If You Are Running Away from God, Repent and Return!

God sent His prophet Jeremiah with a strong message and a stern warning: "Thine own wickedness shall correct thee, and thy backsliding 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" (Jeremiah 2:19). God sometimes punishes one sin by allowing us to fall into another. Every sin brings its own punishment, and we can sometimes read the sin in the punishment. Our backsliding reprove us, they become our preachers, solemnly addressing our sin against God. They point backward to the past, to the days of our first love - "the hour we first believed." Do you remember the time when you first turned to Christ and the Gospel? Do you remember those first few hours and days after salvation, how excited you were?

The nation of Israel knew firsthand the magnificence, majesty, and might of God. He delivered them from the bondage of Egypt, parted the waters of the Red Sea, faithfully led them through the wilderness even in spite of their disobedience, murmurings, and unthankfulness. By the hand of Moses he took care of them for forty years. By the hand of Joshua he then took them into the Promised Land. How soon they forgot! Their love waned. The excitement of their memory faded. Their zeal for the Lord cooled as they warmed themselves by the fires of the world.

"Know therefore and see that it is an evil thing and bitter, that thou hast forsaken the LORD thy God."

It is wrong. It is filled with woe. It is bad and bitter. It is sinful and it will be sorrowful. It is rebellion and it will leave you filled with regret. If you're on the run from God, the call of Jeremiah goes out to you today: RETURN! You've not gone too far to be forgiven. You are not out of reach of His grace.

"For I am merciful, saith the LorD, and I will not keep anger for ever" (Jeremiah 3:12).

Jeremiah reminds Israel, Judah, and the modern reader of his prophecy that God disciplines those He loves. And that is what God was about to do in Jeremiah's day - bring judgment upon wicked and rebellious Israel and Judah. They had gone too far. God still views sin the same way He always has: as rebellion against His person, His ways, and His will. God sent Jeremiah as a prophet to His people to warn them of coming judgment for their sin if they did not repent and return.

What evil had they done? God spells it out plainly throughout Jeremiah's preaching, but Jeremiah 2:13 gets to the point:

"For my people have committed two evils; they have forsaken me the fountain of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water."

In short, the people of God had committed idolatry, worshipping other gods instead of the One true God of Israel. Idolatry is one sin that God takes very personally. That is why we need the compassionate but uncompromising message of Jeremiah today!

1. The Book of Jeremiah.

The book of Jeremiah exists to teach us how sin will bring full judgment from God in order that His people may be restored.

Judgment always precedes blessing.

The book of Jeremiah is set against a dark period in Israel's history. It was the midnight hour. It took place during the reigns of Judah's last five kings: Josiah, Jehoahaz, Jehoiakim, Jehoiachin, and Zedekiah. Backsliding is the prominent issue. J. Sidlow Baxter says, "All national deterioration and disaster is due fundamentally to the disregarding and disobeying of God."

Jeremiah 2:8, 2:19, and 2:35 touch on the perilous times of the day:

Jeremiah 2:8, "The priests said not, Where is the LORD? And they that handle the law knew me not: the pastors also transgressed against me, and the prophets prophesied by Baal, and walked after things that do not profit."

Jeremiah 2:19, "Thine own wickedness shall correct thee, and thy backsliding 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."

Jeremiah 2:35, "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."

There is an obvious breakdown of spiritual leadership within the nation. This is indicative of the state of affairs in many countries around the world today! It's sad to see the many churches in America that are following on the heels of inept spiritual leadership. The blind are leading the blind. Sin has gradually ceased to be recognized as sin. Innocence is professed amid wrongdoing, evil, and defilement. Immorality has infiltrated homes and houses of worship. Sin pulls mankind down a slippery slope of rebellion that often starts at the top and works its way down.

The nation and the people that dishonor God by denying Him usually degenerate into defying Him. This is clearly demonstrated in Jeremiah 36:27, 38:4, and 37:2. Much like today, Judah's politicians were busy explaining that the kingdom's troubles were due to a geographical dilemma - Egypt to the south, and Assyria to the east; but Jeremiah's message was that the nation's calamities were judgments of God for her iniquities.

1 John 1:10 reminds ALL men: "If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us." (see Romans 3:23; Romans 6:23; Romans 5:12).

How can the book of Jeremiah help individual Christians, local churches, and nations today? Sin is still in the world, and God is still God; therefore, history repeats itself. Our politicians are still floundering about among "second causes." The fundamental cause of all our troubles is that GOD IS FORGOTTEN! We discuss policy instead of putting away sin. It is the same today as it was in Jeremiah's time. Will nations ever learn that national decay and ruin are due to failure towards God? Jeremiah's message is a message for today!

The book of Jeremiah is a call to repent and return.

2. The Broken Heart of Jeremiah

As you read Jeremiah you will discover why he is known as "the weeping prophet." He is a prophet with a broken heart. Some have called him the "Job Among Prophets." He is appointed by God, called by God, and sent by God to fulfill a ministry in which, after a period of forty years, he doesn't see a response. Jeremiah would weep, but he is not weak. He shed many tears but he was bold to tell the truth. He was sensitive but not strengthless. He was compassionate but he refuses to compromise. He was a little-child before God (Jeremiah 1) but a lion-hearted champion of the truth before the rebellious men of the world (Jeremiah 2-10).

Jeremiah reminds us of Jesus who reveals a true heart-likeness in his suffering sympathy both with God and men. Disappointed, under appreciated, disregarded, misunderstood, misrepresented, and persecuted Christian servants today can find courage and comfort from the book of Jeremiah. Jeremiah didn't just speak for God, he felt with God. Jeremiah remained faithful to the Lord and his calling in spite of persecution.

God called Jeremiah to a ministry that was both constructive and destructive. It wasn't all doom and gloom, because like the entirety of the Scriptures there is a rainbow of hope and grace recognizable across the story's stratosphere. Jeremiah, consistently compassionate and faithfully firm in his message, reveals the long-suffering and mercy of God.

When speaking of coming judgment, Peter speaks as to why it hasn't happened yet: "And account that the long-suffering of our Lord is salvation" (2 Peter 3:15). Paul told Timothy that God's heart is to "have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth" (1 Timothy 2:4). Peter again clarifies: "The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is long-suffering to us-ward, not willing to that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance." It is through his tears that Jeremiah speaks the truth. It is from a heart of compassion that he refuses to compromise. Imagine the grief that Jeremiah shared with God after the counsel of God has been declared, the nation He loves remains unrepentant.

Imagine how sorrowful the heart of God longs after the wayward, rebellious, unrepentant sinner!

3. The Boldness of Jeremiah

Jeremiah denounces the wickedness of the day and boldly declares "thus saith the LORD."

There are two recurring expressions throughout the book of Jeremiah. God sends word: "I will punish" and "I will restore." There is wrath to the full but there is love to the end. God is a God who "in wrath, remembers mercy" (Habbakuk 3:2).

Jeremiah 26:12-13

12 Then spake Jeremiah unto all the princes and to all the people, saying, the LORD sent me to prophesy against this house and against this city all the words that ye have heard.

13 Therefore now amend your ways and your doings, and obey the voice of the LORD your God; and the LORD will repent him of the evil that he hath pronounced against you.

God was graciously extending an eleventh-hour offer. But Israel and Judah refused to respond. They ran toward rebellion and away from mercy.

You may think that your voice makes little difference in the world today for the Gospel's sake, but can I encourage you: keep running for God after those that are running from God!

Be bold! Be compassionate... but refuse to compromise. Stand firm. Stand faithfully. Stand for the truth. We are called to recall wandering hearts to the One they have forsaken! We must show the backsliding believer and the rebellious rejector that there is a balm in Gilead (8:22), hope (14:8), a Potter who never throws the clay away (18:6), a righteous branch (23:5) that imputes to us, not our sin, but His righteousness. And He is the KING (23:5) and our true resting-place (50:6).

May our hearts break for those who break the heart of God.

Friend, if you are on the run from God (as a wayward believer, backslidden, and prodigal) or if you have never received Him as Savior at all - I plead with you - "Come to the Savior, He patiently waits."