Chapter I: HAVE overthrown some of you, as God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah, and

ye were *as a firebrand plucked out of the burning:* yet *have ye not returned* unto me, saith the Lord.

Therefore thus will I do unto thee, O Israel: and because I will do this unto thee, *prepare to meet thy God*, O Israel.

_Amos 4:11-12._

SO then because thou art *lukewarm*, and neither cold nor hot, I will *spew thee out of my mouth*.

_Revelation 3:16._

If you are cold and indifferent, and fallen into sin, you will never be truly happy, or have peace in your soul, until you *confess your sins* and return to the Lord, because God says,

THE backslider in heart shall be *filled with his own ways*.

_Proverbs 14:14._

God says though man’s ways are not His ways, (Isaiah 55:8) there is *hope* for the backslider—Think of the story of the Prodigal Son and how the Father *welcomed his boy home!*

BUT *when he was yet a great way off*, his father *saw him*, and had *compassion*, and ran, and fell on his neck, and *kissed him*.

_Luke 15:20._

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Backslider.
*How he MAY RETURN to the Lord.*

*1st. Submit to God*. *He will forgive*.

GO and proclaim these words toward the north, and say, *Return, thou backsliding Israel, saith the* Lord; and I will not cause mine anger to fall upon you: for I am merciful, saith the Lord, and I will not keep anger for ever. *Only acknowledge thine iniquity*, that thou hast transgressed against the Lord thy God, and hast scattered thy ways to the strangers under every green tree, and ye have not obeyed my voice, saith the Lord, *Turn, O backsliding children, saith the* Lord; *for I am married unto you*.

_Jeremiah 3:12-14._

*I WILL heal their backsliding*, I will love them freely: for mine anger is turned away from him.

_Hosea 14:4._

*2nd. Confess to God.*