(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

Jeremiah 29, the Bible reads in verse number 1. Now these are the words of the letter that Jeremiah the prophet sent from Jerusalem unto the residue of the elders which were carried away captives and to the priests and to the prophets and to all the people whom Nebuchadnezzar had carried away captive from Babylon to Jerusalem. So at this stage in the book of Jeremiah, and let me just point out also that many things in the book of Jeremiah are not in chronological order, which is why throughout the book of Jeremiah, there will be indications given as to what year of what reign this particular prophecy came in, but the whole theme of the book of Jeremiah has to do with the children of Judah are in disobedience to God and the Babylonians are going to come and take them away captive and Jeremiah is constantly warning them. Well, at this particular stage, there's already been a first wave of that captivity, okay? He mentions here Jeconiah and he mentions, look at verse number 2 and you'll get the listing. After that, Jeconiah the king and the queen and the eunuchs, the princes of Judah and Jerusalem and the carpenters and the smiths were departed from Jerusalem. So that's kind of the first wave of the captivity where they took Jeconiah, they took a lot of these tradesmen and carpenters and smiths and things and they've already shipped them off to Babylon and this chapter is basically Jeremiah communicating with those who are already captive in Babylon. He's sending them this letter to those that are already in captivity. It says in verse 3 that he sent the letter by the hand of Elisa, the son of Shaphan and Gamariah, the son of Hilkiah, whom Zedekiah, king of Judah, sent unto Babylon to Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, saying. And then we're going to get into the text of the letter that Jeremiah is sending. Thus saith the Lord of hosts, this is where the letter that Jeremiah is mailing the people that are already captives. Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, unto all that are carried away captives whom I have caused to be carried away from Jerusalem unto Babylon. Build ye houses and dwell in them and plant gardens and eat the fruit of them. Take ye wives and beget sons and daughters and take wives for your sons and give your daughters to husbands that they may bear sons and daughters that ye may be increased there and not diminished and seek the peace of the city whither I have caused you to be carried away captives and pray unto the Lord for it for in the peace thereof shall ye have peace. So what he's basically telling them here is that this captivity that they're in is going to last for a long time. Later in the chapter he reveals that it's going to last for 70 years and this is mentioned repeatedly in the book of Jeremiah that their captivity would last for 70 years. Later Daniel brings this up in the book of Daniel, how he realized when the 70 years started and when it ended and he did the math and he knew when the captivity was ending and he explains that in Daniel chapter 9. But he's basically telling them, you know, settle in because they had a lot of phony preachers over there that were telling them, oh yeah, God's going to judge the king of Babylon and we're all going to be returned home within two years and Israel is going to be blessed and going to prosper even though they're wicked, even though they're in idolatry, God's just going to look the other way. That's what all the false preachers were preaching if you remember the last few weeks. So Jeremiah is letting them know you're going to be over there for the next 70 years and if you're going to be there for the next 70 years, you might as well sit down and take off your hat and stay a while because that's a long time. Okay. I mean 70 years meaning that most of the people who are there are probably going to die there and it's going to be their descendants that come back to the promised land, to the land of Judah. And so he's telling them, settle in, build a house, plant a garden, plant a vineyard, have kids, you know, uh, have your kids get married and have grandkids and you know, increase in, in people over there, but settle in because you're, and you better get used to liking where you live. He says, and pray for the peace of that city because if that place is blessed, then you're going to be blessed because that's where you're going to live for the next 70 years. Let's keep reading. Verse number eight, the Bible reads for thus sayeth the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel. Let not your profits and your diviners that be in the midst of you deceive you. Neither harken to your dreams, which ye cause to be dreamed for they prophesy falsely unto you in my name. I have not sent them sayeth the Lord. Now notice what he says here at the end of verse eight, neither harken to your dreams, which ye cause to be dreamed. Now that right there goes to show you that a lot of times when we have a dream and we think that we're getting some kind of a message from God, that could just be our own imagination. He's saying, look, that dream that you had, you caused that to be dreamed. You had a dream where you ever, Oh, I dream we all came back. Everything was great. He's blessing everybody. Well, you cause that to be dreamed. So we need to be very careful that we don't mistake our own imagination for the word of God. We in 2016 have the complete King James Bible, Genesis to revelation. This is what we should anchor our lives to. This is the rock upon which we should be built. We shouldn't just try to interpret dreams and, and go by more vague things. We have a more sure word of prophecy right here, and we would do well to take heat under this right here. And we can test everything by this book right here because we know that this book is the word of God. This is the final authority. And so, uh, beware of the dreams that you cause to be dreamed. Look at verse number 10 for thus say at the Lord that after 70 years be accomplished at Babylon, I will visit you and perform my good word toward you and causing you to return to this place. For I know the thoughts that I think toward you say at the Lord thoughts of peace and not of evil to give you an expected end. Then shall you call upon me and you shall go and pray unto me and I will hearken unto you and you shall seek me and find me when you shall search for me with all your heart. Now this is a really famous verse. Most of you have probably heard verse 11 before. It's something that will often be in a greeting card or on a poster on the wall, just in isolation. Verse number 11, this verse that says, for I know the thoughts that I think toward you say at the Lord thoughts of peace and not of evil to give you an expected end. It's always important to take a verse like this and get it in context. See a lot of people would just claim this verse no matter who they are, no matter what they're doing, no matter what kind of a life they're living, they'll just quote, well, I know that God's thoughts toward me are all positive. They're all peace. God would never do evil to me. Because it says right here, for I know the thoughts that I think toward you say at the Lord thoughts of peace and not of evil to give you an expected end. But let's get the context. Why are these thoughts directed at this particular group of people? And then in a few verses, we're going to see that there's another group of people where his thoughts are evil toward them. Let's keep reading. It says in verse number 12, then shall ye call upon me and ye shall go and pray unto me and I will hearken unto you and ye shall seek me and find me when ye shall search for me with all your heart. So this is a group of people that are seeking after the Lord with all their heart. So of course God's thoughts are positive to them. Of course God is going to bless them. Of course God is not going to do ill to people who are sincerely seeking him. The Bible says ask and it shall be given you. Seek and ye shall find. Knock and it shall be opened unto you. For everyone that asketh receiveth and he that seeketh findeth and to him that knocketh it shall be opened. If we really diligently seek God, he is a rewarder of those who diligently seek him and we will find him. What does it mean to seek? Seeking means to search for, to look really hard for something. Now there are people in this world who do not seek after God. Meaning they don't care who God is. They don't care what he says or what he wants from them. They just blow him off and ignore him. And then there are people who spend their lives searching for the truth. Searching for the true God. Searching for the truth of the world that we live in and getting to know Jesus Christ and getting to know his word. And the Bible says that those who seek him will find him. Over and over again that promise is made. Now most people aren't seeking him and I'm not saying that we should just sit around and wait for the people of this world to seek God. You know we're supposed to bring it to them and preach to them because faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God. So we can go out and find people, preach the gospel to them and then hopefully they'll choose to receive that good news, receive that message, put some faith in Christ and then seek to know God further. See God doesn't just want us to get saved and then that's the end of it. Just to believe in Christ and then not go to church, not read our Bible. Obviously God wants us to grow past that and he wants us to love him with all of our heart and all of our mind and all of our strength. And he wants us even after we're saved to continue seeking God. To have a deeper walk with God, a deeper understanding of the Bible and of the Lord himself. You see the Bible even tells us in Philippians chapter 3 that Paul's greatest desire, even after he'd been saved for a long time, he said was that I may know him and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings being made conformable unto his death. The desire was to know Christ. He said and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord for whom I have suffered the loss of all things and do count them but dung that I may win Christ and be found in him not having my own righteousness but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith that I may know him. He wanted to know him. The knowledge of Christ was what was important to him and the Bible says grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. So the Bible is talking about sincere people here who are really seeking God with all of their heart and verse 13 really defines what seek means because it says you shall seek me and find me when you shall search for me. So that shows us that seeking and searching are the same there. Search for me with all your heart. Let me ask you this. How much effort do you put personally into searching for the truth, searching for answers, seeking to know God? And we have the answers right here in this book but you have to seek them there. It takes work to open this big thick book with all the black ink on white pages, small words and to read this book and know God for yourself and know the truth for yourself. If we seek him though, the reward is great because he says if you seek me, you'll find me and my thoughts toward you will be thoughts of peace, not thoughts of evil. I'm going to bless you. You're going to call upon me. You're going to pray to me and I'm going to answer you. I'm going to hearken to you. Why? Because you sought me with your whole heart. And so that's a great promise especially once you get it in context. Look at verse 14 and I will be found of you sayeth the Lord and I will turn away your captivity and I will gather you from all the nations and from all the places whither I've driven you sayeth the Lord and I will bring you again into the place whence I caused you to be carried away captive. So here this is in context to specifically written to the Jews who are in captivity. They've gone into another country and he's saying I'm going to bless you by bringing you back into the promised land. Now notice here that they have to seek God with their whole heart in order to get there. Now today there's a false doctrine out there known as Zionism or dispensationalism that basically just teaches well that land belongs to them and if God won't give it to them we need to just give it to them by force. You know basically that no matter how much they reject the Lord even if they're not seeking him at all even if they hate the Lord Jesus Christ we need to help them repossess that land and even to the end you say well that already happened you know that already happened in 1947 1948. Well that has happened to a large degree but over time Israel is taking more and more of that land. So called Israel which is totally apostate, totally anti-Christ, totally rejects the Lord Jesus, has nothing to do with the Lord Jesus Christ and worships a false God and make no mistake the God of Judaism is a false God, is not the same God. People try to say oh well they have the same God as us. They're just on the Old Testament. They're not on the Old Testament or the New Testament they're on the Talmud and they're worshipping the devil. You say prove it. Okay here's the proof. Whosoever denieth the Son the same hath not the Father. But he that acknowledges the Son has the Father also. So if they don't have the Father then who do they have? They have a God. They pray to a God. Oh it's God the Father. No no no that's not what the Bible says. The Bible said that if they don't have the Son they don't have the Father. Oh they prayed to the Father. No man cometh unto the Father but by me Jesus said. And he said whosoever denieth the Son the same hath not the Father. So they don't have the same God if they don't have the Father. Anyone who says they have the same God as we do is a liar and is contradicting clear scripture that says if you don't have the Son you don't have the Father. Period. End of story. You can't just, the Trinity isn't something that you get piece by piece. You know when you believe in Jesus you get the whole package. Father, Son and the Holy Ghost. And when you don't believe in Jesus you get nothing. You get a part in the lake of fire and brimstone which is the second death is what you get if you don't get Jesus. Because Jesus is the way, the truth and the life and no man cometh unto the Father but by him and it's that simple. And here's the thing, Christians believe that until you start talking about Israel then they just kind of turn off that part of their brain and all of a sudden they go in this mode where they stop talking about Jesus and they just start talking about God a lot. Well God. Yeah they're praying to God over there. God bless them over there and God is on their side. But they don't say Jesus is on there because they would be like whoa is he? They hate Jesus. In fact if I went to Israel and pulled out a Bible and started preaching about Jesus Christ and trying to win people to Christ I'll be arrested. Because proselytizing for Christianity in Israel is not allowed. You're not allowed to go there and just start winning souls freely and just walking down the street telling people about Jesus. You know if we walked up and down the streets of Tel Aviv or Jerusalem just handing out flash drives of preaching from Faith Forward Baptist Church and telling people how to be saved and trying to win people to Christ we'd be kicked out of there faster than we were kicked out of Botswana. We'd be banned quicker than South Africa. You know that's right. But here in this passage he says that if they seek him with the whole heart they'll be brought back from captivity. So don't tell me that the Lord brought them back in 1947-48. No they weren't seeking God at all. They're seeking power or wealth or a safe haven or whatever they were seeking but it wasn't the Lord that they were seeking. It wasn't Jesus. It wasn't Christianity. And so therefore who did bring them back? It wasn't God. It was the devil. Because it's all part of the master plan for the end times where the devil is going to set up the Antichrist in Jerusalem and there's going to be a one world government and a one world system under the Antichrist and the return of the so-called Jews to Israel in 1947-48 is part of the preparation for those end times events. So yeah it is. And people say oh you know Israel coming back to the Promised Land. It's a fulfillment of Bible prophecy. Sure it is. It's a fulfillment of the Antichrist kingdom starting to take shape. It's all coming together. The events of the end times for the devil. We need to focus on preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ and not being unequally yoked together with unbelievers. Any time we're yoked up with the Jews in any way we are in violation of when the Bible says be not unequally yoked together with unbelievers. How can it be any clearer than that? Now if we were to yoke up with the Muslims everybody freaks out. And they ought to freak out. We shouldn't be yoking up with the Muslims right? But when they talk about Rick Warren and Chris Long they're horrified and they ought to be horrified by Rick Warren and his interfaith whatever. They ought to be horrified. But it's funny if you do the same thing with the Jews they're thrilled. This is wonderful. This is great. How many Christian churches bring in a Jewish rabbi an unbeliever into the church when the Bible says be not unequally yoked together with unbelievers? What fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? And you know what that tells me that anyone who's an unbeliever is unrighteous. What fellowship hath Christ with Belial? What part hath he that believeth with an infidel? It says come out from among them and be separate saith the Lord and touch not the unclean thing. And so to sit there and bring in rabbis well why don't you bring in the Muslim imam while you're at it? Either way you're bringing in a Christ rejecting unbelieving religion. And in fact Judaism is more blasphemous toward Jesus than Islam. Islam says Jesus was a good prophet. Judaism says that Jesus was the bastard son of a Roman soldier. So which one's worse? The bottom line is that they're both false religions. They're both Christ rejecting. You should not be yoked up with either one of them. You say well they're the chosen people. No, no, no. Anyone who doesn't believe on Jesus Christ isn't chosen. They're not elect. They're not saved. They're not God's people. They are unsaved. They are without hope in this world. They are damned and doomed. And the Bible's crystal clear on that. But there's just so much false teaching out there that people have got a wrong belief on this. And that's why the vast majority of Christians have bought into this thing of well Jews are sort of like halfway saved or something. You know they have this weird cognitive dissonance of well yeah of course nobody prays to the Father except through Jesus. Well except when it's the Jews. Of course we're never going to be unequally yoked together with unbelievers except when it's the Jews. Would they bring in a Catholic priest? Will they bring in a Muslim imam? Will they bring in a Hindu shaman? Absolutely not. They're only going to bring in the Jewish unbelieving rabbi because they've been brainwashed with this false Zionist teaching. Look the book of Jeremiah destroys it in like every chapter. I mean I'm almost kicking a dead horse with it because it's just week after week. Right here he tells them yeah if you seek me you will be found of me and I will bring you back to the promised land. Now look at verse 15. Let's get the other side of the coin. Because you've said the Lord has raised us up prophets in Babylon know that thus saith the Lord the king that sitteth upon the throne of David and of all the people that dwelleth in this city and of your brethren that are not gone forth with you into captivity thus saith the Lord of hosts behold I will send upon them the sword the famine and the pestilence and will make them like vile figs that cannot be eaten they're so evil and I will persecute them with the sword with the famine and with the pestilence and will deliver them to be removed to all the kingdoms of the earth to be a curse and an astonishment and in hissing and a reproach among all the nations whither I've driven them because they have not hearkened to my word saith the Lord which I sent unto them by my servants the prophets rising up early and sending them but ye would not hear saith the Lord so notice are his thoughts toward these people thoughts of peace and not of evil no no he's thinking to do evil unto them evil meaning to harm them now notice what he says he's going to do to them he says first of all that he's going to send upon them sword famine pestilence sword obviously that means they're going to be killed by armies famine meaning they're going to starve to death and pestilence meaning disease and then he says that he will deliver them to be removed halfway through verse 18 to all the kingdoms of the earth so they're going to be scattered into all nations not just sitting in Babylon building a house planting fruit trees having kids having grandkids until 70 years later they returned from Babylon and so forth but he says that these people are just going to be scattered into all nations they're going to have all these bad things happen to them and he says that when they get there they are going to be look at the end of verse 18 they're going to be a curse a curse what's the opposite of a curse okay have you ever heard people say you're such a blessing you are a blessing right okay well he's saying you're going to be a curse that's the opposite of somebody who's a blessing now if somebody's a blessing it means God has sent that person into your life and you recognize that that's a good thing that that person has come along they've done good unto you and they've been a blessing unto you meaning that God used them to bless you or to answer your prayers or to be good to you see somebody who's a curse is somebody who you wish would have never showed up I mean this guy's not a blessing this guy's a curse I wish he'd never showed up I'm just look this is real simple this isn't a complicated sermon he says you're gonna be a curse you're gonna be an astonishment meaning that people will just look at you and be shocked by you blown away by you and not in a good way you're gonna be a curse and an astonishment and a hissing now what's a hissing you know it's funny when I was in Africa I picked up some of the mannerisms that people have over there and they had this they had this mannerism in Africa when when you know that this kind of makes me think of if you told them something really bad or gave them some really bad news or some horrific thing that happened they would go like this they would just kind of shake their heads slowly make this clicking like and so you know the hissing is just like you know it's like like a teenage girl would do right it's just a disapproving noise you know so you know whether it's the clicking or the hissing the astonishment and a reproach a reproach is something that you're embarrassed of and ashamed of it's something that's humiliating to you embarrassing shameful something that you would not want to be publicly displayed and a reproach among all the nations wither I've driven you why because they didn't hearken to God's word it says in the next verse notice what he says in verse number 17 I'm sorry verse number 18 at the beginning he said and I will persecute them with the sword now here are the facts friend the so-called Jews the Christ rejecting variety okay which is everybody who calls themselves a Jew because people who receive Christ call themselves a Christian and don't don't try to play the race card because the Jews aren't a race it's a religion it's called Judaism okay all right you know Sammy Davis jr. converted to Judaism okay and he was black okay but it's not a race he joined that religion okay tons of white people throughout history Europeans have have converted to Judaism which is why most of your so-called Jews today are blonde haired and blue-eyed look this has nothing to do with race you know it's funny how people call you a racist when you preach against Judaism they're white I'm white how could it be a racial thing I mean most of the Jews are whiter than snow they have red haired freckles half the time you know you want to you want to tell them you know Sláinte and and you know does anybody know what Sláinte means what in the world never mind somebody on YouTube will comment that they know what it means but anyway the Jews today okay have been scattered throughout all nations now many of them came back in 1947 and a lot of you know white people with red hair and freckles came back with them too but but the point is that they were scattered into all nations for the last few thousand years some of them got scattered at this time in the in the book of Jeremiah most of them were scattered after the time of Christ when they rejected Christ and the Romans came and destroyed them they were scattered everywhere this has been fulfilled to a T in the lives of the Jews let me ask you this have the Jews been persecuted throughout history I mean nobody would disagree with that have people put them to the sword meaning had they been executed or slaughtered or killed throughout history oh yeah okay have they had famine come upon them well we've all seen the picture right of all the starving Jews well that's called famine what about pestilence did they have that happen absolutely let me ask you this were they a curse amongst any nations where they dwell well let's see they were kicked out of a nation where the whole where the nation just issued a decree all Jews must either convert to Christianity or leave the country that happened 47 times over the last thousand years so it wasn't just Germany it was France it was England it was Spain it was it was pretty much all the European nations and and other non-european nations have kicked out the Jews there's a list of 47 times that official decrees were made expelling all Jews the most famous being when the Jews were expelled from Spain in 1492 and that happened just like God said it would because they're a curse where they went they weren't people weren't glad to see them like whoa it's such a blessing having the Jews I'm like you guys are such a blessing no because they ended up being involved in a lot of organized crime they're involved in pornography they're involved in gambling I mean just look at the history of the United States they've been involved in the banking they've been involved in usury predatory lending the Federal Reserve pornography human trafficking gambling you know all of these vices they have been involved in it you know I even even the beginnings of gangster rap music the Jews were involved as hard to believe as that sounds but it's true look it up the bottom line is that the Christ rejecting Jews have fulfilled this prophecy that where they went they would be hated they'd be a reproach people would make noises with their mouth at them people would not like them they'd be a curse they'd be punished they'd be hated that happened but why did it happen it happened because they rejected the Lord and that's the punishment for rejecting the Lord now some people would say well what about other what about other groups who've rejected the Lord like the Hindus or what about say the Buddhists or what are the Muslims that have rejected the Lord what about that well first of all God doesn't bless anybody who rejects the Lord number one a lot of people have suffered a lot of things from turning away from the Lord and his commandments but I think that the reason why the Jews have received extra suffering is because unto whom much is given of him shall much be required and since unto them were committed the oracles of God since they received the law by the disposition of angels and have not kept it then God is holding them to a sterner judgment they're there of a more sorer punishment than people who didn't grow up memorizing the Word of God or something you know chanting the Torah and this and that and since they were the chosen people in the Old Testament and they rejected the Messiah there's a punishment not only that they even said when they crucified Christ his blood be on us and on our children you know that's a terrible thing to say so the bottom line is that this passage tells us that the Jews who obeyed the Lord would be blessed as long as they're seeking the Lord everything's going to be great and look when Jesus Christ came did many of the Jews believe on him absolutely they were blessed everything was good his thoughts toward them were peace his thoughts toward them were not evil but to those who reject Christ and that's everybody down at the synagogue that's 99% of the people over in the so-called nation of Israel to those who reject Christ there's no blessing it's cursing and that's what the Jews did and God said I will persecute you that's what God said I'll persecute you I'll send the sword famine punishments so the bottom line is that if you don't believe in the Lord Jesus Christ there's no blessing for you it's only a curse for you and the Jews have a special cursing because of the fact that they were the chosen people they had so much given to them and it'll be more tolerable than Sodom than it would be for those cities of Judea that Christ visited that rejected him he said so it'll be more tolerable for Sodom than it'll be for Capernaum and these other places that he visited in Galilee and so forth because they came face to face with Jesus Christ and rejected him and that's a very serious offense so we see that today there are only two kinds of people in this world you know there's those who love the Lord and those who don't there are those who believe on Christ and those who don't there are those who are following Christ those who are not this this thing of nationality or ethnicity or your ancestry or your genealogy or I'm a Jew I'm a Gentile that's all meaningless in the New Testament none of that matters he's spiritually speaking it has no bearing and so we need to stop believing these lies that tell us that the Jews get a free pass well you know what the Jews in verses 15 through 19 don't look like they got a free pass and they look suspiciously like the Jews that we've seen for the last 2,000 years and the Jews who receive Christ newsflash they stop being Jews meaning that they don't go around saying I'm Jewish because in Christ there is neither Jew nor Gentile they say I'm Christian you know and they don't need their own separate Jew Church by the way messianic whatever they need to get in a Baptist Church and quit boasting in their in their fake genealogy let's keep reading look at verse number 20 it says hear you therefore the word of the Lord all ye of the captivity whom I've sent from Jerusalem to Babylon thus saith the Lord of hosts the God of Israel of Ahab meaning he's saying this about Ahab the son of Kalaiah and of Zedekiah meaning he's saying this about Zedekiah the son of Messiah which prophesy a lie unto you in my name behold I will deliver them into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar King of Babylon and he shall slay them before your eyes so he's calling out a few of the false prophets by name a guy named Ahab and a guy named Zedekiah these are different than the famous Ahab and Zedekiah these are just a few random false preachers but you know the Bible's prophets whether it be Isaiah Jeremiah and Ezekiel or whether it be the Apostle Paul or John or Peter and James in the New Testament they always called out the false teachers of their name of their day by name they preached against the false prophets by name here he's naming a couple of these guys saying beware of these guys they're false prophets and then he says in verse number 22 and of them these two guys shall be taken up a curse by all the captivity of Judah which are in Babylon saying the Lord make thee like Zedekiah and like Ahab whom the king of Babylon roast in the fire meaning that people when they get really mad at somebody and just want to use the worst curse on them you know when I mean you know you get cut off in traffic or whatever no I'm just kidding you know something more serious than that where you know somebody would just get so angry with someone that they want to just lay upon them the meanest thing they could say it's like oh yeah buddy well may God make you like Ahab and Zedekiah what happened to those guys where they got roasted with fire so God is just pronouncing a horrible punishment on these guys not only are they gonna die horrible deaths but they're they're gonna be remembered for that and and everybody's gonna use them as a curse word and as a bad example of you know may you be like Ahab and Zedekiah why is God coming down so hard on these guys look at verse 23 because they've committed villainy in Israel and have committed adultery with their neighbor's wives and have spoken lying words in my name which I have not commanded them even I know and I'm a witness saith the Lord now let me just give you a great tip on Bible interpretation and just on reading and understanding the Bible okay here is a tip and understanding the Bible is that number one Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever God never changes the same God you're reading about in Genesis is the same God you're reading about in Revelation and there's not even a shadow of turning in him I mean he is exactly the same he is eternal he doesn't change at all does everybody understand that I mean it's real clear in the Bible he doesn't change who he is he was perfect in the beginning he's gonna be perfect at the end there's no need to change and number two there's no new thing under the Sun is there anything where of it may be said see this is new it had been already of old time which was before us that's what the Bible says there's nothing new under the Sun and so God's the same people are the same human nature is the same the world is the same now these are biblical truths that can be proven by many scriptures in the Bible these two things that God doesn't change and that the world we live in is filled with the same type of things today as it's always been filled with just because there's some new technology that doesn't really change anything people are people the human experience is the same as it has always been there is no new thing under the Sun the Bible says okay why is that important because when you try to show people things from the Bible they always have this attitude of oh well that was back then you know sort of like when I was on that radio interview in Botswana it's like oh the the content you must contextualize he even said he literally said because I I went back and listed like the first 20 minutes of it because I hadn't listened to it yet I lived it but I decided to go back and listen to it I got like 20 minutes in and and he said in there you can't expect us he literally said these words you can't expect us to preach the same gospel that they preached 2,000 years ago even the gospel he wants to even change the gospel itself you can't preach the same way the Bible doesn't you got to get the cut and look this is what every Bible college and every look Garrett you went to Fuller Seminary did they tell you hey you need to understand the culture did they cover that oh you need to understand when the Bible is written the culture and and the places and the time no no you know what the culture of when the Bible is written was in the beginning was the word so when it was written there was no country there was no human being there was no language there was no custom there were no foods it was in the beginning with God and it was good look in hope of eternal life which God that cannot lie promised before the world began God spake the word before the world even began so don't give me this context of now look the important context if we look at the word context con means with right in Spanish obviously from the Latin the word context is a Latin based word con text right meaning the text that's with it you know the text around it so the context should be the verse before in the verse after I'm all for getting that context like reading the whole chapter reading the whole book yeah let's get the context but when they say context that's not what they mean folks this is a code word for false teaching instead of when we say context we mean something good like reading the whole page figuring out where you know this scripture fits in when they say context they don't mean where the verses on the page or in the chapter or in the book they mean well what was the context meaning you know what were the customs like in those days and whoa you know what were people like and here's what they say well it changes with the times as the customs change well you know women were women had to keep silent in the church back then because back then you know it was just this really patriarchal misogynistic society and so you know the women were in subjugates they weren't as liberated you know but now we need woman preachers no no if we didn't need women preachers then we don't need them now okay if it was wrong then it's wrong now and God is the same guy look if God is saying in Jeremiah 29 hey if you seek me with your whole heart you're gonna find me and I'm gonna bless you you know that's still true today and if he says hey if you disregard my word even if you are the chosen people so called because in the New Testament they're not even the chosen people any longer but even when they were the chosen people in the Old Testament he said hey if you turn away from me I'm gonna persecute you I'm gonna come after you with sword famine pestilence and you're gonna be a curse everywhere you go that's still true God didn't just change and all of a sudden he's like you know what you 20th century Jews are real lucky you're lucky to be in the 20th century because I'm just gonna bless you even though you hate my guts and even though you don't believe in me even though you're you spit three times every time you say my name and even though you gloat about crucifying me hey and even though you don't allow soul winning or anything you know what I just just I know a hundred years ago I was persecuting you but you guys because you're in the end times you just get a bonus free pass I'm gonna bless you everything you touch is gonna turn into gold I'm gonna bless those that bless you and curse those that curse you and then you all nations are gonna be blessed no no no still occurs still a hissing still an astonishment still a proverb and a byword and an execration everywhere they go why cuz God's the same the world's the same and another thing I want to point out in verse 23 is that the false prophets the lying prophets notice how they commit adultery with people's wives that's also the same you see today false prophets meaning preachers who teach lies knowingly willfully teach lies they are the worst people in the world they are the worst kind of people and this is confirmed in the New Testament many hundreds of years later in 2nd Peter chapter 2 and in the book of Jude when he says that there shall be false prophets among you and he says having eyes full of adultery and that cannot cease from sin beguiling unstable souls cursed children and heart they've exercised with covetous practices meaning that they want money they'll take your money they're gonna make merchandise of you and look that's what we see today with the false preachers if you look at the big-time false prophets they're making like a million dollars a year literally forget six figures they're making seven figures six figures ain't what it used to be they're making seven figures folks these big-time phony TV type preachers televangelists and even just Joe megachurch in your hometown is often making literally millions these guys are literal I mean look it up look up the net worth of these guys they're not living a humble life they're not living in a modest home they're not living just a reasonable living no no they are filthy rich it's a fact they drive fancy cars they have a mansion they have several mansions they have all their money laid up and they're laughing all the way to the bank as they teach us I mean look you think Joel OC's just living a normal humble life guy's a multi-millionaire you say well there's nothing wrong with that yes there is when you're a preacher of God's word you have no right to be a millionaire period I don't care what you do that is not Christ did not tell us to lay up treasures on this earth and if you're going to get up and be a preacher of God's word and you're laying up treasure on this earth you're a big-time hypocrite you're not following Christ now obviously God does say that preachers should be able to live of the gospel and have a place to live and have food and have drink and have a wife and have children and be able to live a normal modest life but not not to become rich not to be a millionaire that is unacceptable you see if a businessman becomes a millionaire through honest work which rarely happens but let's say that happens great but that's different because he's not a servant of Christ working for the church he's out making money and the sky's the limit and even he should give and be ready to distribute willing to communicate the bible says and that he should give of his of his funds unto the lord and give to those who are in need and so forth I mean the bible is clear on that but but you could sit there and say well okay I can see how he became a millionaire because he built a successful business okay well you know let's pray that he uses that money for the lord but politicians who are millionaires it's because they're a lying thieving crook because how could they become a million if they're just doing their job and just getting their paycheck how could they become a millionaire they don't get paid millions if you look at the salaries of congress and they're they don't get paid millions if they're millionaires it's because they're lying thieving crooks and by the way that's all of them except for very few you know like ron paul was an exception to that where he was not a millionaire he was not doing all the insider trading and stealing but the rest of them are look preachers who become a millionaire are a lying false prophet crook and uh politicians same thing because they're supposed to be a servant I mean politicians are calling themselves a public servant pastors are what a minister what does minister mean a servant okay and look if I ever come into a million dollars which I don't see that happening but if I ever come into a million dollars I promise you I will get rid of it as fast as I can I'll get rid of it as fast as I can and you know what if I don't then play this sermon back to me cram this cd of the sermon down my throat actually cram the usb down my throat that'll be less painful I'm just kidding actually put on a micro sd card just joking you know my my esophagus is I have this thing anyway anybody who knows me well you know I have this thing with my throat anyway that my dad has it my brother has it where my esophagus is super small so I have to chew my food really well so even a micro sd card is going to do damage on the way down because my throat is messed up it's just something I was born with so people who know me know have seen me sometimes where I gag on I have to eat slowly and calmly but here's the thing about that though you know what you could shove a blu-ray down my throat if I do that because I'm not going to become rich I'm not going to lay up treasure on this earth and if I receive a million dollars it's going to be stressful just figuring out how to get rid of it all effectively as quickly as I possibly can because that's what I'm going to do I'm going to get rid of it all I'm going to spend it all as fast as I can and I'm going to try to spend it on whatever would do the most to further the kingdom of God and look I don't want to live in poverty I want to be fed with food convenient for me as it says in Proverbs chapter 30 I just want to live a modest life in just a reasonable home drive a reasonable vehicle you know I don't even mind sharing a vehicle with my wife and just you know just living a normal life just eating normal food I'm not trying to go out and live an extravagant lavish life but the false prophets are all about that they love the luxury they love the gold and silver and precious stones and they love the fancy cars the fancy clothes the fancy houses it was that way in Jeremiah's day it was that way in Christ's day and it's that way today sign of a false prophet fancy clothes fancy house fancy car millions of dollars three homes four homes that they own that's a sign of a false prophet that's laying up treasures on this earth that shows where their heart is because where your treasure is your heart might be there no the bible says where your treasure is there will your heart be also and not only that the false prophets are characterized by adultery and often sodomy itself if you study Jude and second Peter both mentioned Sodom and Gomorrah in regard to false prophets why because they are perverts often serial adulterers I mean predators seeking after adultery and often they're seeking teenagers why because the bible says that they beguile unstable souls and we know that there's no soul more unstable than a teenage girl I mean that's who they're beguiling right they because they get them at a difficult time in their life that was not to be offensive or anything I'm just saying that's a time when they need guidance and moms and dads you need to guide those teenage girls you know and then they need to go from dad to husband but I'm telling you they love to seek after teenage girls 13 14 15 16 17 I mean we're talking about men in their 50s one of these false prophets was preaching literally two miles from here at an independent baptist church and it turned out to be a total fraud he was online trolling for teenagers and he was online communicating having filthy communications with what he thought was a teenage girl what he thought was a 14 year old girl which was really an undercover cop which who in the world does that perverted job of chatting what kind of a job is that I mean when I grow up I'm gonna be that guy who pretends to be a 14 year old girl that chats with guys in their 50s whatever but that's what they that's what these cops are doing apparently so this guy thought he's chatting up a 14 year old girl he's trying to beguile unstable souls and gets busted by the police they executed a search warrant on his church property and he locked himself in shot himself in the head killed himself like Judas Iscariot that he was committed suicide identical to Judas Iscariot in the bible and I and when people heard about it many people that knew him well said hey that doesn't surprise me at all I think he's been involved in that for a long time you know this guy this guy when we first moved here was friendly to me and hey welcome to the area but he was always trying to get me to leave my kids at his house to be babysat constantly he's like oh my teenage daughters will babysit just leave them here you need to get out I'm no thanks no thanks no thanks no thanks and this is why you don't just let your kids be babysat by people that you don't know or even people that you do know unless you really know them like they're your family or something I mean to sit there and just turn and we could have easily just said oh this guy's a baptist pastor yeah let's date night honey let's drop the kids out you know thank god but of course it didn't take long for this guy to turn on yours truly you know so first he's real friendly wants to babysit wants to babysit wants to babysit then after you know a year or two he was real into west coast baptist college he was obsessed with it paul chapel and them so once once he what happened was west coast baptist college called his son into the dean's office because his son came to our church camping trip and they saw a youtube video that his son was in it and they said hey if you're going to be a student here you can't have anything to do with faithful word baptist church if you're going to be a student of west coast baptist college so once his dad heard that that his idol paul chapel and west coast didn't like me then he just hated me from there on out so then for years and years i the only time i heard from the guy was he just sent me hateful emails or left me a hateful voicemail one time but then next thing i know i'm hearing in the news that he's a pedophile blowing his own brains out you know what that happens all the time look at jack scopp in hammond indiana preaching false doctrine and and people were already turning away from him saying whoa this guy's preaching lies he's preaching heresy he's preaching false doctors and he was slick a lot of people fell for him for a long time myself included i thought he was legit because he just sounded like he's just repeating you know jack isle's preaching and everything but then he started preaching weird false doctrine i started preaching against the guy like 10 11 years ago when i started the church i started preaching against him and then sure enough what's it turn out he's a predator look it's there's nothing normal about a man in his 50s seeking relations with teenage girls that's not normal see a normal man in his 50s doesn't really have much in common with a teenage girl that's not really a soul mate that he's looking for because there's kind of a difference in maturity between a 15 year old girl and a 55 year old man wouldn't you say very strange very odd and you say well david fell into sin yeah with an adult you know i mean and by the way he fell into sin and i'm not it was wicked and god punished him severely but at least it came to him i mean at least he's just out on the roof and he sees it and he gets in that situation i mean these people are going on the internet and searching for it seeking it trolling for it and specifically seeking teenagers why because god said that false prophets beguile unstable souls and that's what they do they beguile unstable souls and these false teachers and look i like what the bible calls them villains yeah they're villains these villains are seeking after adultery and the bible says here look these are the false teachers the false preachers verse 23 because they've committed villainy in israel and have committed adultery with their neighbor's wives and have spoken lying words in my name which i've not commanded them even i know and i'm a witness say lord so the bottom line is that your average god your average false teacher is knowingly teaching false doctrine he knows it why is he doing it for the money and for the adultery why because pastors doctors teachers bosses they often use positions of authority to basically abuse that power to be a predator are you listening they abuse their power as the boss of the company as uh as a teacher as a pastor as some kind of a leader a counselor as some kind of a leadership role and then they use that to basically prey upon women and especially troubled women or troubled girls you know there are all kinds of stories of prosecutors and judges where they're sitting in the courtroom and they see uh different defendants and witnesses come through that are that are you know very you know what you call troubled girls or troubled young ladies right girls who've been abused girls who've been victims of violence or whatever they see those people coming from a mile away and then they use their position as a judge or as a prosecutor or as a defense attorney pastors will do this bosses at work they'll use that to basically get carnal gratification from that person that's wicked it's obscene it's it's bordering on rape which is why it's often called statutory rape you know when they take advantage of a minor for example because even if it's consensual they're manipulating that person you understand what i'm saying they're abusing their their age difference or their authority or their power and so forth this is wicked this is this is the worst kind of garbage you know and it's very common and you know what in fact i think i thought i even heard a guy his name i don't want to name any names but his name starts with a d and i think it ends in like onald trump i think he was kind of talking about this phenomenon recently wasn't he about how this phenomenon about how like when you're in a position of power you know you can and look here's the thing about that you know even the world condemns this even the world that'll tell you fornication's fine it'll tell you hey go out and sell your wild oats hey that's what college is for right i mean that's what the world's gonna tell you even they will condemn bosses preying upon their employees or pastors teachers and counselors preying upon their their their uh the people that they're supposed to be ministering unto right even the world i mean look look what bill clinton did in the 1990s even the world should be ready to condemn that because that's a young impressionable intern he's the president of the united states he's abusing his power as president to just get whatever he wants from women he's not that cool of a guy he's not you know billy graham tried to defend him well he's a good-looking guy well you know i'm not a woman so i guess i can't judge these things but in what universe is bill clinton a good-looking guy i don't know and we're not going to have a poll of the ladies where they think he's good looking but let's hope you know he's not exactly you know a heartthrob but you know what the president can easily abuse his power to just get women in the sack with him and it's wicked and evil and vile and this is what we see these false prophets doing that's what look the sons of eli were fat slobs the bible tells us that it says they were they had made themselves fat they were very heavy the bible says and the bible talks about them gorging on food and it talks about how you know they were and they were stealing food it was food that didn't belong to them and they were stealing it from other people okay so these guys weren't exactly you know ripped like a prize fighter but yet the bible says how they're laying with the women that assembled at the tabernacle hello does anybody remember that story first samuel they lay with the women who came to church they were why because they're samuel's sons so they're abusing the position of authority for their own carnal gratification and let me tell you something that's what this is talking about here these false prophets is committing adultery with their neighbor's wives why are the wives willing to comply because these are big-name false preachers if they weren't big-name preachers jeremiah wouldn't even be talking about them and if they weren't big-name preachers they wouldn't have become a big curse that everybody used hey the lord make you like ahab and zanakai whom whom the king of babylon roasted in the fire so these guys are using their power and prestige to prey upon married women to prey upon teenagers to prey upon whatever the unstable soul they can find and it is no different today so don't cut these false preachers slack they're more wicked than you know it's a shame even to speak of those things which are done to them in secret they're bad people i gotta hurry up and finish verse 24 now this is the part of the chapter that gets confusing i've only got a couple minutes so i'm just going to blow through this but i i mainly just want to explain the the confusion here because what we have here is a quote of a quote of a quote of a quote it's kind of like when you look in a mirror and there's a mirror behind you and it's like so it gets a little bit confusing here because remember let me just read it for you you'll see what i mean thus shalt thou also speak to shamaya the nehemite saying so god's telling jeremiah here's what you're gonna say to this guy shamaya thus speaketh the lord of hosts the god of israel saying because thou has sent a letter in thy name unto all the people that are in jerusalem and to zephaniah the son of mayesiah the priest unto all the priests saying the lord have made thee priests okay so here's what it is god's telling jeremiah to tell them that god is saying to this false preacher that he sent a letter and here's what that letter said that's what that's what's going on i know it's it's it's kind of hard to understand everybody catch that though so so i'll try to make it simple for you this is a letter that the bad preacher this is another bad preacher besides the two he already ripped on he's ripping on a third guy this guy shamaya is a bad preacher who sent a letter to jerusalem trying to get jeremiah arrested and god's rebuking this guy okay but i know the first few times i read this i was like what in the world i had to read it a bunch of times because i it was confusing me the lord hath made thee priest in the stead of joy to the priest okay this is a bad preacher writing to the high priest in jerusalem okay the lord has made thee a priest in the stead of joy to the priest that ye should be officers in the house of the lord for every man that is mad and maketh himself a prophet that thou shouldest put him in prison and in the stocks now therefore why hast thou not reproved jeremiah of anathoth which maketh himself a prophet to you for therefore he sent unto us in babylon saying the captivity is long build ye houses and dwell in them and plant gardens and eat the fruit thereof and zephaniah the priest read this letter in the ears of jeremiah the prophet so jeremiah hears now let me just make a few final points and of course god pronounces judgment on this guy in the last few verses that he's also doomed as a false prophet but let me just give you two quick lessons from this this last little portion from 24 to 32 here number one is that the enemy of the man of god is always false religion it's always the fake christians and the fake believers in the lord that that are going to come at you the hardest when you're preaching the gospel when you're preaching the word of god the biggest enemy is not atheism or agnosticism or it's the it's the false religion that comes after you the hardest and that's who's coming after jeremiah the hardest here is the false preachers the false prophets okay and then number two lesson is that when you talk bad about people it's going to get back to them you know here this guy's criticizing jeremiah he's writing to somebody hey you need to deal with jeremiah you need to arrest your mind and and somebody reads the letter to jeremiah why because when you talk bad about people it's eventually going to get back to the person that you're talking about about right somebody's going to tell them and that's what we see happening here in this passage but let's go ahead and close in prayer father we thank you so much for this chapter in the book of jeremiah lord and we thank you that you don't change and we know that the world doesn't change and so therefore lord uh help us to realize that the bible today is as relevant or more relevant than today's newspaper and that jeremiah 29 is is just as much a snapshot of the world that we live in today as it was of the world of jeremiah lord help us every day when we read the bible to apply it to the world that we live in and help us to realize that false preachers are still lying they're still laughing all the way to the bank they're still committing adultery they still prey upon unstable women teenagers married women and so forth lord help us to realize that the path to god's blessing to pat the path your blessing is still through the door of obedience and that the path to your cursing is through disobedience in jesus name we pray amen