The times-news. [volume] (Hendersonville, N.C.) 1927-current, 1935-10-19
;. WEEKLY SUNDAY SCHOOL LESSON
THE STORY OF JEREMIAH
Prepared by Hight C. Moore

Il Prepared by
Sunday School Lesson for Octo
Der 20, 1935-Jeremiah 7: Ill
1928.
Golden Text-Obey my voice
and will be your God, and y
shall be my people. Jer. 1928.
! Jeremiah taught his people tina
they cannot deceive God by tht
fo-malities of pcrfunctory wor
| ship but must walk in all the way'
that God commanded Jeremiah
! 7: 1-26).
THE SANCTUARY GALL
TO OBEDIENCE
! Jeremiah 7: Lay
| God Requires Obedience II
Spiritual Life. 1t is God who
/ speaks and certainly ne is entitled
| to obedience. 1t is his word that
! is given. and it reveals his will
telling us what we ought to dc
and how to do it. 1t is his house
into which we are to enter for
the purpose of sincere and spir-
itual worship whC'ein we get our
greatest motive and inspiration
to the obedient life. 1t is his serv-
ant in the person of Jeremiah, his
associates and successors wHn
herald the commands of Goo
which call for instant and contin-
ued obedience. We are, or ought
to be, his people, engaged in his
worship and doing his will and
upholding his cause, although it
will many a time be necessary for
US to repent Of our sins and to
rectify our lives. 1t is through
his grace that we are to be iden-
titled with his cause and to occu-
py his land, although our stay in
the place of privilege is condi-
toned upon our obedience. Final
ly, we have 4 warning against
confidence in false formulas like
those used by the goddess Jews
who thought that by repeating
the name of the Temple over and
over they had a charm against
disaster since in their view God
was bound to save them if he saw
ed his house which they consider
ed indestructible.
THE CIVIC CALL TO
OBEDIENCE
Jeremiah 7: SD
God Requires Obedience in So
cial Life. Radiant and desirable
beyond the power of words to ex-
press was the promise of perma-
nent and prosperous residence of
the loyal Jew in his fatherland.
He was thrilled with the thought
that he should not spend his days
in the land of captivity nor in his
own land devastated by conquer
ors but that hereafter as hereto
fore of old it should be the Land
of Promise flowing with milk and
honey. Yet the promise was very
definitely conditioned upon the
obedience of the people occupying
their land. That obedience must
be personal, for each individual
and so all together were to amend
their ways of life and their habit
ual doings. That obedience must
be public in the promotion of
fairness and justice between
neighbors. 1t must also be philan-
thropic so that the sojourner, the
fatherless, and the widow would
receive the hand of help rather
than the mailed fist of oppres-
sion. Moreover, in the better eval-
uation of life no innocent blood
should be shed whether by sud-
den stroke of unbridled anger or
by the slow agony of industrial
servitude. Of course, obedience
has its religious aspect and there
must be no room for the corrupt
ing worship of the false gods
which draw the people together
and drag them down. Guard
against the gods of this world!
THE INDIVIDUAL CALL
TO OBEDIENCE
Jeremiah 7:s-l1)
God Requires Obedience in In
dividual Life. To begin with,
there must be a well-founded faith
which does not trust in LYING
words Of formal if not false
creeds like the temple charmer at
Jerusalem or the whirling der
wishes in Cairo. There must be
correct conduct which not only
refuses to break the divine com
mandments as against stealing,
murder, adultery, and perjury,
but also will keep them positively
and IN their fuller meaning and
application. There must be devout
worship of God which is infinitely
removed from the burning Of in
cense to Baal and the walking
after other gods. There must be
consistency in profession and
practice, for it is vain to assume
the attitude of worship and en-
gage in the act of worship when
the heart is far away and the
very purpose is to cloak hypoc-
ricy which retires straightway
from the sanctuary to commit ad'
ditional denominations. So there
must be purity in piety, for other,
wise the house of God may be-
come a robbers den as it was il
the days of Jeremiah and later
of Jesus. At all events, there mus
be a reckoning for nothing gooG
or bad can escape the all-seeina
eye of God. And God is just!