"Return, O faithless children, and I will heal your faithlessness." "Here we are. We come to You, for You are the LORD our God. Sermons
I. THE EVIL INDICATED. "Backsliding" is suggestive of a turning away from God, a departure from the path of truth and righteousness, a fall from some higher state of spiritual consciousness or moral life. This evil may assume different forms. It may consist: 1. In the loss of the simplicity and integrity of religious faith. In an age of mental restlessness like the present, men too easily lose their hold of truth, which is the very hope and life of their souls. We may look with perfect composure upon the conflict between truth and error as regards its general and ultimate issues, but dare not forget how disastrous its bearings upon the individual life may be. There are revolutions in the history of religious thought, as in the history of nations, which it is as vain to think of arresting as it would be to attempt to turn back the ocean tide; but it is a mournful thing when, under such conditions, the mind that once had a firm grasp of the vital elements of Christian truth has slipped from its moorings and drifted out into the wild sea of doubt and uncertainty. To a really earnest spirit the recovery of a lost faith is generally a painful process. How many have traveled back, as with wounded, bleeding feet, to positions of clearer vision and firmer standing which they once occupied, but in an evil hour had forsaken! As sometimes after a bright morning, which has been followed by a day of cloud and storm, there is again at sunset a glorious outbursting gleam of the radiance that had been obscured; so is it with their souls. They return to rest calmly in the truth that they had for a while lost sight of, and "at eventide," as in the morning, "it is light." 2. In the decline of religious feeling, the decay of those affections in which religious life consists. This is that secret spiritual "backsliding" that directly affects the soul's personal relation to God, and the consciousness of which sometimes extorts the bitter cry, "Oh that I were as in months past!" etc. (Job 29:2-4). It may arise from no change in religious belief. While a departure from the simplicity of the faith is generally connected with a lowering of the tone of religious feeling, the converse of this is not always true. But the faith has lost its life-giving force. The light it sheds has no warm, kindling glow. It is the light of the moon rather than the sun - clear and cold, having no power to quicken the frame of nature, to develop its beauty and fruitfulness, to awaken its music, and fill it with exulting joy. The carnalizing influences of the world, the wear and tear of daily life, inevitably lead to this internal spiritual decay, unless there is a perpetual renewal of the life "whose springs are hidden and Divine." 3. In practical departure from the standard of religious duty. The backsliding of the heart cannot long be concealed. It betrays itself in many ways - in a forsaking of the paths of Christian service, in some manifest lack of moral integrity, in a relapse into some form of vicious habit, perhaps in a complete loosening of the bonds of religious restraint, and utter abandonment to the pursuits of an ungodly life. It is of such a case that our Lord says, "If the salt have lost his savor," etc. (Matthew 5:13); and again, "No man, having put his hand to the plough," etc. (Luke 9:62); and St. Peter afterwards affirms, "It had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness," etc. (2 Peter 2:21). II. GOD'S METHOD OF HEALING. "I will heal your backslidings." This is the gracious persuasion by which he seeks to reclaim his children from their guilty wanderings. How may we expect him to fulfill the promise? 1. By awakening in us a vivid sense and penitent acknowledgment of the wrong. We can scarcely be delivered from it till we have seen all the sin and shame of it - its real meaning, the source from whence it springs, the end to which it leads. Until all this is deeply felt and freely confessed before God, the first step in the process of recovery has not been taken (see Psalm 51:3, 4; Psalm 32:5; 2 Corinthians 7:10, 11). 2. By moving us to trust simply in his forgiving and renewing mercy. Our only refuge is in the Divine mercy, and there is no other way of mercy than that which the gospel reveals. The guilt of our backslidings can alone be cancelled by the blood of Christ, and the secret cause of them removed by the grace of his Spirit (1 John 2:1, 2; 1 John 3:5-9). "There is no prescription for the sickness of the heart but that which is written in the Redeemer's blood," for in this alone have we both the pledge and the channel of the saving love of God. 3. By creating in us the energy of a nobler life: "Return," etc. It is a question, after all, of moral resolution and serf-determining spiritual power. "Full seldom does a man repent, or use 1. It is a call to come back to God; and that means, first, remember Him; begin to think of Him; let Him be a living God to you. 2. The next thing is, really turn to Him. 3. There is one word in this call from God which proves that you are invited to come back just as you are, He says, "Return, ye backsliding children"; not "Return, ye penitent children." I notice also that He does not say, "Heal your wounds first, and then come back to Me"; but He says, "Return, ye backsliding" children," with all your backslidings unhealed, — "and I will heal your backslidings." II. THE METHOD OF OBEYING THIS CALL. 1. He who would return to God, and find salvation, must distinctly renounce all other trust except that which God Himself gives him and sets before him in the Gospel. First, there must be a distinct renunciation of all righteousness of your own. The next thing that you must renounce is, your own strength. With that must also go all trust in your own knowledge and abilities, and even in your own understanding. 2. There must also be a hearty, true-minded acceptance of God alone as our one hope. Notice how the text says, "Truly in the Lord our God is the salvation of Israel." There must be no playing at this acceptance of God as our one hope; there must be no mocking of God by a pretended yielding up of ourselves to Him. It must be a true acceptance of God, to be our God henceforth and forever. ( C. H. Spurgeon.) II. A SHOCKING CALAMITY. Ye who once were as a lighthouse set upon a rock, to guide men, are now a delusion and a snare. Your light has gone out. What a corruption there would be if it were not for the salt of the ocean. When you were converted to God you were the salt in the ocean of humanity, but now the salt hath lost its power. You are useless, and humanity seethes in the pollution of sin. You live probably in a house where there are wicked ones; you work amongst swearers, and sceptics, and drunkards, but you are powerless. The salt has lost its savour. Oh, backslider, dismantled, ruined, empty, may God rebuild you! III. A LOVING MESSAGE. "Return." Have you read of the widow whose daughter fell into the pathway of wrong! One night the poor girl returned to her mother's cottage. She went up the garden path and stood in the little porchway, and, to her surprise, she saw the door a little way open. She pushed it and entered. She went into the little room which used to be her own, and found a night light burning there, and her bed ready, as it always had been. She lay upon the bed, and was awoke by her mother's kiss. "Mother, how is it that you left the door unlatched and the light burning?" "It was that you might not have a minute to wait when you came back." This is just the way in which our heavenly Father treats us. It is the essence of love! IV. A GRACIOUS PROMISE. Poor backslider, you are wretchedly miserable; for God's message has sunk very deep into your heart. You have drunk from the cup of sin; but you have also been bitten by the poisonous serpent, and the worm of unhappiness is gnawing at your heart. God says, "I will heal thy backslidings." He will not let wound keep running. He will heal it; not like the burns and scalds that have left terrible marks upon our flesh. When we return to God He heals the wound; and there shall be no mark left of it, for He says, "I have blotted out thy transgressions." (W. Birch.) II. THE TENDER EXPOSTULATION. "Return." Here were idolaters in the grossest sense, and yet were they called to return. Before any symptom of amendment, any humblings of soul, yet "Return." So "Hearken unto Me," not ye broken-hearted only that walk, or are beginning to walk, righteously, but "ye stout-hearted that are far from righteousness." What an aspect of tenderness! and what losers are they that see not this! The first overture was from God. The outstretched hand to an idolater, to a rebel. Oh, how clearly does it show us that if there were no election, there would be no salvation. Nature will reject all providences, all mercies, all overtures, even the outstretched hand of God. III. THE ANSWER. "Behold, we come unto Thee, for Thou art the Lord our God." See the overcoming power of love. There was reproof of their departures, expostulation with them for their sin, there was displeasure for their iniquities, but there was the most winning display of love in them all, and it was this which overcame. Force may compel, fear may deter, reason may persuade, and the Holy Spirit may use them all, but the great principle that moves the human heart is love. (J. H. Evans, M. A.) The Jews were a people prone to idolatry. Though favoured with peculiar privileges, they were "bent to backsliding." At the time when these words were addressed to them, Josiah sat on the throne. He was a pious king and strove to uproot idolatry. His efforts were seconded by Jeremiah; but both king and prophet failed. Many years before, the ten tribes of Israel, for their apostasy, had been carried into captivity. "And yet for all this her treacherous sister Judah hath not turned unto Me with her whole heart, but feignedly, saith the Lord" (ver. 10). This state of things deeply affected the prophet's mind, and caused him to give utterance to the most plaintive and pathetic language.I. THE CHARACTERS ADDRESSED. "Backsliding children." 1. These are undutiful children. They have proved unfaithful to their solemn vows and sacred obligations — to their Christian brethren — to their God and Father. He said, "Surely they are My people, children that will not lie"; but they "turned back and dealt unfaithfully like their fathers; they were turned aside like a deceitful bow." What crime can equal that of rebellion against parental authority? An unfaithful servant or steward is bad enough, but an unfaithful, undutiful child is vastly worse. 2. Ungrateful children. And theirs is ingratitude of the basest kind. It resembles the ingratitude of a freed slave who forgets his emancipator, and sells himself again into bondage. 3. Unwise children. Are they not unwise who forsake their own mercies and follow after lying vanities; who prefer broken cisterns to the fountain of living waters? 4. Unhappy children. They are often unhappy in their circumstances. Others may enjoy the world, but they cannot. Recollections of their "lost Paradise," and apprehensions of future wrath, tend to embitter every earthly comfort. 5. Unsafe children. Heaven's just wrath is awakened against them. Hell's blackest gloom and fiercest flame await them. 6. But children still though they have forfeited the privileges of adoption, and have been deprived of the witness of the Spirit, their relation to God as their Creator is not dissolved, and their former interest in His favour is not forgotten. II. THE INVITATION GIVEN. "Return." 1. By sincere repentance. 2. Earnest prayer. 3. Evangelical faith — faith in Christ. 4. Renewed self-dedication. III. THE PROMISE MADE. "I will heal your backslidings." The Lord heals backslidings in many ways, — frequently by restoring. 1. Providential blessings. Many men are chastised here that they may not be punished hereafter. The Israelites never departed from God without feeling the effects of His displeasure in their temporal circumstances. 2. Peace of conscience. 3. Purity of heart. How polluted is the heart of a backslider! His last state is worse than his first. 4. Honour and usefulness. (J. Hodgson.) Behold, we come unto Thee; for Thou art the Lord our God I. IT PROCEEDS FROM THE INMOST HEART.1. Weeping (ver. 21). 2. Shame (ver. 25). II. IT IS FREE FROM ALL DISSIMULATION. Its principle is sorrow at having grieved God by the abuse of His love (ver. 21). III. IT IS MADE KNOWN BY THE HONEST FRUITS OF REPENTANCE. 1. Apostasies healed (ver. 22). 2. Detestation of evil (ver. 24). 3. Yearning for the Lord (ver. 25). ( Origen.) I. WHAT IS IT FOR SINNERS TO COME TO GOD?1. A relinquishing of everything that is contrary to God, and keeps us at a distance from Him. 2. A making use of Christ as the way to God.(1) There would have been no place for repentance if Christ had not interposed with His blood.(2) There never would have been any principle or exercise of repentance if Christ did not produce it by His Spirit. 3. A giving up of ourselves to God, and resting in Him as our end. II. HOW SHOULD SINNERS COME TO GOD, IN OBEDIENCE TO THE PRECEPT, AND UPON THE ENCOURAGEMENT OF THE PROMISE? 1. How must they come in obedience to the precept?(1) Sinners are to come to God humbly; and that in consideration of the command of God, upon two accounts. All acts of obedience to God are to be performed with humbleness of mind. Returning to God after former acts of disobedience requires special humiliation.(2) We are to come to God readily. When God is so kind to admit your return, there is no reason that He should wait for it. 2. How must they come upon the encouragement of the promise?(1) Sinners are to come to God believingly, with regard to the promise: for these two reasons, —(a) If faith be not the spring of all our motions towards God, they cannot be acceptable to Him.(b) The promise does encourage such a faith, as much as we need or can desire. Besides His gracious entreaties, affectionate offers, importunate pleadings, you have His positive assurances that He will receive you if you return (2 Corinthians 6:17).(2) Sinners must come joyfully to God. The promise is ground of rejoicing, as well as of hope and trust; and God never designed that our sorrow for sin should be so extreme as to stifle or drown the joy of conversion. God who makes the promise rejoices in the performance (Zephaniah 3:17; Luke 15:15). We who have the benefit of the promise must needs be still doubtful of it if we do not rejoice in it. If we had faith suitable to the faithfulness of God, it would transport the soul into an ecstasy, that we who have lifted up our heels so oft against God should be taken into His arms. III. WHEREIN LIES THE BLESSEDNESS OF THIS? 1. When a sinner comes back to God he is brought out of a most miserable, wilderness condition, wherein if he had remained he must have perished. 2. When a sinner comes to God salvation comes to him. 3. When a sinner comes home to God, all his fellow creatures shall be some way or other serviceable to him, either willingly and gladly, or by constraint and over-ruling necessity. 4. When a sinner is come to God he must visit God by prayer in all his necessities, and be sure of sufficient relief. 5. A sinner that is come to God may sweetly walk and converse with God, through the residue of his life; and the benefit and sweetness of such communion is not to be imagined by those that have it not; they that are far from God can be no judges of the blessedness of those that are near unto Him. 6. A sinner that is come to God may go to Him with comfort and confidence at death, whether sooner or later. IV. USE. 1. This shows that they who will not come to God are not come to themselves (Luke 15:17). 2. Ministers will have a dreadful and unpleasing account to give of those whom they leave unpersuaded. 3. God will be justified in their condemnation, to whom His precepts and promises avail nothing. 4. The devil can lay no blocks in our way against our coming unto God but what we may easily remove or courageously leap over, if we look no further than this text. 5. How unreasonable would it be if any of the storms we meet with in our way to God should ever drive us back, or shipwreck our faith! 6. How happy would it be if the efficacy of this doctrine were equal to the concernment of it! It extends to all that are born into the world, and therefore should operate upon all. (T. Cruso.) I. THE STATE OF THE PERSONS HERE ADDRESSED. "Backsliding children."1. They had forgotten the Lord their God. All sin may be traced to this. God is forgotten by us. We forget the majesty and purity of His nature; His nearness to us; that His eye is ever upon us; and that darkness and light are both alike to Him. We forget His unspeakable love and goodness, and our manifold, increasing obligations. Strange that, amidst innumerable tokens of remembrance, we should be careless and thoughtless! 2. They had perverted their way. This is the natural effect of forgetting God. Have not we perverted our way? In innumerable instances we have struggled against the voice of reason, the voice of conscience, the voice of God; and, against the plainest dictates of His Word, have wandered in foolish, forbidden paths. 3. They were filled with painful regret. "The high places" were the seat of Israel's idolatry: there they committed abomination, and provoked the Holy One of Israel to anger. But where they sinned, there they gave vent to their sorrow; and there they supplicated Divine forgiveness and favour. And, truly, if we are the subjects of genuine repentance, we shall do the same: where we have sinned, we shall sorrow too. II. THE GRACIOUS LANGUAGE OF GOD TO THESE BACKSLIDING CHILDREN. 1. A friendly call. "Return." Doubtless authority marks this word, and the word of Jehovah is never to be trifled with. It is an invitation given; but it is also a command, which may not be slighted; a solemn charge, which cannot with impunity be refused. 2. A precious promise. "I will heal," etc.(1) Backsliding inflicts a disease, a dangerous and fatal disease. But the promise before us implies that God is ready to restore health and cure.(2) The effects of sin are numerous and destructive. Sin not only dishonours God, and wounds the soul, but it creates a thick cloud of mental darkness: it is the fruitful source of trouble and disquietude. But when the Lord promises to "heal" backslidings, He engages to extract this bitterness, to avert this punishment.(3) The promise here is not indiscriminately given; it is to the sinner that "returns" to God. "Return, and I will heal your backslidings." He does this by an act of sovereign favour (Micah 7:18, 19). III. THE OBEDIENT REPLY OF THESE PEOPLE. 1. This reply is practical: "We tome unto Thee." As the prodigal: he did not spend his time in fruitless wishes or satisfy himself with good intentions and right resolutions: his language was, "I will arise, and go to my father." Immediately, "he arose, and came to his father." 2. The reply is prompt; made with the utmost readiness, and given without the least demur. The call is, "Return"; the answer instantly subjoined is, "Behold, we come." It reminds us of the promptness of the Psalmist, in his compliance with the voice of heaven (Psalm 27:8). 3. The reply is deliberate. The note of attention intimates this. "Behold! we come." Though the penitent believer is ready, he is not rash; though, under the influence of Divine grace, he soon determines, he does it advisedly; his repentance is of that kind which never needs to be repented of. 4. The reply is unanimous. Here is the prayer and resolution of the Church: she prays as one person, actuated by one spirit draw me: she resolves as many persons, answering, with cheerful concurrence, "we" will run after Thee. 5. The reply springs from a clear conviction of duty, interest, and obligation. "Thou art the Lord our God." It is the language of faith, and hope, and love; especially of gratitude, and self-dedication. (T. Kidd.) 1. In the first place, we see what a true recovery from this state really is, "Behold, we come unto Thee." This is true repentance. It is coming back to God, a returning home. There may be a turning to doctrinal comfort, and no returning to God. Till this, the backsliding continues. "Behold, we come to Thee," say all returning backsliders; we come and lay our sins, our idols, ourselves, at Thy feet. And nothing short of this is real repentance, anything short of this is, under fair pretexts, soul deceptions.2. But what else does it imply? Returning by the right way — faith. There is no real return to God but in the way we first met Him — in Jesus: "No man cometh unto the Father but by Me." All the tears, all the sorrow and resolutions of amendment, have no power to bring us back to God. But when faith lays hold upon Jesus and His great atonement, it brings me up at once to God. I hang back no more. I hide myself no more. I make no vain excuses now. I hate my sins. I lie low. It is a valley, and it suits the lowly lily well. 3. And who is the author of all this? The same blessed Spirit who first revealed Jesus, and God the Father in Him. And nothing short of this. When sin in any measure regains power, deadening process instantly begins. The soul is commanded to confess; but in proportion to the length of time of the departure, and the degree of power of it, there seems an inability to confess. There is a want of spiritual sensibility. Oh then, how should we beware of the first "appearance of evil"! "Beware, lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin." 4. Consider the great motive by which it is led back, the motive by which He works. It is the overcoming power of love. There was displeasure. Wounds were inflicted, wounds pungent and trying — wounds full of anguish were they, such as no human balm could assuage; but it was but the varied countenance of love. These wounds did but speak two things — His unsullied holiness, and equally His untiring love.The subject has a two-fold bearing. First, as it regards our treatment of others, then that of our own souls. 1. First, others. We are all, as saints, more or less called amid our familiar friends and associates, to deal with those in whom we hope there is a spark of grace, yet little true, spiritual, holy light. 2. And now a few words to the believer in reference to himself. It may be that some one may be conscious — This is my own state. I have been not merely today, nor yesterday, but for many yesterdays, departing from God. Alas! that this should be so common. But, however, trifle not with it. It is not to be trifled with. Seek instant healing. Tarry not. Every instant of delay only increases the disease. Nothing but the blood of the Lamb can heal. Take heard that it be applied by none but the Holy Spirit. (J. H. Evans, M. A.) Lady Glenorchy, in her diary, relates her being seized with a fever, which threatened her life, "during the course of which," she says, "the first question of the Assembly's Catechism was brought to my mind — 'What is the chief end of man?' — as if some one had asked it. When I considered the answer to it, — 'To glorify, God and to enjoy Him forever,' — I was struck with shame and confusion. I found I had never sought to glorify God in my life, nor had I any idea of what was meant by enjoying Him forever. Death and judgment were set before me; my past sins came to my remembrance; I saw no way to escape the punishment due unto them, nor had I the least glimmering hope of obtaining pardon through the righteousness of another." From this unhappy state she was shortly after delivered, by faith in the Lord Jesus.(W. Whitecross.) You may pound a lump of ice with a pestle into a thousand fragments, but it will still continue ice. But bring it beside your own bright and blazing fire, and soon in that genial glow, the living waters flow. A man may try to make himself contrite. He may search out his sins and dwell on all their enormity and still feel no repentance. But come to Jesus with His words of grace and truth. Let that flinty, stony spirit bask in the beams of the Sun of Righteousness, then will it melt.(James Hamilton.) It is as when a man is in court, and is called for, to go into the witness box. He is standing in the crowd, and his name is celled: what happens? As soon as he hears his name he begins to push through the throng to reach his place. "What are you at?" says one. "I am called," says he. "Stand back; why do you push so!" says another. "I am called by the judge," says he. A big policeman demands, "Why are you making such confusion in court?" But, says the man, "I am called. My name was called out, and I must go." If he cannot come, if it is not possible for him to get through the throng, one of the authorities calls out, "Make way for that man — he is summoned by the court. Officers, clear a passage and let him come." Such is the kind of response which God looks for as He calls sinners to repentance. "Behold, we come unto Thee; for Thou art the Lord our God."For many. years the trees of the forest had been lopped, and now, though the new ownership and laws forbade that any hatchet should be lifted up upon any tree, they could not outgrow the olden days. The drunkard is such a pollarded tree, he may stop drinking, but his body will long suffer. The same applies to all unchastity. Sometimes the mind rather than the body suffers, and memories of sin deform the intellectual powers, even after the sin is discontinued. False teaching is another form of lopping, affecting the soul. What branches of Bible truth some are giving up, with the result of hindered and deformed growth — growth never recovered. Thus in the natural, physical, mental, and spiritual realm lopping is a serious business.People Jeremiah, JosiahPlaces Assyria, Jerusalem, ZionTopics Backsliding, Backslidings, Behold, Cause, Cease, Cure, Desire, Faithless, Faithlessness, Heal, O, Return, Sons, Turn, Wandering, YesOutline 1. God's great mercy to Judah the polluted land6. Judah is worse than Israel 12. The promises of the gospel to the penitent 20. Israel reproved, and called by God, makes a solemn confession of their sins Dictionary of Bible Themes Jeremiah 3:22 5333 healing Library Gregory the Patriarch and the Society at Kunwald, 1457-1473. A brilliant idea is an excellent thing. A man to work it out is still better. At the very time when Peter's followers were marshalling their forces, John Rockycana,5 Archbishop-elect of Prague (since 1448), was making a mighty stir in that drunken city. What Peter had done with his pen, Rockycana was doing with his tongue. He preached Peter's doctrines in the great Thein Church; he corresponded with him on the burning topics of the day; he went to see him at his estate; he recommended his works … J. E. Hutton—History of the Moravian Church Stanzas by the Warden Concerning the Ministry. "The Heritage of the Heathen" How the Impudent and Bashful are to be Admonished. How those are to be Admonished who have had Experience of the Sins of the Flesh, and those who have Not. Conversion of all that Come. The Saints' Privilege and Profit; Assurance Sign Seekers, and the Enthusiast Reproved. The Call of Matthew - the Saviour's Welcome to Sinners - Rabbinic Theology as Regards the Doctrine of Forgiveness in Contrast to the Gospel of Christ Backsliding. The Covenant of Grace Bunyan's Last Sermon --Preached July 1688. Mr. Bunyan's Last Sermon: Concerning Justification. Messiah's Easy Yoke "They have Corrupted Themselves; their Spot is not the Spot of his Children; they are a Perverse and Crooked Generation. " The Divine Jesus. Jeremiah Links Jeremiah 3:22 NIVJeremiah 3:22 NLT Jeremiah 3:22 ESV Jeremiah 3:22 NASB Jeremiah 3:22 KJV Jeremiah 3:22 Bible Apps Jeremiah 3:22 Parallel Jeremiah 3:22 Biblia Paralela Jeremiah 3:22 Chinese Bible Jeremiah 3:22 French Bible Jeremiah 3:22 German Bible Jeremiah 3:22 Commentaries Bible Hub |
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