John K. Jenkins Sr - Characteristics of a Backslider - Part 2

I should have had you say to your neighbor, "I'm going to stop being a backslider," because in this series, we're not looking at our neighbor. We're not having you look up and down your road ; I'm not having you look in your section. I'm having you look at the seat you are sitting in to see whether or not any of the characteristics of a backslider are in your life. There are seven characteristics of a backslider. We got through four last week; I hope to get through three today. I want to be clear today as we talk about this: you don't have to have the majority of these characteristics to be a backslider. All it takes is one. Look at your neighbor and say, "All it takes is one." Jeremiah is a prophet who has been given the assignment of preaching and proclaiming to the children of God at a time when they were in a backslidden condition. As a matter of fact, the pattern in the lives of Israel and Judah, the children of God's life, is that they would live right, then live wrong, live right, do right, then slide back into their bad ways, do good for a while, and slide back. They were in a perpetual cycle of doing good and then doing bad. Does anyone know what I'm talking about? There you go, acting like you have no clue ; that was the pattern in their lives- up and down. God systematically, with regularity, raised up someone to speak truth to them and help them make the right choices and do the right things. I found that while studying this passage of Jeremiah, which sent me on a journey to see where the scripture talks about backsliders. I found these seven characteristics. Last week, let me briefly hit the first four. In Jeremiah 3, we looked at the fact that a backslider justifies themselves. In other words, they make themselves feel good about their own behavior by comparing themselves to other people. It's a bad thing to compare yourself to someone else just to make yourself feel good. Tell your neighbor, "You 're still wrong just because the other person is wrong." The second characteristic we talked about was in Jeremiah 8, which speaks of a backslider who is deceived and refuses to return to God. They hold onto lies, embrace lies as truth, and refuse to go back to God. In Zephaniah chapter 1, we saw that a backslider does not seek God or inquire of God. It is a sign of a backslider when you have decisions to make, choices to consider, places to go, or things to achieve, but you never ask God. When you make decisions based on what you think is right and never inquire of God, that's a sign of a backslider. Number four, which we talked about last week, actually caused us to shout all day. I couldn't get through the sermon because people were shouting about number four, which says that a backslider does not exalt the Lord. A backslider will not elevate the Lord to the rightful place He deserves. A backslider may have the goodness of the Lord all over them, but they will never say thank you. Some of you decided to make it known to everyone in the building that you are not a backslider, and you started jumping up, dancing, and running all over the place, declaring that you are not ashamed to give God the credit for what you have achieved in your life. Now, I want to move on to numbers five, six, and seven in this dynamic Bible study that the pastor teaches on Sunday mornings. Since you won't come to Tuesday or Wednesday Bible study, I picked up on number five, which is in Luke chapter 9. If you would open your Bibles to Luke chapter 9, I'm going to read verse 62, which gives us the fifth characteristic that I want to talk about regarding a backslider. Here is what Luke 9:62 says : "But Jesus said to them, 'No one having put his hand to the plow and looking back is fit for the kingdom of God.'" You see, here's the fifth characteristic of a backslider: they keep looking back. You can never move forward and receive a double portion if you keep looking back. I see I'm not going to get too many amens on that point, but what has kept some of you from being everything that God wants you to become is your tendency to keep looking back at where God has brought you from. Now, don't get me wrong; it's okay to look back and praise God for how far He has brought you. The problem is that a backslider looks back and wants to go back. As a matter of fact, the backslider wants their past life. The children of Israel were delivered from the hands of Egypt, from Pharaoh. God was taking them to the promised land, but they began to think about the past and grew tired of God's supernatural provisions. They would wake up every morning. I wish I knew the Bible better; I wouldn't have to explain this to you all. Hit the person next to you, wake them up, and say, "I wish you hadn't gone to sleep last night. Just try to stay awake for the next 15 or 16 minutes, and I'll be out of your hair."