1. Derek Kidner ‘Without justice a nation suffers
Sep 22, 1913 – Nov27, 2008
‘Without justice a nation suffers
But without truth a nation sickens’

2. How Does A Nation Lose Truth? False Prophets, Pastors, and Teachers
Jeremiah 23:9-40
How Does A Nation Lose Truth?
False Prophets, Pastors, and Teachers

3. I. False Prophets and Priests In Ancient Judah
Jeremiah’s response to loss of truth 9-10
False prophets and priests 11-27
The truth and the word 28-29
The Lord’s summation against the false 30-40
=> Some true conclusions about the false

4. II. False Prophets, Pastors, and Teachers Today
False prophets, pastors and teachers do not…
Characteristics of the false in Judah’s day we see in some churches today
The truth and the false - New Testament teaching

5. II. False Prophets, Pastors, and Teachers Today
False prophets, pastors and teachers do not…
Characteristics of the false in Judah’s day we see today
The Truth and the false - New Testament Teaching
Jesus teaching Mt 7:15-23
Jesus teaching Mt 24:11,24
Paul teaching 2Co 11:13-16
Paul teaching 2Th 2:12
Paul teaching 1Ti 4:1
Paul teaching 2Ti 3:5
Paul teaching 2Ti 4:3,4
Peter teaching 2Pt 2:1-3
Peter teaching 2Pt 2:18
John teaching 1J 4:1,5

6. Conclusions
There are false prophets, pastors and teachers in the church today.
Much of what godly people see as wrong in our culture today is because of a loss of truth and the failure of the church to hold onto truth.
People will be confused when they hear one Pastor say ‘Thus says the Lord …’ and another Pastor say ‘Thus says the Lord …’ and the two things are not the same. False teaching is out there.
Things that will help you sort out truth from false:
- look for personal moral integrity
- look for public moral courage
- use discernment about all claims ministers make
- is the Bible preached or just talked about
- does the preaching seem to have the purpose of making you feel good or does it seem to have the purpose of the text itself
- the truth does not need to be forced on the meaning of the text
- the truth fits the text into the context, the false works around context