September 11, 2021 | 5:00PM | Bellevue Baptist Church

well good evening bellevue family it's so good to see you with us this evening our god is worthy of praise amen come on let's stand and sing to him i was lost but he bought me [Music] yes [Applause] [Music] in my father's house [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] you are for me [Applause] i am [Applause] i am us free [Music] [Applause] [Music] is [Music] of god [Music] [Applause] [Music] i am [Music] i am [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] yes i am [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] is [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] when the sun sets free is free indeed amen aren't you thankful for that tonight [Music] i can't see water's raging at my feet i can't feel the breath of those surrounding me i can't hear the sound of nations rising up we will not be overtaken we will not be overcome [Music] [Music] all got children singing out we will not be overtaken we will not be overcome [Music] the same power we've got worse jesus [Music] lives in us [Music] hope that his promises are true there is nothing we can do yes we know will [Music] is [Music] is [Music] and no is of darkness [Music] we stand here in victory [Music] us [Music] the same power that can cause [Music] lives [Music] amen amen you can be seated a wonderful song amen well hello and thanks for being with us uh tonight my name is jason and we're great great to have you in the building are very glad to have you in the building with us if you're a guest with us especially uh thanks for joining us if maybe you're online watching i actually just came from the online group talking to them and we had three countries and about 10 states represented before the service ever started so the people are watching from all over and we're excited to have you if you're a guest with us online or in the room we'd love for you to text the word guest to 901 901 so that we can follow up with you if you take just a few minutes to do that we would love for you to do that just so we can connect with you a little bit more so if your guest do that for us there's really only one announcement that i want to give you we had a great kickoff to things this past wednesday night with both our bellevue men and our bellevue women and what we're doing on wednesday nights with them and that's in full swing as well our our bellevue women get into tuesdays and wednesdays and online as well this week but we also this week start our men of memphis breakfast in bible study time that it starts this thursday so we would encourage all the men in the room and maybe if you're watching online as well to join us for middle memphis bible study six o'clock great breakfast actually it'll start a little bit before six you can start getting your breakfast and a full breakfast for you great time talking around your tables with some guys and then we get into some worship and then to the message so we encourage you to do this maybe you've never been before we would encourage you men to try this out and to be part of it it's a great time of fellowship on thursday mornings for sure so know that that's going on as well and then there's one other thing that i want to make you aware of that we want to celebrate and just thank the lord for uh this is the weekend 16 years ago that brother steve and miss donna officially began with us so 16 years let's give the lord a hand for that [Applause] so this is the verse that that came to mind and this is this is paul and timothy talking to the church at philippi but i believe the context fits this is what paul and timothy say to the church but i think this is true when i think about pastor i thank my god every time i remember you and all my prayers for all of you i always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now he's been so faithful in sharing the gospel and presenting the gospel being confident of this that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of christ jesus aren't you thankful we have a pastor who stayed true to the word he stayed true to the calling the lord's place on his life in ministry and to do that in the context of bellevue let's just thank the lord one more time for brother steve and miss donna i want us to pray together uh and as we do that i want to remind you you can give in a lot of different ways your tithes and offerings you can do that as you leave and receptacles in the hallways as well as online we encourage you to do that so let's pray let's thank the lord for all he's doing and then we'll continue to worship the music lord thank you for this time together that we have had to sing and give our praises to you already and lord we thank you for just a chance we have to open your word tonight and to hear from you from the book of james one more time lord we thank you for that lord thank you that you have given us a pastor and a pastor's wife that love you above anything else above anyone else or that they have been faithful to one another and they have been faithful to the call that you've placed on their lives thank you for a pastor that preaches the word that cares more what the bible says than what the world says that cares more about lord what you are calling us to do than it does that the world says we ought to do thank you god we don't take that for granted and thank you that we get to hear that word spoken again tonight lord we love you we praise you we thank you for the opportunity to worship you now in jesus name amen let's stand together let's just make this our prayer tonight [Music] of my heart [Music] thou my best heart by day [Music] bye [Music] me [Music] [Music] reaching [Music] empty praise [Music] [Music] [Applause] my treasures [Music] oh [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] oh [Music] me [Music] [Applause] [Music] may i reach heaven [Music] whatever still be my vision [Music] [Music] now [Music] [Music] see [Music] maybe i will give you every piece i hear you call i am available [Music] i say yes lord i [Music] here i am with open hands counting on your grace again and less of me and more of you i just wanna see [Music] yes [Music] i say yes [Music] let's declare to the lord that here we [Music] it are you can have it all here i am here i am you can have it all you here i [Music] here am am here i am [Music] [Applause] here i am [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] you yeah [Applause] [Music] for the one who gave me life nothing is a sacrifice [Music] i hear you [Music] i say yes lord i am a failure [Music] thank you jeff and thank all the singers and you know that concept about being available thank you brother greg i heard years ago a friend of mine tell a story about being on a mission project over in africa and they at the end of it the pastor the local pastor of the church there they met under a tree and they were passed in the offering plate and one of the members there one of the native guys didn't have anything to put in the offering so he took his shoes off put the offering plate down on the ground and stepped up into the plate and what he was saying was lord i don't have any money but i give you myself and i think that's what god wants god wants availability amen whatever whenever god i'll do it whatever you want 20 years ago today was a day that i don't think if you were alive at that time you'll forget it's when 9 11 took place back in the year 2000. i can remember receiving a phone call from our son who had been at college for one month and he said dad have you seen what's going on the television i said no it was like 8 8 30 in the morning so we turned on the television we couldn't believe what we were seeing because just four years before that we had been at the top of the twin towers we'd been on uh in new york and we went up there we were going to go to the brooklyn tabernacle at 11 o'clock but their service was full they said come back at our 3 30 service and so while we were between those services we went to the the twin towers there and we went to the top and i'll never forget that beautiful view and then to see that under attack but i wanted to say this to you um i don't think anybody fully understands why all of that happens obviously islam has a different worldview than we do and the people who did that obviously had their own reasons but i would say this to you why did god allow it why did god allow it i'll show you a verse that you know but think about it with me in light of 9 11. could we put second chronicles 7 14 up there do we have that okay if we don't i know it all right here it is if my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways then i will hear from heaven will forgive their sin and will heal their land you say well brother steve how does that apply let me read you the verse right before that all right we all probably have heard that verse from time to time but do you know verse 13 it says if i shut up the heavens so that there is no rain or if i command the locust to devour the land or if i sin pestilence do you know what pestilence is pandemic if i send pestilence among my people that's god saying that when his children are not doing what he wants he disciplines them god doesn't know anything about not spanking disobedient children god spanks us if you will he disciplines us when we don't do what we're supposed to be doing and he says if i shut up the heavens so that there is no rain that's drought if i command the locusts to devour the land if i take down their crops if i send pestilence sickness among my people then if my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways then i will hear from heaven forgive their sin heal their land you say but brother steve there were innocent people who were killed in that about three thousand i understand it the wages of sin brings death and i'm not saying that the people that died were the reason that we had 9 11 but i am saying this our nation is a wicked nation our nation is a sinful nation our nation is afloat on alcohol and drugs our nation abuses alcohol and drugs higher than they ever have our nation is more immoral sexually than ever before the lgbtq is just part of it it is also adultery and fornication and pornography is rampant especially now with cell phones among men i would say well over half of the men in the united states of america have been addicted to pornography at one time or another it is unbelievable what's going on not to mention the fact that every kind of non-belief is going on you can have people are walking away from the church saying we don't believe in god and the bible says the fool has said in his heart that there is no god now this is not the sermon by the way all right it's just talking about 9 11. so why should god give us his protection why should god if we're going to choose to be a sinful nation i'm not necessarily talking about the people in this room but i'm talking about people all around us where we live there are people living in every kind of sin you can imagine and they say it's okay i'll do what i want i don't have to go to church i don't have to love god i don't have to obey god i don't have to listen to the word of god i don't have to listen to the god of the word we have turned our back on god and i believe with all of my heart that in a lot of ways god's trying to give us a wake-up call and i do believe that 9 11 was a huge wake-up call i believe it was god saying you need to wake up you're not where you need to be and so could we just stop before i preach and pray if i just made you upset i don't know what to say to you you say you're not patriotic i want to say this to you i believe that if you love your country you say something about it if it's sick it needs to be healed amen and our nation is sick spiritually sick we need healing so let's pray right now could we father we pray for our nation oh god in heaven we don't pray as self-righteous like everybody else is the problem and not us lord god it's like the old song it's me standing in the need of prayer lord god if we who are called by your name christians will humble ourselves and pray and seek your face and turn from our wicked ways god forgive me for my sin and may all of us say that to you lord forgive us for our sins help us to turn from our wicked ways repent dear god and turn from our wicked ways and lord god will humble ourselves not be walking in pride and dear god we will cry out to you asking you showing that we know that we need forgiveness dear god father i pray that you would send it lord i know that you can heal i know that you can heal not only people but you can heal nations i know lord that you could bring us back together we're so divided racially we're so divided politically we're so divided economically we're so divided in so many ways dear god and i know that the devil is the great divider but i know that you are the great unifier but you will not unify you will not reconcile until we repent so god please if it's depending on anybody in this room let us repent of our sins right now not continuing our sins not continuing to live selfish lives not continuing to live prayerless lives not continuing to live immoral lives lord not continue to living stingy lives thinking only about ourselves and not other people god have mercy on us in your wrath remember mercy we pray this for your glory in jesus name and if you agree with that say amen amen all right turn please if you will to the last can you believe it the last sermon in the book of james at least this go around we may pull it out down the road a few years later but i have enjoyed being in james's 20th sermon and we're in james chapter 5 verses 19 and 20. just go to the end of the book and you will find it all right i want to ask you you don't have to answer out loud can a born-again christian commit sin can a true born-again christian commit grievous sins i'm talking about can a christian get in such a rage that they kill someone they murder someone or they commit as i talked about it a while ago adultery or fornication or homosexuality or some other sexual sins and by the way all of those are sexual sins any type of sexual activity before marriage is fornication and it is sinful any kind of extra marital sexual activity that's adultery it is wicked it is sinful and any kind of same-sex sexual activity is sinful against god all of it there's no excuse nobody gets a bye it's sin in god's eyes and so can a christian ever commit one of those sins can a christian tell a lie can a christian slander someone can a christian be divisive in the body of christ in a local church can a christian get hooked on drugs can a christian become an alcoholic can a christian embezzle and steal money i'm not talking about that that's your lifestyle i'm saying can that happen once in a while in a christian's life some say if a person commits a sin like this once in a while that it's indicative of the fact that they're not really saved is that true or can christians commit these kind of sins what about some of the people in the bible what about some of the most holy people in the bible what about noah well you remember noah at that time the most righteous man on the earth what happened as soon as he got off of the ark not long after he got drunk it's in your bible he got drunk that's a sin what about abraham the father of the faith that lied he lied said that his wife was his sister he did it twice you know after once you ought to get over that amen did it twice and one time the man took her into his home to be one of his wives it's unbelievable moses had a hot temper he struggled with anger and anger is sin david committed adultery with a woman and then had her husband murdered that's the guy that the bible says was a man after god's own heart yet he committed adultery and murder two of the ten commandments he broke elijah gave in to the sins of fear and discouragement you say now fear is not a sin yes it is it's the opposite of faith and it is sin it is sin not to trust in god is sin and staying discouraged all the time that's not of god the bible talks about be encouraged and so when you're discouraged and you allow that and it just keeps on and on and on you let it in you don't fight it what is that when you don't obey god it's sin it doesn't mean if you ever get discouraged that that's a sin but if you let it stay in your life if you let fear stay in your life fear can come upon you a spirit of fear but you're to rebuke it and walk in faith not by sight peter denied that even knew jesus christ is that not a sin sure it is paul was harsh and mean spirited toward john mark said we don't want you here if you're going to quit your quitter you go on we don't want you he kicked mark out and mark winds up writing the first gospel that was ever written because peter took him in and so did barnabas i just came back from vermont and while we were up there went over to massachusetts to the birthplace of the burial place of dl moody and one of his greatest friends was the famous preacher charles hadden spurgeon in england moody was a great revivalist in the last part of the 1800s and he had he preached in spurgeon's church and all over england revivals everywhere else but both he and charles spurgeon were about five nine and they weighed over 300 pounds so they were obese which is a sin now let me ask you how does god use people like that fact is any christian by the way the founder of my seminary was divorced and some people think that divorced people don't have any business in the ministry nobody out there i could list all of our names i put mine up there and tell you i don't have it all together how many of you don't have it all together please raise your hand all right so can god use us and what do we do when people mess up do we just kick them to the curb do we just throw them away that's not what god does aren't you glad any christian i'm going to say something that some of you may really be up may you say i've already been upset well this one's really going to upset some of you all right so just hang on any christian in this room can commit any sin there is in the bible except the unpardonable sin that's the only one you can't you can't do it you can't not believe in god for salvation if you've already believed in jesus for salvation that's the unpardonable sin but any other sin potentially you can do it you say i don't i don't like that that offends me i'm not trying to offend you i'm just trying to tell you what the bible says true christians can commit any sin out there but they cannot enjoy it long because the holy spirit in them will eat them alive if you he will convict you and he will absolutely wear you out you can't enjoy it very long you'll either repent or god will discipline you and if he has to he will discipline you severely i i really want to ask how many of you have been spanked by god but i want to say this to you that would be everybody in the room that's a christian if you're a christian somewhere along the way you disobeyed god and you were stubborn about it and you wouldn't repent and god spanked you he said i've never heard anybody talk about that well it's in the bible so what do we do as christians what do we do when a fellow christian sins what do we do how are we to treat them are we to treat them like a rebel who needs to be beaten and thrown in jail is that how we treat a person who's a christian who sins or should we treat them like someone who is in trouble who needs desperately to be rescued i believe we need to treat them like someone who's in trouble and needs to be rescued i want to talk to you tonight about reclaiming a backslider look at the verses there in fact there's just two verses let's read it out loud would you read it with me please off the screen now i know we've got these here we go my brethren if any among you strays from the truth and one turns him back let him know that he who turns a sinner from the heir of his way will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins let's pray father open our eyes that we may behold wonderful things from your law in jesus name amen first of all let me share with you the backslider's problem is rebellion rebellion's not a good thing in the bible look at verse 19 my brethren if any among you notice he's talking to christians if any among you strays from the truth my brethren if you stray if you are backslidden if you will if any among you strays from the truth he's addressing christians who had strayed away play not oh is the word to stray you can get the word they're playing they're acting like they're christians they are christians but they're not doing right it's the same word when it says to wander away to be misled that's what it means to stray to wander away to be misled to deceive yourself it's the same word jesus used in matthew 18 verse 12 where he talked about there were a hundred sheep and one of them wandered away it's straight remember that and jesus said that the shepherd went after the one and left the 99 behind well the one that wandered away that's the word right here for the strength people straying from the truth it's also the same word that was used in matthew 24 verse 4 when jesus said answered and said to them see to it that no one misleads you that no one leads you astray. he's talking about the second coming at that time it's also used in revelation 2 20 to refer to the christians at the church of thyatira who had been led astray by a woman that john referred to she was so wicked she was like a modern-day jezebel and jezebel had led the christians astray that's the word so christians can stray from the truth so what does that mean well if you're going to take some notes there i think this is in your notes christians can rebel against the truth of the son of god they can rebel against the truth of the son of god the first thing that goes out the window when a believer is spiritually misled is the concept of who jesus christ is a backslider even not knowing it rebels against the fact that jesus christ is not only his savior but is also his lord and so he starts to rebel against jesus who is jesus i'll tell you who he is he is the eternal divine virgin born sinless sacrificial bodily resurrected ascended reigning sovereignly reigning heaven preparing interceding praying soon coming son of god there is nobody like jesus nobody and when you rebel in sin you rebel against the son of god you rebel against the one who said in john 14 6 i am the way i am the truth i am the life no one comes to the father but through me you rebel against the one that the bible talks about in ephesians 4 21 since you've heard about jesus and have learned the truth that comes from him you rebel against the truth of jesus christ and the son of god you also rebel against the truth of the word of god when you stray away as a christian when you backslide when you are a christian and you're living in sin when you disobey god whatever you want to call it you rebel against the truth of the word of god you no longer act like the bible is the word of god you no longer longer submit yourself to the word of god you no longer sanctify become a holy person as you live in the word of god and according to the word of god you start to question the word of god and you start to be like other people saying it's not really my authority for life and for all that i am supposed to do in the faith oh no it's an irrelevant book and and i'm just going to treat it like any other book when you start doing that you start to backslide and get away from god you dishonor the word of god the bible says jesus said as he prayed in john 17 17 i read this this past week in my quiet time sanctify that is set them apart unto holiness in truth your word is truth the bible is truth ii timothy 2 15 be diligent to present yourself approved to god as a workman who does not need to be ashamed accurately handling the word of truth a straying christian will come against the truth of the bible a lot of times i say i don't believe god created the world i believe that's all myth science doesn't add up that stuff doesn't add up with science and they start to deny listen if you deny the first thing the bible says then you can deny anything else the bible says if you deny that what the bible says in the beginning god created the heavens and the earth if you deny that then you can deny anything but if you believe that you can believe anything the bible says so yes that's what rebels do that's what backsliders do that's what people who stray do they question the word of god they rebel against the truth of the word of god and then they also rebel against the truth of the gospel of god they don't believe that jesus can really save people they don't believe that jesus can really change people's life they reject the truth of scripture they reject the truth that man is a sinner do you hey look at me look at me do you realize there are churches all over memphis where you will never hear that people are sinners did you know that did you know that there are plenty of cr churches out there that will never preach that all have sinned and come short of the glory of god that the wages of sin is death and they they say we're doing it because we're being kind i want to say this to you if you've got cancer is it kind for the doctor not to tell you that you have cancer if you've got a cancer that's eating you alive and they just say well you know i i just don't want to say the word cancer so i say to my patients well you're you're doing okay but you could be doing better you know that's just not right if somebody is terminally ill or if they're really in a bad way of being they need somebody to help them and so when a preacher gets up and said this is wrong this is right this is sin this is righteousness here's what the bible says i want to say this to you that's not bad that's good truth is good and the bible says that we're all sinners that need a savior but we can't save ourselves so the gospel is this the good news is this when we couldn't get to god god came down to us in the person of jesus christ born of a virgin free from a sinful nature tempted in always like we are never gave into temptation never once sinned went to the cross because he was sinless the only one ever to be sinless the second adam if you will that's what paul called him the second adam he went to the cross died in your place paid the penalty for your sin until he stayed stayed on there until he said to tetelestai it is finished paid in full and the bible says that the curtain that had always kept people out of the holy of holies was torn from the top to the bottom why because man didn't tear it if he torn it it would be from the bottom to the top but god tore it from the top to the bottom so that we could come in now we don't have to go through a pope we don't have to go through any priest we go to god through the lord jesus christ because of his shed blood and his perfect righteousness and his resurrection and we go right into the holy of holies through jesus christ he can forgive all of our sins if we'll repent of our sins turn from our sins and believe that jesus died for us on the cross and receive him as our lord and savior that's the good news that's the gospel and there is nothing else like it because the bible says when we receive christ we never lose our salvation we start growing in grace and we're always held in the hands of our god it's the gospel of truth galatians 2 5 paul said but we did not yield in subjection to them even for an hour so that the truth of the gospel would remain with you ephesians 1 13 in him in christ you also after listening to the message of truth the gospel of your salvation the message of truth the gospel of your salvation having also believed you were sealed in him with the holy spirit of promise colossians 1 5 and 6 because of the hope laid up for you in heaven of which you previously heard in the word of truth the gospel the gospel which has come to you just as in all the world also it is constantly bearing fruit and increasing even as it has been doing in you also since the day you heard of it and understood the grace in truth oh god has given us the word of truth but when you backslide you rebel against the truth of the gospel and by the way do you know what the bible says about rebellion do you know what the i'm going to tell you why it's so wrong for your parents if you're out there and you're doing this to let your children pop off back at you and not do something about it at least put them in time out all right i mean for them to pop off to you and just talk to you any way they want to i don't care if they're five or fifteen there ought to be a repercussion on that there ought to be a punishment for that why is that here's what the bible says about rebellion the sin of rebellion look at it first samuel 15 23 read it with me off the screen would you please rebellion is as the sin of divination you know what that word for divination is you ready witchcraft witchcraft witchcraft is the most evil anti-god movement in the bible it is like divination it is like diviners it is like witchcraft it's like people who worship satan that's exactly what he's talking about and when you're rebellious you know what he's saying you're never more like the devil than when you rebel against the authority of god do you hear what god is saying god is saying in his bible that we when you backslide the real problem is rebellion but praise god god wants to reclaim every backslider every rebellious person amen secondly the church's responsibility is rescue the backslider's problem is rebellion but the churches responsibility is to rescue to rescue look at verse 19. my brethren if any among you strays from the truth and one turns him back a christian goes after the one who has strayed that's what he's talking about let him know that he who turns a sinner from the air of his way will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sin there's a lot in this verse verse 19 james referred to an obedient christian turning back a strained christian who had entered into a state of rebellion and backsliding now all of us know christians at times that will get away from the lord and here's what we say is well i'll pray for them well that's great but you need to do more than pray you need to go in after them in love and say hey can i talk to you hey i love you too much to leave you out like this verse 20 james also said that any christian who helped restore somebody that strayed from the faith somebody who is a backslider literally turns him from the error of his way verse 20 is talking about the backslider he's talking about a sinner and the error he had sinned by allowing error to come into his way that's a christian now and james was saying the primary responsibility of the christian brethren towards sinful christian backsliders is to rescue them you're not to malign them you're not to avoid them you're not to forget them you're not to castigate them or dismiss them you are to rescue them i've told you many stories about my hometown of dyersburg let me tell you another one when i was growing up we went to the public swimming pool okina pool hoquina pool there it is and when i see that i know what that used to look like that's only got one diving board there on the left that's where i learned to swim that part all the way around is the shallow part but out there where those two people are swimming is 12 feet deep all right and so they used to have on this end a medium board over where that guy is up on that seat up there that lifeguard that was the small diving board on this end no i'm sorry i got it wrong on that side was the small one on the far end was the medium one and on this end was the high one well i went out there and i was about five or six years old and guess which one i went to the high one i'd already had my beginner swimming lessons i knew i could do it so i got up there and my brother was egging me on saying you can't jump you can't jump well that made me want to do it even more how many of you know sometimes speaking people can lead you astray amen even your brother all right so put that back up there i want to i'm enjoying looking at that picture all right not the back of my head there you go all right so i'm at this this end down here and i'm on the top and they're saying jump jump jump jump well you know even a five or six year old kid can't resist that and so i jumped hit the water and didn't come up for a while finally got up realized i'm in trouble i'm in the deep end and i don't know what i'm doing and i was i'd go down then i'd come up i'd go down and then i'd come up and i knew i was in serious trouble i want to ask you what did i need right then what did i need come on tell me i needed a rescue didn't i i didn't need somebody to say you should have known not to do that i didn't need a lecture i needed a lifeguard i needed a a lifeguard i needed somebody to jump in there and grab me and pull me out i didn't need a sermon on it i needed somebody to save me all right well i want to say this to you it was a really good feeling that day when i felt this lifeguard grabbed me and said i got you son i got you never reprimanded me took me all the way to the side and i never did that again but i want to say this to you isn't that what jesus did for us when we were in our sins sinking i was sinking deep in sin far from the peaceful shore very deeply stained within sinking to rise no more then the master of the sea heard my despairing cry from the waters lifted me now safe am i love lifted me love lifted me when nothing else could help love lifted me and look at me look at me that's what you and i are supposed to do with backsliding christians we're not supposed to lecture them we're not supposed to beat them up we're not supposed to reprimand them we are to rescue them we're not supposed to be ugly to them we're to be kind and compassionate how many of you want mercy and grace anybody out there want mercy and grace then what do you have to do you have to what give it blessed are the merciful jesus said for they shall receive what mercy mercy if you want it give it quit looking at christians who are living in sin as people to go over and beat up with your words but look at them as people who need to be rescued and pulled out of the maori clay yes lovingly confront we'll talk about that momentarily but don't lecture them don't be ugly to them let me suggest a course of action how do we pull people out how do we rescue people when they stray first of all we need to pray for backsliders you got to pray i want to say this to you if you don't do anything else pray for them but you need to do more than that but you can't do more than that until you do that it all starts with prayer you got to get god in on it all right the way you get god in on things is to talk to him and to pray and i'm telling you it your prayers make a difference the second thing is this you must lovingly confront a backslider and by the way look at me you don't do this publicly you do it privately if you've got something to say to somebody go to them in private don't embarrass them go to them in private and lovingly say it like the bible says in matthew 18 jesus said it and then treat them with gentleness approach them with humility remember whatever they've done you're capable of doing also treat them with love and respect go to them with an olive branch of peace offer them gentle reconciliation not a rod of wrath now listen you must lovingly speak the truth to backsliders if you're going to an alcoholic you have to lovingly say look god doesn't want you getting drunk drunkenness is a sin and if they bring up gluttony say yeah i get it but drunkenness is what you're dealing with and you can't do this and besides that you know if you're driving or something like that you know if if you're overweight and you're driving that's one thing but if you're drunk and driving that's a lot of another thing okay so talk to them and and be kind to them but speak the truth and then we must not condone the sins of the black backsliders if you know someone who is a homosexual or a lesbian you need to lovingly talk to them about their lifestyle and say to them i love you but this does not fit in the word of god if you know somebody that is cohabitating together and they're committing fornication you go to them and say you either need to get married or one of you needs to move out say it in love but say it a lot of it's tone all right but you need to lovingly address the issue or you're never going to get anywhere don't condone the sin don't gloss over their sin don't be flippant and non-chalant about their sin god is not flippant about sin and here's a big deal don't give up on backsliders sometimes the bible says as a dog returns to its vomit so is a fool who repeats his folly and sometimes a person will get in their sin and they they're just like they just keep repeating it and you just want to say you know what three strikes you're out well aren't you grateful that that's not the way it is with jesus amen we need to go to them and say look i'm sticking with you for the long haul and i'm telling you you can't keep doing this let's get some accountability let's figure out let's don't keep doing the same thing and expect different results let's talk about this so just keep loving them keep loving them and working with them if we're going to reclaim backsliders our responsibility is rescue reclaiming a backslider the problem is rebellion our responsibility to the church is the rest is to rescue them the ultimate goal is restoration restoration verses 19 and 20. my brethren if any among you strays from the truth and one turns him back let him know that he who turns a sinner from the air of his way now watch this we'll save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins let me unpack that and then i want to share with you a song that to me fits this text almost to a t the first benefit is for the backslider the person uh the then the then the person who helps that person repent also gets a benefit that is he knows that he has saved this person's soul from death that doesn't mean he saved their soul from hell because there are these are christians who backslide but what he's saying there is this he's not referring to eternal death in hell saving his soul from death he's referring to physical death now i want to say something that may shock some of you but somebody ought to write a book on how many people god killed in the bible it's amazing he said what are you talking about there are people that sinned so bad for so long god finally just took their lives let me give you two examples aaron's two sons nadab and abihu in leviticus 10. they offered strange unauthorized fire before the lord they offered an offering that god didn't didn't want them to and god was so offended he killed them and then ananias and sapphira lied to the holy spirit in acts chapter 5 and god took their lives and what he's saying here is when a backslider is turned he avoids committing a sin and death go read in the bible first john 5 16 and 5 17 there is a sin unto death you can keep on sin and you can cross god's line and god will finally say to you christian look i love you i've given you time to repent but it's obvious you're not going to do it so i'm going to bring you on home before you continue to drag my name through the mud and people are slandering me because of your sin i love you child but i'm taking you home now god sometimes will take someone's life now the good thing is when god does restore you and you avoid the sin unto death there are at least four things that happen and we'll be through with this and i want to share that song i'm not going to sing it by the way but uh the person that wrote it is first of all god removes your sin as far as the east is from the west one of my favorite verses in the bible psalm 103 verse 12. let's read it would you read it with me off the screen here we go as far as the east is from the west so far as he removed our transgressions from us that's just the bible way of saying your sin is gone once you repent once you ask god to forgive you once you truly repent in your heart and say god i'm sorry i can't promise you i'll never do it again but god i don't want to i'm so sick of this oh god forgive me once you do that and you repent it's gone as far as the east is let me see that's west as far as the east is from the west that's as far as it can be god removes your sin and then also he cast her sins behind his back he cast our sins behind him he doesn't look at it all the time isaiah 38 17 lo for my own welfare i had great bitterness it is you who has kept my soul from the pit of god of nothingness for you have cast all my sins behind your back god doesn't look at your sins anymore he chooses to look at you in forgiveness he no longer remembers our sin i think i just messed up did i read isaiah 43 25 anyway all right let's read that okay here it is here it is isaiah 43 25 i didn't mess up good i god says even i am the one who wipes out your transgression from my own sin and i will not remember your sin that doesn't mean god has holy amnesia it does mean though that he forgets your sins by erasing it doesn't mean he forgets your sin by erasing it from his memory but he for he forgets your sin in the sense that he no longer holds your sin against you that's a beautiful thought he says to telesty it's finished paid in full i sovereignly erase your sin it's been taken off the list the blood of jesus has washed it away and then i love this one of my favorite verses in the bible he cast our sin at the depths of the sea oh i love that book of micah chapter 7 verses 18 and 19 who is a god like you who pardons iniquity passes over the rebellious act of the remnant of his possession he does not retain god does not retain his anger forever because he delights in unchanging love he will again have compassion on us he will tread our iniquities under foot yes you o lord will cast all their sins into the depths of the sea i heard one preacher say he throws it into the sea of forgetfulness and puts up a sign that says no fishing no fishing in other words don't come back for it god's put it in the depth of the sea there are people in this room may have been years ago but it's been since you've known the lord and you've committed a sin and the devil has beaten you up with that you repented of it you turned from it you asked god to forgive you and the devil has beaten the tar out of you for decades some of you i want to say this to you if you truly repented it's gone it's gone it's gone but there are some of you right now listening to me and you've got something in your life that you know is not right with god i don't have to point it out you've been thinking about it during the whole sermon some of you right now know that you're not living for the lord you know that it's time for you to repent it's time for you on a saturday night to turn from that and say enough is enough i am not going to live in this anymore god forgive me and once you repent and ask him to forgive you it's gone it's gone i'm talking to christians i'm not talking to lost people we'll get to you lost people in just a moment i'm talking to christians with unconfessed sin in your life some of you have looked at pornography in the last 24 hours and that is sin some of you have let thoughts in your mind just stay in there and not repenting of them and that if they're sinful thoughts is sinfulness and you need to repent some of you are harboring anger and hate some of you are jealous some of you have said some things and you're so proud and arrogant you know sin will get you into trouble and pride will keep you there some of you have sinned with your speech and you've slandered someone and you're too proud to say i am sorry forgive me would you just let god have his way in your life right now would you repent of your sin right now could we just bow our heads just for a moment i'm talking to christians would you just right now say lord forgive me for this sin in my life and name it to god repent of it turn from it ask god to forgive you he will reclaim that surrendered ground say god i take back what the devil has stolen from me restore me lord god he will you don't want to be spanked by god he's warning you through a sermon right now to repent i'll say this now i don't know of anybody in the room but if you're living together and you're not married you need to go home and one of you needs to move out tonight that's what repent means it means to change to change whatever it might be ask god to forgive you and he will and for those of you who are constantly beaten up by the devil with condemnation that's not god that's not what i'm talking about if you've repented it's gone and i want us all to listen to this song it's one of my favorite songs written by a guy named morgan cryer and the title of it is simply what sin just bow your heads or if you'd like to look at the screen see the words as he's singing that's fine i'm going to pray and then i'm going to ask them to play that and then we'll have our invitation father bless this song and use it for your glory in jesus name amen [Music] it happened so long ago i cried out for mercy back then i played the lord of jesus begged him to forgive my sin but i still can't forget it won't go away so i whipped again lord wash my sin but this is in what's in well that's as far away as the easties [Music] you confessed buried in the sea of forgetfulness heaviest thing you'll carry is [Music] our god is slow to anger quick to forgive our sins [Music] don't bring them up [Music] that's as far away as the east is [Music] forgetfulness ah [Music] deliver me from my accusing memory nothing makes me weak this way when i hear yourself [Music] from the west [Music] [Applause] [Music] you can [Music] yes oh [Music] let's bow our heads let's buy our heads just for a moment if you're a christian here tonight and you're living in sin i lovingly invite you to repent if you're rebelling against the lord that's not going to work out for you he's going to lovingly discipline you until you either repent or else if you're his child he's not going to let you get away with sin so i'm asking you tonight to repent to turn from it repent means not only to admit it and forget it but it means to quit it it means to stop and i'm saying to you take whatever steps necessary to stop it whatever it takes stop it stop the sin don't continue to repeat your folly ask god to forgive you i might be talking to an alcoholic and you've tried before to quit do whatever you have to do take medicine accountability groups whatever you have to do but stop drinking drug addict pornography added whatever it might be maybe you tell lies maybe you are mean you're angry all the time you got to stop you got to grow in grace you got to ask god to forgive you and you got to repent which means admit it commit it but quit it so ask him right now to do that for you and while you're praying those of you who don't know jesus would you please pray and receive christ to come into your life right now pray something like this dear lord jesus thank you that you love me i'm a sinner i can't save myself i repent of my sin i turn from my sin i turn to you i believe that you died on the cross paid the penalty for my sin i believe you rose from the dead and you're alive come into my life and save me right now lord jesus and thank you that i'm saved right now and for those of you who are christians and you're trying to turn you say i don't really know what to say brother steve let me lead you christians in a prayer of repentance this doesn't mean you're getting saved again it means though that you're turning from your sin just say lord you know the sin that i'm guilty of and just name it to him he knows but name it to him just tell him right now i'm sorry i repent i don't want to live like this i turn from it i pray that if it's a stronghold that you would deliver me from it if it's something in my family that you take it out of my family let it end in me god give me victory over this by the blood of jesus christ the name of jesus christ the word of god in the spirit of god god give me victory i pray help me to walk in obedience pull me out of the mighty clay lord rescue me lord set my feet on a rock help me to live for you for the rest of my life help me oh god forgive me in jesus name amen let's all stand up i've asked them to sing a specific song tonight i know the lord wants us to sing this song and i know that there's hope in this song i want to say this to you if you felt lack of hope in this room tonight that's not what we're offering we're offering forgiveness from the lord hope but there's only hope when you repent you can't keep doing the same thing and expect different results you've got to turn from your sin you've got to turn to the only one that can forgive your sin and that's jesus and when we sing this song i'm just telling you it's exactly what god is saying to you exactly it's just like god's opening his mouth and talking to you out of this song so you respond however the lord if you've been saved today come and talk to us about that if you want to come and pray with somebody about some stronghold you're dealing with come if you want to join the church if you want to come for baptism whatever the lord wants you to do you come pastors come very quickly and be ready so they'll be you'll be here when they come i'm going to pray one more time then we'll sing you come father bless this time use it for your glory and let people do the will of god even now in jesus name amen let's all sing this out let's sing this out to the lord come out of sadness from wherever you've been brokenhearted [Music] has no sorrow so lay down your birds lay down your shame all who are broken [Music] lift up your face [Music] not too far so lay down your heart and lay down your heart come as you are [Music] you

Channel: Bellevue Baptist Church

Views: 1,395

Keywords: reclaiming a backslider, book of James, Bellevue Baptist Church, Pastor Steve Gaines, Memphis churches, Tennessee churches, online church, digital ministry, church service, Sunday worship, echurch, Bellvue, Steve Gains, Bellevue livestream, Bellevue live stream, live worship service, worship service, baptist church service, bible teaching, Sunday sermon, church live stream, pastor gaines sermons, Bellevue sermons, Steve Gaines sermons, gains sermons

Id: XHjptBa-4EQ

Length: 92min 54sec (5574 seconds)

Published: Sat Sep 11 2021