The importance of preaching the Lord's will.
From the text of Jeremiah 23 - notice especially verse 22!
1 “Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture!” declares the Lord.
2 Therefore thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, concerning the shepherds who care for my people: “You have scattered my flock and have driven them away, and you have not attended to them. Behold, I will attend to you for your evil deeds, declares the Lord.
2 Therefore thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, concerning the shepherds who care for my people: “You have scattered my flock and have driven them away, and you have not attended to them. Behold, I will attend to you for your evil deeds, declares the Lord.
Then, beginning with verse 9:
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.
Therefore their way shall be to them like slippery paths in the darkness, into which they shall be driven and fall, for I will bring disaster upon them in the year of their punishment, declares the Lord.
In the prophets of Samaria I saw an unsavory thing: they prophesied by Baal and led my people Israel astray.
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.”
Therefore thus says the Lord of hosts concerning the prophets: “Behold, I will feed them with bitter food and give them poisoned water to drink, for from the prophets of Jerusalem ungodliness has gone out into all the land.”
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?
Behold, the storm of the Lord! Wrath has gone forth, a whirling tempest; it will burst upon the head of the wicked.
The anger of the Lord will not turn back until he has executed and accomplished the intents of his heart. In the latter days you will understand it clearly.
“I did not send the prophets, yet they ran; I did not speak to them, yet they prophesied.
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.
“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.
I have heard what the prophets have said who prophesy lies in my name, saying, ‘I have dreamed, I have dreamed!’ 26 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?
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.
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.
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.
Therefore their way shall be to them like slippery paths in the darkness, into which they shall be driven and fall, for I will bring disaster upon them in the year of their punishment, declares the Lord.
In the prophets of Samaria I saw an unsavory thing: they prophesied by Baal and led my people Israel astray.
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.”
Therefore thus says the Lord of hosts concerning the prophets: “Behold, I will feed them with bitter food and give them poisoned water to drink, for from the prophets of Jerusalem ungodliness has gone out into all the land.”
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?
Behold, the storm of the Lord! Wrath has gone forth, a whirling tempest; it will burst upon the head of the wicked.
The anger of the Lord will not turn back until he has executed and accomplished the intents of his heart. In the latter days you will understand it clearly.
“I did not send the prophets, yet they ran; I did not speak to them, yet they prophesied.
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.
“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.
I have heard what the prophets have said who prophesy lies in my name, saying, ‘I have dreamed, I have dreamed!’ 26 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?
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.
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.
If you "stand in the council of the Lord" when you preach, you will preach the same message that the apostles preached in explaining HOW to "call upon the name of the Lord".
Where do you find the apostles ever telling people to "pray the sinner's prayer"?
Instead, what DID they say? ---->Acts 2:38; 3:19 etc.
This is what Jesus COMMANDED them to preach!
see Matt. 28:18-20; Mark 16:15-16; Luke 24:47-49
see Matt. 28:18-20; Mark 16:15-16; Luke 24:47-49
Does YOUR preacher "stand in the council of the Lord" when he preaches on the new birth?
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