A Spiritual Comeback

“A Spiritual Comeback”

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I enjoyed all of the Rocky movies; Rocky was the comeback king. Rocky would get beat-up round after round; he would get out-boxed, out-punched for fourteen rounds, he would get knocked down several times in the fight, yet in the fifteen round… (Rocky music) Rocky would come back and win the fight.

Jacob is a lot like Rocky; Jacob has been beat round after round in his life by his own sin, and disobedience. His disobedience had brought sin, shame, bruises and wounds into his family.

At the end of , Jacob has been knocked down by sin and disobedience to God. His only daughter, Dinah has been raped, two of his sons have murdered the young man that raped her; and all the men in the village. Jacob’s testimony has been destroyed. He is a disobedient, backslidden, beat-up Christian, who has lost control of his family. He is far from being the man that God has called him to be!

You look at Jacob and you think, he’s down for the count this time; he’ll never get back up! 10-9-8-7…

Sin has blacked his eyes, bloodied his lip, sin has worked him over! The question is can Jacob make a spiritual comeback?

Maybe you here this morning and you have been knocked down and out spiritually by your sin and disobeyed. Sin will put you against the ropes; and pound you to a pulp! The wages of sin is death!

The way of the transgressor is hard.

And as a child of God when you sin and rebel against your heavenly father; He will allow the power of sin to knock you to your knees. Jacob is a man who has experienced the consequences of sin, he is reaping the heartache, defeat, shame, guilt and fear that sin brings. Jacob is a beaten man, a defeated man, a miserable man, because he is out of the will of God, he’s backslidden on God.

How many of you are Baptist… Who are backslidden?

If there has ever been a time when you loved Jesus more than you love Him now; a time when you were more excited about God than you are right now; a time when you were close to the Lord than you are right now, you are backslidden. If you are not as close to God as you once were, it is your fault, the bible says, "If you draw near to God, God will draw near to you."

I heard the story about a farmer and his wife who were driving to town in their old pickup truck. The farmer was sitting behind the wheel in silence. His wife was sitting over against the door, as far from her husband as she could get. After several miles she said, you know, when we were first married we didn't sit this far apart. Her husband simply replied, "I ain't the one that moved.

If you’re not as close to God as you once were, guess who moved. Jacob had been knocked down by his sin; yet God in grace speaks to Jacob and tells him how he can have a spiritual comeback. What was involved in Jacob’s spiritual comeback; is the same thing that’s involved in you having a spiritual comeback.

There are three necessities to having a spiritual comeback.

Necessity #1:

1. Abandoned Sin!

V:1-4.

God speaks to Jacob in

V:1-“Arise, go up to Bethel and dwell there; and make an altar there to God, who appeared to you when you fled from the face of Esau your brother”.

God told Jacob arise; get up out of this place of disobedience and sin, and go to Bethel. Bethel is the place where Jacob first met God.

Bethel is the place where Jacob saw the ladder from earth to heaven, it is the place where Jacob made a vow to God. Bethel was the place where he met God and was saved! It was the most important place in Jacob’s life. When he left that place he left with joy in his heart and a spring in his step. But that was over 20 years ago; he’d spent 20 years serving his uncle Laban in Haran, and had been living in Shechem for several years. He had lost the joy of his salvation, he had lost his fellowship with God. He had been living in disobedience to God in Shechem and it had cost him dearly. Now, God is calling Jacob back to the place of his salvation and commitment to the Lord!

Return to me, return to the place of your salvation and commitment to me. Do you have a personal Bethel in your life? A place where you met the Lord Jesus Christ and were saved? Maybe it was:

· A revival meeting.

· A VBS.

· A youth camp.

· Sunday morning, Sunday night, Wednesday night.

That day will always be special to you; that place will always be special to you; is the place where you experienced pardon from sin, and peace with God. There must be a place and time in your life when you’re saved! The greatest day of my life was July 22, 1981 the day I trusted Jesus Christ as my Savior and Lord!

Have you lost the joy of your salvation? Have you allowed sin and self and this world to rob you of the joy of your salvation? Are you backslidden on God today! Has Sin knocked you down and out spiritually?

God’s word to Jacob was Return to Bethel; that meant to repent of sin, and return to God!!

V:2-4-“Then Jacob said unto his household, and to all that were with him, Put away the strange gods that are among you, and be clean, and change your garments: And let us arise, and go up to Bethel; and I will make there an altar unto God, who answered me in the day of my distress, and was with me in the way which I went. And they gave unto Jacob all the strange gods which were in their hand, and all their earrings which were in their ears; and Jacob hid them under the oak which was by Shechem.

A spiritual comeback starts with repentance; abandoning sin and turning back to God!

-“You turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God”.

Jacob’s family had idols in their lives; Rachel had brought idols from her father Laban’s house.

No doubt they had picked up idols from Shechem when they destroyed the city. The Canaanites worshiped all kinds of false gods and idols; and Jacob’s family had picked up these idols as they journey through the land of Canaan.

He tells his family we’re going to go to Bethel; and were going to build an altar to God; but in order to do that we must get rid of the idols that we have. You cannot worship God with sin and idols in your life.

God’s people must abandon idols in their lives. Jacob said the idols must be forsaken!

V:4, they bring the false gods, idols to Jacob, and the jewel that was shaped like idols and the moon god and Jacob buried them under the oak which was by Shechem”. To get right with God meant getting rid of the false gods. When I talk about idolatry today people’s eyes glaze over. Because they don’t think there’s is any such thing as idolatry in America.

But I want to tell you; idolatry is alive and well in America!

Our idols look different than they did in Jacob’s day; but there idols just the same.

An idol is anything that is more important to you than God.

Martin Luther said,” Whatever you make the most of; is you’re God”.

An idol is not just some sinful and bad thing; and idol can be something good; but we put it before God.

We are to love God more than anything in this world; he alone deserves first place in our hearts and minds.

You can make an idol out of:

· Money.

· Alcohol.

· Sports.

· Vehicles-boats, cars, RVs.

The biggest god in America is self; what I want is more important than what God says.

An idol is anything that is more important to you than God.

Jimmy Needham in his song-“Clear the stage” says an idol is:

· Anything I put before my God is an idol.

· Anything I want with all my heart is an idol.

· Anything I can’t stop thinking of is an idol.

· Anything that I give all my love is an idol.

Whatever takes the place of God in our lives; must be taken from the throne of our heart, if are going to have a spiritual comeback.

V:2- and be clean, and change your garments…

This was symbolic of cleaning sin out of their lives; and changing their garments was a symbol of changing their lifestyle. Jacob was saying it’s time to take off the old garments of sin, flesh and put on the new garments of obedience to God! We have an opportunity for a fresh beginning!

The first step toward Bethel; the place where you meet God; is to abandon sin. Get rid of the idols, confess your sin, and change your lifestyle.

Jacob tells his family this; Jacob has gotten right with God and is becoming the spiritual leader in his family. Dads, it is never too late to become the spiritual leader in your family!

And Jacob’s family responded; V:4-“They gave Jacob all the strange gods which were in their hand and Jacob buried them under the oak which was by Shechem”

If you have some idol in your life this morning; dig a hole and bury it. There is a tree you can go to this morning and be set-free from idols. It is not an oak tree; it’s Calvary’s tree, the tree that Jesus died on. And you can come to that tree by faith and confess your sin and experience cleansing, forgiveness and freedom through the blood of Jesus Christ.

Do you want to have a spiritual comeback? The first thing you must do is Abandon sin!

The second necessity to have a spiritual comeback is to:

2. Encounter God!

V:6-9.

Jacob and his family leave Shechem and travel some 25 miles to Bethel. We are told that God is present and protects them as they traveled to Bethel. The presence of God comes upon the life of the person who will confess and forsake their sin; and begin to walk in obedience.

When Jacob arrives in Bethel, V:7-“And he built there an altar and called the place El-beth’el: because there God appeared unto him, when he fled from the face of his brother”.

Jacob changes the name of the place from Bethel; to El-Bethel’el.

The name Bethel means –“the house of God”

The word El is the name for God which means-“the almighty one”

Jacob renames the place, “the God of the house of God”

Jacob had gone beyond just being at the house of God; to meeting the God of the house of God!

It is a tragedy to come to the house of God; and missed the God of the house. I thank God for the house; but coming to this house doesn’t mean you’re going to meet God.

Don’t make the mistake of thinking coming to church is the same thing as meeting God. There are people who come to God’s house every week. They bring their Bibles, they give their money, they sing the songs, they hear the sermons, but they miss God! You can sit in church; and be a long way from God! What you and I need; is to experience what Jacob experienced. He not only went to Bethel, the house of God; he had an encounter with God that changed his life!

Don’t be content to come to church and go through the motions.

I heard about this lawyer who had just graduated from law school and he was sitting in his brand new office on his first day of work. He was waiting on his first client to come through the door. Well, a man came walking through the door and he decided he ought to look busy, so he picked up his phone and started talking. He said, Well John, I don't know if I can take your case or not. I'm really covered up with clients, and my practice is booming. I'm having tremendous success. I'm in great demand. Call me back in a month and I'll see if I can help you. He then looked up at his visitor and said, May I help you? The man said, well not really I'm here from the phone company to hook up your telephone.

Don’t just go through the motions! Don’t just act like you’re connected to God; be sure he’s on the other end of the line! While we are thankful to God for church buildings, and holy sites, and the holy land. A holy site, must never take the place of a Holy God!

Here at Bethel Jacob had an encounter with the living God, V:9-“And God appeared unto Jacob again and blessed him”.

What a blessing when you go to church; and God shows up, and you meet with him and he blesses you!

In this encounter with God Jacob is reminded by God who he is to be.V:10-“your name shall no longer be Jacob, but Israel, you are a child of God, a Prince with God, live like it!

The presence of God brought an awareness of who Jacob was in the eyes of God – Jacob is reminded who he is! Israel God’s chosen man, a Prince with God.

He is also reminded who God is, V:11-12-“And God said unto him, I am God Almighty: be fruitful and multiply; a nation and a company of nations shall come from you, and kings shall come from you; and the land which I gave Abraham and Isaac, to you I give it, and your seed after you will I give the land”.

The name for God in, V:11, is the name El-Shaddai, the Almighty God who makes things happen by his great power and might!

Jacob has an encounter with God who could and would fulfill all of his promises to him.

A real encounter with God will remind you of who you are in him; and who He is; the Almighty, powerful God who fulfills every promise He makes. A real encounter with God will change your perspective of yourself and your perspective of God!

To have a spiritual comeback; it’s necessary to have an encounter with God.

The third thing necessary for a spiritual comeback is to:

3. Surrender Self!

V:14-“And Jacob set up a pillar in the place where he talk with him, even a pillar of stone: and he poured a drink offering on it and he poured oil on it”

Jacob had gotten back to the first priority of his life; the worship of God.

Jacob poured out a drink offering on the altar.

In the Old Testament the drink offering was never drunk. It was always poured out. The sacrifice would be made upon that altar as the flames in the fire would be leaping out from that sacrifice.

Then they would come and take that drink offering and pour it onto that red hot altar. That water would instantly be vaporized. It would be consumed as steam going up into the very nostrils of God.

This represents how we are to come and present ourselves as a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God.

We are to surrender ourselves fully and completely to the Lord Jesus!

We are not to pour out our lives, energy on the altar of this world; we are to pour our entire life on the altar of worship and surrender to the Lord Jesus Christ!

We should want to pour out our lives for Jesus because He poured out His life for us. Jesus Christ did not hold anything back. He went to the cross and offered Himself up as a sacrifice for sins! SHARE THE GOSPEL HERE!

There will never a spiritual comeback without pouring out your life out on the altar in worshiped to Jesus!

When Jacob gave this drink offering he was symbolizing the fact he was pouring out his entire life to God.

The Apostle Paul did the same thing in -“Yes, and if I am being poured out as a drink

offering on the sacrifice and service of your faith, I am glad and rejoice with you all."

The only way to have a spiritual comeback is to abandon sin; have an encounter with God and surrender yourself to the Lord Jesus Christ!!!

The amazing grace of God says, no matter how far you've gotten away from God, you can always go home again; and God is waiting for you.

I heard the story about a drunken man who got into a row boat one night to cross the river. He picked up the oars and began to row, and he rowed all night long. But when the sun rose in the morning, he not only wasn’t at shore yet; he was in the same place he was when he started rowing the night before. You know what his problem was, he had forgotten to untie the boat from the dock.

There are some of you here today, you are tied to old habits, old desires, old wills, some cherished idol in your heart; Cut the ropes of sin; repent and come to Jesus.