Sermon on Jeremiah 28: 5 – 9 – Amen! May The Lord Do So! One of my classmates at Summer Quarter was a young man from Germany. He was raised in a Christian home. He began his college years at a Christian “Then the prophet Jeremiah replied to the prophet Hananiah before the university where false teachings like Futurism and Dispensationalism were priests and all the people who were standing in the house of the LORD . being taught. He began to question what was being taught because it didn’t He said, “Amen! May the LORD do so! May the LORD fulfill the words you line up with the truth of God’s Word. His search led him to another Christian have prophesied by bringing the articles of the LORD ’s house and all the exiles university where he soon discovered much of the same thing. It wasn’t until back to this place from Babylon. Nevertheless, listen to what I have to say in one of his professors was talking with the president of the ELFK, which is our your hearing and in the hearing of all the people: From early times the sister synod in Germany, that he would be guided to the truth. His professor prophets who preceded you and me have prophesied war, disaster and plague told the president of the ELFK that “we have someone at our school who is against many countries and great kingdoms. But the prophet who prophesies way too conservative and would probably be a better fit at your school.” peace will be recognized as one truly sent by the LORD only if his prediction The young man enrolled at our seminary and now serves as a professor at that comes true.” seminary. Seek the truth, as Jesus once prayed, “sanctify them by the truth, your Word is truth.” He predicted that the end of the world would take place on May 21 st , 2011. Not long after one Good Shepherd member emailed me saying, “maybe he A few days before they made their presentation to the LWMS convention, we should have read that passage where Jesus tells us, ‘no one knows the day or had an opportunity to listen to a doctor and his wife from Pakistan. They run a the hour.’” His prediction failed, but some of his other false teachings continue hospital there where they provide medical care to those in need. In addition to to spread. I had the opportunity to study one of them at Summer Quarter. this, they provide spiritual care by handing out religious materials provided by It’s a false teaching that goes by the name of Futurism or Dispensationalism. the WELS. They have about 27,000 souls under their care. They risk their lives It’s a false teaching that says that prior to his second coming to judge the living on a daily basis. As the doctor and his wife showed slides of their ministry, one and the dead, Jesus will establish a physical kingdom here on earth. Before this of those slides featured a Christian being decapitated for his faith. So great is happens, believers will be raptured and unbelievers will be left behind to the danger facing, them that their children attend school accompanied by endure the great tribulation. People who believe this stuff try to use Biblical bodyguards that the doctor and his wife must pay for out of their own pockets. numbers to determine dates and times concerning the end times. They fail to Daily they face the verbal attacks of people who tell him to stop teaching about interpret literal language literally and figurative language figuratively. Jesus and revert back to Islam. But like Peter and John standing before the False prophets have been with us since the beginning and will continue to be Sanhedrin, their reply is essentially the same, when it comes to Jesus, with us until the end. Jesus tells us to watch out for them because they come to “we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard.” us like wolves in sheep’s clothing. But then again is it really a big deal if people believe some of these crazy things as long as they still love Jesus? Another man who made a presentation was from Nepal. He also devotes his Our professor used the following illustration. He said, “imagine your time and energy to sharing the message of the gospel with others. neighbor’s house is on fire, but it’s only his garage. Do you say something? His transportation is in the form of whatever comes his way, whether it’s a ride Of course you do! Speaking the truth in love involves saying something before on the back of a motorcycle or a wagon hauled by a tractor. Where the roads the fire spreads to the rest of the house.” end, he travels on foot, carrying boxes of religious materials along with him. He spends days traveling over mountainous terrains to reach remote villages to Our text for today finds the prophet Jeremiah in the house of the Lord. share the bread of life that is eagerly gobbled up by hungry souls. False prophets were gathered all around him. They were proclaiming peace Thinking about the sacrifices he makes in his travels makes me think twice and prosperity for the people of God. Be happy because God wants you to be about complaining about rush hour traffic in Chicago. The young man from happy. God isn’t going to allow the devastation and destruction that Jeremiah’s Germany, the doctor and his wife from Pakistan, the man from Nepal. What do prophesying. But God wasn’t happy with his people. Their wickedness and they all have in common? They’re all people like the prophet Jeremiah, who as idolatry found them walking the fine line between life and death. Time and Pastor Rutschow told us last weekend, can’t keep God’s Word to themselves. time again God sent prophet after prophet warning them to turn from their evil They have a hunger for God’s Word and a fervent desire to share it with ways and live. Failure to do so would result in destruction, but God’s people others. didn’t want to hear that. They didn’t want to listen. They listened to the things they wanted to hear instead of the things they needed to hear. The prophet Jeremiah had been sent to point this out and tell them the truth.

How would you describe your hunger for God’s Word? Do you have a fervent God is serious about His Word. He is serious about people hearing it and desire to share it with others? What sacrifices are you willing to make for it? listening to it. He is serious about people living their lives according to it. Would you be willing to carry boxes of religious materials up mountainsides? Those who fail to do so run the risk of death and destruction for all eternity in How about starting by making every effort to climb into an air-conditioned hell, something God doesn’t want for anyone. May we take these words and vehicle to make it to church every weekend? How about starting by carrying a warnings to heart and turn to the Lord in repentance. Jeremiah came with some cup of coffee down to the fellowship hall in between services for Bible study harsh proclamations of the law, but he also came with some of the sweetest every weekend and sending your kids to Sunday School? How about promises of the gospel. Promises that said, “I will forgive their wickedness and considering how God has blessed you in the area of treasures and how you will remember their sins no more…the days are coming when I will raise up to might use more of them to carry out the work God has given us to do as a David a righteous Branch…this is the name by which he will be called: The congregation? How about considering when, where, and how, you might be Lord our Righteousness.” For the times we haven’t always hungered for God’s able to use more of your time and talents to serve here at church, school, and Word or had a fervent desire to share it with others, Jesus feasted on it and preschool? Every minute spent in God’s Word and every minute spent sharing freely shared it with all people. For the times we haven’t always been eager to God’s Word helps God’s kingdom grow as the Holy Spirit works through it! serve, Jesus served to the point of giving his life for us. He carried all of our sins to the cross where he suffered and died to forgive them. His death and I know it seems like the same old message. I know how easy it can be to get resurrection assures us that God has forgiven our wickedness and remembers bored with it week after week. God’s people during the time of the prophet our sins no more. The forgiveness of sins and eternal life in heaven that is ours Jeremiah had also grown bored with God’s Word. Like a fridge full of gives us the strength and motivation to uphold his Word in its truth and purity leftovers, it didn’t really appeal to them much anymore. The false prophets of and joyfully share it with all people. To be about the work God has given us as the day seized the moment for shameless self-promotion telling them that it individual believers and as members of a Christian congregation. was okay, do what you want because God wants you to be happy. These false prophets were holding new and interesting food before their eyes and God’s He predicted that the end of the world would take place on May 21 st , 2011. people fell for it, just like Adam and Eve fell for the forbidden fruit in the His prediction didn’t come true, but what if it would have? Would you have Garden of Eden. We all know how that turned out. been ready? What about your children, family, loved ones, neighbors, friends, coworkers? In the book of Acts, “Salvation is found in no one else for there is But Jeremiah knew better and he wanted God’s people to know better too. no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.” Standing up to those false prophets, the prophet Jeremiah said, “Amen! May That name is Jesus. He’s given us the gift of salvation. He’s also given us the LORD do so!” In other words, your message sounds great, but it’s not the some work to do as a way to say thank you. Like Jeremiah, the young man truth. Listen to me, people of God! Because you have despised God’s Word from Germany, the doctor and his wife in Pakistan, the young man from and rebelled against him. Because you have failed to listen and repent and Nepal, Jesus tells us, “as long as it is day, we must do the work of him who return to him, God is going to bring destruction on you. To show that he spoke sent me. Night is coming, when no one can work. While I am in the world, I am with authority, Jeremiah said, “the prophet who prophesies peace will be the light of the world…” and…“you are the light of the world…let your light recognized as one truly sent by the LORD only if his prediction comes true.” shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in Not long after this God told the prophet Jeremiah to confront the false prophet heaven.” With the prophet Jeremiah we say, “Amen! May The Lord Do So!” Hananiah. Jeremiah told him, “this very year you are going to die, because I. May He guard us against false teachers of His Word! II. May He keep us you have preached rebellion against the Lord.” We’re told, “in the seventh in the truth and purity of His Word! III. May He lead us to joyfully share month of that same year, Hananiah the prophet died.” Yes, “The prophet who His Word with all people! prophesies peace will be recognized as one truly sent by the LORD only if his prediction comes true.” Amen.