The Lord had helped me this evening
and grant you prayerful attention. I direct you to the portion of
God's Word read, the prophecy of Jeremiah chapter 7 and reading
of verse 21. Jeremiah chapter 7 and reading
of verse 21. And thus saith the Lord of hosts,
the God of Israel, put your burnt offerings unto your sacrifices
and eat flesh. For I spake not unto your fathers,
nor commanded them in the day that I bought them out of the
land of Egypt, concerning burnt offerings or sacrifices. But
this thing commanded I them, saying, Obey my voice, and I'll
be your God, and ye shall be my people. And walk ye in all
the ways that I have commanded you, that it may be well unto
you. But they hearkened not, nor inclined
their ear, but walked in the counsels and in the imagination
of their evil heart, and went backward and not forward. It
is to the closing words of the 24th verse that I wish to direct
your attention this evening, and went backward and not forward. And went backward and not forward.
In these few words, the Lord God sums up the history of his
chosen people, the nation of Israel. Oh friends, as he brought
them forth out of the land of Egypt, as we've read together,
I brought them out of the land of Egypt. Oh, friends, they started
to go forward. They knew where they were going.
They were going to the land that had been promised to them by
Abraham, Isaac and Jacob by the Lord God. The land of Canaan,
a land that flowed with milk and honey. They went out with
the Lord going before them. Oh, he went out before them in
the fiery, cloudy pillar. He went behind them. They were
not without a guide, and he proved himself to them. Oh, the mighty
power that brought them forth out of the land of Egypt in the
Passover night, when the blood sprinkled upon the doorposts
separated the children of Israel unto the Lord, and they were
spared, whilst in every house of the Egyptians there was death.
Then as they came to the Red Sea, pursued by the Egyptians,
God appears for them and divides the Red Sea, and they go through
on dry land. But the Egyptians following them,
the waters of the Red Sea return, and they're all drowned. Oh,
as God sent them forth out of the land of Egypt, he sent them
to go forward into the land that he'd promised them. He was going
with them. He was their guide. He was their
strength. And he made himself known unto
them by mighty wonders. But solemnly it is said of them,
they went backward and not forward. Oh, they were not long in the
wilderness when they began to go backward, when they began
to say that it would have been better for us had we remained
in Egypt. Oh, they remembered the melons,
the garlics, the cucumbers of Egypt, and now they were found
in the wilderness. They said it would have been better for
us had we remained in Egypt. They wanted to go back. And had
they had their way, they would have gone back. And then, as they continue, our
friends, they go backwards, there at the foot of Sinai, when the
law is given unto Moses. And Moses goes up into the mountain,
and is not seen for several days. And they say to Aaron, oh, as
for this Moses, we want not what is become of him. And so they
take their gold jewellery and they tell him to make a god. And he makes that calf, that
brazen calf, and they say, these are our gods that brought us
out of Egypt. Oh, friends, the Lord had taught
them that he was God. Oh, here, O Israel, thy Lord,
one. But here they are, oh, looking
backwards to the idol worship of Egypt. These are our gods.
the plural, or the polytheism, the multiple gods of Egypt, which
they have been delivered from. Worshippers of the one God of
Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, but they look backward. And then
we may consider them as they come down towards the promised
land. Or they may go into the promised
land. The spies are sent to spy out the land. But only two of
the spies bring back a good report. Oh, friends, we must emphasize
they did not differ in how they described the land. Caleb and
Joshua agreed with the other spies that it was a good land. Oh, there were great fruit. It
was a land that flowed in milk and honey. But they also agreed
with them that it was a land of giants, a land of great and
strong cities. But the difference between them
was this. Caleb and Joshua would go forward. Go forward in dependence
upon God. Go forward in dependence upon
his promise. And therefore they said, we can
well possess the land. Oh, but the remainder of the
spies, what was the problem with them? Oh, friends, it wasn't
so much that they told untruths concerning the land. It was that
they did not believe in God. They did not believe that he
was able to deliver the land into their hands. They did not
believe the promise. They doubted it. They said, we
cannot go up. They went backwards rather than
forwards. And there in the wilderness, 40 years, oh, that whole generation
was to fall. They went backwards rather than
forwards. And after they were brought into the land, our friends,
what can we say of them? But they went backwards rather
than forwards. Oh, their worship of God. Our
friends, how they went backwards in that. They took up with the
gods of Baal, as we read of them in this chapter. They made cakes
to the queen of heavens. They poured out offerings unto
other gods that they may provoke me to anger. I do worship. Oh, they went backwards rather
than forwards. This was the history of Israel. Now, the point you
want to come to this evening is this, and perhaps you're already
saying, well, why do we need to hear these things? Why do
we need to be reminded of the problems with the children of
Israel? Oh friends, the reason is this, because we are still
the same. We still have an old nature. Friends, human nature
has not changed. The experience of the Lord's
people is still fundamentally the same. Oh, Robert Robinson,
when he wrote that hymn, Come thou fount of every blessing,
he says prone to wonder. Lord, I feel it prone to leave
the God I love. Oh, that was the experience of
one writing about 200 or so years ago. Oh, friends, is it your
experience this evening? Do you have to look back over
your Christian pathway and have to say, solemnly, this is written
so much over your Christian life, you have gone backwards rather
than forwards? Oh, friends, this evening, would it have to be
said concerning you, you've gone backwards rather than forwards? And oh, if you're going forwards
this evening, our friends, these things are written for our instruction.
They're written for our warning. The Lord's people, left to themselves,
are prone to go backwards rather than forwards. Oh, if you sit
there this evening and say, I do not need to listen to this. I'm
going forwards. I'm pursuing after Jesus Christ.
The world means nothing to me. Oh, friends, beware. Lest thinking
thou standest, thou shouldst fall. For pride comes before
a fall. Oh, salvation is all a grace.
And the Lord's people are often taught that it's all a grace,
in the fact that left to themselves for a moment, they go backward
rather than forwards. And oh, if you'd been taught
this evening that were it not for grace, you would have gone
backwards entirely. No, friends, were it not for
the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, exceeding abundant, you'd be
back in the world this evening. and there'd be nothing to pick
between you and the sinner that is so far off from Christ. It's
all a grace and we are taught that it's all a grace as we are
taught that this describes us. They went backward and not forward. Now we want to come here, first
of all, in order to go backward and not forward, you must have
a beginning. Our friends, you must have been
set going in the right direction. There must have been a time when
you were going forward. And that is what God does in
grace. Our friends, he takes us, as Bunyan pictures it, from
the city of destruction. He takes us from this world.
He takes us from the place where we are by nature as sinners,
lost and ruined in the fall and far from God. without God and
without hope in the world. And he puts direction in our
life. That direction is described in the word of God as being repentance
from sin and faith toward the Lord Jesus Christ. Our friends,
that is, we leave sin. We leave the hateful ways of
sin. We have to leave the world. The Lord brings us out of it,
there's a going forward, a going forward out of Egypt, a going
forward away from the things of this world, away from sin. Has there been a beginning with
you this evening? Can you look back and say there was a day
when you had to leave? Leave the world. It no longer
meant anything to you. It can no longer bring you any
comfort. It can no longer bring you any satisfaction. You had
to leave it. You had to go out from it. Your sins. Now friends, was there a day
when your sins began to prick your conscience? When you began
to hate your sins? Or when you began to desire to
be delivered from them? Your grief was that you could
not leave them behind, but you would have left them behind.
You would have been as far removed from them as it's possible to
be. Or going forwards. Repentance, a leaving of sin. A leaving of this fallen world.
But the Lord's people have direction. It's faith in Jesus Christ. It's a going towards Christ.
Ah, friend, have you known anything of the drawing of Jesus Christ?
Jesus made precious to you. Precious firstly in your need.
You need a saviour. You need one who will deliver
you from your sins. You need one who can deliver
you from this world. And so you look to Jesus in your
need, and there's a going towards him, a crying towards him. Jesus,
our son of David, have mercy upon me. A going out to Jesus. And then, friends of direction,
because you love him. Oh, as he is revealed to you
in all his glory, a matchless Saviour, the glorious Redeemer,
the God-man, the Word made flesh. Oh, as by faith you are brought
to see who he is, we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only
begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth, and of his
grace of each we received, and grace for grace. Ah, you have
to go to Jesus for grace, for mercy. Oh, now you love him. You love him. You want to know
him more. You want communion with him.
Oh, your cry is now with the apostle, that I may know him.
Paul already knew him, but he wanted to know him more. He wanted
that power of his resurrection made known in his life. He wanted
fellowship with Christ in his sufferings. Our friends, he was
pressing toward the mark. He was looking unto Jesus. Oh,
can you say this evening, there was a day in your life when you
were going forward. A day when God put a direction
in your life. A day when he raised you. Our
friends, the direction is upwards. The direction is forwards. We
read in the word of God as that day being the day that he raises
us out of the dunghill. To set us among princes, he lifts
us up. He puts us among his children. Oh, friends, he elevates us by
nature, lost, rebels, enemies. We hate God, but he puts us among
his children. He elevates us. He calls us his
princes and his princesses, his sons and daughters. There is
direction upwards. There is direction forwards.
We're now pressing toward Jesus. We're now looking towards heaven. Delight no longer is ultimately
in this world. We've got treasure laid up where
neither moth nor rust is corrupt. And we're pressing heavenward.
Has there ever been a day in your life when there's been a
change of direction? When you've started to go forwards?
the forwards which is spoken of in this text, the forward
which is pictured by the children of Israel as they came forth
out of Egypt. Our friends going towards Canaan,
they went forwards. Have you ever been going forwards?
Our friends, I should ask the question this evening, are you
going forwards? Because that's where we need
to come. Are you going forwards? Or does our text describe you
this evening, they went backward and not forward? backward and
not forward. Now the second thing we want
to come to is this, is solemnly this so often describes the Lord's
people, they went backward and not forward. And we want to come
to try and notice some of the ways in which the Lord's people
go backward and not forward. We mentioned first of all that
the children of Israel look back to Egypt. Our friends, they look
back to the pleasures of Egypt. They forgot all the trouble of
Egypt, they've got selective memories. And you know, the devil
will ever encourage your selective memory to remember the good things,
but to forget the bad things. They forgot that they had to
make bricks in Egypt. They forgot that they were bondmen. They
forgot that Egypt was a place of trouble. All they remembered
was the melons, the garlics, and the cucumbers. Oh, friends,
this evening, is your old nature remembering the pleasures of
the world? Is the devil bringing them before
your eyes? Oh, friends, even today, As you may have worked
amongst the world, as you may have walked amongst the world,
have you found your heart drawn aside by those things that the
world presents? They may not be sinful pleasures,
but ultimately, friends, they're the pleasures which satisfy the
world. But the things which the Lord's
people know, they've got to leave behind, and therefore they hold
with a light hand. Oh how quickly we find our heart
gets drawn aside by the thought of a better home, a bigger property,
by promotion at work, a greater paycheck, by the fashions of
this world which are passing away, by the sensory pleasures
that this world presents unto us in its joys. Friends, how
quickly the Lord's people have to prove there's still one old
nature, an old nature which still loves those things, an old nature
which still desires those things. And left to yourself for a moment,
you'll pursue those things. You'll go forth after them. Oh,
friends, it's a mercy this evening if you've only slipped in heart,
you've only slipped inwardly, and the Lord has kept your feet.
Asaph could say, my feet had well nigh gone, my steps had
well nigh slipped, but the Lord had kept him. His heart had gone. Inwardly, he'd been tempted towards
the world, but the Lord had kept him. Well, if the Lord has kept
you this evening from actually sliding back into the world,
give him the praise, give him the glory. But your heart, has
it gone backwards toward the things of this world, towards
the pleasure of this world? they went backwards rather than
forwards. In the context of our text this evening, the Lord reminds
them that when they came out of the land of Egypt, he did
not tell them to offer sacrifices. The sacrificial form of worship,
the Levitical law, was to be given later in the wilderness
journey. But he set before them one thing,
they were to obey him. Our friends, they were to walk
in his ways. And this is what God teaches throughout the word
of God, I will have Obedience and not sacrifice. Obedience
and not sacrifice. Our friends, all the outward
part of religion is nothing if we are not walking in his ways,
obedient to his commandments, if our life is not in conformity
to the gospel precepts. Now friends, the Lord says here
they'd gone backwards and not forward. They'd walked in the
counsels and the imagination of their evil heart. What does
that mean? It means this. What we read of in the days of
the judges, they did that which was right in their own eyes.
Now friends, they forgot the law of God. They began to say,
well, this is okay, we'll do this. But the Lord says, I will
have obedience. Obey my voice and I'll be your
God. Walk in my ways. and ye shall be my people. Our
friends, have you gone backwards from walking in his ways? The
gospel precepts, our friends, how broad they are. They deal
with our relationships at work as boss and as worker. They deal with our relationships
as husband and wife, as children and parents. Our friends, they
deal with our hearts. Outwardly, have you gone backwards?
Now friends, have you begun to appear like the world at work?
No longer being a faithful servant, no longer being a faithful master.
Now friends, has the world begun to appear in your relationships
but concerning your heart? Now friends, have you slipped
in your meekness, in your temperance? Ah, friends, have you fallen
into gossip and into tattling? Have you fallen into jealousy
and pride? Oh, they walked not in his ways,
they went backwards rather than forwards. Oh, do you have to
look back to the days when Jesus was precious? Everything was
in its right place. Ah, friends, then you walked
in holiness and you loved holiness. But have you gone backwards rather
than forwards? Again, outwardly he may have kept you, but inwardly,
Is there any difference between you and the world? Ah, friends,
it's a solemn question, isn't it? We tend to deal with outward
sins, but the Lord sees the heart. Ah, friends, he sees the backsliding
in heart, the going backwards rather than forwards in heart.
And that is what he condemns them for here. Oh, they were
going up to the house of the Lord. They were making a big
show of going up to the house of the Lord. The house of the
Lord, the house of the Lord. Now friends, that was where they
were putting all their emphasis, but at home, and during the week,
there was nothing between them and the world. And that's how
far the Lord's people can go backwards. Now friends, they
can go backwards more than that, but how solemn it is with the
Lord's people. We can still go to chapel on
the Lord's day, and in the week. We can be there, we can appear
just so. Nobody in the church may be aware that there's any
backwardness in us, but at home, when you're not seen by the church,
a home when you're alone in the workplace, when you're perhaps
amongst worldly company. Ah, friends, there's nothing
between you and the world. The Lord hates it. The Lord hates
it because the Lord sees it. Ah, friends, he sees the inconsistency. He sees the false front. And
that's what he saw with his people Judah. Judah thought they were
better than Israel. Judah continued to worship in
the temple. Oh Israel, Shiloh had been pulled
down. Ah friends, they'd built their
groves, they'd gone after Baal. Judah thought she was better
than Israel. But the Lord says, my people have gone backwards
and not forwards. Backwards and not forwards. Oh
friends, regarding death, the fear of death. Oh as the children
of Israel stood there on the borders of the promised land.
The fears that filled them regarding taking the land. Ah, friends,
the fears that are found in the world. But for the Lord's people,
oh, the Apostle Paul, writing to Timothy, says he hath abolished
death. Oh, can you remember those days when death was no more a
frightful foe? Oh, when your standing was in
Christ. Ah, friends, heaven was certain, but have you gone backwards?
You've given way to fears and to unbelief. and consequently
you're found, ah, full of bondage because of the fear of death. Ah, they went backwards rather
than forwards. Oh, the Apostle Paul, writing to the Hebrews,
reminds us of this, let us therefore fear, lest the promise being
left us of entering into rest, any of us should seem to come
short of it. They went backwards and not forwards. I want to just bring in a New
Testament case. The Hebrews are one example of
this, but to go to the Galatians. Our friends, is this not written
over the epistle to the Galatians, they went backwards and not forwards.
The apostle Paul says, oh foolish Galatians, who has bewitched
you? He marvelled how quickly they'd been removed from the
truth that it was in Jesus. Our friends, what had happened?
They'd been trusted in the Lord Jesus Christ for their salvation.
Their hope had been alone in his blood, in his righteousness,
but they'd gone backwards rather than forwards. Now, friends,
they'd gone back to the works of the Lord. They were trying
to justify themselves. They were trying by their works
to bring forth something in order to save themselves, to give them
some hope. And the Lord's people are often found the same place
as the Galatians. They went backwards rather than
forwards. Now, friends, are you there this evening? The devil
says, Oh, you need to pray a bit more. You need to read the word
of God a bit more. Oh, you need to be more exact
in your keeping of the commandments, because that is where your hope
is. And old nature loves flattery. Old nature wants to do something
to save itself. And so you begin to settle down
on your works. They went backwards rather than
forwards. And the Apostle Paul uses very
strong language. Oh foolish Galatians, who has
bewitched you? The Lord Jesus Christ said that
he that called his brother of four was in danger of hellfire.
But ah, friends, here the Apostle Paul uses such strong language,
and that language, ah, it's not strong enough, is it, when we
realise how sad it is to go backwards rather than forwards, to leave
Jesus, to leave his precious blood, to leave his glorious,
perfect righteousness, and to believe there's something else.
and something we can do, something we can perform. But oh, the Lord's
people have to find they struggle with it. They struggle with it,
they go backwards rather than forwards. Our friends, this evening,
you left your first love. Oh, you lost hold on the precious
blood and righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. Our friends,
you're looking within yourself again for some hope. Perhaps
you're finding no hope and therefore you feel to be in despair. You
feel to be without hope this evening because you look within
and then you say, is this really how the Lord's people are? If
I'm really one of the Lord's people, would I not be different?
Oh friends, there's only one thing that will cause you to
differ and that's the precious blood and righteousness of the
Lord Jesus Christ. Have you gone backward rather
than forward? Oh, friends, these things are
common to the Lord's people. They were common to the church
in Israel. They were common to the Galatians,
common to the Hebrews. Oh, think it not strange. Oh,
friends, not some strange thing that's happened unto you. No. Oh, but that which is common
to the Lord's people, they go backwards rather than forwards.
These things are written for our instruction that when we
go backwards, we might not be in despair. They're written for our warning.
Oh, friends, we might be praying that the Lord would keep us from
going backwards rather than forwards. We might be examining ourselves.
Have I gone backwards? Or as you perhaps come into the
Lord's house this evening thinking everything's OK. But as we begin
to consider these things, have you begun to realise I have gone
backwards rather than forwards? You know, I shall never forget
only a few months after I'd been baptised and joined the church.
I was given a book by a friend, by Octavius Winslow, Soul Declension
and Soul Revival. It's still in print by the Banner
of Truth. And as I read that book, friends,
I realised I'd already gone backwards rather than forwards. Soul Declension
was already written over me. If you have to say with William
Cooper this evening, where is the blessedness I knew when first
I loved the Lord? Where are the soul-refreshing
views of Jesus and his word? Ah, friends, he hasn't changed.
Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, and today, and forever. Is it
not because you've gone backwards rather than forwards? Oh, that
we might cry, return, O holy dove, return. Sweet messenger
of rest, I hate the sins that made thee mourn, that drove thee
from my breast. Lord, draw me. Ah, draw me, we
will run after thee. Draw me again that I may go forwards
rather than backwards. Forwards rather than backwards.
Ah, friends, there's something else I could have brought in.
The good shepherd goes before his sheep. Ah, the sheep follow
after. They go forwards following Jesus.
But ah, friends, how quickly we go backwards rather than forwards.
We want our way rather than his way. Perhaps you're not submissive
this evening to the Lord's will for you. You want a different
pathway. Our friends, you want things
to be different in your life. Or if we resist the Lord's way,
we're going backwards rather than forwards. We're failing
to follow the good shepherd as he leads us. They went backward
and not forward. Well, friends, we want to come
to Christ. Ah, blessed be God. He's given us a saviour of whom
it cannot be said he went backward and not forward. Oh, friends,
is your hope this evening alone in him who went forward and not
backward? But when he came into this world,
he said, Lo, I come, in the volume of the book it is written of
me, to do thy will, O God. Ah, friends, he came not to do
his own will, but the will of him that sent him. And he said,
I've got a baptism to be baptized with, and how am I straightened
till it be accomplished? He said, his face aflint to go
unto Jerusalem. Oh, he gave his back to the smiters
and his cheeks to them that plunked off their hair. Oh, friends,
he did not turn back. He did not turn back. Oh, his
disciples would keep him from death, be it not so, Lord. Oh,
they would take their swords to try and stave off death. Oh,
but it must be accomplished. Our friends, he must go. And
so he presses toward the cross to finish the work that the Father
gave him to do. And that finished work, the salvation
of his people. Our friends, that finished righteousness,
which his people are clothed. Oh, you see in Jesus as a saviour
for poor backsliders. Our friends, in Jesus as grace
for those that go backward rather than forward, because we have
a saviour, who only went forward. Oh, if you've gone backward this
evening, ah, friends, it does not mean you're lost. Ah, friends,
it does not leave you without hope. No, we've got a Saviour
who seeks and saves the lost. Ah, friends, who keeps bringing
his people back. You read the history of Israel, he says they
went backward and not forward, and yet the Lord didn't leave
them, did he? But he said, I know the thoughts I think towards
you. Thoughts of peace and not of evil to give you an expected
end. Ah, friends, he sent his judgments. Captivity. They were
taken out of the land. But, ah, friends, he never broke
his covenant. He never broke his purposes with them. No, dear
David. Ah, what could he say? Though
my house be not so with God, Lord, I've gone backward. Backward
more times than I can number. Terribly backwards. Ah, friends,
backwards, open sins, terrible sins. David went backwards and
not forwards, though my house be not so with God. But where
was David's hope? Not in himself, but in that everlasting
covenant order in all things and sure. Ah, friends, in his
God, in his Saviour, the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Ah,
friends, can you come in with David this evening? Oh, though
my house be not so with God. Lord, I keep going backwards.
I keep going backwards. But my only plea, my only hope
this evening is in Jesus, he who went forwards and not backwards,
and went forwards and not backwards for me. Ah, friends, this is
where the hope of the Lord's people must be. Salvation is
all a grace, and the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ exceeding
abundant. Ah, friends, he's our example.
Oh, may our eyes this evening be on Jesus. That's the way to
go forwards, remembering how forward he was to go forward.
Ah, friends, seeing his example, he never went backwards. Oh,
that's the end of Paul's conclusion to the Hebrews, to a people that
were going backwards rather than forwards. Ah, let us lay aside
every weight and the sin which does so easily beset us and let
us run with patience the race that is set before us going forward,
how? Looking unto Jesus, the author
and the finisher of our faith. Ah, friends, if you're going
backwards this evening, there's only one way. That's to look again
to Jesus. Ah, friends, then you'll be brought
round. Ah, if you seek to look to Jesus this evening, you'll
be going forwards. You'll be looking forwards. And
I'll see in him, to get a sight of his glory, to get a sight
of his grace. Ah, friends, how it will invigorate you to move
forwards. Ah, draw me, we will run after this. I'll run in the
way of thy commandments as thou dost enlarge my heart. And now,
friends, what enlarges the heart of the Lord's people? Like a
sight of Jesus, Jesus Christ and him crucified, and went backward
and not forward. Oh, friends, these things are
written to stir us up, to examine ourselves. If we're going backwards
to plead with him, he would have mercy upon us. Lord, he would
draw us again, put us again in the right way, lead us forward,
and all that we might desire, to ever go forward and not backward. But ultimately, the Lord's people
cannot be lost. The Apostle Paul says, being
persuaded of this very thing, he which hath begun a good work
in you will perform it to the day of Jesus Christ. And friends,
however much the Lord's people go backwards, and however much
this is written over them, ultimately, they must go forwards. Oh, Jesus
cannot be in heaven with one of his people left behind. In
heaven, there's not a vacant throne he hates to put away. But he, having begun that work,
will continue to draw, continue to draw you forwards. And oft
as you go backwards, he'll find a way to bring you forwards again. Oh, friends, solemn things at
times, difficult things to stir up your nest, to cause you to
cry again to him and to press again toward the mark. that ultimately
you might go forwards into glory. They went backward and not forward. Friends, have you got any direction
in your life this evening? Are you going forward? It's only
those that go forward that go forward into glory. Friends,
it's only those that are going forward that have a hope in death. Friends, are you going forward
this evening? They went backward and not forward. Amen.