75. THE WAY BACK TO THE LORD FOR THE BACKSLIDER
There are backsliders who have stopped attending Church and there are those who continue to attend Church regularly and religiously. Some have committed sins that are considered to be great and grievous, while others have engaged in sins that people may consider to not be as bad. For some, everyone knows what they did and how they fell whereas with others, it is not as widespread in publication.
Irrespective of the circumstance, sin is sin and God is not pleased with the path that any backslider trods. He wants his children to grow in grace and their knowledge of him, to grow in their faith and in their love for him, not backpedaling into the wayward and unproductive and unprofitable system of the world.
A backslider is someone who is already a Christian, in that he has believed in his heart in the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ from the dead and confessed with his mouth that he is Lord but he has at some subsequent point, been rebellious, self-willed and stubborn, leaving the safe haven that is found when abiding in Christ and from submitting in obedience to His will and going out instead, like the Prodigal son, into the world, turning his back on the Lord and engaging in sin as he pleases, to his ultimate detriment and demise.
Yet, thankfully, a backslider is not without hope, once he is still in the land of the living. He can get back to where he needs to be, if he so chooses and once time permits, due to the grace and mercy of God.
The book of Jeremiah, which speaks a length about the backsliding ways of Israel and Judah, highlights how this can be achieved. If you are a backslider, in that you have turned your back on God, based on the lessons gleaned from the book of Jeremiah, to get back to him in the sweet fellowship that you once enjoyed, you must:
1. Hear the call of the Lord to return.
The Lord is a God of wrath but he is also merciful. He desires, like the father of the Prodigal son, to welcome all of his wayward children back into the fold, where they belong. He therefore often pleads with those who are his, that they need to return to him.
He did this with his people the Israelites but they refused to hear him and refused to return. They blocked their ears so that they would not need to listen and hardened their hearts against him.
In Jeremiah 3: 1, 6-7 and 22, God conveyed to his people, through the prophet Jeremiah:
- “They say, If a man put away his wife, and she go from him, and become another man’s, shall he return unto her again? shall not that land be greatly polluted? but thou hast played the harlot with many lovers; yet return again to me, saith the Lord…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. And I said after she had done all these things, Turn thou unto me. But she returned not… Return, ye backsliding children…”
What about you? Have you heard the Lord’s call for you to return? If you are truly his child, in his faithfulness, he will convict you of your sin and urge you to return to him. If has been doing so, what will be your decision?
The Lord will not issue this call indefinitely. There will come a point when he will stop, if it is that harden your heart and insist on continuing on in your rebellion.
In Hosea 5:4 and 6, God stated of his people Israel, that they refused to return to Him. As a result, he informed that there would come a time when they would seek him but would not find him.
In Hosea 5:4 and 6, God noted that “They will not frame their doings to turn unto their God…”. As a result, he said:
- “They shall go with their flocks and with their herds to seek the Lord; but they shall not find him; he hath withdrawn himself from them.”
This reminds us that when God speaks to us, we do not have the luxury of responding in our own time. We cannot say that we will call for him in a more convenient season, as the Lord does not operate at our bequest and according to our calendar.
Hence the reason Isaiah 55:6-7 implores:
- “Seek ye the Lord while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near: Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.”
In Jeremiah 25:4-9, God made mention of how he had spoken to the people of Judah to return but that they refused to hear. As a result, he pronounced judgment on them. He said:
- “And the Lord hath sent unto you all his servants the prophets, rising early and sending them; but ye have not hearkened, nor inclined your ear to hear. They said, Turn ye again now every one from his evil way, and from the evil of your doings, and dwell in the land that the Lord hath given unto you and to your fathers for ever and ever: And go not after other gods to serve them, and to worship them, and provoke me not to anger with the works of your hands; and I will do you no hurt.
- Yet ye have not hearkened unto me, saith the Lord; that ye might provoke me to anger with the works of your hands to your own hurt. Therefore thus saith the Lord of hosts; Because ye have not heard my words, Behold, I will send and take all the families of the north, saith the Lord, and Nebuchadrezzar the king of Babylon, my servant, and will bring them against this land, and against the inhabitants thereof, and against all these nations round about, and will utterly destroy them, and make them an astonishment, and an hissing, and perpetual desolations.”
2. Engage in sincere reflection and introspection.
In Revelation 2:4-5, Jesus conveyed to the Church of Ephesus:
- “…I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love. Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent.”
To get back to where you need to be, you must therefore consider from whence you came and how far you have fallen. To do this, you must:
(a) Remember how things used to be before you turned your back on the Lord and of how closely you used to walk with the Lord before you embraced the deceitfulness of sin.
In Jeremiah 2: 21 to 22, God told them in recollection of what they used to be in contrast to how far they had fallen, “…I had planted thee a noble vine, wholly a right seed: how then art thou turned into the degenerate plant of a strange vine unto me?”
(b) Think on your ways, consider how you used to be in terms of devotion and commitment to the Lord and seek after the old paths.
In Psalm 119:59, the Psalmist said, “I thought on my ways, and turned my feet unto thy testimonies.” In Jeremiah 6:16, it reads, “Thus saith the Lord, Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls…”
(c) Recognize and accept that you are chiefly responsible for your problems and are reaping exactly what you have sown.
In Jeremiah 3: 2-3, God said through his prophet to the Israelites:
- “Lift up thine eyes unto the high places, and see where thou hast not been lien with. In the ways hast thou sat for them, as the Arabian in the wilderness; and thou hast polluted the land with thy whoredoms and with thy wickedness. Therefore the showers have been withholden, and there hath been no latter rain.”
In chapter 2 verses 14-17 to 19 and 23, he told them:
- “Is Israel a servant? is he a homeborn slave? why is he spoiled? The young lions roared upon him, and yelled, and they made his land waste: his cities are burned without inhabitant. Also the children of Noph and Tahapanes have broken the crown of thy head. Hast thou not procured this unto thyself, in that thou hast forsaken the Lord thy God, when he led thee by the way?…And now what hast thou to do in the way of Egypt, to drink the waters of Sihor? or what hast thou to do in the way of Assyria, to drink the waters of the river? Thine own wickedness shall correct thee, and thy backslidings shall reprove thee: know therefore and see that it is an evil thing and bitter, that thou hast forsaken the Lord thy God, and that my fear is not in thee, saith the Lord God of hosts… How canst thou say, I am not polluted, I have not gone after Baalim? see thy way in the valley, know what thou hast done: thou art a swift dromedary traversing her ways.”
(d) Recognize your sin and in doing so humbly and honestly be prepared to acknowledge and confess where you have done wrong before the Lord.
The Israelites (including the people of Judah) were in denial and deceived themselves into believing that they had not sinned against God, when they had. In Jeremiah 2:34-35, God said to them:
- “Also in thy skirts is found the blood of the souls of the poor innocents: I have not found it by secret search, but upon all these. Yet thou sayest, Because I am innocent, surely his anger shall turn from me. Behold, I will plead with thee, because thou sayest, I have not sinned.”
In Jeremiah 3:13, he told them, “Only acknowledge thine iniquity, that thou hast transgressed against the Lord thy God, and hast scattered thy ways to the strangers under every green tree, and ye have not obeyed my voice, saith the Lord.”
In Jeremiah 3:3, God told them, “…thou hadst a whore’s forehead, thou refusest to be ashamed.”
3. Recognize your predicament and the futility of your effort and that of others, to deliver you from your situation. Only God can help you.
Israel had difficulty coming to this realization and so they continued on without being restored. They were turning to everything else, it seemed, for help in their trouble, than to God, them also refusing stubbornly to accept that their trouble was due to their sin of unfaithfulness to God. This only made their situation worse.
In Isaiah 30:1-3, 5 to 7 and 9 to 16, God told his people the Israelites, who mistakenly thought that going to Egypt would afford them protection and deliverance:
- “Woe to the rebellious children, saith the Lord, that take counsel, but not of me; and that cover with a covering, but not of my spirit, that they may add sin to sin: That walk to go down into Egypt, and have not asked at my mouth; to strengthen themselves in the strength of Pharaoh, and to trust in the shadow of Egypt! Therefore shall the strength of Pharaoh be your shame, and the trust in the shadow of Egypt your confusion…They were all ashamed of a people that could not profit them, nor be an help nor profit, but a shame, and also a reproach. The burden of the beasts of the south: into the land of trouble and anguish, from whence come the young and old lion, the viper and fiery flying serpent, they will carry their riches upon the shoulders of young asses, and their treasures upon the bunches of camels, to a people that shall not profit them. For the Egyptians shall help in vain, and to no purpose: therefore have I cried concerning this, Their strength is to sit still…
- That this is a rebellious people, lying children, children that will not hear the law of the Lord: Which say to the seers, See not; and to the prophets, Prophesy not unto us right things, speak unto us smooth things, prophesy deceits: Get you out of the way, turn aside out of the path, cause the Holy One of Israel to cease from before us. Wherefore thus saith the Holy One of Israel, Because ye despise this word, and trust in oppression and perverseness, and stay thereon: Therefore this iniquity shall be to you as a breach ready to fall, swelling out in a high wall, whose breaking cometh suddenly at an instant. And he shall break it as the breaking of the potters’ vessel that is broken in pieces; he shall not spare: so that there shall not be found in the bursting of it a sherd to take fire from the hearth, or to take water withal out of the pit. For thus saith the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel; In returning and rest shall ye be saved; in quietness and in confidence shall be your strength: and ye would not. But ye said, No; for we will flee upon horses; therefore shall ye flee: and, We will ride upon the swift; therefore shall they that pursue you be swift.”
4. Make a conscious and sincere decision to return to the Lord.
Nobody can make this decision for you. If you don’t realize where you have sinned, then even if you say you are returning, this will not be with sincerity but in pretence, as you will not be surrendering your whole heart to the Lord.
This is what Judah did. In Jeremiah 3:10, God said of them, “And yet for all this her treacherous sister Judah hath not turned unto me with her whole heart, but feignedly, saith the Lord.”
In Jeremiah 29:13, God conveyed to his people, “And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.“
5. With a repentant heart, prepare what you are going to say to the Lord and go to him and say it. He expects you to confess what you did wrong and to ask him for his forgiveness, sincerely intending to forsake your sinful way.
In Hosea 14:1-3, God told his people:
- “O Israel, return unto the Lord thy God; for thou hast fallen by thine iniquity. Take with you words, and turn to the Lord: say unto him, Take away all iniquity, and receive us graciously: so will we render the calves of our lips. Asshur shall not save us; we will not ride upon horses: neither will we say any more to the work of our hands, Ye are our gods: for in thee the fatherless findeth mercy.”
In Jeremiah 3:4, he told them, “Wilt thou not from this time cry unto me, My father, thou art the guide of my youth?”
In verses 22 to 25, of the humble and truthful words of confession he desired to hear from them, God said:
- “Behold, we come unto thee; for thou art the Lord our God. Truly in vain is salvation hoped for from the hills, and from the multitude of mountains: truly in the Lord our God is the salvation of Israel. For shame hath devoured the labour of our fathers from our youth; their flocks and their herds, their sons and their daughters. We lie down in our shame, and our confusion covereth us: for we have sinned against the Lord our God, we and our fathers, from our youth even unto this day, and have not obeyed the voice of the Lord our God.”
6. Allow the Lord by faith, to heal you of your backsliding and sinful condition, which only he can do.
Sin has chords and it does not like to let go of its victims, draining the life and virtue out of them and sinking them, like an albatross around one’s neck. Sin is strong and therefore, we are no match for it when trying to break free of its hold. It is so damaging, that when we look at what we have become and the mess that we have created, it is so bad, that only God can deliver us from it and heal us of it.
In Proverbs 5:22, for example, it says of the man who indulges in adultery, which is a sin, “His own iniquities shall take the wicked himself, and he shall be holden with the cords of his sins.” In Psalm 38:4, David, who at one point, had committed such a sin stated, “For mine iniquities are gone over mine head: as an heavy burden they are too heavy for me.”
Yet, upon genuine confession of sin and repentance to the Lord, He has the power, by his grace, to break sin’s hold and to heal the person that has been involved in it.
Romans 5:20-21 states, “…where sin abounded, grace did much more abound: that as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord.”
Our responsibility and obligation does not lie in trying to heal or fix ourselves and how sin has broken us. No. Our responsibility and obligation is to return to the Lord. He will do the rest.
Knowing his power, God did not expect his people to heal themselves from sin’s hold. All he wanted them to do was to return to him by confessing that they had sinned against him, being sorry for this and yielding their lives to his control, his way and his Lordship and he would do the rest.
He told them in Jeremiah 3:21 and 22, “…for they have perverted their way, and they have forgotten the Lord their God… Return ye backsliding children, and I will heal your backslidings…”
In Hosea 14:4-7, he promised his people, if they returned:
- “ I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely: for mine anger is turned away from him. I will be as the dew unto Israel: he shall grow as the lily, and cast forth his roots as Lebanon. His branches shall spread, and his beauty shall be as the olive tree, and his smell as Lebanon. They that dwell under his shadow shall return; they shall revive as the corn, and grow as the vine: the scent thereof shall be as the wine of Lebanon.”
In 2 Chronicles 7:14, he also assured, “If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.”
In Hosea 6:1-2, it reads:
- “Come, and let us return unto the Lord: for he hath torn, and he will heal us; he hath smitten, and he will bind us up. After two days will he revive us: in the third day he will raise us up, and we shall live in his sight.”
(Written on 06th July, 2024, added to thereafter)