Jeremiah 3:21-25 A voice was heard on the high places, weeping and supplications of the children of Israel: for they have perverted their way… I. A KINDLY REMEMBRANCE. God, speaking to backsliders, says, "I remember thee." II. A SHOCKING CALAMITY. Ye who once were as a lighthouse set upon a rock, to guide men, are now a delusion and a snare. Your light has gone out. What a corruption there would be if it were not for the salt of the ocean. When you were converted to God you were the salt in the ocean of humanity, but now the salt hath lost its power. You are useless, and humanity seethes in the pollution of sin. You live probably in a house where there are wicked ones; you work amongst swearers, and sceptics, and drunkards, but you are powerless. The salt has lost its savour. Oh, backslider, dismantled, ruined, empty, may God rebuild you! III. A LOVING MESSAGE. "Return." Have you read of the widow whose daughter fell into the pathway of wrong! One night the poor girl returned to her mother's cottage. She went up the garden path and stood in the little porchway, and, to her surprise, she saw the door a little way open. She pushed it and entered. She went into the little room which used to be her own, and found a night light burning there, and her bed ready, as it always had been. She lay upon the bed, and was awoke by her mother's kiss. "Mother, how is it that you left the door unlatched and the light burning?" "It was that you might not have a minute to wait when you came back." This is just the way in which our heavenly Father treats us. It is the essence of love! IV. A GRACIOUS PROMISE. Poor backslider, you are wretchedly miserable; for God's message has sunk very deep into your heart. You have drunk from the cup of sin; but you have also been bitten by the poisonous serpent, and the worm of unhappiness is gnawing at your heart. God says, "I will heal thy backslidings." He will not let wound keep running. He will heal it; not like the burns and scalds that have left terrible marks upon our flesh. When we return to God He heals the wound; and there shall be no mark left of it, for He says, "I have blotted out thy transgressions." (W. Birch.) Parallel Verses KJV: A voice was heard upon the high places, weeping and supplications of the children of Israel: for they have perverted their way, and they have forgotten the LORD their God. |
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