Text: Jer 23:1-20
In the name of + Jesus. Amen.
Beware, dear friends. Beware of “the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture.” Beware of shepherds that do not attend to you. This was the warning of Jeremiah to the people of Judah, and it is just as true today, dear brothers and sisters. For there are false prophets and false Christs, even as our Lord prophesied that they would increase, even until His return.
Jesus said that you will recognize them, these false prophets, by their fruits. Are they preaching the Word of God? Are they convicting you of sin, and then pointing you to our Lord and His cross for His unbounded grace and mercy? Or do they excuse sin and ignore Christ crucified? Not everyone who says, “Lord, Lord” will enter the kingdom of heaven. Not every shepherd is preaching the true Word.
Even in Jeremiah’s day, there were “soothsayers,” who always prophesied good news, because that’s what our itching ears want to hear. That’s what people in power want to hear. It’s what we want to hear. Jeremiah says to us today: “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 ‘No disaster shall come upon you.’”
This is the mark of the false prophet, dear friends. They only preach the Gospel with no Law, or they preach the Law in such a way as it is doable, so that you need no Gospel. They mix Law and Gospel, or only preach one or the other. Flee from such shepherds, dear friends. Listen to those who proclaim with Jeremiah the coming of the “righteous Branch,” even Jesus Christ our Lord, who will “execute justice and righteousness in the land.” And in fact, one of His many names is: “The Lord is our righteousness.”
For in calling us to repent, a true shepherd, a true prophet, will not merely tell us to “be better.” Our salvation isn’t in the Law. Yes, the Law is to be proclaimed, and harshly so, so as to call us to repent and lament over our sins. But our salvation is not in ourselves, but rather our righteousness is the Lord Himself. And it is for the sake of Christ, our Righteous Branch, that Jeremiah promises: “I will gather the remnant… and they shall be fruitful and multiply. I will set shepherds over them who will care for them, and they shall fear no more, nor be dismayed, neither shall any be missing, declares the Lord.”
Let us pray for faithful shepherds to serve us, dear friends. Let us not be swayed by soothsayers, and let us not rebel against faithful pastors who call us to repent when we need to hear the Law calling us to do just that. May the Lord of the church continue to raise up faithful preachers among us, whose mouths are filled with the salt and light of the Word, men who constantly point us to the Righteous Branch who is our righteousness, the name that is above every name, the only name by which we must be saved: our Good Shepherd, even Jesus Christ our Lord.
“Lift up your heads, O gates! And be lifted up, O ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in. Who is this King of glory? The Lord of hosts, He is the King of glory!” (Ps 24:9-10).
Amen.
In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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