Let us all turn together to the chapter we have been reading, that's Jeremiah, Jeremiah chapter 3. I wish to turn your attention to the eleventh verse of the chapter. Really, when you study it, look at it, it's a remarkable verse, simply because It does not say the expected thing. I would have to say, looking at verse 11, if I had been given the task of writing words similar to these, I would have put the proposition the other way around and would have said something like this, Backsliding Judah has justified herself more than treacherous Israel. There's an explanation. why the verse is worded as it is. But there are mysteries, mysteries of grace in the Bible. It brings us to reflect on the mercy of God. When we examine verse 11, for example, we have reason to say, well, why is this verse written the way it is? How come? Since we might have regarded Judah to have been better than Israel. Remember, Israel was the northern kingdom. And Judah was the southern kingdom where the kingdom of David really was. We would have been ready to say, well, for all the sins of Israel, the sins of Judah are not as bad as the sins of Israel. And yet, the verse doesn't suggest that. It's just the opposite. And it falls to us tonight to inquire. as to why the Lord says this in the way He does. Let's keep our Bibles open, we'll ask for the help of the Lord. I'd like you to pray tonight that the Lord will speak to our hearts. Our Father, we look now to Thee. We pray earnestly for the infilling of the Holy Spirit of God Himself, that we may have wisdom from Thee, in the handling of thy word, and in the understanding of thy word, that utterance may be given in the things of God, and that we may have grace to hold up Christ, the mighty to save. We pray for the mercy of God in this country as we have read about it in the chapter. We pray for the mercy of God here in this service. especially for any who know not Christ. There may be some who are following afar off. O God, may there be an exhibition of the mercy of God this night. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen. The verse 11 is about backsliding, as you'll see. The Lord said unto me, the backsliding Israel have justified herself more than treacherous Judah. Backsliding is a terrible sin. There's no doubt about it. You can see from the chapter we read, that little part of the chapter that did engage our attention, you can see how the sin of backsliding is described in the most hideous terms. So much so, we can hardly bring ourselves to read the verses that here describe the folly of Israel and the nature of her sin in departing from God the way she did. I say, we can hardly bring ourselves to read the verses here, such as the violence of the language. And this serves to show how terrible the sin of backsliding really is. It's spoken of at length in chapters 2 and 3 through the book of Jeremiah. I'd like you to keep that in mind so that when you go home and maybe begin to read again, through Jeremiah, you might single out for attention these two chapters, chapters 2 and 3, because the sin of backsliding is brought so vividly to our attention. There are no excuses for backsliding. Although, having said that, there's hardly a backslider in the country. but he will seek to make excuses for his condition and try and justify his sorry state. I'm a backslider, he says to himself as he sits in the service, hearing the word. Do you know that the minister of the gospel can preach with a red hot heart, delivering the word to the lost warning the ungodly of a Christless eternity, and yet that man or a woman may sit in the service that very hour and say, well, the word doesn't apply to me. I don't have to heed these warnings. I need not think about them, for I'm a backslider. On the other hand, that same minister may open the book, and with earnest entreaty, may beseech God's people to conform to the image of Christ. He may put out such a call in his preaching that God's people actually are smitten under the sound of that word. And yet, here is our friend, the backslider, sitting in the same service saying, well, the word doesn't apply to me because I'm a backslider. I needn't talk about conforming to Christ. I needn't talk about quitting the world because I'm a backslider. And so he justifies himself as he sits in the house of God. This is a dreadful thing because I have to say that far from being excused and far from being left out as the preaching of God's Word gets underway, the backslider of all people should especially feel under conviction. And he has an obligation to get right with God and to pay heed to the Word of God as it's preached. So if you're here tonight in that sorry state that we have to describe as being backslidden I want you to know that in no way are you to set apart from the rest of the congregation. And you must not exclude yourself from the ministry of God's Word by putting up this paltry excuse, you see, I'm a backslider and the Word doesn't apply to me. You're actually letting the Word of God go in one ear and out the other. And you have an obligation, as you hear God's Word tonight, to pay heed to what the Lord says and to give attention to what you need to do to get right with God. Backsliding is a common sin. Verse 11 shows us this. Let's try and learn some lessons. I want you to keep your Bible open tonight, if you will. Look with me into this portion. It's so instructive. I want you to study carefully. What is said in verse 11, and I'm putting the point that one of the lessons springing out of verse 11 is backsliding is a common sin. We have backsliders everywhere. This is true in our time as well as for Jeremiah's day. But remind yourself again as you look at verse 11, how if backsliding Israel is identified, and she is, Then that's the northern part of the country. And a backsliding Judah is recognized in the verse. Then that's the southern part of the country. And it seems now that we're looking at the whole of the land, from north to south. And the complaint is made in the chapter concerning the sad state into which the nation has come. So, yes, this is a common affliction. It's found everywhere in Jeremiah's day, up there in the north in Israel, and down there in the south in treacherous Judah. This is the complaint that's registered in the verse. Many of you will know what Hosea 11, verse 7 has to say about the sin of backsliding, and it's a remarkable statement also. My people are bent to backsliding from me. We can hardly take that in. Because it means that there is an inclination of heart, seems the best way to put it. There's something there in the heart of the believer to lure him away from God. And the tendency in the Christian is for him to become cold. and even careless in regard to the things of God. And that says something very serious to us all. I'm thankful for every Christian who's here tonight. I'm glad for how you love your Bible, and love the place of prayer, and how consistent you are in seeking to uphold Christ, and yet we're vulnerable. We're at risk. The Christian is in danger all the while. He lives on this earth of allowing his ardor to grow cold. The lamp burning in us, life may grow dim. And instead of loving the Lord with all his heart and all his strength and all his soul and all his mind, he can become careless and drift away from the house of God. My people are bent to backsliding. I think the Christian needs to be advised of that. Because you could imagine with Bible reading and prayer and the encouragement of others of like precious faith, you could well imagine that you'll be strengthened every day, your love will increase, your joy also. But the longer you live here on this earth, the more you're exposed to danger. You can lose out with God. And sadly, you can lose the testimony of Christ and even drag the name of the Lord into the gutter. And that's a serious matter. Some who claim to be backslidden have never been saved, and we know that. Let me give you an illustration. The second book of Timothy consists of only four chapters. And do you know, we read about a man in the first chapter, who was in the church, and suddenly there is an indication that he has gone missing. And we read about a man in the last chapter, and also he has departed. Now, in 2 Timothy 1, we read about Onesiphorus. And I don't know, the full story is not given in the Bible, but it seems to me that Onesiphorus besmirched his testimony. He lost out with God. And I think that man died a premature death. And Paul writes about him in the opening chapter of that letter. And he expresses this as the feeling of his heart. It's almost as if the Apostle is saying, I trust before God, in that great day when the books are opened, that all of Sepphoris will be found among the saved. I trust before God he'll find mercy of the Lord in that day." It's a sad thing if there's a question mark over your testimony. And if death comes and takes you away, and a servant of God like the Apostle is saying, I trust in that great day I'll see him among the redeemed and the blood-washed people of God, It's an unhappy way to go. And it certainly indicates there's something there that isn't right, and something that causes the apostle in his heart and in his soul and in his mind to tremble for that individuo. There's Onesiphorus among the saved, serving the Lord with such diligence, and yet Paul expresses that fear about him. Then in the last chapter, remember I said, there's another case in the very last chapter, and here we read about Demas, the apostle, saying, Demas has forsaken me, having loved, having loved this present world. I have a feeling, and I'm not infallible, and as I say, the full story is not told in the Bible about these two men, but I have a feeling that Onesiphorus was saved and then lost out in some terrible way so that he lost his testimony, or he damaged his testimony and died like that. And likewise, it's my feeling with Demas, that the man was never saved, tarried in the company of God's people, helped out in the work, was there in the ministry, and then was caught in the snare of this world. If you look again at verse 11 in our chapter, you'll see that not only is backsliding a common sin, but there are degrees of backsliding. For it says here, the backsliding Israel hath justified herself more than treacherous Judah. It's not good to make comparisons. Because very often our judgment is hopelessly wrong. And I was saying moments ago as we started, well, I wouldn't have put the verse like this. I would have turned the words right around. I would have had the verse read, and you remember what I said back there moments ago, that Judah was in a better position with God than Israel. And it seems we have to say, no, no. All but no. What poor judges we are when we look at others and we try to assess how it is with them. We're ill-equipped. Only the Lord knows the heart. And here I stand condemned because I would have put Judah in front of Israel. And yet the verse is saying, ah, backsliding Israel is in a far better position than treacherous Judah with God. I wonder how you stand tonight in regard to your love for Christ, for the Bible. Are you living in close fellowship with the Lord? This is the strange thing with Israel. There is this statement made, she has justified herself more. What does that mean, justified herself? Does it mean that she has made more excuses about herself? What could mean that? But I rather tend to the view that the meaning here is there's more reason. There's far more reason with God to pardon the offenses of Israel rather than the offenses of Judah. Just look at it here. Israel is plainly a backslidden people. For it says there in verse 6, the question being put to Jeremiah, Have you seen that which backsliding Israel has done? Backsliding leaves a mark. Oh, this is a serious thing. If I speak to some here tonight, and it just seems to me in this congregation, while the majority by far are going along with God and love the Lord and love the book and are doing the right thing, yet in a congregation like this, there's bound to be somebody here, especially if the Lord has me here to bring this word. I didn't know I'd be here preaching tonight. By all intentions, Dr. Paisley, was to be here in his view as well. He was to be here tonight preaching the Word. And somehow, providentially, I'm here to bring this message and this text. So it seems to me the Lord wouldn't send me to bring this Word unless there was somebody in the house, right there, somebody here, described in the Word that is in front of us now. And the Lord is speaking about the backsliding of Israel. And the question in verse 6 is, have you seen it, Jeremiah? Have you seen this? Have you seen what backsliding Israel has done? So the Lord, if the Lord is saying there's more of a case for pardon with Israel than with Judah, the Lord's not making excuses for Judah, for Israel, but rather He says, have you seen that which backsliding Israel has done? That indicates to me that sin leaves a mark on the life of the Christian who is out of sorts with God. It's a striking statement, this, in verse 6. Surprising how much we read in the Bible and we just take it as a matter of course. But Jeremiah commenced his ministry in the thirteenth year of King Josiah. And references made to Josiah in verse 6, insofar as Jeremiah has the question to consider at that time, have you seen that which backsliding Israel has done? And it might surprise you to know that if it were the 13th year of King Josiah, And if we were to have regard to backsliding Israel, we're actually going back 93 years. Because with that interval of time, Israel in the north ceased to be a nation. So, in round figures, we're talking about a hundred years. Somebody's saying, well, I don't understand what you're saying. What I'm saying is, here's God speaking to Jeremiah. Here's the Lord saying, have you seen that which backsliding Israel has done? Well, we're talking now about something that had already occurred a hundred years before. And the matter is still before God. The matter still rankles with God. The Lord still brings it up a hundred years later, even a hundred years thereabouts, after Israel has actually ceased to be a nation. And I'm saying sin leaves a mark. Of course it does. In the years that follow, and somebody sits here tonight, and you can say, I once walked with God, and now when I look at the state I'm in, My sins have brought me down to the depths of ruin. What a tragedy when instead of the marks of grace, we have the marks of sin. Have you seen it? God says. Some people try and cover it up. There are those who try to hide the evidence of their sin. But God has seen it. And the Lord will say to Jeremiah, have you seen it? But there comes a time when this old sin that we try to hide away just becomes all too evident. And it may well be you'll be the last to see it. And maybe your friends already have noted that there has been a readiness to drift away, a coldness there, something that shows the Spirit is not quite right. You're not in the place you once occupied with God. It's a serious thing. Have you seen it? God says to Jeremiah, there's so much here we can't take time to deal with it. But if you look at verse five, the last part of the verse, thou hast spoken and done evil things as thou couldest. If I say, look, the record here is serious. I'm talking about those who have gone as far as they can and what they say and what they do. to have failed against the Lord. How far can a man go on and sin? Maybe somebody's here tonight. You've never been saved. And all this while, you've gone on as far as you can, down that road to hell. That is what the Lord's saying here about Israel. You've gone as far as you can. The things you've done, the things you've said, the places you've been. It's time for serious thought about these things. Well, let's get to the point in verse 11. If the sins of Judah are worse, in what way can it be said that Judah is worse? Well, if you look at the verse 10, you will see that And it's also in verse 7 that Judah saw the sins of Israel and didn't learn from them. In fact, she did the same things. So that makes her worse. And this is one of the reasons why the Lord is saying here, backsliding Israel has justified herself more than treacherous Judah, because Judah was in the position to learn from the folly of Israel, to watch their fellows in the northern part of the country go from bad to worse. And they should have learned from what they saw. And instead of steering clear from all that they could see was so harmful up there in the north, instead of steering clear, it seems as if they had to copy them. Maybe if you're here tonight and you've got away from God, it could be that instead of learning the lessons in society from other young people you know, and you've watched those lives being destroyed, and you know full well how that destruction has come about, you've been there to see it. You might well think from that, oh, I've learned my lesson. I've adjusted my ways. I've certainly come to my senses. That's not the case here with Judah. For instead of learning, she just copied what she saw. And that makes her worse. Then look again. Judah is worse in that she has turned to the Lord faintly, verse 10 says. The whole heart is missing. There was a semblance of doing that which was right. She kept up appearances. She could turn on the act. She could create the right impression. But the heart was not there. I believe that for somebody here, backsliding means you have left the first love. For somebody sitting in this congregation tonight, backsliding means you have lost the joy of salvation. For somebody sitting in this congregation tonight, backsliding means you're no longer confessing Christ. And for someone in this congregation, backslidden in the sight of God, it has to be said you have lost the aptitude for prayer. You're not reading the Word of God as you did in former times. And maybe you're actually saying now, I don't know, but I seem to be getting nothing out of the time I spend with the Bible. And at the same time, there may be more and more interest in worldly things. And all of these marks appear. to show you the necessity for getting back to the right place with God. The sins of Judah are worse because she saw the failure in Israel and could have learned from that sad example, but instead of steering clear from those errors, those horrible mistakes, Judah just copied. her sister, as the language of the scripture goes here. And then, Judah is worse in that while she turned to the Lord, it was only the imitation. It was only the appearance. There was no reality. The response was not genuine. And the Lord is saying, you know what's missing? The wholeheartedness. The Lord wants our heart to be in what we do. So if you're witnessing for the Savior, you've got to pray, Lord, put my heart into it. If you feel that somehow your heart is not in the work, and this is a salutary word for us all. Now that we're starting into the winter's work again, it's important for every soul in this congregation to realize because we're bent to backsliding, and there is that in us that will lead us away from the Lord and being in the right place with God, we've got to say, Lord, give to me that wholeheartedness. You see verse 7 there. The Lord speaks about Israel, and we're making the comparison between Israel and Judah, and we're saying, look, there is more of a case for arguing pardon for Israel than there is for Judah. Yet the Lord is saying in verse 7, and this is another remarkable statement, that I said, after she had done all these things, I can hardly take that in, after she had done all these things in lifting her hand against the Lord, that the Lord would say, turn thou unto me. But she returned not. And it's there that Judah comes into it. It's just right there. Her treacherous sister Judah saw it. Saw how Israel had despised the mercy of God. Had turned a deaf ear to His prophets, His servants. and had gone on down that highway of sin and shame. So, the sins of Judah are worse, in that she saw the example of Israel, could have learned and did not, and her sins are worse in that she only turned to the Lord feignedly, by a kind of pretense, with no reality, no burning heart, no fire in the soul, no depth of love for the Lord. That was the sorry thing. Then I think I've got to say the sins of Judah are worse in that she had more privileges than Israel, for Judah is surrounded by the blessing of God. She has the riches of God's word and everything is there at her disposal that might have helped her along with God. I say her sins are worse because she had these blessings that she despised. There is a difference among Backsliders. There are those who haven't really sat under a profitable ministry, and therefore their heart was never really stirred, and they weren't given that groundwork of teaching in the things of God, and consequently, when they fell away, they didn't have a great deal to go on. But then there are others who have sat in a congregation like this, under the plane of preaching, in the atmosphere of prayer, with blessing on every side, and for all of this, still lost out with God. You see, the blessings we have available to us, these matter, and it's important to us if we're going to say, right, I mean to live for the Lord and honor Him, then we have to use the blessings we have. In closing, just let me look at this chapter 3, and you can see how There's a wonderful glimpse of the mercy of God at work. And Israel is called to come back, come back to me. And that's so hard to take in. We could nearly see a case for the Lord saying, well, away you go. For I have set my love upon you and I have called you by name. have sent prophet after prophet, have given you promises, and have even given you warnings, and you still haven't come. I can nearly see a case for the Lord saying, well, on you go then. That's it. But instead of that, this chapter 3, men and women, listen tonight. This chapter 3 in the book of Jeremiah just bristles with those verses that Call for repentance. And you look at verse 12, the very next verse to our text here. Go and proclaim these words toward the north. That's toward Israel. That's Israel, the offender. Go and say there, return thy backsliding, Israel, saith the Lord, and I will not cause mine anger to fall upon you, for I am merciful, saith the Lord. I can hardly credit that, but here it is in the book. The Lord saying, as it were, just go another time. Call them yet again. And here's the Lord in this service speaking to you. How many times the Lord has stirred your heart. And He has made you unhappy in your sin. And you have felt there an urgency about doing the right thing with God. And yet for all that, you're still found back there in that place where you're under condemnation all the time. I'm here to say tonight the mercy of God is incomprehensible because here's the Lord still making overtures of grace, the Lord still calling your name and beseeching you to come to Him. Do you see verse 4 of our chapter? There's the appeal of the Lord. Will thou not from this time cry unto me, My Father, thou art the guide of my youth? The thought here is that in the days of youth, ay, there was fellowship with God, there were better things. And now the Lord is saying, What now that the years have slid by? Will ye not today from this time? Will you not cry unto me and say, My Father, thou art the guide of my youth? I wish I had never gone the way of the world. I made my own decision. I was bent on living my own life, and I never took the Word of God into consideration as I should have done. Is it not the time, even this time, the Lord makes that appeal? Wilt thou not Will you not do it now? That's the thing. Backsliders sitting in this service, this is the time. The Lord has been speaking to you all these days, and the time has come. Look again at the verse 22 of the chapter. Return ye backsliding children, and I will heal your backslidings. And then the reply comes. Behold, we come unto thee, for thou art the Lord our God. It's incredible how in verse after verse the Lord in this chapter just continues to speak and say, come back, come back, come back. Nobody is justified in saying, well, I've heard the word and I think I'm beyond, I'm beyond redemption. I feel there's no hope for me. You're not justified in thinking such a thing. because here's the word of God in Jeremiah 3 as I say it's just incredible how time after time the Lord will not give up praise his name the Lord will not give up in calling for you to come and bow at his feet I can see it there in verse 13 how he says only acknowledge thine iniquity and if you sit in this house tonight and you've never been saved Although we have been talking about the backslider most of the way through, yet you could be here tonight as one never saved. And here's the Lord setting down the condition in verse 13. This is the thing to do. This is the step to take. Even now, only acknowledge thine iniquity. You have to take the sinner's place. You have to get down of that high horse. And whatever it is you want to grumble about and say, this is my complaint, just put it all away. And you have to acknowledge your own wrongdoing. And you have to make a clean breast of all your sin. Only acknowledge your iniquity, the Lord says. And see verse 14 where we'll finish. Turn, O backsliding children, saith the Lord, for I am married. That brings us in where we were at the start. Remember that verse 1 that I told you about. It has such significance in regard to the whole chapter. How in verse 1 the Lord put the picture, well if that man's wife is unfaithful, and she runs away and gets married to another man, and then takes the high road of sin after that again, and all these years and all these incidents, untoward as they are, is there a chance of her coming back? And the scripture says here, no, oh no, there's no way back. The civil law forbids it. That is the law of Moses, the civil law Moses gave forbids such a thing. But the Lord is saying, why that can't happen in ordinary life? It can't happen. There's no way back. Yet here's the Lord saying, behold, the exhibition of my mercy, my compassion, I can step over those boundaries and I can make possible that which in all other circumstances you just couldn't look at. Couldn't be possible. And I marvel how in Jeremiah chapter 3, in spite of all these things, the Lord's still coming and saying, come back to me. He says, I'm married to you and you've run away. You've given your heart to another and time after time with this shameful act and that shameful act. And you remember what it said about the verses here. You can hardly read them. The language is so violent. And the Lord is using that picture to say, in spite of your wandering and your shame and your sin, there's a way back to God from the dark paths of sin. There's a door that has been opened that all may go in at Calvary's cross. It's where we begin when we come as a sinner to Jesus. And here, in terms of marriage, in verse 14, I like those words of the Lord. He says here, I will take you. I will take you, one of a city and two of a family, and I will bring you to Zion. Somebody says, I don't know how I stand with God, and I don't know if I were to call on the Lord tonight, I couldn't see him taking me in. But here's the Lord saying, oh, the wonder of it. Oh, the wonder of it! The Lord is saying right now, I will take you. I can't explain that. I certainly know what it means, and you know what it means. But that man or that woman sits back and says, in my sin I can't come. But the Lord is saying, I'll take you. I'll bring you to Zion. And then he says in verse 15, I'll give you. There's no end to the goodness of God. And the Lord will make it worth your while. I know that I could look in one part of this service or another, pick out this individual or that individual, and somebody could say, there was that time in my life when I did get away from God, and sadly, I lost the joy and I left the first love. And I didn't confess Christ any longer in the world. And the world began more and more to dominate in my life, and then there came that time when I quit with the devil and sin and got right with God, and the Lord has blessed me from that time on. May the Lord bless His word tonight to your heart as we bow in prayer tonight. Has the Lord been speaking to you? I wouldn't doubt it all, but in this past little while, the Lord has touched your heart and spoken to you in some way. Maybe tonight you've come to that point where you have to get things settled. You can't go on like this. You can't go on professing the Lord in your heart and not living the life, professing to be saved, yet running to the world. I'm not holding forth the word of life, no testimony. There has to be a change. Maybe you'd like to talk to me, any of the elders or a Christian friend. Don't hesitate to make the approach. Don't go away without the Lord. If you're not saved, you need to get right with God. It's time you left a far country like the prodigal. It's time that you came to your senses and trusted the Lord. Let's help you tonight from the book and show you clearly from the Word of God how to be saved. O Lord, abide with us now and grant that we may be kept under the shadow of thy wing. We pray for the work of God to be brought to completion. that conviction may produce the right kind of result, that the backslider will come through for God tonight, and the unsaved man or woman will look to Christ and be saved. Hear this, our prayer, in Jesus' name. Amen.