God Will Judge the Hypocrites

We are continuing the series we just started called Bad Religion. Pastor Jason did a great job last week teaching us through the prophet Amos that even when we become apathetic toward God, He is always ready to forgive and give us another chance. “Seek me and live. Seek me and live” (Amos 5:5-6).

As we talk about Bad Religion, remember the job of Satan. In 2 Cor. 4:4 it says that he has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel. He has taken away their understanding of the truth. He has taken away the key to being reconciled with God. We are not struggling “against flesh and blood” but “against evil, spiritual forces in the heavens” (Eph 6:12).

Under the realm of religion, and especially in our American culture, we hear phrases from those around us: I believe in God, I pray, I go to church, and we think people are ok. This has happened to me many times when I should know better. I’ll believe that they are ok, they are just off theologically, but no they are not. Their souls are in jeopardy of spending eternity apart from God. This is a serious matter we are talking about in this series.

So the same format as last week, we will end our time looking at a certain Bad Religion that has strayed from the truth. Before we get there though, we are going to take a look at another one of God’s Old Testament prophets, Jeremiah, and let’s see what we can learn from him.

Turn in your Bibles to Jeremiah 23. I will be preaching out of the NIV this morning and I encourage you to bring your Bible’s so you can read and follow along with what the Word of God says.

Last week we read about Amos, who was a prophet over 100 years prior to Jeremiah. Amos was prophesying during the fall of Israel to the Assyrians. Jeremiah was a prophet just before, during, and after the fall of Jerusalem to the Babylonians. Amos was a simple shepherd and fruit picker, but Jeremiah was a priest from Anathoth, just outside of Jerusalem. As a priest, he would have been trained in the sacrificial processes, he would have instructed the people in the law of God, and he was tasked with determining God’s will.

According to Jer 1:5 “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.” He would be God’s mouthpiece to the nation. He constantly pronounced judgment on them yet, like last week, always proclaimed hope and salvation as well.

One chapter ahead of our passage that we will be looking at today, in Chapter 22, God sent Jeremiah to speak to the Kings of Judah to pronounce judgment on them for their wickedness. Now in Chapter 23, his focus goes to the prophets.

In our first verse, verse 9, right away it says “Concerning the prophets.” Prophets were supposed to preach God’s covenant and make accurate predictions through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit (Deut 13:1-11; 18:15-22). They spoke on the behalf of God. Jeremiah is going to address those who claim they are speaking on God’s behalf, but they were not. They were lying. They were making things up.

He just addressed the nation’s kings who were responsible for the people; to uphold justice and righteousness. Now he is addressing the prophets who are responsible for the spiritual health of the people, their genuineness and integrity, yet were leading the people of Judah away from God.

The title of today’s message is God Will Judge the Hypocrites. God Will Judge the Hypocrites. I have a simple outline for our passage this morning.

Character of the false prophets (Jer 23:9-15).

Message of the false prophets (Jer 23:16-40).

1. Character of the False Prophets (v. 9-15)

I’m going to read through a lot of the text. God is speaking and revealing to Jeremiah His judgments. As we read through this, watch out for all the bad character traits of these false and lying prophets.

Jeremiah 23:9-10 “Concerning the prophets: My heart is broken within me; all my bones tremble. I am like a drunken man, like a strong man overcome by wine, because of the Lord and his holy words. The land is full of adulterers; because of the curse the land lies parched and the pastures in the wilderness are withered. The prophets follow an evil course and use their power unjustly.”

For years Jeremiah has heard the false prophets and their lying prophecies, seen them deceiving the people, and witnessed the hypocrisy and sin of their lives and how it has corrupted those around them. But now he hears from God and what he hears utterly staggers him like a drunken man.

God is angry at these false prophets because they are speaking lies in His name, saying that their messages are coming from Him. God does not tolerate lying and hypocrisy, especially when done in His name.

“The land is full of adulterers.” This is both literal and spiritual. We discover later in the text that adultery is occurring but it is also that the people have turned from worshipping God to worshipping false gods.

Because of all this, the land is cursed, parched, and withered. Just like last week, God has been trying to get their attention through drought, locusts, and plague, but the people are not responding. And God is saying here that the land is cursed because His people are following an evil course. They are abusing their power with sin and wickedness.

Now we hear God begin to make declarations through Jeremiah. So pay attention. Listen for how they are falling short and how they have drifted away from God.

Jeremiah 23:11-12 ““Both prophet and priest are godless; even in my temple I find their wickedness,” declares the Lord. “Therefore their path will become slippery; they will be banished to darkness and there they will fall. I will bring disaster on them in the year they are punished,” declares the Lord.”

The prophets and priests are godless, but aren’t they supposed to be godly? Aren’t they put in place to be spiritual leaders, exposing people’s sins, calling them to repent and turn back to God? But these prophets are doing the complete opposite!

And look how far they have fallen! They are not just practicing sin in their private lives but wickedness is happening in God’s temple!

2 Kings 23:4-7 and Ezekiel 8:6-18 explains the detestable acts taking place: they had false idols used for worshipping Baal, Asherah, Tammuz (Tam-uhz), and all the starry hosts. They were burning incense to them. They had housing for male temple prostitutes. This was the wickedness taking place in Jerusalem.

God says they will be punished. He will let them walk down that path, but it’s going to be a dark, slippery path that leads to disaster and punishment.

Jeremiah 23:13-14 ““Among the prophets of Samaria I saw this repulsive thing: They prophesied by Baal and led my people Israel astray. And among the prophets of Jerusalem I have seen something horrible: They commit adultery and live a lie. They strengthen the hands of evildoers, so that not one of them turns from their wickedness. They are all like Sodom to me; the people of Jerusalem are like Gomorrah.””

Think back to Amos, 100+ years earlier. Samaria in Israel, the Northern Kingdom, was worshipping Baal, which led to the people turning away from God. This makes sense because it was a mixed ethnicity of people living there.

But now the same sin and wickedness is happening in Judah, in the great city of Jerusalem the city of King David, and it’s even worse. Here we see the prophets are literally engaged in adultery and living a lie. They are supporting the sins of the people so not one of them will turn from their wickedness. And the prophets in Samaria were prophesying falsely in the name of Baal, while now the prophets of Jerusalem are prophesying falsely in God’s very name. It is so bad that God compares them to Sodom and Gomorrah. Is that a good thing? No. God destroyed them for how detestable the people were. This is not a good position to be in.

What I think was really missing from these false prophets was integrity. Integrity according to the Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary is Faithful support of a standard of values. At Baptist Bible College, that was our focus as a dorm of guys and we simply defined it as, “Always doing what is right, even when no one is looking.” 16 years

Chad Brand et al., eds., “Integrity,” Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2003), 827.

We see the opposite being revealed about the false prophets. They are deceitful, lying, ungodly, and wicked men. They were fascinated with the false gods, unfaithful to their spouses, and lived double lives. If this is the way the prophets are living, no wonder the people they were leading were so far from God.

I can say that according to the Bible, religious leaders are to be models of integrity. The prophet Samuel, his life was blameless (1 Sam 12:3). The apostle Paul had a clean conscience before God and man (Acts 24:16). 1 Timothy 3:9 says pastors and deacons are to be people of character and a clean conscience. What you see on the outside should match what’s on the inside. Paul tells Titus to show integrity in his teaching (Tit 2:7).

Let me give you three questions that may help you identify Godly Shepherds:

Check for integrity. What do they teach about God, and do their lives reflect those teachings?

They speak the truth. They speak the truth of God’s Word and they do not water down the message to make it easier to handle.

They encourage holiness. They don’t encourage you to disobey God.

You may be sitting there and thinking, “Integrity is great for our spiritual leaders, but what about me?” Integrity is for you too. 1 Cor. 11:1 we are to imitate Christ; follow His example. God is holy, He is totally true to Himself, He is authentic, He makes no attempt to deceive others, and as believers pursuing Christlikeness we must mirror His integrity. Integrity is required of all of us.

Hypocrisy can be a dangerous snare. If you’re not careful, you can get caught in the snare of religion and hypocrisy. You’ll be like that arrogant Pharisee praying in the temple with his self-righteous prayer, “I’m glad I’m not like that tax-collector.”

That was their character, ...

2. Message of the False Prophets (v. 16-40)

Not only did the false prophets have poor character but their message was bad as well. They claimed to be speaking for God but they were not. God says in verse 16 “Do not listen to them.”

Let’s skim the text and see what their false messages consisted of:

Verse 16 They fill you will false hopes. They speak visions from their own minds, not from God.

Verse 17 They tell people who despise God, “The Lord says you will have peace. No harm will come to you.”

Verse 21 They’re running with their own messages, not a message from God.

Verse 25-26 They have dreams; they speak to the people from the delusions of their own minds.

Verse 27 They think telling the people of their dreams will make the people forget God.

And it’s summed up in verse 32, They tell them and lead my people astray with their reckless lies, yet I did not send or appoint them. They do not benefit these people in the least.

These false prophets are inventing their own messages but presenting them as if they came from God. A prophet is not supposed to speak from himself but is supposed to listen to God, to stand in His council. God mentions this in verses 18 and 22. Look at verse 22. He should be entering into God’s presence and preaching the message of repentance.

Why? Because when God’s Words are proclaimed, people turn from their evil ways and from their evil deeds. This is why it is so important to proclaim God’s Word to those around us. People will turn back to God.

But that’s not what we see these false prophets doing. Instead, they are telling the people what they want to hear. They are making up dreams and revelations that have no connection with God. God was done with their lying, their hypocrisy, and their flippancy toward sin.

Look at God’s response in verses Jer 23:19-20 “See, the storm of the Lord will burst out in wrath, a whirlwind swirling down on the heads of the wicked. The anger of the Lord will not turn back until he fully accomplishes the purposes of his heart. In days to come you will understand it clearly.”

The prophets are lying to the people telling them that they are good with God. They will have peace and no harm will come to them. God’s Word says that sin has consequences, and we cannot sugarcoat that. His wrath is coming on the people like a severe storm, a swirling whirlwind. His anger is not going to be held back.

Look at the last two verses of our passage, Jer 23:39-40 “Therefore, I will surely forget you and cast you out of my presence along with the city I gave to you and your ancestors. I will bring on you everlasting disgrace—everlasting shame that will not be forgotten.””

God was about to cast the people out of the promised land. The people were about to be exiled to Babylon, and their great city, Jerusalem, about to be destroyed. And God was pointing His finger at the false prophets who were leading His people away from Him.

False teachers and pastors today will be judged.

Jeremiah did not rejoice at their judgment. He was broken over the situation that they were leading people away from God. True prophets listen to God, expose sin, and preach judgment and repentance, not vindictively but with tears. It should tear us up when people are being deceived by Bad Religion.

God Will Judge the Hypocrites. God will judge the false prophets, especially when they are claiming to speak for God. Hypocrisy and lying in His name will not go unpunished.

But not only will God judge the false prophets, He will also judge all people. Everyone will need to answer the question, “What have you done with Jesus?” Jesus is the way the truth and the life. No one can come to the Father except through Him. You cannot make it to heaven without believing in the work of His Son. Talk with one of us today.

Hypocrisy in your life?

I’ve talked a lot about the sins of the spiritual leaders, but we are only going to give an account of ourselves. So how are you doing in the area of hypocrisy and lies? Jeremiah was talking to God’s chosen people, not the pagans. Has hypocrisy crept into your life? Are you talking and saying the right things but your life and actions say otherwise? Let’s examine ourselves this week, and strive to obey God’s commands and live with integrity.

Word of Faith

The Bad Religion that we are going to look at briefly this morning is the Word of Faith Movement. Word of Faith is the fastest growing false religion in the world. For a lot of people, the TV Word of Faith preachers represent Christianity. This is so popular, finding its way into millions of homes via books, TV, and other media. Since it has such a broad influence on how Christianity is viewed by society, it is important to consider whether or not what they are teaching aligns with the Bible.

Word of Faith teaches that God wants His people to prosper in all areas of life, including finances, health, marriage, and relationships. Who doesn't want to hear that? Word of Faith is permeating churches everywhere and its teachings have been known to wreck the lives of many suffering Christians.

We are going to see that there are many similarities between the Word of Faith leaders and the false prophets of Jeremiah’s day.

Word of Faith was started by E.W. Kenyon and made what it is today by Kenneth Hagin and those who came after him, guys like Kenneth Copeland, Oral Roberts, and Benny Hinn. Now today we have more popular “Christian” teachers such as Joel Osteen, TD Jakes, Todd White, Joyce Meyer, Paula White, Beth Moore, Brian Houston, Carl Lentz, and Joseph Prince, just to name a few of the many. Again, these people are very popular Christian teachers and have best-selling books on the Christian market.

The difficult thing with this movement is they look just like our churches. Their teachers look nice, they’re smiling, it sounds good, they are “Christian,” and they use Scripture, but what they teach is far from the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ and it’s leading many people to hell.

I’m not saying that all of these people are unsaved, but they teach heresies that are deceiving their followers, like the words you speak have the power to create something new, they promise that we can obtain health, wealth, and success if we simply have enough faith, they hear directly new revelations from God. The Bible says no to all of this. It sounds like an awful lot of what the false prophets were doing.

Some of you have asked about using their materials for Bible study. We have to say no, we aren’t going to approve it, because of the lane they staying in and we know where that leads.

Romans 3:4 “Let God be true, and every human being a liar.” Read God’s Words for yourself and it will keep you from Bad Religion.

So here we go, I’m speaking the truth in love, with all the best intentions to help you avoid false teachings.

Prosperity Gospel

The average person on this earth gets excited when they hear a promise that they can become wealthy, and these leaders know this well. Their basic message is that God has promised to make all believers rich and healthy, and it’s all initiated by faith and seed planting.

Seed planting is an initial financial offering if you’ve never heard that before. Of course, the road to prosperity always leads to their offering plates.

They use poor hermeneutics (methods of interpreting Scripture) in many passages. So sure they use Scripture but they are pulling things out of context, they’re forcing things into the text, and just simply coming up with some really bad interpretations.

Joel Osteen is famous for his book and his words, “Live your best life now.” 8 million copies have been sold. He preaches that men have the power within themselves to change their lives.

Here are some quotes from his book:

“If you develop an image of success, health, abundance, joy, peace, happiness, nothing on earth will be able to hold those things from you.”

“All of us are born for earthly greatness. You were born to win. God wants you to live in abundance. You were born to be a champion.”

“God wants to give you the desires of your heart. Before we were formed, He prepared us to live abundant lives, to be happy, healthy, and whole, but when our thinking becomes contaminated, it’s no longer in line with God’s Word.”

But God’s Word isn’t the Bible to him. It’s this mystical, spiritual revelation that comes to us and tells us what we should want.

How do you get this abundance? He says, “Believe. Visualize. Think out loud.” Your words release your power, words give life to your dreams. Just go ahead and name it and claim it. Take the part of God that exists in you and create your own reality. John McArthur, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yXDS7wGixyA

Is this biblical? No. This is straight from the enemy, the great deceiver. Health, wealth, and prosperity, the fulfillment of all your dreams and desires, is what Satan always offers. We know this as temptation.

Notice how everything is about you. Nothing about God, nothing about His desires for people or Him receiving glory. This is why it is called the prosperity gospel. The gospel means good news. So they are all about the good news of prosperity instead of the good news about Jesus Christ.

While people have a problem with their souls, there standing before God, they are more concerned with making their lives better now. Well, that’s great, because Jesus said it’s easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God (Matt 19:24).

I really got worked up when I was studying this. And I know I’m talking about one leader, but this guy has the 6th largest megachurch in the world, with 52,000 people attending every week, and instead of preaching the gospel of our Lord, he’s pointing them in another direction. And so is everyone else who preaches the prosperity gospel.

What does the Bible say about the Prosperity gospel? The two that came to my mind were:

Matthew 16:24 “Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.”

John 16:33 ““I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.””

I know this is true because it’s in God’s Word, but it’s also because there are believers around the world, even here in this very church, who love God, are faithful, obey His commands and they are not wealthy, they are not healthy, and they live difficult lives.

Little gods

Teachers will seriously mishandle Scripture to teach that Christians are “little gods.” They’ll take something like 2 Peter 1:4 where it talks about “participating in the divine nature,” take that out of context and say, “See, we are a class of gods.”

Creflo Dollar: “You are gods because you came from God and you are gods, you’re not just human.”

Kenneth Hagin: Man “was created on terms of equality with God, he could stand in God’s presence without any consciousness of inferiority.”

Kenneth Copeland: Adam “was not a little like God. He was not almost God. He was not subordinate to God even.”

Joyce Meyer: “If you as a human being have a baby, you can call it a human kind. If cattle have another cattle, they call it cattle-kind. I mean what’s God supposed to call us? Doesn’t the Bible say we’re created in His image?”

https://www.sonofcarey.com/?p=2444

Even a teacher like Steven Furtick, who isn’t directly associated with Word of Faith but the SBC, but his theology has been increasingly going Word of Faith, wrote, “Following Jesus doesn’t change you into something else, it reveals who you’ve been all along. What would it be like to see the you that God sees.” He was preaching a sermon titled “Yes You!”, which should tell you a lot right there, and he said, “The process of discipleship is not God changing you into something else—it’s Him revealing who you’ve been all along.” https://churchleaders.com/news/408339-steven-furtick-facebook-post-ignites-false-teacher-claims.html

In another sermon, Furtick says, “God said, ‘Let us make man in our image, in our likeness.’ You are not my maker, you are not my mirror. When God said, ‘I AM’ to Moses, my name is ‘I AM,’ He was trying to get him to see ‘you are as I am’.” This is heresy.

Kenneth Copeland has said the same thing, “And I say this with all respect so it don’t upset you too bad, but I say it anyway: When I read in the Bible where He says, “I AM” I just smile and say, “Yes, I AM too!” Kenneth Copeland - BVOV broadcast, July 9, 1987

Isaiah 43:10 ““You are my witnesses,” declares the Lord, “and my servant whom I have chosen, so that you may know and believe me and understand that I am he. Before me no god was formed, nor will there be one after me.” Isaiah 44:6 “apart from me there is no God.” If you believe you are a “little god,” you’re calling God a liar.

1 Corinthians 8:5-6 “For even if there are so-called gods, whether in heaven or on earth (as indeed there are many “gods” and many “lords”), yet for us there is but one God, the Father, from whom all things came and for whom we live; and there is but one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things came and through whom we live.”

By declaring yourself to be a “little god,” you attempt to make yourself equal to Him. This is extremely arrogant and nothing more than self-worship and self-glorification. Satan wanted to be like God, that’s why he fell. And what was the lie he told Eve in the garden, “you will be like God” (Gen 3:5). You have no understanding of who our God really is. After God challenges Job and his thinking, Job said, Surely I spoke of things I did not understand, things too wonderful for me to know (Job 42:3).

Bible

There are many more false beliefs within this Bad Religion but we cannot go over them this morning, and I sure see a lot of similarities with the OT false prophets. Read God’s Word for yourself; know what He says to us. “Let God be true, and every human being a liar,” and you won’t find yourself in Bad Religion.