Job chapter 22, and we'll begin reading at the verse number 21. Let's hear God's word. Acquaint now thyself with him and be at peace, thereby good shall come on to thee. Receive, I pray thee, the law from his mouth and lay up his words in thy heart. If thou return to the Almighty, thou shalt be built up, thou shalt put away, iniquity far from my tabernacles. Then shalt thou lay up gold as dust, and the gold of Ophir as the stones of the brooks. Yea, the Almighty shall be thy defence, and thou shalt have plenty of silver. Then shalt thou have thy delight in the Almighty, and shalt lift up thy face unto God. shall make thy prayer unto him and he shall hear thee and thou shalt pay thy vows thou shalt also decree a thing and it shall be established on to thee and the light shall shine upon my ways when men are cast down then thou shalt say there is a lifting up and he shall save the humble person he shall deliver the island off the innocent and it shall is delivered by the pureness of thine hands. Amen, and we'll conclude at the end of the chapter our Bible reading, our scripture reading. Let's just unite again in a word of prayer as we come around the word of God. Loving Father, we come now to thee, Lord. This is the central act of worship. Lord, we are reminded, O God, that we need to hear from thee. We confess, Lord, at times that we're dull of hearing, and so we pray for the help of thy spirit. Lord, dig out our ears, we pray. May there be, Lord, a ready reception of thy word this day and an honest reflection by all who gather, Lord, in this place as to where we truly are with our God. We commit all things now to thee. Lord, help, Lord, this preacher. Fill him with thy spirit and guide me, Lord. In all that I say this day, I offer prayer in and through the Savior's great and precious name. Amen. If there is one consideration more humbling than another to a spiritually minded believer, it is that after all God has done for us, After all the rich displays of His grace, the patience and tenderness of His instructions, the repeated discipline of His covenant, the tokens of love received, and the lessons of experience learned, that there should still exist in the heart a principle, the tendency of which is to secret, perpetual, and alarming departure from God. So wrote the Puritan writer Octavius Winslow in his book, Personal Declension and Revival of Religion in the soul. The sentiments conveyed by Winslow in that paragraph has unfortunately been the testimony of all who named the name of Christ at some point of their Christian lives. There is a tendency on our part to depart from the Lord. As the hymn writer said, prone to wander, Lord I feel it. Prone to leave. the God that I love. There are seasons in our lives when our love for Christ has sadly waned. times in our Christian experience when our interest in spiritual things has declined, our zeal for God abates, and we tend to simply just drift along in our Christian lives in a cold and in a backslidden state with no appreciation of the dangers living in such a spiritual state exposes us to. Now while it is true that divine grace in the soul can never truly and really die, and that true faith can never utterly and finally fail, there can be a decay in our Christian lives that sees to our departure from God. We've already considered in this series of messages together individuals, peoples whose lives, who had faith in God, who departed from God, and undoubtedly I believe we'll consider other case examples of such departure taking place. This tendency to depart from God being so prevalent among us and in our lives and in the lives of others, what are we to do? Is there any hope? Is there any hope for the one who has departed from the living God? Certainly our adversary, the devil, would suggest to our minds that there is no hope, that such an individual finds themselves now in a hopeless state. And even at times, we ourselves, we come to doubt whether we can be recovered from such a pitiful spiritual state into which we have allowed ourselves to lapse into. Such hopelessness in the soul often results in the one who has departed from God remaining at a distance from the Lord for an extended period of time. In this service I want to address such people. I want to speak to those who on honest reflection would have to say that there has been a departure from God in their life. I want to speak to individuals that and who know that there has been a declension that has occurred in their soul over an extended period of time. I want to speak to those who know that they are not where they once were with God and where they want to be with God. To such a person I want to point out a promise, a promise to you promise that we find in this chapter of God's Word a promise that God makes to those who return on to him and that is today's title for today's message a promise for those who return a promise for those who return the promise of And the content of that promise really runs from the verse 23 to chapter's end. And we're not going to read it again for the sake of time, but in verse 23 it says, if thou return unto the Almighty, thou shalt be built up. And then there are other things, and we'll consider these matters as we make our way through the message this afternoon. It all hinges on that little word, if. If thou return. to the Almighty. Then all of these blessings that are then identified, these blessings will become yours. And so I trust that as we consider them, that we will be provoked to return on to the Lord if there has been a departure from God. Now Elipaz is the speaker here, And he's speaking here to Job, his dear friend. Now, we believe that what Elipaz says to Job was unfounded. Job was a man who had held fast his integrity. Despite going through some of the most trying of circumstances, Job continued to believe God. Job continued to worship God. We find that in Job chapter one and in Job chapter two. His wife encourages him to curse God and die. This is something that Job refuses to do. And so we find here that Elipaz is putting to Job that there has to have been a departure from God. If such tragic circumstances have occurred in your life, Job, there must have been a departure from God. Now that is simply not the case. Because as I've said, Job held fast his integrity. He was a man who continued to trust God. Though God would even slay him, he said, yet he would still trust in his God. And so at times, and you know it as good as I know it, that at times, sometimes a fool can say wise things. We could say that Elipaz is a fool here. Unjustly charging Job with a departure from God. And yet wise words are said to Job by Elipaz here in this portion of God's word. And I believe that they are wise words and they are wise for us as much as they are for all who will read them even in future generations. What then can we glean? from the words that Elipaz speaks to Job on this occasion. Well, in the first instance, we come to see in these words a course that must be adopted. For an individual who has departed from God, there is a course that must be adopted in order to see to their return to God. And as I considered these words, and as I considered this portion of God's Word, I came to identify four steps that must be taken by the one who seeks to return on to God. Can I say in the first place, the first step, there must be, first of all, a recognition that a departure has taken place. A recognition that a departure has taken place. if thou return unto the Almighty. The inference is that there is a departure that has taken place. There has been a leaving of God. There has been a wandering away from God. For he speaks here about a return to the Almighty. And as I've said in this series of messages, if there is a return, there must first be a departure from God. And this is the case, or this is what is being charged to Job, if thou return to the Almighty. In other words, Job, you need to understand that a departure has taken place between you and God. You need to be honest. You need to be frank with yourself. You need to have judgment day honesty. You see, until there is an acknowledgement on the part of the one who has departed from God that they have left their first love, then that individual will just remain in the spiritual state in which they find themselves. They will continue to remain at a distance from the Lord. They will not see it to be a problem. They've grown cold. They've grown worldly in their living. They've allowed the world to capture their hearts and allowed all their things to come in. And now their love for Christ is not what it once was. And so that individual will remain in such a state because there is no acknowledgement, there is no recognition on the part of that individual that they have left their first love. In the days of Hosea, God said to his covenant people these words in Hosea chapter five and the verse 15. He says, I will go and return to my place till they acknowledge their offense and seek my face. In their affliction, they will seek me early. Now you think of that, child of God. Consider the contents of this message if you find yourself today in a cold, in a backslidden state, in a position where you are at a distance from your Savior because there is an acknowledgement from God that you must acknowledge your offense. And there is this threat because God says in their affliction, they will seek me early. God may have to bring affliction in order to bring you back to God. God might have to bring you, as it were, through the thorns to bring you back to God. Difficult days might lie ahead for you in order to bring you back to God. Days of chastening, days of reproving. God may have to execute and God may have to send your way in order to bring you back to God, in order for you to acknowledge your offense and for you to seek his face again. What we learn from this interaction between Jehovah and his people is that God expected His wayward people to acknowledge their departure from Him and also to acknowledge their engagement in sin. And today God expects to see him for all who have gone astray from him. He expects an acknowledgement, a recognition, that a departure from God has taken place. I wonder, will you make such an acknowledgement today? Would you say, as has been said in that final hymn, I have wandered far away from God. But doesn't even matter if you've wandered far from God. Have you wandered a little from the Lord? Have you wandered a little from the Lord? And so there must be a recognition that a departure has taken place. Step number two, there must be a receiving of instruction. Back up there to the verse number 22, where Elipaz, he encourages Job, receive, I pray thee, the law from his mouth, God's mouth, and lay up his words in thine heart. Now one of the marks of a backslider who has no interest in returning to God is that they will not receive instruction, especially biblical instruction. The book of Proverbs chapter 14 and the verse 14 we read, the backslider in heart shall be filled with his own ways. And how true that is. The backslider will not receive instruction, biblical instruction that is given to them, whether it's through the minister, whether it's through a godly parent. They will continue to go in the direction that they desire to go because they're filled with their old ways. However, when a return to God is in the making, we could use that phrase. When a return to God is in the making, you will find that the returning one is quite happy to receive the instruction that comes to them from God via the written word and also by the preached word. Because it is through that instruction, when that instruction is obeyed, that it will see to the restoration of fellowship between them and their God. I put it to you today, Are you ready to receive instruction? Having gone your own way and found that departure from God has not been the right and the proper course of action to take, are you willing to receive instruction? Well, here it is. You find it in the book of the Revelation chapter 2 and the verse number 5. Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen and repent. Do the first works. And really that is the way back to God. Remember, repent, and redo. Will you receive instruction? Will you lay up this instruction in your heart today? You who have wandered from God, you who sit in God's house, and do you know what? You sit in God's house in a daydream. And it's very evident that there's a departure that has taken place. Now, will you receive instruction? Will you return to the Almighty? That's the instruction, if thou return to the Almighty. And that really brings us to step number three, that is to be taken by the one who has departed from God. There must be a returning on to God, as verse 23 says, if thou return on to the Almighty. Having recognized that departure has taken place and having repented of the sin of backsliding, the backslider then is to return to the Almighty. The Almighty. Now think of that, think of that lovely name, the Almighty. It brings to us the thought of God's omnipotence, God's power. These individuals, they are to return to the one who has power to forgive, for only God can forgive sin, and backsliding is a sin. and only he has power to forgive. He is the only one who has power to restore the soul. That is his prerogative as the great and the good and as the chief shepherd. And he is the one who has power to preserve, to preserve you until you're brought safely to heaven and to home. As one preacher considered the words at the head of our text here at the verse 23, if thou return to the Almighty, this is what he said. He says, with deep repentance and sincere faith, find your way back from your backsliding. It is your duty, for you have turned away from him whom you profess to serve. It is not only your duty, he went on to say, it is your wisdom, for you cannot strive against him and prosper. And he said, it is your immediate necessity For what he has done is nothing compared to what he may do in the way of chastisement, since he is almighty to punish. Let me be as frank and as straight-talking as I can be. There are young men in this meeting house today who need to return on to the Almighty. And older men too. And for some ladies here present, young and old, there needs to be a return to God as well. A returning on to God. A returning on to the Almighty. You've wandered for too long. You've gone astray too long, and I can say that there are individuals, and you're on the brink, you're on the precipice of ruination, if you do not turn back to God. For the sake of your soul, and for the sake of your home, and for the sake of your marriage, return on to the Almighty. I wonder, will today mark your return to God? Listen, God can heal your backsliding and restore onto you the years that the locusts have eaten. May there be an honest examination of all our hearts. May every professing Christian ask themselves this question, am I in a growing, thriving condition spiritually, or am I in a state of spiritual declension? Now, which is it? Which is it? Are you today, now listen to me, are you in a growing, thriving condition spiritually or are you in a state of spiritual declension? How is it with you today, Christian? How is it with me? Archibald Alexander said, there is no standing still in religion. If you are not pressing forward, you are certainly retrograding. Which is it, brother? Which is it, sister? The final step that must be taken on a return to God. Yes, there must be a recognition that a departure has taken place. There must be the receiving of instruction from the word and from God's servant, there must be a returning on to the Lord, and then finally, fourthly, there must be a relinquishing of all that is sinful. Look there at the verse number 23. If thou return to the Almighty, thou shalt be built up, thou shalt put away iniquity far from thy tabernacles. There can be no reformation of life and there can be no return to God where sin is cherished and where it is allowed to remain in the life. Sin must be put far away so it never returns again. There must be a willingness on the part of the backslider to have done with whatever it has that is sought to their departure from God, a putting off it away, a putting of it out. I trust that you're willing to do that today. And you're willing to say, yes, the dearest idol that I have known, whatever that idol be, help me to tear it from my throne and to worship only thee. You know, whenever I thought of these four different steps, I thought to myself, are these not the same steps that the sinner must take if they are to experience God's salvation? Is it not the case And is it not, is there not the need on the part of the sinner to also recognize that their sin has sought to their estrangement from God? Do they not need to receive biblical instruction too? Instruction that calls them to repent and to believe the gospel. Do they not need to return on to God as they are exhorted to do in Isaiah chapter 55 and the verse number seven. Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts and let him return unto the Lord, for he will have mercy upon him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. And does not the sinner, as they turn to God, do they not have to relinquish all that is sinful in their lives? Is that not what repentance is? Well, these are the steps that the sinner must take if they are to know the forgiveness of their sins. This is the steps you must take. If you know not Jesus Christ as your Savior today, I wonder is there someone here today, someone in their sin, willing to take these steps of recognition of sin? Yes, also a receiving of instruction, a returning to God, a relinquishing of all that is sinful. I trust that there is. And so we have in this passage a course that is to be adopted. But secondly, we read, and third, secondly and finally, we read about the incentives for such a course to be adopted. In the final verses of this chapter, we find that Elipaz, he mentioned several incentives to Job in the hope that such would see him return. to the almighty i want to set those incentives just out to you set them forth just for you just now in the first place god promises the one who returns to him a restoring by him verse 23 if i return to the almighty thou shalt be built up you know departure from god often and always leads to pulling down pulling down and in fellowship a pulling down in one's spiritual life. But a return to God, thank God, sees to a building up. There is a building up. When we return to God, there is a restoration of fellowship and also of former joys. Is that not what David prayed as he returned to God? There in that great penitential psalm, Psalm number 51, he cried, restore unto me the joy of thy salvation. And the wonderful thing is that God is able to build you up again. I want to get this across to you now. I know that the former part of the message maybe has been cutting, maybe has been convecting, but I want now to bring comfort to your soul, child of God. I want you to know that God is able to build you up again. I want you to know that God is able to restore you again. I want you to know that God is able to repair that which has been broken down in your life. He's able to build you up again, child of God. I'm not here to keep you down as it were in the dust, but today I want the Spirit of God to lift you up and I want God to build you up again, child of God. Mr. Spurgeon, he didn't preach on this particular text, but he did make a comment in his morning and evening devotional. I'm sure some of you do read that little, I'm sure some of you read that devotional. But in his morning and evening devotional, Mr. Spurgeon said this, see what a promise invites you. You shall be built up None but the Almighty can set up the fallen pillars and restore the tottering walls of your condition, but He can and He will do it if you return to Him. You see, this is the promise for the one who returns, thou shalt be built up. There's no doubt about it. It's not as if he'll keep you, as it were, in a holding bay for a couple of weeks and a couple of months or a couple of years to see whether or not you'll fall and depart from God again. No, God is not like that. God will build you up today. Today, child of God, in this meeting, as you sit and your heart goes out to God and you say, Lord, I have left thee. There has been a departure. I'm coming to thee and I'm confessing my sin and I'm turning from my sin. Listen, child of God, God says he'll build you up again. He'll build you up again. You know, maybe you feel in your Christian life, maybe you feel that it's just absolute ruin. And you feel your Christian life is in total ruins today and that there's no hope of recovery, there's no hope of repair. that there is a God in heaven who can build you up. He can build again the ruins of your life. There's a great shepherd he can and he will restore the soul. And if you would doubt that, well then why not return to him and prove the mercy and the grace that God has for his returning ones. Where there has been a decay, you will find that God will build you up again in your most holy faith. And so there is a restoring by him to the one who returns to God. We find that God promises riches from him. How impoverished the life and the soul of the one who departs from God becomes. Just ask Naomi. She testified on her return to Bethlehem, a return that we thought just a few weeks ago. She confessed that she went out full, but the Lord brought her home again empty. Just ask the prodigal son. Leaving the father's house with his share of the family inheritance, we find that that young man soon squandered that inheritance on riotous living. He eventually returned to his father. However, he did so with a hungry stomach, with an empty wallet, with tattered clothing, with a ringless finger, and with shoeless feet. They became impoverished because of their departure. And yet when they returned to the place that they had left, how enriched they became through the generosity of Boaz, in the case of Naomi, and of the father in the case of the prodigal son. They were enriched as they returned. They were enriched as they returned. Naomi comes to feast on the barley and on the wheat that Ruth's gleaned from the harvest field. And the father calls the servants and calls them to kill the fatted calf and put the robe on him, bring forth that robe, the best robe, put it on him and shoes on his feet and a ring on his hand. They find that on their return they were enriched because they returned to the place where they ought to have been. This enrichment on return is what Eliphaz comes to convey to Job in the verses 24 and 25. Then thou shalt lay up gold as dust. I wish I had gold like dust. Gold like dust. And the gold of Uphor is the stones of the Bruxier. The Almighty shall be thy defense and thou shalt have plenty of silver. Now let me point out that word defense to you because it's a different word. verse 25 in actual fact it's the same hebrew word translated differently in verse 24 it's the word gold and so we could read the verse like this yea the almighty shall be thy gold it's the same hebrew word i don't know why they translated it defense but they did I'll leave that with them. But contextually, does it not make more sense that this word should be gold? But thank God there is gold defense. We speak about a nation and how they're defended by the riches, and so there is defenses in riches. at least on the part of nations at times, but this word defense is the word gold. Yea, the Almighty shall be thy gold. The thought being that God becomes that which we treasure when we return to him. He becomes our gold. The Bible commentator Matthew Henry, he said this, whirlings make gold their God. Saints make God their gold. They are enriched with his favor and grace. Sorry, they that are enriched with his favor and grace may truly be said to have abundance of the best gold and best laid up. I wonder, is there one here and you have become impoverished because of your departure from God? Then return to the one in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and of understanding. The riches that are in Jesus Christ, can I say to you, child of God, that those riches have not been forfeited by you? They've been forsaken by you, but they haven't been forfeited by you. You can know again the riches of his grace and the riches of his favor on your life and your home and your family. In light of it, in light of that, it is beyond me why you would remain in such a state of spiritual impoverishment today. If he will enrich you again, God promises the one who returns to him and you find delight in him. Verse 26, for thou shalt have thy delight in the Almighty and shall lift up thy face unto God. You see, the true Christian who will never find true or lasting delight in worldly things when they depart from God, their only source of delight is in the Lord. However, for the one who departs from God, the delight in God the Christian wants to experience is not what it once was. What happens? Prayer becomes stale. And the reading of Scripture, it becomes dry. And attendance at the means of grace, it becomes, it's so wearisome. To come to God's house, it's so boring. It's so wearisome. Service for God, it becomes sporadic. You can't be relied on. That's what happens whenever we depart from God. There's no delight in the Lord. All that changes when the wanderer returns. The restored one comes again to delight in the Almighty and all that is associated with him. They delight in his works and they delight in his ways and they delight in his worship and they delight in his word. Oh, why not then, wandering one, return on to the Lord? Delight yourself in the Lord again. Delight thyself also in the Lord, and he shall give thee the desires of thy heart. There's also the promise of renewed fellowship with God. Verse 27, thou shalt make thy prayer unto him, and he shall hear thee. And thou shalt pay thy vows when we regard iniquity in our hearts, the Lord will not hear us. And as I've said, backsliding is iniquity, backsliding is sin. But how blessed it is when we confess our sin, that fellowship with God is restored again and God hears and answers our prayers. Maybe your lament would be today as was William Cuyper's lament. Where is the blessedness I knew when first I saw the Lord? And I sought the Lord where is the sole refreshing view of Jesus and his word. I wonder are those your sentiments? Would it not be wise for you to return to the Lord to seek him again in prayer? Brother, sister, fellowship with God. That fellowship can be restored between you and God. God will hear and answer your prayers again. And that's one of the blessings of a return on to God. He hears the cries of his people and he answers their prayers. Does your family not need you to be a man, a woman on praying ground? Does this church, this nation not need you to be on praying ground? Then finally, there is the promise of God's blessing on our enterprises. We cannot know the blessing of the Lord in our lives if we are living in rebellion to Him. How could God bless us in a backslidden state? It's not possible. And yet whenever we return to him, we find that his smile and his favor returns and his blessing accompanies all that we do for him. Elipaz puts it like this in verse 28. Thou shalt also decree a thing and it shall be established unto thee and the light shall shine upon thy ways. God will again bless our endeavors, giving us fruit in our season. many a scheme and a plan of one who's wandered from God has been frustrated by God in order that such would provoke that individual to return to God. Maybe that's been your experience. Do you wonder why you move from one crisis to the next? from one field business enterprise to the next, from one disaster in your business to the next, one field enterprise to the next. Maybe God is alerting you that you have departed from God. Maybe he's alerting you that all is not well between you and him. rather than go on in that vein of living child of God, turn on to the Almighty. For you might save yourself in doing so a lot of grief, and a lot of frustration, and a lot of money, and a lot of wasted years. God sometimes frustrates the plans in order to provoke you to return to God. And like then of all that has been said in this service today, that all who profess the name of Christ be on our guard against the first risings of spiritual decay in our lives, the first risings. The devil seeks the downfall of every believer, and he comes to find easy prey in the person who has wandered from God. Let us never be that person. Let us live close to God. Let us keep close to him. And if there has been a departure from God, however slight, however small that departure from God has been, then let me encourage you to return on to the Almighty. Because praise God, He will heal your backslidings. He will restore on to you the joy of His salvation. He'll do all of these things for you. if thou return to the Almighty. Will you return? Or are you just going to continue to drift and drift and drift in your Christian experience? See the danger of it. Understand the sin of it. And may God in his mercy use this message to see to your return on to him this very moment. Let's bow our heads in prayer together. And let's take these few moments before someone speaks to us beside us. Let's all be before the Lord as individuals. Let the Spirit of God search out our hearts. Is there a departure in my life? Is there a coldness? Am I where I should be? Am I where I want to be? Acquit now thyself with him, and be at peace, and thereby good shall come unto thee. Receive, I pray thee, the law from his mouth, and today lay up his words in thine heart. May we all do that today. May God preserve us and keep us from falling, from wandering from him. If you need help with this matter, then do make contact with us. We'll be more than pleased to speak to you about these matters. Speak to us after the meeting. Do not leave as you've come to God's house, but return to the Almighty. Our loving Father, we thank Thee for the promise for the one who returns. The one who returns to the Almighty shall be built up. We thank thee for the one who builds up his people, the one who lifts us up when we have fallen, when we have drifted. He comes and he builds us up again as we return to him. And we pray, Lord, that there will be no one here today thinking to themselves, that I am now beyond rescue, and I'm now beyond repair, and I can never know what it is to be restored, and the fellowship, and the joy, and the peace that I once enjoyed, I can never know it again. For Lord, that is a lie. For the word of God tells us that if thou return to the Almighty, thou shalt be built up. And therefore, Lord, we commit thy saints to thee. And we pray, Lord, that each one who has heard thy word today, Lord, that there might be great searchings of heart and a seeking of the Lord and a return unto thee. And so now, these are prayers we cry to thee. And may the blessing of God, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, In the fellowship of God the Holy Spirit, rest and remain upon my believing people until all shadows flee away and we find ourselves safe in heaven itself. We offer prayer in the great, glorious, and wondrous name of our Savior Jesus.