There are many
Christians who have wandered away from the Lord. We have so
much to gain by being faithful to the Lord. Jesus says in John
14:1-3, "In My Father’s house are many
mansions and I go to prepare a place for you." Also we
read in Revelation 21:4 concerning heaven, "And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall
be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no
more pain, for the former things have passed away."
Heaven will be a great place beyond our wildest dreams. There
are no words that can describe how wonderful heaven will be.
And it will last forever and ever, time without end. I
certainly want to go there and I know you do too.
By going to heaven we
will not have to go to eternal punishment in Hell. Hell will be
a horrible place. Jesus says in Mark 9:43-48,
"If your hand causes you to sin, cut it
off. It is better for you to enter life maimed, rather than
having two hands, to go to hell, into the fire that shall never
be quenched where their worm does not die, and the fire is not
quenched." We know that our hand itself will not cause
us to sin but Jesus is telling us that what ever it is in our
life that is going to cause us to be lost, to correct it so we
will not be eternally lost in hell.
We have so much to gain
by obeying God, but we have so much to loose by not obeying
Him. God wants to save us so much that as John 3:16 says,
"For God so loved the world that He gave
His only begotten Son" to die for us. This took great
love for God to do this for us. And as we read in 2 Peter 3:9,
"The Lord is not slack concerning His
promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward
us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come
to repentance." The Lord doesn’t want you, me, or anyone
else to be lost, and if we have wandered away He wants us to
come back to Him in repentance. He has already paid the price
for our sins by taking our punishment. He is eager and ready to
save us.
In Luke 15:11-24 Jesus
tells a parable which illustrates how God longs for us to return
to Him if we have wandered away in sin. The parable tells of a
son who took his inheritance and went away from his father into
a far country and wasted his inheritance in riotous living. He
became destitute and hired out to feed pigs. He became so
hungry he even wanted to eat what the pigs ate. He decided to
go back to his father and hire out as one of his hired
servants. Verse 20 says, "And he arose
and came back to his father. But when he was still a great way
off, his father saw him and had compassion, and ran and fell on
his neck and kissed him." In this parable the father
represents God. Christ gave us this parable to show how anxious
God is to have us come back if we have wandered away from him in
sin. God will run to us with open arms if we will only come
back to Him.
In James 5:19 we read,
"Brethren if anyone among you wanders from
the truth, and someone turns him back, let him know that he who
turns a sinner from the error of his way will save a soul from
death and cover a multitude of sins." Here we see we can
come back which will result in our soul being saved from an
eternal death in Hell and the multitude of our sins will be
covered and forgiven.
Satan wants us to
believe, that once we have fallen away, there is no way back.
But this is not true. In Luke 15:7 Jesus says,
"I say to you that likewise there will be
more joy in heaven over one sinner that repents than over
ninety-nine just persons who need no repentance." Then
Jesus continues in verse 10 saying, "Likewise, I say to you, there is joy in the presence of the
angels of God over one sinner who repents." When we
repent and come back all of heaven rejoices.
God only forgives those
who are His children. We become a child of God when we are
baptized into Christ for the forgiveness of our sins so we can
be saved (Galatians 3:26-27). God’s law of pardon for us after
we become His children is to repent, confess our sins and to
pray for our forgiveness. In 1 John 1:9 we read,
"If we confess our sins, He is faithful
and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all
unrighteousness." Notice it says that He will cleanse us
from ALL unrighteousness. From the above scriptures we
see that we first of all need to repent of our past sins and
unfaithfulness to God. We need to make up our mind that we are
going to give up all sinful practices for which we have been
guilty and that we are going to faithfully attend the worship
services of the Lord's church, the church of Christ.
Now this doesn’t mean
that we will never sin again. As His children we have the
promise in 1 John 1:7, "But if we walk in
the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one
another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from
all sin." This verse gives us a lot of encouragement and
comfort. It tells us that we must walk in the light. In other
words we must be trying our best to follow His word in our daily
living. It next says that we must "have fellowship with one
another". We must be in fellowship with the brethren in the
local congregation of the church of Christ. If we are doing
this, the verse says, "the blood of Jesus Christ His Son
cleanses us from all sins". The cleansing from all sins is a
continuing action. But as we try to live the Christian life and
commit sin from time to time, the blood of Christ will continue
to cleanse us from ALL sins we commit if we repent. But for
this continual cleansing of our sins to take place so we can
remain saved, we must be walking in the light and having
fellowship one with another.
If you have wandered
away, God is waiting for you to come back to Him. He dearly
wants you to come back. So please make up your mind that from
this day forward you are going to give up the sin in your life
and live for Him. Find a congregation of the church of Christ
in your area where you plan to faithfully attend worship. Go
forward during the invitation and confess that you have sinned
and that you have not been faithful in your worship of God. Ask
the brethren there to pray for you and tell them you want to be
a member there. Become involved in the worship and the work of
the church there. Then live faithfully to God the rest of your
life so that you can go to heaven when this life is over. As
our Lord says in Revelation 2:10 says, "Be
faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life."
Questions Lesson 11
Coming Back To The Lord (click on the button of the answer of your
choice)
1) (John
14:1-3) Heaven is described as,
A fictitious place
A bad place
A mansion
2)
There is no way to adequately describe how wonderful
Heaven will be.
3) (Mark
9:43-48) If we do not repent and get rid of the
sin in our lives
We will still go to Heaven.
Nothing will happen.
We will be cast into the unquenchable fires of hell.
4)
Those in Hell will cease to exist.
5) (2
Peter 3:9) God does not want
Anyone to perish.
Anyone to repent.
Anyone to be saved.
6)
God is eager and ready to save us.
7) (Luke
15:11-24) The parable of the prodigal son shows if
we will
come back to God
God will not accept us back.
God will run to us with open arms.
God does not really care.
8)
If we have wandered away in sin, God longs for us to
return to
Him in repentance.
9)
(James 5:19) A sinner who turns from the error of
his way
Will still be lost.
Will not be forgiven.
Will save his soul and cover a multitude of his
sins.
10)
We cannot wander away from the truth and be lost.
11)
(Luke 15:7) What happens when we repent?
All of Heaven rejoices.
Satan rejoices.
We are still lost.
12)
Satan wants us to believe that once we have fallen away
there is no way back.
13) (1
John 1:9) When we repent and confess our sins
God will not forgive us.
God will forgive our sins and cleanse us from all
unrighteousness.
God will not cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
14)
God only forgives those who are His children.
15) (1
John 1:7) For the blood of Christ to continually
cleanse us from
our sins
We don't need to do anything.
We don't need to have fellowship with those of the
church.
We must walk in the light and have fellowship with
those of the
church.
16)
The blood of Christ cleanses us from only some of our
sins.