In this sermon, the preacher addresses the Christian church in the 21st century, highlighting their departure from God's word. He emphasizes that many within the church have fallen into idolatry and have been deceived by the allure of worldly possessions. The preacher warns that when believers turn back and head in the wrong direction, they are alienating themselves from God and placing their own thoughts above His. He urges the church to repent and turn back to God, citing Jeremiah chapter 5 as a reminder of God's power and the consequences of disobedience.

Turn in your Bibles, please, to the book of Jeremiah, chapter 5, beginning in the 21st verse. We'll read to verse 31. I entitled this morning's message, What Will You Do in the End? So let's begin reading in Jeremiah, chapter 5, verse 21. Hear this now, O foolish people, without understanding, Who have eyes and see not, and who have ears and hear not? Do you not fear me, says the Lord? Will you not tremble at my presence? Who have placed the sand as the bound of the sea, By a perpetual degree, that it cannot pass beyond it? And though its waves toss to and fro, yet they cannot prevail. Though they roar, yet they cannot pass over it. But this people has a defiant and rebellious heart. They have revolted and departed. They do not say in their heart, Let us now fear the Lord, our God, Who gives rain, both the former and the latter, in its season. He reserves for us the appointed weeks of the harvest. Your iniquities have turned these things away, And your sins have withheld good from you. From among my people are found wicked men. They lie in wait as one who sets sneers. They set a trap. They catch men. As a cage is full of birds, so their houses are full of deceit. Therefore they have become great and grown rich. They have grown fat. They are sleek. Yes, they surpass the deeds of the wicked. They do not plead the cause, the cause of the fatherless. Yet they prosper. And the right of the needy they do not defend. Shall I not punish them for these things, says the Lord? Shall I not avenge myself on such a nation as this? An astonishing and horrible thing has been committed in the land. The prophets prophesy falsely. And the priests rule by their own power. And my people love to have it so. But what will you do in the end? What will you do in the end? The year is approximately 640 B.C. And God has spoken to a relatively young man by the name of Jeremiah from the city of Anathoth. Anathoth was an area of land which was one of the Levitical cities the Lord had given to the priests for them to live. It was about three miles north of Jerusalem. It was part of the tribe of Benjamin. Jeremiah's father was Hilkiah, who was already priest when Jeremiah was called by the Lord to speak for the Most High as prophet. It was Hilkiah who instructed godly King Josiah during his reforms. And it's now the 21st year of Josiah's 31 year reign. Jeremiah by this time has already lived through the last years of wicked King Manasseh's reign. And he has witnessed as well his evil son Ammon come to the throne. Ammon reigned only two years as Judas king. And by the time of Jeremiah's call, all that is left of northern Israel is already captive in Assyria. Jeremiah has already had ample time to view and compare how the nation of Israel has fared under both godly leaders as well as ungodly. And as Proverbs chapter 28 verse 12 tells us, when the righteous people triumph, there is great glory. But when wicked people rise, people hide themselves. Proverbs 28 verse 28 says, when wicked people rise, people hide. When they die, righteous people increase. Jeremiah, like all of the Lord's true spokespeople, does not seek the office of prophet. It's Jeremiah's humble penitent soul that God has gotten the attention of. And he cannot escape his inflamed conscience. And therefore, this consecrated vessel speaks only for God. Jeremiah has witnessed how the practices and the policies of a nation's leaders can seriously alter the course that the rest of the country follows. Jeremiah has also seen how when God's voice is obeyed and righteous people stand up and are heard, the results of a victorious testimony turns away the darkness of evil. Evil loses its captives, and good men are once again made free from the devil's prisons. But no matter what other people may decide to do, God's children, like Jeremiah, hear the trumpet of the Lord when it sounds, and their penitent hearts move in a precise divine direction. The Lord's message is no different than it was in Jeremiah's day. Be saved from this perverse generation. The Apostle Paul admonishes the church at Philippi that they might become blameless and harmless children of God without fault in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation among whom you shine as lights in the world. Philippians 2. To the Jewish church in the Old Testament and to the Christian church in the New Testament, the Lord's message is identical. That you may become is an encouragement to continue progress. The Bible's counsel is that believers would remain fully given to the Lord in purity, simplicity, and literally it means to remain unmixed. The children of God without rebuke in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation. And in every generation, God looks to see how those that profess to believe in Him perform during their hour when our lives highly impact and affect the potential faith in others. Jeremiah, like those of us living in America who profess to belong to the household of faith and who have remained aware enough through several U.S. presidencies to compare how these leaders have affected the standards affecting our society. Every U.S. president just like every king that ever sat as supreme human ruler over Israel all surround themselves either with godly or ungodly advisors. And each of these forces affect what types of policies they will push for. Psalm 11 verse 7 says, For the Lord is righteous. He loves righteousness. His countenance beholds the upright. Proverbs chapter 14 verse 34 says, Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people. Please turn in your Bibles to Psalm 33 beginning in verse 4. For the word of the Lord is right, and all His work is done in truth. He loves righteousness and justice. Skipping down to verse 8, Let all the earth fear the Lord. Let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of Him. Verse 10, The Lord brings the counsel of the nations to nothing. He makes the plans of the peoples of no effect. The counsel of the Lord stands forever. The plans of His heart to all generations. Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord. The people He has chosen as His own inheritance. Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord. And this is still today the prophet's message. For all those who hear the counsel of the Lord. In Jeremiah 4, verse 19, we read, O my soul, my soul, I am pained in my very heart. My heart makes a noise in me. I cannot hold my peace. Because you have heard, O my soul, the sound of the trumpet, the alarm of war. The prophet rebukes those who falsely call themselves the children of God, saying to them, but they have not grieved, but they have refused to receive correction. They have made their faces harder than rock. They have refused to return. Jeremiah 5, verse 3, Today the lights that burned in the house of God have grown dim. Those taking the sacred pledge to uphold God's Word have fallen into idolatry. Most inside the church have been deceived into following the unrighteous mammon of Balaam. And the lion has come out of the thicket. And he awaits his next victims. The prophet's message today, for thus says the Lord to the Christian church in the 21st century, based on Jeremiah chapter 4, verses 3 and 4, Break up your fallow ground, and do not sow among thorns. Circumcise yourselves to the Lord, and take away the four skins of your hearts, because your doings are evil. Point number one this morning. Heading in the wrong direction. There is probably no greater charge to lay against those who profess enlightenment than when they turn back and start heading in the wrong direction. God sees the church today doing just this. If you turn back to Jeremiah chapter 5, let's look at verses 23 and 24 again. But this people has a defiant and rebellious heart. They have revolted and departed. They do not say in their heart, let us now fear the Lord our God, who gives reign, both in the former and the latter, in its season. He reserves for us the appointed weeks of the harvest. Even though they enter and exit the temple, those that profess the Lord as their God have revolted and departed. And this message today is for all those still attending services at their churches. This message is not for those who do not profess to be religious. God is telling us what He sees. The Lord sees a church that is making belief. They want to appease their conscience by appearing to be followers of Jesus Christ. But in fact, they have left their first love. In the original Hebrew, this statement reads like this, Because the heart is the center of all moral life, which means it is virtually equivalent to the will. Your will is revolting, because I, the Lord, see you have turned back. God says to a people who love Him with their mouth, but are unwilling to obey Him with all their heart, you are rebellious. Your actions prove what is in your heart, and your heart reveals wickedness. The word wickedness in the Bible describes when a person does not do and obey what God's Word has spoken. The people who had at times made a covenant with God, presently have a defiant and rebellious heart. What the prophet is being shown by God is how these professed church people are no different from the worst of sinners. Jeremiah 5, verse 23 says, These people are defiant and rebellious. Defiant means they are obstinate, which means they are not willing to change their behavior in any regard, even though their current behavior is in open disobedience to God's authority. The church has become rebellious, which means disobedient. The Lord is speaking to the prophet, and He is saying to them, do you see these people who out of habit have incorporated into their lifestyle their own invented means of religion? They are in open defiance of My commands, My teachings, and My authority, but they think in their minds they are okay. These people are living in open hostility against the Lord, but they claim to be My people. Jesus warned His disciples to never be deceived by any mere outward profession. Please turn to Matthew chapter 7, beginning in verse 17. Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Therefore, by their fruits you will know them. Jesus said that good fruit is measured by whether or not a person has good moral character, not by what they say with their mouth, or by what they call themselves. Even titles are no more than general descriptions, but do nothing to authenticate something as real and not false. A church loves titles, but Jesus says titles mean nothing without holy living. People commonly try to flatter Jesus with titles, and He would have none of it. Jesus said what mattered most was what was inside a person, not how polished they looked outside. In Matthew chapter 19, beginning in verse 16, a young man came up to Jesus and said, Good teacher, what good things shall I do that I might inherit eternal life? In verse 17, Jesus said to him, Why do you call me good? No one is good but one. That is God. But if you want to enter into life, keep the commandments. Jesus said it does not matter what you or your church titles you to be. What matters most to God is that believers keep the commandments. Look back at Matthew chapter 7, beginning in verse 21, where Jesus says, Not everyone who says to Me, Lord, Lord, shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name? And then I will declare to them, I never knew you. Depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness. Here Jesus is describing the state of the church upon His return. In verse 23, Jesus says, Those who merely go through the exterior motions of religion without the inner workings of the Holy Spirit are lawless. Lawlessness, like wickedness, means exterior titles without the obedience of heart. In that day, Jesus says, meaning the day of judgment, the time when the true principles of all pretenders will be tried and where their hypocrisy will be made known. Those who made believe by going through the motions of religion but without adherence and the practice of God's prophecy combined with holy living. The prophet Jeremiah is being shown what's in the people's hearts because this duplicity grieves the heart of the Lord. We must remember that God's will is that none should perish but that all would come to everlasting life through repentance. But the Lord sees how pride has once again deceptively crept into the hearts of those claiming to belong to God. The people's hearts have become lifted up and they care more about temporal pleasures than what they will do in the end. God's children, like what previously happened in the Garden of Eden, have once again allowed luciferic pride to corrupt their hearts and minds. Pride, egotism, and self-importance has deceived these people into caring more about themselves than them remaining faithful to the Lord. Today, likewise, self-importance now reigns in the church. The church has become arrogant and it has become conceited. The attitude of the average churchgoer is that they can rule by their own power and that God's grace will just clean up their mess when that is never what the Bible teaches. The Bible teaches believers to walk in the teachings of God, not to merely go to church, read their Bibles, and say their prayers. When God's Word teaches us to walk in the Lord's commands, the Hebrew word for walk means behave and conduct one's life according to. It means to live in such a way according to God's Word. 1 Kings 6, verse 12, God said concerning this temple which you are building, if you walk in My statutes, execute My judgments, keep all My commandments, and walk in them, then I will perform My Word with you which I spoke to your father David. There is probably no better example than this as when God exalted King Saul and made him Israel's first king. The Lord took Saul from relative obscurity like He has done for each one who has come to God by faith. And God exalted Saul to be ruler over his heritage. It wasn't long until Saul began to overstep his bounds. And when he allowed pride to rise up in his heart without repentance, he was finished. When Saul or the apostate church in any generation allows pride to rise up in their hearts, and they begin to decide what they will obey and what they will not, and they begin to change and alter what God has commanded, we become corrupt. And without repentance, we are finished. Jesus said the church cannot exist if it builds on its own foundations. Only by remaining in single-hearted devotedness to Him in pure and unmixed attachment to God can we remain His. If the church does not have the nature of Christ, what calls itself the church does not belong to God. The wise man builds his house on the Word of God by taking in what Jesus says and then by doing it. A foolish man builds on the sand of popular opinion. The fool changes the Word of the Lord so it can say what he wants it to say. The fool loves creation more than the Creator, and their mind becomes corrupted. The Apostle Paul describes what happens when the professed church is no longer sincere in its confession of faith. If you will turn to 2 Corinthians 11, beginning in verse 2, For I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy, for I have betrothed you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ. But I fear, lest somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, so your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. For if he who comes preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached, or if you receive a different spirit which you have not received, or a different gospel which you have not accepted, you may well put up with it. In verse 2 Paul describes the true church as those who remain faithfully married to God. Satan's demonic influence of independence from God when endorsed by humanity allows pride to gain dominance in humanity's disposition. Verse 3 What results is we become corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. Today, like in Jeremiah's time, there is a different spirit in the church. And it's not the spirit of Christ, but of Antichrist. The spirit of Antichrist, prevalent inside the church, is the most overwhelming sign of the Lord's soon return. Paul describes the apostasy that will take place within the former Christian church just before Jesus' second coming in 2 Thessalonians 2, verses 3 and 4, saying, Let no one deceive you by any means, for that day will not come unless the falling away comes first and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition, who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshipped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God. God has not predestined who will be damned and who will not be. Mankind will damn himself to a godless eternity because although he knew the truth, he does not delight in the truth. And God's true prophet stands before the people declaring the words of the Lord. But the church refuses to hear it. And instead, they well up with their wickedness. Jeremiah 6, verse 7. God's man asks the Lord in Jeremiah 6, verse 10, To whom shall I speak and give warning that they may hear? Because as verse 10 continues, Indeed, their error is uncircumcised and they cannot give heed. Behold, the word of the Lord is a reproach to them. They have no delight in it. How is it that once a very religious people have become reprobates? God's word addresses this question in our next point. Point number two. False religion. In Jeremiah 5, verse 31a, we are told, The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests rule by their own power, and My people love to have it so. Today, like in Jeremiah's day, the religious leaders rule by their own hands, meaning they govern according to their false prophecies, false guidance, and false directions. The false prophets stand behind the pulpits and the lecterns using their oratory skills. They use their acting lessons and all their influence and power that they can acquire to help enable them to keep their places and feed on the riches of the Lord's house. The prophet says, My people love to have it so. The Lord sees that both the preacher and the listener have no personal relationship with Him. Their false teaching is used to lighten the yoke of God's law. Worldly entertainment, jokes, and personal stories all help lessen a person's fear from their conscience. After a service like this, mankind leaves the church carnally content. The false religion Jeremiah is describing is no different today than in biblical times. Jeremiah 6, verse 13, Because from the least of them even to the greatest of them, everyone is given to covetousness. And from the prophet even to the priest, everyone deals falsely. Today's church leaders have fallen into error. Here in our biblical narrative, in the book of Jeremiah, we see how people have fallen into the sin of covetousness. And they refuse to repent. And then they are pressured to continue on falsely. Jesus taught us that repentance is a forsaking of one's sin. It requires deep inner sorrow towards sin, and a willingness for change. True repentance demands a complete about-face. Jesus went a step further and He said that if a person wanted to be His disciple, they must denounce themselves. Listen to how the contemporary English version translates what Jesus said in Luke 14, verse 26. You cannot be My disciple unless you love Me more than you love your father and mother, your wife and children, and your brothers and sisters. You cannot come with Me unless you love Me more than you love your own life. The cause that God pinpoints as to what fuels false religion is covetousness. Where a person wants something more than God in his life, and as a result, they will go to any means to hang onto it, even if it results in complete separation from God, the God that they profess. And no matter how many people are misled and end up in hell as a result. The original language describes what results in falseness in this way. Deception is misleading falseness. A person reaches this state even to the point of a false prophet or false teacher in the church who uses verbal communication which is false just to retain their old life. In Job 13, verse 4, Job calls false pastors useless physicians because of this very thing, saying, but you forgers of lies, you are all worthless physicians. One who utters falsehoods and lies just to build up and keep their own bellies full. Vain and useless is how the Lord describes these covetous false shepherds. Listen to how the prophet Ezekiel describes this in Ezekiel 34, verses 3 and 4. You drink the milk wear clothes made from the wool and kill and eat the finest sheep, but you never tend the sheep. You have not taken care of the weak ones, healed the ones that are sick, bandaged the ones that are hurt, brought back the ones that wandered off, or looked for the ones that were lost. Instead, you treated them cruelly. Back to Jeremiah. This time, chapter 6, beginning in verse 14. You have also healed the hurt of My people slightly, saying, peace, peace, when there is no peace. These people are deceivers. And they do what they do just to benefit themselves because they've sold their soul to the devil. They talk to the congregation in worldly prosperity. They talk on Sunday morning assuming everyone is saved and on their way to heaven. They amuse and entertain the people long enough to help them forget their wickedness and to help them justify their sin. But they do nothing to help them understand the magnitude of their sin and how to be born again. And are these false guides at all penitent? Not at all, verse 15 tells us. Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination? No. They were not at all ashamed. Nor did they know how to blush. The situation had gotten so bad in Jerusalem when God sent Jeremiah to speak to Israel's church leaders that they had made God's people an abomination in His sight. The priests had become so covetous and idolatrous that they were not even seeking the Lord. The prophets were prophesying under the demonic power of Baal. And together, they were walking after the things that do not profit, says Jeremiah 2. Satan tried to make Jesus give up His anointing from God like he's trying to do with today's church ministers. Satan did it by trying to get our Lord to forget about His purpose. Satan knows Jesus' words better than most who profess Christ. And Jesus said to His followers in Matthew 5, verse 13, you are the salt of the earth, but if the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned? It is then good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men. And this is just what the devil tries to still do today. He tries to deceive us into abandoning our purpose here. Satan tries to get us to compromise on the things Jesus taught us and get us to place our emphasis on something that we think is more important. We become overly concerned about ourselves, and what we want to possess becomes more important than being right with God. With this evil persuasion, Satan shows us the things that humanity lusts for, what we covet after, and we begin to idolize these things, thinking that our lives would be more complete by possessing more of this world's goods. Our thinking is limited by our state in life, so with ramped up influences, we begin to figure out how we can justify what we are being tempted with. If we do not repent and turn back at this time, we next begin to compromise in our thinking, scheming how to get what we want. Our thinking becomes alienated from God, and we then place in our minds our thoughts higher than God's thoughts, because we want what we want, and we will not stop at any cost until we possess it. In the minister's case, they must begin to change the truth of God into a lie in order to do this. All false religion serves and worships the creature more than God. By worshiping false gods, our Christianity becomes a lie. The end results are false doctrines and false beliefs that damn a person's soul to eternal hell. This was the church that Jeremiah experienced. And this is the state of the Christian church today. Whole denominations have changed the truth of God into a lie because they want what they want. I thank God in heaven that there will not be found anything in God's kingdom that's contrary to His Holy Word. Just because one's whole Christian denominations have fallen away from the Lord and the Holy Scriptures and have decided to stand on the side with the devil, this does not determine where every born-again Christian is to be found. Christians stand with the Lord Jesus Christ who said, man shall live by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God and Him alone shall I serve. The devil first deceived Eve. Then he deceived the Jewish Old Testament church. Now he has deceived just about 75% of the once Christian denominations into falling down and worshiping evil. These churches, Jeremiah says, have changed their gods. They think they're in the same place but instead of worshiping Jehovah, they are worshiping Satan which again is one of the final signs indicating the soon return of Jesus Christ. Jesus only worshipped His Heavenly Father and so does likewise every disciple of Christ. Satan may show the Christian all that the world has to offer but the believer gives the same response to Diablo's temptation as our Lord did in Matthew 4.10 Away with you Satan for it is written you shall worship the Lord your God and Him only you shall serve. That's the end of point number two. We're going to go to point number three. It's a question. Will this be the end of the road? Looking back to Jeremiah 5.31 In Jeremiah 5.31, God makes an observation and declares that the state of the church is miserable and places it forth to Jeremiah in the way of a question that he may ask the people to stop what they're doing in order that they may assess the situation. Verse 31 The prophets prophesy falsely and the priests rule by their own power and My people love to have it so. But what will you do in the end? What will you do in the end? If you find out your pastor or priest has been telling you lies all along, why with all the pages of Scripture that warn us of false shepherds, do we naively trust them? God already told Jeremiah that these men cannot be trusted. Turn to Jeremiah 5.2 Surely they swear falsely. Verse 3 They have not grieved. They have refused to receive correction. They have made their faces harder than rock. They have refused to return. But then in verse 5 he says, But these have altogether broken the yoke and burst the bonds. The false shepherds are purposefully leading what remains of God's flock astray. They will not listen. They do not care. God already told Jeremiah all the way back when he first was placed into prophetic ministry back in Jeremiah 1.19 They shall fight against you. Twice God mentions the apathetic attitude of those entrusted to be God's shepherds. The priest did not say in Jeremiah 2.8 Where is the Lord? And those who handle the law did not know me. The rulers also transgressed against me. The prophets prophesied by Baal and walked after things that do not profit. The priests did not say where is the Lord because they did not care about the Lord or His people. They only cared about themselves. When will those who profess faith in God ever realize that our relationship with God has to be a personal one? God does not allow proxies in His relationship with Himself. He specifies unity with Him as oneness. In John 17, verse 22, Jesus prayed just for this in regards to the New Testament church, that they may be one just as we are one. There is a time just after the rebirth of the Christian believer where every young Christian needs the mentoring, teaching, and guidance of a pastor or another mature believer. But afterwards, as each believer continues to walk in the light of God's grace, obeying God's Word, and having fellowship with the Holy Spirit and other born-again believers, God promises to lead us into all truth. Look at what the Apostle John writes in 1 John 2, beginning in verse 20. But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and you know all things. I have not written to you because you do not know the truth, but because you know it, and that no lie is of the truth. Who is a liar? But he who denies that Jesus is the Christ. He is anti-Christ who denies the Father and the Son. Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father either. He who acknowledges the Son has the Father also. Therefore, let that abide in you which you heard from the beginning. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, you also will abide in the Son and in the Father. And this is the promise that He has promised us. Eternal life. These things I have written to you concerning those who try to deceive you. But the anointing which you have received from Him abides in you, and you do not need that anyone teach you. But as the same anointing teaches you concerning all things and is true and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you will abide in Him. The anointing comes from God, not your pastor. The anointing, or unction, as the original says, stands for the Holy Spirit that each born-again believer receives upon regeneration through faith in Christ. The Holy Spirit's influences are imparted to the people of God to enlighten, to sanctify, and to comfort them in their trials. But also this refers to the influences of the Spirit that give us clear and truthful views of the nature of Christ's religion. And therefore, this helps secure us from the error of apostasy. How can a believer trust their pastor over God? How can we trust our denominational creed more than God? Why would any born-anew believer go backwards and trust themselves more than God? It's foolishness to do so. But this is just what the church was doing in Jeremiah's day. They were trusting in false teachers, prophets, and scribes who were telling them just what they wanted to hear instead of what they needed to hear. And if the Christian church is ever to rise above the demonic muck in which these ungodly influences have dragged us, we must close our ears to their lies and get on our knees and pray for God's enlightening. We must get out our Bibles, wipe the dust off, and read it faithfully, and then practice it every day. We must seek for God according to what Jesus promised us in Matthew 7, verses 7 and 8. Ask, and it will be given to you. Seek, and you will find. Knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives. And he who seeks, finds. And to him who knocks, it will be opened. Lastly, turn to Jeremiah 23. Verse 16. If there was ever a word from the Lord given to this church in this present day, this is it. Jeremiah 23, verse 16. Thus says the Lord of hosts, Do not listen to the words of the prophets who prophesied to you. They make you worthless. They speak a vision of their own heart, not from the mouth of the Lord. Here in Jeremiah's day, approximately 30 years, just prior to Jerusalem being overrun, conquered, and brought into captivity by King Nebuchadnezzar, Israel's false prophets are still lying to the people. Like today, our cities are being overrun by crime. Sexual sins are out of control. Pastors and politicians are both corrupt. Our nation's morals are in shambles. And our children are being raised without any knowledge of God. But the prophets, the false prophets are seducing the people with vanity. Jeremiah writes in verse 16, They make you worthless. What this means is they seduce you through vanity. That is, they seduce you through idolatry, which will prove to be vanity if you trust in them. But what the Christian church needs to pay especially close attention to, so to not repeat the errors of Israel's past, is the full meaning behind the words of the Lord. God is saying through Jeremiah that these corrupt pastors and teachers are deluding you with vain promises of security. They are telling the same false message today. It's the message that God hates. In Revelation 2, verse 6, and again in Revelation 2, verse 15, we are told the message that the Lord hates. It's the satanic lies of the Nicolaitans that states that you can practice sin with your body and not affect the eternal state of your soul. Today's lazy false prophets call it once saved, always saved. Let them go tell every Jew that died in the desert who never entered the promised land because of their unbelief about once saved, always saved. Today's lazy man's false doctrine of unconditional eternal security is what the devil loves to hear taught from his pulpits. And there are far too many adherents to this ungodly, damnable, verbal poison for an unsaved person to merely just go to church in hope of hearing the truth. In most cases, a person is not going to hear the Word of God as Jesus taught in our modern churches. Far too many pastors are hirelings who preach for gain. The few true men of God that are left are either held over a barrel by their ungodly boards, or they're too afraid of losing their financial support to ever speak the truth. Is the Christian church getting ready to disappear much like the Jewish church did in the days of Jeremiah? I think it is. If you're hearing this message today, thus says the Lord of hosts, do not listen to the words of the prophets who prophesy to you. They make you worthless. They speak a vision of their own heart, not from the mouth of the Lord. They continually say to those who despise me, the Lord has said, you shall have peace. And to everyone who walks according to the dictates of his own heart, they say, no evil shall come upon you. Verse 17 Jeremiah writes that the church in his day despised the Lord. This means they rejected and spurned and exercised contempt for the commandments of the Lord. They rejected His words as having little or no value. This is a picture of today's Christian church just before the Lord Jesus Christ returns. Where the people go to church, but they do not do what God commands. Instead, they change the Word of God to fit their own desires. And their pastors tell them, you shall have peace. Jeremiah 26, verse 16 Thus says the Lord of hosts, Do not listen to the words of the prophets who prophesy to you. They make you worthless. They speak a vision of their own heart, not from the mouth of the Lord. Instead, may God grant us the grace to apply what Jesus taught us in Mark 1, verse 15. The time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and believe in the Gospel. Today's message What will you do in the end? When you are ready, would you all stand?