Prlajaran 9 _ Khamis 25 Ogos_

Thursday
August 25
“This Is the Temple of the Lord, the Temple of the Lord. . . .”
The southern kingdom of Judah had its spiritual ups and downs, times of reform and times of outright apostasy. Yet so often, even during the worst spiritual times, there was an outward show of piety and worship that was not acceptable to the Lord. How careful we need to be not to fall into the same deception ourselves.
Read Jeremiah 7:1–10. What theme do we see repeated here that we have seen all week? How can we take the principles here and apply them to ourselves in our context today?
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Look especially at verse 4. In one sense, the speakers were right. This was the “temple of the Lord,” the place where the Lord’s name was to dwell, the place where the sacrificial system—which God Himself had instituted—was performed, the place where the great truths of sacrifice, salvation, cleansing, and judgment were taught. After all, these were the covenant people. Their God was the true God, and they had more light and more truth, corporately, than was had by their pagan neighbors around them. None of this can be disputed, and yet, the Lord obviously was not pleased with them or their worship. In fact, He called out the words, “This is the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord”—what? “Deceptive words”? They were deceptive, not because that was not the temple of the Lord but because the people believed that simply by coming to the temple of the Lord and worshiping there ensured that they were safe, they were saved, they were doing all that was required.
With all the light that we have been given, in what way might we as Seventh-day Adventists be in danger of making the same mistake that these people made? Think through possible parallels between them and us and how, if we are not careful, we could fall into a similar deception. What possible “deceptive words” might we be in danger of trusting in, words that on the surface are true (just as that was, indeed, “the temple of the Lord”) and yet could lead us into making the same kind of presumptuous errors?