August 30th Read 1 Kng 12:20—13:5, 33–34 1Ki 12:25-31 ESV Then Jeroboam built Shechem in the hill country of Ephraim and lived there. And he went out from there and built Penuel. (26) And Jeroboam said in his heart, "Now the kingdom will turn back to the house of David. (27) If this people go up to offer sacrifices in the temple of the LORD at Jerusalem, then the heart of this people will turn again to their lord, to Rehoboam king of Judah, and they will kill me and return to Rehoboam king of Judah." (28) So the king took counsel and made two calves of gold. And he said to the people, "You have gone up to Jerusalem long enough. Behold your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt." (29) And he set one in Bethel, and the other he put in Dan. (30) Then this thing became a sin, for the people went as far as Dan to be before one. (31) He also made temples on high places and appointed priests from among all the people, who were not of the Levites. 1Ki 13:33-34 ESV After this thing Jeroboam did not turn from his evil way, but made priests for the high places again from among all the people. Any who would, he ordained to be priests of the high places. (34) And this thing became sin to the house of Jeroboam, so as to cut it off and to destroy it from the face of the earth. Do we not trust in the Word of the Lord like Jeroboam? What do you mean? Simply this, Jeroboam had a word from the Lord that the he would get ten tribes from the house of Israel to rule over and his dynasty would be established by the Lord if he followed the ways of the Lord. This passage demonstrates he didn’t trust that word. He devises evil to keep the Israelites from going down to Jerusalem to worship there. He’s afraid if he doesn’t do this, the heart of the people the Lord had given him would turn again to David’s house as they worship in Jerusalem. Do ever do things because we don’t trust the Word of the Lord to do what it says it’s going to do? I see many churches for fear of losing members to other churches or to the world adopt the practices of other churches and the world which simply aren’t in accordance with the Word of God. They don’t trust the Word of God to do the work which Jesus promised them it would do. So they do one or several things. They water down the Word of God because some people may find some things in it offensive, foolish, or just down right plain against common sense. They may develop worship styles and music that get people all excited and their emotions running and they think that this is faith in God and Christ. They don’t trust the Word of God itself to move people’s hearts and minds. So we adopt the ways of the world and its vain philosophies and pass it off as the Word of God. Well it didn’t end up well for Jeroboam’s house. It’s dynasty eventually ended up in ruins. It took a couple of hundred years but down it went and his people went down to destruction. Those pastors and congregations that follow Jeroboam’s ways will end up the same way. But we have a sure and certain Word of God. The gates of hell shall not prevail against the Church. There will always be a remnant upon the face of the earth of believers. We are called as Christians to trust the Word of God and His promises and to live our lives according to them. The Word of God is mighty and powerful, the gospel, the forgiveness of sins being the power of God unto salvation. Lord, let us be faithful to your Word. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.
Posted on: Fri, 30 Aug 2013 13:41:08 +0000
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