Amen. Alright, we're there in Ezekiel chapter 13, and we've been working our way through the book of
Ezekiel on Wednesday nights, as we've been studying the book chapter by chapter, and last week we
actually took a break from Ezekiel, because it was our harvest party, and preached a sermon on
witchcraft, and the occult, and things like that. But if you remember from the previous weeks,
we've been going through this vision that Ezekiel has, and he's been going through kind of
systematically, if you recall. He began by prophesying against the people of Jerusalem,
and he was preaching against the city of Jerusalem, and the people of Jerusalem, and then we spent a
week on the princes, or the politicians of Jerusalem. The last time we were in the book
of Ezekiel, we talked about not the princes, but the prince, specifically the king of Jerusalem,
and this week we're going to be talking about the prophets of Jerusalem. If you look at Ezekiel 13
and verse 1, the Bible says this, And the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, Son of man,
prophesy against the prophets of Israel. And he's telling them there to prophesy against the
prophets. And what Ezekiel does is he basically is preaching against these false prophets, and he
gives us a profile of these preachers. In the sermon, the title of the sermon tonight is a
profile of false prophets, because that's what he does. He gives us the characteristics, the
qualities, the attributes of a false prophet. So I want to show you just real quickly, kind of as
we go through this chapter, there's three main characteristics that he gives us in this chapter,
and I want you to notice those tonight. The first thing is, what Ezekiel shows us here,
is that a false prophet lies. They are liars. Notice verse number 2. He says, Son of man,
prophesy against the prophets of Israel that prophesy, and say thou unto them, notice what
he says, that prophesy out of their own hearts. Now the Bible tells us that, you know, your heart
is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. You know, who can know it? But here,
we're told that these prophets, they prophesy out of their own heart. Notice what he says,
hear ye the word of the Lord. This is Ezekiel speaking to the prophets. Thus saith the Lord God,
woe unto the foolish prophets. He's talking about the false prophets. He says, their foolish
prophets, notice, that follow their own spirit and have seen nothing. They're not following the
Spirit of God, and they're preaching about these visions that they've supposedly seen that are
supposed to be from God. But here, we're told that they have seen nothing. They're just lying.
They are lying about the things that they've seen. Skip down to verse number 6, notice what
he says. They have seen vanity and, notice this word, lying divinations, saying, the Lord saith,
he says, these people are standing up and saying, the Lord saith, and the Lord hath not sent them.
And they have made others to hope that they would confirm the word. Have ye not seen a vain vision?
The word vain there means empty. He said, have ye not seen a worthless? He's saying,
have ye not seen a vain vision? And have ye not spoken a lying divination? Whereas ye say,
the Lord saith, it, albeit, I have not spoken. So here, God is saying, look, all of these
preachers, these false prophets of the nation of Israel, they're standing up and they're saying,
thus saith the Lord, the Lord saith. But here, God says, albeit, I have not spoken. They're
following their own spirit. They're saying, I've seen a vision from God. But God says,
and have seen nothing. Notice verse 8, therefore, thus saith the Lord God, because ye have spoken
vanity and seen lies. Therefore, behold, notice what the Bible says here, I, this is the Lord
speaking, God speaking, am against you, saith the Lord God. It's an interesting thought to think,
you know, that there are some preachers that God is against. There are some preachers that
God is not for. Today, you know, they'll call you hateful, and they'll call you arrogant,
and they'll call you judgmental and divisive if you preach against any preacher. If you stand up
and say, Billy Graham's in hell because he preached a false gospel, you know, then they'll say,
oh, you're hateful. But listen, in the Bible, we learn that there are some preachers that God is
against. There's some preachers, some prophets that God is not for. Notice verse 9, he says,
and mine hand shall be upon the prophets that see vanity and that divine lies. They shall not be in
the assembly of my people, neither shall they be written in the writing of the house of Israel,
neither shall they enter into the house of Israel. We're going to come back to that verse at the end
of the sermon. Notice what he says, though, and ye shall know that I am the Lord God. Verse 10,
even because they have seduced my people. Notice what they're doing. They're lying. They're giving
a lying vanity, a lying divination, but they are seducing the people. They are giving lies that
people want to hear. They are giving lies that people want to believe, saying peace. Notice what
they're saying. They're saying peace, and there was no peace. Because remember, the real prophets
of God, Jeremiah and Ezekiel, they're standing up and saying, hey, Jerusalem's going to be destroyed.
God is sending Babylon to destroy it. When they get here, don't fight them. Just go with it,
because we're going to be sent to a line of activities. This is God's plan. And you know
what they're saying to Jeremiah and to Ezekiel? They're saying, you're not patriotic. You're a
traitor. And literally, they're looking at these men as traitors, and they're saying,
you are spreading this fear among the people, and you should be telling people that we can
win against Babylon, and you should be promoting our nation. But listen to me. God is above every
nation. And today, even in America, you have a lot of Christians, and they're more patriotic
than they are Christian. And it's like, you can't ever say anything negative about the country,
and you can't ever say anything negative. I'm thankful that when I was growing up,
I was born in Venezuela. I wasn't born in the United States of America. We are American citizens,
of course. But I'm thankful that when I was growing up, one thing that my mom and my dad
taught us is that we are citizens of heaven. We don't have loyalty and allegiance to any country.
We don't have loyalty and allegiance to any location. The Bible says that we are strangers
and pilgrims on the earth, and our loyalty is to God. And when God says that he's going to
destroy a nation, the men of God better stand up and preach that. When God tells us that we
live in a nation that is killing babies, that is promoting perverseness, and the wrath of God and
the judgment of God is upon this country, don't get mad at us for saying, well, you need to be
a little more patriotic. Well, that's what they were saying to Ezekiel. That's what they were
saying to Jeremiah. They were saying, you need to preach a more positive sermon. And these lying
preachers were saying peace, but notice God's commentary, and there was no peace. And one
built up a wall, and lo, others daubed it with untempered mortar. We'll come back to that
statement as well. Look down to verse number 16, Ezekiel 13 and verse 16, to wit, the prophets of
Israel, which prophesied concerning Jerusalem. Notice what it says, and which see visions of
peace for her, for Jerusalem. And there is no peace, saith the Lord God. Likewise, thou son of
man, set thy face against the daughters of thy people, which prophesy out of their own hearts.
They're not prophesying what God said. They're not prophesying out of God's Word. They prophesy out
of their own hearts and prophesy thou against them. Notice verse 18, and say, thus saith the Lord God,
woe to the women that sew pillows to all the armholes and make kerchiefs upon the head of
every statue to hunt souls. Will you hunt the souls of my people, and will you save the souls
alive that come unto you? And we'll talk about that here in a minute, but look at verse 19,
and will ye pollute me among my people for handfuls of barley and for pieces of bread,
to slay the souls that should not die, and to save the souls alive that should not live,
notice what he says, by your lying to my people that hear your lies. So here we've got a chapter
where Ezekiel is preaching against the false prophets, and the first thing that he kind of
emphasizes is this idea that false prophets lie. They preach lies. They don't preach the truth.
Now keep your place there in Ezekiel. That's our text for tonight, but go through the book
of 2 Timothy chapter number 4. I know you're familiar with these verses, but let's look at
them together. 2 Timothy chapter 4. If you find all the T books, they're all clustered together
towards the end of the New Testament. You've got 1 and 2 Thessalonians, 1 and 2 Timothy,
Titus. Do me a favor when you get to 2 Timothy, put a ribbon or a bookmark or something there,
because we're going to leave it, and we're going to come back to it. So I'd like you to be able to
get to it quickly. 2 Timothy chapter 4, and look at verse number 3. 2 Timothy chapter 4 and verse 3,
here the Apostle Paul is talking about false prophets. He says, for the time will come when
they will not endure sound doctrine, but after their own lust. Do you see that? After their own
lust. That's the same idea where in Ezekiel 13, 10, he says, because even because they have seduced
my people. See, they're preaching things that are alluring to the flesh. They are alluring to the
desires of the people. And notice what he says. He says, but after their own lust, they shall heap
themselves teachers having itching ears. See, the people are going to pick preachers that are based
off of their own lust. Off of their own lust, they shall heap to themselves teachers having
itching ears. See, the Bible says, and Paul says, that there's coming a day when people will not
choose a church, and they will not choose a preacher, they will not choose a pastor based
on who's preaching the truth, and based on who's preaching the Word of God, and based on, you know,
who's standing for the things of God. But they're going to choose a preacher based on who makes them
feel good, or who doesn't make them feel guilty, or who is saying what they want to hear. So they're
all, you know, Mr. Political, Mr. I care only about politics, then they're going to go to,
you know, a church where every sermon is about, you know, being an American citizen, and politics,
and, you know, let's raise arms against the government. You say, why? Because they're just
choosing people that are going to feed them what they want to hear. If they're covetous people,
if they are people that desire money, and that desire wealth, they're probably going to end up
at some prosperity gospel church, you know? If they just want to feel good, then they're going
to go to Joel Osteen's church, and he's going to tell them to just speak, you know, success into
their lives, and to, you know, just speak true, you know, whatever you desire you have, just say
it out loud, and the universe will bring it to you, which by the way, that's witchcraft, you know?
And that's the same garbage that Joel Osteen is teaching and preaching, the same garbage that,
you know, the world has been teaching from the beginning. But you say, well, why do people go
there? Here's why they go there, because they heap to themselves teachers, after their own lusts,
shall they heap to themselves teachers having itching ears. Verse four, and they shall turn
away their ears from the truth. They don't want the truth. They want to be lied to. They want to
have somebody give them a lying divination. They want somebody to tell them peace, whether there
is no peace, whether the peace is actually there. They don't really care, just make me feel good.
And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, notice, and shall be turned onto fables,
turned onto stories, turned onto lies. That's what they want. So what does a false prophet do? We're
learning about false prophets. What are the characteristics of a false prophet? Well,
a false prophet will lie to you. And look, if you ever end up in a church, if you ever end up
in a church where you go there week after week, week after week, you know, Sunday after Sunday,
and maybe even Sunday night and Wednesday night, and you're never hearing something that upsets
you, if you're never hearing something that challenges you, that confronts you, if you're
never hearing something that maybe kind of embarrasses you, you know, because your wife
knows who you are, or because your husband knows who you are, or maybe because you're even your
kids, you know. I hope you'd have a good enough testimony, but, you know, where you're hearing
something preached, and it's kind of like, man, that was, you know, directed at me or that, you
know, stepped on my toes. Look, if you go to a church, and you just, there's never anything just
negative directed at you, look, it means one of two things. Either you're just Mr. Perfect. I mean,
you just have attained, I mean, there's just absolutely nothing wrong with your life. I mean,
you must be the Lord Jesus Christ. We should, we should worship you. Either that, or you're going
to church where the pastor's lying to you, because I can tell you this, you're not perfect. You're
not right. We all need to be rebuked. We all need to hear the truth. We all need to be told when
we're wrong. So look, if you go to a church, and the pastor's never offending you, he's doing that
on purpose, he's lying to you. He's feeding you lies. He's giving you fables. It's funny that he
says the word fables there, because, you know, if you go to the old IFB churches today, what do you
hear? Story after story after story. You get two verses, and a story about this, and a story about
that, but that's what people like. They shall be turned unto fables. So we see that a false prophet,
number one, will lie to you. Keep your place there in 2 Timothy. We're going to come back in that
direction, but go back to Ezekiel 13. Let me show you the second characteristic of a false prophet.
Not only will false prophets lie, but I want you to notice, secondly tonight, that...