Good morning and welcome to the Berean Break.  My name is George Sinkie and I am so glad that you have joined us this morning.  What a way to spend time in the morning, digging into God’s word for His will.  This program teaches God’s will rather than man-made doctrines because God deserves the glory, not man.  I encourage you to check out what is taught and to let me know if I teach something that is false.  As we begin this morning, let’s go to God in prayer:

Dear God, We thank You for this day in our lives.  May we take the time today, and everyday, to count our blessings.  While You have richly blessed us in many physical ways, we especially thank You for Your word that reveals Your will to us.  May we submit to Your will so that we can be blessed with the spiritual blessings that are only in Christ.  Help us today to open our hearts to Your will.  In Jesus’ name,  AMEN !!

     The dictionary defines apostasy as “Abandonment of one’s religious faith, a political party, one’s principles, or a cause.”  To fall into apostasy in matters of religion is to leave the path that leads to God’s blessings and instead go down the path that leads to destruction.
     The problem of apostasy is not new.  Today we are going to consider some points from Jeremiah 8:5-12, that show some characteristics of apostasy.  Jeremiah had repeatedly pleaded with the people to repent and turn from error.  But we will notice how Jeremiah describes these people.  A people who engaged in continual apostasy.  A people who held fast to their apostasy and refused to return.

     When we understand some of the reasons for apostasy in Jeremiah’s day, we are better able to understand the reasons for apostasy in our own day.  First, people often abandon their faith because of a failure to consider the consequences of their actions.  Notice the following from Jeremiah 8:6

   6 “I have listened and heard, they have spoken what is not right;  no man repented of his wickedness, saying, ‘What have I done?’ Everyone turned to his course, like a horse charging into the battle.”

Friends, it’s sad but true that men often exercise better judgment in secular matters than they do in the area of religion.  For example, if a person is traveling on a journey and finds that he is on the wrong highway, he changes his course.  When he knows the road he is on will not take him where he wants to go, he changes roads!  Unfortunately, many people are on the road to spiritual ruin.  And yet they are speeding down that troublesome road, giving little or no thought to where it will take them.
     We must consider the eternal consequences of our actions.  Consider, for example, the following from Proverbs 6:26-32:

   26 For on account of a harlot one is reduced to a loaf of bread, and an adulteress hunts for the precious life.
   27 Can a man take fire in his bosom, and his clothes not be burned?
   28 Or can a man walk on hot coals, and his feet not be scorched?
   29 So is the one who goes in to his neighbor’s wife;  whoever touches her will not go unpunished.
   30 Men do not despise a thief if he steals to satisfy himself when he is hungry;
   31 But when he is found, he must repay sevenfold;  he must give all the substance of his house.
   32 The one who commits adultery with a woman is lacking sense; he who would destroy himself does it.

Solomon is writing here of the consequences of committing adultery.  But friends, no one can deny that any and all sin has its consequences.  The consequences of sin are sometimes experienced in this life.  But don’t be deceived — unforgiven sin will also have eternal consequences.  In Galatians 6:7 Paul wrote,

   7 Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, this he will also reap.

     Second, people often abandon their faith because of their carelessness with the scriptures.  Look at Jeremiah 8:7-9

   7 “Even the stork in the sky Knows her seasons;  and the turtledove and the swift and the thrush observe the time of their migration;  but My people do not know the ordinance of the Lord.
   8 “How can you say, ‘We are wise, and the law of the Lord is with us’?  But behold, the lying pen of the scribes has made it into a lie.
   9 “The wise men are put to shame, they are dismayed and caught;  behold, they have rejected the word of the Lord, and what kind of wisdom do they have?”

Judah had possession of the law.  Yet their knowledge of the law was woefully inadequate.
     You may say, “How sad,” “How terrible.”  And yet the situation in Jeremiah’s day was not unlike the situation in our own day.  The majority of people in the US today possess a copy of the Bible.  And yet, many people have little or no knowledge as to what is contained therein.  It is probably the least-read best-seller of all time.
     We need to have a willingness to become familiar with the Bible’s teachings.  Paul admonished Timothy, in 2 Timothy 2:15,

   15 Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, handling accurately the word of truth.

The KJV says to “Study.” Both show that we need to put effort into it.  Two thoughts from Paul’s words are especially significant.  First, we are to study, or give diligence to, the Bible, as opposed to reading the Bible in a superficial manner.  Second, the word “workman” indicates an effort must be put forth.
     The name of this program comes from this very idea.  The Bereans worked at knowing the word of God.  Note what it says in Acts 17:11

   11 Now these were more noble-minded than those in Thessalonica, for they received the word with great eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily, to see whether these things were so.

Notice the Bereans did not blindly accept what they were told.  No friends, they checked out what they heard.  I encourage you to take what you hear and investigate it.  Take what you hear and lay it alongside the scriptures.  Compare what you hear with the scriptures to see if it is true.

     Third, people often abandon their faith because of their covetousness.  Listen to Jeremiah’s words from Jeremiah 8:10,

   10 “Therefore I will give their wives to others,
     Their fields to new owners; Because from the least even to the greatest
     Everyone is greedy for gain;
     From the prophet even to the priest
     Everyone practices deceit.”

Did you notice the extent of their covetousness?  Their covetousness was not limited to a few.  Jeremiah’s words indicate that everyone, from the least to the greatest, from the prophets to the priests, was guilty of covetousness.
     Possessions and desire for possessions have limited many in their service to God.  In Matthew 19:16-22, we have the story of a rich young man coming to Jesus to find out how to have eternal life.  Possessions brought a sad ending to this story as we read in Matthew 19:21-22

   21 Jesus said to him, “If you wish to be complete, go and sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you shall have treasure in heaven;  and come, follow Me.”
   22 But when the young man heard this statement, he went away grieved; for he was one who owned much property.

Sadly, many today have failed to do those things they ought because they are more concerned about their physical well being than they are their spiritual well being.  Paul wrote, in 1 Timothy 6:10

   10 For the love of money is a root of all sorts of evil, and some by longing for it have wandered away from the faith, and pierced themselves with many a pang.

     Fourth, people often abandon their faith because they have little or no care for the truth.  Notice Jeremiah’s words in Jeremiah 8:11,

   11 “And they heal the brokenness of the daughter of My people superficially, saying, ‘Peace, peace,’ but there is no peace.”

Jeremiah had preached concerning the need for repentance.  Jeremiah had warned of the troublesome times the people would face if they failed to repent and turn back to God.  And yet, all the while Jeremiah was warning of what lie ahead, false teachers were proclaiming “Peace, Peace,” when there was no peace.
     Isaiah wrote of a rebellious people who refused to hear the law of the Lord.  Instead listen to what they said to their prophets, Isaiah 30:10

   10 Who say to the seers, “You must not see visions”;  and to the prophets, “You must not prophesy to us what is right, speak to us pleasant words, prophesy illusions.”

People are not all that much different today, Paul says, in 2 Timothy 4:3-4

   3 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires;
   4 and will turn away their ears from the truth, and will turn aside to myths.

Many today seem to deny that the truth exists.  Or they deny that we can know the truth.  Jesus spoke differently of truth, in John 8:32, He said,

   32 “and you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”

Paul writes in 2 Thessalonians 2:10

   10 and with all the deception of wickedness for those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth so as to be saved.

     The fifth cause for apostacy, people often abandon their faith because they have grown morally callous.  Notice the following from verse twelve of Jeremiah, chapter eight, Jeremiah 8:12

   12 “Were they ashamed because of the abomination they had done?  They certainly were not ashamed, and they did not know how to blush;  therefore they shall fall among those who fall;  at the time of their punishment they shall be brought down,” declares the Lord.

Judah’s heart had become hardened to the extent that the people were no longer ashamed of their sin.  The people had reached a point where they could not blush.  Friends, a departure from God always leads to moral decay, without exception.  This is true for an individual and it is true for a country.
     Jeremiah’s words could just as accurately be applied to our own day and time.  Many of the things that were once considered shameful by our society are no longer looked down upon.  The sinful homosexual lifestyle is increasingly accepted and considered by many to be just another lifestyle.  Don’t be deceived friends, such a lifestyle is still an abomination before God.  Many in our society still support a woman’s choice when it comes to having an abortion, never mind the fact that a woman who does so is choosing to take the life of an innocent child.
     Friends, we ought to maintain sensitivity to sin and a willingness to call it what it is – sin.  Isaiah wrote in Isaiah 5:20

   20 Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil;  who substitute darkness for light and light for darkness;  who substitute bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!

     What are some of the characteristics of apostasy?  A person’s failure to consider the consequences of his actions.  A carelessness with the scriptures.  An attitude of covetousness.  Little or no care for the truth.  And a heart that has grown callous in matters of morality.