All right, Jeremiah chapter number three, brief recap. Of course, these are the days of the King Josiah, where Jeremiah is receiving the message from the Lord on what he needs to go out and preach to Judah and Jerusalem and Israel, actually. Even though Israel has been taken captive, there's still messages in there for Israel as well. First chapter, of course, we see Jeremiah being called to preach the message, and him being uncertain about his ability to do so, and God just saying, look, you're gonna preach my word, don't be afraid of what they say, and then in chapter number two, of course, we see God starting to give him the message to preach, and now going into chapter three, it's more of just a continuation of the message, and as you'll see, there is still, at this point, and it's early on, there is, Believe it or not, more gentleness than what you're going to see as we continue and as the people get farther and farther away from the Lord. But God is offering mercy and telling them what to do and letting them know how they can move forward, the path forward. And even though they've been So wicked and so bad and turned from him he's still extending out the arm and still trying to to get them to come back to him and Yes, Jeremiah in general is a very negative book from the standpoint of people who are not right with God and how God is going to deal with his people that are completely rebellious and just in in in the words of the bible you know whoring around and committing spiritual adultery with setting up idolatry and worshiping other gods and stuff like that um which we're going to get into that more tonight but um it's still at the beginning we see a lot of a lot of emphasis on to come back to the Lord. We see this even from the very beginning of chapter three. They say, if a man put away his wife and she go from him and become another man's, shall he return unto her again? Shall not that land be greatly polluted? But thou hast played the harlot with many lovers, yet return again to me, saith the Lord. Now, I'm gonna start with the very first part of that verse where it says, they say if a man put away his wife and she go from him, so there's a divorce that takes place and the woman leaves the husband and gets married to someone else. Is it OK for her to then, at some point, through whatever means, whether she gets divorced or whether that husband dies, to go back to her former husband? The answer is no. He says, shall not that land be greatly polluted? He starts off by saying, They say, like people say this, you know this is true, but why do people say that? Because it's actually in the law of God. So keep your place here, turn back to Deuteronomy 24. We're just going to look at this real quick, and this is important. I'm going to bring up this doctrine briefly, but we ought to be aware of this and know how God feels about this overall. especially when it comes to divorce and remarriage and things like that. We'll get into that a little bit and a little later, but right now I wanna start the groundwork with the truth of that very opening statement in verse number one. about a man putting away his wife, she goes to be with another, and then wants to return. So, Deuteronomy chapter 24, look at verse number one. The Bible reads, when a man hath taken a wife and married her, and it come to pass that she find no favor in his eyes, because he hath found some uncleanness in her. Now look, I'm gonna get into this soon, but what did it say? When a man hath taken a wife and married her, And it come to pass that she find no favor in his eyes. Now does it just stop there? Like, well, and he just doesn't like her. Because this is the way that divorce is treated today. Like, well, you know, a man and woman get married. The man just decides he doesn't like her. So he's just going to go ahead and divorce her and go on and move on from that relationship. Because I just don't like her anymore. Oh, I fell out of love with him. I fell out of love with her. And we don't really love each other anymore. So we're just going to divorce. We're just going to separate. We're going to pretend like this never happened. We didn't make vows. No. And you know what? That was never allowed. That was never allowed in God's law. That was never the way that divorce was supposed to work. This is a modern thing, not that it hadn't happened in history before. Of course, there's no new thing under the sun. People are sinners and wicked, and have always done bad things. Divorces have happened rampantly in the past before, too. But in our modern times, in the United States of America, there wasn't always what's called a no-fault divorce. where people can just get divorced for any reason. This is a new invention. This is something that came along new in our modern history and our culture. It wasn't always just allowable for people to get married, because it had more meaning. Becoming married, having that union and making that contract, It's like you can't just break that contract for any reason. Like, here are the clauses in the contract, and you're saying, till death do us part, you can't just be like, well, we just don't like each other anymore, so we're just going to break the contract. Even the government was saying, no, that's not allowed. Of course, nowadays, it's different. But in God's law, it was the same way in the sense that you can't just divorce someone for any reason. And what the Bible literally says here, it says, and it come to pass that she find no favor in his eyes, but then there's a reason why she doesn't find favor in his eyes. It's because he has found some uncleanness in her. And there's going to be a reason why that uncleanness is in her too, because the uncleanness is going to come from having relations with someone that was not her husband. Okay, that's where the uncleanness comes from. That's where he finds out like, whoa, wait a minute. You've got this uncleanness, you know. Okay, yeah, now, obviously, she's not finding favor with him because he's found this uncleanness. And then he decides to divorce her. Now, we'll get a little bit more into that. And again, this whole sermon isn't dedicated completely to divorce and remarriage and stuff like that. But this is an important thing to go through right now. So all the reasons why you could possibly get divorced with someone is still just encapsulated in this one verse, but it is elsewhere in scripture as well. But then let's see what it says. So this also, by the way, the way that Deuteronomy 24 is written, isn't an endorsement of someone doing this. It's just part of the law saying when this situation happens. When a man's taken a wife and he's married her, and this happens, it comes to pass that this happens, and he finds that she's not favorable because he's found something clean inside her, then let him or allow him to write her a bill of divorce and give it in her hand and send her out of his house. So the law allows for a divorce in such a circumstance. It's not, hey, everyone that ever has this happen to them, divorce them. That would be the command. This is an allowance in the law, not a commandment of the law. Do you see? I mean, big difference, right? When this situation happens, OK, we'll allow for this to happen. We'll allow for a divorce to take place. But look at verse two, and when she has departed out of his house, she may go and be another man's wife. So in that situation, under this divorce, she's allowed to go then and get married to someone else. She says, fine. And if the latter husband, so the second husband that she gets, hates her and writes her a bill of divorcement and giveth it in her hand and sendeth her out of his house, and here it doesn't even specify the reason because it doesn't matter. So if he just did divorce with her for whatever the reason is, Or if the latter husband die, which took her to be his wife, so if she becomes a widow, either way, it's the same situation, same rule. Her former husband, which sent her away, may not take her again to be his wife. After that, she is defiled. So God's law is saying, look, you just, that's once it's done. It's like, you know, your marriage is supposed to be till death do us part. But then once that divorce happens, if you don't get reconciled soon before someone else remarries, once you get remarried, you are divorced forever. There is a time, if you get divorced, where if no one goes and gets remarried, you would be able to go back and try to reconcile that marriage and come back together, and it would still be allowable, still be okay to reform that union. But once you've gone out and gotten remarried and became another man's, in this case, husband, you're saying like, no, sorry, can't happen now, because that land's defiled and just not allowed, for that is abomination before the Lord. And thou shalt not cause the land to sin, which the Lord thy God giveth thee for an inheritance. So that's part of God's law. And this is what's being referenced here. Now with all of this being understood, with how God views divorce and how God views even just someone going back after they've been divorced, verse one in Jeremiah three means a lot. Because God says, look, that is abomination. That land is defiled. You cannot just go out and now come back to that same husband that had you before and he receive you back. Nope, that's an abomination. You can't do that. You're never allowed back to that husband. Well, what does God say? Well, you know that that's the thing. You know that that's the truth, right? He says, but you've played the harlot with many lovers. You've gone out whoring around. You've gone out with all these other gods. Yet, return again to me, saith the Lord. So he's saying, I know that this is the law. And I know that this would happen. But you know what I want? I want you to come back to me. So a demonstration of God's love, knowing that he's giving this symbolism of that, that's abominable. You can't do that. But obviously, God is God and is able to overcome even these rules that he gave for mankind to say, OK, even though you've gone whoring around against me, I'm still calling you back to me. Even though you are defiled and you've played the whore, come back to me. And if you think about that, God forbid anyone's spouse were to be unfaithful to them. What a horrible thing to have to deal with. And I'm sorry if anyone's ever had to deal with that. Thank God I haven't had to deal with that. And I pray that that would never, ever, ever be the case. Because what damage that does? Like that's the person that you're closest to in the whole world stabbing you in the back and turning on you. I mean, that's really, really, really bad, which is why God has a death penalty on adulterers. Adulterers get death. But yet here we have God, where his people, his bride, has gone out and commit all this fornication and adultery against the Lord, and yet God is still saying, come back to me. Come back. So we see this entreaty. And this is why later on in the book, God just is getting more and more angry. When you have this kind of a heart, But then they still don't, I mean, imagine that. Imagine your wife or imagine your husband being caught cheating on you, but then you're like, let's just make this work. Come back to me, right? Let's make this work. But then they're just like, you know, maybe they say okay, but then they still just go off and just keep doing, keep committing adultery or whatever. Just kind of be like, that would make you even more mad. I mean, just worse, that much worse. And we'll see that happen later on. Let's go back to Jeremiah chapter three, look at verse number two. Lift up thine eyes unto the high places and see where thou hast not been lying with. In the ways hast thou sat for them as the Arabian in the wilderness, and now has polluted the land with thy whoredoms and with thy wickedness. Therefore the showers have been withholden, and there hath been no latter rain. And thou hadst a whore's forehead, thou refusest to be ashamed. So he's saying, look to the high, because the high places of what they set up for their idolatry, they set up to these false gods. They're worshiping in all these other places. They set up the groves. They set up the high places, which God already told them before not to do. They do that. They're having their way. They're going after all these other gods. He says in verse three, that's why it hasn't rained in your land. That's why I've been cursing your land, because you've been doing this stuff. But then he says, you had a whore's forehead. Now, what does that mean? The whore's forehead is one that is just completely unashamed and is just completely willing to do what she's going to do. And no shame at all. Yep, I'm a whore. And I'm going to go. And I'm going to do this and do this and do this. And that's what I'm going to do. It's that stubborn, rebellious, Attitude and heart where her forehead is set and that's what she's gonna do and that was talking about a horse forehead That's how he's describing the children of Israel says thou refuses to be ashamed and when you're involved in sin and you're involved in wickedness and the Bible is calling out your sin of what you're guilty of and you have this stubborn rebellious heart and rebellious attitude just think hey you got a horse forehead and And being called a whore, that used to be a shame. These days, it's like people embrace it or don't care about it or think like, yeah, right, whores and whoremongers. It's something that ought to cause shame. And it definitely causes shame in the house of God and amongst God's people. But here, God's people were saying, he's like, you're not even, you refuse to be ashamed. And check your heart if you refuse to be ashamed of things you ought to be ashamed of. Wilt thou not from this time cry unto me? My father, thou art the guide of my youth. This is what God wants from the people. Won't you just cry out to me now? My father, you're my guide from my youth. Like, look to me. Will he reserve his anger forever? Look, the answer is no. He's saying, I'm not going to reserve my anger forever against you. Come back. This is the entreatment of his people. Will he reserve his anger forever? Will he keep it to the end? Behold, thou hast spoken and done evil things as thou couldest. The Lord said also unto me in the days of Josiah the king. So that was one message, right? That finished up, and of course this was still more of a continuation from chapter two, where all part of one message. And now we have another message being given. The Lord said also unto me in the days of Josiah the king, hast thou seen that which backsliding Israel hath done? She has gone up upon every high mountain and under every green tree, and there hath played the harlot. And I said, after she had done all these things, turn now unto me." So he's saying, have you seen what backsliding Israel's doing? They're going after all these other guys. And what did I say? I said, hey, turn unto me. Return to me. This is God's message. But she returned not. And her treacherous sister, Judah, saw it. So he's bringing up what happened with Israel now. Like this message is saying, did you see what backsliding Israel hath done? Because they've already been taken captive by the Assyrians at this point. When Josiah is the king, they've been taken captive. They've been judged. They've been punished. So he's saying, Israel was up on every high hill. They were fornicating, committing adultery with all these false gods and all this idolatry. And he said, I told them the same thing. Hey, turn unto me. But she didn't return. And he calls Judah treacherous because Judah's witnessing all these things that's happening to Israel and not taking any heed to it. It's like, you're doing the same thing. Like, I'm coming down and bringing judgment on Israel. They deserved it earlier. And it's kind of like, you see your sister, you see this happening to them. What makes you think you're going to be any different? You saw the end result, you saw them go into captivity. Verse eight, and I saw when for all the causes whereby backsliding Israel committed adultery, I had put her away and given her a bill of divorce. Yet her treacherous sister Judah feared not, but went and played the harlot also. Now, When God says here, I put her away and given her a bill of divorce, does anyone just think like, well, I guess God's just okay with divorce then, right? Like this is God's stamp of approval on divorce. But you know what? I've heard people try to use this as an excuse to be like, well, I mean, God divorced the children of Israel, so I mean, it must not be that bad. You know, where the Bible literally says in Malachi, God hateth putting away, God hates divorce. You know, that's why when people are asking Jesus, you know, he said, well, from the beginning it was not so. God made them male and female, right? And for this cause shall a man leave father and mother and cleave unto his wife, and they twain shall be one flesh. And he's saying like, you know, for the hardness of your hearts, because you have a problem with it, God allowed for there to be this situation where people can be divorced. But from the beginning, that's not how God made it. And that's not what God would want either. God doesn't want people getting divorced. He just made it an allowance because of man's heart, because a man's wicked heart not being able to handle it and overcome it. He's saying he made that allowance, but that is not what God wants. So we see here, did God want his people just completely backsliding and going away from him and committing spiritual? Of course he didn't. And also, just understand, he's talking about the nation. He's talking about putting away a nation. This is figurative language. Giving them a bill of divorce. Do you think there's actually some contract written up with God's signature on the bottom that he handed to the nation, to whoever the king was at the time? Of course not. He's explaining what's happening with his relationship with the nation He's saying look I divorced them. I put them away from me right and and ultimately had them taken captive So they were removed out of God's protection out of his land out of you know out of out of his space Okay, you go over there now That's the divorce mint This is so far from any type of an endorsing of divorce. And people say, well, if God could do it, then I can do, you know, like, are you married to a nation? Is there a nation that's supposed to be worshiping you that isn't worshiping you? Are you God now? No, it's a different situation. This is not a justification for divorce. In fact, turning to Matthew chapter five, You know, I haven't taught on this subject in quite a while, and it needs to come up from time to time. And sometimes I think I ought to be doing a better job with some of these bigger doctrines, because this is a very important issue. Just an insight into my life. I feel like sometimes I've preached on things enough, but it could be many, many years ago. And in my mind, I'm just like, well, I've already taught about that. But then there's a whole bunch of people that haven't heard this stuff. And that's the problem I face as a preacher, to make sure that I'm preaching everything that needs to be taught. Because this is an important doctrine, especially now more than ever, with how many people are getting divorced, and just understanding what the Bible actually says about it. Because there's also a bunch of apologists for divorce, Christian apologists, in the form of pastors, that are going to tell you why it's OK to just get divorced, and why it's not that big of a deal. And oh, look, in the Bible, there's all these reasons to get divorced, everything. No, there's not. No, there's not. And that's not what the Bible teaches. Jesus himself tells us in Matthew chapter 5 verse 31, it has been said, whosoever shall put away his wife, let him give her a writing of divorcement. And look, that is true. There is that aspect of the law. But what does Jesus say? But now I'm coming to you and telling you, yeah, you know, it's really not even that big of a deal. It's not as bad as it was back then. Go ahead and just get divorced willy nilly. Wait, no, but I say unto you that whosoever shall put away his wife saving for the cause of fornication Causeth her to commit adultery and whosoever shall marry her that is divorced committeth adultery Now what did we read in the law? Was she could go ahead and just and get remarried right? But what's Jesus saying? But I say unto you that No, like, like, whosoever shall marry her that is divorced committeth adultery. This is how he's seeing it. This is, this is, this is even like, like more restrictive. So you think things are less restrictive in the New Testament? Uh-uh. Only in the aspects of the law that were fulfilled. But, but like this, this moral law, this, this, you know, this idea of someone being divorced and remarried and stuff, he's saying no. And notice it's the cause of fornication. I'm not gonna get too deep on this, but fornication is what happens when people are not married and they have those relations. Because once you're married and you have those relations, it's adultery. And there is a caveat in the law that was basically saying, you know, because normally in a godly society, people are gonna be pure going to the wedding altar. There's gonna be purity there and it's gonna be expected and it's expected in the daughters of Israel and it's expected in the sons of Israel that you would show up pure to your wedding day. That's why a man leaves father and mother because he's under the authority of his father and mother and they're watching over him and making sure he's being raised right. until he cleaves unto his wife, and that wife is a daughter in someone else's house that's being raised, and dad's got the responsibility of making sure that he's keeping his daughter pure until the day that she gets married, and then those two pure people are showing up to get married, but then if one of them finds out after they got married, like, whoa, wait a minute, what? You're not pure? What, you're pregnant? What, you have this disease? Hold on a second, that's not what I signed up for. That was the situation that was allowable under the law for people to get a divorce. But I also believe that that was prior to the consummation of that marriage as well, and that once you finally come together and make that union, hey, what therefore got us joined together, let not man divide asunder. And we need to get stronger on our ideas of marriage. Not only because of all of the laws surrounding this and what we clearly see in scripture about why this is so important and how God feels about this, but also because it is symbolic of Christ in the church. It is symbolic of heavenly things. It is symbolic of God and his love for us and how we ought to be submissive to the Lord and to all of his rules and commandments for us. Like there's this great imagery and picture of a marriage and our spiritual relationship with the Lord. And there's so much that's sacred and holy about that union that God has given to mankind that it ought to be cherished, it ought to be revered, and it ought to be kept holy. I could go, I'm refraining now from continuing down that whole sermon because we need to get through all of Jeremiah, but that is one aspect, the morality and the idea surrounding marriage these days have just, it's so far out of line. It is so far removed from scripture. And no one wants to hear it. And this one doctrine, I think that this one doctrine alone, and I can never know for sure because I don't always know why people leave, but to my knowledge, this one doctrine has caused more people to leave churches that I've pastored than anything else. This one doctrine. This one doctrine. Now look, if people are divorced and remarried, I'm not angry with you. I'm not upset with you, I don't have any ill feelings towards you, and I don't want you to leave the church. At this point, whatever's done is done. Stay, keep coming to church, serve God, love your wife, love your husband, you know what I mean? Live the, whatever state you're in right now, you have to live that way. Just like people have sinned in other areas. You got a bunch of tattoos. Oh, I mean, there's nothing you can do about it now, but just serve God, right? I mean, leave the past in the past, recognize what you've done, right? Give that admission like, okay, well, look, I've sinned. Confess that to the Lord and then move forward. Because there's nothing else you can do about it. But I absolutely am gonna make sure that all the kids are hearing before they get into mistakes, and before they screw up their life, and before they make bad decisions on getting married and getting divorced and everything else, that they're gonna at least hear what the Bible has to say about it. And they're gonna hear it very clearly. Verse number nine, Jeremiah three, and it came to pass through the lightness of her whoredom, that she defiled the land and committed adultery with stones and with stocks. Of course, stones and stocks referring to the idolatry. And it's just the lightness, like it's just not a big deal, right? That forehead, the horse forehead. I'm not in sin. Unashamed, lightness, no big deal. And yet for all this, her treacherous sister Judah hath not turned unto me with her whole heart. Look at this, but faintedly saith the Lord. So Judah sees what's happening to Israel. Judah sees everything. Israel gets judged. Israel gets put away from the Lord. And instead of going, oh man, God really came down hard on my sister. I better get my act together and get right with God. That's what she should have done. But what she did was faintedly. And when something's feigned, it's fake. It's just putting on the act or the show or the face like, oh, I'm sorry. But in the heart, not sorry at all. Right? You know, there's people worship me with their lips and you'll see this come up over and over and over again in Jeremiah, especially. Yeah, they talk this big game and they talk all holy and they talk all spiritual and they talk how they want to follow God, but they don't at all. They just don't do it. It's all just fake. It's all just lip service. It's all just to be heard and to sound good, but it's fake. And your Christianity ought not to be fake. It's easy to come in here, it's easy to come into church and say all the right things, but what are you doing at home? What are you doing in your life? Is it all just for show? Is it all just so that people can all hear how old you are? But then you don't really live it. And the Lord said unto me, the backsliding Israel hath justified herself more than treacherous Judah. 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. There's a message for Israel. Israel's already been put away. Israel's already been taken captive. And he says, go proclaim these words toward the North. Go into Israel, go proclaim this, because obviously there's still some people left. There's remnants left over from the captivity that are still going to be inhabiting Samaria and other parts of Israel. He's saying, go up there and bring them this message and just say, come back to God. And look, it talks about backsliding and backsliding and backsliding. Look, this happens as much to a nation as to an individual. And when you find yourself backslidden, here's a good application for you individually. You ever get to this point to where you've just gone off the deep end, and you've gone out into sin, and you've gone out into the world, and you've gone after the riches, and you've gone after the pleasures, and you've gone after whatever sinful, and just totally gotten away from the Lord, gotten out of church, gotten out of reading the Bible, gotten out of praying, gotten out of soul winning, gotten out of all of it, and just had your head just way into the world. Come back to the Lord because God is merciful. God's merciful. Don't ever think, and here's the danger that people can turn their disaster even worse. And man, I've talked to too many people that get this attitude where you feel you're already defeated. and you're here tonight, and you're stronger tonight, and keep this in mind and store this away in your memory, if, God forbid, the day ever comes where you're way out in sin and way backslidden, come back to the Lord. Stop sliding back and start moving forward again. The Bible still will ring true, hey, draw nigh to God and he'll draw nigh to you. Cleanse your heart, you sinners. Just get back. I mean, I'm sure there's plenty of people in this room. I know myself as one of them who was really backslidden and then decided to come back to the Lord at some point in your life, right? I mean, it's happened to me. Other people have history. And if you don't, great. I hope you don't have that history. I hope you never fall back and stray from the Lord and backslide. That's the ultimate. That's the best. But just remember, if you do, Look at how the Lord is wanting even Israel that's already been divorced and put away from Him, come back. come back to me, return, backsliding Israel. I won't cause my anger to fall upon you. I'm merciful. I will not keep anger forever. And it's important to get the fear of God. It's important that we could walk in a way that's like, man, I don't want to screw up in God's eyes because I don't want him pouring down and raining on me. And we need to have that real healthy fear of the Lord. But don't get to the point where you just think you're already destroyed. and that you can't go back to him, and that you can't ever find God's mercy, because God has a lot of mercy. Don't be too clouded by the fear of the Lord to think that there isn't forgiveness and mercy with the Lord. And I would just say this, that if you're still alive, then God's not done with you. You still have space to repent and come back to him. Once you breathe your last breath, there's nothing else you can do at that point. You find yourself backslidden. You are not defeated. You might have been cast down, and you're struggling, and you've stumbled, and you're in a bad place. You're in the mire, like the wayward son that's gone off into the land and wasted his father's substance with riotous living. And he finds himself in with the pigs, wanting to eat what the pigs are eating. because he's so low in his life. But what does he do? He said, hey, you know what? I'm gonna go back to my father's house. I'm gonna go back to church. I'm gonna get cleaned up. I'm gonna serve. And I know I'm never gonna be maybe where I was before, but I'm gonna serve. And I know I'll be cared for. No matter how backslidden you get, come back. get back in church, get back reading the Bible, get back doing the spiritual things, you may not be able to achieve the standing or status that you had before. Maybe not. But God still wants you to come back and serve him. You know, sometimes people achieve positions and roles where, yeah, you're never going to be, you know, pastors that fail, significantly fail, like get into really bad sin and have to stand down and have to be replaced, they're never going to pastor again. At least they never should. Some of them do. But you never should be a pastor again, never. You're disqualified. You've proven yourself that you can't do it, that you're not the person for the job. But that doesn't mean that you still can't serve God in any capacity. Of course you can. You just won't do it in that capacity. But don't give up. Don't think it's all over. I mean, this is a really, you depending on how you read this is is really a good encouraging sermon this is this could be encouraging words but see if you have the hard heart and a stiff neck you only want to hear any of this you could be like and that's unfortunately how israel or judah took israel and judah took took the sermons in these messages because they didn't return to the lord until much much later but verse thirteen this is key this is really important only So he wants him to return. Hey, you're back, son. Return. I'm merciful. I'm not going to keep angry forever. Only acknowledge thine iniquity, that thou hast transgressed against the Lord thy God, and has scattered thy ways to the strangers under every green tree, and ye have not obeyed my voice, saith the Lord. God's saying, I want you to come back, but here's what I require of you. You have to admit you sinned. You have to admit you were wrong. You have to be able to just fess up and say, I'm sorry, God, I sinned. That's it. Just acknowledge your iniquity. Acknowledge you've done wrong. Admit it to the Lord, hey, I did wrong. And you know what? This is what people need to do to receive forgiveness. And I believe this is also what's taught for even believers, for Christians, to give forgiveness as well. This concept is all throughout the scripture of acknowledging your sin. You have to acknowledge. I mean, it's printed on the back of our invites. I don't think I have one up here at the moment. But what's step number one? Admit that you're a sinner. And that's step number one. And when we're trying to give people a gospel and get them saved, step one, admit you're a sinner. Acknowledge your sin. Acknowledge your guilt. like me and many other people, before I got saved, I didn't think I was that bad. I didn't think I deserved hell. I would say, yeah, I'm a sinner. But what are you doing when you're admitting you're a sinner? You're acknowledging the penalty for your sin, too. It's not just, yeah, of course I did wrong. I'm not perfect. But I mean, I don't deserve to go to hell. Oh, yeah, you do. Yes, you do. It's that acknowledgment, that admission, Hey man, I've done wrong. And this was the problem with Israel and with Judah where, yeah, they returned to the Lord faintedly. It's fake in their heart. They're not really acknowledging it. They got the whore's forehead that's saying, I'm not doing anything wrong. I'm gonna keep doing what I'm doing. Acknowledge your iniquity. Psalm 32 verse five says, I acknowledged my sin unto thee and mine iniquity have I not hid. I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the Lord and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin. Selah. You see how that works? I'm acknowledging, I'm confessing, God, here's my sin, I'm sorry. He forgave us the iniquity. Psalm 51 verse two, wash me throughly from mine iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. For I acknowledge my transgressions and my sin is ever before me. And turn if you go to Luke chapter 17. This question came up very recently and I was answering it and I actually I misspoke and I gave the wrong reference and I apologize for that. So when someone asked me about this and this comes up and you probably had the same thoughts yourself. Who's ever watched like an interview with someone who has had some extreme tragedy in their life at the hands of someone wicked, where they've had someone murdered in their family, maybe a child or someone real close to them. And then you hear them, and you see them on TV. And the person that did the murder or the crime is just a monster, like an absolute monster. But then you hear the people saying, well, you know what? I forgave him. Right? Now look, if someone chooses to forgive, you have the choice to forgive someone. You always have the choice to forgive someone. But don't think that you're required to forgive a monster. that is unrepentant and is not sorry for what they did. I mean, I've literally seen cases where the murderer is like mocking the families of the deceased and just so unrepentant and so doesn't care and just hates everyone. And people are still saying, oh yeah, they don't, you know, I still forgive them though. Like, you don't have to. And again, if for someone in their heart is gonna help them move on with their life to just do that, okay, you know, I get it. You have that authority, you have that power to be able to forgive who you wanna forgive, but don't think that that is what's required of you by God to forgive someone who is unrepentant. Because that is not a requirement. Because we see how God deals with people and saying, look, here's the requirement. Here's what I need you to do. Acknowledge your iniquity. Acknowledge that you've done wrong. Admit it. Say, I did wrong. I deserve the punishment. I deserve this because I did wrong. That's what you have to do. You have to acknowledge it. Luke 17, verse number three. And when I was talking to someone else, I made the wrong reference to when Jesus said, you know, how oft shall my brother sin against me and I forgive him, you know, until seven times. I say not until seven times, but until 70 times seven. That's fine, that's obvious in the scripture, but what's understood about that is that when your brother's sinning against you and you forgive him, it's because they're acknowledging their sin. It doesn't specifically say that in that passage. But in Luke 17, it does specifically say it. And it's, I think, consistent enough in scripture to have it not always had to be stated that that's the case, at least when God's requiring you to forgive. Luke 17, he's requiring you to forgive. Look at verse number three. It says, take heed to yourselves. If thy brother trespass against thee, rebuke him. So yeah, when someone sins against you, you can tell them that they're wrong. You don't have to fall over yourself ready to forgive before you even tell them that they did you wrong, right? And look, I love forgiveness. And I love passing over transgressions. And we see how merciful and long-suffering God is. But people also need to be told that they're wrong. And they need to grow from that. They need to hear it, that you did wrong. You did me wrong, man. Hey, brother, you did this, and it wasn't right. And you can rebuke them. And you rebuke them so that they can repent, which is why the Bible says, and if he repent, forgive him. So if your brother does you wrong, tell him. And look, tell him. Don't bottle it up. If you're going to just bottle it up and harbor bitterness, you might as well then just forgive him without getting him to repent. If someone does you wrong, If you can't just get past it, then just, hey, look, rebuke him. You did me wrong. Clear the air. Then you don't have to have any bitterness. You can just say, OK, well, hey, I said my piece, right? I let him know. He doesn't have to eat you up or anything to bother you. You tell him you're wrong. And if he repents, then great. They've acknowledged it and said, OK, look, yeah, you know, I did wrong. You're right. I'm wrong. And if that happens, he says, forgive him. Then forgive him. That's what I expect you to do. And if he trespass against thee seven times in a day, and seven times in a day, turn again to thee, saying, I repent, thou shalt forgive him. Thou shalt forgive, that's a command. He's saying, look, then you shall forgive him. But the key is he's got to come back to you saying he repented. Look, even if it happens repetitively, even if it's seven times in a day, you might start to question their repentance. But what's he saying? Still give them the benefit of the doubt. And still forgive them. I mean, if he's coming back to you and he's saying he's repentant, then forgive him and move on. But this concept of acknowledging, look, this is really important. It's important with your personal relationships, and it's definitely important with your relationship with the Lord. And being in good standing with Him. When you do wrong, hey, He wants you to return. He wants to have a good relationship with you. He wants to have that closeness. But you better be able to acknowledge and recognize when you do wrong. And stop defending yourself, and stop saying, and give all the reasons in the world why you're not wrong. And parents get an extra special understanding of this concept with kids, because oftentimes there's kids. It's not always necessarily all of them. Some are better than others. But usually there's always at least one kid that's just going to defend all the way until it seems like they're going to die of how they didn't do anything wrong. And I can't help but think, when you hear that, what God must think. when we refuse to acknowledge that we're in error, and that we're doing something wrong, and that we're not being righteous, we're not being holy in some area, and I'm not, I think he's right, I don't have to do that, I don't have to do this, I don't have to submit to my husband, or I don't have to follow, you know, like whatever. You have that bad attitude, well, how do you think God's gonna be feeling? He gets angry. when all it takes. And I think a lot of people, especially in relationships, most people are going to want to forgive and want to have a good relationship. I mean, I know I do. You're married. Your spouse is going to want to have a good relationship with you. But you know what? When you do wrong, learn to say, I'm sorry. And if you have a problem with that, you're going to have a problem with relationships. If you're a person that can't ever admit you're wrong and can't ever say you're sorry, just be prepared to have problems in your relationships. Because you will have problems in your relationships if you're the person that can never say you're sorry. Overcome that. Learn to acknowledge guilt. And look, it's not the end of the world. Just say you did wrong. And you'd be surprised at how quickly things can resolve. But usually, the worst problems are you got two stubborn people and no one ever wants to admit they're wrong. And then what happens? The fight never really resolves. Maybe it does, or it blows past or whatever, but if we could all just learn to recognize when we're in error, it goes a long way, I'm telling you. Forgiveness follows quickly thereafter. Verse 14, turn, O backsliding children, saith the Lord. Jeremiah 3, 14. For I am married unto you, and I will take you, one of a city and two of a family, and I will bring you to Zion. This is a good point to bring up. There's some Pentecostals out there. You might have, you know, go out Solonay and run into them. And there was one church, particularly in Prescott Valley where we lived, where I go out Solonay, there's this one church that was like, they were, in some areas, they're like real fundamental, and they would have this appearance of being like not worldly and everything else, but they don't really keep, they never kept consistent standards. It's like the same church that would teach like all the women would be in dresses and all the men would be dressed up like when they go to church. They mocked us because our daughters were always wearing dresses and skirts. But they're out playing. Yeah, I know. Because we keep the same standard. Because we think that these are the clothing that they should be wearing. Not just in church, but every day. But anyways, that's neither here nor there. But here's what they'll teach, though. And this is what this specific church and many other Pentecostals teach is that, hey, if you're backsliding, you're not saved. You've lost your salvation. Oh, you're backsliding? Yeah, you were saved, but now you're in sin. You're backsliding. You're not saved. Well, what does the Bible say here? I'm married to you. So if this is a picture of salvation, God's saying, I'm married to you, but you're backsliding. So how could they not be seen as saved if God's married to them? He's tied to them and in union with them. Yet they're backsliding. So what does that mean? I don't know. My head's going to explode. Oh, I got an idea. Maybe it's that when you're backsliding, you're still saved. Because the salvation is not based on your works, and not based on your obedience, and not based on how well you could complete the law, and not how well you can follow Christ. It's based on grace and forgiveness, and you've been saved because you put your trust in Christ. That's it. This is a good verse to illustrate the two going hand in hand. I've even had some of them admit that to me. Like, well, he does say he's married to the backslider. Why is it so hard for you to get then? Yes, it does. Not in the way they said it, but right here, turn, O backside and children, saith the Lord, for I am married unto you. There's children. Turn, I'm married to you. You don't have to turn to Ezekiel 18. Ezekiel 18 verse 30, the Bible reads, Therefore I will judge you, O house of Israel, everyone according to his ways, said the Lord God. Repent and turn yourselves from all your transgressions, so iniquity shall not be your ruin. And look, just because the Bible, like this is a passage that's talking about turning from your sin, but it's not talking about their eternal salvation, even though He says, hey, iniquity is not going to be your ruin. Well, I'll let you in on a little secret. If you're saved and you're just living in iniquity, it's going to be your ruin. It's going to be your demise. It's going to be your downfall. It doesn't make you unsaved, but it's really bad for you. The wages of sin is still death, and all the works of the flesh are going to work death in you. And it's really bad. Verse 31 says, cast away from you all your transgressions whereby you have transgressed and make you a new heart and a new spirit for why will you die, O house of Israel? And again, he's talking to a whole nation. He's not talking about their spirits being saved. He's talking about the nation being saved. He's talking about, hey, I don't want to have to rain down on you. So you need to get right with God. And look, when you're walking in a spirit of wickedness and you're walking in a spirit of iniquity, you need a new spirit. You could walk in a spirit of righteousness. and holiness. So he's saying, look, make, you make, and he says, and make a new heart and a new spirit. Make you like you do it. He's not giving them that. He's saying, you give yourself a new heart and a new spirit. Heart and spirit to serve me, to do what's right. For why will ye die, O house of Israel? For I have no pleasure in the death of him that dieth, said the Lord God. Wherefore, turn yourselves and live. Get right with God. And what's gonna happen when God brings a nation to judge his people and a whole nation? What's gonna happen? A lot of people are gonna die because they have to be conquered first and then taken into captivity. And he's saying, I don't want you to be so stiff necked and hard hearted. Just get right with me and things can go a lot smoother. And then we don't have to have a whole bunch of people dying and it's not gonna have to be that bad. Just get right with me. Get a new spirit, get a new heart, and live right. Live righteously. This is the message. This is the message going out to the children of Israel. This is the message going out to the nation. Hey, get right with God. Verse 15, Jeremiah. So he says, hey, turn back, saying, Israel, children, I'm married unto you. Verse 15, and I will give you pastors according to mine heart, which shall feed you with knowledge and understanding. And that's what a pastor ought to be doing. And that's one of the reasons why we go to church. This is why you don't just sit at home and have church at home where you sing a song and pray and read the Bible with your family and say, well, yeah, this is church. Because no, you don't have a pastor that God has given you in your house that's according to his heart, which is going to feed you with knowledge and understanding. That's supposed to be what's happening with pastors in churches. And that was happening with pastors in the Old Testament, too. Now, it wasn't a New Testament church, but they were still going to the house of God. They still had the Levites teaching the word of God and giving the understanding. You still had the prophets that were doing the same thing. What do you think Jeremiah is doing? Even if he's not pastoring, he's still a prophet, right? So you have these prophets that would come and they preach their messages, but then you still had regular services and regular teachings of the law and regular expounding on God's law going on all the time in the Old Testament model. And there were pastors and there were people who watched over groups of people in their local area. And he's like, this is what I'm gonna give you. I'm gonna give you pastors according to my heart. We shall feed you with knowledge and understanding and shall come to pass when you be multiplied and increased in the land. In those days, said the Lord, they shall say no more the ark of the covenant of the Lord, neither shall it come to mind, neither shall they remember it, neither shall they visit it, neither shall that be done anymore. So this is future events. He's talking about, and it shall come to pass. So in the future, this is gonna happen. Hey, the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord, it's not gonna be a thing anymore. Now it was then, right? The Ark of the Lord was a big thing in the Old Testament. At that time, verse 17, they shall call Jerusalem the throne of the Lord. Look at this, and all the nations shall be gathered unto it, to the name of the Lord, to Jerusalem. Neither shall they walk anymore after the imagination of their evil heart. Well, that sounds like a really good day. And you know what? I don't see that day taking place in history as if it already happened. And I'm not gonna go there because of sake of time, but one of the places I was going to turn to was Isaiah chapter two. which is a good place that kind of references all the nations flowing unto Jerusalem, and that's a picture of Jesus reigning, ruling and reigning from Jerusalem and all nations being gathered unto him and him ruling the world. That's what this is a picture of as well. It's prophesying of that event. Verse 18, in those days, the house of Judah shall walk with the house of Israel. So there's gonna be a unification there, right? Because they've been divided and split going back forever. And they were still divided and split even in Jesus' day. They didn't look at the Samaritans the same way that they looked at the Jews from Judah. In those days the house of Judah shall walk with the house of Israel and they shall come together out of the land of the north to the land that I have given for an inheritance unto your fathers. But I said, how shall I put thee among the children and give thee a pleasant land, a goodly heritage of the hosts of nations? And I said, thou shalt call me my father, and shalt not turn away from me. Verse 20, surely as a wife treacherously departed from her husband, so have ye dealt treacherously with me, O house of Israel, saith the Lord. And again, just bringing up the illustration of a wife and a husband, look, a wife departing from her husband, A wife treacherously departing from her husband is always saying, that's just treacherous. It's traitorous. You're going back on your vows and on your promise. That's a treacherous thing to back out of a marriage like that. And he's saying in the same way, you've dealt treacherously with me. Why? Because they were committed to the Lord. Hey, the Lord, He's the God. The Lord's the God we're gonna serve. I mean, how many times do you see that in history with the children of Israel? Like, no, we're gonna serve God. We're gonna serve the Lord. He's our God. You know, all the gods and nations around the bowels are false gods, but we've got the Lord. He's gonna be our God. They deal treacherously and they go after these other gods. Verse 21, a voice was heard upon the high places, weeping and supplications of the children of Israel, for they have perverted their way and they have forgotten the Lord, their God. And you know, when you start to forget the Lord, your God, you start sliding back and God's not really in your thoughts. You're going to pervert your way to. Your way becomes perverted, it becomes twisted, it gets all screwed up. You need to have God in your thoughts regularly. You need to have God's word regularly. And don't ever get to the place, I don't care how long you've been a Christian, I don't care how long you've been saved, I don't care how many times you read the Bible, don't ever get to the place where you think, I don't really need to read the Bible anymore. I don't really need to do those things that much anymore. I do them when I do them, but I just, I know it. No, you don't. Because now you're lifting yourself up and, you know, let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall. Don't get to that point. We all need that voice of God every single day that we're receiving from, that we're reading from. And like I already said, you know, I acknowledged earlier, like, hey, I don't think I've really preached on this topic in a long time because I feel like I've already done that. No, I mean, it needs to come up. It needs to be repetitive. And if you get in church and here's one of the, here's, I think, you know, I preached one time at Faithful Word, the lifestyle, the Christian life cycle, okay? When you're new and young, everything can be exciting. You can learn and grow a lot, and things are just going really good. But you're going to hit a point, especially when you go to church for years and years, you're going to start hearing things repeated. Sometimes, you're going to hear things repeated, and feel like you didn't really get anything new out of what you just heard. That's just the case, and that's the way it is. As a level of maturity, you're going to have to deal with that. and don't ever feel like, well, just because I don't think that I heard anything new today, and I already know this, that that means, well, I guess now I don't really need to go to church anymore. Well, I guess I don't really need this. I mean, I already heard, I already know. Don't fall into that trap. Don't do it. You need it more than you think you do. and fight against the urge to say, like, oh, well, every time I come, it just seems like I already know what they're gonna, you know, like, hey, and you know what, maybe that's the case. Maybe that's the case for some of you here. Maybe it's the case for people in other churches, whatever. Don't stop going. One, then two, what I would also have to say is if that's the case, well, I think you just need to do more serving then and more ministering. And you just make sure that you are a servant that needeth not to be ashamed, because you are studying the word of God, and that you're gonna prove yourself a workman that needeth not to be ashamed in God's eyes. That you know how to rightly divide the word of truth, and no one alive knows everything about the Bible, and everyone has some errors, so you start working on where your errors are, and even if you're not hearing it from the pastor in church, or from the preacher in church, so what? And you know what? Also, when we have other people come up that aren't pastors that are going to be preaching, like this Sunday, don't be like, oh, I'm just not going to come this Sunday because I mean, the pastor's not preaching. So it's just someone else. What do I need to hear from them? Well, you know what? It's the word of God that you need to hear. That's what you need to hear. And don't think because Brother Peter, Brother Devin, you say, well, they're not pastors. So what? So what? You know what? They've been coming to church for a really long time. They do read their Bible regularly, and they know the Bible pretty good, and they're gonna teach you something out of God's word, and we can all learn from God's word. And you know what? I'm always listening to what these guys have to say, too, and I'm always learning and getting something from what other people have to say, too. So don't have that bad heart of just kind of thinking you've arrived, and you know, it's important. What verse did we leave off on? 21 we read that right because you've forgotten the Lord your God you perverted their way forgotten the Lord your God 22 Return you backsliding children, and I will heal your backsliding again I mean look look at how many times return return return come back to me like here. I am I want to restore a relationship with you I'll heal your backslidings behold we come unto thee for thou art the Lord our God and Truly in vain is salvation hoped for from the hills and from the multitude of mountains. Truly in the Lord our God is the salvation of Israel. For the shame hath devoured the labor of our fathers from our youth, their flocks and their herds, their sons and their daughters. We lie down in our shame and our confusion covereth us. For we have sinned against the Lord our God, we and our fathers, from our youth even unto this day. and have not obeyed the voice of the Lord our God. And you know what? That's the right response that people ought to have. But it needs to come out of a pure heart. It needs to come with truthfulness, not out of fainted lips. Sometimes people just know the right thing to say, and it's not in their heart. And it's going to do no good for you. It needs to be in the heart. It needs to be right. Oh, man. so much so much jeremiah is so it's so applicable to you think it's just about the children of israel and their nation and their you know and all the like yeah it's about that for sure but what an insight into god and into god's heart and how much we could learn and i mean i think the main theme here is you leave here, don't forget God's mercy, and that he still is gonna always want to have, you're born again, you're a child of God, what father doesn't want to have a restored relationship with their son? Of course you do, no matter how strange. You think about people, they've gone on in life and they start getting older and older and older, and maybe they've had really broken, damaged relationships. And oftentimes you'll hear these people just going like, man, I just would like to have a conversation again with my sister, with my brother, with my son, with someone. I'd really just love to restore that relationship again. And just wears on them. And you know what? God feels that way for the backslider. He wants you to come back. But you have to, like, since we know in this relationship with us and God, God's not in the wrong. So sometimes people are in relationships and you're like, well, I'm just gonna wait for them to come back to me and apologize, right? Well, that's God to us. He's not gonna chase you down to give you his mercy. He's there for you and He's merciful, but don't expect Him to come running after you. Please, please, let me just give my mercy to you. Look. Just admit you're wrong. Just turn back to the Lord. Say, God, I'm sorry. Have that contrite heart, that contrite spirit. And then, you know, God has the mercy. And He does want to show it. But don't, just don't ever forget that. No matter where you end up in this life, don't forget God's mercy because he can still work with you until your dying breath.