Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit · Sermon No. 1833
“Go and proclaim these words toward the north, and say, Return, you backsliding Israel, says the Lord; and I will not cause My anger to fall upon you: for I am merciful, says the Lord, and I will not remain angry forever. Only acknowledge your iniquity, that you have transgressed against the Lord your God, and have scattered your ways to the strangers under every green tree, and you have not obeyed My voice, says the Lord.” Jeremiah 3:12,13.
BACKSLIDERS are very many. Departing from the living God is no strange thing. Every Church has to lament many that turn aside. In fact, it has become so common in many Churches, that they have not faith enough to hold to the Scriptural doctrine of the Perseverance of the Saints—as if the lack of perseverance in mere professors could alter the Truth of God that where the life and power of God are really in the soul, there it will abide and remain. Bitter are the disappointments which result from the apostasy of avowed disciples and the declension of true followers of the Lamb. We sow, but when we expect to reap, we fill not our bosoms with sheaves, for many of those who sprung up hastily from the stony ground are withered as soon as the sun has risen! The morning cloud charms us with the hope of rain, but it soon vanishes—the early dew gives us promise of moisture, but it is exhaled—and the earth is hot beneath our feet. Our hearts ache because of blighted hopes where we looked for blessed results.
And not only is it a common thing for men who profess godliness and, for a while, run well, suddenly to turn aside, but even God’s own people do not keep up the pace as they should! Many Christians are one while hot, another lukewarm and even cold. They are diligent and fervent today, but idle and indifferent tomorrow. There are still Galatians among us who seem, one way or another, to be bewitched with error. Even the best of Believers are not always at their best. Who among us has not had cause to make confession that he has not kept up to his first love at all times? Neither has his lamp been always clearly burning, nor has he, himself, been all through the night equally wakeful and watchful for the coming of the Lord. The wise virgins sleep as well as the foolish ones!
Alas, that it should be so! Had it not been for the interposition of God’s Grace, in many an instance, backslidings that have been healed might have been backslidings unhealed—and the gaping wound might have bled to the dreadful weakness of those who suffered from it. May God, in infinite mercy, help those of us who have been kept by His power until now, to rest in faith in Him—and may we be very careful that we slip not with our feet and decline not with our hearts! Nor let our earnestness end with self, but let us pray with all our might for those who have wandered upon the dark mountains, that they may not wander for another hour, but that at once, before this service is ended, they may be restored to the Shepherd and Bishop of their souls—and may find rest as once they used to find it—at the feet of Jesus Christ.
Pray for me, that I may speak in the power of the Holy Spirit, so as to lead back benighted ones who are now stumbling upon the dark mountains. I feel deeply my need of such help and would breathe my own desire to God in the language of our sweet poetess—
“O strengthen me, that while I stand Firm on the Rock, and strong in Thee, I may stretch out a loving hand
To wrestlers within the troubled sea.”
I. I shall keep to the passage before us and we will commence with it at once and notice, first, in the text—THE PROCLAMATION. The Prophet receives this message—“Go and proclaim these words toward the north, and say, Return, you backsliding Israel, says the Lord.”
It was to be a proclamation, for God is King, and if His subjects rebel, He does not lose the rights of His sovereignty. He sends them, therefore, a royal message with all the power which belongs to the word of a king. “Go and proclaim.” It is meant to be a loud summons, such as a proclamation should be when the herald, in the name of his royal master, publishes a decree. “Go and proclaim.” It is to be done in state, with order and regularity, with a purpose and with authority. And so do I wish to speak at this time. Hear me, O my Brothers and Sisters, while I plead with you in Christ’s name! In the name of the Ever-Blessed, who has not lost His right to you, O Backslider, you are called upon to return! In His name, who is your Creator and your Lord, is the message sent to you, “Return unto Me.” It is not delivered as a mere piece of advice from myself, personally, which you may treat as you like, because it comes from your friend and your equal—it comes from your God and your King, to whom you must give an account, by-and-by! It is not even sent as a simple word of advice from Him, but the majesty of God is at the back of it! At your peril it will be if you trifle with it! I pray you act not so presumptuously. It is a proclamation which demands that every ear should hear it and that every heart should bow before it. Only traitors will despise our message when the Lord says to us, “Go and proclaim these words, and say, Return.”