power and authority to do otherwise than what they are doing. Interestingly, God says, don't you listen to these men. I'm against them. They desecrate my name. They desecrate my office, my calling and my word.

[John Weaver] Notice, secondly, I want you to consider with me their denunciation. You'll find this in verse 14 again, where God denounces them. He calls them in verse 14, adulterers and liars. He calls them rebels. He calls them perverts. He says they're assaulting Gamara unto him. Verse 16, once again, he says they They make you vain, they speak a vision out of their own heart. Look in verse 21, he says, I have not sent these prophets, yet they ran. I have not spoken to them, yet they prophesied.

[John Weaver] But if they had stood in my counsel and had caused my people to hear my words, then they should have turned them from their evil way and from the evil of their doing. Now, notice if you would how God denounces these false preachers. Let me give you another quote. Listen to this, Calvin again on verse 14, he says this, Jeremiah shows how they, that is these false preachers, surpassed other prophets in impiety, even because they dissimulated, that is they played the hypocrite, when they saw on the one hand adultery prevailing, and on the other frauds, plunders, and perjuries.

[John Weaver] And not only so, but they undertook the patrionizing of the wicked, and strengthened the hands of the ungodly, and added audacity to their madness. For as fear weakens the hands, so does shame. As then these prophets removed shame as well as fear from the wicked and the ungodly, so they strengthened their hands, that is, they gave them more confidence, so that they rushed headlong into every evil more freely and with greater liberty."

[John Weaver] Matthew Poole on verse 14 says this, the great aggravation of the sin of those that occupy the place of spiritual guides is that they encourage profane men either by false doctrine, extenuating sin, and putting a fair gloss upon them, or at least by their mealy mouths, theory, and forbearing to tell sinners of their wicked courses, or by their wicked examples, The most of people thinking that they may do what their teachers do, by which means sinners, instead of being brought to a sense of their sins and repentance for them, are hardened in their wicked courses. Thus says Poole, they become as Sodom and Gomorrah to the one true and living God. What's he saying? God despises them. God hates them. God will destroy them. Now in verse 16, God says, hearken not unto these prophets. You know, when you stop and think that Israel had been given the law of God, you would think That when these false preachers got up and started spouting out their false doctrines, that the people would say, hey, wait a minute.

[John Weaver] All that's frothing nonsense. I'm not going to listen to that. You would think that. But guess what? Judah and Israel believe the false prophets. I am continually amazed at what people will believe.

[John Weaver] There are people that believe in the lizard people, because the lizard people exist. I heard one man say that he fell over a ship and fell into a time warp. And he appeared 40 years later. Everybody else is 40 years older, but he was the same as when he fell over. People believe that stuff. It seems that people will believe everything and anything but the truth. You tell them the truth and they will not believe it. You tell them a lie and they'll believe it. Isn't that amazing? You would think these people would have known better.

[John Weaver] Look what God says in verse 21. God says, I have not sent these prophets, yet they ran. I have not spoken to them, yet they prophesied. What does God mean when He says, I have not sent them, yet they ran? I have not spoken to them, yet they have not prophesied. Let me give you an illustration. Look back in your Bibles to 2 Samuel chapter 18. 2 Samuel chapter 18.

[John Weaver] You'll remember that Absalom had rebelled against his father, tried to kill him. And there's a war. Joab takes the men of Judah and he fights against Absalom. And of course, you know how Absalom's hair got tangled in the oak tree and Joab took darts and thrust them through his heart and killed him. Well, word is going to be sent back to David. Notice in 2 Samuel chapter 18, and let's begin reading there verse 19.

[John Weaver] Then said Ahimeas, the son of Zadok, let me now run and bear the king tidings, how that the Lord have avenged him of his enemies. And Joab said unto him, thou shalt not bear tidings this day, but thou shalt bear tidings another day. But this day thou shalt bear no tidings, because the king's son is dead. Then said Joab to Cushi, Go tell the king what thou hast seen. And Cushiah bowed himself unto Joab, and ran. Then said Ahimeaz the son of Zadok yet again to Joab. But howsoever let me, I pray thee, also run after Cushiah. Joab said, Wherefore wilt thou run, my son, seeing thou hast no tidings ready? But howsoever, he said, let me run. And he said unto him, Run. Then Ahimeaz ran by the way of the plain, and overran Cushiah.

[John Weaver] But notice verse twenty-two. Ahimeaz is wanting to run, and Joab says, How can you run when you haven't been sent and when you have no tidings ready? You following? Now, go back to Jeremiah and look at what he said in verse 21. I have not sent these prophets, yet they ran. I have not spoken to them, yet they prophesied. In other words, here were preachers who ran unsent. And in running unsent, they had no message from God. Thus, they had to make up their own message. The only thing they could speak then, according to verses 25 and 26, is a message from their own deceived and deceitful hearts. So they're being denounced then by God as being unsent, untaught, and ungodly.

[John Weaver] Now, let me go further. Let me break this down for you. Because this passage is very important. It teaches us basically that no one is worthy of being heard except to be a true minister of God. No one is worthy of being heard except to be a true minister of God. There are a minimum of at least three things that are necessary to prove a person a true ministry of God, a true minister of God. Now, there's a multitude of others, but I'm saying there is a minimum of at least three. What are they? Number one, he must have a divine call. God must actually call him to preach. Number two, he must have faithfulness and integrity in his life.

[John Weaver] You remember what our Lord said in John 8, in verse 36, he looked at those Pharisees. He said, which of you convinced of me of sin? A pastor. A preacher of God ought to have a life that is above reproach, according to first Timothy, chapter three, doesn't mean that he's sinless. But generally, overall, he is a man of integrity. He's a man of his word. He's a man of faithfulness. And number three, he actually preaches and proclaims the word of God.

[John Weaver] So he must have a divine call. He must have faithfulness and integrity in his life. And he must actually preach the word of the Lord. All of those who do not have a divine call, all of those who do not have faithfulness and integrity and godliness in their lives, all of those who do not proclaim the word of God are not worthy to be heard and they may be scripturally rejected. Now, God said, I didn't send them but they ran. I didn't give a message yet they preached. What's he saying? Listen carefully. When God says, I have not sent them yet, they ran. Running is arduous work. Do you realize a false preacher may show a lot of zeal, a lot of diligence and a lot of earnestness?

[John Weaver] He may indeed be a great orator and very successful as far as the world is concerned. But God said, I never sent him. And the proof is. He's not preaching my word.

[John Weaver] Now, look at verse 22, verse 22, needs a little bit of explanation. He's talking about these false prophets now. He says, I've not sent them yet. They ran. I've not spoken to them yet. They prophesied. Verse 22, but if they had stood in my counsel and had caused my people to hear my words, then should they have turned them from their evil way and from the evil of their doings? Ah.

[John Weaver] Now, let me ask you a question. God says I didn't send these preachers. I didn't give them a word. But yet, if they had heard my counsel, and if they had stood in my words and said what I said, the effect would have been the people would have turned from their wicked ways and from their evil doings. Why don't you say, wait a minute now, how could they speak God's word if they had not heard God?

[John Weaver] Well, the answer to that's very simple. God had already previously revealed his law to Moses, he had given it to the people, they had his word. Listen, let me just read to you Deuteronomy 30, verses 12 through 15. Listen to what God says. Deuteronomy 30, verses 12 through 15. It is not in heaven. that thou shouldest say, Who shall go up to heaven to bring it down unto us, that we may hear it and do it? Neither is it beyond the sea that thou shouldest say, Who shall go over the sea for us, and bring it unto us, that we may hear it and do it? But the word is very nigh thee, in thy mouth and in thine heart, that thou mayest do it. See, says God, I have set before thee this day life and good, death and evil. How did God set life and good, death and evil before them in His law?

[John Weaver] You object and you say, but Brother Weaver, you've got to remember these men were unconverted and uncalled. I understand that. But do you realize God can use a crooked stick to draw a straight line? And if God can use a jackass to preach to a false preacher, He can use a false preacher to preach to someone else. By the way, listen to me, it is not the man that God would be honoring, but his word. You remember what he said in Psalm 138, verse two? He said, thou hast magnified thy word above thy name. And then in Psalm 119, verse 89, forever, O Lord, is thy word settled in the heavens. So what God is saying is this, if these false prophets had at least stood in his counsel, If they had heard his words, what would they be doing? They would not be really and truly false prophets. They would be preaching and teaching his word. And the evidence that they were false prophets, they were not teaching and preaching his word. So God then denounces them as being unsent and untaught.

[John Weaver] Thirdly, very quickly, I want you to consider with me their devastation. This is found in verse 13, 15, 17, and 27. Look, if you would please, in fact, even verse 12. He says, Wherefore, their way shall be unto them slippery ways in the darkness. They shall be driven on and fall therein, for I will bring evil upon them, saith the Lord, in the year of their visitation. And then, of course, he talks about them being as Sodom and Gomorrah in verse 14. Notice, if you would please, in verse 15, And they make the people profane. In verse 16, they make the people vain. And notice in verse 27, the ultimate result is. They make the people forget the one true and the living God and follow veil.

[John Weaver] Let me just point this out. You know, we think. With all the preachers we have in this country, and I mean talking about the false and foolish preachers, one would think that at least they might help in some degree. I mean, after all, you'd say that they're trying to do what's right. They just don't know what's right. Surely they can't be all bad. Well, what did our Lord say?

[John Weaver] If the blind lead the blind, both shall fall in the ditch. And then the Bible tells us in verse 13, look at it. It is these false prophets that do what? That cause my people Israel to err. In verse 15, they make the people profane. In verse 16, they make the people vain. In verse 17, they sue the wicked. They bless the wicked. They assure them of peace and prosperity. And then in verse 27, that's when they make them forget God.

[John Weaver] Now, let me ask you a question. Think about this. How can anyone really, truly teach the will of God if he doesn't know what the will of God is? How can How can someone lead you to the One True and the Living God if you don't even know who the One True and the Living God is, or if he doesn't know who the One True and the Living God is? How can that happen? How can a false preacher really and truly preach the Word of God if he doesn't really believe the Word of God? Now, listen to me.

[John Weaver] You talk about the devastation that these men wrought in Israel. Look at the devastation that's being wrought in America. Because of false and foolish preachers, like Israel of old, we have gone a whoring after the gods of pleasure, prosperity, political correctness, and tolerance. Profanation, profanation has issued forth from the pulpits in America. We have become a profane people. Let's think, and let's ask some questions. Where are the preachers of early America? Where are the preachers that call men and women to repentance, to faith, to holy and righteous living? Where are the preachers that expose sin, wickedness, rebellion, and unrighteousness? Where are the pastors who will lead the people in a holy war against corruption, fraud, wickedness, and tyranny? Where are they?

[John Weaver] Oh, yes, we have a few in this country, but I'm talking about as a whole. We have listened to false and foolish preachers in this country, and we basically. Destroyed ourselves. The average American. And I'm going to go further, the average professing Christian knows nothing of God's law, knows nothing of righteous and godly living. knows nothing of how to make application of the Word of God to his life. The average professing Christian knows nothing of a Christian worldview, a biblical philosophy, or presuppositional thinking.

[John Weaver] No, the truth is we've become a profane people and we have been devastated and the devastation began in the pulpit. And from the pulpit, as God says, it went throughout all the land. A thought came to me the other day, and hopefully I'll get to preach on this sometime in the not too distant future. But do you realize when men think that they know more than God, and that they know better than God, and they relegate God's Word and God's truth to the trash. Eventually. God will relegate them to the garbage dump himself.

[John Weaver] Which brings me to the fourth and final point, I want you to consider. Their destruction back in verse 12, what does God say? Wherefore, their ways shall be unto them as slippery ways of the darkness. They shall be driven on and fall therein, for I will bring evil upon them, even the year of their visitation, saith the Lord." In verse 15, once again, he says, don't listen to these men. In verse 19, God says, Behold, a whirlwind of the Lord is gone forth in fury, even a grievous whirlwind. It shall fall grievously upon the head of the wicked. So what is God saying that He's going to do to these false preachers and these foolish preachers? Well, He says He's going to make their way slippery in darkness. He's going to bring evil upon them. He talks about the year of their visitation. By the way, the word visitation here means judgment, the year of their judgment. And so he is saying that he's going to deal with these wicked men. They cannot fight against God and escape.

[John Weaver] Note, if you would please, in verse 15. Therefore, thus said the Lord of Hosts concerning the prophets, behold, I will feed them with wormwood and will make them drink the water of Gaul. Now, wormwood and Gaul are bitter, extremely bitter. So what is God saying? God says, ultimately, I'm going to give these false and foolish preachers a miserable, bitter, tragic end to their miserable, wicked lives. And then God says in verse 19, like a whirlwind, once he makes them suffer so tragically, then he will wipe them Now, very quickly, let me show you an illustration.

[John Weaver] Look in your Bibles to Jeremiah 20. Jeremiah 20. And let's begin reading in verse 1. Jeremiah 20. I could multiply these illustrations. Here is how God has done it in times past. Jeremiah 20, verse 1. Now, Pasher, the son of Emmer, the priest, who was also chief governor in the house of the Lord, heard that Jeremiah prophesied these things. Then Paschur smoked Jeremiah, so you got the false preacher smiting the true preacher. Then Paschur smoked Jeremiah the prophet and put him in the stocks that were in the high gate of Benjamin, which was in the house of the Lord. And it came to pass on the morrow that Paschur brought forth Jeremiah out of the stocks. Then said Jeremiah unto him, Thou, the Lord hath not called thy name Paschur, but Megarmisavib, which means terror on every side.

[John Weaver] For thus said the Lord, Behold, I will make thee a terror to thyself and to all thy friends, and they shall fall by the sword of their enemies, and thine eyes shall behold it, And I will give all Judah into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall carry them captive into Babylon, and shall slay them with a sword. Moreover, I will deliver all the strength of this city, and all the labors thereof, and all the precious things thereof, and all the treasures of the kings of Judah, will I give them in the hand of their enemies, which shall spoil them, and take them, and carry them into Babylon. And thou, Pashur, and all that dwell in thine house shall go into captivity, and thou shalt come to Babylon, and there thou shalt die, thou shalt be buried there, Thou and all thy friends whom thou hast prophesied lies.

[John Weaver] What's God going to do? Kill him. Look in Jeremiah 29 very quickly. Beginning there with verse 20. Jeremiah 29 verse 20. Hear ye therefore the word of the Lord, all ye of the captivity whom I have sent from Jerusalem to Babylon. Now watch. Jeremiah 29, verse 21, Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, of Ahab the son of Coliah, and of Zechariah the son of Massiah, which prophesy a lie unto you in my name. Behold, I will deliver them in the hand of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, and he shall slay them before your eyes. You can read it all down there where God said He's going to destroy them. He'll destroy their families. He'll destroy everything. Marker down.

[John Weaver] Sooner or later, the false and foolish preachers will be destroyed by God because they devastated his people. God has denounced them because they've desecrated his word. And himself now, let me make a couple of applications, the first one is this, I started out by telling you that God does impose sanctions. And sanctions may be negative or positive. God imposes sanctions against individuals, against families, against churches, against nations, against preachers. He places all of those who rebel against Him under a negative sanction.

[John Weaver] All you have to do is read Numbers chapter 16 and find out about Dathan, Abiram and Korah. And what did God do to them? He destroyed them. What about the 250 princes of the congregation that supported them? God destroyed them, set fire from heaven and consumed them. God does impose sanctions. Those sanctions may be negative or they may be positive, but God does impose sanctions. And that includes sanctions on preachers.

[John Weaver] You know, I've often said this analysis heard me say this innumerable times. I've been asked why I don't do certain things or why I would not do such and such, and I've always say, well. I'm more afraid of the Lord than anyone else. And God can clean your clock. quicker than anyone else. Just marker down, folks, God does. Impose sanctions. The second thing is this. You've got to understand that there are preachers that God forbids us to listen to. You say, what preachers are those, any and all of them, that do not preach and teach His Word? You say, how do I know whether I'm preaching His Word or not? Oh, isn't that interesting? That means you've got to know His Word yourself. You've got to have some biblical discernment.

[John Weaver] Do you remember what Paul said about the Zabreans in Acts 17? That these were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they searched the Word of God daily as to whether or not these things were so. When they heard the Apostle Paul preach, they didn't just take Paul's word, they searched the Scripture. That means this, folks. If we're going to obey God, And not listen to false and foolish preachers. We must know the word of God ourselves. We must know what God's word teaches. And we must be able to discern when a man is preaching the truth and when he's not preaching the truth.

[John Weaver] What is the curse of America? An uncalled unsent and an untaught ministry. You look at the founding of our country. It was the preachers who led in the American Revolution. It was the preachers who taught. It was the preachers who confronted the civil rulers. No civil ruler could take office without an election sermon. He was called before the people, and the preachers preached an election sermon to that ruler. Where are God's preachers today? Now, there are some. But as a whole, we've destroyed ourselves, because like Israel of old, We listen to false and foolish preachers and we're under the curse, the sanction of God.

[John Weaver] And our very land cries out against us saying, wake up, wake up. You better listen. If you don't. It's going to get an awful lot worse. We will never regain our nation until we regain God-called preachers in the pulpits, preaching and teaching obedience to the Word of God. Father, in the name of Jesus Christ, we bow to Thee this day. We ask You to help us, to teach us, to make us know Your Word and to give us, Lord, understanding and discernment In the name of Jesus Christ we ask and pray, Amen.

[John Weaver] You may contact Dominion Ministry by mail at 7400 Abercorn, that's A-B-E-R, C-O-R-N, Street, Suite 705, P-M-B, 175, Savannah, Georgia, 31406. Or give us a call at 912-925-7000.

[John Weaver] You can also visit our website at www.dominionministry.com

America's Curse - Part 1

John Weaver | SermonAudio

Lecture Metadata	Details
Speaker	John Weaver
Source	SermonAudio
Media ID	7300619481
Subject	Covenant Theology
Course	Covenant Theology: Blessings, Curses, and Sanctions: The Hallelujah of Confession
Genre	Sermon
Date	2006-04-30
Dictation Name
Book	Book 187: America's Curse — Chapter 1
Source Timed Segments	87

Formatted Transcript

Opening

Let's open our Bible today to the book of Jeremiah chapter 23. Jeremiah 23. And let's begin reading with verse 9. Jeremiah 23. And we're going to read from verse 9 to verse 32. Let me say that this message today is going to be in two parts. The first part is entitled America's Curse. And then, Lord willing, week after next, I will be finishing the second part, and it will be entitled, America's Hope. So, notice if you would, Jeremiah 23, beginning with verse 9. Jeremiah writes, My heart within me is broken because of the prophets. All my bones shake. I am like a drunken man, and like a man whom wine hath overcome, because of the Lord and because of the words of His holiness.

Scripture Reading — Jeremiah 23:9-32

For the land is full of adulterers, for because of swearing the land mourneth. The pleasant places of the wilderness are dried up, and their course is evil, and their force is not right. For both prophet and priest are profane. Yea, in my house have I found their wickedness, saith the Lord. Wherefore their way shall be unto them as slippery ways in the darkness, and they shall be driven on and fall therein. For I will bring evil upon them, even the year of their visitation saith the Lord. And I have seen folly in the prophets of Samaria. They have prophesied in Baal, and caused my people Israel to err. I have seen also in the prophets of Jerusalem a horrible thing. They commit adultery and walk in lies. They strengthen also the hands of evildoers, that none doth return from his wickedness. And there all of them unto me is Sodom, and the inhabitants thereof is Gomorrah. Therefore, thus saith the Lord of Hosts concerning the prophets, Behold, I will feed them with wormwood, and make them drink the water of Gaul. For from the prophets of Jerusalem is profaneness gone forth into all the land. Thus saith the Lord of Hosts, Hearken not unto the words of the prophets, that prophesy unto you. They make you vain. They speak a vision of their own heart, and not out of the mouth of the Lord. They say still unto them that despise me, The Lord hath said, Ye shall have peace. And they say unto every one that walketh after the imagination of his own heart, No evil shall come upon you. For who hath stood in the counsel of the Lord, and hath perceived and heard his word? Who hath marked his word and heard it? The whole whirlwind of the Lord has gone forth in fury, even a grievous whirlwind. It shall fall grievously upon the head of the wicked. The anger of the Lord shall not return until he has executed, until he has performed the thoughts of his heart. In the latter days you shall consider it perfectly. I have not sent these prophets, yet they ran. I have not spoken to them, yet they prophesied. But if they had stood in my counsel and caused my people to hear my words, then they should have turned them from their evil way and from the evil of their doing. Am I a God at hand, saith the Lord, and not a God afar off? Can any hide himself in secret places that I shall not see him, saith the Lord? Do not I fill heaven and earth, saith the Lord? I have heard what the prophets said, that prophesy lies in my name, saying, I have dreamed, I have dreamed. How long shall this be in the heart of the prophets that prophesy lies? Yea, they are prophets of the deceit of their own heart, which think to cause my people to forget my name by their dreams, which they tell every man to his neighbor, as their fathers have forgotten my name for Baal. The prophet that hath a dream, let him tell a dream. And he that hath my word, let him speak my word faithfully. What is the chaff to the wheat, saith the Lord? Is not my word like as a fire, saith the Lord, and like a hammer that breaketh a rock in pieces? Therefore, behold, I am against the prophets, saith the Lord, that steal my words, every one from his neighbor. Behold, I am against the prophets, saith the Lord, that use their tongues, and say, he saith. Behold, I am against them that prophesy false dreams, saith the Lord, and do tell them, and cause my people to err by their lies and their likeness. Yet I sent them not, nor commended them. Therefore, they shall not profit this people at all, saith the Lord."

Now let's stop there. And remember, I told you that I'm going to be speaking today on America's curse. Let me just say one word and think for a moment of what enters your mind. The word is sanctions. We have heard that word and have understood its meaning politically and diplomatically. But when it comes to the biblical law, most of us do not understand what sanctions really are.

Introduction: The Concept of Sanctions

Weaver introduces the term 'sanctions' as a legal concept of enforcement through penalty or reward, and applies it to God's dealings with nations, setting the stage for understanding America's curse.

It is a foreign term to us. Legally speaking, sanctions refers to that part of the law that is designed to secure its enforcement either by imposing a penalty for the violation of the law or by offering a reward or blessing for its observance. Simply stated, sanctions may be either negative or positive. When one in a position of higher authority sanctions an act or conduct or an attitude, that just simply means he approves it and he puts his blessings upon it. On the other hand, when someone in higher authority sends sanctions against someone, that means he disapproves of that conduct, action or attitude, and therefore he judges or chastises them. Let me just say in light of sanctions, I want you to think for a moment that we're in a desperate situation in America today and the majority of Americans do not comprehend the enormity of our situation. I could today dwell on the political and the judicial corruption that abounds, the congressional fraud, the spineless politicians, the Federal Reserve System, the economy, the immorality that is rampant, the rebellion of an entire generation, and the ignorance and the obtuseness that exists not just among Americans in general, but among professing Christians specifically.

The Root Problem: False and Foolish Preachers

Instead of addressing symptoms, Weaver identifies the root cause of America's ills as false preachers, analogous to the prophets in Jeremiah's time who led Israel astray.

Now, today instead of trying to deal with the symptoms, I want to try to deal with the real cause and the real root of the problem. You know, there are some people that do not like apples. And yet there's an apple tree in their yard. If you do not like apples, it is vain and foolish for you to go out each year and pull the apples off and curse them as you throw them to the ground saying, I don't like you. I don't like you. I don't like you. The truth of the matter is this. If you really don't want the apples around, all you have to do is take the axe and hew the tree down. That'll take care of the problem. So today, what I want to do is show you the root of the problem in America. If you do not like what America has become, if you do not like the corruption, the filth, the vileness, the rudeness, the wickedness, the faithlessness and rebellion, then you just simply need to lay the axe to the root of the tree that is producing all of that fruit and all of those symptoms. And once you hew the tree down, then the poisonous fruits will disappear. Now, you're going to probably ask me, since I read this passage, what is the tree that has produced all the poisonous fruits in America? The answer is simple. False and foolish preachers. Do you realize the problem that we have in America today is exactly the same problem that Judah had and Israel had in Jeremiah's time?

There were men who were preaching and prophesying in the name of God that God had never called, had never sent, and never sanctioned. And consequently, they were teaching error, falsehood, and outright lies. They denied God. They denied God's Word. They denied God's truth. And they substituted for God's Word and God's truth their own whims, dreams, plans, and desires. They were and are false and foolish creatures who led the people astray. Look what God says in verse 14. Watch it, Jeremiah 23, verse 14.

I have seen also the prophets of Jerusalem a horrible thing. They commit adultery and walk in lies. They strengthen also the hands of evildoers that none doth return from his wickedness. They are all of them unto me as Sodom and the inhabitants thereof as Gomorrah. Likewise, today, if you look around at the preachers that are in our pulpits, think with me, please. The majority of the preachers that occupy the pulpits of America are not scholars. They are not exegetes. They're not expositors. They're not expounders of the word of God.

God's Command to Reject False Prophets

God explicitly forbids listening to preachers who speak from their own hearts rather than His Word, and declares He is against them, placing followers in opposition to God.

You would be amazed at the people that I run into that have had the craziest, and I'm going to use this word, it's correct, stupidest, and the most unbiblical ideas imaginable, and they got it from a TV preacher. What does God say? God says don't listen to these preachers. You know what God calls these preachers? I want to show you. Look in your Bibles. Hold Jeremiah 23, but look in your Bibles to Isaiah 56. I know I could read this passage, but I want you to see it. Look, if you would, Isaiah 56 at verses 10 and 11. Isaiah 56, beginning there in verse 10. Look what God says about these types of preachers. I'm not making this up. Here's what God says, Isaiah 56 and verse 10, His watchmen are blind, they are all ignorant, they are all dumb dogs that cannot bark, sleeping, lying down, loving a slumper. Look, yea, they are greedy dogs which can never have enough, and they are shepherds that cannot understand.

They all look to their own way, every one for his own gain from his own quarter. What does God say about these prophets? He says they are dumb dogs that cannot bark. What good is a dog that will not bark and let you know when danger is approaching? He's worthless. And then God calls him a greedy dog. He says they're interested not in His word, not in His truth, not in His people, not in His work, but for their own gain. Well, here are preachers, prophets that God calls dumb dogs and greedy dogs. I want you to look in Jeremiah 23 at verses 30 and 32. I'm going to deal with this more next time, but here are the prophets that God is specifically speaking against. In Jeremiah 23 and verse 30, God says, therefore, behold, I'm against the prophets. That's just what I want to deal with right now. Look in verse 31. Behold, I'm against the prophets, verse 32, behold, I'm against them that prophesy false dreams. Note three times God says, I am against the prophets.

So God does not just simply forbid us to hear them. God specifically says, I am against them. What does that mean? That means that God appears in arms against those preachers.

Now, let me ask you a question. If you listen to those whom God is against, and if you follow those whom God is in arms against, where does that place you? In the ranks that God is going to fight against. God says don't listen to them, and don't follow them, and don't side with them. If you do, I'll be against you, as well as against them.

Now, the point I'm making is this. The curse of Israel in Jeremiah's time and the curse of America is exactly the same. We've listened to preachers who've led us astray. We refuse the right way. We refuse the true way. And what is Americans done? What have professing Christians in America done? They followed the blind. And they were led blindly into the ditch themselves. Now, Jeremiah begins this passage, and I want you to look there, Jeremiah 23 and verse 9. He begins this passage with these words.

Jeremiah's Shock and Grief

Jeremiah is stunned by the prophets' sin, the coming judgment, and God's holiness, which demands judgment; this grief should be shared by believers today.

He says, My heart within me is broken because of the prophets. All my bones shake. I'm like a drunken man and like a man whom wine have overcome because of the Lord and because of the words of his holiness. Now, Jeremiah begins this section by saying, I've got a broken heart. He's all my bones shake. I am like a drunken man whom wine has overcome.

Now, what does that mean? It means you're stunned. You're senseless. Jeremiah said, I am shocked beyond measure. Why? There are three reasons given in verse nine. First of all, he says, because of the prophets. Because of the prophets, that is because of their sin, their false doctrine which they preached, the wicked lives which they lived, and especially it filled him with horror that they were making use of God's name, claiming to be God's preachers, claiming to proclaim His word, and having received their instruction from him. Jeremiah said that's the furthest from the truth. He says there have been none to abuse the Lord and to abuse his truth like these prophets. They've abused his name. They've abused his holiness.

By the way, I hope you understand to dishonor God and to dishonor his word, to profane his truth, should be the greatest grief imaginable to a gracious soul. And so, Jeremiah said, I can't believe this. I'm just stunned, senseless. I'm shocked out of my wits. Look at the men who claim to be the prophets and the preachers of God, look at their lives, and look at what they're saying, and look at what they're doing. Let me ask you, does it not grieve you today that men ignore the truth of the word of God? Does it not grieve you that Jesus Christ is dishonored? Does it not grieve and upset you that the true preachers of God are despised and counted as despicable individuals? Does it not upset you that our politicians, our civil leaders, even our religious leaders do everything in their power to overlook and condemn the Word of God?

Stop and think about that. Anytime a preacher is used on TV or in the movies, usually he's portrayed as an adulterer, or as an ignorant, stupid individual who knows nothing and can do nothing. Jeremiah said, I'm just shocked. I'm just stunned because of these prophets. I can't believe it. He gives you a second reason in verse 9. He says he's shocked and stunned, secondly, because of the Lord.

What's he mean by that? He means because of the Lord's judgments, which are going to fall like a flood. Jeremiah trembled to think of the desolation and the judgment that was coming from the face of the Lord. He knew that just as surely as night followed day, and evening followed morning, that judgment was coming from God upon those who rebelled and were disobedient to Him. So he said, I'm shocked because I know what's going to come. And then he said, thirdly, because of the words of his holiness. In other words, he knew that God was absolutely holy. It is his power that would bring forth the judgment. But it was his holiness that would require the judgment. So he gives you three reasons. He said, I'm shocked. I'm stunned because the prophets, because the Lord and then because of his holiness.

The Result: A Land Full of Wickedness

The false prophets' influence leads to widespread adultery and sin, and even nature mourns under God's judgment, as seen in natural disasters.

Now look at verse 10. Because verse 10 gives us an excellent summary and the result of the false and foolish preachers in the land. Look what he says. For the land is full of adulterers, for because of swearing the land mourneth, and pleasant places of the wilderness are dried up, and their course is evil, and their force is not right. Now, note if you would, he says, here's the result of these false and foolish preachers. The land is full of adulterers. That is, it's full of sin and wickedness. And then he says that even nature itself is witness against the land. Even the land itself mourns and fights against men.

Now, I want to give you a quote. I want you to listen. The quote is from John Calvin on this verse. And this is what he says, and then I'll explain. Calvin says, whenever then God raises his hand to punish men for their sins. If they perceive it, not the very land, which is without sense and feeling ought to fill them with shame for their madness. For mourning, that is M-O-U-R-N-I-N-G, for mourning appears in the very land as though it knew that God was displeased with it. When, therefore, men sleep in their sins, and thus disregard God's vengeance, how monstrous must be their stupor, that is, their numbness, their insensibility.

And if this be intolerable in the common people, what can be said of the prophets who ought to proclaim such words as these? Cursed is he who transgresseth the precepts of this law, or cursed is he who has corrupted the worship of God, or cursed is he who deedeth unjustly with his neighbor, and whatever else the law continues." Now listen to what he says. If men do not perceive the hand of God against them, the very land itself will cry out against them. Have you noticed the floods, the tornadoes, the hurricanes, the droughts, the fires? What is the land doing? Crying out and saying, wake up, folks. God is highly displeased. God is judging you. Can't you see?

Now, there's about four things I want you to consider with me today. I hope we'll be able to cover them all. When we talk about the false prophets, the false preachers, first of all, I want you to consider their desecration. Consider their desecration. Look in verse 11. God says, for both prophet and priest are profane. Yea, in my house have I found their wickedness, saith the Lord. Now skip down to verse 13. He says, I have seen folly in the prophets of Samaria.

The Desecration of the Prophets

False preachers profane God's name, His house, and His calling by preaching their own dreams and lies for personal gain, corrupting worship and ministry.

They have prophesied in Baal and caused my people Israel to err. So God says in verse 11 that they are profane. He's found wickedness in them. He's found folly in them. So here is their desecration.

Now, when I use the word desecration, I'm using it as a synonym for profanation. They profane the name of the Lord. They profane or desecrate His word and they leave the people astray. Now, the word profane in verse 11 is the Hebrew word kanaf, which means to pollute, to defile, to desecrate, to become greatly corrupted and profane. So God is saying that the false preachers then desecrate His ministry, His word, His calling, His house. Now, notice He said they desecrate not only Him, but His house, and their wickedness was found in His house. Because that's where they have opportunity to send it forth. They are representing themselves as God's preachers, but yet they are not preaching His Word. What are they preaching? They are preaching a figment of their imagination. Look in verse 16. He says this, Thus saith the Lord of hosts, hearken not unto the words of the prophets that prophesy unto you. Why? They make you vain. They speak a vision out of their own heart and not out of the mouth of the Lord. In other words, they're just simply preaching whatever they want to preach. Look down in verses 25 and 26. He says, I have heard what the prophets said that prophesy lies in my name, saying, I have dreamed, I have dreamed. How long shall this be in the heart of the prophets that prophesy lies? Yea, they are prophets of the deceit of their own heart. So what are these men preaching if they're not preaching the word of God? They're preaching lies. They're preaching deceit. They're preaching imaginations of their own hearts. Rather than following the Word of God, they're preaching their own whims, their own desires, their own vision, their own dreams, anything and everything other than the Word of God.

Let me give you another quote, because these men say this so succinctly. Here's Calvin again, and he's commenting on the fact of the Lord is talking about the profanity of these false preachers. He says this, he that is Jeremiah enhances what he said of their impiety for they were not only infamous and wicked in common life in the duties of the second table, but they were also corrupted the whole service of God and the true prophets were derided by them. Let me just stop there. He said they corrupted the whole worship of God and the true prophets were derided by them. I want to ask you a question. When it comes to politics, when it comes to religious services, name the big name preachers that always are put on TV and put in the political circles. Now, I want you to think about the true preachers and prophets of God who are put up there to say, here's what God really says. None of them. He goes further. He says this. For what was found to be the priest's wickedness in the temple, except that they practiced a sort of merchandise under the cover of the priesthood, and then the prophets vitiated and adulterated God's worship, and what was religion to them but the means of filthy lucre or gain? When therefore the prophets thus trod underfoot the service of God, corrupted and perverted the law to make gain or to acquire power, their impiety was not only seen in the habits of daily life, but also in the very temple of God, that is, with regard to the priestly office."

What was he saying? They had corrupted everything in the worship and the service of God for money or for power or for both. Thus, in their rebellion, they desecrated God and His word. Not only that, they desecrate the office of a minister. They desecrate the calling. They desecrate the work. You look in this country at the number of men who present themselves as the preachers of God, and yet they never declare His word. They never enunciate His principles. They never stand against wickedness. They never demand that sinners repent and believe, and yet they call themselves the preachers of God.

Let me tell you something, folks. We have spawned a generation of so-called pastors who are sweet, effeminate, successful church administrators whose desire is to build a big work and a name for themselves, who desire to be praised and recognized of men, and who know absolutely nothing of the real calling and work of God. We have spawned a generation of men who labor mightily in the preparation of sermons just to make sure that they do not upset or offend or make anyone mad. While seeking the praise of man, they ignore the praise which comes from God only. Our Lord spoke of those people in John 12 and verse 48 when He said, For they love the praise of man more than the praise of God. And then in John 5 in verse 44, he asked this question of those Pharisees, he says, How then can you believe which receive honor one of another and seek not the honor that cometh from God alone? Desiring the recognition and praise and honor of man makes faith impossible.

You know, I've often said, I cannot possibly imagine how much work the average liberal or uncalled preacher does in order to make sure that he really does not teach the Word of God. Can you imagine all of the little sob stories, anecdotes, and illustrations that he has to come up with to entertain the people while he says absolutely nothing? Such men are a farce and not only are they a farce. They're laughing stock to the world. And they cast dispersion upon the true preachers of God because they desecrate the calling of the office while profaning the name of the Lord.

Now, let me show you. You say, what is the result of this desecration? What is the result of this profanation? Look at it. Verse 15. Here it is, black and white. Therefore, thus saith the Lord of Hosts concerning the prophets, Behold, I will feed them with wormwood and will make them drink the water of Gaul. Why? Watch, for from the prophets of Jerusalem is profaneness gone forth into all the land. Where did it start? In the pulpits. In the preaching.

The Denunciation of the Prophets

God denounces these preachers as unsent, untaught, and ungodly; they lack a divine call, integrity, and true proclamation, and are not worthy to be heard.

Notice, secondly, I want you to consider with me their denunciation. You'll find this in verse 14 again, where God denounces them. He calls them in verse 14, adulterers and liars. He calls them rebels. He calls them perverts. He says they're assaulting Gamara unto him. Verse 16, once again, he says they make you vain, they speak a vision out of their own heart. Look in verse 21, he says, I have not sent these prophets, yet they ran. I have not spoken to them, yet they prophesied.

Scripture Reading — Jeremiah 23:21-22

But if they had stood in my counsel and had caused my people to hear my words, then they should have turned them from their evil way and from the evil of their

doing. Now, notice if you would how God denounces these false preachers. Let me give you another quote. Listen to this, Calvin again on verse 14, he says this, Jeremiah shows how they, that is these false preachers, surpassed other prophets in impiety, even because they dissimulated, that is they played the hypocrite, when they saw on the one hand adultery prevailing, and on the other frauds, plunders, and perjuries. And not only so, but they undertook the patronizing of the wicked, and strengthened the hands of the ungodly, and added audacity to their madness. For as fear weakens the hands, so does shame. As then these prophets removed shame as well as fear from the wicked and the ungodly, so they strengthened their hands, that is, they gave them more confidence, so that they rushed headlong into every evil more freely and with greater liberty."

Matthew Poole on verse 14 says this, the great aggravation of the sin of those that occupy the place of spiritual guides is that they encourage profane men either by false doctrine, extenuating sin, and putting a fair gloss upon them, or at least by their mealy mouths, their forbearing to tell sinners of their wicked courses, or by their wicked examples, the most of people thinking that they may do what their teachers do, by which means sinners, instead of being brought to a sense of their sins and repentance for them, are hardened in their wicked courses. Thus says Poole, they become as Sodom and Gomorrah to the one true and living God. What's he saying? God despises them. God hates them. God will destroy them. Now in verse 16, God says, hearken not unto these prophets. You know, when you stop and think that Israel had been given the law of God, you would think that when these false preachers got up and started spouting out their false doctrines, that the people would say, hey, wait a minute.

All that's frothing nonsense. I'm not going to listen to that. You would think that. But guess what? Judah and Israel believe the false prophets. I am continually amazed at what people will believe.

There are people that believe in the lizard people, because the lizard people exist. I heard one man say that he fell over a ship and fell into a time warp. And he appeared 40 years later. Everybody else is 40 years older, but he was the same as when he fell over. People believe that stuff. It seems that people will believe everything and anything but the truth. You tell them the truth and they will not believe it. You tell them a lie and they'll believe it. Isn't that amazing? You would think these people would have known better.

Look what God says in verse 21. God says, I have not sent these prophets, yet they ran. I have not spoken to them, yet they prophesied. What does God mean when He says, I have not sent them, yet they ran? I have not spoken to them, yet they have not prophesied. Let me give you an illustration. Look back in your Bibles to 2 Samuel chapter 18. 2 Samuel chapter 18.

You'll remember that Absalom had rebelled against his father, tried to kill him. And there's a war. Joab takes the men of Judah and he fights against Absalom. And of course, you know how Absalom's hair got tangled in the oak tree and Joab took darts and thrust them through his heart and killed him. Well, word is going to be sent back to David. Notice in 2 Samuel chapter 18, and let's begin reading there verse 19.

Then said Ahimeas, the son of Zadok, let me now run and bear the king tidings, how that the Lord have avenged him of his enemies. And Joab said unto him, thou shalt not bear tidings this day, but thou shalt bear tidings another day. But this day thou shalt bear no tidings, because the king's son is dead. Then said Joab to Cushi, Go tell the king what thou hast seen. And Cushiah bowed himself unto Joab, and ran. Then said Ahimeaz the son of Zadok yet again to Joab. But howsoever let me, I pray thee, also run after Cushiah. Joab said, Wherefore wilt thou run, my son, seeing thou hast no tidings ready? But howsoever, he said, let me run. And he said unto him, Run. Then Ahimeaz ran by the way of the plain, and overran Cushiah.

But notice verse twenty-two. Ahimeaz is wanting to run, and Joab says, How can you run when you haven't been sent and when you have no tidings ready? You following? Now, go back to Jeremiah and look at what he said in verse 21. I have not sent these prophets, yet they ran. I have not spoken to them, yet they prophesied. In other words, here were preachers who ran unsent. And in running unsent, they had no message from God. Thus, they had to make up their own message. The only thing they could speak then, according to verses 25 and 26, is a message from their own deceived and deceitful hearts. So they're being denounced then by God as being unsent, untaught, and ungodly.

Now, let me go further. Let me break this down for you. Because this passage is very important. It teaches us basically that no one is worthy of being heard except to be a true minister of God. No one is worthy of being heard except to be a true minister of God. There are a minimum of at least three things that are necessary to prove a person a true ministry of God, a true minister of God. Now, there's a multitude of others, but I'm saying there is a minimum of at least three. What are they? Number one, he must have a divine call. God must actually call him to preach. Number two, he must have faithfulness and integrity in his life.

You remember what our Lord said in John 8, in verse 36, he looked at those Pharisees. He said, which of you convinced of me of sin? A pastor. A preacher of God ought to have a life that is above reproach, according to first Timothy, chapter three, doesn't mean that he's sinless. But generally, overall, he is a man of integrity. He's a man of his word. He's a man of faithfulness. And number three, he actually preaches and proclaims the word of God.

So he must have a divine call. He must have faithfulness and integrity in his life. And he must actually preach the word of the Lord. All of those who do not have a divine call, all of those who do not have faithfulness and integrity and godliness in their lives, all of those who do not proclaim the word of God are not worthy to be heard and they may be scripturally rejected. Now, God said, I didn't send them but they ran. I didn't give a message yet they preached. What's he saying? Listen carefully. When God says, I have not sent them yet, they ran. Running is arduous work. Do you realize a false preacher may show a lot of zeal, a lot of diligence and a lot of earnestness?

He may indeed be a great orator and very successful as far as the world is concerned. But God said, I never sent him. And the proof is, he's not preaching my word. Now, look at verse 22, verse 22, needs a little bit of explanation. He's talking about these false prophets now. He says, I've not sent them yet. They ran. I've not spoken to them yet. They prophesied. Verse 22, but if they had stood in my counsel and had caused my people to hear my words, then should they have turned them from their evil way and from the evil of their doings? Ah.

Now, let me ask you a question. God says I didn't send these preachers. I didn't give them a word. But yet, if they had heard my counsel, and if they had stood in my words and said what I said, the effect would have been the people would have turned from their wicked ways and from their evil doings. Why don't you say, wait a minute now, how could they speak God's word if they had not heard God? Well, the answer to that's very simple. God had already previously revealed his law to Moses, he had given it to the people, they had his word. Listen, let me just read to you Deuteronomy 30, verses 12 through 15. Listen to what God says. Deuteronomy 30, verses 12 through 15. It is not in heaven that thou shouldest say, Who shall go up to heaven to bring it down unto us, that we may hear it and do it? Neither is it beyond the sea that thou shouldest say, Who shall go over the sea for us, and bring it unto us, that we may hear it and do it? But the word is very nigh thee, in thy mouth and in thine heart, that thou mayest do it. See, says God, I have set before thee this day life and good, death and evil. How did God set life and good, death and evil before them in His law?

You object and you say, but Brother Weaver, you've got to remember these men were unconverted and uncalled. I understand that. But do you realize God can use a crooked stick to draw a straight line? And if God can use a jackass to preach to a false preacher, He can use a false preacher to preach to someone else. By the way, listen to me, it is not the man that God would be honoring, but his word. You remember what he said in Psalm 138, verse two? He said, thou hast magnified thy word above thy name. And then in Psalm 119, verse 89, forever, O Lord, is thy word settled in the heavens. So what God is saying is this, if these false prophets had at least stood in his counsel, if they had heard his words, what would they be doing? They would not be really and truly false prophets. They would be preaching and teaching his word. And the evidence that they were false prophets, they were not teaching and preaching his word. So God then denounces them as being unsent and untaught.

Thirdly, very quickly, I want you to consider with me their devastation. This is found in verse 13, 15, 17, and 27. Look, if you would please, in fact, even verse 12. He says, Wherefore, their way shall be unto them slippery ways in the darkness. They shall be driven on and fall therein, for I will bring evil upon them, saith the Lord, in the year of their visitation. And then, of course, he talks about them being as Sodom and Gomorrah in verse 14. Notice, if you would please, in verse 15, and they make the people profane. In verse 16, they make the people vain. And notice in verse 27, the ultimate result is they make the people forget the one true and the living God and follow Baal.

The Devastation Caused by False Preachers

False preachers cause people to err, become profane, and forget God, leading to national ruin; America has followed after pleasure, prosperity, and tolerance.

Let me just point this out. You know, we think with all the preachers we have in this country, and I mean talking about the false and foolish preachers, one would think that at least they might help in some degree. I mean, after all, you'd say that they're trying to do what's right. They just don't know what's right. Surely they can't be all bad. Well, what did our Lord say? If the blind lead the blind, both shall fall in the ditch. And then the Bible tells us in verse 13, look at it. It is these false prophets that do what? That cause my people Israel to err. In verse 15, they make the people profane. In verse 16, they make the people vain. In verse 17, they sue the wicked. They bless the wicked. They assure them of peace and prosperity. And then in verse 27, that's when they make them forget God.

Now, let me ask you a question. Think about this. How can anyone really, truly teach the will of God if he doesn't know what the will of God is? How can someone lead you to the One True and the Living God if you don't even know who the One True and the Living God is, or if he doesn't know who the One True and the Living God is? How can that happen? How can a false preacher really and truly preach the Word of God if he doesn't really believe the Word of God? Now, listen to me.

You talk about the devastation that these men wrought in Israel. Look at the devastation that's being wrought in America. Because of false and foolish preachers, like Israel of old, we have gone a whoring after the gods of pleasure, prosperity, political correctness, and tolerance. Profanation, profanation has issued forth from the pulpits in America. We have become a profane people. Let's think, and let's ask some questions. Where are the preachers of early America? Where are the preachers that call men and women to repentance, to faith, to holy and righteous living? Where are the preachers that expose sin, wickedness, rebellion, and unrighteousness? Where are the pastors who will lead the people in a holy war against corruption, fraud, wickedness, and tyranny? Where are they?

Oh, yes, we have a few in this country, but I'm talking about as a whole. We have listened to false and foolish preachers in this country, and we basically destroyed ourselves. The average American, and I'm going to go further, the average professing Christian knows nothing of God's law, knows nothing of righteous and godly living, knows nothing of how to make application of the Word of God to his life. The average professing Christian knows nothing of a Christian worldview, a biblical philosophy, or presuppositional thinking. No, the truth is we've become a profane people and we have been devastated and the devastation began in the pulpit. And from the pulpit, as God says, it went throughout all the land. A thought came to me the other day, and hopefully I'll get to preach on this sometime in the not too distant future. But do you realize when men think that they know more than God, and that they know better than God, and they relegate God's Word and God's truth to the trash, eventually God will relegate them to the garbage dump himself.

The Destruction of False Preachers

God promises a bitter end for false preachers—slippery ways, wormwood, and a whirlwind of judgment—as illustrated by Pashur and others in Scripture.

Which brings me to the fourth and final point, I want you to consider. Their destruction back in verse 12, what does God say? Wherefore, their ways shall be unto them as slippery ways of the darkness. They shall be driven on and fall therein, for I will bring evil upon them, even the year of their visitation, saith the Lord." In verse 15, once again, he says, don't listen to these men. In verse 19, God says, Behold, a whirlwind of the Lord is gone forth in fury, even a grievous whirlwind. It shall fall grievously upon the head of the wicked. So what is God saying that He's going to do to these false preachers and these foolish preachers? Well, He says He's going to make their way slippery in darkness. He's going to bring evil upon them. He talks about the year of their visitation. By the way, the word visitation here means judgment, the year of their judgment. And so he is saying that he's going to deal with these wicked men. They cannot fight against God and escape.

Note, if you would please, in verse 15. Therefore, thus said the Lord of Hosts concerning the prophets, behold, I will feed them with wormwood and will make them drink the water of Gaul. Now, wormwood and Gaul are bitter, extremely bitter. So what is God saying? God says, ultimately, I'm going to give these false and foolish preachers a miserable, bitter, tragic end to their miserable, wicked lives. And then God says in verse 19, like a whirlwind, once he makes them suffer so tragically, then he will wipe them out. Now, very quickly, let me show you an illustration.

Look in your Bibles to Jeremiah 20. Jeremiah 20. And let's begin reading in verse 1. Jeremiah 20. I could multiply these illustrations. Here is how God has done it in times past. Jeremiah 20, verse 1. Now, Pashur, the son of Immer, the priest, who was also chief governor in the house of the Lord, heard that Jeremiah prophesied these things. Then Pashur smote Jeremiah, so you got the false preacher smiting the true preacher. Then Pashur smote Jeremiah the prophet and put him in the stocks that were in the high gate of Benjamin, which was in the house of the Lord. And it came to pass on the morrow that Pashur brought forth Jeremiah out of the stocks. Then said Jeremiah unto him, Thou, the Lord hath not called thy name Pashur, but Magor-missabib, which means terror on every side.

For thus said the Lord, Behold, I will make thee a terror to thyself and to all thy friends, and they shall fall by the sword of their enemies, and thine eyes shall behold it, and I will give all Judah into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall carry them captive into Babylon, and shall slay them with a sword. Moreover, I will deliver all the strength of this city, and all the labors thereof, and all the precious things thereof, and all the treasures of the kings of Judah, will I give them in the hand of their enemies, which shall spoil them, and take them, and carry them into Babylon. And thou, Pashur, and all that dwell in thine house shall go into captivity, and thou shalt come to Babylon, and there thou shalt die, thou shalt be buried there, thou and all thy friends whom thou hast prophesied lies.

What's God going to do? Kill him. Look in Jeremiah 29 very quickly. Beginning there with verse 20. Jeremiah 29 verse 20. Hear ye therefore the word of the Lord, all ye of the captivity whom I have sent from Jerusalem to Babylon. Now watch. Jeremiah 29, verse 21, Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, of Ahab the son of Kolaiah, and of Zedekiah the son of Maaseiah, which prophesy a lie unto you in my name. Behold, I will deliver them in the hand of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, and he shall slay them before your eyes. You can read it all down there where God said He's going to destroy them. He'll destroy their families. He'll destroy everything. Mark it down.

Sooner or later, the false and foolish preachers will be destroyed by God because they devastated his people. God has denounced them because they've desecrated his word and himself. Now, let me make a couple of applications, the first one is this, I started out by telling you that God does impose sanctions. And sanctions may be negative or positive. God imposes sanctions against individuals, against families, against churches, against nations, against preachers. He places all of those who rebel against Him under a negative sanction.

Applications: God's Sanctions and Our Response

God imposes negative sanctions on rebels; believers must know Scripture to discern false teaching, and national restoration requires God-called preachers.

All you have to do is read Numbers chapter 16 and find out about Dathan, Abiram and Korah. And what did God do to them? He destroyed them. What about the 250 princes of the congregation that supported them? God destroyed them, set fire from heaven and consumed them. God does impose sanctions. Those sanctions may be negative or they may be positive, but God does impose sanctions. And that includes sanctions on preachers.

You know, I've often said this and I know you've heard me say this innumerable times. I've been asked why I don't do certain things or why I would not do such and such, and I've always say, well, I'm more afraid of the Lord than anyone else. And God can clean your clock quicker than anyone else. Just mark it down, folks, God does impose sanctions. The second thing is this. You've got to understand that there are preachers that God forbids us to listen to. You say, what preachers are those, any and all of them, that do not preach and teach His Word? You say, how do I know whether I'm preaching His Word or not? Oh, isn't that interesting? That means you've got to know His Word yourself. You've got to have some biblical discernment.

Do you remember what Paul said about the Bereans in Acts 17? That these were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they searched the Word of God daily as to whether or not these things were so. When they heard the Apostle Paul preach, they didn't just take Paul's word, they searched the Scripture. That means this, folks. If we're going to obey God, and not listen to false and foolish preachers, we must know the word of God ourselves. We must know what God's word teaches. And we must be able to discern when a man is preaching the truth and when he's not preaching the truth.

What is the curse of America? An uncalled, unsent, and an untaught ministry. You look at the founding of our country. It was the preachers who led in the American Revolution. It was the preachers who taught. It was the preachers who confronted the civil rulers. No civil ruler could take office without an election sermon. He was called before the people, and the preachers preached an election sermon to that ruler. Where are God's preachers today? Now, there are some. But as a whole, we've destroyed ourselves, because like Israel of old, we listen to false and foolish preachers and we're under the curse, the sanction of God.

And our very land cries out against us saying, wake up, wake up. You better listen. If you don't, it's going to get an awful lot worse. We will never regain our nation until we regain God-called preachers in the pulpits, preaching and teaching obedience to the Word of God. Father, in the name of Jesus Christ, we bow to Thee this day. We ask You to help us, to teach us, to make us know Your Word and to give us, Lord, understanding and discernment. In the name of Jesus Christ we ask and pray, Amen.

Study Guide

Major Themes

Divine Sanctions

Summary: God enforces His law through sanctions—blessings for obedience and curses for disobedience—applying to individuals, churches, and nations.

Evidence: Weaver defines sanctions as 'that part of the law that is designed to secure its enforcement either by imposing a penalty for the violation of the law or by offering a reward or blessing for its observance.'

False Preachers as the Root of National Decay

Summary: The primary cause of America's moral collapse is a corrupt ministry that preaches lies, ignores sin, and leads people away from God.

Evidence: Weaver states, 'the curse of Israel in Jeremiah's time and the curse of America is exactly the same. We've listened to preachers who've led us astray.'

The Necessity of a Divine Call and Faithful Proclamation

Summary: A true minister must have a divine call, a life of integrity, and must preach God's Word; those lacking these are not to be heard.

Evidence: Weaver lists three requirements: 'he must have a divine call... faithfulness and integrity in his life... and he actually preaches and proclaims the word of God.'

The Devastating Influence of False Teaching

Summary: False prophets cause people to err, become profane, and forget God, leading to societal corruption and judgment.

Evidence: Weaver cites Jeremiah 23:15: 'from the prophets of Jerusalem is profaneness gone forth into all the land,' and applies it to America.

God's Judgment on False Prophets

Summary: God promises a bitter, destructive end for false preachers, as seen in the fates of Pashur and others, demonstrating His active opposition.

Evidence: Weaver reads Jeremiah 20:1-6 and 29:21, showing God's judgment on false prophets, and says, 'Sooner or later, the false and foolish preachers will be destroyed by God.'

The Call to Biblical Discernment

Summary: Believers must know Scripture personally to test all teaching, following the Berean example, and reject preachers who do not proclaim God's Word.

Evidence: Weaver says, 'If we're going to obey God, and not listen to false and foolish preachers, we must know the word of God ourselves.'

Key Arguments

America's problems stem from false preachers, not just societal symptoms.

Summary: Weaver argues that addressing symptoms like immorality is futile; the root is a corrupt ministry that fails to teach God's truth.

Evidence: Weaver says, 'If you do not like what America has become... you just simply need to lay the axe to the root of the tree that is producing all of that fruit... False and foolish preachers.'

God commands believers to reject certain preachers.

Summary: Scripture explicitly forbids listening to prophets who speak from their own hearts, and God declares He is against them, making their followers His enemies.

Evidence: Weaver cites Jeremiah 23:16, 'Hearken not unto the words of the prophets,' and verses 30-32 where God says 'I am against the prophets.'

False preachers desecrate God's name and office for personal gain.

Summary: They profane the ministry by preaching their own dreams instead of God's Word, often motivated by money and power, corrupting worship.

Evidence: Weaver quotes Calvin: 'the prophets vitiated and adulterated God's worship, and what was religion to them but the means of filthy lucre or gain?'

A corrupt ministry is a sure sign of national ruin.

Summary: When God allows a lewd and corrupt ministry, it indicates impending judgment, as wickedness in the pulpit spreads to the pew.

Evidence: Weaver quotes Matthew Poole: 'There is no more certain sign of the ruination of a nation than when God allows in it a lewd and a corrupt ministry.'

True ministers must be divinely called, godly, and preach the Word.

Summary: Without a divine call, integrity, and faithful proclamation, a preacher is not worthy to be heard and can be scripturally rejected.

Evidence: Weaver states, 'All of those who do not have a divine call... are not worthy to be heard and they may be scripturally rejected.'

False preachers cause people to forget God and follow idols.

Summary: Their teaching leads to spiritual amnesia and idolatry, as seen in America's pursuit of pleasure, prosperity, and tolerance.

Evidence: Weaver says, 'Because of false and foolish preachers, like Israel of old, we have gone a whoring after the gods of pleasure, prosperity, political correctness, and tolerance.'

God will destroy false preachers with bitter judgment.

Summary: God promises to feed them wormwood, make their way slippery, and bring a whirlwind of destruction, as historically demonstrated.

Evidence: Weaver reads Jeremiah 23:15, 19 and illustrates with Pashur's fate in Jeremiah 20.

National restoration requires God-called preachers teaching obedience.

Summary: America will not recover until pulpits are filled with preachers who proclaim God's Word and call for repentance and righteous living.

Evidence: Weaver concludes, 'We will never regain our nation until we regain God-called preachers in the pulpits, preaching and teaching obedience to the Word of God.'

Scripture References

Jeremiah 23:9-32

Context: The primary passage read and expounded, detailing God's condemnation of false prophets and the resulting judgment.

Jeremiah 23:14

Context: Cited to show the horrible sin of the prophets, including adultery and lies, and that they are like Sodom and Gomorrah to God.

Jeremiah 23:16

Context: God's command not to listen to prophets who speak visions from their own hearts, making people vain.

Jeremiah 23:25-26

Context: God's indictment of prophets who prophesy lies and deceit from their own hearts, causing people to forget His name.

Jeremiah 23:30-32

Context: God's threefold declaration 'I am against the prophets' who steal His words and prophesy false dreams.

Jeremiah 23:9

Context: Jeremiah's broken heart and physical shaking because of the prophets, the Lord, and His holy words.

Jeremiah 23:10

Context: The land full of adulterers and mourning because of swearing, showing the result of false prophets.

Jeremiah 23:11

Context: Both prophet and priest are profane; God finds wickedness in His house.

Jeremiah 23:13-15

Context: The folly of Samaria's prophets and the profaneness spreading from Jerusalem's prophets, with judgment of wormwood and gall.

Jeremiah 23:21-22

Context: God did not send these prophets; if they had stood in His counsel, they would have turned people from evil.

Jeremiah 23:12

Context: Their way will be slippery in darkness; God will bring evil in the year of their visitation.

Jeremiah 23:19

Context: A grievous whirlwind of the Lord's fury will fall on the head of the wicked.

Isaiah 56:10-11

Context: God calls false watchmen blind, ignorant, dumb dogs that cannot bark, greedy for gain, looking to their own way.

Hosea 8:14

Context: Israel forgot her Maker and built temples; applied to America building churches while forgetting God.

Deuteronomy 30:12-15

Context: God's word is near, in mouth and heart, setting life and good, death and evil before them; used to show the law was already given.

Psalm 138:2

Context: God has magnified His word above His name, emphasizing the primacy of Scripture.

Psalm 119:89

Context: God's word is forever settled in heaven, underscoring its eternal authority.

Jeremiah 20:1-6

Context: Pashur the false prophet smites Jeremiah and is told he will be a terror and die in captivity; an illustration of judgment.

Jeremiah 29:20-21

Context: God will deliver false prophets Ahab and Zedekiah to Nebuchadnezzar to be slain; another example of destruction.

Acts 17:11

Context: The Bereans searched the Scriptures daily to verify Paul's teaching; a model for discernment.

Historical References

John Calvin

Context: Quoted extensively on Jeremiah 23:10 and 23:14, commenting on the land mourning and the prophets' impiety and corruption for gain.

Matthew Poole

Context: Quoted on Jeremiah 23:11 and 23:14, noting that a lewd and corrupt ministry is a sure sign of national ruination and that prophets encourage sinners.

American Revolution preachers

Context: Referenced as historical examples of preachers who led and confronted civil rulers, contrasting with modern silence.

Important Quotes

My heart within me is broken because of the prophets. All my bones shake. I am like a drunken man, and like a man whom wine hath overcome, because of the Lord and because of the words of His holiness.

Significance: Jeremiah's opening lament expressing his physical and emotional shock at the prophets' sin and the coming judgment, setting the tone for the sermon.

I have seen also in the prophets of Jerusalem a horrible thing. They commit adultery and walk in lies. They strengthen also the hands of evildoers, that none doth return from his wickedness. And there all of them unto me is Sodom, and the inhabitants thereof is Gomorrah.

Significance: God's severe indictment of the prophets' moral corruption and their role in hardening sinners, likening them to Sodom and Gomorrah.

Thus saith the Lord of Hosts, Hearken not unto the words of the prophets, that prophesy unto you. They make you vain. They speak a vision of their own heart, and not out of the mouth of the Lord.

Significance: God's direct command to reject false prophets because their message is self-derived and leads to emptiness.

I have not sent these prophets, yet they ran. I have not spoken to them, yet they prophesied.

Significance: God's denial of commissioning these prophets, highlighting their self-appointment and lack of divine message.

Therefore, behold, I am against the prophets, saith the Lord, that steal my words, every one from his neighbor. Behold, I am against the prophets, saith the Lord, that use their tongues, and say, he saith. Behold, I am against them that prophesy false dreams, saith the Lord, and do tell them, and cause my people to err by their lies and their likeness.

Significance: God's threefold declaration of opposition to false prophets, emphasizing His active judgment against them.

There is no more certain sign of the ruination of a nation than when God allows in it a lewd and a corrupt ministry.

Significance: Matthew Poole's quote used to argue that a corrupt clergy is a definitive indicator of national judgment.

If the blind lead the blind, both shall fall in the ditch.

Significance: Jesus' words applied to false preachers leading people to destruction, reinforcing the danger of following ungodly leaders.

We will never regain our nation until we regain God-called preachers in the pulpits, preaching and teaching obedience to the Word of God.

Significance: The concluding application, asserting that national restoration is contingent on a return to faithful, God-called ministry.

Discussion Questions

How does the concept of divine sanctions (blessings and curses) shape our understanding of national events and God's dealings with America?

Context: Weaver introduces sanctions as God's enforcement mechanism, applied to nations.

In what ways might we be tempted to address symptoms rather than the root cause of spiritual decline, and how can we apply the 'axe to the root' principle?

Context: Weaver uses the apple tree analogy to argue for dealing with false preachers as the root.

What are the practical implications of God's command to 'hearken not' to certain preachers, and how do we balance this with love and unity?

Context: Weaver emphasizes Jeremiah 23:16 and God's opposition to false prophets.

How can we cultivate the kind of grief over spiritual corruption that Jeremiah displayed, and why is such grief important?

Context: Weaver describes Jeremiah's broken heart and shock at the prophets' sin.

What evidence do we see today of 'profaneness gone forth into all the land' from pulpits, and how should we respond?

Context: Weaver applies Jeremiah 23:15 to the spread of corruption from preachers to society.

How do we discern whether a preacher has a genuine divine call, integrity, and faithful proclamation, and what should we do if we find a lack?

Context: Weaver lists three minimum requirements for a true minister.

In what ways have false teachings caused the church to 'forget God' and pursue idols like pleasure and prosperity, and how can we recover?

Context: Weaver parallels Israel's idolatry with modern American pursuits.

How does the certainty of God's judgment on false preachers motivate us to pray for and support faithful ministers?

Context: Weaver details the destruction promised to false prophets and applies it to today.

Applications

Recognize and reject false teaching

Summary: Believers must identify preachers who do not proclaim God's Word and refuse to listen to them, as God commands.

Evidence: Weaver says, 'God forbids you to listen to some preachers... Hearken not to them.'

Cultivate biblical discernment

Summary: To obey God's command, Christians must know Scripture well enough to test all teaching, following the Berean example.

Evidence: Weaver states, 'If we're going to obey God, and not listen to false and foolish preachers, we must know the word of God ourselves.'

Grieve over spiritual corruption

Summary: Like Jeremiah, believers should be deeply grieved when God's name is dishonored and His truth is profaned by false teachers.

Evidence: Weaver asks, 'Does it not grieve you today that men ignore the truth of the word of God?'

Support and pray for faithful ministers

Summary: Recognizing the devastation of false preachers, believers should uphold and encourage those who truly preach God's Word.

Evidence: Weaver laments the lack of preachers who call for repentance and holy living, implying the need to support the few.

Understand God's sanctions in national life

Summary: Believers should interpret natural disasters and societal decay as potential signs of God's judgment, prompting repentance.

Evidence: Weaver says, 'Have you noticed the floods, the tornadoes, the hurricanes... God is judging you. Can't you see?'

Examine personal allegiance to God's Word

Summary: Individuals must ensure they are not following preachers who make them vain or forget God, but are grounded in truth.

Evidence: Weaver warns that false prophets 'make the people forget the one true and the living God and follow Baal.'

deepseek | deepseek-v4-pro | clean_readable_transcript | 2026-06-06T01:44:45Z

deepseek | deepseek-v4-pro | weaver_study | 2026-06-06T15:34:19Z

Clean Transcript

America's Curse - Part 1

Clean readable transcript. This view follows the Commentary.net cleaned segment text while preserving timestamps for audio follow-along.

Let's open our Bible today to the book of Jeremiah chapter 23. Jeremiah 23. And let's begin reading with verse 9. Jeremiah 23. And we're going to read from verse 9 to verse 32. Let me say that this message today is going to be in two parts. The first part is entitled America's Curse. And then, Lord willing, week after next, I will be finishing the second part, and it will be entitled, America's Hope. So, notice if you would, Jeremiah 23, beginning with verse 9. Jeremiah writes, My heart within me is broken because of the prophets. All my bones shake. I am like a drunken man, and like a man whom wine hath overcome, because of the Lord and because of the words of His holiness.
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For the land is full of adulterers, for because of swearing the land mourneth. The pleasant places of the wilderness are dried up, and their course is evil, and their force is not right. For both prophet and priest are profane. Yea, in my house have I found their wickedness, saith the Lord. Wherefore their way shall be unto them as slippery ways in the darkness, and they shall be driven on and fall therein. For I will bring evil upon them, even the year of their visitation saith the Lord.
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And I have seen folly in the prophets of Samaria. They have prophesied in Baal, and caused my people Israel to err. I have seen also in the prophets of Jerusalem a horrible thing. They commit adultery and walk in lies. They strengthen also the hands of evildoers, that none doth return from his wickedness. And there all of them unto me is Sodom, and the inhabitants thereof is Gomorrah.
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Therefore, thus saith the Lord of Hosts concerning the prophets, Behold, I will feed them with wormwood, and make them drink the water of Gaul. For from the prophets of Jerusalem is profaneness gone forth into all the land. Thus saith the Lord of Hosts, Hearken not unto the words of the prophets, that prophesy unto you. They make you vain. They speak a vision of their own heart, and not out of the mouth of the Lord. They say still unto them that despise me, The Lord hath said, Ye shall have peace. And they say unto every one that walketh after the imagination of his own heart, No evil shall come upon you. For who hath stood in the counsel of the Lord, and hath perceived and heard his word? Who hath marked his word and heard it? The whole whirlwind of the Lord has gone forth in fury, even a grievous whirlwind.
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It shall fall grievously upon the head of the wicked. The anger of the Lord shall not return until he has executed, until he has performed the thoughts of his heart. In the latter days you shall consider it perfectly. I have not sent these prophets, yet they ran. I have not spoken to them, yet they prophesied. But if they had stood in my counsel and caused my people to hear my words, then they should have turned them from their evil way and from the evil of their doing. Am I a God at hand, saith the Lord, and not a God afar off? Can any hide himself in secret places that I shall not see him, saith the Lord? Do not I fill heaven and earth, saith the Lord?
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I have heard what the prophets said, that prophesy lies in my name, saying, I have dreamed, I have dreamed. How long shall this be in the heart of the prophets that prophesy lies? Yea, they are prophets of the deceit of their own heart, which think to cause my people to forget my name by their dreams, which they tell every man to his neighbor, as their fathers have forgotten my name for Baal. The prophet that hath a dream, let him tell a dream. And he that hath my word, let him speak my word faithfully.
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What is the chaff to the wheat, saith the Lord? Is not my word like as a fire, saith the Lord, and like a hammer that breaketh a rock in pieces? Therefore, behold, I am against the prophets, saith the Lord, that steal my words, every one from his neighbor. Behold, I am against the prophets, saith the Lord, that use their tongues, and say, he saith. Behold, I am against them that prophesy false dreams, saith the Lord, and do tell them, and cause my people to err by their lies and their likeness.
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Yet I sent them not, nor commended them. Therefore, they shall not profit this people at all, saith the Lord." Now let's stop there. And remember, I told you that I'm going to be speaking today on America's curse. Let me just say one word and think for a moment of what enters your mind. The word is sanctions. We have heard that word and have understood its meaning politically and diplomatically. But when it comes to the biblical law, most of us do not understand what sanctions really are.
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It is a foreign term to us. Legally speaking, sanctions refers to that part of the law that is designed to secure its enforcement either by imposing a penalty for the violation of the law or by offering a reward or blessing for its observance. Simply stated, sanctions may be either negative or positive. When one in a position of higher authority sanctions an act or conduct or an attitude, that just simply means he approves it and he puts his blessings upon it. On the other hand, when someone in higher authority sends sanctions against someone, that means he disapproves of that conduct, action or attitude, and therefore he judges or chastises them. Let me just say in light of sanctions, I want you to think for a moment that we're in a desperate situation in America today and the majority of Americans do not comprehend the enormity of our situation. I could today dwell on the political and the judicial corruption that abounds, the congressional fraud, the spineless politicians, the Federal Reserve System, the economy, the immorality that is rampant, the rebellion of an entire generation, and the ignorance and the obtuseness that exists not just among Americans in general, but among professing Christians specifically.
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Now, today instead of trying to deal with the symptoms, I want to try to deal with the real cause and the real root of the problem. You know, there are some people that do not like apples. And yet there's an apple tree in their yard. If you do not like apples, it is vain and foolish for you to go out each year and pull the apples off and curse them as you throw them to the ground saying, I don't like you. I don't like you. I don't like you.
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The truth of the matter is this. If you really don't want the apples around, all you have to do is take the axe and hew the tree down. That'll take care of the problem. So today, what I want to do is show you the root of the problem in America. If you do not like what America has become, if you do not like the corruption, the filth, the vileness, the rudeness, the wickedness, the faithlessness and rebellion, then you just simply need to lay the axe to the root of the tree that is producing all of that fruit and all of those symptoms. And once you hew the tree down, then the poisonous fruits will disappear. Now, you're going to probably ask me, since I read this passage, what is the tree that has produced all the poisonous fruits in America? The answer is simple. False and foolish preachers. Do you realize the problem that we have in America today is exactly the same problem that Judah had and Israel had in Jeremiah's time?
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There were men who were preaching and prophesying in the name of God that God had never called, had never sent, and never sanctioned. And consequently, they were teaching error, falsehood, and outright lies. They denied God. They denied God's Word. They denied God's truth. And they substituted for God's Word and God's truth their own whims, dreams, plans, and desires. They were and are false and foolish creatures who led the people astray. Look what God says in verse 14. Watch it, Jeremiah 23, verse 14.
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I have seen also the prophets of Jerusalem a horrible thing. They commit adultery and walk in lies. They strengthen also the hands of evildoers that none doth return from his wickedness. They are all of them unto me as Sodom and the inhabitants thereof as Gomorrah. Likewise, today, if you look around at the preachers that are in our pulpits, think with me, please. The majority of the preachers that occupy the pulpits of America are not scholars. They are not exegetes. They're not expositors. They're not expounders of the word of God.
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No, not by far cry. In reality, the vast majority of them are humanistic to the core and deal with humanistic philosophy, such as I'm OK, you're OK, or the purpose driven life or how to build self-esteem or the power of positive thinking. Or how about this one? God wants you to be rich now. And above all, we want you to feel comfortable and included in our church. It really doesn't matter to the vast majority of preachers today about sin, repentance, reconciliation, regeneration, conversion.
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Their thing is just come on in and join us just the way you are. Believe it or not, I read an article of several women who had a ministry, quote unquote, going to the strip joints in Vegas and several other places and asking women to do lap dances on them. And then when the woman consented, then they would say, well, we don't really want the lap dance. You can do it if you want to. We just want to pay you and tell you about Christ. And then if you want to come and join our church, that's fine. You don't have to change your occupation. You don't have to change your lifestyle. What? What about sin? What about repentance? What about regeneration? What about conversion? Let me tell you something.
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The truth of the matter is this. The average preacher in this country is more concerned with building a building or building a work than he is with building people. They had rather grow numerically than they had spiritually. This same attitude God condemned in Israel in the book of Hosea chapter 8 and verse 14 where God said, for Israel hath forgotten her maker and buildeth temples. That's what we've done in this country. We've forgotten God and we're building churches on every corner of the street. And yet, the truth of the matter is there's very little preaching and teaching of the Word of God.
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Now, let me give you a surprise today. It may surprise you to learn that God forbids you to listen to some preachers. How's that for a shocker? Look in Jeremiah 23 and verse 16. Look what God says concerning the prophets. Thus hath the Lord of hosts hearken not unto the words of the prophets that prophesy unto you. They make you vain. They speak a vision out of their own hearts, and not out of the mouth of the Lord. What did He say? Hearken not to them. Don't listen to them. Look in verse 25. I have heard what the prophets said, that prophesy lies in my name, saying, I have dreamed, I have dreamed. How long shall this be in the heart of the prophets that prophesy lies? Yea, they are prophets of the deceit of their own heart. So what does God say? Don't listen to these preachers.
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You would be amazed at the people that I run into that have had the craziest, and I'm going to use this word, it's correct, stupidest, and the most unbiblical ideas imaginable, and they got it from a TV preacher. What does God say? God says don't listen to these preachers. You know what God calls these preachers? I want to show you. Look in your Bibles. Hold Jeremiah 23, but look in your Bibles to Isaiah 56. I know I could read this passage, but I want you to see it. Look, if you would, Isaiah 56 at verses 10 and 11. Isaiah 56, beginning there in verse 10. Look what God says about these types of preachers. I'm not making this up. Here's what God says, Isaiah 56 and verse 10, His watchmen are blind, they are all ignorant, they are all dumb dogs that cannot bark, sleeping, lying down, loving a slumper. Look, yea, they are greedy dogs which can never have enough, and they are shepherds that cannot understand.
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They all look to their own way, every one for his own gain from his own quarter. What does God say about these prophets? He says they are dumb dogs that cannot bark. What good is a dog that will not bark and let you know when danger is approaching? He's worthless. And then God calls him a greedy dog. He says they're interested not in His word, not in His truth, not in His people, not in His work, but for their own gain. Well, here are preachers, prophets that God calls dumb dogs and greedy dogs. I want you to look in Jeremiah 23 at verses 30 and 32. I'm going to deal with this more next time, but here are the prophets that God is specifically speaking against. In Jeremiah 23 and verse 30, God says, therefore, behold, I'm against the prophets. That's just what I want to deal with right now. Look in verse 31. Behold, I'm against the prophets, verse 32, behold, I'm against them that prophesy false dreams. Note three times God says, I am against the prophets.
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So God does not just simply forbid us to hear them. God specifically says, I am against them. What does that mean? That means that God appears in arms against those preachers.
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Now, let me ask you a question. If you listen to those whom God is against, and if you follow those whom God is in arms against, where does that place you? In the ranks that God is going to fight against. God says don't listen to them, and don't follow them, and don't side with them. If you do, I'll be against you, as well as against them.
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Now, the point I'm making is this. The curse of Israel in Jeremiah's time and the curse of America is exactly the same. We've listened to preachers who've led us astray. We refuse the right way. We refuse the true way. And what is Americans done? What have professing Christians in America done? They followed the blind. And they were led blindly into the ditch themselves. Now, Jeremiah begins this passage, and I want you to look there, Jeremiah 23 and verse 9. He begins this passage with these words.
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He says, My heart within me is broken because of the prophets. All my bones shake. I'm like a drunken man and like a man whom wine have overcome because of the Lord and because of the words of his holiness. Now, Jeremiah begins this section by saying, I've got a broken heart. He's all my bones shake. I am like a drunken man whom wine has overcome.
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Now, what does that mean? It means you're stunned. You're senseless. Jeremiah said, I am shocked beyond measure. Why? There are three reasons given in verse nine. First of all, he says, because of the prophets. Because of the prophets, that is because of their sin, their false doctrine which they preached, the wicked lives which they lived, and especially it filled him with horror that they were making use of God's name, claiming to be God's preachers, claiming to proclaim His word, and having received their instruction from him. Jeremiah said that's the furthest from the truth. He says there have been none to abuse the Lord and to abuse his truth like these prophets. They've abused his name. They've abused his holiness.
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By the way, I hope you understand to dishonor God and to dishonor his word, to profane his truth, should be the greatest grief imaginable to a gracious soul. And so, Jeremiah said, I can't believe this. I'm just stunned, senseless. I'm shocked out of my wits. Look at the men who claim to be the prophets and the preachers of God, look at their lives, and look at what they're saying, and look at what they're doing. Let me ask you, does it not grieve you today that men ignore the truth of the word of God? Does it not grieve you that Jesus Christ is dishonored? Does it not grieve and upset you that the true preachers of God are despised and counted as despicable individuals? Does it not upset you that our politicians, our civil leaders, even our religious leaders do everything in their power to overlook and condemn the Word of God?
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Stop and think about that. Anytime a preacher is used on TV or in the movies, usually he's portrayed as an adulterer, or as an ignorant, stupid individual who knows nothing and can do nothing. Jeremiah said, I'm just shocked. I'm just stunned because of these prophets. I can't believe it. He gives you a second reason in verse 9. He says he's shocked and stunned, secondly, because of the Lord.
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What's he mean by that? He means because of the Lord's judgments, which are going to fall like a flood. Jeremiah trembled to think of the desolation and the judgment that was coming from the face of the Lord. He knew that just as surely as night followed day, and evening followed morning, that judgment was coming from God upon those who rebelled and were disobedient to Him. So he said, I'm shocked because I know what's going to come.
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And then he said, thirdly, because of the words of his holiness. In other words, he knew that God was absolutely holy. It is his power that would bring forth the judgment. But it was his holiness that would require the judgment. So he gives you three reasons. He said, I'm shocked. I'm stunned because the prophets, because the Lord and then because of his holiness.
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Now look at verse 10. Because verse 10 gives us an excellent summary and the result of the false and foolish preachers in the land. Look what he says. For the land is full of adulterers, for because of swearing the land mourneth, and pleasant places of the wilderness are dried up, and their course is evil, and their force is not right. Now, note if you would, he says, here's the result of these false and foolish preachers. The land is full of adulterers. That is, it's full of sin and wickedness. And then he says that even nature itself is witness against the land. Even the land itself mourns and fights against men.
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Now, I want to give you a quote. I want you to listen. The quote is from John Calvin on this verse. And this is what he says, and then I'll explain. Calvin says, whenever then God raises his hand to punish men for their sins. If they perceive it, not the very land, which is without sense and feeling ought to fill them with shame for their madness. For mourning, that is M-O-U-R-N-I-N-G, for mourning appears in the very land as though it knew that God was displeased with it. When, therefore, men sleep in their sins, and thus disregard God's vengeance, how monstrous must be their stupor, that is, their numbness, their insensibility.
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And if this be intolerable in the common people, what can be said of the prophets who ought to proclaim such words as these? Cursed is he who transgresseth the precepts of this law, or cursed is he who has corrupted the worship of God, or cursed is he who deedeth unjustly with his neighbor, and whatever else the law continues."
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Now listen to what he says. If men do not perceive the hand of God against them, the very land itself will cry out against them. Have you noticed the floods, the tornadoes, the hurricanes, the droughts, the fires? What is the land doing? Crying out and saying, wake up, folks. God is highly displeased. God is judging you. Can't you see?
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Now, there's about four things I want you to consider with me today. I hope we'll be able to cover them all. When we talk about the false prophets, the false preachers, first of all, I want you to consider their desecration. Consider their desecration. Look in verse 11. God says, for both prophet and priest are profane. Yea, in my house have I found their wickedness, saith the Lord. Now skip down to verse 13. He says, I have seen folly in the prophets of Samaria.
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They have prophesied in Baal and caused my people Israel to err. So God says in verse 11 that they are profane. He's found wickedness in them. He's found folly in them. So here is their desecration.
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Now, when I use the word desecration, I'm using it as a synonym for profanation. They profane the name of the Lord. They profane or desecrate His word and they leave the people astray. Now, the word profane in verse 11 is the Hebrew word kanaf, which means to pollute, to defile, to desecrate, to become greatly corrupted and profane. So God is saying that the false preachers then desecrate His ministry, His word, His calling, His house. Now, notice He said they desecrate not only Him, but His house, and their wickedness was found in His house.
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Because that's where they have opportunity to send it forth. They are representing themselves as God's preachers, but yet they are not preaching His Word. What are they preaching? They are preaching a figment of their imagination. Look in verse 16. He says this, Thus saith the Lord of hosts, hearken not unto the words of the prophets that prophesy unto you. Why? They make you vain. They speak a vision out of their own heart and not out of the mouth of the Lord. In other words, they're just simply preaching whatever they want to preach. Look down in verses 25 and 26. He says, I have heard what the prophets said that prophesy lies in my name, saying, I have dreamed, I have dreamed. How long shall this be in the heart of the prophets that prophesy lies? Yea, they are prophets of the deceit of their own heart. So what are these men preaching if they're not preaching the word of God? They're preaching lies. They're preaching deceit. They're preaching imaginations of their own hearts. Rather than following the Word of God, they're preaching their own whims, their own desires, their own vision, their own dreams, anything and everything other than the Word of God.
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Let me give you another quote, because these men say this so succinctly. Here's Calvin again, and he's commenting on the fact of the Lord is talking about the profanity of these false preachers. He says this, he that is Jeremiah enhances what he said of their impiety for they were not only infamous and wicked in common life in the duties of the second table, but they were also corrupted the whole service of God and the true prophets were derided by them.
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Let me just stop there. He said they corrupted the whole worship of God and the true prophets were derided by them. I want to ask you a question. When it comes to politics, when it comes to religious services, name the big name preachers that always are put on TV and put in the political circles. Now, I want you to think about the true preachers and prophets of God who are put up there to say, here's what God really says. None of them. He goes further. He says this. For what was found to be the priest's wickedness in the temple, except that they practiced a sort of merchandise under the cover of the priesthood, and then the prophets vitiated and adulterated God's worship, and what was religion to them but the means of filthy lucre or gain? When therefore the prophets thus trod underfoot the service of God, corrupted and perverted the law to make gain or to acquire power, their impiety was not only seen in the habits of daily life, but also in the very temple of God, that is, with regard to the priestly office."
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What was he saying? They had corrupted everything in the worship and the service of God for money or for power or for both. Thus, in their rebellion, they desecrated God and His word. Not only that, they desecrate the office of a minister. They desecrate the calling. They desecrate the work. You look in this country at the number of men who present themselves as the preachers of God, and yet they never declare His word. They never enunciate His principles. They never stand against wickedness. They never demand that sinners repent and believe, and yet they call themselves the preachers of God.
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Let me tell you something, folks. We have spawned a generation of so-called pastors who are sweet, effeminate, successful church administrators whose desire is to build a big work and a name for themselves, who desire to be praised and recognized of men, and who know absolutely nothing of the real calling and work of God. We have spawned a generation of men who labor mightily in the preparation of sermons just to make sure that they do not upset or offend or make anyone mad. While seeking the praise of man, they ignore the praise which comes from God only. Our Lord spoke of those people in John 12 and verse 48 when He said, For they love the praise of man more than the praise of God. And then in John 5 in verse 44, he asked this question of those Pharisees, he says, How then can you believe which receive honor one of another and seek not the honor that cometh from God alone? Desiring the recognition and praise and honor of man makes faith impossible.
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You know, I've often said, I cannot possibly imagine how much work the average liberal or uncalled preacher does in order to make sure that he really does not teach the Word of God. Can you imagine all of the little sob stories, anecdotes, and illustrations that he has to come up with to entertain the people while he says absolutely nothing? Such men are a farce and not only are they a farce.
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They're laughing stock to the world. And they cast dispersion upon the true preachers of God because they desecrate the calling of the office while profaning the name of the Lord.
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Now, let me show you. You say, what is the result of this desecration? What is the result of this profanation? Look at it. Verse 15. Here it is, black and white. Therefore, thus saith the Lord of Hosts concerning the prophets, Behold, I will feed them with wormwood and will make them drink the water of Gaul. Why? Watch, for from the prophets of Jerusalem is profaneness gone forth into all the land. Where did it start? In the pulpits. In the preaching.
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Because the preachers were profane. Profane is then scattered throughout the entire land. Let me say it very bluntly, the truth of the matter is this. Most of the problems that we're facing in our land has to be laid at the feet of preachers. Many of them false and foolish preachers who refuse to teach the word of God, and in doing so, they promote a false and a fictitious gospel.
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Matthew Poole said this, listen carefully, those whose work was to reveal the mind of God to the people and who pretended to that office and those that were employed in offering sacrifices and other works which belonged to the priestly office, according to the law, the whole ecclesiastical order, all of their ministry, were profane, not merely hypocritical, but lewd, immoral, and debauched. Yea, they were grown to that impudence that they made the temple which was the house of the Lord a den of thieves, a place where they committed wickedness. Thus it was in the time of Eli and more generally afterwards. There is no more certain sign of the ruination of a nation than when God allows in it a lewd and a corrupt ministry." Isn't that amazing? There's no sure sign of the ruination of a nation when God allows in it a lewd and a corrupt ministry.
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If I were to begin naming names today, I could go a good while on the pastors who have been rightly charged with adultery, fornication, pornography. When you have a lewd and corrupt ministry, you have a ruined nation. Why? Wickedness in the pulpit begets wickedness in the pew.
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Now let me connect the charges that God lodges against the preachers with the result. Look at it. Let's go back to verse 13. He said, I have seen folly in the prophets of Samaria. What was their folly? They prophesied in Baal. That is a false gospel, a false god. And they caused my people to err. I have also seen also in the prophets of Jerusalem a horrible thing. They commit adultery. They walk in lies. They strengthen also the hands of evil doers.
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And none doth return from his wickedness. They are all of them unto me as Sodom, and the inhabitants thereof as Gomorrah.
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Now watch verse 15, the latter part. For from the prophets of Jerusalem is profaneness gone forth into all the land. Everything that God charged the preachers with was spread now throughout the entire land. Let me tell you, when those who are in positions of power and authority refuse to live holy, godly lives, they cannot expect those over whom they exercise power and authority to do otherwise than what they are doing. Interestingly, God says, don't you listen to these men. I'm against them. They desecrate my name. They desecrate my office, my calling and my word.
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Notice, secondly, I want you to consider with me their denunciation. You'll find this in verse 14 again, where God denounces them. He calls them in verse 14, adulterers and liars. He calls them rebels. He calls them perverts. He says they're assaulting Gamara unto him. Verse 16, once again, he says they make you vain, they speak a vision out of their own heart. Look in verse 21, he says, I have not sent these prophets, yet they ran. I have not spoken to them, yet they prophesied.
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But if they had stood in my counsel and had caused my people to hear my words, then they should have turned them from their evil way and from the evil of their doing. Now, notice if you would how God denounces these false preachers. Let me give you another quote. Listen to this, Calvin again on verse 14, he says this, Jeremiah shows how they, that is these false preachers, surpassed other prophets in impiety, even because they dissimulated, that is they played the hypocrite, when they saw on the one hand adultery prevailing, and on the other frauds, plunders, and perjuries.
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And not only so, but they undertook the patronizing of the wicked, and strengthened the hands of the ungodly, and added audacity to their madness. For as fear weakens the hands, so does shame. As then these prophets removed shame as well as fear from the wicked and the ungodly, so they strengthened their hands, that is, they gave them more confidence, so that they rushed headlong into every evil more freely and with greater liberty."
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Matthew Poole on verse 14 says this, the great aggravation of the sin of those that occupy the place of spiritual guides is that they encourage profane men either by false doctrine, extenuating sin, and putting a fair gloss upon them, or at least by their mealy mouths, their forbearing to tell sinners of their wicked courses, or by their wicked examples, the most of people thinking that they may do what their teachers do, by which means sinners, instead of being brought to a sense of their sins and repentance for them, are hardened in their wicked courses. Thus says Poole, they become as Sodom and Gomorrah to the one true and living God. What's he saying? God despises them. God hates them. God will destroy them. Now in verse 16, God says, hearken not unto these prophets. You know, when you stop and think that Israel had been given the law of God, you would think that when these false preachers got up and started spouting out their false doctrines, that the people would say, hey, wait a minute.
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All that's frothing nonsense. I'm not going to listen to that. You would think that. But guess what? Judah and Israel believe the false prophets. I am continually amazed at what people will believe.
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There are people that believe in the lizard people, because the lizard people exist. I heard one man say that he fell over a ship and fell into a time warp. And he appeared 40 years later. Everybody else is 40 years older, but he was the same as when he fell over. People believe that stuff. It seems that people will believe everything and anything but the truth. You tell them the truth and they will not believe it. You tell them a lie and they'll believe it. Isn't that amazing? You would think these people would have known better.
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Look what God says in verse 21. God says, I have not sent these prophets, yet they ran. I have not spoken to them, yet they prophesied. What does God mean when He says, I have not sent them, yet they ran? I have not spoken to them, yet they have not prophesied. Let me give you an illustration. Look back in your Bibles to 2 Samuel chapter 18. 2 Samuel chapter 18.
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You'll remember that Absalom had rebelled against his father, tried to kill him. And there's a war. Joab takes the men of Judah and he fights against Absalom. And of course, you know how Absalom's hair got tangled in the oak tree and Joab took darts and thrust them through his heart and killed him. Well, word is going to be sent back to David. Notice in 2 Samuel chapter 18, and let's begin reading there verse 19.
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Then said Ahimeas, the son of Zadok, let me now run and bear the king tidings, how that the Lord have avenged him of his enemies. And Joab said unto him, thou shalt not bear tidings this day, but thou shalt bear tidings another day. But this day thou shalt bear no tidings, because the king's son is dead. Then said Joab to Cushi, Go tell the king what thou hast seen. And Cushiah bowed himself unto Joab, and ran. Then said Ahimeaz the son of Zadok yet again to Joab. But howsoever let me, I pray thee, also run after Cushiah. Joab said, Wherefore wilt thou run, my son, seeing thou hast no tidings ready? But howsoever, he said, let me run. And he said unto him, Run. Then Ahimeaz ran by the way of the plain, and overran Cushiah.
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But notice verse twenty-two. Ahimeaz is wanting to run, and Joab says, How can you run when you haven't been sent and when you have no tidings ready? You following? Now, go back to Jeremiah and look at what he said in verse 21. I have not sent these prophets, yet they ran. I have not spoken to them, yet they prophesied. In other words, here were preachers who ran unsent. And in running unsent, they had no message from God. Thus, they had to make up their own message. The only thing they could speak then, according to verses 25 and 26, is a message from their own deceived and deceitful hearts. So they're being denounced then by God as being unsent, untaught, and ungodly.
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Now, let me go further. Let me break this down for you. Because this passage is very important. It teaches us basically that no one is worthy of being heard except to be a true minister of God. No one is worthy of being heard except to be a true minister of God. There are a minimum of at least three things that are necessary to prove a person a true ministry of God, a true minister of God. Now, there's a multitude of others, but I'm saying there is a minimum of at least three. What are they? Number one, he must have a divine call. God must actually call him to preach. Number two, he must have faithfulness and integrity in his life.
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You remember what our Lord said in John 8, in verse 36, he looked at those Pharisees. He said, which of you convinced of me of sin? A pastor. A preacher of God ought to have a life that is above reproach, according to first Timothy, chapter three, doesn't mean that he's sinless. But generally, overall, he is a man of integrity. He's a man of his word. He's a man of faithfulness. And number three, he actually preaches and proclaims the word of God.
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So he must have a divine call. He must have faithfulness and integrity in his life. And he must actually preach the word of the Lord. All of those who do not have a divine call, all of those who do not have faithfulness and integrity and godliness in their lives, all of those who do not proclaim the word of God are not worthy to be heard and they may be scripturally rejected. Now, God said, I didn't send them but they ran. I didn't give a message yet they preached. What's he saying? Listen carefully. When God says, I have not sent them yet, they ran. Running is arduous work. Do you realize a false preacher may show a lot of zeal, a lot of diligence and a lot of earnestness?
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He may indeed be a great orator and very successful as far as the world is concerned. But God said, I never sent him. And the proof is, he's not preaching my word.
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Now, look at verse 22, verse 22, needs a little bit of explanation. He's talking about these false prophets now. He says, I've not sent them yet. They ran. I've not spoken to them yet. They prophesied. Verse 22, but if they had stood in my counsel and had caused my people to hear my words, then should they have turned them from their evil way and from the evil of their doings? Ah.
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Now, let me ask you a question. God says I didn't send these preachers. I didn't give them a word. But yet, if they had heard my counsel, and if they had stood in my words and said what I said, the effect would have been the people would have turned from their wicked ways and from their evil doings. Why don't you say, wait a minute now, how could they speak God's word if they had not heard God?
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Well, the answer to that's very simple. God had already previously revealed his law to Moses, he had given it to the people, they had his word. Listen, let me just read to you Deuteronomy 30, verses 12 through 15. Listen to what God says. Deuteronomy 30, verses 12 through 15. It is not in heaven that thou shouldest say, Who shall go up to heaven to bring it down unto us, that we may hear it and do it? Neither is it beyond the sea that thou shouldest say, Who shall go over the sea for us, and bring it unto us, that we may hear it and do it? But the word is very nigh thee, in thy mouth and in thine heart, that thou mayest do it. See, says God, I have set before thee this day life and good, death and evil. How did God set life and good, death and evil before them in His law?
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You object and you say, but Brother Weaver, you've got to remember these men were unconverted and uncalled. I understand that. But do you realize God can use a crooked stick to draw a straight line? And if God can use a jackass to preach to a false preacher, He can use a false preacher to preach to someone else. By the way, listen to me, it is not the man that God would be honoring, but his word. You remember what he said in Psalm 138, verse two? He said, thou hast magnified thy word above thy name. And then in Psalm 119, verse 89, forever, O Lord, is thy word settled in the heavens. So what God is saying is this, if these false prophets had at least stood in his counsel, if they had heard his words, what would they be doing? They would not be really and truly false prophets. They would be preaching and teaching his word. And the evidence that they were false prophets, they were not teaching and preaching his word. So God then denounces them as being unsent and untaught.
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Thirdly, very quickly, I want you to consider with me their devastation. This is found in verse 13, 15, 17, and 27. Look, if you would please, in fact, even verse 12. He says, Wherefore, their way shall be unto them slippery ways in the darkness. They shall be driven on and fall therein, for I will bring evil upon them, saith the Lord, in the year of their visitation. And then, of course, he talks about them being as Sodom and Gomorrah in verse 14. Notice, if you would please, in verse 15, and they make the people profane. In verse 16, they make the people vain. And notice in verse 27, the ultimate result is they make the people forget the one true and the living God and follow Baal.
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Let me just point this out. You know, we think with all the preachers we have in this country, and I mean talking about the false and foolish preachers, one would think that at least they might help in some degree. I mean, after all, you'd say that they're trying to do what's right. They just don't know what's right. Surely they can't be all bad. Well, what did our Lord say?
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If the blind lead the blind, both shall fall in the ditch. And then the Bible tells us in verse 13, look at it. It is these false prophets that do what? That cause my people Israel to err. In verse 15, they make the people profane. In verse 16, they make the people vain. In verse 17, they sue the wicked. They bless the wicked. They assure them of peace and prosperity. And then in verse 27, that's when they make them forget God.
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Now, let me ask you a question. Think about this. How can anyone really, truly teach the will of God if he doesn't know what the will of God is? How can someone lead you to the One True and the Living God if you don't even know who the One True and the Living God is, or if he doesn't know who the One True and the Living God is? How can that happen? How can a false preacher really and truly preach the Word of God if he doesn't really believe the Word of God? Now, listen to me.
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You talk about the devastation that these men wrought in Israel. Look at the devastation that's being wrought in America. Because of false and foolish preachers, like Israel of old, we have gone a whoring after the gods of pleasure, prosperity, political correctness, and tolerance. Profanation, profanation has issued forth from the pulpits in America. We have become a profane people. Let's think, and let's ask some questions. Where are the preachers of early America? Where are the preachers that call men and women to repentance, to faith, to holy and righteous living? Where are the preachers that expose sin, wickedness, rebellion, and unrighteousness? Where are the pastors who will lead the people in a holy war against corruption, fraud, wickedness, and tyranny? Where are they?
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Oh, yes, we have a few in this country, but I'm talking about as a whole. We have listened to false and foolish preachers in this country, and we basically destroyed ourselves. The average American, and I'm going to go further, the average professing Christian knows nothing of God's law, knows nothing of righteous and godly living, knows nothing of how to make application of the Word of God to his life. The average professing Christian knows nothing of a Christian worldview, a biblical philosophy, or presuppositional thinking.
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No, the truth is we've become a profane people and we have been devastated and the devastation began in the pulpit. And from the pulpit, as God says, it went throughout all the land. A thought came to me the other day, and hopefully I'll get to preach on this sometime in the not too distant future. But do you realize when men think that they know more than God, and that they know better than God, and they relegate God's Word and God's truth to the trash, eventually God will relegate them to the garbage dump himself.
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Which brings me to the fourth and final point, I want you to consider. Their destruction back in verse 12, what does God say? Wherefore, their ways shall be unto them as slippery ways of the darkness. They shall be driven on and fall therein, for I will bring evil upon them, even the year of their visitation, saith the Lord." In verse 15, once again, he says, don't listen to these men. In verse 19, God says, Behold, a whirlwind of the Lord is gone forth in fury, even a grievous whirlwind. It shall fall grievously upon the head of the wicked. So what is God saying that He's going to do to these false preachers and these foolish preachers? Well, He says He's going to make their way slippery in darkness. He's going to bring evil upon them. He talks about the year of their visitation. By the way, the word visitation here means judgment, the year of their judgment. And so he is saying that he's going to deal with these wicked men. They cannot fight against God and escape.
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Note, if you would please, in verse 15. Therefore, thus said the Lord of Hosts concerning the prophets, behold, I will feed them with wormwood and will make them drink the water of Gaul. Now, wormwood and Gaul are bitter, extremely bitter. So what is God saying? God says, ultimately, I'm going to give these false and foolish preachers a miserable, bitter, tragic end to their miserable, wicked lives. And then God says in verse 19, like a whirlwind, once he makes them suffer so tragically, then he will wipe them out. Now, very quickly, let me show you an illustration.
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Look in your Bibles to Jeremiah 20. Jeremiah 20. And let's begin reading in verse 1. Jeremiah 20. I could multiply these illustrations. Here is how God has done it in times past. Jeremiah 20, verse 1. Now, Pashur, the son of Immer, the priest, who was also chief governor in the house of the Lord, heard that Jeremiah prophesied these things. Then Pashur smote Jeremiah, so you got the false preacher smiting the true preacher. Then Pashur smote Jeremiah the prophet and put him in the stocks that were in the high gate of Benjamin, which was in the house of the Lord. And it came to pass on the morrow that Pashur brought forth Jeremiah out of the stocks. Then said Jeremiah unto him, Thou, the Lord hath not called thy name Pashur, but Magor-missabib, which means terror on every side.
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For thus said the Lord, Behold, I will make thee a terror to thyself and to all thy friends, and they shall fall by the sword of their enemies, and thine eyes shall behold it, and I will give all Judah into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall carry them captive into Babylon, and shall slay them with a sword. Moreover, I will deliver all the strength of this city, and all the labors thereof, and all the precious things thereof, and all the treasures of the kings of Judah, will I give them in the hand of their enemies, which shall spoil them, and take them, and carry them into Babylon. And thou, Pashur, and all that dwell in thine house shall go into captivity, and thou shalt come to Babylon, and there thou shalt die, thou shalt be buried there, thou and all thy friends whom thou hast prophesied lies.
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What's God going to do? Kill him. Look in Jeremiah 29 very quickly. Beginning there with verse 20. Jeremiah 29 verse 20. Hear ye therefore the word of the Lord, all ye of the captivity whom I have sent from Jerusalem to Babylon. Now watch. Jeremiah 29, verse 21, Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, of Ahab the son of Kolaiah, and of Zedekiah the son of Maaseiah, which prophesy a lie unto you in my name. Behold, I will deliver them in the hand of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, and he shall slay them before your eyes. You can read it all down there where God said He's going to destroy them. He'll destroy their families. He'll destroy everything. Mark it down.
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Sooner or later, the false and foolish preachers will be destroyed by God because they devastated his people. God has denounced them because they've desecrated his word and himself. Now, let me make a couple of applications, the first one is this, I started out by telling you that God does impose sanctions. And sanctions may be negative or positive. God imposes sanctions against individuals, against families, against churches, against nations, against preachers. He places all of those who rebel against Him under a negative sanction.
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All you have to do is read Numbers chapter 16 and find out about Dathan, Abiram and Korah. And what did God do to them? He destroyed them. What about the 250 princes of the congregation that supported them? God destroyed them, set fire from heaven and consumed them. God does impose sanctions. Those sanctions may be negative or they may be positive, but God does impose sanctions. And that includes sanctions on preachers.
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You know, I've often said this and I know you've heard me say this innumerable times. I've been asked why I don't do certain things or why I would not do such and such, and I've always say, well, I'm more afraid of the Lord than anyone else. And God can clean your clock quicker than anyone else. Just mark it down, folks, God does impose sanctions. The second thing is this. You've got to understand that there are preachers that God forbids us to listen to. You say, what preachers are those, any and all of them, that do not preach and teach His Word? You say, how do I know whether I'm preaching His Word or not? Oh, isn't that interesting? That means you've got to know His Word yourself. You've got to have some biblical discernment.
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Do you remember what Paul said about the Bereans in Acts 17? That these were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they searched the Word of God daily as to whether or not these things were so. When they heard the Apostle Paul preach, they didn't just take Paul's word, they searched the Scripture. That means this, folks. If we're going to obey God, and not listen to false and foolish preachers, we must know the word of God ourselves. We must know what God's word teaches. And we must be able to discern when a man is preaching the truth and when he's not preaching the truth.
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What is the curse of America? An uncalled, unsent, and an untaught ministry. You look at the founding of our country. It was the preachers who led in the American Revolution. It was the preachers who taught. It was the preachers who confronted the civil rulers. No civil ruler could take office without an election sermon. He was called before the people, and the preachers preached an election sermon to that ruler. Where are God's preachers today? Now, there are some. But as a whole, we've destroyed ourselves, because like Israel of old, we listen to false and foolish preachers and we're under the curse, the sanction of God.
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And our very land cries out against us saying, wake up, wake up. You better listen. If you don't, it's going to get an awful lot worse. We will never regain our nation until we regain God-called preachers in the pulpits, preaching and teaching obedience to the Word of God. Father, in the name of Jesus Christ, we bow to Thee this day. We ask You to help us, to teach us, to make us know Your Word and to give us, Lord, understanding and discernment. In the name of Jesus Christ we ask and pray, Amen.
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You may contact Dominion Ministry by mail at 7400 Abercorn, that's A-B-E-R-C-O-R-N, Street, Suite 705, P-M-B, 175, Savannah, Georgia, 31406. Or give us a call at 912-925-7000.
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You can also visit our website at www.dominionministry.com
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deepseek | deepseek-v4-pro | clean_readable_transcript | 2026-06-06T01:44:45Z

America's Curse - Part 1

John Weaver | Freedom Ministries

John Weaver argues that the root cause of America's moral and spiritual decline is the prevalence of false and foolish preachers who desecrate God's name, denounce His truth, and devastate the people by leading them astray. Drawing from Jeremiah 23, he parallels the situation in ancient Judah with modern America, asserting that God imposes sanctions—negative judgments—on nations that tolerate a corrupt ministry. The sermon calls believers to reject false teachers, know Scripture personally, and recognize that national restoration depends on God-called preachers faithfully proclaiming His Word.

Opening

Scripture Reading — Jeremiah 23:9-32

For the land is full of adulterers, for because of swearing the land mourneth. The pleasant places of the wilderness are dried up, and their course is evil, and their force is not right. For both prophet and priest are profane. Yea, in my house have I found their wickedness, saith the Lord. Wherefore their way shall be unto them as slippery ways in the darkness, and they shall be driven on and fall therein. For I will bring evil upon them, even the year of their visitation saith the Lord. And I have seen folly in the prophets of Samaria. They have prophesied in Baal, and caused my people Israel to err. I have seen also in the prophets of Jerusalem a horrible thing. They commit adultery and walk in lies. They strengthen also the hands of evildoers, that none doth return from his wickedness. And there all of them unto me is Sodom, and the inhabitants thereof is Gomorrah. Therefore, thus saith the Lord of Hosts concerning the prophets, Behold, I will feed them with wormwood, and make them drink the water of Gaul. For from the prophets of Jerusalem is profaneness gone forth into all the land. Thus saith the Lord of Hosts, Hearken not unto the words of the prophets, that prophesy unto you. They make you vain. They speak a vision of their own heart, and not out of the mouth of the Lord. They say still unto them that despise me, The Lord hath said, Ye shall have peace. And they say unto every one that walketh after the imagination of his own heart, No evil shall come upon you. For who hath stood in the counsel of the Lord, and hath perceived and heard his word? Who hath marked his word and heard it? The whole whirlwind of the Lord has gone forth in fury, even a grievous whirlwind. It shall fall grievously upon the head of the wicked. The anger of the Lord shall not return until he has executed, until he has performed the thoughts of his heart. In the latter days you shall consider it perfectly. I have not sent these prophets, yet they ran. I have not spoken to them, yet they prophesied. But if they had stood in my counsel and caused my people to hear my words, then they should have turned them from their evil way and from the evil of their doing. Am I a God at hand, saith the Lord, and not a God afar off? Can any hide himself in secret places that I shall not see him, saith the Lord? Do not I fill heaven and earth, saith the Lord? I have heard what the prophets said, that prophesy lies in my name, saying, I have dreamed, I have dreamed. How long shall this be in the heart of the prophets that prophesy lies? Yea, they are prophets of the deceit of their own heart, which think to cause my people to forget my name by their dreams, which they tell every man to his neighbor, as their fathers have forgotten my name for Baal. The prophet that hath a dream, let him tell a dream. And he that hath my word, let him speak my word faithfully. What is the chaff to the wheat, saith the Lord? Is not my word like as a fire, saith the Lord, and like a hammer that breaketh a rock in pieces? Therefore, behold, I am against the prophets, saith the Lord, that steal my words, every one from his neighbor. Behold, I am against the prophets, saith the Lord, that use their tongues, and say, he saith. Behold, I am against them that prophesy false dreams, saith the Lord, and do tell them, and cause my people to err by their lies and their likeness. Yet I sent them not, nor commended them. Therefore, they shall not profit this people at all, saith the Lord."

Introduction: The Concept of Sanctions

Weaver introduces the term 'sanctions' as a legal concept of enforcement through penalty or reward, and applies it to God's dealings with nations, setting the stage for understanding America's curse.

The Root Problem: False and Foolish Preachers

Instead of addressing symptoms, Weaver identifies the root cause of America's ills as false preachers, analogous to the prophets in Jeremiah's time who led Israel astray.

God's Command to Reject False Prophets

God explicitly forbids listening to preachers who speak from their own hearts rather than His Word, and declares He is against them, placing followers in opposition to God.

So God does not just simply forbid us to hear them. God specifically says, I am against them. What does that mean? That means that God appears in arms against those preachers.

Jeremiah's Shock and Grief

Jeremiah is stunned by the prophets' sin, the coming judgment, and God's holiness, which demands judgment; this grief should be shared by believers today.

The Result: A Land Full of Wickedness

The false prophets' influence leads to widespread adultery and sin, and even nature mourns under God's judgment, as seen in natural disasters.

The Desecration of the Prophets

False preachers profane God's name, His house, and His calling by preaching their own dreams and lies for personal gain, corrupting worship and ministry.

They have prophesied in Baal and caused my people Israel to err. So God says in verse 11 that they are profane. He's found wickedness in them. He's found folly in them. So here is their desecration.

The Denunciation of the Prophets

God denounces these preachers as unsent, untaught, and ungodly; they lack a divine call, integrity, and true proclamation, and are not worthy to be heard.

Scripture Reading — Jeremiah 23:21-22

But if they had stood in my counsel and had caused my people to hear my words, then they should have turned them from their evil way and from the evil of their

All that's frothing nonsense. I'm not going to listen to that. You would think that. But guess what? Judah and Israel believe the false prophets. I am continually amazed at what people will believe.

The Devastation Caused by False Preachers

False preachers cause people to err, become profane, and forget God, leading to national ruin; America has followed after pleasure, prosperity, and tolerance.

The Destruction of False Preachers

God promises a bitter end for false preachers—slippery ways, wormwood, and a whirlwind of judgment—as illustrated by Pashur and others in Scripture.

Applications: God's Sanctions and Our Response

God imposes negative sanctions on rebels; believers must know Scripture to discern false teaching, and national restoration requires God-called preachers.

America's Curse - Part 1

John Weaver | SermonAudio

Lecture Metadata	Details
Speaker	John Weaver
Source	SermonAudio
Media ID	7300619481
Subject	Covenant Theology
Course	Covenant Theology: Blessings, Curses, and Sanctions: The Hallelujah of Confession
Genre	Sermon
Date	2006-04-30
Dictation Name
Book	Book 187: America's Curse — Chapter 1
Source Timed Segments	87

Lecture Guide

Outline

Introduction: The Concept of Sanctions: Weaver introduces the term 'sanctions' as a legal concept of enforcement through penalty or reward, and applies it to God's dealings with nations, setting the stage for understanding America's curse.
The Root Problem: False and Foolish Preachers: Instead of addressing symptoms, Weaver identifies the root cause of America's ills as false preachers, analogous to the prophets in Jeremiah's time who led Israel astray.
God's Command to Reject False Prophets: God explicitly forbids listening to preachers who speak from their own hearts rather than His Word, and declares He is against them, placing followers in opposition to God.
Jeremiah's Shock and Grief: Jeremiah is stunned by the prophets' sin, the coming judgment, and God's holiness, which demands judgment; this grief should be shared by believers today.
The Result: A Land Full of Wickedness: The false prophets' influence leads to widespread adultery and sin, and even nature mourns under God's judgment, as seen in natural disasters.
The Desecration of the Prophets: False preachers profane God's name, His house, and His calling by preaching their own dreams and lies for personal gain, corrupting worship and ministry.
The Denunciation of the Prophets: God denounces these preachers as unsent, untaught, and ungodly; they lack a divine call, integrity, and true proclamation, and are not worthy to be heard.
The Devastation Caused by False Preachers: False preachers cause people to err, become profane, and forget God, leading to national ruin; America has followed after pleasure, prosperity, and tolerance.
The Destruction of False Preachers: God promises a bitter end for false preachers—slippery ways, wormwood, and a whirlwind of judgment—as illustrated by Pashur and others in Scripture.
Applications: God's Sanctions and Our Response: God imposes negative sanctions on rebels; believers must know Scripture to discern false teaching, and national restoration requires God-called preachers.

Major Themes

Key Arguments

America's problems stem from false preachers, not just societal symptoms.

Weaver argues that addressing symptoms like immorality is futile; the root is a corrupt ministry that fails to teach God's truth.

Weaver says, 'If you do not like what America has become... you just simply need to lay the axe to the root of the tree that is producing all of that fruit... False and foolish preachers.'

God commands believers to reject certain preachers.

Scripture explicitly forbids listening to prophets who speak from their own hearts, and God declares He is against them, making their followers His enemies.

Weaver cites Jeremiah 23:16, 'Hearken not unto the words of the prophets,' and verses 30-32 where God says 'I am against the prophets.'

False preachers desecrate God's name and office for personal gain.

They profane the ministry by preaching their own dreams instead of God's Word, often motivated by money and power, corrupting worship.

Weaver quotes Calvin: 'the prophets vitiated and adulterated God's worship, and what was religion to them but the means of filthy lucre or gain?'

A corrupt ministry is a sure sign of national ruin.

When God allows a lewd and corrupt ministry, it indicates impending judgment, as wickedness in the pulpit spreads to the pew.

Weaver quotes Matthew Poole: 'There is no more certain sign of the ruination of a nation than when God allows in it a lewd and a corrupt ministry.'

True ministers must be divinely called, godly, and preach the Word.

Without a divine call, integrity, and faithful proclamation, a preacher is not worthy to be heard and can be scripturally rejected.

Weaver states, 'All of those who do not have a divine call... are not worthy to be heard and they may be scripturally rejected.'

False preachers cause people to forget God and follow idols.

Their teaching leads to spiritual amnesia and idolatry, as seen in America's pursuit of pleasure, prosperity, and tolerance.

Weaver says, 'Because of false and foolish preachers, like Israel of old, we have gone a whoring after the gods of pleasure, prosperity, political correctness, and tolerance.'

God will destroy false preachers with bitter judgment.

God promises to feed them wormwood, make their way slippery, and bring a whirlwind of destruction, as historically demonstrated.

Weaver reads Jeremiah 23:15, 19 and illustrates with Pashur's fate in Jeremiah 20.

National restoration requires God-called preachers teaching obedience.

America will not recover until pulpits are filled with preachers who proclaim God's Word and call for repentance and righteous living.

Weaver concludes, 'We will never regain our nation until we regain God-called preachers in the pulpits, preaching and teaching obedience to the Word of God.'

Scripture References

Jeremiah 23:9-32: The primary passage read and expounded, detailing God's condemnation of false prophets and the resulting judgment.
Jeremiah 23:14: Cited to show the horrible sin of the prophets, including adultery and lies, and that they are like Sodom and Gomorrah to God.
Jeremiah 23:16: God's command not to listen to prophets who speak visions from their own hearts, making people vain.
Jeremiah 23:25-26: God's indictment of prophets who prophesy lies and deceit from their own hearts, causing people to forget His name.
Jeremiah 23:30-32: God's threefold declaration 'I am against the prophets' who steal His words and prophesy false dreams.
Jeremiah 23:9: Jeremiah's broken heart and physical shaking because of the prophets, the Lord, and His holy words.
Jeremiah 23:10: The land full of adulterers and mourning because of swearing, showing the result of false prophets.
Jeremiah 23:11: Both prophet and priest are profane; God finds wickedness in His house.
Jeremiah 23:13-15: The folly of Samaria's prophets and the profaneness spreading from Jerusalem's prophets, with judgment of wormwood and gall.
Jeremiah 23:21-22: God did not send these prophets; if they had stood in His counsel, they would have turned people from evil.
Jeremiah 23:12: Their way will be slippery in darkness; God will bring evil in the year of their visitation.
Jeremiah 23:19: A grievous whirlwind of the Lord's fury will fall on the head of the wicked.
Isaiah 56:10-11: God calls false watchmen blind, ignorant, dumb dogs that cannot bark, greedy for gain, looking to their own way.
Hosea 8:14: Israel forgot her Maker and built temples; applied to America building churches while forgetting God.
Deuteronomy 30:12-15: God's word is near, in mouth and heart, setting life and good, death and evil before them; used to show the law was already given.
Psalm 138:2: God has magnified His word above His name, emphasizing the primacy of Scripture.
Psalm 119:89: God's word is forever settled in heaven, underscoring its eternal authority.
Jeremiah 20:1-6: Pashur the false prophet smites Jeremiah and is told he will be a terror and die in captivity; an illustration of judgment.
Jeremiah 29:20-21: God will deliver false prophets Ahab and Zedekiah to Nebuchadnezzar to be slain; another example of destruction.
Acts 17:11: The Bereans searched the Scriptures daily to verify Paul's teaching; a model for discernment.

Historical References

John Calvin: Quoted extensively on Jeremiah 23:10 and 23:14, commenting on the land mourning and the prophets' impiety and corruption for gain.
Matthew Poole: Quoted on Jeremiah 23:11 and 23:14, noting that a lewd and corrupt ministry is a sure sign of national ruination and that prophets encourage sinners.
American Revolution preachers: Referenced as historical examples of preachers who led and confronted civil rulers, contrasting with modern silence.

Important Quotes

My heart within me is broken because of the prophets. All my bones shake. I am like a drunken man, and like a man whom wine hath overcome, because of the Lord and because of the words of His holiness.

Jeremiah's opening lament expressing his physical and emotional shock at the prophets' sin and the coming judgment, setting the tone for the sermon.

I have seen also in the prophets of Jerusalem a horrible thing. They commit adultery and walk in lies. They strengthen also the hands of evildoers, that none doth return from his wickedness. And there all of them unto me is Sodom, and the inhabitants thereof is Gomorrah.

God's severe indictment of the prophets' moral corruption and their role in hardening sinners, likening them to Sodom and Gomorrah.

Thus saith the Lord of Hosts, Hearken not unto the words of the prophets, that prophesy unto you. They make you vain. They speak a vision of their own heart, and not out of the mouth of the Lord.

God's direct command to reject false prophets because their message is self-derived and leads to emptiness.

I have not sent these prophets, yet they ran. I have not spoken to them, yet they prophesied.

God's denial of commissioning these prophets, highlighting their self-appointment and lack of divine message.

Therefore, behold, I am against the prophets, saith the Lord, that steal my words, every one from his neighbor. Behold, I am against the prophets, saith the Lord, that use their tongues, and say, he saith. Behold, I am against them that prophesy false dreams, saith the Lord, and do tell them, and cause my people to err by their lies and their likeness.

God's threefold declaration of opposition to false prophets, emphasizing His active judgment against them.

There is no more certain sign of the ruination of a nation than when God allows in it a lewd and a corrupt ministry.

Matthew Poole's quote used to argue that a corrupt clergy is a definitive indicator of national judgment.

If the blind lead the blind, both shall fall in the ditch.

Jesus' words applied to false preachers leading people to destruction, reinforcing the danger of following ungodly leaders.

We will never regain our nation until we regain God-called preachers in the pulpits, preaching and teaching obedience to the Word of God.

The concluding application, asserting that national restoration is contingent on a return to faithful, God-called ministry.

Discussion Questions

[Question]

How does the concept of divine sanctions (blessings and curses) shape our understanding of national events and God's dealings with America?

[Context]

Weaver introduces sanctions as God's enforcement mechanism, applied to nations.

[Question]

In what ways might we be tempted to address symptoms rather than the root cause of spiritual decline, and how can we apply the 'axe to the root' principle?

[Context]

Weaver uses the apple tree analogy to argue for dealing with false preachers as the root.

[Question]

What are the practical implications of God's command to 'hearken not' to certain preachers, and how do we balance this with love and unity?

[Context]

Weaver emphasizes Jeremiah 23:16 and God's opposition to false prophets.

[Question]

How can we cultivate the kind of grief over spiritual corruption that Jeremiah displayed, and why is such grief important?

[Context]

Weaver describes Jeremiah's broken heart and shock at the prophets' sin.

[Question]

What evidence do we see today of 'profaneness gone forth into all the land' from pulpits, and how should we respond?

[Context]

Weaver applies Jeremiah 23:15 to the spread of corruption from preachers to society.

[Question]

How do we discern whether a preacher has a genuine divine call, integrity, and faithful proclamation, and what should we do if we find a lack?

[Context]

Weaver lists three minimum requirements for a true minister.

[Question]

In what ways have false teachings caused the church to 'forget God' and pursue idols like pleasure and prosperity, and how can we recover?

[Context]

Weaver parallels Israel's idolatry with modern American pursuits.

[Question]

How does the certainty of God's judgment on false preachers motivate us to pray for and support faithful ministers?

[Context]

Weaver details the destruction promised to false prophets and applies it to today.

Applications

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