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Destroyed For Lack Of Knowledge
July 26, 2009
The ancient Israelites were destroyed for lack of knowledge. They often blindly followed their wayward teachers and prophets, who led them astray into the worship of false gods. These supposed leaders led the people into murder, stealing, adultery, fornication, and other heinous sins. Judah was finally destroyed in 70 AD and God established His church, or called out assembly, upon His son, Jesus. God still destroys those who refuse to listen to Him and learn of, and practice, His ways.
Bernie Parsons
Destroyed For Lack Of Knowledge
by Bernie Parsons
presented to the Globe church of Christ on July 26-2009
Hosea 4:1: “Hear the word of the LORD, ye children of Israel: for the LORD hath a controversy with the inhabitants of the land, because there is no truth, nor mercy, nor knowledge of God in the land.
2: By swearing, and lying, and killing, and stealing, and committing adultery, they break out, and blood toucheth blood.
3: Therefore shall the land mourn, and every one that dwelleth therein shall languish, with the beasts of the field, and with the fowls of heaven; yea, the fishes of the sea also shall be taken away.
4: Yet let no man strive, nor reprove another: for thy people are as they that strive with the priest.
5: Therefore shalt thou fall in the day, and the prophet also shall fall with thee in the night, and I will destroy thy mother.
6: My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children.”
You hear me tell you frequently to study the Holy Bible. It is a repetitive theme of mine—and for good reason. God lamented the children of Israel in the times of Hosea, the prophet, for their lack of knowledge. But He did not pity them. Instead, He told them that He would destroy them for lack of knowledge. Read the context of this message, and understand that each person has a personal responsibility before God to study for himself or herself, to truly attempt to understand what God expects of them, and then to do those things.
Jesus told the hypocritical Pharisees to study the scriptures.
John 5:37: “And the Father himself, which hath sent me, hath borne witness of me. Ye have neither heard his voice at any time, nor seen his shape.
38: And ye have not his word abiding in you: for whom he hath sent, him ye believe not.
39: Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me.
40: And ye will not come to me, that ye might have life.”
Many people profess to serve God, but in reality they do not. If you do not have the word of God living in you, you will not follow His commandments. Notice what happened to the Israelites as we have already seen in Hosea chapter 4. The lack of knowledge led them to commit all kinds of sins. Leaping out at us are sins such as killing, stealing, and committing adultery.
Notice that they also were prone to lying, something we often take to be a light thing in our day, as they did in theirs. There was no truth there, and no mercy. These are things of which that we need to be aware. In our time, truth is denounced, ridiculed, suppressed, savaged, and denied. We see and hear it all of the time.
Also, there is a dearth of mercy in our time, even within the churches. There are too many who profess Christianity who have not the mercy that our Lord showed during His life here on the earth. Many have no mercy toward their fellow Christians, let alone the fact that many have no mercy toward those who are not Christians.
James 2:13: “For he shall have judgment without mercy, that hath shewed no mercy; and mercy rejoiceth against judgment.”
Matthew 5:7: “Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.”
Matthew 9:13: “But go ye and learn what that meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice: for I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”
Why do so many professed Christians blithely ignore something so important? Many look down their noses at non-Christians, yet Jesus stated that He came to call the sinners to repentance. The merciful obtain mercy, He also said. Many care little or nothing about how their brothers and sisters fare in this life.
James 2:14: “What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? can faith save him?
15: If a brother or sister be naked, and destitute of daily food,
16: And one of you say unto them, Depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled; notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are needful to the body; what doth it profit?”
Wishing your brother or sister well does nothing to fill an empty stomach or to clothe someone who is in need of clothing.
1 Corinthians 10:24: “Let no man seek his own, but every man another's wealth.”
Galatians 6:2: “Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ.”
Many professed Christians don’t appear to be studying the scriptures, because they have a hard time embracing the admonition to assist your brothers and sisters, and to look after their well-being.
Some do learn to help their brothers and sisters, but refuse to help anyone else. Their reasoning seems to be that since they are not members of the church, they do not deserve help, somehow are not worthy. They have a hard time learning and performing the simple lesson that Jesus gave about loving your neighbor as yourself.
Mark 12:28: “And one of the scribes came, and having heard them reasoning together, and perceiving that he had answered them well, asked him, Which is the first commandment of all?
29: And Jesus answered him, The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord:
30: And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment.
31: And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these.”
When an expert on the scriptures, in order to justify his own position, asked Jesus who our neighbor is, Jesus gave the parable that we refer to as that of the Good Samaritan. He wrapped it up with a pointed question.
Luke 10:36: “Which now of these three, thinkest thou, was neighbour unto him that fell among the thieves?
37: And he said, He that shewed mercy on him. Then said Jesus unto him, Go, and do thou likewise.”
As the story shows, our neighbor is anyone that needs us. As the apostle Paul taught, we are to do good unto all men.
Galatians 6:10: “As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith.”
Yet some, like the lawyer in Luke chapter 10, try to get around this by saying that we are to help only those who are of the household of faith. The admonition was to do good unto all. In his second letter to the church at Corinth, Paul, while discussing the collection for the saints, and its distribution, wrote this:
2 Corinthians 9:13: “Whiles by the experiment of this ministration they glorify God for your professed subjection unto the gospel of Christ, and for your liberal distribution unto them, and unto all men;”
1 Thessalonians 3:12: “And the Lord make you to increase and abound in love one toward another, and toward all men, even as we do toward you:”
This fits with the Law of Moses, in which the tithes and offerings gathered into the storehouses was feed the priesthood and the Levites, but also the widows, fatherless, and the strangers in the land. These strangers were the Gentiles, or non-believers. Most acknowledge that our modern monetary collections are modeled to some extent upon the tithe of the Old Testament. Yet, some will not allow that this collection may be used to help the needy strangers, that is, the non-believers in our time.
The Lord’s people in our time, as of old, are being destroyed for lack of knowledge!
Luke 11:52: “Woe unto you, lawyers! for ye have taken away the key of knowledge: ye entered not in yourselves, and them that were entering in ye hindered.
53: And as he said these things unto them, the scribes and the Pharisees began to urge him vehemently, and to provoke him to speak of many things:
54: Laying wait for him, and seeking to catch something out of his mouth, that they might accuse him.”
Those who do not study the will of God hate those who do study and teach it.
Acts 17:10: “And the brethren immediately sent away Paul and Silas by night unto Berea: who coming thither went into the synagogue of the Jews.
11: These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so.”
I advocate that you study the Bible daily, as did those noble Bereans. It will increase your knowledge of what is right, of what God expects of you.
2 Timothy 3:14: “But continue thou in the things which thou hast learned and hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them;
15: And that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.
16: All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:
17: That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.”
Paul advised Timothy to continue to study, even though he had been taught the scriptures since childhood. Knowledge of scripture is profitable, Paul points out, in so many ways.
Colossians 1:9: “For this cause we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to desire that ye might be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding;
10: That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God;
11: Strengthened with all might, according to his glorious power, unto all patience and longsuffering with joyfulness;
12: Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light:”
2 Peter 3:18: “But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and for ever. Amen.”
Brothers and sisters, let us not be destroyed for lack of knowledge.
