WE'VE GOT TO FIND OUR WAY BACK
INTRODUCTION
There is an old secular song that says, "We’ve got to find our way back." It is about a couple who no longer have a happy and harmonious marriage as they used to have, and when they become aware of it, and remember how things used to be, they decide they’ve got to "find their way back."
And there is a very good spiritual lesson in this thought. Not only for the ones whose family life is not as happy as it used to be—but for those who are not as spiritual as they used to be—for those whose Christianity is not as vivid as it used to be—for the child of God who is not as faithful as he used to be—and even for our Nation which is not as moral and godly as it used to be—WE’VE GOT TO FIND OUR WAY BACK!
THE SCRIPTURES CALL US BACK
Jer.6:16: "Thus saith the Lord, Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest unto your souls. But they said, We will not walk therein." WE’VE GOT TO FIND OUR WAY SACK!
Jer.18:15: "Because my people hath forgotten me, they have burned incense to vanity, and they have caused them to stumble in their ways from the ancient paths, to walk in paths, in a way not cast up."
Luke 15:17,18, When the prodigal son came to himself, he resolved, I will arise and go back to my father. Rev.2:4,5: to the church at Ephesus: "Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love. Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent." WE’VE GOT TO FIND OUR WAY BACK!
1. WE’VE GOT TO FIND OUR WAY BACK TO MORALITY.
Traditionally, we, as a society, upheld the morality of the Bible, even though we didn't always adhere to it as closely as we should.
But then a number years back, we had a movement known as the "new morality."
That heading, though, is a misnomer. It was not new morality, but old IMMORALITY.
A while back, I heard someone talking about a movie being reshown that was made in the sixties. They said, It was kind of raunchy in its day, but it is tame today. What has changed? Our standard of morality, that’s what! And if our morality continues to decline for the next 40 years the way it has in the past 40, where will we be? WE NEED TO FIND OUR WAY BACK!
Pro.14:34, "Righteousness exalteth a nation: but sin is a reproach to any people."
2. WE’VE GOT TO FIND OUR WAY BACK TO GOD.
Back in the old days most everybody knew there was a God. It went without saying; you didn’t question it. When our forefathers drew up the Declaration of Independence on which our Country is founded, reference is repeatedly made to God, and of our place of subservience under Him... "The equal station to which the laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them... They are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, among these are Life, Liberty and the persuit of happiness... Appealing to the Supreme Judge of the World for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the name and by the authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be FREE AND INDEPENDENT STATES..." How long has it been since you have seen the government officially give this much allegiance to God? WE’VE GOT TO FIND OUR WAY BACK TO GOD! Isn’t it a shame that we hear God’s name mentioned more often in profanity than in solemnity?
Reach into your pocket and pull out the assortment of coins that may be there. What do they all have in common? They may be bid or small, copper or silver in color, pennies, dimes, nickels and quarters--but the one thing they have in common is that they all have the inscription : "IN GOD WE TRUST."
Our Founding Fathers were not ashamed to place this inscription on our coins! They acknowledged God. They acknowledged our dependence upon God. They committed our trust in God to lead us and bless us as a Nation. And God has done just that. Why are we the most advanced, most prosperous and affluent society on earth? Is it not because GOD HAS BLESSED US?
But if our government were setting up to start minting coins today, do you think they would have the courage to acknowledge GOD on each one? --Or would they be afraid they would offend an unbeliever?
But now we are afraid we will offend an atheist by referring to our country as "ONE NATION UNDER GOD" in the pledge of allegiance to our flag! How much longer will God bless us as we drift away from Him? FRIENDS, WE'VE GOT TO FIND OUR WAY BACK!
Nowadays many in the educated circles treat God and religion as if they were objects of superstition. In the year of 1963--almost forty years ago--the Supreme Court of this nation passed a decree that prohibited prayer to God in the public school classroom. Who would have thought this could happen in the United States? But it has, and there was only a mild wave of excitement when it happened, that soon died away. WE’VE GOT TO FIND OUR WAY BACK TO GOD!
2 Chron.7:14, "If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from Heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land."
3. WE’VE GOT TO FIND OUR WAY BACK TO THE BIBLE.
In olden times almost everybody would tell you that in order to "live right" a person need to live by the Bible. Even those who were not trying to live right would consent to the fact that people OUGHT TO LIVE BY THE BIBLE. But we have wandered away from that ideal today. People think a person is crazy to actually try to live by the Bible in these "modern" times. It is not that people don’t know what the Bible says.. .they don’t CARE what the Bible says, and they don’t take it seriously. Nowadays it seems that more people are ashamed to say that they are trying to live by the Bible than to say they are not. The Bible is Heaven’s Instruction Book. It is man’s Manual, Guide and Roadmap from his Creator! WE’VE GOT TO FIND OUR WAY BACK TO THE BIBLE.
2 Tim.3:16,17, "All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: that the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works."
Imagine this: 2 Kings 22:8—13: "And Hilkiah the priest said unto Shaphan the scribe, I have found the book of the law in the house of the Lord. And Hilkiah gave the book to Shaphan, and he read it. * * * And Shaphan the scribe shewed the king, saying, Hilkiah the priest hath delivered me a book. And Shaphan read it before the king. And it came to pass, when the king had heard the words of the book of the law, that he rent his clothes. And the king commanded Hilkiah the priest, and Ahikam the son of Shaphan, and Achbor the son of Michaiah, and Shaphan the scribe, and Asahiah a servant of the king’s, saying, Go ye, enquire of the Lord for me, and for the people, and for all Judah, concerning the words of this book that is found: for great is the wrath of the Lord that is kindled against us, because our fathers have not hearkened unto the words of this book, to do according unto all that which is written concerning us."
4. WE’VE GOT TO FIND OUR WAY BACK TO RESPECT FOR GOD’S WORD.
People are losing respect for many things in this modern time—government, law, the flag, and for elders—but worst of all, we have lost respect for God’s Word. In olden times, when God spoke, people fell to their knees. When his word was read, they listened. WE NEED TO FIND OUR WAY BACK TO RESPECT FOR GOD’S WORD!
Malachi 4:5,6: "Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord: and he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.
Heb.12:25: "See that ye refuse not him that speaketh. For if they escaped not who refused him that spake on earth, much more shall not we escape, if we turn away from him that speaketh from Heaven."
5. WE’VE GOT TO FIND OUR WAY BACK TO A ‘THUS SAITH THE LORD.’
During the restoration movement, emphasis was on having a "Thus saith the Lord" for everything that was practiced in religion. Their motto was, "Speak where the Bible speaks, and be silent where the Bible is Silent." "Let us do Bible things in Bible ways, and call Bible things by Bible names." With this emphasis, and a plea for going back to the Bible, the Lord’s church grew, and many people wanted to be a part of it. People who wanted genuine religion realized the need for the "thus saith the Lord." But how long has it been since you have heard those phrases and those slogans used? And in many places, the church of Christ is not what it used to be. IT IS TIME FOR US TO FIND OUR WAY BACK TO BOOK, CHAPTER AND VERSE, AND A ‘THUS SAITH THE LORD’ FOR WHAT WE DO IN RELIGION.
1 Pet.4:11, "If any man speak, let him speak as the oracles of God."
Heb.8:5: "...As Moses was admonished of God when he was about to make the tabernacle: for, See, saith he, that thou make all things according to the pattern shewed to thee in the mount."
6. IF YOU ARE NOT NOW RIGHT WITH GOD, IT IS TIME FOR YOU TO FIND YOUR WAY BACK!
Hosea 10:12: "Sow to yourselves in righteousness, reap in mercy; break up your fallow ground: for it is time to seek the Lord, till he come and rain righteousness upon you."
Isa.55:6,7: "Seek ye the Lord while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near. Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon."
I pray these thoughts will help us to see the way we are drifting, and resolve to FIND OUR WAY BACK!
"Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent." (Rev 2:5)
--Emerson Blythe