RETURN TO GOD

Malachi 3:6–7 (NLT) — 6 “I am the Lord, and I do not change. That is why you descendants of Jacob are not already destroyed. 7 Ever since the days of your ancestors, you have scorned my decrees and failed to obey them. Now return to me, and I will return to you,” says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies. “But you ask, ‘How can we return when we have never gone away?’

Here God confronts his servants

They had run away from their Master, and quitted the work he gave them to do

You have gone away from my ordinances and have not kept them.

The ordinances of God’s worship were the business which as servants they must do

they deviated from the rule that God had prescribed to them, and betrayed the trust lodged with them.

They had revolted from God, not only in worship, but in conversation; they had not kept his ordinances.

This disobedience they were chargeable with, and had been guilty of, even from the days of their fathers

Now, for some time past, you have fallen off from what you were, when first believed.

you came back out of captivity.” Ezra owns it in one particular instance: Since the days of our fathers have we been in a great trespass unto this day

Now observe,

What a gracious invitation God gives them to return and repent: “Return unto me, and to your duty, return to your service, return to your allegiance, return as a traveller that has missed his way, as a soldier that has run his colours, as a treacherous wife that has gone away from her husband; return, thou backsliding Israel, return to me;

and then I will return unto you and be reconciled, will remove the judgments you are under and prevent those you fear.

"How can you preach 52 Sundays a year without mentioning repentance, holiness, Heaven and Hell, forgiveness and living your life for God"

Jeremiah 3:1–5 (NLT) — 1 “If a man divorces a woman and she goes and marries someone else, he will not take her back again, for that would surely corrupt the land. But you have prostituted yourself with many lovers, so why are you trying to come back to me?” says the Lord. 2 “Look at the shrines on every hilltop. Is there any place you have not been defiled by your adultery with other gods? You sit like a prostitute beside the road waiting for a customer. You sit alone like a nomad in the desert. You have polluted the land with your prostitution and your wickedness. 3 That’s why even the spring rains have failed. For you are a brazen prostitute and completely shameless. 4 Yet you say to me, ‘Father, you have been my guide since my youth. 5 Surely you won’t be angry forever! Surely you can forget about it!’ So you talk, but you keep on doing all the evil you can.”

The first verse alludes to Deuteronomy 24:1–4. There it is established that if a woman is divorced and marries another, she cannot divorce the second and return to the first.

Sadly, the people of Judah have “lived as a prostitute with many lovers” (3:1)—and now they make noises about coming back to the Lord as if there is no problem.

They think they can saunter into God’s presence and nostalgically pray, “My Father, my friend from my youth, will you always be angry?” (3:4–5)

As if approaching this vastly offended God is an easy matter, as if the results were a foregone conclusion, as if whatever difficulty that remains lies with God and his unyielding anger.

But God’s perspective is rather different. He quietly comments, “This is how you talk, but you do all the evil you can” (3:5).

Pretensions of repentance, promises of allegiance, and pretty allusions to a past relationship mean nothing to God in comparison with present performance.

Religious habits often hides not only ungodly behavior, but a secret lust to do evil (3:5)—though the person doing the evil is usually so blind that he or she cannot label it as evil.

The northern nation of Israel was caught in spiritual adultery, and God gave her “a certificate of divorce” (3:6–8): she was sent off into exile in 722 b.c. under the Assyrian king, Sargon II.

From this, her sister Judah learned nothing: a century later she did what her sister Israel did, but with even less excuse since she had seen what had happened to Israel (3:9ff.).

To what extent is contemporary evangelicalism selling out the Gospel, having learned almost nothing from the somewhat similar capsize of Protestant confessionalism about a hundred years ago?

Jude 3–4 (NLT) — 3 Dear friends, I had been eagerly planning to write to you about the salvation we all share. But now I find that I must write about something else, urging you to defend the faith that God has entrusted once for all time to his holy people. 4 I say this because some ungodly people have wormed their way into your churches, saying that God’s marvelous grace allows us to live immoral lives. The condemnation of such people was recorded long ago, for they have denied our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.

Jude 7 (NLT) — 7 And don’t forget Sodom and Gomorrah and their neighboring towns, which were filled with immorality and every kind of sexual perversion. Those cities were destroyed by fire and serve as a warning of the eternal fire of God’s judgment.

Romans 6:1–4 (NKJV) — 1 What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? 2 Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it? 3 Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? 4 Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.

2 Chronicles 7:14 (NKJV) — 14 if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.

Jeremiah 9:1–10 “Oh, that my head were waters, And my eyes a fountain of tears, That I might weep day and night For the slain of the daughter of my people! Oh, that I had in the wilderness— A lodging place for travelers; That I might leave my people, And go from them! For they are all adulterers, An assembly of treacherous men. “And like their bow they have bent their tongues for lies. They are not valiant for the truth on the earth. For they proceed from evil to evil, And they do not know Me,” says the Lord. “Everyone take heed to his neighbor, And do not trust any brother; For every brother will utterly supplant, And every neighbor will walk with slanderers. Everyone will deceive his neighbor, And will not speak the truth; They have taught their tongue to speak lies; They weary themselves to commit iniquity. Your dwelling place is in the midst of deceit; Through deceit they refuse to know Me,” says the Lord. Therefore thus says the Lord of hosts: “Behold, I will refine them and try them; For how shal…”

Jeremiah 9:23–24 “Thus says the Lord: “Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, Let not the mighty man glory in his might, Nor let the rich man glory in his riches; But let him who glories glory in this, That he understands and knows Me, That I am the Lord, exercising lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth. For in these I delight,” says the Lord.”

[Isaiah 58:11 NKJV] 11 The LORD will guide you continually, And satisfy your soul in drought, And strengthen your bones; You shall be like a watered garden, And like a spring of water, whose waters do not fail.

Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound

Exodus 32:8 (NLT) — 8 How quickly they have turned away from the way I commanded them to live! They have melted down gold and made a calf, and they have bowed down and sacrificed to it. They are saying, ‘These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you out of the land of Egypt.’ ”

Deuteronomy 4:30 (NLT) — 30 “In the distant future, when you are suffering all these things, you will finally return to the Lord your God and listen to what he tells you.

Deuteronomy 30:2 (NLT) — 2 If at that time you and your children return to the Lord your God, and if you obey with all your heart and all your soul all the commands I have given you today,

Joshua 1:7 (NLT) — 7 Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the instructions Moses gave you. Do not deviate from them, turning either to the right or to the left. Then you will be successful in everything you do.

Joshua 23:6 (NLT) — 6 “So be very careful to follow everything Moses wrote in the Book of Instruction. Do not deviate from it, turning either to the right or to the left.

1 Kings 8:33 (NLT) — 33 “If your people Israel are defeated by their enemies because they have sinned against you, and if they turn to you and acknowledge your name and pray to you here in this Temple,

1 Kings 8:58 (NLT) — 58 May he give us the desire to do his will in everything and to obey all the commands, decrees, and regulations that he gave our ancestors.

2 Kings 17:15 (NLT) — 15 They rejected his decrees and the covenant he had made with their ancestors, and they despised all his warnings. They worshiped worthless idols, so they became worthless themselves. They followed the example of the nations around them, disobeying the Lord’s command not to imitate them.

2 Chronicles 30:6 (NLT) — 6 At the king’s command, runners were sent throughout Israel and Judah. They carried letters that said: “O people of Israel, return to the Lord, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, so that he will return to the few of us who have survived the conquest of the Assyrian kings.

2 Chronicles 30:9 (NLT) — 9 “For if you return to the Lord, your relatives and your children will be treated mercifully by their captors, and they will be able to return to this land. For the Lord your God is gracious and merciful. If you return to him, he will not continue to turn his face from you.”

Ezra 9:7 (NLT) — 7 From the days of our ancestors until now, we have been steeped in sin. That is why we and our kings and our priests have been at the mercy of the pagan kings of the land. We have been killed, captured, robbed, and disgraced, just as we are today.

Isaiah 44:22 (NLT) — 22 I have swept away your sins like a cloud. I have scattered your offenses like the morning mist. Oh, return to me, for I have paid the price to set you free.”

Isaiah 55:7 (NLT) — 7 Let the wicked change their ways and banish the very thought of doing wrong. Let them turn to the Lord that he may have mercy on them. Yes, turn to our God, for he will forgive generously.

Jeremiah 7:25–26 (NLT) — 25 From the day your ancestors left Egypt until now, I have continued to send my servants, the prophets—day in and day out. 26 But my people have not listened to me or even tried to hear. They have been stubborn and sinful—even worse than their ancestors.

Jeremiah 15:19 (NLT) — 19 This is how the Lord responds: “If you return to me, I will restore you so you can continue to serve me. If you speak good words rather than worthless ones, you will be my spokesman. You must influence them; do not let them influence you!

Jeremiah 16:11–12 (NLT) — 11 “Then you will give them the Lord’s reply: ‘It is because your ancestors were unfaithful to me. They worshiped other gods and served them. They abandoned me and did not obey my word. 12 And you are even worse than your ancestors! You stubbornly follow your own evil desires and refuse to listen to me.

Jeremiah 24:7 (NLT) — 7 I will give them hearts that recognize me as the Lord. They will be my people, and I will be their God, for they will return to me wholeheartedly.

Ezekiel 18:32 (NLT) — 32 I don’t want you to die, says the Sovereign Lord. Turn back and live!

Joel 2:13 (NLT) — 13 Don’t tear your clothing in your grief, but tear your hearts instead.” Return to the Lord your God, for he is merciful and compassionate, slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love. He is eager to relent and not punish.

Amos 2:4 (NLT) — 4 This is what the Lord says: “The people of Judah have sinned again and again, and I will not let them go unpunished! They have rejected the instruction of the Lord, refusing to obey his decrees. They have been led astray by the same lies that deceived their ancestors.

Zechariah 1:3 (NLT) — 3 Therefore, say to the people, ‘This is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies says: Return to me, and I will return to you, says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.’

Malachi 1:2 (NLT) — 2 “I have always loved you,” says the Lord. But you retort, “Really? How have you loved us?” And the Lord replies, “This is how I showed my love for you: I loved your ancestor Jacob,

Malachi 1:6 (NLT) — 6 The Lord of Heaven’s Armies says to the priests: “A son honors his father, and a servant respects his master. If I am your father and master, where are the honor and respect I deserve? You have shown contempt for my name! “But you ask, ‘How have we ever shown contempt for your name?’

Malachi 2:8 (NLT) — 8 But you priests have left God’s paths. Your instructions have caused many to stumble into sin. You have corrupted the covenant I made with the Levites,” says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.

Malachi 3:8 (NLT) — 8 “Should people cheat God? Yet you have cheated me! “But you ask, ‘What do you mean? When did we ever cheat you?’ “You have cheated me of the tithes and offerings due to me.

Malachi 3:13 (NLT) — 13 “You have said terrible things about me,” says the Lord. “But you say, ‘What do you mean? What have we said against you?’

Acts 7:51 (NLT) — 51 “You stubborn people! You are heathen at heart and deaf to the truth. Must you forever resist the Holy Spirit? That’s what your ancestors did, and so do you!

James 4:8 (NLT) — 8 Come close to God, and God will come close to you. Wash your hands, you sinners; purify your hearts, for your loyalty is divided between God and the world.