DEUTERONOMY 30:1-10 RETURN TO THE LORD2015 Teaching by Jerry B Simmons

Teaching Transcript: Deuteronomy 30:1-10 Return To The Lord

You are listening to FerventWord, an online Bible study ministry with teachings and tools to help you grow deeper in your relationship with God. The following message was taught by Jerry Simmons in 2015. Here in Deuteronomy chapter 30, we're looking at verses 1 through 10, and the title of the message is Return to the Lord. As we look at this passage, I want you to know right off the bat that God is never surprised by our sin.

God is never shocked by the sin that you commit or the things that you do. And we see this very clearly here in Deuteronomy chapter 30.

Because here the children of Israel are on the border of the promised land. Moses has led them out of Egypt. They've gone through the wilderness. They're at the edge of the promised land about to enter in. And Moses in just a couple chapters is going to go up on the mountain and he's going to be going to be with the Lord. He's going to die. And then Joshua is going to lead the people in to the promised land.

Now, as Joshua leads them into the promised land, they're going to be heading into a season where God is fulfilling all kinds of promises that he's been giving to them. In the land that he is giving to them, in the blessings that he's going to be pouring out upon them, in the driving out of the inhabitants of the land, it's going to be a really cool season for them to head into and get to experience all the things that God is giving to them. However,

On the edge of that season of those promises being fulfilled, on the edge of the promised land, Moses delivers this message that we know as Deuteronomy. And in this message, in chapters 28, 29, and 30, Moses kind of lays it all out very clearly for the people. The choice that they have to receive blessing from God or cursing from God. And as God is addressing them here in this passage, he's

He's essentially saying up front, I know you're going to experience all of the blessings, but you're also going to experience the cursings as a result of disobedience. God says in advance, I know you're going to turn away from me. I know you're going to rebel against me. You're going to disregard my word. I know all of that. And yet God, knowing that they were going to sin,

still offers redemption to them. And here in Deuteronomy chapter 30, he offers them the opportunity to return to the Lord. You might be shocked by your sin. You might be really surprised by it. Like you might say things like, I never thought I would be here. I never thought I would do that. I would have never guessed. I would have never thought. I would have never expected. It's surprising to us.

But God is not surprised. He's not shocked. He knows the depths of depravity that we have explored and even what we could explore. But even then, God calls out to us and says, you have an opportunity to return. Now, as we look at Deuteronomy chapter 30, this is ultimately a promise to the nation of Israel.

And so that's primarily what this passage is talking about. It's a promise to them as a nation, as they rebel against God and get scattered and dispersed and taken captive, that God will bring them back into the promised land. But as we look at this promise to the nation of Israel, there is great application for our spiritual life. That is much of what God promises to Israel. We get fulfilled in Christ, spiritually speaking.

And so we can look at these things and understand that God also calls us and gives us the opportunity to return to the Lord. And this call to return to the Lord is appropriate for those who are walking with the Lord in the sense that we all on a daily basis have battles and we all have struggles and we all fall short. And so our lives are to be a constant reminder

returning to the Lord. Repentance is not just something that happens at conversion. You know, you say the sinner's prayer, you're born again, and then all right, you never have to repent again. It doesn't work that way.

But our lives are to be a constant turning to the Lord, a constant returning to the Lord that we are drawing near to him. And so it's appropriate for us as we walk with the Lord, as well as it's appropriate for those who have been away from the Lord. Whether you've been away for moments or hours or days or weeks or months or years, this call, this opportunity is for you. You can return to the Lord.

And so four points we'll look at as we look at Deuteronomy chapter 30 verses 1 through 10. The first point we find in verses 1 and 2, and that is return with all your heart. This opportunity to return to the Lord comes really with a condition. And the condition is you need to return, but wholeheartedly, not unselfishly.

Not just a little bit, not just a piece of you, but you need to return with all of your heart. Look again at verse one. It says, now it shall come to pass when all these things come upon you, the blessing and the curse which I have set before you, and you call them to mind among all the nations where the Lord your God drives you. And so notice again, he says, when all these things come upon you.

And he's talking about what he's just addressed in chapters 28 and 29, the blessings and the curses. I would encourage you to read back Deuteronomy chapter 28 later on and consider the blessings that God promised. There in chapter 28, he says, if you diligently obey the voice of the Lord,

Well, then he says, all these blessings will come upon you. And he goes on to list all kinds of different varieties of blessing. He says, you're going to be blessed in the city and you're going to be blessed out in the country. You're going to be blessed in the fruit of your body, in the produce of your ground. Your baskets are going to be blessed. Your kneading bowls are going to be blessed. You're going to be blessed in the fruit of your body.

You're gonna be blessed when you go out and you're gonna be blessed when you come back in. Your enemies are gonna scatter before you and on and on and on he goes. Great blessings that God promises to his people if they will obey him, if they will turn to him. And Israel got to experience that. He says, when all these things come upon you,

Israel got to experience the great blessings of God. With Joshua, as Joshua led them into the promised land, they conquered the promised land. They received the inheritance that was given to them. Under King David, as well as his son Solomon, the nation of Israel experienced their glory, their highest at that point, as they received abundant blessings from God, as they as a nation were seeking after God and being obedient to God.

And so when all these things come upon you, the blessings they experienced, but then also the curses they experienced. And God flipped it around in the same way that he described and gave some examples of all the blessings. He said in Deuteronomy chapter 28, if you do not obey the voice of the Lord,

well, then all these curses will come upon you and you'll be cursed in the city and you'll be cursed in the country and your basket and your kneading bowl and on and on and on he went. And so he described all of these curses and then went on to say in Deuteronomy chapter 28, verse 64, not only will you experience all these things, but then the Lord will scatter you among all the peoples.

that they will be emptied out from this promised land that they were given and scattered throughout the world. Now, just as we saw Israel experience the blessings that God promised, we also can look back at history and see Israel experienced the cursings that God promised. They were dispersed. They were scattered. They were taken captive. All of those things came to pass. And so that's what God says here. When all these things come upon you,

You experience the blessings and you experience the cursings. He says that if at that time you call to mind among the nations where the Lord your God drives you, so you've been driven out and at that point from those nations, from those distant places that you've been scattered, if from there you will remember what God has said,

There, what I like to refer to as the mess of your own making, right? The nation of Israel would be scattered to those places because of their own disobedience, because of their own choices. Now, in a similar way, we can relate this to our own lives and understand there is blessing when you're obedient to God. And there is devastation and destruction when you're disobedient to God.

And God would say to you, hey, remember when all those things happen, when you've experienced the blessings of God, as well as the judgment of God, the discipline of God, if you find yourself in that place of discipline, you find yourself in that place of being scattered, being driven away, that you're not experiencing the fullness of what God has for you,

Here's what God says. There in that situation, there as you sit in the mud and the mess of your own making, you put yourself there. You know, sometimes we go through hardship and it's not about discipline. It's not God's judgment in our lives. It's just we live in a fallen world. But you know, sometimes there are those things that we experience that we bring upon ourselves by disobedience, by disregard to God. And here's the amazing grace of God. He says, when you find yourself there in that mess where you put yourself, you put yourself

Well, you have an opportunity to return. God doesn't give up on you. He doesn't write you off. He doesn't say you can't come. Don't come crawling back to me. He never says that to us. No, he says, come crawling back to me. Check out verse two. He says, and you return to the Lord your God and obey his voice according to all that I command you today, you and your children with all your heart and with all your soul. So he says from that spot in that mud where you put yourself by disobedience,

He says, if you'll return to the Lord, and then now he's going to go on in the next verses to give some really incredible promises, like really incredible things that God will do for those who return to him. But before we look at those promises, we need to figure out and understand. So what does it mean then to return to the Lord? First, you have the opportunity to return, even when you're in the mess that you've made yourself. But what does it mean? How do you return to the Lord?

Well, as I mentioned earlier, it comes with this idea of repentance. To turn from sin, to acknowledge your sin, to confess your sin. You put yourself in that position, you put yourself in that situation where you receive destruction by your disobedience and disregard of God's word. And so first things first, you need to acknowledge your disobedience to God.

confess your sin to God. But then repentance is not just that, but then it's also a turning to God. And so you choose to love God and obey God and pursue God. To return to the Lord is to acknowledge your sin and to turn and to follow God and to seek after God and to get to know God. I think David, of course, is a great example for us.

In that he was walking with God. He's known as the man after God's own heart. And yet he disobeyed God. He sinned against God and committed adultery with Bathsheba. And yet in that, he held on to that sin for a while. It weighed upon him.

He talks about his bones waxing old, that there was this burden, there was this weight upon him because although he was a believer, although he walked with God, yet there was this sin that had not been dealt with. And time passes until the Lord sends Nathan to confront him. He tells him a parable, David overreacts. Nathan says, that's all about you. And he realizes what he's done. And he confesses, I've sinned against the Lord.

And you can check out Psalm chapter 32 and Psalm chapter 51 to see David's heart in his repentance from his sin and his turning to follow God, to choose to love and obey God. He cried out to God from the midst of that. And it's a good example for us of how to return to the Lord. Even when you've put yourself in a situation by your own choices, made your own mess, now you're suffering in it.

God says, you still have the opportunity to return to me. And he says, with all your heart. When you return to me with all your heart, with all your soul, then all of these great promises are there. So what does it mean to return to the Lord with all your heart and with all your soul? Well, it's not meant to be a precise calculation. Sometimes I've had discussions and conversations with believers who coming out of a backslidden state or a sinful lifestyle and they're wrestling with

They're thinking, well, yeah, I'm turning to the Lord, but maybe it's not with my whole heart. Maybe it's not really all that I have. You know, maybe I've only returned with 95% of my heart. And it's not meant to be like that. Don't try to figure out the percentages. Here's the basic idea, okay? Turn to the Lord as best you know how. Turn to the Lord as best you know how. You're going to be messed up still, right?

You still don't have a full perspective. Sin's blinded. You don't know how to turn to God with your whole heart. And we'll even see that. God will make that point in a couple more verses. So it's not that you have to figure out, well, what exact percentage of my heart am I giving over to the Lord? Here's the idea. Do the best that you can to turn over to the Lord, to return to the Lord, to pursue the Lord. The idea here is don't hold on to some things.

Like, well, I want to turn to the Lord, but you know, I want to also hold on to these things that I know are wrong, that I know I don't really shouldn't have those in my life, but can I still receive God's grace and forgiveness and mercy and still hold on to this? Well, don't do that. Turn to the Lord with your whole heart. Let go of those things that you know about. Don't worry about the things that you don't know about. Turn to God with your whole heart. That is, in the things that you know to do, do those things. In the things that you know not to do, let go of those things.

And the awesome thing here, when he says, return to the Lord with your heart and with your soul, it means for us, it doesn't have to be conditioned on something else. So he doesn't say, return to the Lord. And so, you know, get yourself out of bondage and clean up your life and, you know, get your, get everything squared away. And then you can come to me. No, he says there in the mess that you're in, when you remember all that God has said, then return to the Lord.

It's not do something else first so that you can return to the Lord. He just says, return with your whole heart. Return with all your heart. And so this morning, I want to encourage you to return to the Lord and return with all your heart. Don't hold on to anything that you know you shouldn't be holding on to. And the things that you know you should be doing, then be doing those things. Pursue the Lord. Get to know the Lord. Listen, it's not too late.

No matter who you are, no matter what you've done, no matter what you might think of yourself, it's not too late to return to the Lord. God still gives opportunity. You still have breath. You still have opportunity to return to the Lord with all your heart. Our lives are meant to be filled with turning to the Lord. So that at any time, even when you're just having a rough day, you know, Pastor David, right here in the second row,

He was telling me this last week about how terrible his heart is and how sinful he is. And he had a really bad attitude on Tuesday. And the Lord had to convict him and call him to repentance. You know that's not unique to him. That's all of us.

And you don't have to wait, you know, until the end when you're sitting in the mud to return to the Lord. That's why I'm saying our lives are meant to be filled with this. We're going to struggle with things every day. And so we have the opportunity day by day, even moment by moment, to turn to the Lord. As we recognize, as we see the blessings and the cursings, we see the results of obedience and disobedience, we have the opportunity to return to the Lord, acknowledging our sin and choosing God.

Day by day, moment by moment, to love and obey God. Now, as we go forward in the passage, the amazing thing is when you return to God, he has really incredible promises for you that demonstrate his amazing, indescribable grace. These next three points are,

are God's declarations of what he will do for those who return to him. So returning to the Lord, that's your responsibility. The rest of the passages or the passage, the verses, is talking about everything that God will do for you if you return to the Lord. It's really amazing. So make sure you consider these things and pay attention to these verses. Point number two found in verse three through five. God will bring you back from captivity.

If you will return to the Lord, here's what God will do for you. He will bring you back from captivity. Verse 3 says, that the Lord your God will bring you back from captivity and have compassion on you and gather you again from all the nations where the Lord your God has scattered you. So God says to the nation of Israel, you're going to experience blessings as you obey me.

but you're also gonna turn away from me. And so you're gonna experience the devastation of sin. You're gonna be scattered. You're gonna find yourself far throughout the earth, dispersed, in bondage, miserable because of your sin. But if you'll return to me, if you'll turn your heart back towards me, God says, I will bring you back from captivity. I just think this is absolutely amazing. You know, God doesn't just rescue people who are in a mess immediately.

because of some outside circumstances. He doesn't just rescue people who are in a mess because of some calamity, some disaster, something else that has happened that's outside of their control. God's promise is also to those who are in the mess because they've put themselves there, because they knew what was right and did what was wrong. Because even though they knew the truth, they believed the lie, even then God says,

I will bring you back from your captivity. Those things that bind you, those things that afflict you, I will bring you back from those things. You know, sin always promises great freedom, but it brings captivity. It enslaves us. And that's always the case. Remember Paul in 1 Corinthians 6.

He said, hey, everything's lawful for me, but not all things are helpful. He said, all things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any. Paul says, I want to be careful that I don't use the freedom that I have in Christ to do something that brings me into bondage again. I want to make sure I don't get enslaved once more. Peter warned us in 1 Peter 2 against using our liberty as a cloak for vice.

It's a good picture. Using your liberty as a cloak for vice. Hey, I'm free in Christ. We have freedom in the grace of God, but don't use that as a mask to engage in things. And he uses the word vice. Picture of that squeezing, right? Those things that hold on to you. And there are times that you and I involve ourselves in things that become a vice. And we engage

get stuck. We get trapped. We get enslaved. Now, not all captivity is judgment. When Israel went down into Egypt and later on became slaves in Egypt, it wasn't a discipline. It wasn't a judgment for their rebellion against God. God led them into Egypt. So not all captivity is God's judgment. But when you're feeling trapped and when you're feeling stuck, it's a really good opportunity for you to stop and think about

am I living in disobedience to God? Is there some disregard for God's word? There's some disregard for who God is. Am I out of line with God? And if we find ourselves in that kind of situation where we're in captivity, we're stuck, we're trapped, God says, from there, you can return to me. You can call out to me. And God says, I will deliver you. Also here in verse three, he says, not only will I bring you back from captivity, but I'll have compassion on you.

I'll have compassion on you. This is really amazing. It shows us the heart of God. Understand that God never gets joy from the pain of others, even from those who hate him. He never gets joy from their pain. Now, you and I, we're a little bit different in that regard, aren't we? Like, mm-hmm, he's getting what's coming to him. Yeah, that's right, mm-hmm. There's a little bit of satisfaction, right? Especially with those who hate you.

God never gets joy when people suffer. He has compassion. And from wherever you're at, whatever you're in, even if it's something you've brought upon yourself, you don't have to be afraid to call out to God and come to God thinking that God's like really happy about what you're experiencing and what you're going through. And he's just going to smack you some more because you really deserve it.

No, he has compassion on you. God has mercy. He has sympathy. And he longs to show that mercy and that compassion. And so he's waiting for you. He's longing for you to return so that he can show you that mercy.

So that he can express that compassion. Well, not only does he release you from the captivity and show you compassion, but also in verse three, he says, and I will gather you again from all the nations where the Lord, your God has scattered you. So there's a releasing and there's also the regathering. I'm going to bring you back. I'm going to gather you together. I'm going to give you some fellowship. I'm going to unite you with others around you and

I'm going to establish you in that way. Now we can look at the nation of Israel and their history as a really clear picture of this. Right now they're on the border of the promised land about to enter in and experience the season of fulfilled promises. They're going to go in with Joshua, conquer the promised land. But after Joshua dies, then comes the book of Judges. And you know the book of Judges, right? It's the cycle over and over and over again.

After Joshua dies, the people turn away from God. And what happens? They experience curses. They experience judgment. And then in the experiencing of judgment and affliction and oppression that comes with it, then they call out to God. God raises up a deliverer, delivers them, brings them out of captivity, regathers them, shows them compassion, and then he calls them to God.

But when that judge dies, then the people turn away from God again. And it starts all over. They experience affliction, oppression because of their disobedience to God. And the book of Judges is that over and over and over again. Now you can look at that two ways. You can look and go, man, that's kind of depressing to see them turn away from God time after time after time. But also you can look at the other side and look at God delivered them.

Even though they put themselves in that mess, they did that to themselves and they turned away from God. When they called out to the Lord, when they cried out to the Lord, he is faithful to deliver them. He's faithful to redeem them. And so God says, I will bring you back from captivity. Later on, the nation of Assyria conquered part of Israel and then Babylon conquered the rest of Israel and emptied out the land and

It was a result of their disobedience to God. And then after that, 70 years later, God brought them back to the land and again fulfilled his word.

Even what we're looking at today with modern day Israel, as you see Israel back in the land, which is kind of, it's a given for us today, but for 2,000 years, they didn't have a land. It's a really incredible miracle what God has done. They were dispersed throughout the world, having no homeland, yet retained their identity as a nation, as a people.

And then God miraculously brought them back into the land and gave them back the land of Israel. And there's a little bit of a regathering going on that from around the world, the Jewish people are returning to the land of Israel. The ultimate fulfillment of these things will be later on during the millennium. But we get to see glimpses of that here. In other words, God's faithful. He's doing exactly what he said he would do. Then check out verse 4.

If any of you are driven out to the farthest parts under heaven, from there, the Lord your God will gather you. And from there, he will bring you. So he says, look, you're going to be taken captive and scattered. And he says, he wants to make sure that we understand, that we get, because sometimes we think, well, we've just gone too far. Our situation is beyond hope. Our situation, it's just, it's too bad. It's too messed up.

He wants them to know there's still hope no matter where they are. If any of you are driven out to the farthest parts from under heaven, you might think, well, God could deliver me if I was like a little bit messed up, a little bit out of line, God could deliver me. But if I was like all the way on the opposite side of the earth, you know, it's just, it's too big of a problem. It's too messed up. It's too far gone. And God is saying here, nobody has gone so far that I cannot bring them back.

Not only can I, but God says, I will. If any are driven out to the farthest parts under heaven, he says, from there, the Lord, your God will gather you. And from there, he will bring you. Even when we think it just seems impossible for that to happen. It seems impossible for restoration to take place. It seems impossible for someone to recover from that. But God says, even the farthest places, no matter how far you run from God, no matter how messed up,

we become, how much sin we get involved with, how much rebellion there is, how much debauchery or whatever it is, no matter how far we go, even from the farthest places. God says, if you return to me, I will bring you back from captivity. Not just if you're, you know, a little bit of bondage, not just if you've messed up a little bit, but if you're Saul of Tarsus, God says, you can return to me.

If you're the worst of the worst, God says, you can return to me and I will bring you back from captivity. Not only that, but check out verse five. Then the Lord your God will bring you to the land which your father's possessed and you shall possess it. He will prosper you and multiply you more than your father's. So not only will he set you free and gather you together, but he's gonna bring you back into the land, he says. It's a full restoration, right?

You were dispersed, you were scattered out of the promised land, and now I'm going to bring you back into the promised land. And not only that, but he says with extra blessing. He says he will prosper you and multiply you more than your fathers. So you're not just going to be where you were when you left, but you're going to be where you were when you left plus extra, plus a bonus. Now, of course, just to state for the record, it would always be better if you never left.

So he's not saying, I'll bless you and, you know, it'll be the same as if you never left. But you're not just returning to the place that you were. God says, I'll bring you back to that place, plus extra, plus a blessing. Return to the Lord and God will bring you back from captivity. Sin brings bondage into our lives and we get trapped in all kinds of things.

It's not just, you know, well, you could look at the obvious, the drugs and alcohol and those kinds of addictions on the outside. But there's also the binding of our hearts in bitterness. There's the binding of our hearts in all kinds of issues within that are the result of our sin. And oftentimes we will come to a point where suddenly our eyes are opened. Right?

You know, we originally were pursuing that line of thought, that lifestyle, because we thought it would bring such great freedom. And then we realize after some time in that, it's not bringing us freedom and it's not bringing us joy. It's not fulfilling and satisfying. But now we're stuck. I'm stuck. I've had this bad attitude for so long. I don't even know how to change it. I've been stuck in this place for so long. I don't know what to do to get out of it. We are trapped, right?

And even when we try, even when we want to try to get delivered from those things, we're unable to deliver ourselves. The result of sin is that binding. It's that enslaving of us. And it keeps us in that position of being miserable. It's no longer the thrill that it once was. It's just destruction and death. And God says, you can't rescue yourself. He says, return to me. I will rescue you.

And no matter what kind of bondage is happening in your heart, no matter how high those walls are that you've built, no matter how big the mess is that you've put yourself in, God says, I can bring you out of that. I can deliver you from that captivity. I can set you free from those things. So return to the Lord. That's repentance. Acknowledge your sin. Confess your sin to God. And turn to love and obey God. Make that choice. Make that decision.

to follow God the best you know how. Get to know him. Let go of all the things you know you're not supposed to be involved with and involve yourself in all the things that you can think of to draw near to God, to be close to God, to know him, to walk with him. And God says, as you return to me with all your heart, I will bring you back from captivity. Not only that, God's not done yet. Next, going on verses six through eight, God also says, I will change your heart.

That's point number three. God will change your heart. Look again at verse six. And the Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your descendants to love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul that you may live. So God says, if you return to me, not only will I release you from captivity, but also I'm going to change your heart. He used a different word. He didn't say, I'm going to change your heart. He said, I'm going to circumcise your heart.

Now circumcision is that cutting away of the flesh. And he's not talking about a medical procedure here. He's using the term to give us a picture. That is, he's going to cut away the sinful nature of our hearts. He's going to cut away the flesh from our hearts. The flesh is a very real enemy for us.

Even as believers in Jesus Christ, we still have this sinful nature for as long as we're in this body. And it's a battle. And Paul's been talking about that battle. We've been seeing it on Wednesday evenings, that struggle between the spirit and the flesh, that battle that we face because our sinful nature desires and craves and lusts after sin. And so God says, if you return to me, I'm gonna help you deal with that sinful nature.

I'm gonna circumcise your heart. I'm gonna change your heart. Sometimes people talk themselves out of turning to God because they're convinced their heart is too far gone. They've kind of self-diagnosed.

You know, some people do that with their own physical bodies too, right? You read all the symptoms that you might be experiencing on WebMD and you go to your doctor and you think, I'm pretty sure I'm dying. You know, I have this lethal condition. And the doctor says, no, you have a cold. You know, here's a cough drop. When we diagnose ourself, it's not always the most accurate diagnosis. And you might look at your heart and think, it's beyond repair. It's beyond hope. God says, you're wrong. It is beyond hope for you.

You've tried to change your heart. You've tried to resolve that. You've tried to address those things. It's things in your heart that you see that you know are there. You wish they weren't there. You try to get rid of them. You can't get rid of them. God says, yeah, return to me and I will do that work. God can transform any life. He's able to change any heart. God says, I'll circumcise your heart. You don't have to circumcise your heart. I will do it when you return to me.

It's similar to the promise that God gave through the prophet Ezekiel. In Ezekiel chapter 36 verse 26, God says, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you. I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and I will give you a heart of flesh. Now when he says, I'll give you a heart of flesh, he's using the word flesh in a different way. Not talking about the sinful nature, he's saying, I'll give you a soft heart and

So you'll be in line with God and able to hear and receive from God. I'll take out that heart of stone, that hard heart, and I'll give you a soft heart. He says, I'll put my spirit in you and I'll help you to walk in my ways, to keep my word. You can convince yourself easily that your heart's far too gone, but God says, if you return to me, I will change your heart.

And look what he says here in verse six of what he will change their heart to do. He says, to love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul that you may live. So God's going to circumcise your heart. God's going to change your heart so that you can love God with all your heart. Now, back in verse two, he talked about returning to the Lord with all your heart. If you return to the Lord with all your heart, God says, I'll change your heart so that you love me with all your heart.

You see, when we go back to verse two, and the idea again of returning to the Lord, it's returning to the Lord the best you know how, with all your heart, the best you know how, but even the best you know how, it's not gonna be your whole heart. You're still gonna be messed up. But when you do the best you can to know God, to love God, to walk with God, to confess your sin, to follow him, God says, I'll take it from there.

I'll develop you. I'll grow you. Then you can really love me and turn to me with your whole heart. Do the best you know how to do right now at turning to God and turning away from sin, acknowledging your sin to him. And then God will help you to grow in your love for him, in your walk with him. He will develop you. He will change your heart.

Verse seven, he says, also the Lord your God will put all these curses on your enemies and on those who hate you, who persecuted you. And so he's going to be changing your heart, but also he's going to be fighting your battles. Now, don't think of your enemies and those who hate you and persecuted you as people around you. Remember that our struggle is not against flesh and blood. Our enemies, number one, our flesh, our sinful nature. Number two, Satan.

Number three, the world. These are consistently seen throughout the scriptures as the real enemies. These are the enemies in our lives that come against us. And God says, those things that enticed you, those things that led you astray, that you followed after and brought yourself into captivity by following those things, I'm gonna change your heart.

so that you don't long after those things anymore. And I'm going to take the curses that were upon you and I'm going to fight those enemies for you. This seems to be a theme that God's been having me share for the past couple of weeks. And so I know it's something that God wants to get across in our hearts. Your job is to focus on turning to the Lord. Your job is to focus on pursuing God and you need to let God deal with your enemies. Let God deal with your sinful nature.

Let God deal with all of those struggles. Let God deal with those battles. That's not your responsibility. God doesn't say, all right, from there in captivity, in the mess that you've made, if you clean yourself up really nice and you set yourself free and you get yourself out of bondage, well, then I'll receive you. No, God says, you come in the mess that you are in captivity and let me do the work that needs to be done. Let me change your heart.

Let me fight your enemies. There's a really powerful skit that is sometimes used at outreaches. It's one of those, not, you know, with lines and words and stuff, but it's just acting out of this scene where there's this person who meets Jesus and falls in love with Jesus. And there's this nice, awesome relationship with Jesus. But

But then as they're kind of like dancing together and enjoying relationship together, then someone else comes up and taps on the shoulder and they have usually words across their chest, you know, say things like alcohol or sex or drugs or other things. And there's this picture of this enticement, like, hey, you're all happy with Jesus, but then this other thing comes along and so this person begins to follow that other thing. But as they experience that other thing, they begin to dance with the alcohol. They begin to fill their lives with those things. And then they realize, oh,

This isn't enjoyable. This isn't fun. This is not what I thought it was going to be. It's not what it promised. And then something else comes in and there's these, you know, all these different enticements and things. And this person is just chasing after this, after that, after that, after that, and essentially left empty and miserable and desperate, broken. And it always causes me to tear up. So please forgive me. But then in the skit, Jesus comes back in the scene.

And when that person, they're broken, just left desolate after all this pursuits, turns back to Jesus, there's that scene where Jesus stands in between the enemies and they're all reaching out. They're all pushing, trying to take that life, trying to destroy that soul. But as that person calls out to Jesus, Jesus holds back.

the enemies. Jesus sets free. He delivers from those things that once bound. It's an incredibly beautiful picture. God will defeat those enemies. He'll put those curses on your enemies. He'll deal with those things and fight those battles when you return to the Lord. God will change your heart. You don't have to change your heart. That's not your responsibility. God doesn't give you that responsibility because he knows you can't do anything about your heart. But God can change your heart.

If you'll turn it over to him. And the result is a transformed life. Check out verse eight. He says, and you will again obey the voice of the Lord and do all his commandments, which I command you today. God says, when I change your heart and I fight your battles and defeat your enemies, your life is going to be transformed and you're going to live in obedience. You're going to live according to my word. You're going to do the things that I command you. Not because...

You're so disciplined, not because you're so incredible and you're turning away from sin, but because God is so faithful that when you return to him, he will change your heart. Return to the Lord. It's not too late. You don't have to wait until the end when you're sitting in the mud to turn to the Lord. Right now, anytime you can say, Lord, my heart is not right.

And notice he says, return to the Lord with your whole heart. That means there's no, you don't have to like leave here, you know, go do a bunch of things. And then hopefully you finish all those so that you can come back and return to the Lord. He doesn't say, return to the Lord with your whole wallet. Give me all your money. And then we'll talk about if you can come back or not. He says, return to the Lord with your whole heart, which means any person at any moment, anywhere on the planet, in any situation, in any context, in any building, anywhere,

at any time of day can experience the deliverance, the change, the victory that God promises to those who return to him. Don't let the condition of your heart right now keep you from returning to the Lord. Don't self-diagnose and talk yourself out of it and think it's beyond hope, fatal condition. No, God can change your heart. That's not your job. Your job, acknowledge your sin and make the choice to love and obey God.

Well, finally, point number four found in verse nine and 10 is God will make you abound. We continue to see just the incredible grace of God in our lives. Verse nine says, "'The Lord your God will make you abound "'in all the work of your hand, "'in the fruit of your body, "'in the increase of your livestock, "'and in the produce of your land for good. "'For the Lord will again rejoice over you for good "'as he rejoiced over your fathers.'"

God says, I'm gonna make you abound. Bring you back from captivity, change your hearts. And now you're in this promised land once again with a changed heart. And God says, now there's gonna be abundance. In general, God's saying, your life is going to be blessed. Your work, it's gonna be blessed. He says, the work of your hand, I'm gonna make that abound. Your family is gonna be blessed. He says, the increase or the fruit of your body, I'm gonna make that abound. The increase of your livestock, I'm gonna make that abound.

Your provision, the produce of your land, your grocery shopping is going to be blessed. In general, your life is going to be blessed. Now, it probably doesn't need to be said, but just in case it needs to be said, I'll say it. It doesn't mean that God is saying you'll never have any problems in life. No, we still live in a fallen world, but you will be blessed. Your life will be blessed. God will be at work. He will be providing. He will be taking care of you. You will have abundance.

Jesus told us in John chapter 10, verse 10, he says, the thief does not come except to steal and to kill and destroy. He says, I have come that they may have life and that they may have it more abundantly. The enemy comes to steal, kill, and destroy. And when we pursue after the things that are not of God, we experience the loss, the death, the destruction. But Jesus says, I've come to give life. And not just like a little bit of life, not just a little bit of life,

a good amount of life, but life more abundantly. When you return to the Lord, Jesus says, I'm going to give you abundant life. You're going to have joy. You're going to have blessing. You're going to have hope. You're going to experience grace. You're going to experience the goodness of God. These are really amazing promises. God says, I will bring you back from captivity. I will change your heart. I will make you abound. But let me remind you,

He gives all of these promises with a condition. There is a condition. It's found in verse 10. Verse 10 says, if you obey the voice of the Lord your God to keep his commandments and his statutes, which are written in this book of the law, and if you turn to the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, the condition is if you will return to the Lord. That's the condition. That's our part. That's what we must do.

Now, the fact that God makes it a condition means that it's an option. You can receive it or you can reject it. But also, because it's an option, understand you can receive it. Oh, no, no, I can't receive it. I've messed up too bad. I've messed up too many times. I've messed up this way. I've messed up that way. I've done this. I've done that. No, no, no. It's an option. It's a condition. You can receive it. It's your choice. You get to. It's not limited to

to only those who haven't sinned as terribly as you have sinned. Boy, we would be in terrible straits because none of us would qualify for returning to the Lord and receiving God's promises. Listen, it's not too late. You have the option. If you will return to the Lord with all your heart, God says, I will do these things for you. Return with all your heart and I will bring you back from captivity.

I will change your heart and I will make you abound. God does these things because he's faithful to his word. He does these things because he has compassion on us and he loves us. They don't happen overnight. It's not an instant, you know, change. There's deliverance that happens over the process of time. There's the change of heart that happens as you draw near to God. And that's why I say we're to continually fill our lives with the returning to the Lord and

And as we continue to bring ourselves back to the Lord, back to the Lord, back to the Lord, God does this work. He sets you free. He changes your heart. He makes you abound. And you have the final ultimate fulfillment of this promise in eternity where everything is done. The victories have all been won. The heart, you never have to struggle with that sinful nature again. And you get to experience the abundance of God for the rest of eternity.

And so he works in this life and ultimately in the next. But it's not too late. Anyone at any time can return to the Lord and say, Lord, my heart is not right. And acknowledge their sin. Let go of those things to turn and pursue God, to love him, to walk with him. And he will receive them. He will set them free. He will change their heart and he will make them abound. These are God's promises.

We're gonna have them come up and lead us in a closing song. As they do, I wanna encourage you. I don't know where you're at today, but if you're at a spot where you've been away from the Lord, this is perfect opportunity for you to begin to experience these promises of God. You can right now where you're at, return to the Lord in this time of worship. You can call out to him, you can cry out to him, and he will begin that process of setting you free and changing your heart and making you abound.

return with your whole heart. Return with all your heart. And even if you think, well, hey, I'm right on with the Lord, then if you really are right on with the Lord, then you already know, well, this is a really good opportunity for me to increase that and turn my heart over to the Lord once again. And so let's take this time to return to the Lord, to choose to love him and obey him. And as he's revealing things to you that are not right in your life, let go of those things.

And look to Him to do the work that He wants to do. Let's worship the Lord together.