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Jeremiah 5:30-31

Introduction

Our text will come from Jeremiah.
Jeremiah was a prophet sent by God to urge God's people to turn from their sin and back to Him.

After the death of King Solomon, the united Kingdom of Israel was divided into two.
The Northern Kingdom was called Israel.
The Southern Kingdom was called Judah.

Jeremiah lived in Judah and his ministry lasted beyond the reigns of the last five kings of Judah.
He prophesied for over forty years.
He never saw his people take notice a single thing he said.
In some ways he was a bit like Noah, whose ministry lasted over 100 years and ended with 8 converts.

So what is success in the ministry?
Most definitions of success include references to achieving goals and acquiring wealth, prestige, favour and power.
Successful people enjoy the good life.
Being financially and emotionally secure.

Successful people are surrounded by admirers.
They are Leaders, opinion makers, and trendsetters.
Their example is emulated, their accomplishments are noticed.
They are know who they are and where they are going, and they stride confidently to meet their goals.

The Faithfulness of Jeremiah.
By these standards, Jeremiah was a miserable failure.
For 40 years he preached and taught and prophesied, with consistent passion.
But nobody moved.
No body really responded.
Jeremiah was not successful with material goods.
He was poor and underwent severe poverty.
He was thrown into prison.
Left in a pit.
Was rejected by his neighbours
Rejected by his family.
Rejected by the false priests and prophets.
Rejected by his audience and the Kings.

But inspite of all these circumstances Jeremiah declared God's message of warning and rebuke.
Often called the weeping prophet Jeremiah's heart was broken of the impending fate of his nation.

The fact is although to our standards of success Jeremiah was not successful in the eyes of man.
To God, Jeremiah was one of the most successful prophets in history.
Because God measures success by obedience and faithfulness.

And Jeremiah courageously and faithfully proclaimed the word of God inspite of the suffering he endured.

Background

So what was going on ?
What was happening that made God sent Jeremiah into the land to warn of the invasion that would finally lead Judah into Babylon captivity?

Israel was backslidden.
They had a callous disregard and disobedience to God.
There was the worship of idols.
There were false prophets.
There was hypocrisy, lying and pretence both in the political and religious scene.

Jeremiah had seen the revival of King Josiah but since then he saw King after King ignore the results of that reformation.
So Jeremiah saw a nation move from spiritual awakening to a nation which returned to idolatry.

For our purposes today we which centre our thoughts and attention upon :
Jeremiah 5:30-31.

"A HORRIBLE AND SHOCKING THING
HAS HAPPENED IN THE LAND.

THE PROPHETS PROPESY LIES,
THE PRIESTS RULE BY THEIR OWN AUTHORITY,
AND MY PEOPLE LOVE IT THIS WAY.

BUT WHAT WILL YOU DO IN THE END?"
Verse 30.
Some translation read.
" A horrible thing, an appalling thing, has happened in the land.
Moffit

" Strange crimes and horrible trespasses have been committed in the land".
Dahler.

An Application for Today

Now I wish to lift these two verses out and say that what Jeremiah is describing as true for his day is also true for our day.
What was happening in his land is happening in our land.
What was going on then, is going on now !
There is a horrible thing that is taking place in the land.
There are crimes being committed.
And they are appalling.

Now you might think that such crimes may be abortion, or murder.
You may think that what is appalling is the high unemployment. or politicians that lie.

You may think that "What is horrible is the price of power, and the issue of our export dollar."
But there are worse crimes than these that are taking place.
And Jeremiah lists the crimes for us.

Lying Prophets

Jer 5: 31.
The prophets prophesy lies.
They prophesy falsely.
That what they have to say is both false and a lie.

To God one of the worse crimes there can ever be, is for prophets to prophesy lies.
To bring a prophetic word that is a false report is one of the worse crimes that ministry can ever commit.

Now why?
Why are the prophets doing this?
By what power do they do this ?
And what does it mean for us today ?

In the Book of Revelation we have seven letters to seven Churches.
These seven letters were written by the Lord Jesus Christ.
The letters contain, both blessings for overcoming and warning for shortcomings.
In other words these churches had problems that they had to overcome if they wanted to be overcomers.
In the letter written to the Church in Pergamum we have an interesting rebuke from the Lord Himself.

Balaam the False Prophet

Rev 2:14.
Here we are told about those who hold to the, "Teaching of Balaam."
Now Balaam was a false prophet hired by Balak the King of Moab to curse Israel, because they were entering into their promise land.
And the King wanted this invasion of Israel stopped.
So he hires this false prophet to curse the Children of God.

But he can't curse them because of God's blessing upon His people.
So Balak the King sent Balaam home without his money.
BUT HE WANTS HIS MONEY!

The Teaching of Balaam

So he comes up with another plan to help out the frustrated King.
Balaam's teaching was to corrupt a people you cannot curse and God would them be forced to correct them.

This means, let God judge His own people.
All you have to do is get the people of God to sin.
The false prophet advised the King to make friends with Israel and lead them into temptation, corruption and ultimately to downfall.

But the point is this, Balaam was a false prophet whose ministry was all about money.
Financial reward.
His motive was money
His insights were up for sale.

And according to His teachings two have two components.
Rev 2:14.
1) Get people to commit Idolatry.
2) Get people to commit sexual immorality.

Jeremiah tells us about the false prophets that prophesy lies.

In the book of Revelation Jesus Christ personally warns His church about a prophetic ministry that will do exactly what Balaam the false prophet did.
That is to seduce God's people into idolatry, so that God will then chastise them.
And like Balaam their motive is money.
They talk about money they preach about money.
They seduce God's people into idolatry by money.

Covetousness

Now there is nothing wrong with money.
You need money to live.
But it is the, "LOVE OF MONEY THAT IS THE ROOT OF ALL EVIL." (1 Tim 6:10)
What is the love of money ?
The love of money is COVETOUSNESS.
"THOU SHALT NOT COVET......"

But you might ask.
"What has covetousness got to do with Idolatry?"
Col 3:5-6 KJV, ".....and covetousness which is the sin of idolatry."
The NIV reads, "....and greed, which is idolatry."

False Teachers of Balaam
Chapter 2 of Second Peter is about false teachers.
What they teach, how they teach and what will happen to them when they are through teaching.

Look at this 2 Peter 2:13
They are experts in covetousness. Experts in greed!
Notice the context of the text.
Verse 15 - the prophet Balaam.

Covetousness is the sin of idolatry.
What is covetousness.
Young's Analytical Concordance states:
Covetousness is the wish to have more.

"A horrible thing and shocking thing has happened in the land."
There are ministries holding to the teaching of Balaam.
They are experts in greed and covetousness.
They are teaching people it is right to covet.
They are teaching people to commit idolatry.
They are teaching people to wish for more and more and more.
They are teaching lies.
The prophets prophesy lies.

This is what is horrible in the land.
This is what is shocking in the land.
Not homosexuals.
Not fornicators.
Not thieves and corruptions of government.
These things are already under the judgement of God.

What is really horrible, and what is really shocking is that there are false teachers and false prophets, that a teaching people to covet.
They teach people to covet houses and cars, money and clothes.

There is nothing wrong with money.
We all need money.
And as we sow and reap, work and labour, as we see the return upon our investments that make God blesses the fruit of our labours.

The Bible Warns the Rich!

There is nothing wrong with wealth, and having the things that wealth can bring.
But be warned!
The Bible is full of warnings about the riches of this world's goods.
Most of the statements of the Bible concerning money are negative.
Most of the teaching about money in the Bible comes with warning.
Jesus talked about the deceitfulness of riches.
The cares of the world.
How hard it is for rich persons to go to heaven.
In the parable of the rich man and Lazarus, the rich man went to hell, the poor man went to heaven!

James in his letter calls for a warning to those who are rich and he encourages the poor in their sufferings.

I received through the mail a book it is called, Miracle Money.
The person who wrote the book is quoted as saying.
"YOU WILL NEVER BE FREE UNTIL YOU ARE FINANCIALLY FREE".

If that is the case, then Paul the Apostle was never free.
2 Corth 6: 3-10,
Note verse 10, "sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; poor, yet making many rich; having nothing, and yet possessing everything".

Who could possibly believe that Paul the Apostle was not a free man?
Jesus Christ Himself, said, "..that a person's life is not made up by the things that he has."
Christianity is not about what we own, it is about who we are!
What kind of person we are?
Are we a light in a dark place.?
Are we salt of the earth?
Do we manifest the Love of God?

Jesus said, "If we love one another then the world will know that we are His disciples."

He did not say.
"If we own houses and cars and have the best and riches on the street, then every one else will want to know how we are so bless and they to will want to become Christians."
He did not say that.

Word Study: Prosperity

We have all heard of the prosperity doctrine.
The English word for prosperous means, successful or thriving, especially financially.

Yet in the Bible there are 11 different words covering the one English word prosper and they are mainly found in the Old Testament.
There are 5 different words for prosperity. Again most of them in the Old Testament.
Now most of the time when these words are used, the use may imply, to act wisely: to be at rest: to be safe and at peace: to have a good journey: to have completeness, rest and ease.

For example a popular verse that is quotes comes 3 John 2
" Beloved I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper.." (KJV)
What is being said there is this.
To have a good journey, go well.

We need to take the advise of Grant R. Osborne from his book, The Hermeneutical Spirit, (A Comprehensive
Introduction to Biblical Interpretation).
He writes in the chapter, Homiletics 1: Contextualization, Page 333.

"......The cultural context determines the sphere of modern
life addressed by the passage; the literary context
determines the message addressed to the modern context. The
interpreter must seek a consistent and significant overlap
between the original and receptor contexts before true
contextualization can occur.
Failure at either level will result in an improper, if not
false, contextualization that can have serious consequences.
At the missionlogical level it will produce a sycretized
religion that is only half christian ( called "
christopaganism"), similar to that produced at Colossae or
Ephesus (see Colossians, the Pastoral Epistles or 1 John).
At the level of the Western church it can lead to serious
distortions like positive confession, the gospel of
prosperity or positive thinking. At the very least shallow
contextualizing can undo much of the good that proper
exposition has accomplished, since the congregation will
carry into their daily lives an improper understanding as to
how to put elucidated truths into practice....."

So we need to be careful.
We need to realise that a horrible thing and a shocking thing has happened in the land.
Prophets prophesy lies.
Some of them are catching people in the same teaching of Balaam.
They are leading people into idolatry.
They are teaching people to wish for more and more of this worlds goods.

A Word to the Wise
1 Tim 6:17-19
Here is a word of advise.
In fact it is a command.
In the KJV it is a charge.
"Charge them that are rich".
Command those who are rich.
1) Not to be arrogant. Yes the poor are arrogant but the rich can be arrogant.
2) Do not put hope in wealth.
3) Command then to do good.
4) Be rich in good deeds.
5) Be generous
6) Be willing to share.

Nothing wrong with being rich.
And here are the guidelines for Christian conduct for those who are rich.
A Rebuke to a Rich Man and His Arrogance
Acts 8:18-25.
Now here we see something that the prosperity teachers don't touch on.
Here is an apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ.
And he is telling a rich man that he will perish with his money.

There is something horrible and shocking in the land.
The prophets prophesy lies.
They teach the doctrine of Balaam.
They teach people to wish for more and more.
They teach people to covet.
They teach this way because they are experts in greed.

What is the End of the Matter?

Our text, from Jeremiah finishes by asking.
WHAT WILL YOU DO IN THE END ?
WHAT WILL YOU DO WHEN THE END COMES?

Yes, let us be prosperous.
Yes, let us be blessed.
Yes, if God gives wealth and blessing take it and enjoy it.
But, never forget the warning of Scripture concerning wealth.
Never forget THE END OF THE MATTER.

Never forget Eccl 7:11-14 which states.
"In prosperous days enjoy yourself.
But in the days of adversity consider this.
God had made the one as well as the other.
All to keep a person from knowing what is to happen".

Always remember the end of the matter.
WHAT WILL YOU DO IN THE END?
WILL YOU SAVE YOUR SOUL, BY BEING RICH IN THIS WORLD'S GOODS?
COULD BE THAT YOU CAN, CHANCES ARE YOU MAY NOT.
The person who tries to be saved as by fire, may not in fact be saved at all.

Finally words

James 5:1-12. read.(New KJV)
Here is an example of the attitude that the Bible has towards riches of this world.
Riches are corrupted, garments are month-eaten, gold and silver are corroded.

And if these riches have been gained in an unrighteous way, then riches only become a testimony against those who possess ungodly gain.

Like all good prophets Jeremiah was a man of insight.
He could see what most others could not see.
And look at what he sees.

He sees, that there is a horrible and shocking thing in the land.
He sees, that the prophets prophesy lies.
He sees, that the priests rule at the beck and call of the prophets.

But he also sees and wait for it.
He also sees that God's people love this way.
That is what the people want.
The people do not want prophets telling the truth.
The people do not want the priests to serve them.
The people like it just the way it is.

So the insight of Jeremiah would be.
Just because a lot of people like it this way, DOES NOT MEAN THAT IT IS RIGHT.
MIGHT IS NOT RIGHT.
A CROWD MAY NOT BE RIGHT.
The prophet that drives the crowd, the priest that rules the crowd.
May be doing it that way because that it exactly how the crowd wants it.

So we see that the prophets had it wrong.
The priests had it wrong.
The people had it wrong.

The only sobering question that begs to be answered is the very question that Jeremiah puts to us from our text.

WHAT WILL YOU DO IN THE END.?
WHAT IS THE END OF THE MATTER?
WHERE IS IT ALL HEADING TO ?