As you go deeper with God, in a
serious seeking of a deeper experience of Him,
God will challenge your faith.
I believe that's in my Bible, friends.
In Genesis chapter 22, Abraham's faith was tried
of God.
God asked Abraham for his son Isaac as
a sacrifice, and Abraham trusted God and offered
him up.
Several decades ago, back when God was still
afoot in the land and seasons of revival,
I knew a pastor who had a season
of incredible revival come to his church.
God literally transformed the life of that man's
church with his manifest presence, which was so
thick you could cut it with a knife.
This pastor related that he was alone in
the sanctuary with God during this time of
revival, and God asked him for something concerning
a member of the pastor's family.
The pastor never publicly revealed how he responded
to God, to God's testing his faith that
day.
But as the years went by, it was
obvious to all who knew him that this
man had evidently drawn back from God.
He had pulled away from a deeper walk
with God.
Many years later, I visited this pastor's so
-called new church, and I was shocked by
what I saw.
Stepping into his church was like stepping into
the hallway of hell.
It was purposely dark in the church sanctuary,
which he had turned into a nightclub, strung
with colored beads for curtains, black paint on
the walls, and stacked with huge sound amplifiers
for his metal rock band.
This pastor no longer wore a tie, but
dressed in sloppy casual attire, and his sermon
was just utter nonsense and blasphemy against a
holy and righteous God.
This man had fallen into such spiritual apostasy
that he resorted to cheap bathroom humor to
shock his congregation into embarrassing laughs.
This man's ministry had once been so powerful,
but now it had become so sad.
This pastor, who was once an inspiration to
me, became a dire warning to me.
My message this evening, friends, is entitled Drawing
Back, and I think it's a warning to
each of us not to play games with
almighty God.
If you intend to get serious with God,
friend, then you better stay serious with Him.
If God challenges you in your personal life,
it's an opportunity to go further with Him,
in a deeper experience of Him.
If you draw back, you will miss that
deeper experience of God, and depending on how
far away you draw back, it may throw
you into an apostasy as well.
There is a passage in my Bible, in
the book of Hebrews, which has a dire
warning to us as it stands out in
black print on white paper.
It is Hebrews 10 and verses 38 through
39.
Here now is the word of God, and
may the Spirit of the Lord attend the
reading of His holy word.
Now the just shall live by faith, but
if any man draw back, my soul shall
have no pleasure in him.
But we are not of them who draw
back unto perdition, but of them that believe
to the saving of the soul.
I believe God tries the faith of those
who lay claim to His Son.
I don't believe God will allow any hypocrites
into His holy heaven.
Sometimes God will allow a person to remain
inside the doors of a church for years
in their profession of Christianity.
All who know them would say of them,
this person is surely a believer.
They look good on the outside, but a
day will come, sooner or later, where God
will test their faith.
The testing may come through a deeper seeking
of God, like my pastor friend who was
privileged to have revival come to his church,
and as he was going along with God,
he was challenged by God concerning his faith.
God asked him for something that was dear
to him, and he drew back.
And that one step back led to another
step back, as this man slowly but surely
backed away from God, until he became a
fulfillment of our text today.
Now the just shall live by faith, but
if any man draw back, my soul shall
have no pleasure in him.
But we are not of them who draw
back into perdition.
God may allow you to live as a
good church member, friend, for years, and a
day will come when He will try your
faith by trial and tribulations, to see if
you will keep on going forward with Him
in your profession of faith towards Him.
Your testing may come in the form of
a financial crisis.
God may allow you to go bulk of
your financial security pulled out from under you,
like a rug is suddenly snatched out from
beneath one where you're standing, and now you
have nothing to stand on but God Himself.
Your time of testing may come in the
form of physical illness or grief that is
unexpected and unwanted.
The sky as you know it has become
dark, foreboding, and it's the trial of your
life, and your faith in God is being
tested.
Or your time of testing may come in
a season of prosperity and great success.
Your testing comes by way of sexual infidelity.
I had a friend in church years ago
who this very thing played out in his
life.
He was a leader at church, and he
had a good reputation in our community as
a Christian man.
He was married with three children, and his
business was prospering.
He'd just built a fine new home out
in the country with a lot of acreage,
and he bought himself an expensive sports car.
Everything was going his way until he hired
a pretty new secretary that was half his
age.
Pretty soon this so-called Christian man was
knee-deep in adultery, and his marital infidelity
cost him his marriage of 20 years, cost
him his children for two of them when
they were teenagers became train wrecks themselves, and
it cost him his good Christian testimony at
church.
The last time I saw him, he was
flying to Russia to bring back another girlfriend
as he had gone from one relationship to
another.
I can promise you two things, friends, when
it comes to being a follower of Christ
Jesus.
Number one, the devil will be actively against
you, and he will do all he can
to trip you up and make you fall.
Secondly, there will come a time in your
life, it may be brief or it may
be long, but the God of heaven in
whom you profess will try your faith.
He will test your love for him.
If you draw back, it will reveal your
spiritual condition, and it may be an opportunity
to get to the Christ you never have
truly known for the saving of your soul,
or it may be a testing of your
faith to where you turn away from God,
you step back, and you keep stepping back
until you draw back onto perdition in the
devil's hell.
But either way, God will be God, and
he will receive glory.
Let us pray.