Jeremiah, Part 1 (Return To Me)
Program 45 – Good And Bad Figs
Question: do you think that the majority of those who call themselves Christians are really living like Christians? Do you think that they’re righteous? And do you look at them and in a sense, do you think “Oh, that’s holiness, that’s the way I’m supposed to live?” Do you hear people from the pulpit, people on television calling us to holiness and calling us to righteousness? If not, why not? If sin is the tenor of a culture, if the atmosphere is iniquity, if it’s adultery, and immorality, and stealing, and lying, and cheating, and the breaking up of relationships what is the duty of the church? What is the duty of those that have been called as God’s spokesmen to the culture? What is their duty to God and to the culture? It is to speak the Word of God. It is to turn people from their sins to a holy God. You say, “But why? It will only make them unpopular.” Yes, guarantee it will make them unpopular. But you do it because if you don’t those people are going to experience the judgment of God. God said it in Numbers; it has never changed. ―‗…Be [ye] sure your sin[s] will find you out.‘‖ (Numbers 32:23) He says that [judgment must begin at the house of God, and if it begins there what is the world going to do?] (PARAPHRASE, 1 Peter 4:17)
As we wrap up Jeremiah chapter 23 today and move into Jeremiah chapter 24, I want you to see what God says about Himself. Verse 23 of chapter 23, ―‗Am I a God who is near…and not a God [who is] far off? Can a man hide himself in hiding places so [that] I [don’t] see him? …Do I not fill the heavens and the earth?‘ declares the LORD.‖ (Jeremiah 23:23-24)
You think you can hide your sin from God? You think that God’s not going to notice it? You think that you’re going to get away from it? Oh no! He says, ―‗I have heard what the prophets have said who prophesy falsely in My name, saying, ―I had a dream, I had a dream!‘ How long? Is there anything in the hearts of the prophets who prophesy falsehood, even those prophets of the deception of their own heart, who intend to make My people forget My name by their dreams which they relate to one another, just their fathers forgot [Me] because of Baal?‘‖ (Jeremiah 23:25-27)
Go back to Jeremiah chapter 23. He says, ―‗…[If they were going to prophesy,] if they had stood in My council…they would have announced My words…[they] would have turned [people] back from their evil way… [but they’re not doing that.]‘‖ (Jeremiah 23:22) They’re not announcing His words. Rather they’re sharing their dreams. Instead of prophesying what God says, they are talking about their dreams.
And you know what just makes me sick? People are fascinated by it. They are drawn to it like a magnet. Why? Because it’s something that is extra-biblical, it is something that is new. It is something that is novel, and it is something that is destructive. Listen to what He says. ―‗The prophet who has a dream may relate his dream….‘‖ (Jeremiah 23:28) You say, “See, it’s all right, Kay.” And it says, ―‗…But let him who has My word speak My word in truth. What does straw have in common with grain…?‘‖ (Jeremiah 23:28)
We’re talking about a dream that I have that I am going to share with others as if it is equal with the Word of God, or that I am going to share with others and not share the Word of God. He calls those kinds of dreams “straw,” no nourishment in them at all. His Word is grain.
So in this passage He’s not saying that people don’t have legitimate dreams. Daniel dreamed and in those dreams, in those visions God showed him what was going to happen. But it was God. These are dreams that are not from God, but these are dreams that people want to hear. And then God makes a statement when He says, ―‗[If you’re gonna speak] …speak My word in truth. What does straw [these dreams] have in common with grain? ...Is not My word like [a] fire?‘ declares the LORD, ‗and like a hammer that shatters a rock?‘‖ (Jeremiah 23:28-29) He says, “Here’s this hard, hard, hard rock,” and He says, “You bring My Word down on it, and it shatters the rock just like a hammer.” ―‗Therefore…,‘‖ listen to what God says, ―‗…I am against the prophets…who steal My words from each other.‘‖ (Jeremiah 23:30) I’m against those men that take away My word and take it away from the hearts of others. He says, ―‗…I am against [those] prophets,‘ declares the LORD, ‗who use their tongues and declare, ―The Lord declares.‖ [The Lord said; I have a word from the Lord.]‘‖ (Jeremiah 23:31)
You know the Bible tells us in Hebrews chapter 1, and I think it might be good for you to go there, Hebrews chapter 1. It’s a fabulous, fabulous book, and it’s written to people that are suffering. And he says, ―God, after He spoke…to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways, in these last days has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom…He made the world. And He is the radiance of His glory and [He is] the exact representation of His nature….‖ (Hebrews 1:1-3) He says God has spoken to us in His Son. So you have the Old Testament when God spoke in many and diverse ways. He spoke through dreams. He spoke through visions. He spoke through a donkey to Balaam. (See Numbers 22:28-30) I mean, He spoke in different ways.
But now in these last days He has spoken to us in His Son. And he says, and I want you to listen to him. Then you come to the end of the Bible to the book of Revelation, and God’s revelation is completed. Everything that is necessary for you and I to live properly is recorded in this book. And then this is what he says. ―I testify…,‖ verse 18 of Revelation 22, the last chapter. ―[I testify] to [anyone] who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: if anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues which are written in this book; and if anyone take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his part from tree of life and…the holy city…written in [the] book.‖ (Revelation 22:18-19)
In other words, hey, you ain’t going to heaven. That’s what he’s saying. So it’s very, very dangerous to speak and not have it be God’s Word. He says in verse 32, ―‗Behold, I am against those who have prophesied false dreams…,‘‖ (Jeremiah 23:32) and you want to mark “dreams” in this segment, ―…declares the LORD, ‗And related them…,‘‖ them what? Them dreams. ―‗…And led My people astray by their falsehoods and reckless boasting….‘‖ (Jeremiah 23:32)
One man I remember, he said that he died and he went to heaven. And he said, “I got to heaven,” and he was telling this to another believer. And he says, “I just pulled up a chair, and I reared back to have a good ’ol talk with God.” And that other Christian looked at him and said, “I want to tell you something, God’s gonna kill you.” And you know what? God killed him. He was making money off of this. He was distorting the truth. He was disgracing the character of God. You don’t sit back in a chair; you fall flat on your face. And then this is what He says, ―‗Behold, I‘m against those who have prophesied false dreams…and related them and led My people astray by their falsehoods….‘‖ He says, ―‗…reckless boasting; yet I did not send them or command them, nor do they furnish this people the slightest benefit….‘‖ (Jeremiah 23:32)
If you’re a teacher, what is the benefit from your teaching in people’s lives? It should be an increased hunger and thirst for righteousness. It should be obedience. It should be conviction of sin. He says, ―‗Now when this people or the prophet or a priests asks…saying, ―What is the oracle of the LORD…?‖‘‖ (Jeremiah 23:33) What’s the oracle of the LORD? What’s this word, this revelation we’re getting from God? ―‗…then you shall say to them, ―What oracle?‖ The LORD declares, ―I will abandon you.‖ Then as for the prophet or the priest or the people who say, ―The oracle of the LORD [the oracle of the LORD]‖ I will bring punishment on [this] man and his household. Thus will each of you say to his neighbor and to his brother, ―What has the LORD answered?‖ or, ―What has the LORD spoken?‖‘‖ (Jeremiah 23:33-35) In other words they’re going for false information. He says, ―‗For you will no longer remember the oracle of the LORD, because every man‘s own word will become the oracle….‘‖ (Jeremiah 23:36)
In other words if you don’t know the Word of God you can’t separate it from the words of men. He says, ―‗…And you have perverted the words of the living God, the LORD of hosts, our God. Thus you will say to [the] prophet[s], ―What has the LORD answered you‖ and, ―What has the LORD spoken?‖ For if you say, ―The oracle of the LORD!‖ surely thus says the LORD, ―Because you said this word ‗The oracle of the LORD!‘ I have also sent to you saying, ‗You shall not say, ―The oracle of the LORD!‖‘ Therefore behold, I will surely forget you and cast you away from My presence, along with the city which I gave you and your fathers.‘‖ (Jeremiah 23:36-39) In other words, I’m going to destroy you and I’m gonna destroy Jerusalem. ―‗I will put an everlasting reproach on you and an everlasting humiliation which will not be forgotten.‘‖ (Jeremiah 23:40) On whom? On those that say ―‗―…The oracle of the LORD…!‖‘‖ (Jeremiah 23:38) This is what God said when God didn’t say it.
It’s dangerous to stand there in the place of God and say this is what God says when it’s not in the Bible. We’ll be back in just a minute. Well Beloved, we’ve come to Jeremiah 24. And I bet you thought, “She’s not gonna make it.” It’s ten verses long, and it’s all about good figs and bad figs, and what’s gonna happen to the good and what’s going to happen to the bad. So just remember Jeremiah chapter 24. It’s a fruity passage.
Let’s see what it says ―After Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had carried away captive Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, and the officials of Judah with the craftsmen and [the] smiths from Jerusalem and had brought [me] to Babylon, the LORD showed me [a basket of good figs and bad figs.]‖ (Jeremiah 24:1) Now what does verse 1 do? It puts us into historical context. And it says, “After the Lord had led away Jehoiachin. He is called Jeconiah, Jehoiachin and Coniah. After He had led him away he tells us that he is the son of Jehoiakim.
And he tells how He led away him and the officials and the craftsmen and the smiths from Jerusalem and brought them to Babylon. So in your Bible what you want to write is 597 B.C. It is the second siege of Jerusalem. And it’s during that second siege of Jerusalem, and Jehoiachin, Coniah, Jeconiah only rules for three months, and then he is taken into captivity along with the queen mother. Now when we finish this you can go on your own to the last two chapters of 2 Kings, and you can read about this, and you can put yourself into historical context. (See 2 Kings 24:8-14) But he says after that happened, so he is giving a timeframe. By the way when Jeconiah was led into captivity ten thousand others went with him. This was a major deportation. Who went into Babylon? He’s gonna tell you: good figs went into Babylon. Let’s read it.
He says, ―…[He] showed me…two baskets of figs set before the temple of the LORD! One basket had very good figs…[the] first-ripe figs, and the other basket had very bad figs which could not be eaten due to rottenness.‖ (Jeremiah 24:1-2) Now what you do is when you look at this you put down everything you learn about the good figs and everything you learn about the bad figs. The bad figs were rotten. ―Then the LORD said to me, ‗What do you see, Jeremiah?‘ And I said, ‗Figs, the good figs [are] very good; and…bad figs, very bad, which cannot be eaten…,‘‖ oooh, gross, ―‗…due to rottenness.‘‖ (Jeremiah 24:3) He says, ―Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying, ‗Thus says the…God of Israel, ―Like these good figs, so I will regard as good the captives of Judah, [which] I have sent out of this place into the land of the Chaldeans.‖‘‖ (Jeremiah 24:4-5) Those that went with Jehoiachin, Jeconiah, Coniah, those that went with him they’re like the good figs. And watch what he says. You say, “But they went into captivity.” Oh, but the others got it worse. Listen to what it says, and we’re gonna see more as we go along.
He says, ―‗―For I will set My eyes on them for good….‖‘‖ (Jeremiah 24:6) Hey, it’s to their benefit that they were taken captive. ―‗―…I will bring them again to this land….‖‘‖ I’m going to bring them back. ―‗―…I will build them up and [I will] not overthrow them….‖‘‖ (Jeremiah 24:6) Now when is this going to happen?
Well, at the beginning of this week we looked at Cyrus, and we saw that Cyrus was God’s shepherd, the head of the Medes and the Persians. And he’s the one that does this. You read this, and you can also read this in the beginning of the book of Ezra. (See Ezra 1:1-4) He says, ―‗―…I will build them up and not overthrow them….‖‘‖ (Jeremiah 24:6)
Now remember Jeremiah was to build and to plant, to uproot, to toss away. So He says ―‗―…I will plant them and not pluck them up. I will give them a heart to know Me, for I am the LORD; and they will be My people, and I will be their God, for they will return to Me with their whole heart.‖‘‖ (Jeremiah 24:6-7)
And so what you find is 70 years after the captivity, beginning in 605 B.C., and we’re going to study it in the second part of Jeremiah, you find them coming back to the land. They rebuild their temple. And they have a heart for God. And many of them understand the awfulness of their idolatry. And then he says, ―‗―But like the bad figs which cannot be eaten due to rottenness—indeed, thus says the LORD—so I will abandon Zedekiah king of Judah and his officials, and the remnant of Jerusalem who remain in this land and the ones who dwell in the land of Egypt.‘‘‖ (Jeremiah 24:8)
Now he has just made a prophecy. And that prophecy is that those that stay under Zedekiah, those that stay in the land, God’s going to abandon them. He’s going to give them over to sword and plague and famine as He has said previously. Some of them are not going to be killed and destroyed. They will stay in the land, and then eventually they’ll end up down, some of them, in Egypt. Why? Because they disobeyed God, because they still wouldn’t listen, these are the bad figs. This is the rottenness of it all. You’re gonna see it as we continue in our study in Jeremiah.
He says, ―‗―I will make them…,‖‘‖ the ones that stay in the land, ―‗―…a terror and an evil for the kingdoms of [this] earth, as a reproach and [as] a proverb, a taunt and a curse in all [the] places [that] I will scatter them. I will send the sword, [and] famine and…pestilence upon them until they are destroyed from the land which I gave to them and their forefathers.‘‘‖ (Jeremiah 24:9-10)
Amazing, isn’t it? Remember Jeremiah is telling these people, “When you get into Babylon I want you to settle down there. I want you to build houses. I want you to pray for the prosperity of Babylon because you’re going to be living there.” But then He promises that He is going to bring them back to the land. This is the future of the good figs. The future of the bad figs is death. They are going to perish in that land, or they’re going to perish in Egypt. Do you know why? Because they had ungodly shepherds, ungodly rulers, because all these guys, Jehoahaz, Jehoiakim, Jehoiachin and Zedekiah were ungodly. And Zedekiah had a chance. And Zedekiah was on the side of the fence going back and forth. But he ended up on the wrong side of the fence, and we’re going to see what his fate was as a result of that. He was a ruler that was evil, and God judged Him. Just remember this, evil rulers will not get away with their rebellion towards the pure Word of God.
The second thing that I want you to remember is you go after the Word of God. You learn it. You know it so well that when you hear someone saying, “I had a dream,” or “Hear the Word of the Lord,” you can tell whether it’s the Word of God or not because you know God’s Word for yourself. You’ve discovered truth for yourself
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