Christians who “turn away”
by Sandy Simpson, 8/22/16
Jeremiah
3:10-11 And yet for all this her treacherous
sister Judah hath not turned unto me with her whole heart, but feignedly, saith the LORD.
And
the LORD said unto me, “The backsliding Israel
hath justified herself more than treacherous Judah.” (KJV)
Israel
had turned away from the Lord and had gone after the gods of Canaan, namely
Baal and Asherah.
Because Israel had prostituted herself with false gods in worshipping
the polytheistic gods that started at Babel, God had declared He was divorcing
Israel and would send them into exile until they again returned to the true
God.
But
Judah prided itself in doing what God had commended as they had Jerusalem and
the Temple. They disdained Israel for
setting up altars to Baal and Asherah poles on high
hills. Yet God was not fooled by Judah’s
pretence. In the KJV it says they were
not worshipping God with their whole heart but “feignedly”. The NIV puts it this way:
Jeremiah 3:10-11 Yet in spite of all this her treacherous sister Judah did not return to Me with all her heart,
but rather in deception,” declares the Lord.
And the Lord said to me, “Faithless
Israel has proved herself more righteous than treacherous Judah.” (NASB)
They
were making pretence, trying to pull a ruse on God and the surrounding nations,
of worshipping YHWH but had also turned aside to other things that had become
idolatry. Idolatry is not merely limited
to worshipping idols of stone and other gods, but it is when other things take
the place of God’s preeminence in the lives of people.
Colossians
3:5 Therefore consider the members of your
earthly body as dead to immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed,
which amounts to idolatry.
Thus
the Lord makes an astounding statement: “Faithless Israel is more righteous
than unfaithful Judah”. Why would He say
such a thing through Jeremiah? It is
because Judah had all the advantages of Jerusalem at their disposal yet had
gone after many of the same things as Israel.
During
the earthly ministry of Jesus Christ in Israel we notice that He is far harsher
on the religious elite than on common sinners.
This is a continuation of how God views people. The tax collectors and prostitutes tended to
quickly recognize they were sinners. The
religious elite were almost completely unable to repent of their sins as they
had been inoculated by their culture and additions to the Law into thinking
they were righteous. It is far more
serious to be a self-righteous person who cannot repent than one who at least
recognizes their sins.
And
so it remains today. The call is for
Christians to return to their first love.
Revelation 2:4 Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken
your first love.
Christians, those who claim to be followers of Christ, must forsake sin and follow Christ. He is always faithful and just to forgive those who confess their sins and repent of them. But if they continue in the idolatrous practice of not sharing the Gospel, of unbelief while making a pretense of belief, of murder, of sexual immorality, of homosexuality, of sorcery, of following foreign gods under the guise of Christian faith, and lying they will be rejected.
Revelation 21:8 But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually
immoral, those who practise magic arts, the idolaters
and all liars—their place will be in the fiery lake of burning sulphur. This is the second death."
Those who are truly born again will
abandon sin and obey the Lord, thus proving they love Him.
John 14:15 “If
you love me, you will obey what I command.
John 15:10 If
you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father’s
commands and remain in his love.
The inference in John, again and again, is that those who love the Lord by obeying Him remain in His love; but those who do not obey the Lord prove they do not love Him and will not remain in His love. This might sound like I am advocating that a Christian can lose their salvation. That is not what I am talking about. Only God knows who is saved from eternity past to eternity future. We have to live a life where we do not abandon the Lord for all the modern idols we have in our cultures. If we do not then we prove we are not truly saved. We must hold on to our belief and trust in Jesus Christ till the end.
Hebrews 3:14 We have
come to share in Christ if we hold
firmly till the end the confidence we had at first.
Here we come back to “first love”
again. We must remain in the love we had
at first for Christ to continue to share in His love. We should not fool ourselves into thinking
that we can continue to worship at the altar of modern idolatries of “every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity … envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice”
(Rom. 1:29) … slander and gossiping and remain in the love of Christ. Paul warns us in Romans that Gentile
Christians should not regard themselves exempt from God cutting them off for
idolatry.
Romans 11:21-22 For if God did not spare the natural branches,
he will not spare you either. Consider therefore the kindness and sternness of
God: sternness to those who fell, but kindness to you, provided that you
continue in his kindness. Otherwise, you also will be cut off.
I have
actually heard preachers skip over this section of verses because they cannot
believe that God would cut off Gentile Christians who claim to be born
again. But if a person is indeed born
again they must not take that fact so lightly that they continue in sin and the
idolatries of the age. God is
longsuffering and can forgive the sins of idolatry as long as a person is alive
and repentant. But there comes a point
where God gives them over to their sins and, at that point, there is no longer
any grace for that person. We can see
this fact being consistent in both the Old Testament and the New.
Psalms 81:12
So I gave them over to
their stubborn hearts to follow their own devices.
Ezekiel 20:25
I also gave them over to statutes that were not good and laws
they could not live by;
Acts 7:42 But
God turned away and gave them over to
the worship of the heavenly bodies. This agrees with what is written in the
book of the prophets: "‘Did you bring me sacrifices
and offerings for forty years in the desert, O house of Israel?
Romans 1:24
Therefore God gave them
over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading
of their bodies with one another.
Romans 1:26
Because of this, God gave
them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural relations
for unnatural ones.
Romans 1:28 Furthermore, since
they did not think it worth while to retain the
knowledge of God, he gave them over to a
depraved mind, to do what ought not to be done.
God will
eventually harden the hearts of those who do not obey Him just as he eventually
hardened Pharaoh’s heart. Don’t delude
yourself that God cannot pass judgment on those who turn away from Him while
acting like they are born again.
We are to
turn away from wickedness.
2 Timothy 2:19
Nevertheless, God’s solid foundation stands firm, sealed with
this inscription: "The Lord knows those who are his," and, "Everyone who confesses the name of
the Lord must turn away from wickedness."
We are NOT
to turn away from the Faith.
Matthew 24:10 At that time many will turn away from the
faith and will betray and hate each other,
Hebrews 12:25
See to it that you do not refuse him who
speaks. If they did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth,
how much less will we, if we turn away from him who warns us from heaven?