There is a distinct relationship between the words “IF” and “THEN”. That relationship is CONDITIONAL.

· IF we do X, THEN Y will happen.
· IF I say, “Who let the dogs out?” THEN you say… or if you are more spiritual than that…
· IF I say, “If you’re happy and you know it”, THEN you say…

There are several IF/THEN Scriptures. Here are 2 examples:

Romans 8:13 – NLV – “IF you do what your sinful old selves want you to do, you will die in sin. But IF, through the power of the Holy Spirit, you destroy those actions to which the body can be led, {THEN} you will have life.”

THREE weeks ago we started digging into one of the most famous IF…THEN verses in all of the Bible and its particularly relevant RIGHT NOW.

And we also laid out our bottom line for this whole series:

IF WE…THEN HE

The first one we talked about three weeks ago was the need for us to HUMBLE OURSELVES. And this is what we said:

Will YOU bow up or bow down?

And I talked about being 20” from life transformation. 20” from mercy. 20” from humbling yourself. 20” is the distance between bowing up, STANDING or bowing down KNEELING.

Then two weeks ago we talked about …AND PRAY and I said this:

When you are PRAYERFUL, you are POWERFUL

And I talked about the importance of CHARGING your spiritual life DAILY…just like a phone and if you don’t, THEN your potential won’t be realized…just like our smart phone with a dead battery.

Then last week, I talked about …AND SEEK… and this is what I said:

God wants us to SEEK HIM FIRST!

He doesn’t want to be an add-on to your life. Colossians 3:4a – NLT – “And when Christ, who IS your life…”He wants to BE your life. He wants you to SEEK HIM FIRST!

If you missed any of those messages, I really do encourage you to go back and watch or listen because IF we are going to receive the THEN parts of this Scripture, THEN we can’t skip any steps. Today, I want to talk to you about the last requirement in our verse.

2 Chronicles 7:14 – NIV – “IF my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face AND TURN FROM THEIR WICKED WAYS THEN I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.”

IF WE…THEN HE

The Bible has a LOT to say about TURNING from sin. The Bible word for TURNING from sin is REPENTANCE. Let’s look at just a few of the places that the Bible talks about this word.

It’s not enough to JUST TURN FROM sin, we must also TURN TO…JESUS!

Now, let me address the GAS word in our text.

“…AND TURN FROM THEIR WICKED WAYS…”

Now, I haven’t really given you the background for this famous verse. I wanted to wait until this message. In 2 Chronicles 6, King Solomon prayed a prayer at the dedication of the first temple. Knowing their history as the people of God, he foresaw a day when God’s people might turn their backs on Him and he was asking if there was hope in those days. And God’s answer was our text.

2 Chronicles 7:14 – NIV – “IF my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face AND TURN FROM THEIR WICKED WAYS THEN I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.”

There were multiple ways that God’s people throughout history TURNED AWAY from God.
· Idolatry
· Sexual Immorality
· Greed
· Nationalism
Are we so different TODAY?

· Idolatry – Putting anything in God’s place. The number of things that God’s people sometimes put in front of God today is vast. Entertainment, sports, other relationships, money, hobbies, politics, etc. Putting anything in front of God is…WICKED.

· Sexual Immorality – According to a 2020 Pew Research survey, 50% of Evangelicals say that “casual sex between consenting adults is sometimes or always acceptable.” We have an immorality problem. Sexual immorality is WICKED.

· Greed – God’s Word instructs His people to give 10% of their income through their local church. Malachi equates not tithing to stealing from God. The average church attender in America gives 2.43%. Bridge has a much higher % of people who tithe than the avg. but here is the truth. Greed is WICKED.

· Nationalism – If loyalty to our country takes a higher priority than loyalty to God’s kingdom, that is out of order. It’s WICKED.

Now, even if we don’t think we’re guilty of committing any of these wicked practices, we are morally responsible for our culture’s wickedness even if we’re not personally guilty. We’re responsible in 3 ways.

· We aren’t as good as we think we are and we probably are wicked sinners if we’re really honest. Self-righteousness is WICKED too!
· In our apathy, we allow wickedness in our culture without actively doing something to stop it. (and rants on social media don’t count)
· If we live in Sodom we’re going to burn with it if we live within the city walls, whether or not we are personally guilty. We’ll be dragged down with the sinking ship if we don’t pray and act to save it.

“WICKED”! NOT the musical, but the adjective. IT’s a descriptor word. It’s definition is “Evil or morally bad in principle or practice; sinful.”

No one wants to be labeled WICKED! No one wants the things that they DO to be labeled WICKED. If you don’t think that is a gas word, slip it into conversations with people about the things they do or say and see if it does not get a strong reaction.

· “Hey Jim, the way that you voted this last week was WICKED!”
· “IF you don’t support my candidate, my cause, my opinion, THEN you are WICKED!”
· “Lori, when you talk about Maggie without her being here, that is really WICKED!”
· “Only people who are WICKED root for the Vikings, Raiders! They were evil people!”

Let me be clear! DON’T REALLY DO THAT! But WICKED IS such a gas word! Here is the question though? Do YOU have WICKED ways? We don’t like that question or that word! We might prefer:
· Do you have weaknesses?
· Do you struggle at times?
· Have you ever stumbled? Slipped?
· But…DO YOU participate in WICKED things? We don’t like THAT!

This is like that famous Jack Nicholson line from “A Few Good Men”, “You can’t handle the TRUTH.” And the truth is:

WE HAVE WICKED WAYS…

We don’t want to be associated with “WICKED” in any way. So, we DENY that OUR ways are WICKED. It’s kind of like the famous comedy skit “The Black Knight” where King Arthur and the Black Knight are having a sword fight and King Arthur cuts off the Knight’s arm and the knight say’s “Tis but a scratch”. And when King Arthur points to his arm on the ground and says “what’s that?” The black knight says “I’ve had worse.” And when his other arm is cut off, and he is trying to continue the fight with kicking the King. Arthur says “Look, you’ve lost, you have no arms.” To which the knight responds, “It’s merely a flesh wound.” The end of the fight is after King Arthur cuts off both of his legs and the Black Knight responds “We can call it a draw then!” The Black Knight could NEVER face the truth and the cost to him personally kept going up and up and up. First an arm, then the other, then a leg, then both. I think there is an unintentional spiritual parable in that story.

The root of NOT TURNING…is PRIDE. An UNWILLINGNESS to admit how bad our spiritual condition is. And if we don’t admit it and TURN, the spiritual costs are higher than an arm and a leg.

If you had heart disease and really needed a transplant if you were going to have a chance at life, but you were convinced you had heartburn and just needed some TUMS, that isn’t good. Your reticence to believe you have the disease, means you will reject the one thing that could help.

If you reject that you have WICKED WAYS, then you REJECT the ONE that could deliver you, forgive you, change you, heal you transform you. His name is JESUS!

I actually think that 2 Chronicles 7:14 is ALL about the process of REPENTANCE. The whole thing…
· Humble yourself
· Pray
· Seek God
· TURN from your sin

It’s not enough to JUST TURN FROMsin, we must also TURN TO…JESUS!

Repentance is actually incomplete if ALL you do is TURN from your sin. It matters a great deal WHERE or to WHOM you are TURNING TO. We TURN AWAY from our sin, but we also TURN TOWARDS God! And THAT is not a negative, that is incredibly positive. It is a BLESSING to be able to TURN.

To TURN…FROM SIN and TO JESUS…is a TRUE BLESSING!

See, here is the truth:

We are BLESSED when we CONFESS

Too often we don’t see the seriousness of OUR SIN, that it is actually WICKED. We tend to play with it like it’s a pet that is tame and safe when in reality it is VICIOUS, WILD, DEADLY, EVIL and UNTAMABLE. The Bible doesn’t tell us to TAME our sinful nature but to KILL it.

He’s saying, “DON’T play around with any of that!”

That last verse is our theme verse for BECOMING in the NCV.

Colossians 3:10 – NCV – “You have begun to live the new life, in which you are being made new and are becoming like the One who made you. This new life brings you the true knowledge of God.”

What a powerful, positive, beautiful picture of what TURNING from sin and TOWARDS Jesus, can do in your life.
· You have BEGUN – You took the first step
· You are BEING MADE NEW – you are not done yet. It’s a process.
· You are BECOMING like Jesus – You are not what you used to be, you’ve grown, and you are still growing.

It’s not enough to JUST TURN FROMsin, we must also TURN TO…JESUS!

When society gets so sinful that it mandates God’s wrath, what hope is there? Is there ANY hope that will save us from destruction? That was the issue in Solomon’s day and God’s answer TODAY is the same as on THAT day:

2 Chronicles 7:14 – NIV – “IF my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face AND TURN FROM THEIR WICKED WAYS THEN I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.”

Jesus told a parable in Luke 15:11-31 that illustrates this well.

A son tells his dad that he wants his half of the inheritance NOW, which is a way of saying, “I wish you were dead” or “You are dead to me”. In the story, the father, grants that gift. The son goes to Vegas and lives it up, parties it away, and just as he has run out of money, a drought hits. His newfound ‘friends’ are gone when the money was gone. He gets a new job, taking care of pigs, which for a Jew would have been THE WORST.
Verse 17 has a profound statement:

Luke 15:17a – NLT – “When he finally came to his senses, he said to himself…”

When his life hit the rocks, he FINALLY came to his senses. His eyes were opened. He could see everything in his life that…he had wasted. And his heart was drawn back HOME. Now, he still didn’t understand his dad. We see that in the speech he wrote. As he was walking and hitchhiking home, he was preparing a shame filled speech. “I am not worthy to be called your son anymore, but would you hire me as a farm hand…” He’s practicing that speech over and over and over. He rounds the corner and can see HOME in the distance. One more time… “I am not worthy to be called your son anymore, but please don’t let me starve. Hire me. Let me WORK for you! Let me EARN blessings from you.”

All of a sudden, as he’s practicing his speech, he sees a cloud of dust. One more time he runs through it. “I am not worthy, to be called your…”

“SON!” IT IS YOU!”

“Dad! I am not worthy to be called your son anymore….”

But ignoring him, his dad TURNS to the servants who had rushed after him and said, “Kill the calf we have been fattening. It’s time to party!”

While the prodigal son was chasing the wild life, his father was nowhere to be seen because, in his grace, he was allowing his son to pursue his own will. But when “he came to his senses” and TURNED BACK toward HOME, the father was WAITING and WATCHING for him. He wanted what was BEST for his son and what was best was TURNING BACK. And remember:

It’s not enough to JUST TURN FROMsin, we must also TURN TO…JESUS!

I believe that is what our text is teaching. That God will ENABLE you to TURN IF… you HUMBLE yourself, PRAY, and SEEK His face… AND WHEN YOU TURN, you will see that your HEAVENLY FATHER has been waiting and watching for you to TURN. He LOVES you SO MUCH! He loves you just the way you are, but He loves you too much to leave you there. Will YOU TURN towards God today?

Now, this message of TURNING isn’t primarily for unbelievers today because our TEXT was directed at God’s people… “IF MY PEOPLE will…” God desires that His people LIVE a repentant life. The healing that our nation needs RIGHT NOW starts with us, with GOD’S PEOPLE getting RIGHT with God.

1 Peter 4:17a – NLT – “For the time has come for judgment, and it must BEGIN with God’s household.”

IF our land is going to experience a healing, THEN God wants His people to TURN from THEIR WICKED WAYS…So, it’s time child of God to search your heart and to ask God to SEARCH your heart, to show you any WICKED WAYS. We need His view not ours.

Today, I want us to put this into practice right away. We want to HUMBLE OURSELVES, PRAY, SEEK GOD’S FACE…AND TURN from OUR WICKED WAYS! Turning from sin and to God looks like this:
· Make it a Daily Habit – You don’t need a sinful action to TURN from the sin in your heart.
· Establish a Plan – You have to know your tendencies so that you know what to be TURNING from.
· Have a Team - Accountability partners