How to Be Faithful Regardless of Opposition

Norman Geisler, as a child, went to a DVBS because he was invited by some neighbor children. He went back to the same church for Sunday School classes for 400 Sundays. Each week he was faithfully picked up by a bus driver. Week after week he attended church, but never made a … More

Faithfulness

Jeremiah was faithful regardless of the opposition. He reports for duty and the first order of the day was to preach sermons to the people: and cry in the ears of Jerusalem (vv. 1-3). This first message (2:1-3:5) confronted Jerusalem with her waywardness. The Lord brought them into a plentiful land, but they defiled it with idolatry and the sacrifices of their own children (vv. 4-7). Not only had they turned against Him but the three primary classes of leaders established by God turned against Him.

  1. The priests (v. 8) were to expound the law (Mal. 2:6-7) yet they were silent.
  2. The rulers (v. 8) were not the religious but the civic leaders. Their duty was to lead the people in the way of the Lord, yet they themselves transgressed His way.
  3. The prophets (v. 8) were to reclaim the people from apostasy, yet they encouraged it by pretending to have oracles from Baal, the Phoenician god.
Jeremiah used the example of a courtroom scene to focus on the seriousness of Israel’s sin (vv. 9-12). The idolatrous nations were more faithful to their false gods than Israel was to the true and living God (v. 11). Israel had committed two sins. The first was that of omission; she had forsaken her God. Her second sin was one of commission; she had replaced her true God with false idols (v. 13). Israel had lost her freedom and had become a slave, to Assyria and then to Egypt (vv. 14-19).

Application

In different periods of my life I have been tempted to seek security through possessions, people or my own abilities? There is no lasting security apart from God and following His plan for my life.

Jeremiah 2:1-19 (English Standard Version)


Warning: MagpieRSS: Failed to parse RSS file. (Space required at line 39, column 24) in /var/www/html/familytimes/includes/magpie6-1/rss_fetch.inc on line 230

Warning: array_slice() expects parameter 1 to be array, null given in /var/www/html/familytimes/includes/rss/esvLookup.php on line 15

View this passage in NIV (Bible Gateway) »