The Lifestyle of a Backslider
Mk. 14:54; 2 Pe. 2:20-22
What does it mean to backslide? Backsliding in scripture is compared to adultery. See Jer. 3:6-10.
• A person backslides when they fall away, and gradually abandon the faith and practice of religion they once professed.
• It is a failure to maintain a high state of morality and to drop to a lower state.
• Backsliding can happen to any believer who allows sin and unbelief to change their affinity, or affection for God and the things of God.
As we’ve read in Jeremiah, backsliding is considered ‘spiritual adultery.’ Unlike illicit relations between a man and woman, ‘spiritual adultery’, centers on the illicit relationship a child of God has with the world. We are told that to be friends with the world is to be an enemy to God. You cannot be a partaker of Christ and participate in the worlds sins.
• “For ye are the temple of the living God; as God has said, I will dwell in them and walk in them and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Wherefore come out from amongst them and be separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing and I will receive you and be a Father unto you and you shall be my sons and daughters saith the Lord almighty.”
A survey of the NT reveals that those who are backsliders and adulterers seek after signs:
• Even though the Lord had just performed a miracle and filled their bellies with fish and bread, the multitude still wanted a sign.
• Jesus called them hypocrites. He said you can tell when the weather will be fair, but you cannot discern the signs of the times. “But unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and the Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven.”
o Jesus would later say, as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the earth.
The only sign God gives to backsliders is the cross. He says return to your first love.
C. S Lewis puts it this way: A wrong sum can be put right, but only by going back till you find error and working it afresh from that point, never by simply going on.
Why do you glory in the valley, saith the Lord? Backsliders find false peace in the valley of death instead of walking in the light.
Peter, who now stands as a giant of the faith, and a father of the Church teaches us that even the strongest saint can sin. He walked with the Lord, ministered with the Lord, and was given the keys to the kingdom to bind and to loose, but he himself lost his standing in the Lord, backslid and needed recovery and restoration. He betrayed the Lord. Note what Peter writes in verse 20 (read):
I. Backsliders are Proud
a. We are responsible for our own spiritual welfare and if we allow ourselves to be led astray we will pay a high price.
b. In fact Peter writes that if we have tasted freedom and then allow ourselves to be entangled again with the yoke of bondage our condition will be worst than the time when we didn’t know Christ.
i. Christ tells us that we must bind the strong man, and evict him if we are to live clean lives. Further, we must allow the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts so that he (Satan) does not return with seven other devils, hence being worst off than before.
ii. Jesus asked, “How can Satan Cast out Satan?” You cannot deliver yourself fighting with sin, and living in sin. You put on the armor of righteousness and serve God at cost.
c. Peter in verse 20 recognized that pride is the first step backward because humility is the first step forward into the kingdom.
d. It was pride that led Peter to say “Lord I will never deny you.” Pr. 16:18: “Pride goes before destruction and a haughty spirit before stumbling.”
i. Let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall.
ii. Read verses 21-22.
II. Backsliders are Lazy
a. In Mk. 14:32-42 Peter was told to “keep watch.” But he kept falling asleep.
b. It was his lack of diligence that left him unprepared when the time of temptation came upon him. And we too can backslide when we fail to watch as well as pray.
i. Lk. 21:34 states: “Be on guard that your hearts may not be weighted down with dissipation and drunkenness and worries of life, and that day come on you suddenly like a trap.”
ii. In other words don’t let circumstances fill you up with doubt, worry, anger and bitterness giving you a headache like one who is drunk with wine.
iii. He becomes poor who works with a lazy hand but the hand of the diligent brings wealth.
III. Backsliders are Cowards
a. When they arrested the Lord, Peter is Mark 14:54 followed the Lord at a distance.
b. As long as Jesus was popular Peter was in the mix, but when the Lord was a wanted man, suffered humiliation, Peter distanced himself from the Lord.
c. We too are like Peter when our relationship with Christ leads to persecution.
d. Backsliders are cowards because they are ashamed to be recognized as Christians.
i. Don’t want others to see them carrying a Bible.
ii. Backsliders don’t want others to see them giving thanks or praying.
iii. But the Lord said if you are ashamed Him He will be ashamed of you.
IV. Backsliders are Worldly
a. Mark tells us that Peter warmed himself by the fire.
i. When we are ashamed of Christ it becomes easier and easier to mingle with the crowd.
1. The get high crowd.
2. The party crowd.
3. The gambling crowd.
b. But one cannot be comforted by the fire of the world and not get burned.
i. Pr. 6:27 states: Can a man take fire in h/her bosom and his clothes not be burned? We cannot flirt with the world and walk away untouched.
ii. 1 Cor. 15:33 states: Be not deceived: Bad company corrupts good morals. Who are you hanging with?
Finally:
V. Backsliders are in Denial
a. Away from Christ, at comfort in the world, Peter has denied his Lord. Peter denied the Lord three times, after allthe Lord had done for Him.
b. We may never deny the Lord verbally, but we can deny Him by our actions.
c. We are called to worship Him but make excuses why we cannot.
d. We are called to serve Him but will hardly do anything.
e. We are called to stand by His side and suffer like a good soldier but flee for worldly comforts.
i. Luke tells us that the Lord looked at Peter when He denied him the third time and Peter wept bitterly.
ii. Can you imagine the sorrow in the Lords eyes?
iii. What type of person does the Lord see when He looks at you. Does it break His heart?
But I’m glad that’s not how the story ends. The Lord once He was resurrected asked Peter, do you love Me. If you love the Lord, serve Him with gladness.
When David sinned with Bathsheba, He cried “Cast me not away from thy Presence; and take not thy Holy Spirit from Me. (Elaborate)
The Lord said, Return you backsliding child, and I will heal you.
He said, turn toward me O backsliding children for I am married to you.
During the Lord’s final prophetic sermon on the Mount Olives in Matthew 24:24, He Himself declared that “there shall arise false Christs and false prophets, and will do great signs and wonders; so as to mislead, if possible, even the elect." And unless those days had been cut short, no life would have been saved. We may not easily admit it, but we are all subject to deception.
God wants to give His people another touch. He wants to give the Saints a fresh anointing. God wants to give His children the faith needed to rediscover the joy of the Lord. Heb. 10:38, tells us that my righteous one shall live by faith, and if he shrinks back MY soul has no pleasure in Him. So today, Christ is God’s last Word to man, and God’s last word to you, and He demands an answer. Choose you this day whom you will serve, but as for me and my house we’re going to serve to the Lord.
