Jeremiah chapter 6, starting in verse number 9. 9 Thus saith the Lord of hosts, They shall thoroughly glean the remnant of Israel as a vine. Turn back thine hand as a grape-gatherer into the baskets. In other words, God foretelling through the prophet, the judgment that was going to come upon the children of Israel because of their sins. They are going to be gleaned like a vine. To whom shall I speak and give warning that they may hear? Behold, their ear is uncircumcised, and they cannot hearken. Behold, the word of the Lord is unto them a reproach. They have no delight in it." Doesn't that not sound like our day? No desire for the word. No interest in it. It's a reproach to them. Don't talk to me about the Bible. Give me a good book. All of our problems in the church today are all being solved by books. Don't go to the Bible. What we need is counseling. What we need is a good book. You know, you got a good book, and I'm all for reading. I read. But we can't read at the expense of Scripture. And they were. They had discarded it. Therefore I am full of the fury of the Lord. I am weary with holding it in. I will pour it out upon the children abroad and upon the assembly of young men together. For even the husband with the wife shall be taken, the aged with him that is full of days. And their houses shall be turned unto others. with their fields and wives together, for I will stretch out my hand upon the inhabitants of the land, saith the Lord. For from the least of them, even unto the greatest of them, everyone is given to covetousness. And from the prophet, even unto the priest, everyone dealeth falsely." They have healed the hurt of thy daughter of my people slightly, saying, Peace, peace, when there is no peace." Now that little passage there where it talks about healing the hurt of my people, the words that are used there to describe are talking about a bone out of joint. There's a bone out of joint and it's been broken And instead of setting the bone and putting it straight, they just merely wrapped it. Put a band-aid on it, so to speak. So then rather than really fix it, they just patched it up. And then followed it up with saying, peace, peace. Everything's wonderful. Everything's okay. It's alright. It isn't alright. It isn't okay. It's just been fixed slightly. There is no peace. Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination? No, they were not at all ashamed. Neither could they blush. Therefore, they shall fall among them that fall. At the time that I visit them, they shall be cast down, saith the Lord. an injunction specifically stated against the priest and the prophet, who should have been caring for the people, who should have been setting the bones straight, instead of just putting a band-aid. Thus saith the Lord, verse 16, Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls." That was the solution that God said. Go back. Go back. There is rest there. There is refreshment there if you go back to the old ways, if you go back to the ways that I have taught you through my prophets. Go back to them. But they said, We will not walk therein. Also, I set watchmen over you, saying, Hearken to the sound of the trumpet, to the warning call. Listen! The watchmen cried. But they said, We will not hearken. Does that not sound familiar? Does that not sound like our day? I think it does. I think that is a very clear description of the professing church today. Pastors and priests, prophets and priests who are healing the hurt of God's people slightly. Putting band-aids instead of setting the bones straight and really cleaning it out and healing it. Well, let's turn to Jeremiah chapter 23. That's the first passage I wanted us to read. The second passage is also in Jeremiah chapter 23. This is a shorter passage, but nonetheless rather clear in its decree. Woe be unto the pastors that destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture, saith the Lord. Therefore thus saith the Lord God of Israel against the pastors that feed my people. Ye have scattered my flock, and driven them away, and have not visited them. Behold, I will visit you with the evil of your doings, saith the Lord. And I will gather the remnant of my flock out of all countries whither I have driven them, and will bring them again to their fold, and they shall be fruitful and increase. And I will set shepherds over them which shall feed them, and they shall fear no more, nor be dismayed, neither shall they be lacking, saith the Lord." Woe to you pastors. Drive away the sheep of my pasture. There's a real tendency on the part of pastors to view churches as theirs. And it takes a great deal of effort and honesty and submission before God to remember it's not your church. You are in charge of God's sheep. It's His sheep. It's His pasture. You are responsible to Him. And you must be careful how you do your work because you're going to be held accountable to Him. And here God speaks through His prophet and says, Woe to them that scatter and destroy instead of feeding and healing. They don't visit. Does that sound like the story we told at the beginning? They don't visit the herding sheep. Very, very few pastors call on their people. Very few. They love crowds and hate people, it seems. They don't want to spend time with the sheep. Kind of using the sheep for their own benefit for their own advantage instead of remembering that they are being held accountable. They're stewards. They're stewards. Well, here's another illustration of how God views that and what he's going to do. One last one and then we'll quit unless you have some questions or comments. This is Ezekiel 32. Is it not, Diane? Is that the one I gave you this morning? I've got to look it up. 32 what? Well, I'm not sure that's the correct one. I got it here, Diane. I'll look in my concordance. 34. I was close. Ezekiel 34, verse 1. And the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel. Prophesy and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God unto the shepherds. Now here comes the message. Woe be to the shepherds of Israel that do feed themselves. Should not the shepherd feed the flocks? You'd think so. You'd think that's what they would do. You eat the fat and you clothe yourselves with the wool. You kill them that are fed, but you feed not the flock. The diseased have you not strengthened? neither have you healed that which was sick, neither have you bound up that which was broken, neither have you brought again that which was dripping away, neither have you sought that which was lost, but with force and with cruelty have you ruled them. And they were scattered because there was no shepherd. And they became meat to all the beasts of the field when they were scattered. My sheep wandered through all the mountains and upon every high hill. Yea, my flock was scattered upon all the face of the earth, and none did search or seek after them. Therefore, ye shepherds, hear the word of the Lord. As I live, saith the Lord God, surely because my flock became a prey, and my flock became meat to every beast of the field, Because there was no shepherd, neither did my shepherds search for the flock, but the shepherds fed themselves, and fed not my flock. Therefore, ye shepherds, hear the word of the Lord. Thus saith the Lord God, Behold, I am against the shepherds, and I will require my flock at their hand, and cause them to cease from feeding the flock. Neither shall the shepherds feed themselves, anymore, for I will deliver my flock from their mouth, that they may not be need for them." You might be tempted to say, well, that's Old Testament. That's Old Testament, that doesn't have anything to do with us. And to a certain extent, that's true. It is Old Testament, and God was dealing specifically with the sins of Israel and Judah at the time and was pointing out how the priests and the prophets had failed their responsibility and the kings. The kings had their hand in it too. And they set up the groves and the high places and the idols to worship and did not seek after God. And this is God speaking through His prophet of what He is going to do to them and He did it to them. You know enough about the history of the children of Israel, how not too long after this, Israel was scattered and Judah was taken captive by the Babylonians and they were destroyed. But then God brought them back, brought His remnant back, raised them up, raised up the temple, They were his people. He did exactly what he said he was going to do. He brought them back. Now we won't go into all the ups and downs and cycles of the children of Israel. But what does that have to do with today? God hasn't changed. God hasn't changed. Although this prophecy pertains specifically to a time in the history of Israel, it gives us a glimpse into the heart and mind of God. And He views the pastors and the shepherds and the priests and the prophets of our day just like He did then. He's not going to put up with the foolishness that's going on in the church. He's not going to put up with it. Now, I can't tell you how long it's going to be, and I can't tell you how He's going to do it, I'm not prophesying in that particular realm. But God hasn't changed. He's the same today as He was back then. And God is not winking at the pastors and the spiritual leaders of our day who are abusing the sheep. He's not winking at that. And He's not just saying, oh well, oh well, someday I'll return and I'll just wash it all clean. No, He's not saying that either. And there's coming a day when God's going to fulfill, I believe, this particular truth that He demonstrated centuries ago to the children of Israel, and He's going to demonstrate it in the church. And those men who have been false leaders, who have led the people astray and have refused To be accountable to God and to their people and responsible to them and taking care of them. God's going to judge them. And he's going to raise up shepherds who will feed the sheep and not themselves. Who will heal the hurt fully, completely. Who will take care of them. Who will seek after the lost. Who will not be cruel to them. I believe God's going to do that. And I would just add a little phrase, Lord haste the day. We are in desperate need of revival. Desperate need. I don't want to get on a hobby horse kind of thing and you know how I feel. But that's how desperately we need it. And I pray that God will raise up men I remember a few years ago talking with a pastor here in town and he was talking to me just kind of very blithely about revival and oh yes I've read a couple of books and isn't it interesting and so on and then he asked me the question why do you think we don't see revival? And I looked him right in the eye and I said it's because the pastors don't have enough courage to stand up for the truth. And he kind of turned his head a little bit and moved on to another topic. Don't have the courage. Take some sacrifice. Stand up for the truth. And men aren't willing to do that. They want to feed themselves instead. They want the wool. They want the easy lifestyle. They want the popularity, they want the prestige, they want the adulation. There's coming a day when God's going to remove them. And He's going to put in true shepherds, men who will care for the sheep. And I'm praying for that day, when God will do that.