John K. Jenkins Sr - Evidence of Being in a Backslidden Condition

Father, we thank You and we worship You, Almighty God. You woke us up this morning and kept us all week long. We 're grateful that we can be seen and not viewed. Thank You for Your loving kindness and Your tender mercies towards us. You have not given us what we deserve, but we humble ourselves before You today and pray that You take these next few moments to speak to our hearts. Anoint every heart to be Your mouthpiece and conduit for these next few moments, Almighty God, and allow Your name to receive all the glory, honor, and praise. If someone is unsaved, draw them today; if someone has backslidden, reclaim them; if someone is unsure, speak to their hearts for assurance. Convict those who are not planted, not settled, and not committed, that they might make a change. Now we give You the glory, honor, and praise in Jesus ' name. Amen and amen. Praise the Lord! Amen.

All right, open your Bibles with me for a few moments today. Look at your neighbor and say, «This is a Bible study.» Look at your neighbor and say, «Since you haven 't been to Bible study, the pastor is bringing Bible study to you.» I feel inclined and led to talk to you about something I’ve discussed on multiple occasions in the past, but the Holy Spirit compels me to speak about it again today. I want to talk about people who are backsliding, people who have drifted aside. Now, it’s probably not y’all because you got up and came to church today amid the howling rain outside. But these are the people who perhaps decided to stay home and view it online because they didn’t feel like getting up and going to church. If you had to go to work, you would get up and go to work; if your children had an activity today, you would get up and take them to that activity. Some of y’all probably attended the 8:00 service so you could go to the 1:00 game that the Commanders are playing today. So, I want to talk about the evidences of being in a backsliding condition. Somebody say, «The evidence.» It’s the signs; it’s how you know. In fact, what I’m going to do is — oh, I forgot to mention- if you have not purchased tickets to support and attend the Christmas production, let me encourage you to do so. Amen. It’s a great production, and many people get saved and brought to the Lord. I want to encourage you to invite your friends, neighbors, co-workers, relatives, and others to be a part of that; please, it’ll be a blessing to their lives. As I was saying, Jeremiah chapter 3 is where I want to spend just these few moments. And since this is a Bible study, when I say Bible study, I’m going to look at a number of verses, not just from Jeremiah chapter 3. It says in verse 11 of chapter 3, «Then the Lord said to me, 'Backsliding Israel has shown herself more righteous than treacherous Judah. Go and proclaim these words toward the north and say, 'Return, backsliding Israel, ' says the Lord. 'I will not cause my anger to fall on you, for I am merciful, ' says the Lord. 'I will not remain angry forever. Only acknowledge your iniquity that you have transgressed against the Lord your God and have scattered your charms to alien deities under every green tree, and you have not obeyed my voice, ' says the Lord. 'Return, O backsliding children, ' says the Lord, 'for I am married to you.'» That 's right; «I will take one from a city and two from a family, and I will bring you to Zion.» Now, there’s a lot of content in that section of scripture that I could highlight and discuss. I want to celebrate the fact that God doesn’t stay angry with you forever. Amen! Somebody ought to give God a shout about that! It 's not that you haven’t done some things that God ought to be angry with you for forever, but His love for us is so immense that He says, «I will not remain angry with you forever.» It 's important for us to hear that. He also says in this passage, in the very last part of verse 14, " I will bring you to Zion.» Zion represents being in the center of God’s will; it’s the place where God dwells. Walking in God’s perfect will is where I want to be. I want to be right in downtown Main Street, the center of God’s will. There are blessings in the will of God; there’s victory in the will of God. And God promises, as He speaks to the children of God, that He will bring us to Zion. I don’t care where you are; I don’t care how far you’ve strayed; I don’t care how far you’ve gone off the beaten path. He says, «I am committed to bringing you back to Zion.» That should make us celebrate! We serve a God who is committed! Don’t clap yet; let me finish! Then clap, jump, shout, run around, do whatever you need to do! But I’m so grateful that we serve a God who has made a commitment. He is committed; He loves us so much.