Revelation: Christ and the Churches

When Preaching Does Not Help

Transcript: AI Transcript

Professor: John Weaver

Subject: New Testament Studies

Genre: Sermon

Dictation Name:

Date: 2017-11-11

Synopsis: In this sermon, Pastor John Weaver examines Jeremiah 6:8-10 to explore why preaching sometimes fails to help individuals, churches, and nations. He argues that preaching is never useless because God's Word always accomplishes His purposes, but it may not help when there are problems with preachers (uncalled, unsent), problems with preaching (not expounding, explaining, and applying Scripture), and problems with the people (uncircumcised ears and hearts that reject truth). The sermon warns that despising God's Word leads to walking in the imagination of one's own heart and ultimately to judgment.

[John Weaver] Jeremiah chapter 6, verses 8 through 10. The title of the message today is, When Preaching Will Not Help. Jeremiah chapter 6, notice if you would please beginning with verse 8, God says, Be thou instructed, O Jerusalem, lest my soul depart from thee, lest I make thee desolate, a land not inhabited. Thus saith the Lord of hosts, they shall thoroughly glean the remnant of Israel as a vine, turn back thine hand as a grape gatherer into the baskets.

[John Weaver] To whom shall I speak and give warning that they may hear? Behold, their ear is uncircumcised and they cannot hearken. Behold, the word of the Lord is unto them a reproach and they have no delight in it. If you were to read the first nine verses, you would find that God is declaring basically war upon Judah and Jerusalem because of their sin and their rebellion. And of course, the Babylonians are going to come to destroy them. And if you look in verse four, he just simply says, prepare ye war against her. And of course, verse five, let us destroy all of her palaces. Verse six, Hew down the trees, cast them out against Jerusalem. So obviously, you have now the context of warning, and yet in verse 10, Jeremiah says, To whom shall I speak and give warning that they may hear? Behold, their ear is uncircumcised, and they cannot hearken. Behold, the word of the Lord is unto them a reproach, and they have no delight in it.

[John Weaver] I started to title this message, When Preaching is Useless. But however, the truth of the matter is preaching is never useless. It always accomplishes that which God has ordained it. That's why in Isaiah 55 in verse 11, he said, So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth. It shall not return in me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereunto I send it. So there is a time, however, when preaching will not help, which we will discover a little bit later. I want you to understand that there is a theological side to preaching, and there is also a practical side to preaching. Theologically speaking, it was God the Father who ordained the preaching of the Gospel. It was God the Son who engaged in preaching the Gospel. And it's God the Holy Spirit who is covenantally engaged to honor the preaching of the Gospel. First and foremost, true biblical preaching can only be understood in reference to God since it involves the knowledge of God and it should be a theological exposition of His Word.

[John Weaver] Practically speaking, preaching may either bless or curse. Those who have hearing ears and seeing eyes will always be blessed by the preaching and teaching of the Word of God. But those who refuse to hear, those who refuse to heed will always be cursed. You must remember that in the law, there were blessings and curses. All you have to do is read Leviticus 26, Deuteronomy 28, and Deuteronomy 29 as well.

[John Weaver] So I want you to understand something today, and I think that it might indeed awaken us to some degree, and that's simply this. It is absolutely necessary for you and I to understand that there comes a time when preaching will not help individuals, families, churches, societies, or nations. Stop and think about this. In order to understand this concept, all one has to do is to study the lives of Noah, Jeremiah, Isaiah. It does not matter how plain and how pure the preaching is. It does not matter that the individuals doing the preaching are compassionate and concerned. Their preaching just simply does not help. When you stop and think about Noah, when you stop and think about Jeremiah and Isaiah, they were unable to help their culture, their society, their generation, and their nature, and their nation. For instance, the Bible in 2 Peter 2 and verse 5 calls Noah a preacher of righteousness. And the Bible tells you in 1 Peter 3 and verse 20, while the ark was repairing, which was 120 years, there were eight souls saved.

[John Weaver] So eight people were saved out of 120 years of preaching. So practically speaking, Noah's preaching did not benefit his generation at all. It did not help his society. It did not save his culture because God destroyed them. Jeremiah is also known as the weeping prophet. And he was unable to reach his own people. In fact, Jeremiah chapter 6 and all through the book of Jeremiah, God is going to tell us that Judah and Jerusalem are going to be destroyed because of the righteous anger and wrath of God. So practically speaking, all of Jeremiah's preaching did not help his generation, his culture, or his nation because most of them were destroyed. And when you stop and think about Noah again, those eight that were saved were his own family. No one else was saved.

[John Weaver] So we have to ask the question, why? Why is it that there are times that preaching just absolutely will not help? Well, let me ask you this question. How is it that there are churches on practically every corner in every city, plus innumerable country churches, and yet, at the same time, our cities, our children, our culture, our society continues to disintegrate and fall apart? Stop and think about this. In fact, there are many churches today that are closing their doors. They're being forsaken. And so the question has to be asked, why? I suppose that there are many answers that could be given to that question. However, what I want to do today is to give you three answers. While these answers are not necessarily exhaustive, I believe that they are indeed on point. So before I begin, let me just point something out. We need to understand that all preaching is not preaching, or what passes for preaching is not necessarily preaching. So you can ask me, well, what in the world do you mean by that?

[John Weaver] Well, simply because someone speaks about religious issues or moral issues or societal issues does not mean that that individual is actually preaching. He may be speaking, he may be putting forth his opinion, or he may be enunciating certain truths, even moral truths, but it is not necessarily biblical preaching. So let me show you. If you will turn back in your Bibles to the book of Nehemiah, Nehemiah chapter 8, and I want you to look at verses 7 and 8. Nehemiah chapter 8, verses 7 and 8. And here God tells us what biblical preaching really and truly is. So watch this carefully. Nehemiah chapter 8, And let's take up in the middle of verse 7 with, and the Levites, and that way I don't have to call all of their names, but we have them named previously in verse 7. So it says in the middle of verse 7, and the Levites caused the people to understand the law, and the people stood in their place. Now watch how they did that. So they read in the book of the law of God distinctly, and gave the sense, and caused them to understand the reading.

[John Weaver] So if you look at verse 8, you have to come to the conclusion that real biblical preaching consists of exposition, explanation, and application. So they read in the book of the law distinctly, that's exposition. And they gave the sense thereof, that's explanation. And they caused the people to understand, that's application. In other words, When they got through, the people then understood what they were required by God to do in order to bring their lives into conformity to his word. In other words, there was an application.

[John Weaver] So my question has to be asked, is that is what being done in the average church today? And the answer is far from it. The modern day seeker friendly churches are filled with programs, entertainment, skits, dramas, plays, anything and everything but real biblical preaching. The truth of the matter is the average church today would not allow real exposition of the Word of God to take place or at least not to do so on a regular basis.

[John Weaver] Now there's a passage that probably most of you can quote. I want to give it to you, 2 Peter chapter 4 and verse 3. I will come back to this passage a little bit later. But in 2 Timothy 4, verse 3, the Bible says, for the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine. But after their own lusts shall they heap unto themselves teachers having itching ears.

[John Weaver] For this point right now, let me just make it obvious. The scripture says, for the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine. Now, they will endure anything else. They may even endure false doctrine. or unsound doctrine, but they will not endure sound doctrine. So what in the world is going on today? Why is it that there is a time when preaching will not help?

[John Weaver] Well, let me give it to you like this. Three things. First of all, there is a problem with preachers today. There's a problem with preachers. Many have never been called of God and therefore never sent of God to preach. The question is asked in Romans 10 and verse 15, and how shall they preach except they be sent? In other words, for a man to really genuinely preach, God has to send him.

[John Weaver] Now you have to understand that there are today a multitude of false prophets. There are also a number of individuals who are professional preachers. And there are individuals who really, truly, and genuinely think they're called to preach, but in reality, they are not. I think of the story that I heard years ago when I first started preaching about the old farm boy who was plowing the mule.

[John Weaver] He plowed and plowed and plowed, and he got tired. Finally, he sat down under the shade of a tree and leaned back to rest. And as he leaned back, he looked into the sky, and here were clouds, and they formed the letters GP. And he said, that's it. Go preach. God wants me to preach. And so he went to the pastor. And the pastor said, well, we'll find out. And so he let him preach one Sunday.

[John Weaver] And of course, it was a royal flub. And after the young men got through, the pastor said, son, I think you misinterpreted the clouds. I think the clouds meant go to plowing. Well, there are individuals like that. But there are individuals who claim to be professionals. One of my good friends, who is a doctor, at one time was genuinely considering entering the ministry. And so he asked his pastor, why did you enter the ministry? Thinking he would get a good answer. And his pastor responded, it was a good job.

[John Weaver] Just really burst his balloon very quickly. It was a good job. I was at a wedding a few years back, and the wedding took place in this huge church. And the pastor had part in the wedding, and I had part in the wedding. And after the wedding was over, I was standing by that pastor, and this one woman came up, was just bubbling over to him, telling him how wonderful he did, how wonderfully he did, what a wonderful job, and all this kind of stuff, and just gushing.

[John Weaver] And finally, he cut her short. He said, of course I did. I'm a professional. Well, there are individuals that are just simply professionals. I want you to look in your Bibles to the book of Jeremiah chapter 23. We're going to come back to this passage. So go ahead and mark Jeremiah 23. But look, if you would please, at verse 21. And here's what God says about the false prophets, the professional preachers, and those who really and truly think they've been called when in reality they have not. Notice Jeremiah 23 in verse 21. God said it like this, I have not sent these prophets, yet they ran. I have not spoken of them, yet they prophesied. So God said, here are men preaching that I didn't sin and I did not speak to. So the question automatically arises then, how in the world can you tell whether or not a man is indeed called of God to preach? How can you tell whether he is God called and God sent? And the answer comes back from Isaiah chapter 8 in verse 20, where God says to the law and to the testimony, if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.

[John Weaver] So God says that those whom He sends will always preach and teach His word. So obviously the only way that you can tell is whether or not one is really giving himself into expounding the Word of God. So yes, there is a problem with the preachers. Consequently, because of that, that brings me to the second point. That is, there is a problem with the preaching. If a man has not really been called of God and sent of God, how can he really truly preach? Let me tell you something. You cannot preach and teach what you do not know, love and possess. It's impossible. And you certainly cannot preach it with what you and I would call passion and love. Because you don't even possess it yourself. You don't even know it. And one of the problems with preaching today is there are so many preachers. I don't know if you've ever heard this term or not, But they're belliship preachers. When I say belliship, that means they like the food, they like the fellowship, but they don't like studying.

[John Weaver] But let me tell you, you cannot continue to put out unless you continually take in. Now, I want you to look in Jeremiah 23. Here's a passage that we need to look at. And God is saying, look at these false prophets and notice what he said. Just to show you there's a problem with the preaching. In Jeremiah chapter 23 and verse 22, he said it like this.

[John Weaver] But if they, that is these fault preachers, 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 doings. But see, they didn't stand in their counsel. They didn't hear God's word. So consequently, the people did not change. So if a professional preacher or a false preacher is not really preaching and teaching the word of God, what does he really preach and teach?

[John Weaver] I will tell you this, I've often thought about this. And I study all the time, I try to. And I want to and I enjoy studying. But I've often wondered, How much work a man really has to do to bring a 30 or 40 minute message without incorporating the Word of God in it, and without saying anything to offend someone or everyone, and yet at the same time make his little sermonette exciting, entertaining, so that the people want to come back. Can you imagine the work that is involved in doing something like that for 30 or 40 minutes?

[John Weaver] I was just talking to a friend this morning who visited a big Baptist church several times in South Carolina. It was the first Baptist church. He said the first message was eight minutes long. The second time he went, it was 15 minutes long. That was the message. Eight minutes and 15 minutes. Let me just try to answer the question from the Bible. If they're not really preaching and teaching the Word of God, what do they preach and teach?

[John Weaver] Look in Jeremiah chapter 23, and let's begin reading at verse 25, and we'll read through verse 32. Then I'm going to come back and try to explain this. So notice, if you would, Jeremiah 23 and verse 25. God 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, 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 rock in pieces. Therefore, behold, I'm against the prophets, saith the Lord, that steal my words, every one from his neighbor. Behold, I'm against the prophets, saith the Lord, that use their tongue and say, he saith. Behold, I'm against them that prophesy false dreams, saith the Lord, and do tell them and cause my people to err by their lies and by their likeness.

[John Weaver] Yet I sent them not, nor commanded them. Therefore, they shall not profit this people at all, saith the Lord.

[John Weaver] Now, interestingly, there are three charges here that are lodged against the false prophets. First of all, if you look in verse 30, God says, therefore, behold, I'm against the prophets of the Lord that steal my words, everyone from his neighbor. So God then charges these false prophets with stealing his words. So let me put it to you like this, a failure to preach God's word when one keeps it from the people, or when one simply takes a part of it and leaves the other part, or let me say it another way, or a failure to preach and teach the whole counsel of God is considered by God a violation of the eighth commandment, it is theft. It's just that simple. So if I said to you, well, I'm going to preach this part of the Bible, but I'm not going to preach that part of the Bible, then I'm a thief. Well, I'll preach this doctrine, but not that doctrine. Well, I'm a thief. Because God here charges them with stealing his words.

[John Weaver] Now, here's an interesting thought. Everyone in this room probably has read Ezekiel 3 and Ezekiel 33. And you know where God charged Ezekiel to be a warner, someone who cried out of danger. So he said, if you warn the man and he doesn't listen, his blood's on his own head. But if you do not warn him, then his blood is on your hands. I remember years and years ago, I was told as a young man and as a young preacher, that if you did not witness to everyone that you saw, then their blood was on your hands.

[John Weaver] Let me just point out that is humanly and practically impossible. It's impossible. So if Alice asked me to go to town and buy, say, a gallon of milk, and I then stopped to witness to everyone that I saw, I would never go back home because I'd be continually seeing people. It's impossible. Well, Paul dealt with the sin of blood guiltiness in the book of Acts, chapter 20, verses 26 and 27. Listen to what the apostle Paul said.

[John Weaver] And he was talking to preachers. He said, Wherefore, I take you to record this day that I am free from the blood of all men, for I have not shunned to declare unto you the whole counsel of God. How do we get blood on our hands? By failing to preach the whole the counsel of God. Because God says when we do not do that, we're stealing. And their blood then is upon our hands.

[John Weaver] Now, that is why God said in Deuteronomy 4 and verse 2, you shall not add to the word which I command you, neither shall you diminish from it that you may keep the commandments of the Lord your God which I command you. That's why in Revelation 22 and verse 19, God says we're not to add to the words of this prophecy. So preaching is not going to help if the man happens to be a false prophet or a professional preacher or just someone who's never been called of God. It's just that simple. It will not help.

[John Weaver] Secondly, that brings me to this. Preaching will not help. Not only when the prophets are uncalled and unsent, But when they're adding to the Word, look at it in Jeremiah chapter 23 verse 31. God says, Behold, I am against the prophets, saith the Lord, that use their tongues, and say, He saith. In other words, they're saying things that God has never said. If you were to take the time to read Jeremiah 28 and 29, you'll read about Hananiah and Shemiah. These are two false prophets. And they were preaching and prophesying things that God never said. And God said, I did not send them, and I didn't say those things. And if you read what happened to them, God charged them with rebellion, and then He killed them. So you have a problem then, not only with people stealing from the Word of God, but also adding to the Word of God. And then notice, if you would please, thirdly, in verse 32, he says this, 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 by their likeness.

[John Weaver] Yet I sent them not, nor commanded them. Therefore they shall not profit this people at all, saith the Lord. So now in verse 32, they're charged with substituting for the Word of God. What are they substituting? Their own dreams, their own opinions, their own thoughts. In other words, they're not expounding the Word of God, they're telling everybody what they think and what they believe.

[John Weaver] Now, I want you to look back at Jeremiah 23 at verses 26 and 27. Look what God says about this. How long shall it be in the heart of the prophets that prophesy lies? Yea, there are prophets of the deceit of their own heart, which cause 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." So God says, anytime you steal His words, anytime you say He said when He did not say, and anytime you substitute for the Word of God, you're doing nothing but preaching the deceit of your own heart. So if you look in verse 16 of the same chapter, God makes this point exceedingly clear. He says, For thus saith the Lord of hosts, Harken not in 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.

[John Weaver] So let me put it to you like this. Preaching will not help if God's word is not preached. The dreams, the opinions, the counsel and advice of men that seek to replace the word of God are useless. The entertainment, the funny stories, The heart-wrenching illustrations, the heart-binding or spellbinding oratory will all pass away as empty, useless, and fruitless and futile. So, there is a problem not only with preachers, there's also a problem with preaching today because most preachers are not really expounding, explaining, and applying the Word of God.

[John Weaver] Now, that brings me to the third point. Listen carefully. There's a problem with the people. It is true that there are problems with preachers and problems with preaching. And I might add that they are probably two major problems. But that's certainly not all of the problems. One of the largest problems is the people really and truly do not want the Word of God. And because they really do not want the Word of God, they seek professional preachers. or false preachers, or someone who's been uncalled by God in order to give them that which they really want.

[John Weaver] Now earlier I quoted from 2 Timothy chapter 4 and verse 3. I want to quote that again. I want you to listen very carefully. Listen to what the Word of God says. For the time will come when they, that is plural, They will not endure sound doctrine, but after their own lust shall they heap unto themselves, listen, teachers having itching ears. It's not the teachers who have the itching ears, it's the people who have the itching ears. And so the people do not want the word of God, and so they get the preachers that they really want, who's going to tickle and to scratch their ears.

[John Weaver] Now the interesting thing is if you study the book of Jeremiah, you're going to find that Jeremiah experienced this firsthand. During the book of Jeremiah, Jeremiah is the man. He is the prophet. He is the preacher. But there are a multitude of false prophets that are around Jeremiah. And they are the ones that are deceiving the people and leading the people astray. Jeremiah's message is very hard. Because he's saying, unless you repent, God's going to destroy you. God's going to kill you.

[John Weaver] Who wants to hear something like that? These false prophets are saying, well, Nebuchadnezzar is not going to really destroy Judah and Jerusalem. And those people that are already taken captive, well, they're coming back. Well, they were just saying that which the people really truly wanted to hear. Jeremiah was preaching the truth and nobody wanted to listen to him. Let me show you. I want you to look in your Bibles to Jeremiah chapter 18. Jeremiah chapter 18. And look if you would please at verse 18. Just to show you how the people really truly did not want the word of God. Jeremiah 18 verse 18. Then said they come and let us devise devices against Jeremiah.

[John Weaver] For the law shall not perish from the priest, nor counsel from the wise, nor the word from the prophet. Come, and let us smite him with the tongue, and let us not give heed to any of his words. So here's what they said. We'll devise devices against Jeremiah. Jeremiah's wrong. Listen, the law's not going to perish. The counsel's not going to cease from the wise. Let's smite him with the tongue. Let's talk about him. Let's lamb blast him. Let's cuss him out. Let's tell him what we think. And then make sure that we do not heed or listen to any of his words. We're just not going to listen to him. Look in Jeremiah chapter 20 in verse 10. Jeremiah 20 verse 10. Jeremiah says, For I heard the defaming of many, fear on every side.

[John Weaver] Reports say they, and we will report it. In other words, you tell us something on Jeremiah. All my familiars watched for my halting, saying, peradventure he will be enticed, and we shall prevail against him, and we shall take our revenge on him. So they were warning Jeremiah to fall, and to falter, and to fail. And they were doing everything they could to tempt him, and seduce him, and to get him to falter and fail, so they could take revenge upon him, because they did not like what he was preaching.

[John Weaver] Not only did they refuse to listen to him, and tried to entrap him, finally, they decided they were going to kill him. I mean, if you don't like the message, just kill the messenger. So look in Jeremiah chapter 26 at verses 8 and 9. Jeremiah 26 verses 8 and 9. Now it came to pass when Jeremiah had made an end of speaking, all that the Lord had commanded him to speak unto all the people, that the priest and the prophets and all the people took him saying, thou shalt surely die. Why has thou prophesied in the name of the Lord saying this house that is the temple shall be like Shiloh in this city shall be desolate without inhabitant. And all the people were gathered together against Jeremiah in the house of the Lord. Wow. Do you realize? Jeremiah, the weeping prophet, The man who is known for his compassion, his love, his tenderness, all of his preaching, all of his praying, all of his proclamation did not help his society, his culture, his city, his people, or his country.

[John Weaver] Now, I want you to go back to Jeremiah chapter 6 and look in verse 10. We're not through. I'm trying to explain Jeremiah 6 in verse 10. I want you to look at it. Watch carefully. Jeremiah 6 verse 10, he now says, after telling how God is going to destroy Judah and Jerusalem, he now asks, to whom shall I speak and give warning that they may hear? Can I find anybody that's going to listen?

[John Weaver] Behold, their ear is uncircumcised and they cannot hearken. Behold, the word of the Lord is unto them a reproach, and they have no delight in it."

[John Weaver] Now, it's interesting that Jeremiah asks, to whom shall I speak and give warning that they may hear? Who will listen? Now, in order to understand this, look back in Jeremiah chapter 5 at verses 1 and 2. Watch what God says to Jeremiah. He tells him run you to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem and see now and know and seek in the broad places thereof. If you can find a man that's singular, if you can find a man, if there be any that executed the judgment and seek of the truth, I'll pardon it. God said, if you can find me one man in the whole city of Jerusalem that executes judgment and seeks the truth, I'll pardon the entire city. And then watch verse 2. God says, And though they say, The Lord liveth, surely they swear falsely.

[John Weaver] In other words, they might talk religiously, but they're hypocrites. They have no desire for me or my word.

[John Weaver] Now go back to verse 6 or verse 10 of chapter 6. To whom shall I speak and give warning that they may hear? Nobody's listening. That's why he's asking, to whom shall I speak and give warning? I can't find anyone. I want you to listen to what Calvin wrote concerning this verse. He said this, hence he adds, behold, the ear is uncircumcised. Look at verse 10 again. To whom shall I speak and give warning that they may hear? Behold, their ear is uncircumcised and they cannot hearken. Now listen to what? Calvin wrote, he said, behold, the ear is uncircumcised.

[John Weaver] This metaphor is common in the prophets. The uncircumcised ear is that which rejects all true doctrine. An uncircumcised heart is that which is perverse and rebellious. But we ought to understand the reason of this, as circumcision was an evidence of obedience. So the scripture calls those uncircumcised who are unteachable who cast away every fear of God and all sense of religion and follow their own lusts and desires. But to be thus called was greatly disliked by the Jews, for circumcision gave them no common ground of confidence, since it was the symbol and pledge of adoption, and since they knew that they were thereby separated from other nations so as to be called God's holy people. But the prophet divested them of this vain conceit by calling them uncircumcised in heart and ears, for they had dealt wickedly with God when they promised to be obedient to his will. So it's kind of like the Apostle Paul says, the circumcision of the flesh means nothing if the heart is uncircumcised. If the ear is uncircumcised, it will not hear, it will not heed.

[John Weaver] You remember the first martyr in the New Testament was Stephen, the deacon. And he was preaching to these Jews right before they murdered him. In Acts chapter 7 and verse 51, he said, You stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, you do always resist the Holy Ghost as your fathers did, so do ye. What did he call them? Uncircumcised in heart. and in ears. So we ask, to whom shall I speak and give warning that they may hear? I can't find anybody.

[John Weaver] No one wants the truth. No one's willing to listen to the truth.

[John Weaver] Now, look in Jeremiah chapter 7, just showing you a continuation of this uncircumcised in heart and ears. Look in Jeremiah 7, beginning there with verse 23. Jeremiah 7 verse 23. Notice what God says. But this thing commanded I them saying, obey my voice and I will be your God and you shall be my people and walk in all my ways that I've commanded you that it may be well unto you. But they hearken not, nor incline their ear, but walked in the councils and in the imagination of their evil heart and went backward and not forward.

[John Weaver] Since the day that your fathers came forth out of the land of Egypt unto this day, I've even sent unto you all my servants of prophets, daily rising up early and sending them. Yet they hearken not unto me, nor incline their ear, but harden their neck, and did worse than their fathers. Therefore thou shalt speak all these words unto them, but they will not hearken to thee. Thou shalt also call unto them, but they will not answer thee. But thou shalt say unto them, This is a nation that obeyeth not the voice of the Lord their God, nor receive the correction.

[John Weaver] Watch, truth is perished and is cut off from their mouth. When one will not hear, when one will not heed, truth perishes and truth is cut off from their mouth. Again, John Calvin said it like this. And this we learn more fully from what follows, for he says, behold, the word of the Lord hath been a reproach, and it hath not pleased them, or they have no delight in it.

[John Weaver] The prophet now more clearly shows that the fault was in the Jews themselves, because they had despised God. Whence then was the impotence of which he had spoken, even from their licentiousness, because they deemed God and his prophets as nothing. Since then their minds were thus hardened and so impiously to despise the truth, it followed that they could not hear and attend in as much as they were deprived of all right knowledge. Whence was this? Even because they had closed their eyes and deafened their ears and given themselves up altogether to the devil so that he led them in every kind of madness. In short, he shows at the end of this verse what was the beginning of all their evils even because the Word of God did not please them, that is because they had cast aside every care for true religion because they were not pleased when the prophets came and offered to them the favor of God. As in the truth had become unsavory to them, so they rejected it.

[John Weaver] When it ought to have been especially delightful to them, so it happened that they became holy, stupid, and void of all judgment and reason, and hence also came the uncircumcision of the ears which mention had been made. So that's exactly what Jeremiah is saying. Jeremiah 6 and verse 10. To whom shall I speak and give warning that they may hear? Behold, their ear is uncircumcised, and they counterhearken. Watch! Behold, the word of the Lord is unto them a reproach, and they have no delight in it. Here's a question. If the Word of God is not being preached, if the Word of God is not being expounded, explained, and applied, what is being preached? It's interesting that God answers that for us. If you look in Jeremiah chapter 13, which is a wonderful chapter, I wish I had time to preach on this one today, but this is where God had commanded Jeremiah to take a girdle and bury it by the river Euphrates and then go back and get it. And of course the girdle had rotted and was falling apart.

[John Weaver] And so God says in Jeremiah 13 in verse 10, this evil people which refuse to hear my words, which walk in the imagination of their heart and walk after other gods to serve them and to worship them shall even be as this girdle, which is good for nothing. Ah, Let me remind you. The same is true today, just like it was in the day of Jeremiah. When someone considers the word of God a reproach. When they have no delight in the word of God.

[John Weaver] What do they replace it with? Look in verse 10 again. This evil people which refused to hear my words, which won't in the imagination of their heart. They walk in the imagination of their heart and walk after other gods to serve them and to worship them.

[John Weaver] Now stop and think about this. If you deny the one true and the living God who has revealed Himself in Scripture, the only God that you can worship and serve is a God of your imagination, a God of your making, and not the God of truth. Look in Jeremiah chapter 16, beginning there with verse 10. Jeremiah 16 verse 10. Watch this. Jeremiah 16 in verse 10. And it shall come to pass when thou shalt show this people all these words, and they shall say to thee, now watch these questions, wherefore hath the Lord pronounced all this great evil against us?

[John Weaver] Or what is our iniquity? Or what is our sin that we have committed against the Lord our God? Then shalt thou say to them, Because your fathers have forsaken me, saith the Lord, and have walked after other gods, and have served them, and have worshipped them, and have forsaken me, and have not kept my law, and you have done worse than your fathers. Watch, here it is again.

[John Weaver] For behold, you walk every one after the imagination of his evil heart, that they may not hearken. unto me." Let me spell it out for you. Men despise God's Word because they love their Word. Men despise God's worship because they love their worship. Men despise the One True and the Living God because they love the God of their imagination. Men despise The will of the one true of the living God, because they love their will. In other words, whenever you refuse to hear God's word, you are already an idolater. You are already walking in the imagination of your own heart, and you've already developed in your own mind a God of your own imagination. There are very few people who could tell you the attributes of the God of the Bible.

[John Weaver] Years ago, I was visiting a preacher. And I was in his office. And the subject of election came up. And he and I were sitting there discussing what the Bible said about election. Well, the door was standing wide open. His secretary was out there. And she was evidently listening to our conversation, which didn't bother me. But all of a sudden she jumped up from her desk and she ran into her pastor's office.

[John Weaver] And here's exactly what she says. I don't care what the Bible says. I know God is not like that. And he looked at her and he said, did you hear what you just said? She already had a God of her imagination. The only God that exists is the God of the Bible. So when men then consider the Word of God a reproach, when they have no delight in it, they will delight themselves in the imagination of their own heart.

[John Weaver] And they will want people to encourage them and scratch and tickle their ears saying, yes, you're right. You're right. Let me show you something else. Look in your Bibles to Jeremiah chapter 5. Jeremiah chapter 5 verses 30 and 31. Here's an interesting question at the end of verse 31. Jeremiah 5 verse 30. God says a wonderful and that doesn't mean glorious like you and I think of wonderful.

[John Weaver] Marsha could tell me, well, I just won or inherited a million dollars. I'd say, well, that's wonderful. I mean, you know, that's wonderful. But that's not what this word means here. It means it's something that's awesome. An awesome and a horrible thing is committed in the land. What is it? Here it is. The prophets prophesy falsely. That is, they tell lies. They don't preach the word of God. And the priests, they rule by their means. That is, they're tyrants.

[John Weaver] And my people love to have it so. And my people love to have it so. Why would a people love to hear lies and be under tyranny? Well, because number one, you're hearing what you want to hear. And number two, you don't have any responsibility. You're just being told what to do. Let me tell you something, folks, liberty and freedom requires responsibility. It requires accountability. So he says the prophets prophesied falsely, and the priests were ruled by their means, and my people love to have it so.

[John Weaver] But look at this question, and what will you do in the end thereof? I'm going to come back to that question momentarily, but let me just make a couple of applications. The first one is this. Listen carefully. There are times when preaching will not help. But preaching is never useless. Because it always accomplishes that which God has ordained it to accomplish. When we think of preaching, we normally think of reconciliation. And yes, God does use His Word to bring forth reconciliation. But there is also another ministry of the Word, and that is condemnation.

[John Weaver] If you will turn in your Bibles very quickly to 2 Corinthians chapter 2. 2 Corinthians chapter 2. And look, if you would, at verses 14 through 16, 2nd Corinthians chapter two. And notice if you would be getting there with verse 14. 2nd Corinthians two verse 14. Paul says, now thanks be to God, which always causes us to try up in Christ and make it manifest the savor or the sweet smell of his knowledge by us in every place. Now, go back to verse 14 just momentarily. Now, thanks be unto God, which always, not sometimes, but always causes us to drop in Christ and makes manifest the savor or the smell of his knowledge by us in every place. Then he says this in verse 15, for we are unto God, a sweet savor of Christ.

[John Weaver] In them that are saved. And in them that perish. To the one we are the savor of death unto death, to the other the savor of life unto life. And who is sufficient for these things?

[John Weaver] Now you have to remember those Old Testament offerings. Because that sweet incense and the smell of even that meat that was being roasted ascended up into heaven. And it was called a sweet savor or a sweet smell. So here is what God is saying in verse 15. If I am preaching His Word to, say, a room full of a hundred unsaved individuals. And when I get through preaching, God so powerfully and miraculously works that every one of those individuals are genuinely saved. They're genuinely converted. God saves them all. You know what God does? He does this. My son is preached. and I'm glorified. But if I preach and expound His Word and those hundred men clench their fists and speak through tied lips, get out of here, I hate you, I don't want to hear that again, you know what God says? My son is preached and I'm glorified.

[John Weaver] We're the saver of life unto life and death unto death. I've got to remind you The same sun that melts the wax will harden the clay. And the same gospel that draws men to Jesus Christ will also drive away those who are unrepentant and who hate truth. God's word never returns void. It accomplishes whatever he pleases, whether it's in reconciliation or condemnation. But there are times when it will not help because people will not listen. Now, what's this?

[John Weaver] And Jeremiah five in verse thirty one, when he said the prophets prophesied falsely and the priests were ruled by their means and my people love to have it. So here's the question. But what will you do in the end thereof? What are you going to do when you die? What are you going to do when you face God? You've listened to lies, you've believed in lies, you've submitted to tyranny, you've refused responsibility and accountability and obedience to God. What will happen?

[John Weaver] What good would it do you? And the answer is, all it will have done is condemn you. Look in your Bibles to Jeremiah chapter 15. I want you to think about this passage. You see, when it came to Elijah, God moved Elijah out of the land. And the three and a half year drought was just a physical picture of a spiritual reality. God was not speaking because his prophet was out of the land. Jeremiah was left in the land. God just shut his mouth. Watch. Jeremiah 15, notice verse 19.

[John Weaver] Therefore, thus said the Lord, if thou return, then will I bring thee again and thou shalt stand before me. And if thou take forth the precious from the vial, thou shalt be as my mouth.

[John Weaver] Now look what he says about these people who would not hear. Let them return unto thee, but return not thou unto them. And I will make thee into this people a fenced brazen wall, and they shall fight against thee, for they shall not prevail against thee. For I am with thee to save thee and deliver thee, saith the Lord, and I will deliver thee out of the hand of the wicked, and I will redeem thee out of the hand of the terrible." What did he say? If they return to you, that's one thing, but don't you go back to them. They're going to fight against you, but they're not going to succeed. I'm going to protect you.

[John Weaver] So the question is, when we have despised the word of God, and counted it a reproach and no longer want to hear it, no longer want to believe it, no longer want to obey it because we want to do our thing and walk after the imagination of our hearts. What will we do in the end when our society disintegrates, our culture is destroyed, our families are broken? Our churches are shut. What will we do in the end? All because we've counted the Word of God a reproach and had no delight in it.

[John Weaver] To whom shall I give warning? Ask Isaiah. Who has ears to hear? I once said, let Him hear. Father, in the name of Jesus Christ, we bow before Thee. We thank You for Your Word. We thank You for Your truth. Lord, help us to love Thy Word and love Thy truth and delight in it. May it not be a reproach to us, but may it be our joy, our treasure. And Lord, we pray that we would be people that hear and obey and bring our lives in conformity to thy word.

[John Weaver] We think of our culture today. We think of our civilization, our society, our churches, our nation. How desperately, Lord, we need thee and need thy word. And we ask that you'd be pleased to work in our hearts. In the name of Jesus Christ, we ask and pray. Amen.

[John Weaver] so so

When Preaching Does Not Help

John Weaver | YouTube

Lecture Metadata	Details
Speaker	John Weaver
Source	YouTube
Media ID	H_7Vjc9hVYo
Subject	New Testament Studies
Course	Revelation: Christ and the Churches
Genre	Sermon
Date	2017-11-11
Dictation Name
Book	Book 139: Revelation: Christ and the Churches — Chapter 17
Source Timed Segments	78

Formatted Transcript

Introduction: The Context of Jeremiah 6:8-10

God declares war on Judah and Jerusalem for their sin, and Jeremiah asks to whom he can speak and give warning because the people's ears are uncircumcised and they cannot hearken.

Jeremiah chapter 6, verses 8 through 10. The title of the message today is, "When Preaching Will Not Help." Jeremiah chapter 6, notice if you would please beginning with verse 8, God says,

Scripture Reading — Jeremiah 6:8-10

"Be thou instructed, O Jerusalem, lest my soul depart from thee, lest I make thee desolate, a land not inhabited. Thus saith the Lord of hosts, They shall thoroughly glean the remnant of Israel as a vine: turn back thine hand as a grapegatherer into the baskets." "To whom shall I speak, and give warning, that they may hear? Behold, their ear is uncircumcised, and they cannot hearken: behold, the word of the Lord is unto them a reproach; they have no delight in it."

If you were to read the first nine verses, you would find that God is declaring basically war upon Judah and Jerusalem because of their sin and their rebellion. And of course, the Babylonians are going to come to destroy them. And if you look in verse 4, he just simply says, "Prepare ye war against her." And of course, verse 5, "Let us destroy all of her palaces." Verse 6, "Hew down the trees, cast them out against Jerusalem." So obviously, you have now the context of warning, and yet in verse 10, Jeremiah says,

Scripture Reading — Jeremiah 6:8-10

"To whom shall I speak, and give warning, that they may hear? Behold, their ear is uncircumcised, and they cannot hearken: behold, the word of the Lord is unto them a reproach; they have no delight in it."

Preaching is Never Useless but May Not Help

Preaching always accomplishes God's ordained purpose (Isaiah 55:11), but there are times when it will not help individuals, families, churches, societies, or nations.

I started to title this message, "When Preaching is Useless." But however, the truth of the matter is preaching is never useless. It always accomplishes that which God has ordained it. That's why in Isaiah 55 and verse 11, he said,

Scripture Reading — Isaiah 55:11

"So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it."

So there is a time, however, when preaching will not help, which we will discover a little bit later. I want you to understand that there is a theological side to preaching, and there is also a practical side to preaching. Theologically speaking, it was God the Father who ordained the preaching of the Gospel. It was God the Son who engaged in preaching the Gospel. And it's God the Holy Spirit who is covenantally engaged to honor the preaching of the Gospel. First and foremost, true biblical preaching can only be understood in reference to God since it involves the knowledge of God and it should be a theological exposition of His Word.

Practically speaking, preaching may either bless or curse. Those who have hearing ears and seeing eyes will always be blessed by the preaching and teaching of the Word of God. But those who refuse to hear, those who refuse to heed will always be cursed. You must remember that in the law, there were blessings and curses. All you have to do is read Leviticus 26, Deuteronomy 28, and Deuteronomy 29 as well.

So I want you to understand something today, and I think that it might indeed awaken us to some degree, and that's simply this. It is absolutely necessary for you and I to understand that there comes a time when preaching will not help individuals, families, churches, societies, or nations. Stop and think about this. In order to understand this concept, all one has to do is to study the lives of Noah, Jeremiah, Isaiah. It does not matter how plain and how pure the preaching is. It does not matter that the individuals doing the preaching are compassionate and concerned. Their preaching just simply does not help. When you stop and think about Noah, when you stop and think about Jeremiah and Isaiah, they were unable to help their culture, their society, their generation, and their nation. For instance, the Bible in 2 Peter 2 and verse 5 calls Noah a preacher of righteousness. And the Bible tells you in 1 Peter 3 and verse 20, while the ark was a preparing, which was 120 years, there were eight souls saved.

Biblical Examples of Preaching That Did Not Help

Noah preached for 120 years and only eight were saved; Jeremiah and Isaiah were unable to reach their generations, showing that plain and pure preaching may not help.

So eight people were saved out of 120 years of preaching. So practically speaking, Noah's preaching did not benefit his generation at all. It did not help his society. It did not save his culture because God destroyed them. Jeremiah is also known as the weeping prophet. And he was unable to reach his own people. In fact, Jeremiah chapter 6 and all through the book of Jeremiah, God is going to tell us that Judah and Jerusalem are going to be destroyed because of the righteous anger and wrath of God. So practically speaking, all of Jeremiah's preaching did not help his generation, his culture, or his nation because most of them were destroyed. And when you stop and think about Noah again, those eight that were saved were his own family. No one else was saved.

So we have to ask the question, why? Why is it that there are times that preaching just absolutely will not help? Well, let me ask you this question. How is it that there are churches on practically every corner in every city, plus innumerable country churches, and yet, at the same time, our cities, our children, our culture, our society continues to disintegrate and fall apart? Stop and think about this. In fact, there are many churches today that are closing their doors. They're being forsaken. And so the question has to be asked, why? I suppose that there are many answers that could be given to that question. However, what I want to do today is to give you three answers. While these answers are not necessarily exhaustive, I believe that they are indeed on point. So before I begin, let me just point something out. We need to understand that all preaching is not preaching, or what passes for preaching is not necessarily preaching. So you can ask me, well, what in the world do you mean by that?

What is True Biblical Preaching?

True biblical preaching consists of exposition, explanation, and application, as modeled in Nehemiah 8:7-8, where the Levites read distinctly, gave the sense, and caused understanding.

Well, simply because someone speaks about religious issues or moral issues or societal issues does not mean that that individual is actually preaching. He may be speaking, he may be putting forth his opinion, or he may be enunciating certain truths, even moral truths, but it is not necessarily biblical preaching. So let me show you. If you will turn back in your Bibles to the book of Nehemiah, Nehemiah chapter 8, and I want you to look at verses 7 and 8. Nehemiah chapter 8, verses 7 and 8. And here God tells us what biblical preaching really and truly is. So watch this carefully. Nehemiah chapter 8, and let's take up in the middle of verse 7 with, "and the Levites," and that way I don't have to call all of their names, but we have them named previously in verse 7. So it says in the middle of verse 7,

Scripture Reading — Nehemiah 8:7-8

"and the Levites caused the people to understand the law: and the people stood in their place." Now watch how they did that. "So they read in the book of the law of God distinctly, and gave the sense, and caused them to understand the reading."

So if you look at verse 8, you have to come to the conclusion that real biblical preaching consists of exposition, explanation, and application. So they read in the book of the law distinctly, that's exposition. And they gave the sense thereof, that's explanation. And they caused the people to understand, that's application. In other words, when they got through, the people then understood what they were required by God to do in order to bring their lives into conformity to his word. In other words, there was an application.

Problem #1: There is a Problem with Preachers

Many preachers are not called or sent by God; they are false prophets, professionals, or self-deceived. A true call is evidenced by preaching according to God's Word (Isaiah 8:20).

Well, let me give it to you like this. Three things. First of all, there is a problem with preachers today. There's a problem with preachers. Many have never been called of God and therefore never sent of God to preach. The question is asked in Romans 10 and verse 15,

Scripture Reading — Romans 10:15

"And how shall they preach, except they be sent?"

In other words, for a man to really genuinely preach, God has to send him.

Now you have to understand that there are today a multitude of false prophets. There are also a number of individuals who are professional preachers. And there are individuals who really, truly, and genuinely think they're called to preach, but in reality, they are not. I think of the story that I heard years ago when I first started preaching about the old farm boy who was plowing the mule. He plowed and plowed and plowed, and he got tired. Finally, he sat down under the shade of a tree and leaned back to rest. And as he leaned back, he looked into the sky, and here were clouds, and they formed the letters GP. And he said, "That's it. Go preach. God wants me to preach." And so he went to the pastor. And the pastor said, "Well, we'll find out." And so he let him preach one Sunday.

And of course, it was a royal flub. And after the young man got through, the pastor said, "Son, I think you misinterpreted the clouds. I think the clouds meant go to plowing." Well, there are individuals like that. But there are individuals who claim to be professionals. One of my good friends, who is a doctor, at one time was genuinely considering entering the ministry. And so he asked his pastor, "Why did you enter the ministry?" thinking he would get a good answer. And his pastor responded, "It was a good job."

Just really burst his balloon very quickly. It was a good job. I was at a wedding a few years back, and the wedding took place in this huge church. And the pastor had part in the wedding, and I had part in the wedding. And after the wedding was over, I was standing by that pastor, and this one woman came up, was just bubbling over to him, telling him how wonderful he did, how wonderfully he did, what a wonderful job, and all this kind of stuff, and just gushing. And finally, he cut her short. He said, "Of course I did. I'm a professional." Well, there are individuals that are just simply professionals. I want you to look in your Bibles to the book of Jeremiah chapter 23. We're going to come back to this passage. So go ahead and mark Jeremiah 23. But look, if you would please, at verse 21. And here's what God says about the false prophets, the professional preachers, and those who really and truly think they've been called when in reality they have not. Notice Jeremiah 23 in verse 21. God said it like this,

Scripture Reading — Jeremiah 23:21

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

So God said, here are men preaching that I didn't send and I did not speak to. So the question automatically arises then, how in the world can you tell whether or not a man is indeed called of God to preach? How can you tell whether he is God called and God sent? And the answer comes back from Isaiah chapter 8 in verse 20, where God says, "To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them."

So God says that those whom He sends will always preach and teach His word. So obviously the only way that you can tell is whether or not one is really giving himself into expounding the Word of God. So yes, there is a problem with the preachers. Consequently, because of that, that brings me to the second point. That is, there is a problem with the preaching. If a man has not really been called of God and sent of God, how can he really truly preach? Let me tell you something. You cannot preach and teach what you do not know, love and possess. It's impossible. And you certainly cannot preach it with what you and I would call passion and love. Because you don't even possess it yourself. You don't even know it. And one of the problems with preaching today is there are so many preachers. I don't know if you've ever heard this term or not, but they're bellyship preachers. When I say bellyship, that means they like the food, they like the fellowship, but they don't like studying.

Problem #2: There is a Problem with Preaching

False preachers steal God's words (failure to preach the whole counsel), add to His words (saying what God never said), and substitute their own dreams and opinions for Scripture (Jeremiah 23:25-32).

But let me tell you, you cannot continue to put out unless you continually take in. Now, I want you to look in Jeremiah 23. Here's a passage that we need to look at. And God is saying, look at these false prophets and notice what he said. Just to show you there's a problem with the preaching. In Jeremiah chapter 23 and verse 22, he said it like this. "But if they," that is these false prophets,

Scripture Reading — Jeremiah 23:22

"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 doings." But

see, they didn't stand in His counsel. They didn't hear God's word. So consequently, the people did not change. So if a professional preacher or a false preacher is not really preaching and teaching the word of God, what does he really preach and teach?

I will tell you this, I've often thought about this. And I study all the time, I try to. And I want to and I enjoy studying. But I've often wondered, how much work a man really has to do to bring a 30 or 40 minute message without incorporating the Word of God in it, and without saying anything to offend someone or everyone, and yet at the same time make his little sermonette exciting, entertaining, so that the people want to come back. Can you imagine the work that is involved in doing something like that for 30 or 40 minutes? I was just talking to a friend this morning who visited a big Baptist church several times in South Carolina. It was the first Baptist church. He said the first message was eight minutes long. The second time he went, it was 15 minutes long. That was the message. Eight minutes and 15 minutes. Let me just try to answer the question from the Bible. If they're not really preaching and teaching the Word of God, what do they preach and teach?

Look in Jeremiah chapter 23, and let's begin reading at verse 25, and we'll read through verse 32. Then I'm going to come back and try to explain this. So notice, if you would, Jeremiah 23 and verse 25. God says,

Scripture Reading — Jeremiah 23:25-32

"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 neighbour, 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 the rock in pieces? Therefore, behold, I am against the prophets, saith the Lord, that steal my words every one from his neighbour. 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 by their lightness."

"Yet I sent them not, nor commanded them: therefore they shall not profit this people at all, saith the Lord." Now, interestingly, there are three charges here that are lodged against the false prophets. First of all, if you look in verse 30, God says, "Therefore, behold, I am against the prophets, saith the Lord, that steal my words every one from his neighbour." So God then charges these false prophets with stealing his words. So let me put it to you like this, a failure to preach God's word when one keeps it from the people, or when one simply takes a part of it and leaves the other part, or let me say it another way, or a failure to preach and teach the whole counsel of God is considered by God a violation of the eighth commandment, it is theft. It's just that simple. So if I said to you, "Well, I'm going to preach this part of the Bible, but I'm not going to preach that part of the Bible," then I'm a thief. "Well, I'll preach this doctrine, but not that doctrine." Well, I'm a thief. Because God here charges them with stealing his words.

Now, here's an interesting thought. Everyone in this room probably has read Ezekiel 3 and Ezekiel 33. And you know where God charged Ezekiel to be a warner, someone who cried out of danger. So he said, if you warn the man and he doesn't listen, his blood's on his own head. But if you do not warn him, then his blood is on your hands. I remember years and years ago, I was told as a young man and as a young preacher, that if you did not witness to everyone that you saw, then their blood was on your hands. Let me just point out that is humanly and practically impossible. It's impossible. So if Alice asked me to go to town and buy, say, a gallon of milk, and I then stopped to witness to everyone that I saw, I would never go back home because I'd be continually seeing people. It's impossible. Well, Paul dealt with the sin of blood guiltiness in the book of Acts, chapter 20, verses 26 and 27. Listen to what the apostle Paul said.

And he was talking to preachers. He said, "Wherefore I take you to record this day, that I am pure from the blood of all men. For I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God." How do we get blood on our hands? By failing to preach the whole counsel of God. Because God says when we do not do that, we're stealing. And their blood then is upon our hands.

Now, that is why God said in Deuteronomy 4 and verse 2, "Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall ye diminish ought from it, that ye may keep the commandments of the Lord your God which I command you." That's why in Revelation 22 and verse 19, God says we're not to add to the words of this prophecy. So preaching is not going to help if the man happens to be a false prophet or a professional preacher or just someone who's never been called of God. It's just that simple. It will not help. Secondly, that brings me to this. Preaching will not help. Not only when the prophets are uncalled and unsent, but when they're adding to the Word, look at it in Jeremiah chapter 23 verse 31. God says,

Scripture Reading — Jeremiah 23:25-32

"Behold, I am against the prophets, saith the Lord, that use their tongues, and say, He saith."

In other words, they're saying things that God has never said. If you were to take the time to read Jeremiah 28 and 29, you'll read about Hananiah and Shemaiah. These are two false prophets. And they were preaching and prophesying things that God never said. And God said, "I did not send them, and I didn't say those things." And if you read what happened to them, God charged them with rebellion, and then He killed them. So you have a problem then, not only with people stealing from the Word of God, but also adding to the Word of God. And then notice, if you would please, thirdly, in verse 32, he says this,

Scripture Reading — Jeremiah 23:25-32

"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 by their lightness."

"Yet I sent them not, nor commanded them: therefore they shall not profit this people at all, saith the Lord." So now in verse 32, they're charged with substituting for the Word of God. What are they substituting? Their own dreams, their own opinions, their own thoughts. In other words, they're not expounding the Word of God, they're telling everybody what they think and what they believe.

Now, I want you to look back at Jeremiah 23 at verses 26 and 27. Look what God says about this. "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 neighbour, as their fathers have forgotten my name for Baal." So God says, anytime you steal His words, anytime you say He said when He did not say, and anytime you substitute for the Word of God, you're doing nothing but preaching the deceit of your own heart. So if you look in verse 16 of the same chapter, God makes this point exceedingly clear. He says, "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."

So let me put it to you like this. Preaching will not help if God's word is not preached. The dreams, the opinions, the counsel and advice of men that seek to replace the word of God are useless. The entertainment, the funny stories, the heart-wrenching illustrations, the heart-binding or spellbinding oratory will all pass away as empty, useless, and fruitless and futile. So, there is a problem not only with preachers, there's also a problem with preaching today because most preachers are not really expounding, explaining, and applying the Word of God.

Problem #3: There is a Problem with the People

People do not want sound doctrine; they heap up teachers to tickle their ears (2 Timothy 4:3). Jeremiah's hearers plotted against him, refused to listen, and sought to kill him because they despised God's Word.

Now, that brings me to the third point. Listen carefully. There's a problem with the people. It is true that there are problems with preachers and problems with preaching. And I might add that they are probably two major problems. But that's certainly not all of the problems. One of the largest problems is the people really and truly do not want the Word of God. And because they really do not want the Word of God, they seek professional preachers or false preachers, or someone who's been uncalled by God in order to give them that which they really want.

Now earlier I quoted from 2 Timothy chapter 4 and verse 3. I want to quote that again. I want you to listen very carefully. Listen to what the Word of God says. "For the time will come when they," that is plural, "they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears." It's not the teachers who have the itching ears, it's the people who have the itching ears. And so the people do not want the word of God, and so they get the preachers that they really want, who's going to tickle and to scratch their ears.

Now the interesting thing is if you study the book of Jeremiah, you're going to find that Jeremiah experienced this firsthand. During the book of Jeremiah, Jeremiah is the man. He is the prophet. He is the preacher. But there are a multitude of false prophets that are around Jeremiah. And they are the ones that are deceiving the people and leading the people astray. Jeremiah's message is very hard. Because he's saying, unless you repent, God's going to destroy you. God's going to kill you.

Who wants to hear something like that? These false prophets are saying, "Well, Nebuchadnezzar is not going to really destroy Judah and Jerusalem. And those people that are already taken captive, well, they're coming back." Well, they were just saying that which the people really truly wanted to hear. Jeremiah was preaching the truth and nobody wanted to listen to him. Let me show you. I want you to look in your Bibles to Jeremiah chapter 18. Jeremiah chapter 18. And look if you would please at verse 18. Just to show you how the people really truly did not want the word of God. Jeremiah 18 verse 18. "Then said they, Come, and let us devise devices against Jeremiah."

Scripture Reading — Jeremiah 18:18

"For the law shall not perish from the priest, nor counsel from the wise, nor the word from the prophet. Come, and let us smite him with the tongue, and let us not give heed to any of his words."

So here's what they said. We'll devise devices against Jeremiah. Jeremiah's wrong. Listen, the law's not going to perish. The counsel's not going to cease from the wise. Let's smite him with the tongue. Let's talk about him. Let's lambast him. Let's cuss him out. Let's tell him what we think. And then make sure that we do not heed or listen to any of his words. We're just not going to listen to him. Look in Jeremiah chapter 20 in verse 10. Jeremiah 20 verse 10. Jeremiah says, "For I heard the defaming of many, fear on every side."

"Report, say they, and we will report it." In other words, you tell us something on Jeremiah. "All my familiars watched for my halting, saying, Peradventure he will be enticed, and we shall prevail against him, and we shall take our revenge on him." So they were wanting Jeremiah to fall, and to falter, and to fail. And they were doing everything they could to tempt him, and seduce him, and to get him to falter and fail, so they could take revenge upon him, because they did not like what he was preaching. Not only did they refuse to listen to him, and tried to entrap him, finally, they decided they were going to kill him. I mean, if you don't like the message, just kill the messenger. So look in Jeremiah chapter 26 at verses 8 and 9. Jeremiah 26 verses 8 and 9.

Scripture Reading — Jeremiah 26:8-9

"Now it came to pass, when Jeremiah had made an end of speaking all that the Lord had commanded him to speak unto all the people, that the priests and the prophets and all the people took him, saying, Thou shalt surely die. Why hast thou prophesied in the name of the Lord, saying, This house shall be like Shiloh, and this city shall be desolate without an inhabitant? And all the people were gathered against Jeremiah in the house of the Lord."

Wow. Do you realize? Jeremiah, the weeping prophet, the man who is known for his compassion, his love, his tenderness, all of his preaching, all of his praying, all of his proclamation did not help his society, his culture, his city, his people, or his country.

Now, I want you to go back to Jeremiah chapter 6 and look in verse 10. We're not through. I'm trying to explain Jeremiah 6 in verse 10. I want you to look at it. Watch carefully. Jeremiah 6 verse 10, he now says, after telling how God is going to destroy Judah and Jerusalem, he now asks, "To whom shall I speak, and give warning, that they may hear?" Can I find anybody that's going to listen?

The Uncircumcised Ear and Heart

Jeremiah 6:10 describes an uncircumcised ear that cannot hearken; the people considered God's Word a reproach and had no delight in it. This rejection leads to walking in the imagination of one's own heart and idolatry.

"Behold, their ear is uncircumcised, and they cannot hearken: behold, the word of the Lord is unto them a reproach; they have no delight in it." Now, it's interesting that Jeremiah asks, "To whom shall I speak, and give warning, that they may hear?" Who will listen? Now, in order to understand this, look back in Jeremiah chapter 5 at verses 1 and 2. Watch what God says to Jeremiah. He tells him,

Scripture Reading — Jeremiah 5:1-2

"Run ye to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem, and see now, and know, and seek in the broad places thereof, if ye can find a man,"

that's singular,

Scripture Reading — Jeremiah 5:1-2

"if ye can find a man, if there be any that executeth judgment, that seeketh the truth; and I will pardon it."

God said, if you can find me one man in the whole city of Jerusalem that executes judgment and seeks the truth, I'll pardon the entire city. And then watch verse 2. God says,

Scripture Reading — Jeremiah 5:1-2

"And though they say, The Lord liveth; surely they swear falsely."

In other words, they might talk religiously, but they're hypocrites. They have no desire for me or my word. Now go back to verse 10 of chapter 6. "To whom shall I speak, and give warning, that they may hear?" Nobody's listening. That's why he's asking, "To whom shall I speak, and give warning?" I can't find anyone. I want you to listen to what Calvin wrote concerning this verse. He said this, "Hence he adds, Behold, the ear is uncircumcised." Look at verse 10 again. "To whom shall I speak, and give warning, that they may hear? Behold, their ear is uncircumcised, and they cannot hearken." Now listen to what Calvin wrote, he said, "Behold, the ear is uncircumcised."

"This metaphor is common in the prophets. The uncircumcised ear is that which rejects all true doctrine. An uncircumcised heart is that which is perverse and rebellious. But we ought to understand the reason of this, as circumcision was an evidence of obedience. So the scripture calls those uncircumcised who are unteachable, who cast away every fear of God and all sense of religion and follow their own lusts and desires. But to be thus called was greatly disliked by the Jews, for circumcision gave them no common ground of confidence, since it was the symbol and pledge of adoption, and since they knew that they were thereby separated from other nations so as to be called God's holy people. But the prophet divested them of this vain conceit by calling them uncircumcised in heart and ears, for they had dealt wickedly with God when they promised to be obedient to his will." So it's kind of like the Apostle Paul says, the circumcision of the flesh means nothing if the heart is uncircumcised. If the ear is uncircumcised, it will not hear, it will not heed.

You remember the first martyr in the New Testament was Stephen, the deacon. And he was preaching to these Jews right before they murdered him. In Acts chapter 7 and verse 51, he said,

Scripture Reading — Acts 7:51

"Ye stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Ghost: as your fathers did, so do ye."

What did he call them? Uncircumcised in heart and in ears. So we ask, "To whom shall I speak, and give warning, that they may hear?" I can't find anybody. No one wants the truth. No one's willing to listen to the truth.

Now, look in Jeremiah chapter 7, just showing you a continuation of this uncircumcised in heart and ears. Look in Jeremiah 7, beginning there with verse 23. Jeremiah 7 verse 23. Notice what God says. "But this thing commanded I them, saying, Obey my voice, and I will be your God, and ye shall be my people: and walk ye in all the ways that I have commanded you, that it may be well unto you. But they hearkened not, nor inclined their ear, but walked in the counsels and in the imagination of their evil heart, and went backward, and not forward." "Since the day that your fathers came forth out of the land of Egypt unto this day I have even sent unto you all my servants the prophets, daily rising up early and sending them: Yet they hearkened not unto me, nor inclined their ear, but hardened their neck: they did worse than their fathers. Therefore thou shalt speak all these words unto them; but they will not hearken to thee: thou shalt also call unto them; but they will not answer thee. But thou shalt say unto them, This is a nation that obeyeth not the voice of the Lord their God, nor receiveth correction."

Watch, "truth is perished, and is cut off from their mouth." When one will not hear, when one will not heed, truth perishes and truth is cut off from their mouth. Again, John Calvin said it like this. "And this we learn more fully from what follows, for he says, Behold, the word of the Lord hath been a reproach, and it hath not pleased them, or they have no delight in it." "The prophet now more clearly shows that the fault was in the Jews themselves, because they had despised God. Whence then was the impotence of which he had spoken, even from their licentiousness, because they deemed God and his prophets as nothing. Since then their minds were thus hardened and so impiously to despise the truth, it followed that they could not hear and attend in as much as they were deprived of all right knowledge. Whence was this? Even because they had closed their eyes and deafened their ears and given themselves up altogether to the devil so that he led them in every kind of madness. In short, he shows at the end of this verse what was the beginning of all their evils even because the Word of God did not please them, that is because they had cast aside every care for true religion because they were not pleased when the prophets came and offered to them the favor of God. As in the truth had become unsavory to them, so they rejected it."

"When it ought to have been especially delightful to them, so it happened that they became wholly stupid, and void of all judgment and reason, and hence also came the uncircumcision of the ears which mention had been made." So that's exactly what Jeremiah is saying. Jeremiah 6 and verse 10. "To whom shall I speak, and give warning, that they may hear? Behold, their ear is uncircumcised, and they cannot hearken." Watch! "Behold, the word of the Lord is unto them a reproach; they have no delight in it." Here's a question. If the Word of God is not being preached, if the Word of God is not being expounded, explained, and applied, what is being preached? It's interesting that God answers that for us. If you look in Jeremiah chapter 13, which is a wonderful chapter, I wish I had time to preach on this one today, but this is where God had commanded Jeremiah to take a girdle and bury it by the river Euphrates and then go back and get it. And of course the girdle had rotted and was falling apart.

And so God says in Jeremiah 13 in verse 10, "This evil people, which refuse to hear my words, which walk in the imagination of their heart, and walk after other gods, to serve them, and to worship them, shall even be as this girdle, which is good for nothing." Ah, let me remind you. The same is true today, just like it was in the day of Jeremiah. When someone considers the word of God a reproach, when they have no delight in the word of God. What do they replace it with? Look in verse 10 again. "This evil people, which refuse to hear my words, which walk in the imagination of their heart." They walk in the imagination of their heart and walk after other gods to serve them and to worship them.

Now stop and think about this. If you deny the one true and the living God who has revealed Himself in Scripture, the only God that you can worship and serve is a God of your imagination, a God of your making, and not the God of truth. Look in Jeremiah chapter 16, beginning there with verse 10. Jeremiah 16 verse 10. Watch this. Jeremiah 16 in verse 10. "And it shall come to pass, when thou shalt shew this people all these words, and they shall say unto thee," now watch these questions, "Wherefore hath the Lord pronounced all this great evil against us?"

"Or what is our iniquity? or what is our sin that we have committed against the Lord our God? Then shalt thou say unto them, Because your fathers have forsaken me, saith the Lord, and have walked after other gods, and have served them, and have worshipped them, and have forsaken me, and have not kept my law; and ye have done worse than your fathers." Watch, here it is again. "For, behold, ye walk every one after the imagination of his evil heart, that they may not hearken unto me." Let me spell it out for you. Men despise God's Word because they love their word. Men despise God's worship because they love their worship. Men despise the One True and the Living God because they love the God of their imagination. Men despise the will of the one true and the living God, because they love their will. In other words, whenever you refuse to hear God's word, you are already an idolater. You are already walking in the imagination of your own heart, and you've already developed in your own mind a God of your own imagination. There are very few people who could tell you the attributes of the God of the Bible.

The People Love to Have It So

Jeremiah 5:30-31 shows that people love false prophecy and tyranny because it relieves them of responsibility. The question 'What will ye do in the end thereof?' points to final judgment.

Marsha could tell me, "Well, I just won or inherited a million dollars." I'd say, "Well, that's wonderful." I mean, you know, that's wonderful. But that's not what this word means here. It means it's something that's awesome. "An awesome and a horrible thing is committed in the land." What is it? Here it is. "The prophets prophesy falsely," that is, they tell lies. They don't preach the word of God. "And the priests bear rule by their means;" that is, they're tyrants.

"And my people love to have it so." And my people love to have it so. Why would a people love to hear lies and be under tyranny? Well, because number one, you're hearing what you want to hear. And number two, you don't have any responsibility. You're just being told what to do. Let me tell you something, folks, liberty and freedom requires responsibility. It requires accountability. So he says the prophets prophesied falsely, and the priests bear rule by their means, and my people love to have it so.

But look at this question, "And what will ye do in the end thereof?" I'm going to come back to that question momentarily, but let me just make a couple of applications. The first one is this. Listen carefully. There are times when preaching will not help. But preaching is never useless. Because it always accomplishes that which God has ordained it to accomplish. When we think of preaching, we normally think of reconciliation. And yes, God does use His Word to bring forth reconciliation. But there is also another ministry of the Word, and that is condemnation.

The Dual Ministry of the Word: Life and Death

Preaching is a sweet savor to God whether it results in salvation or condemnation (2 Corinthians 2:14-16). God's Word never returns void; it accomplishes reconciliation or condemnation.

If you will turn in your Bibles very quickly to 2 Corinthians chapter 2. 2 Corinthians chapter 2. And look, if you would, at verses 14 through 16, 2 Corinthians chapter 2. And notice if you would be getting there with verse 14. 2 Corinthians 2 verse 14. Paul says, "Now thanks be unto God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest the savour of his knowledge by us in every place." Now, go back to verse 14 just momentarily. "Now thanks be unto God, which always," not sometimes, but always "causeth us to triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest the savour of his knowledge by us in every place." Then he says this in verse 15, "For we are unto God a sweet savour of Christ."

"In them that are saved, and in them that perish: To the one we are the savour of death unto death; and to the other the savour of life unto life. And who is sufficient for these things?" Now you have to remember those Old Testament offerings. Because that sweet incense and the smell of even that meat that was being roasted ascended up into heaven. And it was called a sweet savour or a sweet smell. So here is what God is saying in verse 15. If I am preaching His Word to, say, a room full of a hundred unsaved individuals. And when I get through preaching, God so powerfully and miraculously works that every one of those individuals are genuinely saved. They're genuinely converted. God saves them all. You know what God does? He does this. My Son is preached, and I'm glorified. But if I preach and expound His Word and those hundred men clench their fists and speak through tight lips, "Get out of here, I hate you, I don't want to hear that again," you know what God says? My Son is preached and I'm glorified.

We're the savour of life unto life and death unto death. I've got to remind you, the same sun that melts the wax will harden the clay. And the same gospel that draws men to Jesus Christ will also drive away those who are unrepentant and who hate truth. God's word never returns void. It accomplishes whatever he pleases, whether it's in reconciliation or condemnation. But there are times when it will not help because people will not listen. Now, what's this?

Conclusion: What Will You Do in the End?

When people despise God's Word, they face disintegration and judgment. The sermon closes with a prayer for delight in God's Word and conformity to it.

And Jeremiah 5 in verse 31, when he said the prophets prophesied falsely and the priests bear rule by their means and my people love to have it so. Here's the question. "But what will ye do in the end thereof?" What are you going to do when you die? What are you going to do when you face God? You've listened to lies, you've believed in lies, you've submitted to tyranny, you've refused responsibility and accountability and obedience to God. What will happen? What good would it do you? And the answer is, all it will have done is condemn you. Look in your Bibles to Jeremiah chapter 15. I want you to think about this passage. You see, when it came to Elijah, God moved Elijah out of the land. And the three and a half year drought was just a physical picture of a spiritual reality. God was not speaking because his prophet was out of the land. Jeremiah was left in the land. God just shut his mouth. Watch. Jeremiah 15, notice verse 19.

"Therefore thus saith the Lord, If thou return, then will I bring thee again, and thou shalt stand before me: and if thou take forth the precious from the vile, thou shalt be as my mouth." Now look what he says about these people who would not hear. "Let them return unto thee; but return not thou unto them. And I will make thee unto this people a fenced brasen wall: and they shall fight against thee, but they shall not prevail against thee: for I am with thee to save thee and to deliver thee, saith the Lord. And I will deliver thee out of the hand of the wicked, and I will redeem thee out of the hand of the terrible." What did he say? If they return to you, that's one thing, but don't you go back to them. They're going to fight against you, but they're not going to succeed. I'm going to protect you.

So the question is, when we have despised the word of God, and counted it a reproach and no longer want to hear it, no longer want to believe it, no longer want to obey it because we want to do our thing and walk after the imagination of our hearts. What will we do in the end when our society disintegrates, our culture is destroyed, our families are broken? Our churches are shut. What will we do in the end? All because we've counted the Word of God a reproach and had no delight in it. To whom shall I give warning? Ask Isaiah. Who has ears to hear? I once said, let him hear. Father, in the name of Jesus Christ, we bow before Thee. We thank You for Your Word. We thank You for Your truth. Lord, help us to love Thy Word and love Thy truth and delight in it. May it not be a reproach to us, but may it be our joy, our treasure. And Lord, we pray that we would be people that hear and obey and bring our lives in conformity to thy word.

We think of our culture today. We think of our civilization, our society, our churches, our nation. How desperately, Lord, we need thee and need thy word. And we ask that you'd be pleased to work in our hearts. In the name of Jesus Christ, we ask and pray. Amen.

Study Guide

Major Themes

The Efficacy and Purpose of Preaching

Summary: Preaching is never useless because God's Word always accomplishes His purposes, whether for reconciliation or condemnation.

Evidence: Isaiah 55:11 is cited: 'So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please.'

The Necessity of a Divine Call for Preachers

Summary: True preaching requires a divine call and sending; many preachers are false prophets or professionals who have not been sent by God.

Evidence: Romans 10:15: 'And how shall they preach, except they be sent?' and Jeremiah 23:21: 'I have not sent these prophets, yet they ran.'

The Content of True Preaching: Exposition, Explanation, Application

Summary: Biblical preaching involves reading distinctly, giving the sense, and causing understanding, as modeled in Nehemiah 8:7-8.

Evidence: Nehemiah 8:7-8: 'So they read in the book of the law of God distinctly, and gave the sense, and caused them to understand the reading.'

The Rejection of God's Word by the People

Summary: People reject sound doctrine and seek teachers who tickle their ears; they consider God's Word a reproach and have no delight in it.

Evidence: 2 Timothy 4:3: 'For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears.'

The Uncircumcised Ear and Heart

Summary: An uncircumcised ear cannot hearken to God's Word; this spiritual condition leads to walking in the imagination of one's own heart and idolatry.

Evidence: Jeremiah 6:10: 'Behold, their ear is uncircumcised, and they cannot hearken: behold, the word of the Lord is unto them a reproach; they have no delight in it.'

The Dual Outcome of Preaching: Life and Death

Summary: Preaching is a sweet savor to God whether it leads to salvation or condemnation; the same Word that saves also hardens.

Evidence: 2 Corinthians 2:15-16: 'For we are unto God a sweet savour of Christ, in them that are saved, and in them that perish: To the one we are the savour of death unto death; and to the other the savour of life unto life.'

The Consequences of Despising God's Word

Summary: When people despise God's Word, they face societal disintegration and final judgment; the question 'What will ye do in the end thereof?' underscores accountability.

Evidence: Jeremiah 5:31: 'The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests bear rule by their means; and my people love to have it so: and what will ye do in the end thereof?'

Key Arguments

Preaching is never useless but may not help

Summary: Preaching always accomplishes God's ordained purpose, but there are times when it will not help because of problems with preachers, preaching, and people.

Evidence: Isaiah 55:11 is cited to show God's Word never returns void, yet examples like Noah and Jeremiah show preaching did not help their generations.

Many preachers are not called or sent by God

Summary: A true preacher must be sent by God; false prophets and professionals run without being sent and do not preach God's Word.

Evidence: Jeremiah 23:21: 'I have not sent these prophets, yet they ran: I have not spoken to them, yet they prophesied.'

False preaching steals, adds to, and substitutes for God's Word

Summary: False prophets are charged with stealing God's words (not preaching the whole counsel), adding to His words (saying what God never said), and substituting their own dreams.

Evidence: Jeremiah 23:30-32: 'I am against the prophets... that steal my words... that use their tongues, and say, He saith... that prophesy false dreams.'

People reject sound doctrine and seek ear-tickling teachers

Summary: The people themselves do not want God's Word; they heap up teachers who will tell them what they want to hear, leading to false teaching and tyranny.

Evidence: 2 Timothy 4:3 and Jeremiah 5:31: 'The prophets prophesy falsely... and my people love to have it so.'

An uncircumcised ear cannot hear God's Word

Summary: The metaphor of uncircumcision indicates a rebellious heart that rejects true doctrine; this condition makes preaching unable to help.

Evidence: Jeremiah 6:10 and Calvin's commentary: 'The uncircumcised ear is that which rejects all true doctrine.'

Rejecting God's Word leads to idolatry of the imagination

Summary: When people despise God's Word, they walk in the imagination of their own heart and create a god of their own making.

Evidence: Jeremiah 13:10: 'This evil people, which refuse to hear my words, which walk in the imagination of their heart.'

Preaching results in either life or death

Summary: The same preaching is a savor of life to those being saved and a savor of death to those perishing; God is glorified in both outcomes.

Evidence: 2 Corinthians 2:15-16: 'To the one we are the savour of death unto death; and to the other the savour of life unto life.'

Scripture References

Jeremiah 6:8-10

Context: The primary text of the sermon; God warns Jerusalem and Jeremiah asks to whom he can speak because their ear is uncircumcised.

Isaiah 55:11

Context: Cited to show that God's Word never returns void but accomplishes His purpose.

2 Peter 2:5

Context: Noah is called a preacher of righteousness.

1 Peter 3:20

Context: While the ark was preparing, only eight souls were saved.

Nehemiah 8:7-8

Context: Defines true biblical preaching as reading distinctly, giving the sense, and causing understanding.

2 Timothy 4:3

Context: The time will come when people will not endure sound doctrine but heap up teachers with itching ears.

Romans 10:15

Context: How shall they preach except they be sent?

Jeremiah 23:21

Context: God says He did not send the false prophets, yet they ran and prophesied.

Isaiah 8:20

Context: To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, there is no light in them.

Jeremiah 23:22

Context: If the false prophets had stood in God's counsel, they would have turned the people from evil.

Jeremiah 23:25-32

Context: God charges false prophets with stealing His words, adding to them, and substituting dreams.

Ezekiel 3, 33

Context: Ezekiel was charged as a warner; blood guiltiness for not warning.

Acts 20:26-27

Context: Paul declared he was pure from the blood of all men because he declared the whole counsel of God.

Deuteronomy 4:2

Context: Do not add to or diminish from God's Word.

Revelation 22:19

Context: Do not add to the words of this prophecy.

Jeremiah 18:18

Context: The people plotted against Jeremiah and refused to heed his words.

Jeremiah 20:10

Context: Jeremiah heard defaming and his familiars watched for his halting.

Jeremiah 26:8-9

Context: The priests and prophets seized Jeremiah and said he must die for prophesying destruction.

Jeremiah 5:1-2

Context: God told Jeremiah to find one man who executes judgment and seeks truth, but they swear falsely.

Acts 7:51

Context: Stephen called the Jews stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears.

Historical References

Noah as a preacher of righteousness

Context: Noah preached for 120 years while the ark was preparing, but only eight souls (his family) were saved; his preaching did not help his generation.

Jeremiah as the weeping prophet

Context: Jeremiah was unable to reach his people; his preaching did not help his generation, culture, or nation because most were destroyed.

Isaiah as a prophet whose preaching did not help

Context: Isaiah is mentioned alongside Noah and Jeremiah as a prophet whose preaching did not help his culture.

John Calvin's commentary on Jeremiah 6:10

Context: Calvin's explanation of the uncircumcised ear as rejecting true doctrine and the Jews' vain confidence in circumcision.

Stephen the first martyr (Acts 7:51)

Context: Stephen called the Jews stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears before they murdered him.

Elijah and the three-and-a-half-year drought

Context: God moved Elijah out of the land, and the drought was a physical picture of God not speaking because His prophet was gone.

Important Quotes

To whom shall I speak, and give warning, that they may hear? Behold, their ear is uncircumcised, and they cannot hearken: behold, the word of the Lord is unto them a reproach; they have no delight in it.

Significance: This is the key verse of the sermon, highlighting the spiritual condition that makes preaching unable to help.

So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.

Significance: Establishes the theological foundation that preaching is never useless but always accomplishes God's purpose.

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

Significance: God's indictment of false prophets who preach without a divine call.

So they read in the book of the law of God distinctly, and gave the sense, and caused them to understand the reading.

Significance: Defines true biblical preaching as exposition, explanation, and application.

For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears.

Significance: Warns that people will reject sound teaching and seek ear-tickling preachers.

Discussion Questions

What does it mean for preaching to 'not help,' and how does this differ from preaching being useless?

Context: The sermon distinguishes between preaching never being useless (Isaiah 55:11) and times when it does not help because of the hearers' condition.

How can we discern whether a preacher is truly called and sent by God?

Context: The sermon points to Isaiah 8:20 as the test: speaking according to God's Word.

In what ways do modern churches replace exposition, explanation, and application with entertainment or other substitutes?

Context: The sermon critiques seeker-friendly churches that use programs, skits, and dramas instead of biblical preaching.

What does it mean to have an 'uncircumcised ear,' and how does this condition develop?

Context: The sermon explains this metaphor as a rebellious heart that rejects true doctrine, leading to spiritual deafness.

Why do people often prefer false teaching and tyranny over the truth of God's Word?

Context: Jeremiah 5:31 says the people love to have it so; the sermon suggests it relieves them of responsibility.

How should the dual outcome of preaching (life and death) affect our understanding of evangelism and preaching?

Context: 2 Corinthians 2:15-16 shows that preaching is a sweet savor to God regardless of the response.

What are the dangers of walking in the imagination of one's own heart, and how does this relate to idolatry?

Context: The sermon warns that rejecting God's Word leads to creating a god of one's imagination.

What does the question 'What will ye do in the end thereof?' mean for individuals and societies today?

Context: The sermon applies Jeremiah 5:31 to the disintegration of culture and final judgment.

Applications

Examine whether you delight in God's Word or consider it a reproach

Summary: Listeners are urged to assess their own attitude toward Scripture: do they love it and obey it, or do they despise it and walk in their own imagination?

Evidence: Jeremiah 6:10: 'the word of the Lord is unto them a reproach; they have no delight in it.'

Test preachers and preaching by fidelity to God's Word

Summary: Believers should evaluate whether their teachers are truly expounding Scripture or substituting their own ideas, and should seek churches where the whole counsel of God is preached.

Evidence: Isaiah 8:20 and Jeremiah 23:30-32 are cited as standards for testing.

Recognize the danger of ear-tickling teaching

Summary: The sermon warns against the natural desire to hear only what pleases us; we must be willing to hear hard truths from God's Word.

Evidence: 2 Timothy 4:3: 'they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears.'

Understand that rejecting God's Word leads to idolatry

Summary: When people refuse to hear God's Word, they inevitably create a god of their own imagination and walk in the imagination of their heart.

Evidence: Jeremiah 13:10: 'This evil people, which refuse to hear my words, which walk in the imagination of their heart.'

Prepare for the end by heeding God's Word now

Summary: The question 'What will ye do in the end thereof?' calls for urgent self-examination and repentance before judgment comes.

Evidence: Jeremiah 5:31: 'and what will ye do in the end thereof?'

deepseek | deepseek-v4-pro | clean_readable_transcript | 2026-06-05T19:12:58Z

deepseek | deepseek-v4-pro | weaver_study | 2026-06-06T12:20:16Z

Clean Transcript

When Preaching Does Not Help

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

Jeremiah chapter 6, verses 8 through 10. The title of the message today is, "When Preaching Will Not Help." Jeremiah chapter 6, notice if you would please beginning with verse 8, God says, "Be thou instructed, O Jerusalem, lest my soul depart from thee, lest I make thee desolate, a land not inhabited. Thus saith the Lord of hosts, They shall thoroughly glean the remnant of Israel as a vine: turn back thine hand as a grapegatherer into the baskets."
#1 | 0:06 to 0:47 | cleaned
"To whom shall I speak, and give warning, that they may hear? Behold, their ear is uncircumcised, and they cannot hearken: behold, the word of the Lord is unto them a reproach; they have no delight in it." If you were to read the first nine verses, you would find that God is declaring basically war upon Judah and Jerusalem because of their sin and their rebellion. And of course, the Babylonians are going to come to destroy them. And if you look in verse 4, he just simply says, "Prepare ye war against her." And of course, verse 5, "Let us destroy all of her palaces." Verse 6, "Hew down the trees, cast them out against Jerusalem." So obviously, you have now the context of warning, and yet in verse 10, Jeremiah says, "To whom shall I speak, and give warning, that they may hear? Behold, their ear is uncircumcised, and they cannot hearken: behold, the word of the Lord is unto them a reproach; they have no delight in it."
#2 | 0:48 to 1:53 | cleaned
I started to title this message, "When Preaching is Useless." But however, the truth of the matter is preaching is never useless. It always accomplishes that which God has ordained it. That's why in Isaiah 55 and verse 11, he said, "So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it." So there is a time, however, when preaching will not help, which we will discover a little bit later. I want you to understand that there is a theological side to preaching, and there is also a practical side to preaching. Theologically speaking, it was God the Father who ordained the preaching of the Gospel. It was God the Son who engaged in preaching the Gospel. And it's God the Holy Spirit who is covenantally engaged to honor the preaching of the Gospel. First and foremost, true biblical preaching can only be understood in reference to God since it involves the knowledge of God and it should be a theological exposition of His Word.
#3 | 1:55 to 3:13 | cleaned
Practically speaking, preaching may either bless or curse. Those who have hearing ears and seeing eyes will always be blessed by the preaching and teaching of the Word of God. But those who refuse to hear, those who refuse to heed will always be cursed. You must remember that in the law, there were blessings and curses. All you have to do is read Leviticus 26, Deuteronomy 28, and Deuteronomy 29 as well.
#4 | 3:14 to 3:45 | cleaned
So I want you to understand something today, and I think that it might indeed awaken us to some degree, and that's simply this. It is absolutely necessary for you and I to understand that there comes a time when preaching will not help individuals, families, churches, societies, or nations. Stop and think about this. In order to understand this concept, all one has to do is to study the lives of Noah, Jeremiah, Isaiah. It does not matter how plain and how pure the preaching is. It does not matter that the individuals doing the preaching are compassionate and concerned. Their preaching just simply does not help. When you stop and think about Noah, when you stop and think about Jeremiah and Isaiah, they were unable to help their culture, their society, their generation, and their nation. For instance, the Bible in 2 Peter 2 and verse 5 calls Noah a preacher of righteousness. And the Bible tells you in 1 Peter 3 and verse 20, while the ark was a preparing, which was 120 years, there were eight souls saved.
#5 | 3:46 to 5:11 | cleaned
So eight people were saved out of 120 years of preaching. So practically speaking, Noah's preaching did not benefit his generation at all. It did not help his society. It did not save his culture because God destroyed them. Jeremiah is also known as the weeping prophet. And he was unable to reach his own people. In fact, Jeremiah chapter 6 and all through the book of Jeremiah, God is going to tell us that Judah and Jerusalem are going to be destroyed because of the righteous anger and wrath of God. So practically speaking, all of Jeremiah's preaching did not help his generation, his culture, or his nation because most of them were destroyed. And when you stop and think about Noah again, those eight that were saved were his own family. No one else was saved.
#6 | 5:12 to 6:08 | cleaned
So we have to ask the question, why? Why is it that there are times that preaching just absolutely will not help? Well, let me ask you this question. How is it that there are churches on practically every corner in every city, plus innumerable country churches, and yet, at the same time, our cities, our children, our culture, our society continues to disintegrate and fall apart? Stop and think about this. In fact, there are many churches today that are closing their doors. They're being forsaken. And so the question has to be asked, why? I suppose that there are many answers that could be given to that question. However, what I want to do today is to give you three answers. While these answers are not necessarily exhaustive, I believe that they are indeed on point. So before I begin, let me just point something out. We need to understand that all preaching is not preaching, or what passes for preaching is not necessarily preaching. So you can ask me, well, what in the world do you mean by that?
#7 | 6:08 to 7:28 | cleaned
Well, simply because someone speaks about religious issues or moral issues or societal issues does not mean that that individual is actually preaching. He may be speaking, he may be putting forth his opinion, or he may be enunciating certain truths, even moral truths, but it is not necessarily biblical preaching. So let me show you. If you will turn back in your Bibles to the book of Nehemiah, Nehemiah chapter 8, and I want you to look at verses 7 and 8. Nehemiah chapter 8, verses 7 and 8. And here God tells us what biblical preaching really and truly is. So watch this carefully. Nehemiah chapter 8, and let's take up in the middle of verse 7 with, "and the Levites," and that way I don't have to call all of their names, but we have them named previously in verse 7. So it says in the middle of verse 7, "and the Levites caused the people to understand the law: and the people stood in their place." Now watch how they did that. "So they read in the book of the law of God distinctly, and gave the sense, and caused them to understand the reading."
#8 | 7:28 to 8:44 | cleaned
So if you look at verse 8, you have to come to the conclusion that real biblical preaching consists of exposition, explanation, and application. So they read in the book of the law distinctly, that's exposition. And they gave the sense thereof, that's explanation. And they caused the people to understand, that's application. In other words, when they got through, the people then understood what they were required by God to do in order to bring their lives into conformity to his word. In other words, there was an application.
#9 | 8:45 to 9:26 | cleaned
So my question has to be asked, is that what is being done in the average church today? And the answer is far from it. The modern day seeker friendly churches are filled with programs, entertainment, skits, dramas, plays, anything and everything but real biblical preaching. The truth of the matter is the average church today would not allow real exposition of the Word of God to take place or at least not to do so on a regular basis.
#10 | 9:27 to 10:02 | cleaned
Now there's a passage that probably most of you can quote. I want to give it to you, 2 Timothy chapter 4 and verse 3. I will come back to this passage a little bit later. But in 2 Timothy 4, verse 3, the Bible says, "For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears."
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For this point right now, let me just make it obvious. The scripture says, "For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine." Now, they will endure anything else. They may even endure false doctrine or unsound doctrine, but they will not endure sound doctrine. So what in the world is going on today? Why is it that there is a time when preaching will not help?
#12 | 10:27 to 10:57 | cleaned
Well, let me give it to you like this. Three things. First of all, there is a problem with preachers today. There's a problem with preachers. Many have never been called of God and therefore never sent of God to preach. The question is asked in Romans 10 and verse 15, "And how shall they preach, except they be sent?" In other words, for a man to really genuinely preach, God has to send him.
#13 | 10:58 to 11:30 | cleaned
Now you have to understand that there are today a multitude of false prophets. There are also a number of individuals who are professional preachers. And there are individuals who really, truly, and genuinely think they're called to preach, but in reality, they are not. I think of the story that I heard years ago when I first started preaching about the old farm boy who was plowing the mule.
#14 | 11:31 to 11:58 | cleaned
He plowed and plowed and plowed, and he got tired. Finally, he sat down under the shade of a tree and leaned back to rest. And as he leaned back, he looked into the sky, and here were clouds, and they formed the letters GP. And he said, "That's it. Go preach. God wants me to preach." And so he went to the pastor. And the pastor said, "Well, we'll find out." And so he let him preach one Sunday.
#15 | 11:58 to 12:25 | cleaned
And of course, it was a royal flub. And after the young man got through, the pastor said, "Son, I think you misinterpreted the clouds. I think the clouds meant go to plowing." Well, there are individuals like that. But there are individuals who claim to be professionals. One of my good friends, who is a doctor, at one time was genuinely considering entering the ministry. And so he asked his pastor, "Why did you enter the ministry?" thinking he would get a good answer. And his pastor responded, "It was a good job."
#16 | 12:25 to 13:06 | cleaned
Just really burst his balloon very quickly. It was a good job. I was at a wedding a few years back, and the wedding took place in this huge church. And the pastor had part in the wedding, and I had part in the wedding. And after the wedding was over, I was standing by that pastor, and this one woman came up, was just bubbling over to him, telling him how wonderful he did, how wonderfully he did, what a wonderful job, and all this kind of stuff, and just gushing.
#17 | 13:08 to 13:38 | cleaned
And finally, he cut her short. He said, "Of course I did. I'm a professional." Well, there are individuals that are just simply professionals. I want you to look in your Bibles to the book of Jeremiah chapter 23. We're going to come back to this passage. So go ahead and mark Jeremiah 23. But look, if you would please, at verse 21. And here's what God says about the false prophets, the professional preachers, and those who really and truly think they've been called when in reality they have not. Notice Jeremiah 23 in verse 21. God said it like this, "I have not sent these prophets, yet they ran: I have not spoken to them, yet they prophesied." So God said, here are men preaching that I didn't send and I did not speak to. So the question automatically arises then, how in the world can you tell whether or not a man is indeed called of God to preach? How can you tell whether he is God called and God sent? And the answer comes back from Isaiah chapter 8 in verse 20, where God says, "To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them."
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So God says that those whom He sends will always preach and teach His word. So obviously the only way that you can tell is whether or not one is really giving himself into expounding the Word of God. So yes, there is a problem with the preachers. Consequently, because of that, that brings me to the second point. That is, there is a problem with the preaching. If a man has not really been called of God and sent of God, how can he really truly preach? Let me tell you something. You cannot preach and teach what you do not know, love and possess. It's impossible. And you certainly cannot preach it with what you and I would call passion and love. Because you don't even possess it yourself. You don't even know it. And one of the problems with preaching today is there are so many preachers. I don't know if you've ever heard this term or not, but they're bellyship preachers. When I say bellyship, that means they like the food, they like the fellowship, but they don't like studying.
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But let me tell you, you cannot continue to put out unless you continually take in. Now, I want you to look in Jeremiah 23. Here's a passage that we need to look at. And God is saying, look at these false prophets and notice what he said. Just to show you there's a problem with the preaching. In Jeremiah chapter 23 and verse 22, he said it like this.
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"But if they," that is these false prophets, "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 doings." But see, they didn't stand in His counsel. They didn't hear God's word. So consequently, the people did not change. So if a professional preacher or a false preacher is not really preaching and teaching the word of God, what does he really preach and teach?
#21 | 16:42 to 17:15 | cleaned
I will tell you this, I've often thought about this. And I study all the time, I try to. And I want to and I enjoy studying. But I've often wondered, how much work a man really has to do to bring a 30 or 40 minute message without incorporating the Word of God in it, and without saying anything to offend someone or everyone, and yet at the same time make his little sermonette exciting, entertaining, so that the people want to come back. Can you imagine the work that is involved in doing something like that for 30 or 40 minutes?
#22 | 17:18 to 18:02 | cleaned
I was just talking to a friend this morning who visited a big Baptist church several times in South Carolina. It was the first Baptist church. He said the first message was eight minutes long. The second time he went, it was 15 minutes long. That was the message. Eight minutes and 15 minutes. Let me just try to answer the question from the Bible. If they're not really preaching and teaching the Word of God, what do they preach and teach?
#23 | 18:06 to 18:41 | cleaned
Look in Jeremiah chapter 23, and let's begin reading at verse 25, and we'll read through verse 32. Then I'm going to come back and try to explain this. So notice, if you would, Jeremiah 23 and verse 25. God 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; which think to cause my people to forget my name by their dreams which they tell every man to his neighbour, 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."
#24 | 18:41 to 19:28 | cleaned
"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 the rock in pieces? Therefore, behold, I am against the prophets, saith the Lord, that steal my words every one from his neighbour. 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 by their lightness."
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"Yet I sent them not, nor commanded them: therefore they shall not profit this people at all, saith the Lord."
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Now, interestingly, there are three charges here that are lodged against the false prophets. First of all, if you look in verse 30, God says, "Therefore, behold, I am against the prophets, saith the Lord, that steal my words every one from his neighbour." So God then charges these false prophets with stealing his words. So let me put it to you like this, a failure to preach God's word when one keeps it from the people, or when one simply takes a part of it and leaves the other part, or let me say it another way, or a failure to preach and teach the whole counsel of God is considered by God a violation of the eighth commandment, it is theft. It's just that simple. So if I said to you, "Well, I'm going to preach this part of the Bible, but I'm not going to preach that part of the Bible," then I'm a thief. "Well, I'll preach this doctrine, but not that doctrine." Well, I'm a thief. Because God here charges them with stealing his words.
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Now, here's an interesting thought. Everyone in this room probably has read Ezekiel 3 and Ezekiel 33. And you know where God charged Ezekiel to be a warner, someone who cried out of danger. So he said, if you warn the man and he doesn't listen, his blood's on his own head. But if you do not warn him, then his blood is on your hands. I remember years and years ago, I was told as a young man and as a young preacher, that if you did not witness to everyone that you saw, then their blood was on your hands.
#28 | 21:18 to 22:02 | cleaned
Let me just point out that is humanly and practically impossible. It's impossible. So if Alice asked me to go to town and buy, say, a gallon of milk, and I then stopped to witness to everyone that I saw, I would never go back home because I'd be continually seeing people. It's impossible. Well, Paul dealt with the sin of blood guiltiness in the book of Acts, chapter 20, verses 26 and 27. Listen to what the apostle Paul said.
#29 | 22:03 to 22:37 | cleaned
And he was talking to preachers. He said, "Wherefore I take you to record this day, that I am pure from the blood of all men. For I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God." How do we get blood on our hands? By failing to preach the whole counsel of God. Because God says when we do not do that, we're stealing. And their blood then is upon our hands.
#30 | 22:38 to 23:06 | cleaned
Now, that is why God said in Deuteronomy 4 and verse 2, "Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall ye diminish ought from it, that ye may keep the commandments of the Lord your God which I command you." That's why in Revelation 22 and verse 19, God says we're not to add to the words of this prophecy. So preaching is not going to help if the man happens to be a false prophet or a professional preacher or just someone who's never been called of God. It's just that simple. It will not help.
#31 | 23:07 to 23:41 | cleaned
Secondly, that brings me to this. Preaching will not help. Not only when the prophets are uncalled and unsent, but when they're adding to the Word, look at it in Jeremiah chapter 23 verse 31. God says, "Behold, I am against the prophets, saith the Lord, that use their tongues, and say, He saith." In other words, they're saying things that God has never said. If you were to take the time to read Jeremiah 28 and 29, you'll read about Hananiah and Shemaiah. These are two false prophets. And they were preaching and prophesying things that God never said. And God said, "I did not send them, and I didn't say those things." And if you read what happened to them, God charged them with rebellion, and then He killed them. So you have a problem then, not only with people stealing from the Word of God, but also adding to the Word of God. And then notice, if you would please, thirdly, in verse 32, he says this, "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 by their lightness."
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"Yet I sent them not, nor commanded them: therefore they shall not profit this people at all, saith the Lord." So now in verse 32, they're charged with substituting for the Word of God. What are they substituting? Their own dreams, their own opinions, their own thoughts. In other words, they're not expounding the Word of God, they're telling everybody what they think and what they believe.
#33 | 25:04 to 25:28 | cleaned
Now, I want you to look back at Jeremiah 23 at verses 26 and 27. Look what God says about this. "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 neighbour, as their fathers have forgotten my name for Baal." So God says, anytime you steal His words, anytime you say He said when He did not say, and anytime you substitute for the Word of God, you're doing nothing but preaching the deceit of your own heart. So if you look in verse 16 of the same chapter, God makes this point exceedingly clear. He says, "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."
#34 | 25:28 to 26:32 | cleaned
So let me put it to you like this. Preaching will not help if God's word is not preached. The dreams, the opinions, the counsel and advice of men that seek to replace the word of God are useless. The entertainment, the funny stories, the heart-wrenching illustrations, the heart-binding or spellbinding oratory will all pass away as empty, useless, and fruitless and futile. So, there is a problem not only with preachers, there's also a problem with preaching today because most preachers are not really expounding, explaining, and applying the Word of God.
#35 | 26:33 to 27:14 | cleaned
Now, that brings me to the third point. Listen carefully. There's a problem with the people. It is true that there are problems with preachers and problems with preaching. And I might add that they are probably two major problems. But that's certainly not all of the problems. One of the largest problems is the people really and truly do not want the Word of God. And because they really do not want the Word of God, they seek professional preachers or false preachers, or someone who's been uncalled by God in order to give them that which they really want.
#36 | 27:15 to 28:02 | cleaned
Now earlier I quoted from 2 Timothy chapter 4 and verse 3. I want to quote that again. I want you to listen very carefully. Listen to what the Word of God says. "For the time will come when they," that is plural, "they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears." It's not the teachers who have the itching ears, it's the people who have the itching ears. And so the people do not want the word of God, and so they get the preachers that they really want, who's going to tickle and to scratch their ears.
#37 | 28:04 to 28:52 | cleaned
Now the interesting thing is if you study the book of Jeremiah, you're going to find that Jeremiah experienced this firsthand. During the book of Jeremiah, Jeremiah is the man. He is the prophet. He is the preacher. But there are a multitude of false prophets that are around Jeremiah. And they are the ones that are deceiving the people and leading the people astray. Jeremiah's message is very hard. Because he's saying, unless you repent, God's going to destroy you. God's going to kill you.
#38 | 28:53 to 29:33 | cleaned
Who wants to hear something like that? These false prophets are saying, "Well, Nebuchadnezzar is not going to really destroy Judah and Jerusalem. And those people that are already taken captive, well, they're coming back." Well, they were just saying that which the people really truly wanted to hear. Jeremiah was preaching the truth and nobody wanted to listen to him. Let me show you. I want you to look in your Bibles to Jeremiah chapter 18. Jeremiah chapter 18. And look if you would please at verse 18. Just to show you how the people really truly did not want the word of God. Jeremiah 18 verse 18. "Then said they, Come, and let us devise devices against Jeremiah."
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"For the law shall not perish from the priest, nor counsel from the wise, nor the word from the prophet. Come, and let us smite him with the tongue, and let us not give heed to any of his words." So here's what they said. We'll devise devices against Jeremiah. Jeremiah's wrong. Listen, the law's not going to perish. The counsel's not going to cease from the wise. Let's smite him with the tongue. Let's talk about him. Let's lambast him. Let's cuss him out. Let's tell him what we think. And then make sure that we do not heed or listen to any of his words. We're just not going to listen to him. Look in Jeremiah chapter 20 in verse 10. Jeremiah 20 verse 10. Jeremiah says, "For I heard the defaming of many, fear on every side."
#40 | 30:19 to 31:09 | cleaned
"Report, say they, and we will report it." In other words, you tell us something on Jeremiah. "All my familiars watched for my halting, saying, Peradventure he will be enticed, and we shall prevail against him, and we shall take our revenge on him." So they were wanting Jeremiah to fall, and to falter, and to fail. And they were doing everything they could to tempt him, and seduce him, and to get him to falter and fail, so they could take revenge upon him, because they did not like what he was preaching.
#41 | 31:10 to 31:39 | cleaned
Not only did they refuse to listen to him, and tried to entrap him, finally, they decided they were going to kill him. I mean, if you don't like the message, just kill the messenger. So look in Jeremiah chapter 26 at verses 8 and 9. Jeremiah 26 verses 8 and 9. "Now it came to pass, when Jeremiah had made an end of speaking all that the Lord had commanded him to speak unto all the people, that the priests and the prophets and all the people took him, saying, Thou shalt surely die. Why hast thou prophesied in the name of the Lord, saying, This house shall be like Shiloh, and this city shall be desolate without an inhabitant? And all the people were gathered against Jeremiah in the house of the Lord." Wow. Do you realize? Jeremiah, the weeping prophet, the man who is known for his compassion, his love, his tenderness, all of his preaching, all of his praying, all of his proclamation did not help his society, his culture, his city, his people, or his country.
#42 | 31:40 to 33:05 | cleaned
Now, I want you to go back to Jeremiah chapter 6 and look in verse 10. We're not through. I'm trying to explain Jeremiah 6 in verse 10. I want you to look at it. Watch carefully. Jeremiah 6 verse 10, he now says, after telling how God is going to destroy Judah and Jerusalem, he now asks, "To whom shall I speak, and give warning, that they may hear?" Can I find anybody that's going to listen?
#43 | 33:06 to 33:33 | cleaned
"Behold, their ear is uncircumcised, and they cannot hearken: behold, the word of the Lord is unto them a reproach; they have no delight in it."
#44 | 33:34 to 33:45 | cleaned
Now, it's interesting that Jeremiah asks, "To whom shall I speak, and give warning, that they may hear?" Who will listen? Now, in order to understand this, look back in Jeremiah chapter 5 at verses 1 and 2. Watch what God says to Jeremiah. He tells him, "Run ye to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem, and see now, and know, and seek in the broad places thereof, if ye can find a man," that's singular, "if ye can find a man, if there be any that executeth judgment, that seeketh the truth; and I will pardon it." God said, if you can find me one man in the whole city of Jerusalem that executes judgment and seeks the truth, I'll pardon the entire city. And then watch verse 2. God says, "And though they say, The Lord liveth; surely they swear falsely."
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In other words, they might talk religiously, but they're hypocrites. They have no desire for me or my word.
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Now go back to verse 10 of chapter 6. "To whom shall I speak, and give warning, that they may hear?" Nobody's listening. That's why he's asking, "To whom shall I speak, and give warning?" I can't find anyone. I want you to listen to what Calvin wrote concerning this verse. He said this, "Hence he adds, Behold, the ear is uncircumcised." Look at verse 10 again. "To whom shall I speak, and give warning, that they may hear? Behold, their ear is uncircumcised, and they cannot hearken." Now listen to what Calvin wrote, he said, "Behold, the ear is uncircumcised."
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"This metaphor is common in the prophets. The uncircumcised ear is that which rejects all true doctrine. An uncircumcised heart is that which is perverse and rebellious. But we ought to understand the reason of this, as circumcision was an evidence of obedience. So the scripture calls those uncircumcised who are unteachable, who cast away every fear of God and all sense of religion and follow their own lusts and desires. But to be thus called was greatly disliked by the Jews, for circumcision gave them no common ground of confidence, since it was the symbol and pledge of adoption, and since they knew that they were thereby separated from other nations so as to be called God's holy people. But the prophet divested them of this vain conceit by calling them uncircumcised in heart and ears, for they had dealt wickedly with God when they promised to be obedient to his will." So it's kind of like the Apostle Paul says, the circumcision of the flesh means nothing if the heart is uncircumcised. If the ear is uncircumcised, it will not hear, it will not heed.
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You remember the first martyr in the New Testament was Stephen, the deacon. And he was preaching to these Jews right before they murdered him. In Acts chapter 7 and verse 51, he said, "Ye stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Ghost: as your fathers did, so do ye." What did he call them? Uncircumcised in heart and in ears. So we ask, "To whom shall I speak, and give warning, that they may hear?" I can't find anybody.
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No one wants the truth. No one's willing to listen to the truth.
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Now, look in Jeremiah chapter 7, just showing you a continuation of this uncircumcised in heart and ears. Look in Jeremiah 7, beginning there with verse 23. Jeremiah 7 verse 23. Notice what God says. "But this thing commanded I them, saying, Obey my voice, and I will be your God, and ye shall be my people: and walk ye in all the ways that I have commanded you, that it may be well unto you. But they hearkened not, nor inclined their ear, but walked in the counsels and in the imagination of their evil heart, and went backward, and not forward."
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"Since the day that your fathers came forth out of the land of Egypt unto this day I have even sent unto you all my servants the prophets, daily rising up early and sending them: Yet they hearkened not unto me, nor inclined their ear, but hardened their neck: they did worse than their fathers. Therefore thou shalt speak all these words unto them; but they will not hearken to thee: thou shalt also call unto them; but they will not answer thee. But thou shalt say unto them, This is a nation that obeyeth not the voice of the Lord their God, nor receiveth correction."
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Watch, "truth is perished, and is cut off from their mouth." When one will not hear, when one will not heed, truth perishes and truth is cut off from their mouth. Again, John Calvin said it like this. "And this we learn more fully from what follows, for he says, Behold, the word of the Lord hath been a reproach, and it hath not pleased them, or they have no delight in it."
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"The prophet now more clearly shows that the fault was in the Jews themselves, because they had despised God. Whence then was the impotence of which he had spoken, even from their licentiousness, because they deemed God and his prophets as nothing. Since then their minds were thus hardened and so impiously to despise the truth, it followed that they could not hear and attend in as much as they were deprived of all right knowledge. Whence was this? Even because they had closed their eyes and deafened their ears and given themselves up altogether to the devil so that he led them in every kind of madness. In short, he shows at the end of this verse what was the beginning of all their evils even because the Word of God did not please them, that is because they had cast aside every care for true religion because they were not pleased when the prophets came and offered to them the favor of God. As in the truth had become unsavory to them, so they rejected it."
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"When it ought to have been especially delightful to them, so it happened that they became wholly stupid, and void of all judgment and reason, and hence also came the uncircumcision of the ears which mention had been made." So that's exactly what Jeremiah is saying. Jeremiah 6 and verse 10. "To whom shall I speak, and give warning, that they may hear? Behold, their ear is uncircumcised, and they cannot hearken." Watch! "Behold, the word of the Lord is unto them a reproach; they have no delight in it." Here's a question. If the Word of God is not being preached, if the Word of God is not being expounded, explained, and applied, what is being preached? It's interesting that God answers that for us. If you look in Jeremiah chapter 13, which is a wonderful chapter, I wish I had time to preach on this one today, but this is where God had commanded Jeremiah to take a girdle and bury it by the river Euphrates and then go back and get it. And of course the girdle had rotted and was falling apart.
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And so God says in Jeremiah 13 in verse 10, "This evil people, which refuse to hear my words, which walk in the imagination of their heart, and walk after other gods, to serve them, and to worship them, shall even be as this girdle, which is good for nothing." Ah, let me remind you. The same is true today, just like it was in the day of Jeremiah. When someone considers the word of God a reproach, when they have no delight in the word of God.
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What do they replace it with? Look in verse 10 again. "This evil people, which refuse to hear my words, which walk in the imagination of their heart." They walk in the imagination of their heart and walk after other gods to serve them and to worship them.
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Now stop and think about this. If you deny the one true and the living God who has revealed Himself in Scripture, the only God that you can worship and serve is a God of your imagination, a God of your making, and not the God of truth. Look in Jeremiah chapter 16, beginning there with verse 10. Jeremiah 16 verse 10. Watch this. Jeremiah 16 in verse 10. "And it shall come to pass, when thou shalt shew this people all these words, and they shall say unto thee," now watch these questions, "Wherefore hath the Lord pronounced all this great evil against us?"
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"Or what is our iniquity? or what is our sin that we have committed against the Lord our God? Then shalt thou say unto them, Because your fathers have forsaken me, saith the Lord, and have walked after other gods, and have served them, and have worshipped them, and have forsaken me, and have not kept my law; and ye have done worse than your fathers." Watch, here it is again.
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"For, behold, ye walk every one after the imagination of his evil heart, that they may not hearken unto me." Let me spell it out for you. Men despise God's Word because they love their word. Men despise God's worship because they love their worship. Men despise the One True and the Living God because they love the God of their imagination. Men despise the will of the one true and the living God, because they love their will. In other words, whenever you refuse to hear God's word, you are already an idolater. You are already walking in the imagination of your own heart, and you've already developed in your own mind a God of your own imagination. There are very few people who could tell you the attributes of the God of the Bible.
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Years ago, I was visiting a preacher. And I was in his office. And the subject of election came up. And he and I were sitting there discussing what the Bible said about election. Well, the door was standing wide open. His secretary was out there. And she was evidently listening to our conversation, which didn't bother me. But all of a sudden she jumped up from her desk and she ran into her pastor's office.
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And here's exactly what she says. "I don't care what the Bible says. I know God is not like that." And he looked at her and he said, "Did you hear what you just said?" She already had a God of her imagination. The only God that exists is the God of the Bible. So when men then consider the Word of God a reproach, when they have no delight in it, they will delight themselves in the imagination of their own heart.
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And they will want people to encourage them and scratch and tickle their ears saying, "Yes, you're right. You're right." Let me show you something else. Look in your Bibles to Jeremiah chapter 5. Jeremiah chapter 5 verses 30 and 31. Here's an interesting question at the end of verse 31. Jeremiah 5 verse 30. God says, "A wonderful," and that doesn't mean glorious like you and I think of wonderful.
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Marsha could tell me, "Well, I just won or inherited a million dollars." I'd say, "Well, that's wonderful." I mean, you know, that's wonderful. But that's not what this word means here. It means it's something that's awesome. "An awesome and a horrible thing is committed in the land." What is it? Here it is. "The prophets prophesy falsely," that is, they tell lies. They don't preach the word of God. "And the priests bear rule by their means;" that is, they're tyrants.
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"And my people love to have it so." And my people love to have it so. Why would a people love to hear lies and be under tyranny? Well, because number one, you're hearing what you want to hear. And number two, you don't have any responsibility. You're just being told what to do. Let me tell you something, folks, liberty and freedom requires responsibility. It requires accountability. So he says the prophets prophesied falsely, and the priests bear rule by their means, and my people love to have it so.
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But look at this question, "And what will ye do in the end thereof?" I'm going to come back to that question momentarily, but let me just make a couple of applications. The first one is this. Listen carefully. There are times when preaching will not help. But preaching is never useless. Because it always accomplishes that which God has ordained it to accomplish. When we think of preaching, we normally think of reconciliation. And yes, God does use His Word to bring forth reconciliation. But there is also another ministry of the Word, and that is condemnation.
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If you will turn in your Bibles very quickly to 2 Corinthians chapter 2. 2 Corinthians chapter 2. And look, if you would, at verses 14 through 16, 2 Corinthians chapter 2. And notice if you would be getting there with verse 14. 2 Corinthians 2 verse 14. Paul says, "Now thanks be unto God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest the savour of his knowledge by us in every place." Now, go back to verse 14 just momentarily. "Now thanks be unto God, which always," not sometimes, but always "causeth us to triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest the savour of his knowledge by us in every place." Then he says this in verse 15, "For we are unto God a sweet savour of Christ."
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"In them that are saved, and in them that perish: To the one we are the savour of death unto death; and to the other the savour of life unto life. And who is sufficient for these things?"
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Now you have to remember those Old Testament offerings. Because that sweet incense and the smell of even that meat that was being roasted ascended up into heaven. And it was called a sweet savour or a sweet smell. So here is what God is saying in verse 15. If I am preaching His Word to, say, a room full of a hundred unsaved individuals. And when I get through preaching, God so powerfully and miraculously works that every one of those individuals are genuinely saved. They're genuinely converted. God saves them all. You know what God does? He does this. My Son is preached, and I'm glorified. But if I preach and expound His Word and those hundred men clench their fists and speak through tight lips, "Get out of here, I hate you, I don't want to hear that again," you know what God says? My Son is preached and I'm glorified.
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We're the savour of life unto life and death unto death. I've got to remind you, the same sun that melts the wax will harden the clay. And the same gospel that draws men to Jesus Christ will also drive away those who are unrepentant and who hate truth. God's word never returns void. It accomplishes whatever he pleases, whether it's in reconciliation or condemnation. But there are times when it will not help because people will not listen. Now, what's this?
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And Jeremiah 5 in verse 31, when he said the prophets prophesied falsely and the priests bear rule by their means and my people love to have it so. Here's the question. "But what will ye do in the end thereof?" What are you going to do when you die? What are you going to do when you face God? You've listened to lies, you've believed in lies, you've submitted to tyranny, you've refused responsibility and accountability and obedience to God. What will happen?
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What good would it do you? And the answer is, all it will have done is condemn you. Look in your Bibles to Jeremiah chapter 15. I want you to think about this passage. You see, when it came to Elijah, God moved Elijah out of the land. And the three and a half year drought was just a physical picture of a spiritual reality. God was not speaking because his prophet was out of the land. Jeremiah was left in the land. God just shut his mouth. Watch. Jeremiah 15, notice verse 19.
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"Therefore thus saith the Lord, If thou return, then will I bring thee again, and thou shalt stand before me: and if thou take forth the precious from the vile, thou shalt be as my mouth."
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Now look what he says about these people who would not hear. "Let them return unto thee; but return not thou unto them. And I will make thee unto this people a fenced brasen wall: and they shall fight against thee, but they shall not prevail against thee: for I am with thee to save thee and to deliver thee, saith the Lord. And I will deliver thee out of the hand of the wicked, and I will redeem thee out of the hand of the terrible." What did he say? If they return to you, that's one thing, but don't you go back to them. They're going to fight against you, but they're not going to succeed. I'm going to protect you.
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So the question is, when we have despised the word of God, and counted it a reproach and no longer want to hear it, no longer want to believe it, no longer want to obey it because we want to do our thing and walk after the imagination of our hearts. What will we do in the end when our society disintegrates, our culture is destroyed, our families are broken? Our churches are shut. What will we do in the end? All because we've counted the Word of God a reproach and had no delight in it.
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To whom shall I give warning? Ask Isaiah. Who has ears to hear? I once said, let him hear. Father, in the name of Jesus Christ, we bow before Thee. We thank You for Your Word. We thank You for Your truth. Lord, help us to love Thy Word and love Thy truth and delight in it. May it not be a reproach to us, but may it be our joy, our treasure. And Lord, we pray that we would be people that hear and obey and bring our lives in conformity to thy word.
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We think of our culture today. We think of our civilization, our society, our churches, our nation. How desperately, Lord, we need thee and need thy word. And we ask that you'd be pleased to work in our hearts. In the name of Jesus Christ, we ask and pray. Amen.
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so so
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deepseek | deepseek-v4-pro | clean_readable_transcript | 2026-06-05T19:12:58Z

When Preaching Does Not Help

John Weaver | Freedom Ministries

In this sermon, Pastor John Weaver examines Jeremiah 6:8-10 to explore why preaching sometimes fails to help individuals, churches, and nations. He argues that preaching is never useless because God's Word always accomplishes His purposes, but it may not help when there are problems with preachers (uncalled, unsent), problems with preaching (not expounding, explaining, and applying Scripture), and problems with the people (uncircumcised ears and hearts that reject truth). The sermon warns that despising God's Word leads to walking in the imagination of one's own heart and ultimately to judgment.

Introduction: The Context of Jeremiah 6:8-10

God declares war on Judah and Jerusalem for their sin, and Jeremiah asks to whom he can speak and give warning because the people's ears are uncircumcised and they cannot hearken.

Jeremiah chapter 6, verses 8 through 10. The title of the message today is, "When Preaching Will Not Help." Jeremiah chapter 6, notice if you would please beginning with verse 8, God says,

Scripture Reading — Jeremiah 6:8-10

"Be thou instructed, O Jerusalem, lest my soul depart from thee, lest I make thee desolate, a land not inhabited. Thus saith the Lord of hosts, They shall thoroughly glean the remnant of Israel as a vine: turn back thine hand as a grapegatherer into the baskets." "To whom shall I speak, and give warning, that they may hear? Behold, their ear is uncircumcised, and they cannot hearken: behold, the word of the Lord is unto them a reproach; they have no delight in it."

Scripture Reading — Jeremiah 6:8-10

"To whom shall I speak, and give warning, that they may hear? Behold, their ear is uncircumcised, and they cannot hearken: behold, the word of the Lord is unto them a reproach; they have no delight in it."

Preaching is Never Useless but May Not Help

Preaching always accomplishes God's ordained purpose (Isaiah 55:11), but there are times when it will not help individuals, families, churches, societies, or nations.

Scripture Reading — Isaiah 55:11

"So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it."

Biblical Examples of Preaching That Did Not Help

Noah preached for 120 years and only eight were saved; Jeremiah and Isaiah were unable to reach their generations, showing that plain and pure preaching may not help.

What is True Biblical Preaching?

True biblical preaching consists of exposition, explanation, and application, as modeled in Nehemiah 8:7-8, where the Levites read distinctly, gave the sense, and caused understanding.

Scripture Reading — Nehemiah 8:7-8

"and the Levites caused the people to understand the law: and the people stood in their place." Now watch how they did that. "So they read in the book of the law of God distinctly, and gave the sense, and caused them to understand the reading."

Problem #1: There is a Problem with Preachers

Many preachers are not called or sent by God; they are false prophets, professionals, or self-deceived. A true call is evidenced by preaching according to God's Word (Isaiah 8:20).

Scripture Reading — Romans 10:15

"And how shall they preach, except they be sent?"

In other words, for a man to really genuinely preach, God has to send him.

Scripture Reading — Jeremiah 23:21

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

Problem #2: There is a Problem with Preaching

False preachers steal God's words (failure to preach the whole counsel), add to His words (saying what God never said), and substitute their own dreams and opinions for Scripture (Jeremiah 23:25-32).

Scripture Reading — Jeremiah 23:22

"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 doings." But

Scripture Reading — Jeremiah 23:25-32

"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 neighbour, 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 the rock in pieces? Therefore, behold, I am against the prophets, saith the Lord, that steal my words every one from his neighbour. 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 by their lightness."

Scripture Reading — Jeremiah 23:25-32

"Behold, I am against the prophets, saith the Lord, that use their tongues, and say, He saith."

Scripture Reading — Jeremiah 23:25-32

"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 by their lightness."

Problem #3: There is a Problem with the People

Scripture Reading — Jeremiah 18:18

"For the law shall not perish from the priest, nor counsel from the wise, nor the word from the prophet. Come, and let us smite him with the tongue, and let us not give heed to any of his words."

Scripture Reading — Jeremiah 26:8-9

"Now it came to pass, when Jeremiah had made an end of speaking all that the Lord had commanded him to speak unto all the people, that the priests and the prophets and all the people took him, saying, Thou shalt surely die. Why hast thou prophesied in the name of the Lord, saying, This house shall be like Shiloh, and this city shall be desolate without an inhabitant? And all the people were gathered against Jeremiah in the house of the Lord."

The Uncircumcised Ear and Heart

Scripture Reading — Jeremiah 5:1-2

"Run ye to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem, and see now, and know, and seek in the broad places thereof, if ye can find a man,"

that's singular,

Scripture Reading — Jeremiah 5:1-2

"if ye can find a man, if there be any that executeth judgment, that seeketh the truth; and I will pardon it."

God said, if you can find me one man in the whole city of Jerusalem that executes judgment and seeks the truth, I'll pardon the entire city. And then watch verse 2. God says,

Scripture Reading — Jeremiah 5:1-2

"And though they say, The Lord liveth; surely they swear falsely."

You remember the first martyr in the New Testament was Stephen, the deacon. And he was preaching to these Jews right before they murdered him. In Acts chapter 7 and verse 51, he said,

Scripture Reading — Acts 7:51

"Ye stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Ghost: as your fathers did, so do ye."

The People Love to Have It So

Jeremiah 5:30-31 shows that people love false prophecy and tyranny because it relieves them of responsibility. The question 'What will ye do in the end thereof?' points to final judgment.

The Dual Ministry of the Word: Life and Death

Preaching is a sweet savor to God whether it results in salvation or condemnation (2 Corinthians 2:14-16). God's Word never returns void; it accomplishes reconciliation or condemnation.

Conclusion: What Will You Do in the End?

When people despise God's Word, they face disintegration and judgment. The sermon closes with a prayer for delight in God's Word and conformity to it.

When Preaching Does Not Help

John Weaver | YouTube

Lecture Metadata	Details
Speaker	John Weaver
Source	YouTube
Media ID	H_7Vjc9hVYo
Subject	New Testament Studies
Course	Revelation: Christ and the Churches
Genre	Sermon
Date	2017-11-11
Dictation Name
Book	Book 139: Revelation: Christ and the Churches — Chapter 17
Source Timed Segments	78

Lecture Guide

Outline

Introduction: The Context of Jeremiah 6:8-10: God declares war on Judah and Jerusalem for their sin, and Jeremiah asks to whom he can speak and give warning because the people's ears are uncircumcised and they cannot hearken.
Preaching is Never Useless but May Not Help: Preaching always accomplishes God's ordained purpose (Isaiah 55:11), but there are times when it will not help individuals, families, churches, societies, or nations.
Biblical Examples of Preaching That Did Not Help: Noah preached for 120 years and only eight were saved; Jeremiah and Isaiah were unable to reach their generations, showing that plain and pure preaching may not help.
What is True Biblical Preaching?: True biblical preaching consists of exposition, explanation, and application, as modeled in Nehemiah 8:7-8, where the Levites read distinctly, gave the sense, and caused understanding.
Problem #1: There is a Problem with Preachers: Many preachers are not called or sent by God; they are false prophets, professionals, or self-deceived. A true call is evidenced by preaching according to God's Word (Isaiah 8:20).
Problem #2: There is a Problem with Preaching: False preachers steal God's words (failure to preach the whole counsel), add to His words (saying what God never said), and substitute their own dreams and opinions for Scripture (Jeremiah 23:25-32).
Problem #3: There is a Problem with the People: People do not want sound doctrine; they heap up teachers to tickle their ears (2 Timothy 4:3). Jeremiah's hearers plotted against him, refused to listen, and sought to kill him because they despised God's Word.
The Uncircumcised Ear and Heart: Jeremiah 6:10 describes an uncircumcised ear that cannot hearken; the people considered God's Word a reproach and had no delight in it. This rejection leads to walking in the imagination of one's own heart and idolatry.
The People Love to Have It So: Jeremiah 5:30-31 shows that people love false prophecy and tyranny because it relieves them of responsibility. The question 'What will ye do in the end thereof?' points to final judgment.
The Dual Ministry of the Word: Life and Death: Preaching is a sweet savor to God whether it results in salvation or condemnation (2 Corinthians 2:14-16). God's Word never returns void; it accomplishes reconciliation or condemnation.
Conclusion: What Will You Do in the End?: When people despise God's Word, they face disintegration and judgment. The sermon closes with a prayer for delight in God's Word and conformity to it.

Major Themes

Key Arguments

Preaching is never useless but may not help

Preaching always accomplishes God's ordained purpose, but there are times when it will not help because of problems with preachers, preaching, and people.

Isaiah 55:11 is cited to show God's Word never returns void, yet examples like Noah and Jeremiah show preaching did not help their generations.

Many preachers are not called or sent by God

A true preacher must be sent by God; false prophets and professionals run without being sent and do not preach God's Word.

Jeremiah 23:21: 'I have not sent these prophets, yet they ran: I have not spoken to them, yet they prophesied.'

False preaching steals, adds to, and substitutes for God's Word

False prophets are charged with stealing God's words (not preaching the whole counsel), adding to His words (saying what God never said), and substituting their own dreams.

Jeremiah 23:30-32: 'I am against the prophets... that steal my words... that use their tongues, and say, He saith... that prophesy false dreams.'

People reject sound doctrine and seek ear-tickling teachers

The people themselves do not want God's Word; they heap up teachers who will tell them what they want to hear, leading to false teaching and tyranny.

2 Timothy 4:3 and Jeremiah 5:31: 'The prophets prophesy falsely... and my people love to have it so.'

An uncircumcised ear cannot hear God's Word

The metaphor of uncircumcision indicates a rebellious heart that rejects true doctrine; this condition makes preaching unable to help.

Jeremiah 6:10 and Calvin's commentary: 'The uncircumcised ear is that which rejects all true doctrine.'

Rejecting God's Word leads to idolatry of the imagination

When people despise God's Word, they walk in the imagination of their own heart and create a god of their own making.

Jeremiah 13:10: 'This evil people, which refuse to hear my words, which walk in the imagination of their heart.'

Preaching results in either life or death

The same preaching is a savor of life to those being saved and a savor of death to those perishing; God is glorified in both outcomes.

2 Corinthians 2:15-16: 'To the one we are the savour of death unto death; and to the other the savour of life unto life.'

Scripture References

Jeremiah 6:8-10: The primary text of the sermon; God warns Jerusalem and Jeremiah asks to whom he can speak because their ear is uncircumcised.
Isaiah 55:11: Cited to show that God's Word never returns void but accomplishes His purpose.
2 Peter 2:5: Noah is called a preacher of righteousness.
1 Peter 3:20: While the ark was preparing, only eight souls were saved.
Nehemiah 8:7-8: Defines true biblical preaching as reading distinctly, giving the sense, and causing understanding.
2 Timothy 4:3: The time will come when people will not endure sound doctrine but heap up teachers with itching ears.
Romans 10:15: How shall they preach except they be sent?
Jeremiah 23:21: God says He did not send the false prophets, yet they ran and prophesied.
Isaiah 8:20: To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, there is no light in them.
Jeremiah 23:22: If the false prophets had stood in God's counsel, they would have turned the people from evil.
Jeremiah 23:25-32: God charges false prophets with stealing His words, adding to them, and substituting dreams.
Ezekiel 3, 33: Ezekiel was charged as a warner; blood guiltiness for not warning.
Acts 20:26-27: Paul declared he was pure from the blood of all men because he declared the whole counsel of God.
Deuteronomy 4:2: Do not add to or diminish from God's Word.
Revelation 22:19: Do not add to the words of this prophecy.
Jeremiah 18:18: The people plotted against Jeremiah and refused to heed his words.
Jeremiah 20:10: Jeremiah heard defaming and his familiars watched for his halting.
Jeremiah 26:8-9: The priests and prophets seized Jeremiah and said he must die for prophesying destruction.
Jeremiah 5:1-2: God told Jeremiah to find one man who executes judgment and seeks truth, but they swear falsely.
Acts 7:51: Stephen called the Jews stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears.

Historical References

Noah as a preacher of righteousness: Noah preached for 120 years while the ark was preparing, but only eight souls (his family) were saved; his preaching did not help his generation.
Jeremiah as the weeping prophet: Jeremiah was unable to reach his people; his preaching did not help his generation, culture, or nation because most were destroyed.
Isaiah as a prophet whose preaching did not help: Isaiah is mentioned alongside Noah and Jeremiah as a prophet whose preaching did not help his culture.
John Calvin's commentary on Jeremiah 6:10: Calvin's explanation of the uncircumcised ear as rejecting true doctrine and the Jews' vain confidence in circumcision.
Stephen the first martyr (Acts 7:51): Stephen called the Jews stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears before they murdered him.
Elijah and the three-and-a-half-year drought: God moved Elijah out of the land, and the drought was a physical picture of God not speaking because His prophet was gone.

Important Quotes

To whom shall I speak, and give warning, that they may hear? Behold, their ear is uncircumcised, and they cannot hearken: behold, the word of the Lord is unto them a reproach; they have no delight in it.

This is the key verse of the sermon, highlighting the spiritual condition that makes preaching unable to help.

So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.

Establishes the theological foundation that preaching is never useless but always accomplishes God's purpose.

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

God's indictment of false prophets who preach without a divine call.

So they read in the book of the law of God distinctly, and gave the sense, and caused them to understand the reading.

Defines true biblical preaching as exposition, explanation, and application.

For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears.

Warns that people will reject sound teaching and seek ear-tickling preachers.

Discussion Questions

[Question]

What does it mean for preaching to 'not help,' and how does this differ from preaching being useless?

[Context]

The sermon distinguishes between preaching never being useless (Isaiah 55:11) and times when it does not help because of the hearers' condition.

[Question]

How can we discern whether a preacher is truly called and sent by God?

[Context]

The sermon points to Isaiah 8:20 as the test: speaking according to God's Word.

[Question]

In what ways do modern churches replace exposition, explanation, and application with entertainment or other substitutes?

[Context]

The sermon critiques seeker-friendly churches that use programs, skits, and dramas instead of biblical preaching.

[Question]

What does it mean to have an 'uncircumcised ear,' and how does this condition develop?

[Context]

The sermon explains this metaphor as a rebellious heart that rejects true doctrine, leading to spiritual deafness.

[Question]

Why do people often prefer false teaching and tyranny over the truth of God's Word?

[Context]

Jeremiah 5:31 says the people love to have it so; the sermon suggests it relieves them of responsibility.

[Question]

How should the dual outcome of preaching (life and death) affect our understanding of evangelism and preaching?

[Context]

2 Corinthians 2:15-16 shows that preaching is a sweet savor to God regardless of the response.

[Question]

What are the dangers of walking in the imagination of one's own heart, and how does this relate to idolatry?

[Context]

The sermon warns that rejecting God's Word leads to creating a god of one's imagination.

[Question]

What does the question 'What will ye do in the end thereof?' mean for individuals and societies today?

[Context]

The sermon applies Jeremiah 5:31 to the disintegration of culture and final judgment.

Applications

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deepseek | deepseek-v4-pro | weaver_study | 2026-06-06T12:20:16Z