Jeremiah 23:16-29; Acts 20:27-38; Matthew 7:15-23
Listen here.
Jeremiah gives the only antidote to this foolish dreaming of the prophets. Those prophets had infected the people with a spiritual lethargy. God wants to heal them by waking them up: “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?”
Yes, God’s message to you today is a fire that purges and cleanses from sin. It’s a hammer that smashes and breaks your stone-cold, rock-hard human heart to pieces. Nothing can stand up to that Word when it is spoken faithfully. Sure, a person may rebel against it. He/she may say, “Go away God! I will live life my way.” But that does not make God’s Word any less effective. Its fire will still burn. Its heavy blow will still fall and break to pieces.
So, do not imagine, even for a second, that you can live in peace with sin and with God at the same time. If anyone suggests such a thing, they are a false prophet. They are just like the prophets who lied to Israel. And Israel found out the hard way. They discovered that those preachers who said, “‘Peace, peace,’ when there is no peace” (Jer. 6:14), were only belly-servers and soul-deceivers.
This is not just a problem for the Old Testament people of God. The same problem runs through the New Testament. In today’s Gospel our Lord says, as plainly as He can: “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves.” Then He tells you how to spot them: “You will recognize them by their fruits.”
The fruit of a prophet is what results from believing his teaching. What happens if you take a false prophet at his word? What fruits bud and grow in your life? If you were to listen to the false prophets of Jeremiah’s day, and take to heart what they preached, you would think: “Hey, I can do whatever my little heart desires, after all, God will forgive me no matter what.” In other words, their teaching bore the fruit of leaving people unrepentant for their sins. It left their hearts in a state of rebellion against the Holy God of Israel. That’s how you can tell if you have a false prophet on your hands and in your ears.
Jesus could not be clearer, or more blunt: “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of My Father who is in heaven.” He says it flat out. On the Last Day some will say to Him: “Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and cast out demons in Your name, and do many mighty works in Your name?” To them He will give the sad and tragic reply: “‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’”
“Lawlessness,” Jesus says. “You thought you could serve sin, even rejoice in it, and still enjoy My presence? Don’t you understand that I came to destroy sin? Don’t you get it that I came to free you from sin’s shackles, not to strengthen their hold on you?” Remember, Jesus went to His Cross, bearing the full load of your sin, so that you could be forgiven and stand in the Father’s presence. He poured out His blood for you. He blotted out the handwriting that was against you. He became a curse for you in order to free you from the curse of sin. He did all of this to set you free from sin’s tyrannical clutches. Yes, He bought you as His own flock with His own blood, the very blood of God.
In Acts 20 we hear Saint Paul speaking in concord with Jeremiah and our Lord Jesus. Paul warns the Ephesian elders—the pastors—to pay careful attention to themselves and to the flock that the Holy Spirit committed to their care. Paul forewarns them that, after he leaves, fierce wolves will come in among the flock. They will even arise from among their own number. They will speak twisted things to draw disciples to themselves, and thus away from the Good Shepherd. And what could be more twisted, and more certain to separate them from the Shepherd, than telling people: “God forgives you. Go ahead and continue in your rebellion”?
Paul does what every good pastor must do: he commends them to God in prayer. He commends them to the message of God’s grace and mercy in Christ Jesus. After all, only Jesus is able to build them up and give them “the inheritance among all those who are sanctified.”
So, have you have been playing with sin, enjoying its hollow promises and fleeting pleasures? Have you been toying with it, serving it, living in rebellion against God and His ways of life? Have you been holding a grudge, slandering, committing sexual sin, being disobedient to the authorities that God has given you? Have you been a slave to food or drink? Have you been thinking that you can do whatever you want without a care for God or the people around you? Have you been thinking that you can live life on your terms, yet still cling to and enjoy the grace and forgiveness of God? If you’re vertical and breathing, you certainly fit in there somewhere. So I invite you to hear God’s Word of grace for you today.
You cannot cling to both self-seeking sin and God-given forgiveness. In fact, your whole life as a Christian should be one of constantly fighting against the sins that you enjoy far too much. We call that repentance and faith. Your whole life should be marked by repentance—by a changed mind, a changed will, and changed loyalties—changed from fearing and loving earthly things to receiving the gifts of God. Remember how Luther teaches you to live in your Baptism. “What does such baptizing with water indicate? It indicates that the Old Adam in us should by daily contrition and repentance be drowned and die with all sins and evil desires, and that a new man should daily emerge and arise to live before God in righteousness and purity forever.”
Here’s the comforting, healing Good News: Even though you seek to be at peace with your sin, God still wants you to be at peace with Him. God still cleanses you. God still nourishes you to enjoy His mercy, His grace, His presence instead of your sin. No matter how defiled, no matter how rebellious and sinful, no matter how deceived by false prophets, He calls you to Himself, the Crucified and Resurrected One. In the blood and water that once flowed from His pierced side and now flows through the sacred Font, He washes you from your sins and sets you free to live for Him. In the same body once nailed to a tree and the same blood once spilled from the Cross, He comes to you again today at His holy Table. He who puts an end to sin and conquers death feeds you with His forgiveness and life. He calls you to come to Him and let Him give you His forgiveness—to hear from the lips of your pastor the Absolution that sets you free from the chains of your sins and covers you with His perfect righteousness. He wants to unite you to Himself and pour out His good Spirit into you.
So, beware of false prophets. Beware of anyone who suggests to you that you can stay safe and secure in your sin. Beware…and flee. Flee to Jesus, the True Prophet, who conquers the sin, who rescues you from its clutches, and who gives you life and strength to live with Him. Amen.
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