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This 23rd chapter of Jeremiah is a lamentation regarding a particular group of pastors who destroy and scatter the sheep (the followers of Christ) of God’s pasture. And how do they scatter and destroy them? They do it by teaching them a false gospel of our salvation and by leading them to reject the truth of the gospel as Jesus and as his New Testament apostles taught it, and by casting out those who are teaching and following the truth of the gospel.
For there are many “wolves in sheep’s clothing” and charlatans serving as “pastors” of many “church” congregations here in America. And they are not being led by the Holy Spirit of God. And the Holy Bible (the Scriptures) is not their true “bible.” For they are following the ways of man and business goals and methods, and marketing schemes, in order to draw in large crowds of people from the world into their gatherings. And they don’t want to offend them with the truth, for they want them to keep coming back.
They are also unholy and ungodly men (and some women) who pervert the grace of God into a license for immorality and sensuality (2 Peter 2:2; Jude 1:4). And do you know the meaning of this word “sensuality”? I didn’t fully understand its meaning until just recently. It means “licentiousness, wantonness, outrageous conduct, conduct shocking to public decency, and lewdness.” And it means “violent spite which rejects restraint and indulges in lawless insolence” (source: biblehub.com interlinear). Wow!
And how do they do this? By teaching them that they can make a once-in-their-lifetime decision to “believe” in Jesus (not usually biblically defined), and by telling them that now all their sins are forgiven (past, present, and future), and now heaven is guaranteed them when they die, and it can’t be taken away from them, end of story, or regardless of how they live. And some (or many) of them are literally teaching against repentance and obedience to God and doing the works of God he prepared for us to do.
And then they do this by coddling them in their sin and by reinforcing in them that how they live doesn’t matter for eternity, and by providing for them “outs” so they won’t feel guilty when they do sin. So, they just tell them if they are feeling guilty to just “claim who you are in Christ” which is a list (some of it semi-biblical) of the qualities or character traits of those who are ”in Christ,” as though by claiming these that it makes them who they claim to be even if they are living the opposite of what they claim.
Exactly! This is literally what is happening in so many congregations of what is called “the church” here in America. And so it appears that we have a large majority of professers of faith in Jesus Christ who are living no differently from those who make no professions of faith in Jesus Christ. For the vast majority of them appear to be living the same kinds of lives, listening to the same songs, watching the same movies, and talking the same talk as those who make no professions of faith in Jesus Christ.
If you are on social media, just look at what the vast majority of “Christians” are posting on social media. With few exceptions, it seems, most of them appear to be talking about all the same things the non-professers of faith in Christ talk about, and this includes many pastors, too. And the name of “Jesus” is barely mentioned unless it is a religious holiday, and the Scriptures and the gospel are rarely shared. But they love sharing jokes, even making jokes about the Bible. But this is just my observation. You may have a different experience from me, and I recognize that.
For the BIG THING today in American Christianity is to not offend anyone with the truth, and to make everything positive and upbeat and to not speak of anything that might be regarded as negative. But in reality it is negative to lie to people and it is positive to tell them the truth, in love, so they really have it all backwards. But they want the “feel-good” messages which tell them that all is good regardless of their sinful practices, and that all will go well with them, even if God really isn’t even on their radar.
Amen and Amen!! What was true then is still true today! We are in desperate need of true men of God who are living holy lives in accord with God’s word and who are teaching the people the truth of the gospel of our salvation and not the lies which are leading many professers of faith in Jesus Christ to continue living in sin without guilt and without remorse. We need godly men (and women) who will teach the people to turn from their sins and from their evil ways and to now follow Jesus in surrender and in obedience to his will.
For, the truth of the gospel teaches us that we must be crucified with Christ in death to sin so that we can be raised with Christ to walk in newness of life in him, no longer living as slaves to sin but now as slaves to God and to his righteousness. For if sin is what we practice, and if righteousness and godliness and obedience to our Lord are not what we practice, regardless of what faith our lips have professed, we will not inherit eternal life with God, we will not have salvation from sin, and heaven will not be our eternal home.
[Matt 7:21-23; Matt 24:9-14; Lu 9:23-26; Rom 1:18-32; Rom 2:6-8; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-14,24; Rom 12:1-2; Rom 13:11; 1 Co 6:9-10,19-20; 2 Co 5:10,15,21; 1 Co 1:18; 1 Co 15:1-2; 2 Tim 1:8-9; Heb 9:28; 1 Pet 1:5; Gal 5:16-21; Gal 6:7-8; Eph 2:8-10; Eph 4:17-32; Eph 5:3-6; Col 1:21-23; Col 3:5-17; 1 Pet 2:24; Tit 2:11-14; 1 Jn 1:5-9; 1 Jn 2:3-6,24-25; 1 Jn 3:4-10; Heb 3:6,14-15; Heb 10:23-31; Heb 12:1-2; Rev 21:8,27; Rev 22:14-15]
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.
“Concerning the prophets:
My heart is broken within me;
all my bones shake;
I am like a drunken man,
like a man overcome by wine,
because of the Lord
and because of his holy words.
For the land is full of adulterers;
because of the curse the land mourns,
and the pastures of the wilderness are dried up.
Their course is evil,
and their might is not right.
‘Both prophet and priest are ungodly;
even in my house I have found their evil,
declares the Lord.’”
“But in the prophets of Jerusalem
I have seen a horrible thing:
they commit adultery and walk in lies;
they strengthen the hands of evildoers,
so that no one turns from his evil;
all of them have become like Sodom to me,
and its inhabitants like Gomorrah.” Jeremiah 23:9-11,14 ESV
For there are many “wolves in sheep’s clothing” and charlatans serving as “pastors” of many “church” congregations here in America. And they are not being led by the Holy Spirit of God. And the Holy Bible (the Scriptures) is not their true “bible.” For they are following the ways of man and business goals and methods, and marketing schemes, in order to draw in large crowds of people from the world into their gatherings. And they don’t want to offend them with the truth, for they want them to keep coming back.
They are also unholy and ungodly men (and some women) who pervert the grace of God into a license for immorality and sensuality (2 Peter 2:2; Jude 1:4). And do you know the meaning of this word “sensuality”? I didn’t fully understand its meaning until just recently. It means “licentiousness, wantonness, outrageous conduct, conduct shocking to public decency, and lewdness.” And it means “violent spite which rejects restraint and indulges in lawless insolence” (source: biblehub.com interlinear). Wow!
And how do they do this? By teaching them that they can make a once-in-their-lifetime decision to “believe” in Jesus (not usually biblically defined), and by telling them that now all their sins are forgiven (past, present, and future), and now heaven is guaranteed them when they die, and it can’t be taken away from them, end of story, or regardless of how they live. And some (or many) of them are literally teaching against repentance and obedience to God and doing the works of God he prepared for us to do.
And then they do this by coddling them in their sin and by reinforcing in them that how they live doesn’t matter for eternity, and by providing for them “outs” so they won’t feel guilty when they do sin. So, they just tell them if they are feeling guilty to just “claim who you are in Christ” which is a list (some of it semi-biblical) of the qualities or character traits of those who are ”in Christ,” as though by claiming these that it makes them who they claim to be even if they are living the opposite of what they claim.
“Thus says the Lord of hosts: ‘Do not listen to the words of the prophets who prophesy to you, filling you with vain hopes. They speak visions of their own minds, not from the mouth of the Lord. They say continually to those who despise the word of the Lord, “It shall be well with you”; and to everyone who stubbornly follows his own heart, they say, “No disaster shall come upon you.”’
“For who among them has stood in the council of the Lord
to see and to hear his word, or who has paid attention to his word and listened?” Jeremiah 23:16-18 ESV
Exactly! This is literally what is happening in so many congregations of what is called “the church” here in America. And so it appears that we have a large majority of professers of faith in Jesus Christ who are living no differently from those who make no professions of faith in Jesus Christ. For the vast majority of them appear to be living the same kinds of lives, listening to the same songs, watching the same movies, and talking the same talk as those who make no professions of faith in Jesus Christ.
If you are on social media, just look at what the vast majority of “Christians” are posting on social media. With few exceptions, it seems, most of them appear to be talking about all the same things the non-professers of faith in Christ talk about, and this includes many pastors, too. And the name of “Jesus” is barely mentioned unless it is a religious holiday, and the Scriptures and the gospel are rarely shared. But they love sharing jokes, even making jokes about the Bible. But this is just my observation. You may have a different experience from me, and I recognize that.
For the BIG THING today in American Christianity is to not offend anyone with the truth, and to make everything positive and upbeat and to not speak of anything that might be regarded as negative. But in reality it is negative to lie to people and it is positive to tell them the truth, in love, so they really have it all backwards. But they want the “feel-good” messages which tell them that all is good regardless of their sinful practices, and that all will go well with them, even if God really isn’t even on their radar.
“But if they had stood in my council,
then they would have proclaimed my words to my people,
and they would have turned them from their evil way,
and from the evil of their deeds.” Jeremiah 23:22 ESV
Amen and Amen!! What was true then is still true today! We are in desperate need of true men of God who are living holy lives in accord with God’s word and who are teaching the people the truth of the gospel of our salvation and not the lies which are leading many professers of faith in Jesus Christ to continue living in sin without guilt and without remorse. We need godly men (and women) who will teach the people to turn from their sins and from their evil ways and to now follow Jesus in surrender and in obedience to his will.
For, the truth of the gospel teaches us that we must be crucified with Christ in death to sin so that we can be raised with Christ to walk in newness of life in him, no longer living as slaves to sin but now as slaves to God and to his righteousness. For if sin is what we practice, and if righteousness and godliness and obedience to our Lord are not what we practice, regardless of what faith our lips have professed, we will not inherit eternal life with God, we will not have salvation from sin, and heaven will not be our eternal home.
[Matt 7:21-23; Matt 24:9-14; Lu 9:23-26; Rom 1:18-32; Rom 2:6-8; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-14,24; Rom 12:1-2; Rom 13:11; 1 Co 6:9-10,19-20; 2 Co 5:10,15,21; 1 Co 1:18; 1 Co 15:1-2; 2 Tim 1:8-9; Heb 9:28; 1 Pet 1:5; Gal 5:16-21; Gal 6:7-8; Eph 2:8-10; Eph 4:17-32; Eph 5:3-6; Col 1:21-23; Col 3:5-17; 1 Pet 2:24; Tit 2:11-14; 1 Jn 1:5-9; 1 Jn 2:3-6,24-25; 1 Jn 3:4-10; Heb 3:6,14-15; Heb 10:23-31; Heb 12:1-2; Rev 21:8,27; Rev 22:14-15]
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.
