We turn in God's Word this morning to Jeremiah 23, Jeremiah 23. Jeremiah 23. 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 upon you 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 folds, and they shall be fruitful and increase. And I will set up shepherds over them which shall feed them, and they shall fear no more, nor be dismayed, neither shall they be lacking, saith the Lord. Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will raise unto David a righteous branch, and a king shall reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth. In his days, Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely. And this is his name whereby he shall be called, the Lord our righteousness. Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that they shall no more say, the Lord liveth which brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt. But the Lord liveth which brought up and which led the seed of the house of Israel out of the north country and from all countries whether I had driven them. And they shall dwell in their own land. My heart within me is broken because of the prophets. All my bones shake. I am like a drunken man and like a man whom wine hath overcome because of the Lord. and because of the words of his holiness. For the land is full of adulterers, for because of swearing the land mourneth. The pleasant places of the wilderness are dried up, and their course is evil, and their force is not right. For both prophet and priest are profane. Yea, in my house have I found their wickedness, saith the Lord. Wherefore, their way shall be unto them as slippery ways in the darkness. They shall be driven on and fall therein. For I will bring evil upon them, even the year of their visitation, saith the Lord. And I have seen folly in the prophets of Samaria. They prophesied in Baal and caused my people Israel to err. I have seen also in the prophets of Jerusalem and horrible things. They commit adultery and walk in lies. They strengthen also the hands of evildoers, that none doth return from his wickedness. They are all of them unto me as Sodom, and the inhabitants thereof as Gomorrah. Therefore, thus saith the Lord of hosts concerning the prophets, behold, I will feed them with wormwood and make them drink the water of Gaul. For from the prophets of Jerusalem is profaneness gone forth into all the land. Thus saith the Lord of hosts, hearken not unto the words of the prophets that prophesy unto you. They make you vain. They speak a vision of their own heart and not out of the mouth of the Lord. They say still unto them that despise me, the Lord has said you shall have peace. And they say to everyone that walketh after the imagination of his own heart, no evil shall come upon you. For who hath stood in the counsel of the Lord and hath perceived and heard his word? Who hath marked his word and heard it? Behold, a whirlwind of the Lord has gone forth in fury, even a grievous whirlwind. It shall fall grievously upon the head of the wicked. The anger of the Lord shall not return until he have executed, until he have performed the thoughts of his heart. In the latter days, he shall consider it perfectly. I have not sent these prophets, yet they ran. I have not spoken to them, yet they prophesied. But if they had stood in my counsel and had caused my people to hear my words, then they should have turned to them from their evil way and from the evil of their doings. Am I a God at hand, saith the Lord, and not a God afar off? Can any hide himself in secret places that I shall not see him, saith the Lord? Do not I fill heaven and earth, saith the Lord? I have heard what the prophets said, that prophesy lies in my name, saying, I have dreamed, I have dreamed. How long shall this be in the heart of the prophets that prophesy lies? Yea, They are prophets of the deceit of their own heart, which think to cause my people to forget my name by their dreams, which they tell every man to his neighbor, as their fathers have forgotten my name for Baal. The prophet that hath a dream, let him tell a dream. And he that hath my word, let him speak my word faithfully. what is the chaff to the wheat, saith the Lord. Is not my word like as a fire, saith the Lord, and like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces? Therefore behold, I am against the prophets, saith the Lord, that steal my words. everyone from his neighbor. Behold, I am against the prophets, saith the Lord, that use their tongues and say, he saith. Behold, I am against them that prophesy false dreams, saith the Lord, and do tell them, and cause my people to err by their lies and by their lightness. Yet I sent them not, nor commanded them. Therefore they shall not profit this people at all, saith the Lord. And when this people, or the prophet, or a priest shall ask thee, saying, What is the burden of the Lord? Thou shalt then say unto them, What burden? I will even forsake you, saith the Lord. And as for the prophet and the priest and the people that shall say, the burden of the Lord, I will even punish that man and his house. Thus shall ye say everyone to his neighbor and everyone to his brother. What hath the Lord answered? And what hath the Lord spoken? And the burden of the Lord shall ye mention no more. For every man's word shall be his burden. For ye have perverted the words of the living God, of the Lord of hosts, our God. Thus shalt thou say to the prophet, what hath the Lord answered thee? And what hath the Lord spoken? But since ye say the burden of the Lord, therefore thus saith the Lord, because ye say this word, the burden of the Lord, and I have sent unto you, saying, ye shall not say the burden of the Lord, therefore behold, I, even I, will utterly forget you, and I will forsake you. and the city that I gave you and your fathers and cast you out of my presence. And I will bring an everlasting reproach upon you and a perpetual shame, which shall not be forgotten. This is God's word. God's word. Our text is verse four and verse 14. And I will set up shepherds over them, which shall feed them. And they shall fear no more, nor be dismayed. Neither shall they be lacking, saith the Lord. Verse 14, I have seen also in the prophets of Jerusalem an horrible thing. They commit adultery and walk in lies. They strengthen also the hands of evildoers, that none doth return from his wickedness. They are all of them like unto me as Sodom, and the inhabitants thereof as Gomorrah. Listen to these first words. Beloved congregation in our Lord Jesus Christ. That's what this whole word proceeds from. Beloved, beloved congregation in our Lord Jesus Christ. Jeremiah prophesied during the last five kings of the southern kingdom of Judah, which represented about the last 40 years or so before Judah was taken into captivity by Nebuchadnezzar and by Babylon. And conditions in Jerusalem, especially, but in all of Judah at that time, were so spiritually awful, it makes us shake to read about them. So spiritually awful. And we'll get into some of those conditions here this morning. But there was also this about Jerusalem and Judah, that if you looked around, it didn't look so bad. Things looked pretty much okay because they had all of the formal outward things that they had always had. Things looked like they always had in Jerusalem. There was a temple, there was worship in the temple, there were priests, there were prophets, there were kings. There were the people and their families who could come and keep the feasts, bring their sacrifices. They could listen to the priests and hear the priest's instruction. The prophets were going through the land crying out, thus saith the Lord, thus saith the Lord. That's the way it had always looked, and that's the way it still looked in Jerusalem. The form was there, but the spiritual condition was awful. In fact, if we had taken these prophecies of Jeremiah Back in those days, and we read this and then we looked around in Jerusalem, we might think, well, where is all of that that Jeremiah is talking about? And there were people in Jerusalem who said that to him. Jeremiah, you keep telling us we're going to be judged. Where is it? Where is it? Where's your word that you spoke? We don't see it. We don't see it anywhere. The form was all there, but the spiritual condition was corrupt. And that makes this word a perfect word for our congregation in these days, because the same, same situation characterizes the Protestant Reformed churches. The form is there. It looks the same as it always did. We've got churches, we've got consistories, we've got ministers, we've got sermons, Our families come to church on Sunday. The form is there just like it always was in the days of our fathers and our fathers' fathers, but there's something wrong. There's something so dreadfully wrong in the Protestant Reformed churches and in Byron Center Protestant Reformed Church. What's so dreadfully wrong is the same thing that happened in the days of Jeremiah The word of God was perverted, corrupted, twisted. And there are those who will look around and say, where is that? I don't recognize that. I don't see that. We've got everything we always did. Where is that corruption you're talking about? But it's there. The Word of God comes to us in that kind of condition very, very sharply with the strongest possible rebukes. This is God's assessment. I have seen also in the prophets of Jerusalem a horrible thing. They commit adultery and walk in lies. They strengthen also the hands of evildoers that none doth return from his wickedness. They are all of them unto me as Sodom and the inhabitants thereof as Gomorrah." That was quite a word to the prophets of Jerusalem because the prophets of Jerusalem made sure that they looked a lot different than those prophets up north in Samaria. In Israel, God talks about those prophets too. In Samaria verse 13, I have seen folly in the prophets of Samaria. They prophesied in Baal and caused my people Israel to err. Things did not look the same as they always had in Israel. Prophets were walking around prophesying in the name of Baal, building altars to Baal. That looked a lot different. But in Jerusalem, In Jerusalem the prophets were walking around wagging their tongues saying, he saith, he saith, the word of the Lord, the word of the Lord, thus saith the Lord. That was awful of them. Terrible, terrible spiritual condition. And we this morning must not think that because we don't look like Rome that everything's well. It's not well. The Word of God has been perverted. There's one calling for the congregation and the denomination. Repent. Repent. What was going on in Jerusalem? What was all of this? Verse 14, our text, I have seen also in the prophets of Jerusalem an horrible thing. They commit adultery. Now that adultery that Jeremiah refers to here is very likely spiritual adultery. The spiritual adultery of false doctrine. There was also sexual adultery that was rampant in the church in those days. At every level, wherever you looked in the church, there was sexual adultery. But likely what Jeremiah is referring to here is spiritual adultery because as he says in verse 11, as God says in verse 11, he found this adultery in his house by the prophets and the priests. Something that the prophets and the priests did in the house of God was adultery. Now maybe that was sexual adultery. But what the prophets and priests did certainly in the house of God in those days was spiritual adultery, the spiritual adultery of false doctrine. And that this was spiritual adultery is evident from the fact also that God says immediately after that in verse 14, they walk in lies. They walk in lies. The prophets and the priests walk in lies. And then the rest of the chapter after that is about the things that the priests say. and that the prophets say and what the prophets and priests say is a perversion of the word of God as the end of the chapter makes clear. So that this adultery is the spiritual adultery of false teachings that take the hearts of the people away from God their husband and unite the hearts of the people to some other thing. whether it's the prophets themselves, so that the prophets seek the glory and the accolades and the praise and the love of the people, or whether it's some idol god, the prophets speak false doctrine to turn the heart of the people of God away from God. That's adultery. That's what God saw in the prophets of Jerusalem. And it was lies. They walked in lies. The idea of walking in lies is not this, that somebody slipped up. A mistake happened. Somebody got confused. These lies were pervasive. They walked in them. Lies regarding the truth of Jehovah. As God says later in the passage, You have perverted the words of the living God, of the Lord of hosts of our God. Those lies were compelling. Lies are compelling. That's the way lies work. That's the way false doctrine works. False doctrine doesn't come out and say, hey, I'm false doctrine. Lies come out to deceive. Lies cloak themselves. They make themselves seem good. They try to trick you. That's what lies do, they trick you. And false doctrine does that by using all the right words. God, Jesus, faith, justification, sovereignty, providence, all the right words. In fact, lies sometimes use the right words so often that you'd think that false doctrine was all about that true word that it used. That's the way it was with Arminius. Arminius said grace, grace, grace, grace, grace, grace, grace, grace, grace, over and over and over until the people thought all he teaches is grace. That's all he's interested in. And he wasn't. It was a lie. It tricked the people because what he was really interested in is this, man's will, will. Your will will save you. Lies work that way. False doctrine works that way. Later, later, after the lie has been exposed and condemned, then a generation can look back and say that was false. It's so obvious to us that that was a lie. So obvious. But when you're in it, When you're in the generation that's battling it, it's not obvious. And it's not meant to be obvious. The lie works that way. It tricks you. That's what the prophets of Jerusalem were doing. They were walking in lies. Those lies were the perversion of the word of God, and that's the Protestant Reformed Churches. walking in lies and perverting the word of the Lord. Synod 2018 treated several sermons. Here are the lies, the tricky false doctrines that prophets in Jerusalem spoke and defended. Prophets in Jerusalem spoke and defended these lines. Quote, we do good works so that we can have our prayers answered, end quote. Quote, we do good works so that we can receive God's grace and Holy Spirit in our consciousness. so that we can consciously and with awareness receive the grace and Holy Spirit of God." End quote. Quote, there are requirements for him to fellowship, to approaching unto God, coming to the Father, Godliness is the requirement according to scripture for our prayers to be heard by God. End quote. Quote again, we truly ask and are heard and God receives our prayer and gives us because we keep his commandments and do those things that are pleasing in his sight. End quote. Quote. Yet perhaps one would say, well, how much, how little ought I meet these requirements? Do I need to meet these requirements perfectly before God will hear? Do I meet these requirements somewhat or but a little, just a tiny bit, and then God will hear my prayer? The answer really is very simple, very simple. If we but meet these requirements a little bit, By the grace of God, of course, and by God's grace working them in us, if we meet these requirements but a little, then we will enjoy a little of God's fellowship. That's the truth. If we meet these requirements a lot, then we will enjoy much of God's fellowship." End quote. Quote, we look at our good works in the same way. never of any value to make me be declared righteous before God, but always of help in finding and maintaining assurance that God has justified me through Christ and Christ alone." End quote. That's the devil's theology. The devil's theology. That theology came to Classus East in January and February 2018. Some of you might have been there. In Hudsonville Church. There must have been 200 people in the audience watching and listening as this devil's theology was judged. The whole classist rose up and excused it. Excused it. The whole classist rose up and rejected the protest or the appeal that condemned the devil's theology. Do we know how much God hates that theology? Do we know? He tells us how much he hates it, these lies, this much. They are all of them unto me as Sodom, and as the inhabitants of Gomorrah. Sodom and Gomorrah, Sodom and Gomorrah, which were famous then, or infamous then, and infamous now, for homosexual adultery. So that even today, a homosexual man is a sodomite. That's the name, Sodom, that's given him. That's how much God hates the devil's theology, how much he hates those lies and the corruption of his word. Do we know that? How are we gonna get that? How will that live in our consciousness that God hates it? Imagine this, that at that February classes in 2018 at Hudsonville Church, if the appeal came to the floor to condemn the devil's theology. And the chairman called for the vote. All in favor, say aye. And all of those stately ministers and elders stood up from their chairs, took off their clothes, made themselves naked, and committed homosexual fornication right there before the eyes of God and man, in front of all 200 viewers. What would the response have been to that? We would have been outraged, outraged. The people sitting there would have been scandalized. And angry, angry. And word of that would have flown through the denomination in 10 minutes, probably less. What else would have been the response? This, every consistory of classes east that sent its delegates to that classes would have been waiting by the door for those delegates to come home and would have said to those delegates, we heard what happened at classes. Were you part of that? Were you part of that? And if those delegates were part of that, the consistory would have deposed them on the spot and demanded repentance lest they be excommunicated from the Church of Christ. We can understand that. We can get that, how bad that is. Do we understand how much God hates the corrupting of his word? and those false doctrines. But that's done, right? That's all finished, right? Listen to what else the prophets in Jerusalem did. They commit adultery and walk in lies. They strengthen also the hands of evildoers that none doth return from his wickedness. Not only do these prophets teach false doctrine, but they minimize it when it's exposed, when it's shown as wicked. Then they say, no, no, no, no. Let's not go that far. Devil's theology, you can't go that far. Heresy, not that, not that. minimizing that hateful corruption of the Word of God which is strengthening the hand of the evildoers so that everyone who ought to be shocked and dismayed at that sin and that false doctrine instead continues in it or doesn't understand how serious it is. And that's where we are right now. That's the work being done right now. That's the work that we are laboring at as churches right now to minimize it. How does it get minimized? Verse 17, they say still unto them that despise me, the Lord has said ye shall have peace. There's nothing wrong here. There's peace here. And they say unto everyone that walketh after the imagination of his own heart, no evil shall come upon you. No need to repent. No need to be sorry. Hands of the evil doers are strengthened so that none turns from his way. You know how you can tell when the prophets stand in the counsel of the Lord? You can tell the prophets stand in the counsel of the Lord. Verse 22. to cause my people to hear my words, then they should have turned them from their evil way and from the evil of their doings." The people turn from that sin, they hate it, they repudiate it, they damn it and condemn it when the counsel of the Lord has been brought to them. Do you see that in the churches? Is that what's going on? Here's what's going on. This is from the Standard Bearer immediately after Synod 2018, in June of 2018, exposed the Devil's theology and condemned it. This is what the Standard Bearer had to say. Let this be clear. Anyone who from this date on concerning the minister, consistory, committee to assist the consistory, or classes east, anyone I say who alleges that those individuals or ecclesiastical bodies taught heresy or justification by faith and works, or federal vision or a conditional covenant is guilty of slander. Such a one must be rebuked. Slander against office bearers, such serious slander, is the devil's tool to divide the Church of Jesus Christ. This is the sin of schism, a sin so serious that office bearers are deposed for it and members excommunicated for it. You know what we were waiting at the door to do? not to say to every office bearer who had ever defended that devil's lie, you're deposed, but we were waiting by the door to say to anyone who would say that was heresy or the devil's theology to say to him, you're deposed and excommunicated too. That's minimizing the sin of that false doctrine. More covering up. The standard bearer a couple of months later. Nevertheless, the statements did not explicitly contradict the confessions. Those statements that are from Satan do not contradict the confessions. How is anyone going to repent? If that's what we're hearing, and that's our view of those doctrines, no one will repent. No one will. If the prophets would stand in the counsel of Jehovah and bring his word against those lies, the fruit would be people's repentance. Here's what we're doing. This is a letter from a consistory in the Protestant Reformed Churches to its congregation in response to a holy publication, a godly work, which is no thanks to the editor or the editors, thanks only to God. But here's what a consistory wrote in response to a holy publication. We are also concerned that the magazine is stating that there is a controversy between a works principle and a grace principle doctrine. They contend that the controversy has been between an error out of hell and God's own truth from heaven. They state that the magazine's desire is to engage in this doctrinal controversy. Our consistory does not believe there is a controversy that exists between these two principles in our churches. Our consistory believes that only the grace principle is preached in our churches and is part of our doctrine. How is anyone going to repent if we're told there's no controversy and no works principle? How? Here's another consistory to its congregation a month later. Secondly, although the magazine purports the development of the reformed truth, statements made within the publication, rather than promoting the unity of believers in that truth, promote disunity and schism. This is evident when it describes the current controversy within the PRC as being between the truth and the lie. How is anyone going to repent if we cannot even acknowledge the lie? They strengthen the hands of evildoers that none doth return from his wickedness. And how else is that done? How else are the hands of the evildoers strengthened so that none returns from his wickedness? They speak a vision of their own heart and not out of the mouth of the Lord. That's insightful. That takes us to one of the causes of this covering up and of this minimizing of the lie. They speak a vision of their own heart. What's in their heart they speak out. What's in our hearts? What do we want? I can tell you what I want. I want us to all be one. Everyone. I want us all to be one. I want us to confess the same thing. The same thing. I want that so badly. And I know you do too. But that may not become our prophecy. That's what's happened. We're all one. We're all one. We all confess the same thing. There's no lie here. There's no problem here. We're all one. It's not true. It's not true. We're not all one. We're not. We're not united as a denomination. You know how you can tell when there's unity in a denomination and in a congregation? You can tell because we confess the same truth together. We confess the same truth and we condemn the same lie together. Those two things, and I didn't make that up. Every one of us who confessed our faith in the Protestant Reformed Churches has said, I adhere to this doctrine of the confessions and the word of God, and I reject all heresies repugnant thereto. There's our unity. Is that happening? Do you hear that? When's the last time you heard someone read from the Acts of Senate 2018 publicly? I can think of only one incident in the last few months, and before that, nothing. Do you hear rejection of this lie? I am asked so many times, Reverend Lanning, Show us the lie. Where is it today? We're done with it. Senate 2018 finished it. Show us where the lie is today. I've done that. I've done that publicly in writing. I've done that now in the pulpit. But let me ask you a question. You want to know from me where is the lie. I want to know from you. Where is the rejection of the lie today? Where do you hear condemnation of the devil's theology as the devil's theology? Is that the message you hear pouring out of the Protestant Reformed churches today? Is that what you read in letters from consistories to congregations, warning against a magazine? Is that what you hear, rejection of the law? I don't hear it. I don't hear it. Except in one place consistently, one magazine. I'm not united with a prophet who says, that wasn't heresy. I'm not united with a prophet who says, That does not contradict the confessions. I am united with those who say salvation by grace alone and not by the work of man and with those who condemn that devil's lie as the devil's lie. There's also this. as an attempt to minimize the lie, the false doctrine, so that no one repents. Verses 33 and following, and when this people or the prophet or a priest shall ask thee saying, what is the burden of the Lord? Sometimes the prophets called their message the burden of the Lord. Jeremiah did that, Isaiah did that. This is the burden of the Lord. And they used the word burden to indicate the weightiness of that word that they were bringing. And they used the word burden also to indicate the rebuke that that word often brought. The burden of the Lord. And the people took that and turned it into a mockery. They turned it into a mocking question. It was another way of dismissing the truth. It was another way of disdaining it and minimizing it. They would see Jeremiah coming and they would say to him, hey Jeremiah, what's the burden of the word, what's the burden of the Lord today? You got a burden of the Lord today? We're saying that. We're saying that. We're saying that when we say It seems like in the preaching at Byron Center, Reverend Lanning's got an agenda. The word of the Lord, which is salvation through Jesus Christ, is not an individual man's agenda. How dare you? How dare you sully the word of the Lord by calling it a man's agenda? Every sermon proclaims salvation by grace. If every sermon condemns the works principle, that's the word of the Lord. Or this. Oh, Sword and Shield is in the mail again. I thought we were going to hear about the controversy. But we're going to hear about fighting. But we're going to hear how bad things are. Hey, Jeremiah, what's the burden of the Lord? If you say that, God will forsake you. And he'll forsake your house. And as for the prophet and the priest and the people that shall say the burden of the Lord, I will even punish that man and his house. Therefore, behold, I even I will utterly forget you and I will forsake you and the city that I gave you and your fathers and cast you out of my presence. You might have a church left. You might. But you won't have the word of the Lord there. You'll have a perversion of it. And you'll love it. You'll think it tastes good. You'll eat it up. And you'll choke to death on it. And your children and your grandchildren will choke to death on it. I have seen also in the prophets of Jerusalem an horrible thing. They commit adultery and walk in lies They strengthen also the hands of evildoers, that none doth return from his wickedness. They are all of them unto me as Sodom, and the inhabitants thereof as Gomorrah." Who can stand now? What hope is there for me and for you, whose form is the way it's always been, but who have so much doctrinal trouble inside. The only hope for the Church of Jesus Christ is Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ. God makes a marvelous promise of the coming of the Savior. Toward the beginning of chapter 23, behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will raise unto David a righteous branch. and a king shall reign and prosper and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth. In his days Judah shall be saved and Israel shall dwell safely. And this is his name whereby he shall be called the Lord our righteousness. Do we understand the beauty of that name? As clearly as we understand how much God hates the lie, we must understand the beauty of the name of our Savior, the Lord, our righteousness. That name could have been this, the Lord Jehovah's righteousness, the Lord his own righteousness, but the name is the Lord our righteousness. The Lord Jesus Christ took what was the equivalent of sodomite sex and our perversion of the word on himself and took it to the cross, bore that away. So that this word that blows through us as a fire and strikes us as a hammer does not condemn us who are in the Lord. He's the Lord, our righteousness. And that's why your prayers are answered, not because of your good works or mine, but because of the Lord, our righteousness. And that's why we have the Spirit, not because of your works or mine, but because of the Lord, our righteousness. And that's why we enjoy fellowship with God, not because of your works or mine, but because of the Lord, our righteousness. The Lord, our righteousness, is our salvation from our sin and our perversion of the Word. And God gives men to teach us this. He says, I will set up shepherds over them which shall feed them. And they shall fear no more, nor be dismayed, neither shall they be lacking, saith the Lord. I will set up shepherds over them. God, in his mercy, sends men to teach us Jesus Christ, our righteousness. God sends men to cry to you, watch out for that lie. It'll kill you. God sends men, that's feeding them. That's what feeding is by a shepherd. It's the feeding of the word of the Lord, the feeding of the scriptures, which is essentially feeding us with Jesus Christ and all of his glory and suffering, no man and no teaching to impinge on that glory the slightest. That's feeding. That's feeding. That's the food that will nourish you. That's the food that will build your faith so that when you fear, for your own sin and I for mine. You'll remember that food that is the gospel and you will believe in Jesus Christ that all your sins are forgiven for his sake and you won't be afraid. And this is the word that will keep you from being dismayed. Being dismayed is being broken up inside. being dismayed is that severe emotional state, looking around, not being able to see what is good. And if there is good, and if there is hope, this word that's fed to you by the shepherds the Lord sets over you will feed your soul so that you're not dismayed anymore because you see your Savior. Though you may not be able to understand everything going on, you'll know that the Lord Jesus Christ is for you. Neither shall they be lacking, saith the Lord. They'll be missing nothing, missing nothing. Are we missing something as a church now? Is something missing? Are we not getting something or having something that we need as a church now? God says, when my shepherds feed you this word, there will be nothing lacking because you'll have Christ, because you'll have his gospel. Now, do you care? Is that what you want? There are many who don't want that. They don't want it. They need something else, they think. They want something else. They want the form. Stop with the controversy. Stop with these rebukes. Stop with the calls for repentance for that false doctrine. We've got what we need. We've got the form. We can go to church. We've got our families. We've got our friends. God will give that to you if that's what you want. He'll give it to you. This is what it will look like. Verse 15, behold, I will feed the prophets with wormwood and make them drink the water of Gaul. Wormwood and gall are poison. And whatever the prophet drinks, he speaks. Whatever the prophet eats, he speaks. If God feeds the prophets with poison, you'll get poison, and you'll have your form. But you'll be dead. Our only hope, beloved, is the Lord Jesus Christ, that God be merciful to us in him, that he feed us, he feed us in his mercy and grace with the food of his word, the gospel of salvation, that all of this wickedness that I found in my own heart as I preach this sermon, all of the wickedness of wanting to cover up and not caring too much about a corruption of the word. All of that wickedness is covered in our Savior's blood. That's the food I want. That's the gospel I want. That's the food and the gospel this church needs. God be merciful and feed us. Our Father, which art in heaven, we thank thee for thy word. Thy word may it go as a fire and as a hammer to break the rocks. We thank thee for Jesus Christ, our righteousness, whom thou hast given in thy mercy. Our hope is in thee, and in thee alone save us, Father, for Jesus' sake. Amen. Salter number 83, number 83. Three stanzas, all three of 83. Ye who have hope of rebuilding what is dead, you have thy brother's spirit, whose light is true in thee. But when I hold my trespass, my sin did not from me, my life not from me. In times when thou art near, O loving heart, shall reason, For love's fair hearts to fear. In Thee, O Lord, I find me, Thou savest me from death, of my life with passion filled. And the serene, the mighty wonder The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen.