RETURN UNTO ME - Robert Murray Mcchene
“Remember these, O Jacob and Israel; for thou art my servant: I have formed thee; thou art my servant: O Israel, thou shalt not be forgotten of me. I have blotted out, as a thick cloud, thy transgressions, and, as a cloud, thy sins: return unto me; for I have redeemed thee.”—Isa. xliv., 21, 22.
IN these words God contrasts the happy condition of his chosen people with that of the poor blind idolaters whom he had been describing in the verses before. Ah! my friends, to the eye of man, there may be little difference between the children of the wicked one and the children of God; but, to the eye of God, they are as different as the chaff from the wheat, as the lily from the thorn. Of you that are Christless, God says, “He feedeth on ashes” (verse 20); but to you that are his children, “Remember these, O Jacob.” May God open our eyes to see wonders out of this Scripture !
I. All that have come to Christ are forgiven: “I have blotted out.”—Verse 22.
1. Observe the completeness of their forgiveness: “I have blotted out as a thick cloud.”. This complete forgiveness is many ways showed forth in the Bible. 1st, It is compared to the change produced on clothes by washing or dyeing them: “Though thy sins be as scarlet, yet shall they be white as snow” (Isa. i., 18); and again, “Unto Him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his blood.” 2d, Again, to something covered over: “Blessed is the man whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.” And Jesus says, “Buy of me white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear.” 3d, Again, it is compared to something lost. Hezekiah says, “Thou hast cast all my sins behind thy buck;” Micah, “Thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea.” But still they may be near at hand? No: “As far as east is distant from the west.”—Ps. ciii., 12. But if God were to seek for them? “In those days, and in that time, shall the iniquity of Israel be sought for, and there shall be none; and the sins of Judah, and they shall not be found.”—Jer. l., 20. 4th, To something forgotten: “Thy sins and thine iniquities will I remember no more.” “All his transgressions that he hath done, they shall not be mentioned unto him.” 5th, To something blotted out. Although they be washed, covered, lost, forgotten, yet they will still remain in God’s record, yes, they will; but ow'(—Blotted out.
Any of you that believe in Jesus, do you take the Son of God as your Surety? Take this word to yourself. See what the page will be like on which thy sins are written. It will be one great blot; one thick cloud. When you look on the clouds, can you read anything written there ?—no- more can God read any of thy sins, O believer in Jesus.
2. Observe, it is present forgiveness. It is not, I will blot out; but, “I have blotted out.” Some say, I hope God will forgive me. Ah I my friends, you greatly mistake the Bible: a present forgiveness is offered to you. The moment a soul closes with Christ, that moment is this word true of him: “I have blotted out.” “There is now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus.”
Ques. Has God blotted out your sins? 1st, Most say I don’t know; I never inquired. Oh! sinner, if you never inquired, then I will answer for you; There is not one of them blotted out. Every evil thought, and word, and deed you have done, is written against you; you will meet them all another day. A deceived heart hath turned thee aside, and thou dost not know that there is a lie in thy right hand. 2d, Some say. It is impossible to till; I never saw the book of God’s remembrance; how can I tell? True, you never saw the book of God’s remembrance, and yet there is another book, and if you would search it much, and believe the word concerning Jesus, you would come to know that you are forgiven. Oh, yes! it is quite possible. David lasted it, and thousands since David have blessed God for forgiving all their iniquities. The woman that touched the hem of Christ’s garment felt in herself that she was made whole. She was no physician, and yet she knew that she was w<.11. When a man has a burden on his back, if you lilt it off, he knows it at once; so does the heavy laden soul that comes to Jesus, he finds rest.
3. Observe who blots: “I, even I, am he that blotteth out thy transgressions.”—Isa. xliii., 25. 1st, Some try to blot out their own sins; I will be grieved, and sorry for my sins, says one. I will blot them out with tears. I will pray to God, and cover my past sins with my earnest prayers, says another. I will mend my life and cover my naked soul with good deeds, says another. Bui no; this is all vain; God alone can blot out. Either he will du it, or it will not be done,: “I, even I, am he.” 2d, Home hope that Christ will blot out their sins, unknown to the Father. They think that Christ is very willing to be a Saviour, but not so the Father. But no; Christ and the Father are one. If you come to Christ, God himself will do it. and will tell you, “I have done it.”
Speak to unforgiven souls: Unhappy man! You have many pleasures and many friends; but one thing you want—the forgiveness of sins. Do you think you would not be happier, lighter in heart, if you were forgiven? Oh! how miserable are all your daily employments and pleasures, when you know that hell is opening its mouth for you. God has never blotted out your sins; yet you might be forgiven: “Unto you, O men, I call; and my words are to the sons of men.” Come to Christ, and God will abundantly pardon.
II. All that have come to Christ are God’s servants. “Thou art my servant, thou art my servant.” Two reasons are given: 1. “I have redeemed thee;” 2. “I have formed thee.” 1st, Because redeemed. When a man consents that Christ shall be his Surety, he feels that he is not his own, but bought with a price. So David felt: “Truly lam thy servant; I am thy servant, and the son of thine handmaid: thou hast loosed my bonds.” So Paul felt, when he lay gasping on the ground: “Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?” Before conversion, the unconverted thinks that he is his own: May I not do what I will with mine own? He was the willing slave of the devil. But when he sees the price laid down for him, he feels that the Lord has redeemed him out of the house of bondage. Now he says, I am the Lord’s. Now he is more the servant of the Lord than ever he was of the devil. Oh! dear Christians, would that I could see more of this among you, a devoting of yourselves unto the Lord; “for thou art my servant, thou art my servant.” 2d, Because formed by Gad: “I made thee, and formed thee from the womb.”—Isa. xliv., 2. The whole work of grace is the Lord’s doing, and wondrous in our eyes. Paul says: “It pleased the Lord, who separated me from my mother’s womb, to reveal his Son in me;” and God to Jeremiah: “Before I formed thee in the belly, I knew thee; and before thou camest out of the womb, I sanctified thee.” God marks his own from their mother’s womb. When infants, God treasures up every prayer for them. Every mother’s tears he puts into his bottle, her sighs into his book. In boyhood, he preserves their souls *from death, gives them times of awakening, fixes words in their memory: “I girded thee, though thou hast not known me.” When his time comes, he guides them to some fitting ministry; or, by some sore trial, awakens, leads to Christ, draws, wins, comforts, builds the soul. He is a faithful Creator. “Sing, O heavens! for the Lord hath done it.” That soul becomes a servant indeed.
Some of you know that God has formed you. You can trace his hand, guiding you ever since you were born, girding you when you did not know him, in the mother that wrestled for you, in dear ones that prayed for you, now in their lonely grave, in the ministers that you have been brought to, in the texts they have been guided to. O be the Lord’s servant! let him bore thine ear. Bear in your body the marks of the Lord Jesus.
III. Souls in Christ shall not be forgotten of God: “Thou shall not be forgotten of me.” The children of God often think their God has forgotten them. Often, when they fall into sin and darkness, they feel cut off from God, as if his mercies were clean gone for ever. But learn here that God never forgets the soul that is in Christ Jesus.
1. So it was with Moses in the land of Midian. For forty years he thought God had forgotten his people. He wandered about as a shepherd in the wilderness for forty years, sad and desolate. But had God really forgotten his people? No; he appeared in a flaming fire in a bush, and said: “I have seen, I have seen the affliction of my people, and I have heard heir groaning, and am come down to deliver them; for I know their sorrows.” God knows thy sorrows, O soul in Christ. 2. So it was with David, in Ps. lxxvii., xiii., and xxxi. 3. So it was with Hezekiah, when God told him he must die. Hezekiah wept sore: “Like a crane or a swallow so did I chatter; I did mourn as a dove: mine eyes fail with looking upward: O Lord, I am oppressed; undertake for me.” Isa. xxxviii., 14. Did God forget him? No; God laid this word to him: “I have heard thy prayer, I have seen thy tears; I will add unto thy days fifteen years.” God never forgets the soul in Christ. 4. So shall it be with God’s ancient people: “Zion said, The Lord hath forsaken me, and my Lord hath forgotten me. Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget thee.” Isa. xlix. 14, 15. 5. So it is in the words of the text: “Thou shalt not be forgotten of me.” The world may forget thee, thy friends, thy father, thy mother, may forsake thee; yet “thou shalt not be forgotten of me.”
A word to souls in Christ.—The Lord cannot forget you. If you stood before God in your own righteousness, then I see how you might be separated from his love and care; for your frames vary, your goodness is like the morning cloud and early dew. But you stand before him in Christ: and Christ is the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever. You shall be held in everlasting remembrance. The world may forget you, your friends may forget you, for this is a forgetting world, you may not have a tombstone over your grave; but God will not forget you, Christ will put your name beside that of his faithful martyr, Antipas. In life, in death, in eternity, thou “shall not be forgotten of me.”
IV. A redeemed soul should return unto God: “Return unto me.” The sin and misery of every natural soul is in going away from God. Adam hid himself from the presence of God. So Isaiah complains; “They have provoked the Holy One of Israel to anger: they are gone away backward.” And God says: “What iniquity have your fathers found in me, that they are gone far from me?” “Can a maid forget her ornaments, or a bride her attire? yet my people have forgotten me days without number.” But when a soul has come to Christ, there is no more reason why he should return unto God. “Return unto me, for I have redeemed thee.” “Through Jesus, we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father.” “I am the way; no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.”
Dear brethren in Christ, let me entreat you. to return unto the Father.
1. Come into the arms of his love.—When God has redeemed a soul, he wants to have him in his arms, he wants to fall upon his neck and kiss him. See how he tries to win the soul! tells all that he has done for him, all that he will do; and adds: “Return unto me; for I have redeemed thee.” Oh! why are ye fearful, ye of little faith? Why do you hang back, and will not venture near to God? Why do you not run to him? Some say: I am afraid of past sins. Oh! but hear his word: “I have blotted out. Return unto me, for I have redeemed thee.” Some say: I am afraid he cannot wish such a sinful, weak thing as I beside him. Oh I foolish, and slow of heart to believe his own word. Does he not speak plain enough and kind enough? “Return unto me, for I have redeemed thee.”
2. Come into communion with him; daily walk with him. Enoch walked with God. Once Adam walked with God in paradise, as easily, Herbert says, “as you may walk from one room to another.” He talked with him concerning his judgments. Oh! come unto thy God, redeemed, forgiven soul. Acquaint thyself with God, and be at peace. Come to him; do not rest short of him. You think it a great thing to know a lively Christian; oh! how infinitely better to know God. It is your infinite blessedness. You will get more knowledge in one hour with God, than in all your life spent with man. You will get more holiness from immediate conversing with God, than from all other means of grace put together. Indeed, the means are empty vanity, unless you come to God in them. “Return unto me; for I have redeemed thee.”
3. To the backslider.—Guilty soul, you have been within the veil; you know the peace that Jesus gives; you know the joy of the smile of God. But you have left all this, and gone away backward. Guilty soul, you have done worse than the world. Worldly men never served Christ as you have done. They have spit on him, and buffeted him, and crucified him; but you have founded him in the house of his friends: “It was not an enemy that reproached me; then I could have borne it; but thou, my friend and mine acquaintance.” Guilty soul, what says God unto thee? “Depart thou cursed?” No: “Return unto me; for I have redeemed thee.” “Return, O backsliding daughter; for I am married unto you.” Return, sinner, thy God calleth thee; the God that chose thee, the Saviour that died for thee, the Comforter that renewed thee. “Return unto me; for I have redeemed thee “
St. Peter’s, July 8, 1838.