Apostasy

“And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord, and forgat the Lord their God, and served Baalim and the groves” (Judges 3:7 KJV).

During the time of the judges, Israel apostatized again and again. This brought judgment from God in the form of oppression from enemy nations. Then in grace, God raised up judges to deliver Israel. In our verse today, we have both the defilement of deeds and the defilement of doctrine in the apostasy.

Defilement of deeds - “Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord.” This statement is found some eight times in the book of Judges. Repeatedly Israel turned from holy conduct to unholy conduct. Our verse notes that it was evil “in the sight of the Lord.” There is a twofold meaning in this statement. First, it means their deeds were seen by God. We may hide our evil deeds from others, but we can never hide them from God. Second, it means that their deeds were sinful to God. They may not have been sinful to man, but they were to God. Men often call evil deeds by acceptable names. By so doing, they think this will sanction their evil; but, it does not. It is God’s standards that determines the character of a deed, not labels by man.

Defilement of doctrine - “Forgat the Lord their God, and served Baalim and the groves.” Defiled deeds and defiled doctrine go hand in hand. Defiled doctrine will produce defiled deeds and defiled deeds will produce defiled doctrine. The defiled doctrine is expressed in two ways in our verse. First, the Israelites forgat God. This means their devotion to Him declined. In present day terminology, they stop attending church and reading their Bibles. There was no room for God in their lives. Second, the Israelites followed Baal. When a person leaves true doctrine, a vacuum is created which will be quickly filled by false religion. It will be a religion that corresponds to one’s conduct. Baal worship was corrupt and wicked and pleasing to the lusts of the flesh. Many religions are like that today. And those who do not want to give up their sins like those religions.

(Adapted from Butler’s Daily Bible Reading)

Soli Deo Gloria (To God Alone Be The Glory)

Quotation of the Week

“He who has slight thoughts of sin never had great thoughts of God!”

Anonymous

Word Study

Conform

In Romans 12:2 we read, “And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect” (NASB).

Conform is the Greek word suschematizo (συσχηματιζω). It is made up of two words: “sun/syn” which mean together with, and “schema” which means to form according to a pattern or mold, to fashion alike, to conform to the same pattern outwardly. The word means to form or mold one’s behavior in accordance with a particular pattern or set of standards. The word “sun” denotes a personal assimilation to or conformity with the pattern indicated.

Suschematizo is used of masquerading or putting on an act, specifically by following a prescribed pattern or scheme. It speaks of an outward conforming and does not represent what is on the inside. Thus, when a believer conforms to the world’s standard, it is not a representation of the new creation that is on the inside.

Suschematizo also carries the idea of following a manner of life that is unstable and changing rather than enduring. Paul’s prohibition is directed against a manner of life that does not come from nor is representative of the new creatures believers are in their inner being as the result of regeneration by the Holy Spirit Who now indwells every child of God (Rom. 8:9).

Bible Facts

The Old Testament prophet Isaiah had more to say about the birth of Christ than any other prophet (Isa. 7:1-12:6; c/f 7:14; 9:2, 6; 11:1; 53:2; 59:20; 60:1-3)

Bible Trivia

How much younger was Jesus than his cousin John the Baptist?

**Answer to last week’s trivia: What happened to Daniel after he gave thanks to God by his open window? He was thrown into a den of lions (Dan. 6:10-16)

That’s in the Bible

“Man child”

“And when the dragon saw that he was cast unto the earth, he persecuted the woman which brought the man child” (Rev. 12:13 KJV).

An immature adult or extremely large baby could be called a “man child.” The Bible’s use of “man child” is quite the opposite, for it designates Jesus Christ as the “man child” in the book of Revelation. At age 12, Jesus must have acted like a man when he confounded the scholars in the Temple with His Biblical wisdom. Today, there are some parents who are confounded by their children’s wisdom.

Did You Know – Christian History

Amanda Berry Smith was born January 23, 1837, in Long Green, MD. She was converted to Christianity on March 17, 1856. After dedicating her life to God’s service at the Green Street Methodist Episcopal Church in New York, she traveled to England, Scotland, Liberia, and India. A former slave, Amanda became a renowned evangelist and missionary who was an inspiration to thousands of women both black and white.

A Little Humor

A Baptist preacher went to see a member of the community and invited him to come to Church on Sunday morning. The man was a producer of fine peach brandy and told the preacher he would love to attend his Church if the Pastor would drink some of his brandy and admit doing so in front of the congregation. The preacher agreed and drank up. Sunday morning came and the man came to Church. The preacher recognized him from the pulpit and said: “I see Mr. Johnson is here with us this morning. I want to thank him publicly for his hospitality this week and especially for the peaches he gave me and the spirit in which they were given.”

Thought Provoking Church Sign

“Playing with sin is toying with judgment!”