The Call To Return To God
Preparing the heart for Revival • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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“Yet even now,” declares the Lord, “Return to Me with all your heart,
And with fasting, weeping, and mourning; And tear your heart and not merely your garments.” Now return to the Lord your God,
For He is gracious and compassionate, Slow to anger, abounding in mercy and relenting of catastrophe.
What is Revival? It is the act of bringing something back to life, popularity, or strength, or the state of being restored after a period of decline.
So often spiritual decline happens due to sin that we have let into our lives.
“Yet even now,” declares the Lord, “Return to Me with all your heart, And with fasting, weeping, and mourning;
Revival starts when God’s people begins to repent of their sins.
The Lord through Joel tells His people to to return to Him with
All of their heart.
when repenting with fasting, weeping, and mourning it show us that it’s not suppose to be casual, but instead serious and sincere.
True revival involves brokenness over sin.
The call for repentance on the part of man is a call for him to return (šûḇ) to his creaturely (and covenant) dependence on God.
James D. G. Dunn (Author)
And tear your heart and not merely your garments.” Now return to the Lord your God, For He is gracious and compassionate, Slow to anger, abounding in mercy and relenting of catastrophe.
In the Old Testament, tearing your clothes was an outward expression of grief, repentance, and mourning.
People in the Bible would physically rip their garments to show something serious was happing in their heart.
But God was telling the people, dont just show repentance on the outside, but make sure it’s real on the inside.
So often we learn how to look repentant without actually being repentant.
We should experience true inner repentance, not just religious actions.
We can come down to the alter all day long, but if our hearts are not broken over our sin and sincerely repent then it doesn’t matter.
God is ready to forgive and restore!
God doesn’t want to pour His wrath out on us. He would rather us repent and turn back to Him so He can forgive us.
Then the Lord passed by in front of him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord God, compassionate and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in faithfulness and truth;
God’s grace is greater than His wrath.
