Randall Caselman
Bella Vista Church of Christ
March 10, 2002 PM
A Study In Biblical Restoration
Reading - Luke 15.11-24
Restoration is a concept that we are all familiar with. Bob Spaw restores classic automobiles... Some restore old homes. All of us probably own a piece of furniture or family heirloom that has been restored.
Webster gives these definitions for restoration.
- The act of putting back into the original or former state or relationship.
- To bring back into favor and grace.
- To make something useful again.
You see... We have to make decisions everyday on restoration. We have to make this decision on newspapers... shopping bags... milk cartons... soft drink containers... old clothes... etc. Do we throw them away, or make them useful again. Occasionally, we had to make this decision with a car... Throw it away or restore it.
Well... What about souls?...
- Should there be throw away souls?...
- Or should we restore them?
Listen to Paul from Galatians 6.1... Brothers, if someone is caught in sin, you who are spiritual should restore him gently. But watch yourself, or you also may be tempted.
So... Restoration of souls is a Biblical concept. In fact, this is what the whole Bible is about... RIGHT?... RESTORATION.
- Restoring mankind to his former state.
- Bringing us back into the grace and favor of God through Jesus Christ.
- Making us useful again in God's service.
Let's notice now some Biblical restoration narratives:
Adam and Eve had a intimate close relationship with God. God created them and placed them in a paradise garden made especially for them. They walked and talked with Him in the cool of the evening. The picture was beautiful.... God and His creation living in harmony. Then sin entered, the relationship was ruptured... Adam and Eve were in need of restoration.
We're all familiar with the children of Israel and their ups and downs. They would sin and God would punish them. They would repent and He would restore their blessings, only to have them rupture the relationship again... and again... and again. Each of the Judges, some of the Kings, and all of the prophets were used to call Israel back to restoration... Back to God's grace and favor.
The New Testament is filled with restoration narratives. It opens with John the Baptist preaching WHAT?... Restoration... Prepare the way, the King and Kingdom is coming... Repent and be ready.
Peter's life is a story of restoration. Before Jesus' crucifixion, he said... I'll go with you wherever you go, I'll never forsake you even in the face of death... But that's not what happened was it? When the going really got tough... Peter lost his faith... denied Jesus... swearing he didn't even know Him. But the beautiful part of this story is found in John chapter 21... Where Jesus restores Peter as he tells Jesus three times... I love you. You see, Peter had been given the keys to the Kingdom. He was to open the new covenant... the church... the body of Christ... the family of God. Peter's restoration made him useful again... So he could be the instrument God wanted him to be. And he was, as he preached the first gospel sermon in Act chapter 2.
The day of Pentecost was a restoration event.
I believe that Pentecost was the day God looked forward to from Genesis chapter three. Pentecost was the time when God could again have that intimate relationship restored. Sins could now be forgiven... Made possible by the blood of Christ on the cross. It was a time the prophets had talked and written about. A time when He could be their God, and they could be His people. A time when God could again live within His people... Because of forgiveness. Folk... Acts chapter two is a restoration event... RIGHT??
Acts 8 also contains a restoration happening about Simon the Sorcerer.
Simon was into magic and mystical arts... Sorcery. But when he heard the preaching of Phillip in Samaria, he accepted the Gospel truth and was also baptized. However, when the Apostles came to Samaria and began to perform miracles, Simon was astonished by what he saw. So, he tried to bargain with the them and buy the miraculous gift with money....Give me this ability, so that everyone on whom I lay my hand may receive the Holy Spirit.
Remember what Peter told him?... May your money perish with you... You can't buy God's gift with money. Then Peter told Simon what he must do to be restored... Repent and pray for having such thoughts in your heart. And Simon asked Peter to pray for him. Church... This narrative is about the restoration of a baptized believer... A child of God who had sinned...
- Desiring to be restored to his original relationship with God... and the church...
- Desiring to be brought back into God's grace and favor...
- Desiring to be made useful again in the kingdom.
Then we note that the Book of Revelation begins with the theme of restoration.
The book opens with letters written to seven churches telling them what they must do in order to be made useful again in God's service. For instance, the church at Ephesus is even told to restore their fist love... To repent and do the things they did at first.
Well... After rehearsing these narratives what can we learn?
First... We learn that it is possible to fall from God's grace and favor. Adam and Eve fell from God's favor and were expelled from the paradise garden. Can anyone deny Peter's fall in his denial of Jesus? Simon the Sorcerer fell... Peter told him... May your money perish with you. Simon, who was once saved, is now in danger of eternal destruction. Peter certainly thought Simon was now in a lost state and in need of restoration.
As we look at the Seven Churches of Asia in Revelation chapters 2 and 3... We find that they were told to...
- Repent...
- To be faithful unto and until death...
- To remain true...
- To persevere...
- To wake up and strengthen what is about to die
- To return to their first love
- To overcome
Five out of the seven churches were told to repent... Or something terrible would happen to them... Things like...
- He would remove their candlestick
- Spew them out of His mouth
- Fight against them with the sword of His mouth
- Cause them to suffer the second death.
These phrases indicate that they would be eternally lost unless they changed.
Repeatedly in these chapters, Jesus promises salvation and heaven to those who remain faithful, and punishment to those who will not be restored.
Second Peter speaks of those who have escaped the corruption of the world by knowing our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and are again entangled in it and overcome, they are worse off at the end than they were at the beginning.
Look at the last verse in our reading... For this son of mine was dead and is alive again... He was lost... And is found.... And they began to celebrate.
Why were they celebrating? Because a child of the Father... Who became lost in sin... Has been restored to the grace and favor of His Father.
Jesus tells us in John 10 that... We must stay in the sheep fold. In John 15 He tells us we must abide in the vine. Stay attached to the vine. As John writes near the close of the New Testament... He says... We must continue to walk in the light, and as we do, His blood will continue to cleanse us from all our sins.
Church... Scripture teaches us that we cannot turn our backs on the Lord. Live in open rebellion to Him and expect to be rewarded with heaven.
Secondly... We learn that God is interested in our restoration.
When Adam and Eve fell in Genesis chapter three... God started working His plan to redeem and restore mankind from his fallen state. A plan Peter tells us was in place before the world was created. Through 4000 years of human history, God patiently works His plan to bring Jesus. God so loved the world that He sent His only begotten Son.
- Peter puts it in these words... The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand
slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.
- Paul says to Timothy... God wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of truth.
- Titus 2.11 says... The grace of God is available to ALL men.
- Jesus says...There is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.
Church... God is the Father in our reading... We are the prodigal. God is pictured as always watching, waiting for our return. Let there be no doubt tonight that God is sincerely interested in our restoration. He has made it possible for each of us...
- To be brought back to an intimate Father/son relationship with Him,
- To be restored to His grace and favor
- And to be made useful in His service.
Thirdly... We learn that restoration is a personal choice. God created us free moral agents... We decide our own destiny. Our own will is more powerful than the will of God when it comes to our eternal destiny. Joshua challenged Israel by saying... Choose today whom you will serve. God will not save us in spite of our rebellion... But upon our decision to return to Him.
Those in Acts two made a personal choice to accept Jesus as their Savior. That's what verse 41 says... Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day. Some in that Pentecostian audience did not accept the message and were not saved... It was a choice. Simon the sorcerer made his own decision to repent. Jesus calls us, just as He called the Seven Churches of Asia, to come to repentance and to a restored relationship with Him.
You see... The entire 15th chapter of Luke is about restoration.
- There was the lost sheep.
- The lost coin.
- And a lost son.
Some are lost like sheep. They don't really intend to live in rebellion to God, but they just wander off. The grass looks greener over there, and then there, and there... The first thing you know we look up and we are not among the saved... We are lost. NO... The church didn't move... God didn't move... We did. Lost because of the lack of attention paid to our own salvation.
Others are lost like coins. They are lost because they are misplaced by others. No wonder Paul admonishes us to watch the company we keep. He says, evil companions corrupt... destroy good morals. Peter fell, denied Jesus, because he was warming by the wrong fire... Keeping the wrong company. I wonder if some of us here tonight need to make a decision to separate ourselves from those who are causing us not to be useful in the Lord's Kingdom. Still others are lost like the Prodigal Son. Sometimes, we decide we love the sins of the far country more than the blessings available in the Fathers house. But, like this prodigal son, we soon discovered that genuine happiness is living in the Father's house... Living in God's grace and favor.
I want us to note something here... We can never be genuinely happy living in sin. Note what Peter said to Simon in Acts 8.23... I see you are in bitterness. The Greek literally says... I see that you have been poisoned by your sin. You see... God did not create us to be happy living in the far country... living in a pig pen. No wonder David is found saying... Restore to me the joy of your salvation... and grant me a willing spirit.
You see church... Sin is a personal decision... A personal choice... And so is restoration. Jesus says to the Seven churches... I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me. Acknowledging Jesus as our Savor and maintaining our salvation is no accident and needs our constant attention.
Number four... We can be instrumental in the restoration of others.
God uses people... The children of Israel were brought back to God...
- By Moses...
- By Joshua...
- By the Judges...
- Some of the kings...
- And by a host of Old Testament prophets.
The Jews of Jesus' day were called to repentance by John the Baptist. Peter was God's instrument preaching restoration in Acts 2. Listen to James as he writes about OUR part in modern day restoration... Whoever turns a sinner from the error of his way will save him from death and cover over a multitude of sins. I challenge you tonight... Become active in this concept of restoring others.
Our final point is... What constitutes restoration?
What must we do to be restored to a right relationship with God?
- To be back in His grace and favor?
- To be made useful again?
- There are TWO possibilities.
For the alien sinner we look at Acts 2 again. Those, in that audience that day, were...
- Pricked...
- Touched in the heart...
- They were moved by this message.
And they asked... Men and brethren, what must we do?... Then they were told how to be restored.
When they expressed their faith in Jesus as the Son of God, Peter told them to repent and be baptized and their sins would be forgiven and they would experience the gift of the Holy Spirit.
Paul in Galatians 3.26 & 27 tells us... You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have put on Christ... Have been clothed with Christ.
You see... When sins are forgiven... only then... only then are we:
- Restored...
- Reconciled...
- Brought back into a right relationship with God.
For children of God who...
- Have wandered off like sheep gone astray...
- Or have intentionally left the Father's house... And are living in the far country... The invitation is to come home. John says... If we confess... Acknowledge our sins... He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.
RESTORATION... We all need it don't we?
RESTORATION is an ongoing process in our walk with God.
Jesus is calling you...
-To become a child of God...
-Or if you are living in the far country to come home to the Father's house...
As we stand and sing this invitation song... Will you come??
