I'm going to ask you to take
your Bibles and turn with me to the book of Jeremiah, chapter
3. Jeremiah, chapter 3. Last time I dealt, in the book of Isaiah chapter
50. We looked at Israel, had accused
the Lord of having forsaken them, forgotten them, and the Lord
asked this question to Israel. This is out of Isaiah 50, verse
1. Where is the bill of your mother's divorcement whom I have
put away? Or which of my creditors is it
to whom I have sold you? Now if you remember, I gave a
definition of this bill of divorcement. It was a divorce, a letter of divorcement. were by the man, not for the
woman being unfaithful, being adulterous. The law would take
care of that. But this was if he just didn't
like her. It was just something about her
he just didn't care for. He just didn't like the way her
attitude, whatever. And the fault for the divorce
would therefore be on the man and not on the woman. She was
free to marry again. But I'll tell you this, after
the man had put her away, he couldn't remarry her. The Lord said, where is the bill
of divorce that I gave you? When did I put you away? No,
no. He said, your iniquities. You sold yourself and for your
transgressions is your mother put away. Man is fallen in Adam. Man is a rebellious creature
and he's responsible for his rebellion. But there is a God
in heaven The scripture declares that He has everlastingly purposed
to have mercy and compassion on His people, on whomsoever
He will. God has purposed that there is
a people, an elect, a chosen, selected by Him everlastingly,
loved them and His purpose to preserve them, redeem them, and
deliver them, rescue them from what they are, sinners. Now this morning, I want to deal
with a subject, both messages today, out of Jeremiah 3, and
I'm going to deal with a subject that we've all heard about, we've
heard the But it's this word, backsliding. Backsliding. Now whenever we hear that word,
the general consensus of that word is this. If you ask somebody,
what's a backslider? Well, a backslider is someone
that got saved, but Well, they've lost their sanctification
or they've just got away from the Lord. We need to get back in church.
They just back slid. That's not what the word means. I want to deal with this blessed
subject, because it's a revelation of
Almighty God to His people. It is the revelation of God Almighty
to His elect of what they are having been born in Adam, making
them realize what they are, and therefore, here's the blessing,
causing them to cast themselves upon the mercy of God. There's
the blessing in it. And I can back up, I can make
good on what I just said. I want you to turn to Romans
chapter 7. Romans chapter 7. The Apostle Paul made this very
statement, talking about being thankful. for God Almighty revealing
to him what he is. Look at Romans chapter 7 verse
24-25, O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the
body of this death? I thank God through Jesus Christ
our Lord, so then with the mind I myself serve the law of God. I agree with it. I realize God's
law is right and good and holy. I thank God. I thank God. I thank God through Jesus Christ
our Lord. With the mind I myself serve
the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin. What are you thankful Paul? That
you're a rebel? No, he's not. I'm thankful God
showed me that. That's what he's saying. Back
in Jeremiah chapter 3, I want us to look at this subject of
backsliding. I want to define what it is.
If you'd ask somebody, define backsliding to me. I'm going
to be honest with you now. This has been on my heart for
a few weeks and I've been trying to prepare this message and go
over it, preach it at night, wake up in the morning preaching
it. Trying to get my notes together, looking at these words, trying
to figure out what is God saying, because it's a subject that we
desperately need to hear. I need some assurance on this,
because the Bible deals with it. Whatever God Almighty speaks,
I want to hear what God has to say. That's what I want. I want
to hear what God has to say. I want the Lord to speak to me.
And the Lord has been speaking in Jeremiah and Hosea. He's speaking
to His people. Now, I'm gonna make this statement,
you'll hear me say it again. The only people that Almighty
God refers to as backsliders are His elect. You gotta be doing, you gotta
be sliding from something. God is speaking to His people.
And again, I'll make this statement and I'll go ahead and repeat
it again in the message. If there is someone in this congregation
who claims to be a believer and they said, I'm not a backslider,
then you're deceived. You're deceived. God's people
realize that there is something about them that God refers to
as backsliding. and backsliding. Now let's look
at God's word. Jeremiah chapter three. In verse
12, the Lord says to Jeremiah, 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 forever. The Lord says to Jeremiah, you
go toward the north where the ten tribes of Israel were carried.
Now we preach according to God's word that Almighty God might
be pleased to call out His elect. I need to be instructed. I need for God to instruct me. Say, you go and proclaim toward
the north And you say, this is what I want you to say, return. That is, turn from your idols. Turn from that which takes a
priority to you, to me, over God. Turn from that which takes
a priority over His worship, His praise, His glory, thou backsliding
Israel. Now in the Old Testament, have
you ever noticed that you read in the Old Testament, read in
the book of Exodus, and read what did Israel do? What did the nation of Israel
do? You read them and they said they
came across the Red Sea, The Lord provided water out of the
rock, there was the brazen serpent and God healed them in time and
time and time again. At the very foot of the mountain
when Moses went up to get the Ten Commandments, what did they
do? They got Aaron to build them a golden calf and they worshipped
it. This is our God, this is our
God. This is the God we serve right here. And you're saying,
how? How? How? Could they continually,
continually, continually? How could they just keep doing
that over and over and over? Turn with me to 1 Corinthians
chapter 10. 1 Corinthians chapter 10. 1 Corinthians chapter 10 verses
1 to 12. Moreover, brethren, I would not
have I would not that you should be ignorant how that all our
fathers were under the cloud. They all passed through the sea.
They were all baptized under Moses in the cloud in the sea.
They all did eat the same spiritual meat. They all did drink the
same spiritual drink. They drank that spiritual rock
that followed them. The rock was Christ. With many
of them God was not well pleased for they were overthrown in the
wilderness. Now these things were our examples. to the intent we should not lust
after evil things as they also lusted. Neither be ye idolaters
as were some of them. As it is written, the people
sat down to eat, drink, rose up to play. Neither let us commit
fornication, as some of them committed and fell in one day
three and twenty thousand. Neither let us tempt Christ,
as some of them also tempted and were destroyed of serpents.
Neither murmur ye, as some of them murmured and were destroyed
of the destroyer." Now, what did he just say? He said, Brethren,
the nation of Israel that came out of Egypt and rebelled against
God, were idolaters, and they murmured against God, Paul said,
listen, they were an example to us. They were actually doing,
they were actually doing what we all do in heart. Somebody said, well, I tell you
one thing, boy, you'll never catch me, you know, doing that,
you'll never catch me doing this. The Lord said, yes, you did.
Yes, we did. They were examples. Now, they
were backsliding. They were examples to us. What
they did outwardly, worshipped idols, you know, murmured against
God. They were examples. Now Paul
says, these examples, these examples, let us learn from what they were
doing. That's what we are. I'll show
you that as we go on. Now, before I continue, I'd like
to say something about the state which the Holy Spirit refers
to as backsliding. Go and proclaim these words toward
the north and say, return thou backsliding Israel. Israel is a picture of spiritual
Israel. So here's what the Lord is saying
to us. Return, backsliding Israel. What is backsliding? Backsliding, and I've tried to
give it some thought on this from reading the definition of
backsliding and what it refers to and how it refers to us. Backsliding
is nothing less, I put this in the bulletin today out of my
notes. This is an excerpt out of my
notes. Backsliding is nothing less than
the evidence of the continual battle between the old man and
the new man that's found in every believer. God's people, while walking after
Him, and we do, we do. There's an old man and there's
a new man. There's two men, there's two men in every believer. After we walk after Him, The
one that we truly love with a new heart and are constantly found
to be rebelliously sliding backward by the old man turning in heart. We turn in heart. to that which
appeals to the flesh and does nothing more than dishonor him."
Now, I had you read out of Romans 7. Turn back to Romans 7 just
again, just for a minute. Romans chapter 7, and I want
you to listen now. Romans chapter 7, the Apostle
Paul sets forth, I truly feel, to be an accurate description
of what is it to actually backslide. God's people is who he's talking
to. We are all backsliders. Every
believer is a backslider. Why? There's two natures there.
One that loves God and one that absolutely does not love God
and will not bow. Listen to Romans 7 verse 22-24. For I delight in the law of God after
the inward man. Now which man do you think that
is? That'd be the new man. I delight in the law of God after
the end, but I see another law in my members, warring against
the law of my mind and bringing me into captivity to the law
of sin, which is in my members. Oh, wretched man that I am. Who shall deliver me from the
body of this death? Though the state of backsliding
And we're constantly doing it. We never stop doing it. Someone
said, I just don't believe I'm always backsliding. Is there always, is there never,
let me say it like this, is there never a time that you behold
yourself not honoring God as you ought? I think, well, I think,
let's all go ahead and admit it right now. Let's just go ahead
and say it right now. Have we heard as we ought? Have
I preached as I should? Have I believed as I should?
There is in every believer a sliding back. I'll read something over
in Hosea here in just a bit concerning, you know, Israel is like a heifer
sliding back. One definition out of the good
concordance, it talks about that God's people, they will not turn
their face from the Lord. They won't. God's people, the
new man, he won't. Why? He sinneth not. He won't
turn his face from the Lord. But there's an old man in him
that slides back and resists, and I'm not going. They're yoked
together. Here's two men yoked together,
following after Christ. One of them does, and one of
them's pulling back. That's all he's doing. He continuously
do that. Listen, this state of backsliding
cannot break thanks being to God. It cannot break the glorious
and merciful covenant bond that has eternally existed between
God Almighty and His elect. But that state of backsliding
that we are. That's what Paul said, O wretched
man that I am. It is a constant hindrance to
our peace, our comfort, and therefore it is the very reason for the
Lord's loving chastisement. Who's a backslider? Every believer. Every believer is a backslider
because of the old man. because of that old nature, that
old wretched man, that body of death, that body of sin. Paul
says, who shall deliver me from this, from that backsliding part
of me? And Paul says, that's what I
want to do with that old man. I do that. I do actually in heart
what the nation of Israel, who were examples to us, did. We want to observe. We want to observe the very heart
of backsliding, then just admit, I've got two natures. I've got
a nature that wars against the other nature. Listen to this,
Peter said this, Matthew 26, 33, though all men shall be offended
because of thee, I will never be offended. Who do you believe said that?
Peter. That's what Peter said. It's
recorded in Matthew 26.33. Peter said that. But let me read
something else that Peter said in Matthew 26.72. When someone came up and confronted
him and said, you're one of his own. You're one of his. Peter
said this. He denied with an oath and said,
I do not know the man. I don't know him. Who said that?
Peter. I'm going to read something out of
Luke 22.33. I'll read this for you. Luke 22.33. Here's what
Peter said to the Lord. Peter and the Lord told him,
Simon, Simon, behold, Satan has desired to have you that he may
sift your wheat. I've prayed for you that thy faith fail not.
And when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren. And
he, Peter, said unto him, Lord, I am ready to go with thee both
to prison and to death. And then said in John 21 3, I
quit. I go fishing. I go fishing. You want to know who backsliders
are? They're God's elect. That's who
we are. Return unto me, back to Jeremiah. Return thou backsliding Israel,
saith the Lord. Turn with a heart of submission
to the living God, and listen to what the Lord says back in
Jeremiah three, verse 12. And I will not cause mine anger
to fall upon you, for I'm merciful, saith the Lord. I will not keep
anger forever. Return unto me in heart. And
you know what an honest, which God's people are honest. Roth
Barnard said this, God doesn't send honest men to hell. God doesn't send honest men.
God makes men honest in conversion. I can tell you this, this is
what a believer will say. When God says, return, turn,
thou backsliding, what does a believer say? Lord, turn thou us unto thee,
and we will be turned. God commands his people to turn. and who's gonna have to turn
us? That's what a believer's gonna say, Lord, you're gonna
have to do it. Turn and I will not cause mine anger, my countenance,
my frown, that's what it means, I won't cause my frown. You ever had one of your kids
acting up and you're somewhere where you can't get a hold of
them right now? Well, maybe you haven't, but I have. When I couldn't
get you right now, but I'm thinking, You know what that means? We're
gonna be at the house in a little while. The Lord says, you turn. Oh,
Lord, if you don't turn me by your mercy, your grace, by your
son putting away my guilt and giving me a new heart and keeping
me by your grace, Lord, if you don't turn me, I'm not gonna
be turned. Turn and I'll not cause my anger, my countenance
to fall upon you. Why? For I am merciful. The Lord passed by before him
in Exodus 34, 6 and proclaimed unto Moses, the Lord, the Lord,
God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering, abundant in goodness and truth.
Turn. And then what is the backsliding
sinner to do? What do you do when the Lord
says turn? What's he to do? Well, this is the very question
that every believer has. Lord, you've commanded me to
turn. What's the evidence that God
has turned me? Turned. The believer says, Lord,
you turned me. You turned me, I'm turned. What
is the evidence of a turned believer? Turned in heart. Regenerating
grace. What's the evidence? Look at
verse 13. Only acknowledge thine iniquity Only know this about
yourself. Only acknowledge what you know
about yourself, that thou has transgressed against the Lord
thy God. Now there's the evidence of a turned, of a regenerated
person, man, woman. There's the evidence of it. What
is it? You ever heard one that doesn't
know God, just really, I mean, you know, I'm not talking about
somebody say, well, I, you know, I guess I'm not, you know, I
guess I'm, maybe I'm, no. This is the evidence of a believer.
I am a rebel by nature, my fallen Adam, I'm a rebel against God.
Now this is what I am. I'm a rebel against God and I've
got that old nature in me. And according to the word of
God, it's going to be in me until I leave this world. That's when
I'll be separated from the body of this death. Acknowledge, truly,
I know this, all men have sinned and come short of the glory of
God. But here's what a believer says, I have. It's not one of
those attitudes, well, I know everybody's a sinner. No, I'm
my own problem. Acknowledge what you've done,
what you are. We know something about ourselves. We agree with Paul the Apostle.
Oh, wretched man that I am. This is the scripture, 1 John
1 now. If we confess our sins, I heard Brother Henry say this.
He said, nobody can ever confess their sins, but this is what
they confess. I am a sinner. I am a sinner. I do nothing by my old man but
sin. That's all I do. That's what
a sinner is. He does nothing but sin. If we
confess our sins, He, the Lord, is faithful and just to forgive
us our sins and to cleanse us. That is, free us from the guilt
of, justify us from all unrighteousness. When a sinner by the grace of
God is made to know his sin, to know his need of forgiveness,
and to know the reason why Almighty God would forgive him. Because
Christ was made sin, and put away that guilt, cast it as far
as the east is from the west, behind the back of God, into
the sea. I don't even understand all these
words. How can God, who never forgets anything, says, I'll
remember them no more? Only in Christ, and I know he's
not lying. David declared, for I acknowledge my transgressions. You know what David said? I'm a backslider. I acknowledge
my transgressions. My sin is ever before me. I'm
a backslider. There's a new man that faces
God and loves God and longs after God, and I got a me that just
pulls back and said, I ain't going. I ain't going. I resist. My sin is ever before me against
thee. Thee only have I sinned and done
this evil in thy sight, that thou mightest be justified, that
you might be right when thou speakest, and be clear, be transparent,
be innocent when you judge. Acknowledge. What is the backsliding
Israel to do? Let me tell you what they do.
They're honest with God. They're honest with themselves,
they're honest with God. They're honest with others. Acknowledge
thine iniquity. Quit justifying ourselves. In our rebellion admit that we've
all sinned against God. We're guilty. We're guilty. The
Lord has told us what we've done. The latter part of verse 13.
It says, you know, Thou hast scattered thy ways to the strangers
under every green tree, and thou hast not obeyed my voice, saith
the Lord. What have we done? We have done
in heart, if not openly, if not actually. If you hadn't actually
done this, we've all done this in heart. We played the harlot. We played the harlot. Unfaithful
to the Lord. Unfaithful to Him. Disobedient
to Him. And prostituted ourselves to
all that we meet, to everything, to the cares of this world, to
whatever. Just name anything. Name anything
you want to name. What? We're all backsliders. Israel worshipped truly. They truly worshipped. Those
heathen gods, and they would not obey the Lord of all grace
and mercy. They actually did it, and it's
recorded in these scriptures. This is what they did. And here's
what Paul says, they were examples to what we are in heart. Again,
if not openly in heart, that's what we are. And we're continually
doing it. There's no time when we don't
do it. There's no time when we resist it. Our problem, by nature,
is that we resist the truth of our fallen state. Man, by nature,
says, I'm not that bad. Scripture says, yeah, we are.
Yes, we are. We think way too lightly of our
sin, way too lightly of our rebellion, and way too lowly of the Lord,
of His glory and honor. Look at verse 14. Turn. I'm going
to stop with this first one at verse 15, but turn, O backsliding
children. Now listen to what he just said.
Who are the backsliders? The Lord says children. Turn,
O backsliding children, saith the Lord. Children of God, by
electing and adopting grace, backsliders. And yet children. whose love waxes cold. Children whose faith is foundless. The Lord told Peter, little.
Sleepy children. You know the proverbs. You know,
you know. The Lord is going to awake Shulamite,
his bride. And she said, I've already taken
my coat off. I'm down for the evening. He drew her to Him. He knew.
Oh, how desperately does God's people need to be honest about
it. Who are the backsliders? It's God's people. God's people. That's who He's talking to. Turn.
Turn. Turn in word and thought and
deed. Turn. Now listen to this. Verse
14. Turn, O backsliding children,
saith the Lord. for I am married unto you. Return because I'm in covenant
marriage to you. Notwithstanding your unfaithfulness,
you're mine. You're mine. Now listen to these
words of kindness and mercy and compassion. Oh, you talk about
sovereign grace. Turn, oh backsliding children. Do we deserve to be cast out? Yes. Yes, we deserve it. Do we deserve to be thrown in
hell right now? Yes, yes, yes. For stuff that
we've done? Yeah, since we got here, since
this message started. Yes. If God were to judge us,
if He would mark iniquity, How many of us, how many believers
do you think would still be sitting here? If God marked iniquity,
if He took note of it in a believer, if He took note of it and held
it to their account, how many of us do you think would still
be sitting here? If God were to go ahead and just throw every
believer that He judged on their own ability to maintain faithfulness,
how many do you think would still be sitting here? Return, O backsliding
children, for I am married to you. Thy maker is thy husband. The Lord of hosts is His name.
Thy Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel. The God of the whole
earth shall He be called. Listen to what the Lord said
in Hosea 2.19, And I will betroth thee unto Me forever. Forever. Oh, how thankful. for that word forever. Yea, I
will betroth thee unto me in righteousness and judgment and
loving kindness and mercy. The church is the bride of Christ. You know that. His bride that
he joined to himself in everlasting union and espoused his church
to himself as a chaste virgin before she ever fell in Adam. He said, I betrothed you to myself
forever, forever. There's never been a time when
you weren't mine. And betrothed us to himself as
being chaste virgin. Why? Because she was found in
Christ. Oh, but having fallen in Adam's
transgression, he, according to his everlasting covenant to
redeem her from the debt and penalty of sin, came into this
world to answer for her sin, bore her guilt in his own body
and suffered the complete penalty that was due her, cleansed her
by his shed blood from all the sin that would oppose her and bear
witness against her. He put it away, and now by His
Holy Spirit, what's He doing right now? Right now, through
the preaching of the gospel, He's seeking her out. Bringing
her to Himself, that she might know Him through the means of
the preaching of the gospel, and He's keeping her. until that
glorious mutual bliss of their union shall be consummated at
the marriage supper of the Lamb. Revelation 19 verse 6. This is what's going to happen.
Revelation 19 verse 6 to 9. And I heard, as it were, the
voice of great multitude, as the voice of many waters, as
the voice of mighty thundering, saying, hallelujah, for the Lord
God omnipotent reigneth. Let us be glad and rejoice, give
honor to him, for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his
wife has made herself ready, and to her was granted that she
should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white, for fine linen
is the righteousness of the saints. And he said unto me, write, blessed
are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb.
Honorable me, these are the true sayings of God. Right now, the Lord's calling
his chase ride out. She fell in Adam, yes sir. But
he came into this world, he put away her sin. Put away the dead
of it. The presence of it's still there.
The presence of it is still there. The effects of it is still there.
And she sees it. And she knows it. And she's agreeing
with him. Return unto me, children. Turn from your backsliding, children. And here's what a believer says
by that new man. Oh, oh unto him do I desire to
be right and honorable. I hate, I loathe, as Job said,
I loathe myself, I loathe that old man. That old man that resists,
and that's me. That's me. Turn. Back to the latter part of 14.
Turn. I will take you, one of a city,
two of a family, and I'm gonna bring you to Zion. I'm gonna
take I'm going to take you here and there, out of every nation,
kindred, tribe, and tongue. I'm going to openly show you
to be mine. By calling you out of spiritual
darkness, giving you faith by my Spirit, I'm going to give
you a new heart. And you're going to believe me.
And I'm going to join you to my open assembly, the church,
according to my electing grace. That's what he's saying. I will
take you, one of a city, two of a family. How many times have
we seen out of a family the Lord might be pleased to take one,
maybe two, and leave the others to themselves. Why? Because He's
God. Because He's right. Because He
does as He will in the army of heaven among the inhabitants
of the earth. I'm going to take you and I'm going to join you
to myself. Paul says in Romans 11.5, even
so then at this present time, also there is a remnant according
to the election of grace. God has a people that are scattered
in every kindred, tribe, tongue, and they're all gonna be taken
when he pleases God, and just openly shown to be found in the
city of refuge himself. And how, how in closing, has
God been pleased to bring his children to himself? How does
he do that? I tell you, by the hearing and the believing of
the gospel. That message that declares the truth of the glory
of God in the redemption and salvation. He's going to call
you out by the gospel. So this is what he says in verse
15. I'll give you pastors according to mine heart, which shall feed
you with knowledge and understanding. Truly, the Lord has been pleased
through the proclamation of the gospel. I've said this so many
times, this is not an offer to be accepted or rejected according
to man's will. I won't go back into that. I've
dealt with that many, many times. Man doesn't have a free will.
Man's dead. He's dead, bound, trespasses
and sins. What does the Lord say? I'm gonna
send pastors and they're gonna preach a gospel that honors my
son. and I'm going to set forth that
salvation is of the Lord, and that I have a people, and I'm
going to call them out according to my good pleasure, when it
pleases me. And when it pleases me, by my
spirit, I'm going to come to them in power, in grace, in mercy,
and I'm going to give them a brand new heart. I'm going to take
out that heart of rebellion that has ruled And sin's not going
to have dominion over you anymore. I'm going to give you a new heart.
A heart pliable, heart of flesh, pliable towards me. Not flesh,
that old nature. But pliable, soft, hears my voice. I'm going to give you a hearing
ear and a seeing eye. And I'm going to give you faith
to believe. And you're going to believe me.
And you're going to realize salvation is of the Lord. For that after,
in the wisdom of God, the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased
God by the foolishness of preaching, what the world calls foolishness,
to save them that believe. God sends preachers. Who are they? Well, I'll tell
you what they are. They're just fallible but faithful
men that God calls ambassadors of the God of heaven, servants
of the Most High God. They're God's gift. to His churches. They're given according to His
heart. They're taught and commissioned by the Lord. He qualifies them,
puts them where He's pleased to put them, and sustains them
and holds them, the Scripture says, in His hand. They're God's
people. They're God's preachers. They're
God's gift to His people. Oh, may the Lord be pleased today
to teach us. This is what we are. We've fallen
in Adam. And by that fall, by one man's
disobedience, many were made sinners. And Almighty God has
taken sinners of His choosing and been pleased to save them
by His grace. But they're never going to forget
where they came from in Adam's fall. They're backsliders. And we go through this whole
life In this world, after regeneration, realizing I'm the backslider. I am the rebel against God in
my old man. But Almighty God has set forth
in his word, you turn to me, you come back to me. God's people
again say, Lord, you turn us and we'll be turned. Acknowledge
what you are, and we all do. All God's people do. You turn
to me, I'm married to you. I'm in covenant grace. You're mine, you're mine. I chose
you, I bought you, I called you, and I gave you a willing heart.
Lord, according to your good pleasure, call out your people. Show us a fresh Lord concerning
your mercy to backsliders like us, for Christ's sake. Amen.
All right, let's