#DailyDevotion Gospel Without Calls To Repent Isn’t God’s Word
Jer. 23:16-29 16The LORD of armies says: “Don’t listen to what the prophets say. They give you empty hopes. They tell about visions of their own imagination that don’t come from the LORD’s mouth. 17They are telling those who despise Me, “The LORD says: All will be well with you.’ And they tell all who live in their own stubborn ways, ‘No harm will come to you.’ 18Who stands in the LORD’s council and sees and hears what He says? Who pays attention and listens to what He says? 19Look! The LORD’s storm! Fury has gone out, a tornado, whirling down on the heads of the wicked. 20The LORD will not stop being angry until He has finished, and carries out what He has planned. In the last days you will understand it clearly. 21I didn’t send the prophets, and yet they ran. I didn’t talk to them, and yet they prophesied. 22If they had stood in My council, then they would have told My people what I say and would turn them from the evil they live in and the evil they do.
Judah’s prophets somewhere along the line abandoned YHWH. They were no longer teaching what the Word of the LORD taught. Through the prophet Jeremiah he accuses them of telling of visions of their own imagination. They are towing the line for those who despise the LORD. They weren’t calling the people to repentance. They were placing hope in perhaps a shallow understanding of the Gospel that was in the Torah. While the LORD certainly promised to protect Israel from its enemies and the LORD would fight for them, it was conditional upon them remaining faithful to the covenant. It wasn’t as if they had to be perfect, i.e. never sin for this to be in effect, but the covenant allowed for repentance and sacrifices for sin.
Today there preachers labeled ‘gospel reductionist.’ Like the prophets of Jeremiah’s day they preach and teach something that sounds like Gospel but it is devoid of calls to repentance. They say the law doesn’t apply to you at all. They talk a lot about how God is love but they don’t tell you the price God paid to show you his love. They don’t call you sinful. There are also the health, wealth and prosperity preachers today who tell people what they want to hear. They may mention Jesus but their messages could come out of Napoleon Hill’s “Think and Grow Rich” with Jesus’ name slapped on here and there. They look for scripture passages that support what they want to teach and even search for the translation that best teaches what they want to say. God’s Word to them and their followers is the same to them as the Jews.
“19Look! The LORD’s storm! Fury has gone out, a tornado, whirling down on the heads of the wicked.” The LORD’s storm and fury had gone out in Jeremiah day upon the Jews and their wicked people. That storm would be the Babylonians whom the LORD had sent to punish his wicked people. The LORD’s anger would go forth upon them until what he planned was completed. Jerusalem and Judah’s countryside would be laid waste, Jerusalem and the Temple would be torn down. Masses of them would be slaughtered and the remaining would be led into exile. Will those who teach falsely and those who follow them end up any better than the Jews on the Last Day. Jeremiah said we would understand it more clearly in the Last Days. Well Jesus brought with him the Last Days. So we do understand we are called to repent of our false beliefs and wicked ways and turn to Jesus who is the LORD, receive forgiveness and life from him and live in his ways. God’s Word is always one of Law and Gospel, repentance and faith.
Heavenly Father, gives us faithful pastors who will preach your word rightly calling us to repentance and faith in Christ. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.