They Lead God's People Astray

[Christsfreeservant]

Jeremiah 23:23-24 ESV

“Am I a God at hand, declares the Lord, and not a God far away? Can a man hide himself in secret places so that I cannot see him? declares the Lord. Do I not fill heaven and earth? declares the Lord.”​

Now, I am going to apply this more broadly than the passage probably does because it applies, in truth, more broadly in our world today, especially among those professing faith in Jesus Christ but who are still walking in sin. So many people have this idea or this false perception that if they sin in secret that somehow God can’t see when they sin. Or even if they believe he can, they shut that out of their thinking when they want to commit sin against the Lord and against other humans, as though God can’t see.

Some people are even teaching today that once you “believe” in Jesus (with a faith which is rarely biblically defined), and so all your sins are now forgiven, that God can’t even see when you sin anymore, but all he sees when he looks at you, even if you are steeped in sin, is Jesus. That is a lie from hell! For if he could no longer see when we sin then we would have to declare a large part of the teachings in the New Testament as false teachings, which they are not.

But the way that we know that God can still see when we sin is by reading the teachings of the New Testament. The apostles were regularly pointing out the Christians’ sins and were calling them to forsake their sins and to follow Jesus in obedience. And they were regularly warning them, too, that if they continued living in sin, making sin their practice, and not holiness and obedience to the Lord, that they would not have eternal life with God. So obviously God can see our sins, and he will judge sinful rebellion.

[Matt 7:21-23; Lu 9:23-26; Jn 6:35-58; Jn 15:1-11; Rom 1:18-32; Rom 2:6-8; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-14; 1 Co 6:9-10; 2 Co 5:10; Gal 5:16-21; Gal 6:7-8; Eph 5:3-6; Col 1:21-23; Col 3:5-11; 1 Jn 1:5-10; 1 Jn 2:3-6; 1 Jn 3:4-10; Heb 10:23-31; 1 Co 10:1-22; Heb 3:1-19; Heb 4:1-13; 1 Pet 1:17-21; Rev 21:8,27; Rev 22:14-15]

Jeremiah 23:25-32 ESV

“I have heard what the prophets have said who prophesy lies in my name, saying, ‘I have dreamed, I have dreamed!’ How long shall there be lies in the heart of the prophets who prophesy lies, and who prophesy the deceit of their own heart, who think to make my people forget my name by their dreams that they tell one another, even as their fathers forgot my name for Baal? ​

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“Let the prophet who has a dream tell the dream, but let him who has my word speak my word faithfully. What has straw in common with wheat? declares the Lord. Is not my word like fire, declares the Lord, and like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces? Therefore, behold, I am against the prophets, declares the Lord, who steal my words from one another. ​

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“Behold, I am against the prophets, declares the Lord, who use their tongues and declare, ‘declares the Lord.’ Behold, I am against those who prophesy lying dreams, declares the Lord, and who tell them and lead my people astray by their lies and their recklessness, when I did not send them or charge them. So they do not profit this people at all, declares the Lord.”​

Okay, so what is this talking about? Is this an indictment against people sharing their dreams with others? No! Is this an indictment against God speaking to people in dreams, using their dreams as parables to go along with where they are reading in Scripture to give them a broader or more specific understanding and application of the Scripture to their individual lives? No! For we read in Acts 2:14-18 where Peter explained to the people that in the last days God’s people would dream dreams and see visions.

So, what is the indictment here? And were their dreams the kind we have when we are sleeping? First I will answer the second question. A dream can be a vision which can also be a goal, ambition, desire, and business plan. For it can be your goal for what you want your business to be in the future. And it seems most “churches” here in America are being patterned after business plans and goals and visions for how to “grow their churches,” and for how to “draw in large crowds of people from the world.”

And a dream can be something just made up in someone’s own mind, which they concocted, which is their own idea, or it could be someone else’s concoction and someone else’s idea which they are then sharing as their own. So it doesn’t have to be a literal dream like we would have in the night, but it could be just a thought or an idea or a notion, and it can be that they claim it is from God when it is not from God because it is against God and against his word and against his will and purposes for his people.

So, what was wrong with the dreams? For this is not an indictment against all dreams. It was that they were prophesying lies, but what kind of lies? They were willful lies for the intended purpose to make God’s people forget his name by their dreams that they tell one another. So the intention of the telling of these dreams was to deliberately deceive the people and it was to turn them away from the Lord. They were those who were prophesying lying dreams in order to lead God’s people astray from their devotion to God.

So, the indictment is not against dreams, in general, nor against the telling of dreams, nor against God using dreams as a way of communicating with his people. But if God does speak to us through dreams, sometimes, the dreams should not speak lies against God’s words, nor against his divine will and purpose for our lives, nor against us having to live morally pure, godly, upright, honest, and faithful lives to God, in obedience to him. But they should point us to Christ’s cross and to obedient walks of faith in Christ.

For we are to speak God’s Word faithfully, and not in lies and deceptions in order to lead people away from God and away from the truth of his word. And our spiritual leaders are not to be sharing with us their own imaginations and their own goals and plans for God’s church, or those of others who are also trying to lead God’s people away from holy and godly living in order that they might follow after the ways of man and of the flesh, instead. For that is where the real danger lies.

I Will Lift My Eyes

An Original Work / December 12, 2012
Based off Psalms 121-125

I will lift my eyes to my Lord Most High.
My help comes from Him, who saved me from sin.
He will not let your foot slip, and He who watches will not sleep.
Our Lord watches over you, and your life He will keep.
I will lift my eyes to my Lord Most High.
My help comes from Him, who saved me from sin.
I give thanks to Him.

I will lift my eyes to my God in heav’n.
I look to the Lord. My sins, He’s forgiv’n.
Because of His great love for us, He made us alive with Christ.
Through the kindness of our Savior, He gave us new life.
I will lift my eyes to my God in heav’n.
I look to the Lord. My sins, He’s forgiv’n;
My home, now in heav’n.

Praise be to the Lord, who is on our side.
Our help found in Him. He gives peace within.
Those who trust will ne’er be shaken. God will supply all we need.
Our Lord has done great things for us. He’s our friend, indeed!
Praise be to the Lord, who is on our side.
Our help found in Him. He gives peace within.
I can count on Him.

 

[Diamond7]

God can’t even see when you sin anymore

Psalm 103:12 "12 as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us"

My understanding of removing transgression is that we are no longer a sinner. Why would Jesus die for our sins if we were to continue to sin?

It is interesting that east and west will never meet. Except maybe in Hong Kong. But that is just where they go to do business. There is a north and a south. If you cross the imaginary point that we call the north pole, you will begin to go south.

 

[Christsfreeservant]

Psalm 103:12 "12 as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us"

My understanding of removing transgression is that we are no longer a sinner. Why would Jesus die for our sins if we were to continue to sin?

It is interesting that east and west will never meet. Except maybe in Hong Kong. But that is just where they go to do business. There is a north and a south. If you cross the imaginary point that we call the north pole, you will begin to go south.

First off, please don't misquote me by sharing only a partial quote which gives the wrong impression of what I said. Then, please read the Scriptures that I noted or that I shared, and please read Psalms 103 in its full context:

For as high as the heavens are above the earth,
so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him;
12 as far as the east is from the west,
so far does he remove our transgressions from us.
13 As a father shows compassion to his children,
so the Lord shows compassion to those who fear him.

With God's promises are always conditions. So you have to look and see who the promise is for and what are the conditions. For those who fear the Lord are those who take God and his word to heart and who obey him, who honor him, who revere him. All throughout the New Testament we read something similar as this for our salvation from sin is for those who obey the Lord and who walk in his ways and for whom sin is no longer their practice but who now practice righteousness, by the Spirit of God. For if sin is our practice we will not inherit eternal life with God regardless of what our lips have professed.

 

[Diamond7]

First off, please don't misquote me by sharing only a partial quote

I do not have fifty million billion quadrillion years to address everything you said or will ever say. It is enough to just deal with ONE POINT that you made.

 

[Diamond7]

With God's promises are always conditions. So you have to look and see who the promise is for and what are the conditions.

Yes, I have been to Bible College so I know the rules of Bible interpretation.

The rules or principles of interpreting the Bible are collectively known as "hermeneutics." Hermeneutics is the science and art of interpreting and understanding written texts, particularly ancient and sacred texts like the Bible. It involves systematic guidelines to ensure accurate and responsible interpretation of the Scriptures.