Backsliding is not losing one’s salvation according to John 5:24. It is breaking fellowship with God, it is becoming at ease in the things of God. It can be out of Church or in Church.
A backslider is a saved person who falls backwards into sin. We have the examples of Noah, Abraham, Peter, Lot, and David.
Judas was not a backslider for he was lost. A lost sinner cannot be a backslider. You have to go somewhere before you can slide back.
Some stay backsliden longer than others. For Peter, it was a matter of days, for David, it was a matter of months, but for Lot, it was a matter of years.
Most church members live so far below the standard that you'd have to backslide to be in fellowship! - Vance Havner
I-CONSIDER THE CAUSE OF BACKSLIDING:
(It is real, it happens every day, but why does it happen?)
A-One Cause is the Lust of the Flesh:
Romans 7:18 For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but [how] to perform that which is good I find not.
1)Paul says there is a war going on in us for our loyalty; between the flesh and the Spirit. Someone has said who wins? Another has said, the one we feed the most.
2)Brother Craig Larson gives a testimony as a kid, he saw a movie in which some shipwrecked men are left drifting aimlessly on the ocean in a lifeboat. As the days pass under the scorching sun, their rations of food and fresh water give out. The men grow deliriously thirsty. One night, while the others are asleep, one man ignores all previous warnings and gulps down some salt water. He quickly dies.
Ocean water contains seven times more salt than the human body can safely ingest. Drinking it, a person dehydrates because the kidneys demand extra water to flush the overload of salt. The more salt water someone drinks, the thirstier he gets. He actually dies of thirst.
When we lust, we become like this man. We thirst desperately for something that looks like what we want. We don't realize, however, that it is precisely the opposite of what we really need. In fact, it can kill us.
B-One Cause is the Light Hearted love for Jesus
Revelation 2:4 Nevertheless I have [somewhat] against thee, because thou hast left thy first love.
1)There is the story of the man and woman riding down the road and meeting a car in which a young married couple were siting close together. The woman said, why don’t we sit close like that anymore. The man replied, who has moved?
2)Who has moved in many Christians Lives? It is not God, for He has loved us with a everlasting love. Many Christians are in a backsliden state because they have left Jesus.
3)Dick Halverson, the Chaplain of the Senate, notes:
In the beginning the church was a fellowship of men and women centering on the living Christ. Then the church moved to Greece where it became a philosophy. Then it moved to Rome where it became an institution. Next, it moved to Europe where it became a culture. And, finally, it moved to America where it became an enterprise.
C-One Cause is the Love of the world:
James 4:4 Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.
1)Lot Was lured by the world, and got into it, but in doing so, the world got into him also.
2)Paul was hurt by Demas who forsook him for the love of the World.
3)One day a department store manager left all the windows open and a great windstorm blew all the price makers around the store causing them to land in total disarray. The next day, the shoppers delighted to see socks for $149.95, suits for $1.19, shoes for 5 cents, and a scarf for $1,299.99!
This is how worldly Christians live every day. The put low value on spiritual things and high value on things with none. Stop living your life as though the price tags got mixed up!
II-CONSIDER THE CHARACTER OF BACKSLIDING:
A-There is Unholy Living:
Jeremiah 7:9 Will ye steal, murder, and commit adultery, and swear falsely, and burn incense unto Baal, and walk after other gods whom ye know not;
1) W.W. Clay tells that when he was a boy, his father had a farm that had no well. Their source of water was a spring in a valley. Only a cup or two of water could be obtained easily, so his Father got a 16" tile and planted it over the spring. This tile was always full, and it was easy to get water then by the pail, if needed. How these boys liked to drink from the surface of the spring as it overflowed from the tile!
But one day a crab or crawfish took up residence in the spring. The boys would get thirsty but as they bent over to drink, sometimes the crab would go burrowing and thus disturb the waters. It would take several minutes for the spring waters to clear for drinking. One day father got tired of it all. He took the boys to the spring and they dug down until they found the crab. Father killed the crab and from that time forward there was no stirring when they drank.
Carnality is like that old crab. It is untamable, unpredictable and always destructive to peace and happiness. To have victory we must let the Father destroy it
B-There is Uncommitted Service:
Proverbs 14:14 The backslider in heart shall be filled with his own ways: and a good man [shall be satisfied] from himself.
1)Notice it is his ways , not God’s ways.
2)A backslider begins to neglect such things as Bible-Reading, Prayer, Giving, Concern for the lost, and Service in God’s Kingdom.
3) The testimony of a man who neglected the Lord’s work- I looked upon a farm one day, that once I used to own; the barn had fallen to the ground, the fields were overgrown. The house in which my children grew, where we had lived for years . . . I turned to see it broken down, and brushed aside the tears. I looked upon my soul one day to find it too had grown, with thorns and nettles everywhere, the seeds neglect had sown. The years had passed while I had cared for things of lesser worth. The things of heaven I let go while minding things of earth. To Christ I turned with bitter tears and cried, "O Lord, forgive!" I have not much time left for Thee, not many years to live. The wasted years forever gone, the days I can't recall. If I could live those days again, I'd make Him Lord of all.
C-There is the Unhappy Soul:
Jeremiah 3:25 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.
1)They bring shame not only on their-selves but their heavenly Father.
2) Robert Robinson had been saved out of a tempestuous life of sin through George Whitefield's ministry in England. Shortly after that, at the age of twenty-three, Robinson wrote the hymn Come, Thou Fount.
Come, Thou Fount of ev'ry blessing,
Streams of mercy, never ceasing,
Call for songs of loudest praise.
Sadly, Robinson wandered far from those streams and, like the Prodigal Son, journeyed into the distant country of carnality. Until one day -- he was traveling by stagecoach and sitting beside a young woman engrossed in her book. She ran across a verse she thought was beautiful and asked him what he thought of it.
Prone to wander -- Lord, I feel it --
Prone to leave the God I love.
Bursting into tears, Robinson said, "Madam, I am the poor unhappy man who wrote that hymn many years ago, and I would give a thousand worlds, if I had them, to enjoy the feelings I had then."
III-CONSIDER THE CONSEQUENCES OF BACKSLIDING:
A-A Backslider Hurts Society:
Matthew 5:13 Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men.
1)Jonah’s backsliding got got him into trouble but it also caused the sailors to get into trouble.
2)Lot was an upstanding citizen of Sodom but his backsliding caused his children to mock him.
B-A Backslider Hurts Self:
Psalms 89:32 Then will I visit their transgression with the rod, and their iniquity with stripes.
1) What a painful reminder of the consequences of sin: "You cannot backslide without suffering."
2)God promises punishment to those who continue in sin. He told the Israelites that they would be helpless when He send the Chaldeans upon them.
3John R. Rice once said, "I love my children, and I love them so much I want them to do right and be happy and succeed in the Christian life. So sometimes I whip them for their disobedience. It is painful, but it is done in love and for their good."
C-A Backslider Hurts The Savior:
Luke 22:61 And the Lord turned, and looked upon Peter. And Peter remembered the word of the Lord, how he had said unto him, Before the cock crow, thou shalt deny me thrice.
1)If we could see into heaven, we would realize that Jesus is not rejoicing over our sins but he is hurt over our sins.
2)A Boy invited a girl to go to a certain night spot, but she turned him down. He said, oh you can’t go because your Father might hurt you. No, she replied, I might hurt my Father by my actions.
Conclusion The cure for backsliding is don’t try to cover up your sin or deny it, but confess it. Seek the Lord with your whole heart and soul, and He will forgive you.
