Failure of God's People to Know Him - Part 1 Romans 15:4 for whatever was written in earlier times was written for our instruction, that through perseverance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope. The O.T. is a record of man's constant failure to be pleasing to God Adam and Eve, Flood, Nations after Flood quickly forgot. The chosen people also forgot. Abraham - Isaac - Jacob - 12 each generation gradually drifts further (exception - Joseph) until they served the gods of Egypt. Golden calf - Exodus 32 Egypt, Wilderness, Canaan - Ezekiel 20:5-28 Joshua 24:15-23 They claimed they would serve only God but it never happened. They continually forsook God. Some were faithful, but most were not. Judges 2:10 When all that generation had been gathered to their fathers, another generation arose after them who did not know the Lord nor the work which He had done for Israel. Judges - 7 cycles of sin. 1 Samuel 2:12 Now the sons of Eli were corrupt; they did not know the Lord. Kings were failures. (Saul, David). Solomon built places of worship for Chemosh of Moab and Molech of the Ammonites 1 Kings 11:7-8 Then Solomon built a high place for Chemosh the abomination of Moab, on the hill that is east of Jerusalem, and for Molech the abomination of the people of Ammon. 8 And he did likewise for all his foreign wives, who burned incense and sacrificed to their gods. Divided Kingdom After death of Solomon, the Northern 10 tribes worshipped golden calves at Dan and Bethel. With apostasy throughout history often it is the minority that remain faithful. Northern Kingdom was destroyed 1st by Assyria because of their sin 722 B.C. All Israel's 19 kings were bad. Southern Kingdom saw what happened in North yet did not repent (Ezk 23) There was something good to say about 8 of 20 kings in the south. God continually tried to bring the people back through the prophets God had brought up the nation as a Father and they rejected Him and failed to have the close relationship that God desired with them (Ezekiel 16) Jeremiah 2:8 The priests did not say, 'Where is the Lord?' And those who handle the law did not know Me; the rulers also transgressed against Me; the prophets prophesied by Baal, and walked after things that do not profit. Jeremiah 22:16 He judged the cause of the poor and needy; Then it was well. Was not this knowing Me?" says the Lord. Approx 720 BC. Israel: Hosea 4:1, 6, 5:4 Call to repentance - 6:1-3a They still worshipped! 6:6, 8:1-2, 13 Judah: Isaiah 1:2-3, (still worshipped vs. 10) Isaiah 29:13 Therefore the Lord said: "Inasmuch as these people draw near with their mouths and honor Me with their lips, but have removed their hearts far from Me, and their fear toward Me is taught by the commandment of men. (NKJV) Approx 620 BC in Judah: Jer 2:8, 19, 9:3, 6 Jeremiah 12:2 ...You are near in their mouth But far from their mind. Judah was destroyed by Babylon because of their sin in 586 B.C. but there was a proph ecy of the time they would return Jer 29:10-14 Prayer of Daniel - Dan 9, Nehemiah - Neh 1 Only a remnant returned to the land but the ones that did experienced a time of religious revival, (Neh 8) but it did not last long. In a short time the Israelites were satisfied with "going through the motions" again without putting their heart into worshipping their God. Once again God, because of His love, sent prophets to His people to try to bring them to repentance. Haggai 1:2-5, Zech 7:4-14, Malachi 1:6-10, 13, 3:7-10 Last word in O.T. is "Curse". As we read the O.T. we can see the curse of the Law and how it reveals sin and all mankind is guilty before God as complete failures. O.T. is record of people who have been blessed more than any on earth yet also completely failed to serve the God that blessed them so much. Failure To Know God Between the Testaments God was long-suffering for many years until 332 B.C. when Alexander the Great subjugated the Jews living in Jerusalem. From then on, until approx. 200 B.C. the Jews suffered extreme hardship under various world and local powers. From around 180 B.C. on, a group of religious Jews decided that the reason the "chosen nation" was subject to the whims of any foreign power was because the nation of Israel had "fallen away" from the Law. These men were called Hasidaeans. They claimed the Jews were being absorbed into the Hellenistic (Greek) culture of the day, and they determined to purify the nation of Greek thought. In 163 B.C. Antiochus Epiphanes desecrated the temple by offering a sow on the altar (Dan 11:28-35). It was at this point that the Hasidaeans joined the Maccabeans in revolt against Antiochus. After this revolt, in which the Maccabeans and Hasidaeans won, there once again began a "religious revival" among the Jewish nation where the Hasidaeans led the people back to obedience to the Law (Dan 11:31-35). After the "Maccabean Revolt" the Hasidaeans led the Jews that wanted to forsake Hellenism, to return to their God. This was the first time since Nehemiah's reading of the Law (over 200 yrs) that a significant number of the Jews decided to purify themselves of their worldliness (Dan 12:1-3, 10-11). Fortunately these righteous men and women had learned from the Assyrian and Babylonian punishment of their earlier "parents", that idolatry must be avoided. Unfortunately they did not learn that the reason their forefathers went into idolatry was not because they did not "know the Law, so much as it was that they did not know the "Law-Giver". The Hasidaeans were the "preachers" or religious leaders of the people. They were originally very righteous men, eventually evolved into the unrighteous Pharisees of the N.T. times. Failure to Know God During the Time of Christ Pharisees were known as the "teachers of the Law". Their major problem was not a lack of knowing the Law but not knowing the Lawgiver. This is what Jesus condemned them for, not knowing God - John 7:28, 8:55, 16:3. They felt that their salvation was from keeping the Law (John 5:37-40), instead of allowing the Law to bring them to Christ (the Lawgiver) Gal 3:24. Jesus continually pleaded with them to come to Him for salvation but they refused (John 12:35-47). They had become so caught up in keeping the Law they could not recognize the Lawgiver in the flesh before them. They also held to their traditions and neglected to do what God wanted. Mark 7:1-9 The Results of Their Legalism: 1. They failed to be concerned for others - Matt 9:10-13, 23:23. 2. They failed to love God - Luke 11:42, John 5:42 There were going through motions serving one they didn't know or love. This came from their overemphasis on the minor matters of the law instead of the major or weightier matters of the Law. So often the reason religious people fail to love God is because they spend so much time worrying about the facts of the Law that they forget about the need for faithfulness and love for the Lawgiver. Matt. 23:23, Luke 11:42 In the epistles of John, he makes it plain that the only way we can come to love God is to first come to know of His love for us (1 John 4:16, 19). When we fail to love God the way we should, it's a sure thing that we really don't know him. When we fail to love our brethren as we should it is a sure sign we do not emphasize the weightiest of all commandments which is to love God, because to love God is to love what He loved and gave His son to die for (1 John 3:13-18, 4:20-21). History of Jews is one of failure. Through the Law came the knowledge of Sin. The law is perfect and when I compare myself and the world to it we know that all have sinned Romans 3:20-23. We are saved by faith, not by works. By mercy of God He has redeemed us and shown us that we are completely dependent on Him. Goal of God: (quoted in Heb. 8:8-12) Jer 31:31-34 Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah -- 32 not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, though I was a husband to them, says the Lord. 33 But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. 34 No more shall every man teach his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, 'Know the Lord,' for they all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more." Wayne Wells wayneliz@twave.net http://users.twave.net/ncc