How To Get Back To God
Jeremiah 3:20-22
Intro - Robert Robinson had been saved out of a wretched life of sin at the age of 23, Robinson wrote the hymn Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing.
Come, Thou Fount of every blessing,
Streams of mercy, never ceasing,
Call for songs of loudest praise.
Sadly, Robinson wandered far from those streams and turned from the Lord. One day -- he was traveling by stagecoach and sitting beside a young woman engrossed in her book. She ran across a verse she thought was beautiful and asked him what he thought of it.
Prone to wander -- Lord, I feel it --
Prone to leave the God I love.
Bursting into tears, Robinson said, "Madam, I am the poor unhappy man who wrote that hymn many years ago, and I would give a thousand worlds, if I had them, to enjoy the feelings I had then." - Kenneth W. Osbeck, 101 Hymn Stories, p. 52.
His story is similar to the condition of Israel in our selected text. Israel had rebelled against God and found themselves in a very difficult place. They cried out to the Lord but there was no power in their prayers.
They were a backslidden people who had turned from the Lord and were suffering the consequences.- Jeremiah 3:6 ¶The LORD said also unto me in the days of Josiah the king, Hast thou seen that which backsliding Israel hath done? she is gone up upon every high mountain and under every green tree, and there hath played the harlot. 7 And I said after she had done all these things, Turn thou unto me. But she returned not.
Israel had been warned and had suffered the consequences of their sin. Yet they continued down that same path.They had the opportunity to repent of their transgressions and return to the Lord, Yet they failed to seize that opportunity.
You may be here and you have wandered from the Lord. You have had opportunity after opportunity to repent and you refuse. You have seen the sin in your life and continue on that path. You must grasp the fact that you have transgressed the will of The Father and you need to return to Him while there is still time! God has spoken to you through His Word. You have 66 books that are filled with the truths that are needed to guide your life.You have been convicted by His Holy Spirit but continue to rebel and live outside of God’s will.Do you understand the fact that a Holy God is giving you an opportunity to be restored? Better yet do you realize that it is His desire that you return to a right relationship with Him?
I want to examine this text and learn from the stubbornness of Israel. Join me as we consider the thought the thought “How To Get Back To God”
Maybe you are here and you know that you need to be restored, but you just don’t know how! My prayer is that through this message you will find the way to return to your Father.
The first step in “Getting Back To God” is :
I. Recognize Your Sinful Condition v20 ¶Surely as a wife treacherously departeth from her husband, so have ye dealt treacherously with me, O house of Israel, saith the LORD.
The term “dealt treacherously” literally means “to cover or act covertly” It carries the idea of being unfaithful or deceitful.
Israel is compared to an adulterous wife.These words are spoken to a people who had left God and worshipped idols.
The Lord says in v1 “…thou hast played the harlot with many lovers;” They have been and are once again being confronted with their sin.
God always has and still does confront sin in the lives of His people.Throughout the pages of the Bible we read where Israel was confronted with their sin.Many times they continued to rebel and on the occasions where they did return to God, eventually they rebelled again. We have an interesting connection to this text. God uses the comparison of a wife being unfaithful to her husband. We are the bride of Christ.
Let’s look at this in the literal sense. A marriage is a sacred union between a man and a woman. There are vows and commitments made between a married couple, If the wife breaks that vow it is the ultimate betrayal. She has gone after her personal lust and broken the vow and commitment to her husband. Suppose that you have been betrayed by your spouse. Many of you may have actually experienced this in the past. It literally breaks your heart! This is what Israel did to God!
You all know the saying that anything that you put before God is an Idol. I don’t have to run down a long list of material possessions and personal activities that fit this description. Examine your own life. Is there anything that comes between you and God?
If there is anything that comes before God in your life then you are no better than Israel. You are also as an unfaithful wife!
Do the things of this world mean more to you than your relationship with Christ? The Bible says in James 4:4 Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.
If you are truly saved your iniquity has been confronted, through the Word and through the Holy Spirit. Are you willing to admit your iniquity today?Many of you are simply in denial. Friend if you are not as close to God as you once were then you are backslidden. You can’t stay stationary you are either moving forward or sliding back! If that is the case then you need to take the first step in “Getting Back To God” and “Recognize Your Sinful Condition”
The 2nd step in “Getting Back To God” is:
II. Reject Your Sinful Condition - v21 A voice was heard upon the high places, weeping and supplications of the children of Israel: for they have perverted their way, and they have forgotten the LORD their God.
The people had arrived at a place of distress. The term weeping literally means an overflowing of tears. There is a great deal of inconsistency in their actions. They wanted to follow their ways. They wanted to worship their idols but when things got bad they wanted to cry to God for help! This verse says that they perverted their way. (committed iniquity) When you decide that you are going to live life your way and not God’s way you are bound for trouble.
The sin in your life creates a barrier between you and God. Friend, that barrier is soundproof. You can’t live a life of sin and expect God to hear any prayer other than a prayer of repentance! So many people think because they aren’t hanging in bars, running around on our spouses, stealing or killing that they are not living in sin. WRONG!! - James 4:17 Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.
Too many Christians live inconsistent lives:
1) They say one thing and do another.
2) They live right for a while and then turn back to the old ways.
3) They are faithful for a time and then disappear.
4) They live like the Devil and when things get rough they attempt to turn to God and when they don’t get what they are looking for they blame God.
If you are living an inconsistent life, turn to The Lord today! Learn from the mistakes of Israel! Getting back to God is not simply seeking relief from His chastising hand. If your prayer of repentance is only because you are hurting from the discipline it will not help you at all. You must come to a place of pure repentance.
This involves a contrite heart - Psalms 51:17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.
Contrite - {G} 1. Thoroughly bruised or broken. This carries the idea of beign crushed with grief over sin.
Once you come to a place where you truly grasp the gravity of your sin then you must do something about it. REPENT!!
Step 1. Recognize Your Sinful Condition.
Step 2. Reject Your Sinful Condition
III. Repent Of Your Sinful Condition - v22 Return, ye backsliding children, and I will heal your backslidings.
Before we go any farther let me praise God for His mercy. Over and over again Israel has had opportunities to return to God. The answer for Israel was clear. Return to the Lord! If they did He would heal their backslidings.
They could weep and pray all they wanted to but until they returned to Him there would be no restoration.Don’t forget the magnitude of their sin. Remember the terms dealt treacherously and unfaithful wife? After all they had done God was giving them the opportunity for forgiveness!
I visited with a family a couple of years ago. The man discovered that his wife who he loved dearly had been having an affair. Did he get angry and cuss her? Did he become violent? Did he throw her out of the house and divorce her? No! This man looked at his wife and I love you enough to forgive you! What a picture of what God has done for Israel. WHAT A PICTURE OF WHAT HE WILL DO FOR YOU!!
If you are backslidden today you must repent of your sinful condition. Change directions! Stop going your way and return to the Father!
Conclusion:
Are you in a backslidden condition today?
Is God the # 1 priority in your life? If not you are no better than Israel!
Do you have a barrier between you and God and your prayers aren’t getting through?
Do you feel like you have strayed too far from the Father?
There was forgiveness for Israel and there is forgiveness available for you as well!
How do you return? Admit Your Iniquity, Address Your Inconsistency and Alter Your Intentions.
How do you “Get Back To God”?
Step 1. Recognize Your Sinful Condition.
Step 2. Reject Your Sinful Condition
Step 3. Repent Of Your Sinful Condition
You say “that is too simple a process!” Well, God doesn’t - 1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.
