1 00:00:03,340 --> 00:00:06,060 I want to take some time today, friends, 2 00:00:06,220 --> 00:00:09,120 to address a sore subject with many in 3 00:00:09,120 --> 00:00:10,260 the churches today. 4 00:00:10,820 --> 00:00:13,400 My topic today is the backslider. 5 00:00:13,720 --> 00:00:16,460 I know in my own life when I 6 00:00:16,460 --> 00:00:19,040 have been in a backslidden condition. 7 00:00:20,200 --> 00:00:23,220 I was both useless to God and miserable 8 00:00:23,220 --> 00:00:24,280 with myself. 9 00:00:24,940 --> 00:00:27,320 The most miserable person in the world is 10 00:00:27,320 --> 00:00:28,200 a backslider. 11 00:00:28,560 --> 00:00:31,640 For nothing will bring him true satisfaction or 12 00:00:31,640 --> 00:00:32,280 fulfillment. 13 00:00:33,020 --> 00:00:36,360 Here now is a backslider described. 14 00:00:37,040 --> 00:00:39,300 Sin has been welcomed. 15 00:00:40,080 --> 00:00:42,160 Sin has been regular. 16 00:00:42,880 --> 00:00:45,060 Sin has been enjoyed. 17 00:00:45,620 --> 00:00:48,000 Sin has lost its shame. 18 00:00:48,500 --> 00:00:51,220 And sin has been looked for and longingly 19 00:00:51,220 --> 00:00:54,560 and lovingly embraced and is dear to the 20 00:00:54,560 --> 00:00:55,040 heart. 21 00:00:55,480 --> 00:00:58,140 The taste for spiritual things is gone. 22 00:00:58,900 --> 00:01:02,520 Real spiritual truth is disliked and true preaching 23 00:01:02,520 --> 00:01:03,540 is not endured. 24 00:01:04,099 --> 00:01:07,120 Rather, it is hated and avoided. 25 00:01:07,820 --> 00:01:12,380 Prayer becomes merely self-centered and selfish for 26 00:01:12,380 --> 00:01:15,320 one's own pleasure, advancement and gain. 27 00:01:15,900 --> 00:01:18,360 The intimacy with Christ is lost. 28 00:01:18,920 --> 00:01:20,960 Love of Christ has diminished. 29 00:01:21,600 --> 00:01:24,700 Conviction of the Holy Spirit is quenched because 30 00:01:24,700 --> 00:01:25,300 of sin. 31 00:01:25,980 --> 00:01:30,180 This way, a backslider can sin with reckless 32 00:01:30,180 --> 00:01:34,480 abandon and enjoy his sin and even delight 33 00:01:34,480 --> 00:01:38,020 in it, whereas in former times the believer 34 00:01:38,020 --> 00:01:40,960 delighted in his God and lived for things 35 00:01:40,960 --> 00:01:42,240 of eternal worth. 36 00:01:42,900 --> 00:01:48,580 Proverbs 14.14 declares this about the backslider. 37 00:01:49,020 --> 00:01:52,720 The backslider in heart shall be filled with 38 00:01:52,720 --> 00:01:54,280 his own ways. 39 00:01:54,800 --> 00:01:57,700 So a backslider is full of himself and 40 00:01:57,700 --> 00:01:59,060 full of the world. 41 00:01:59,400 --> 00:02:03,060 His own self-gratification comes first and is 42 00:02:03,060 --> 00:02:04,660 foremost in his life. 43 00:02:05,100 --> 00:02:07,940 But a backslider is a miserable person to 44 00:02:07,940 --> 00:02:11,120 live with, often in a foul mood and 45 00:02:11,120 --> 00:02:15,660 critical of others and possessing an unforgiving spirit 46 00:02:15,660 --> 00:02:18,260 and a spirit of hatred and bitterness toward 47 00:02:18,260 --> 00:02:18,800 others. 48 00:02:19,380 --> 00:02:22,760 The Bible becomes merely a tool to the 49 00:02:22,760 --> 00:02:26,880 backslider to encourage him in sin by continually 50 00:02:26,880 --> 00:02:30,980 resorting to 1 John 1.9 as relief 51 00:02:30,980 --> 00:02:33,660 from judgment to continue in sin. 52 00:02:34,240 --> 00:02:36,160 And although the Word of God is true 53 00:02:36,160 --> 00:02:39,460 in that if we confess our sins, he 54 00:02:39,460 --> 00:02:42,320 is faithful and just to forgive us our 55 00:02:42,320 --> 00:02:47,200 sins, the backslider has no intention to part 56 00:02:47,200 --> 00:02:50,260 with his most beloved sin by true repentance. 57 00:02:50,780 --> 00:02:53,120 So the last part of that verse does 58 00:02:53,120 --> 00:02:56,440 not apply to him and to cleanse us 59 00:02:56,440 --> 00:02:59,300 from all unrighteousness. 60 00:03:00,560 --> 00:03:04,780 A backslider is more concerned with pleasing himself 61 00:03:04,780 --> 00:03:07,220 rather than pleasing God. 62 00:03:07,700 --> 00:03:10,220 A backslider will begin to hate the people 63 00:03:10,220 --> 00:03:12,460 of God and avoid their company. 64 00:03:13,060 --> 00:03:17,640 A backslider knows nothing about his danger and 65 00:03:17,640 --> 00:03:20,400 is totally unaware of the great and grave 66 00:03:20,400 --> 00:03:24,120 danger of being removed by sudden death and 67 00:03:24,120 --> 00:03:27,420 thrust into eternity to face the Lord Jesus 68 00:03:27,420 --> 00:03:31,220 Christ while standing knee deep in the ashes 69 00:03:31,220 --> 00:03:32,660 of a wasted life. 70 00:03:33,120 --> 00:03:37,480 A church, a denomination, and a nation can 71 00:03:37,480 --> 00:03:40,060 be so far away from the heart of 72 00:03:40,060 --> 00:03:42,300 a holy God and in a state of 73 00:03:42,300 --> 00:03:46,280 spiritual stupidity that the only thing which will 74 00:03:46,280 --> 00:03:50,080 awaken and alarm them to their great danger 75 00:03:50,080 --> 00:03:54,480 is a sudden manifestation of God's convicting presence 76 00:03:54,480 --> 00:03:59,420 in revival, whether it's personal or corporate or 77 00:03:59,420 --> 00:04:00,020 national. 78 00:04:00,780 --> 00:04:04,720 Apart from this, a backslider walks on slippery 79 00:04:04,720 --> 00:04:08,840 places, ready to fall at any moment, 2 80 00:04:08,840 --> 00:04:11,360 Peter 2.20 warns. 81 00:04:12,180 --> 00:04:16,320 For if after they have escaped the pollutions 82 00:04:16,320 --> 00:04:19,700 of the world through the knowledge of the 83 00:04:19,700 --> 00:04:24,180 Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again 84 00:04:24,180 --> 00:04:29,420 entangled therein and overcome, the latter end is 85 00:04:29,420 --> 00:04:31,780 worse with them than the beginning. 86 00:04:32,620 --> 00:04:35,680 A backslider runs the risk of being suddenly 87 00:04:35,680 --> 00:04:40,100 removed by God before falling into complete apostasy. 88 00:04:40,100 --> 00:04:44,340 A backslider has been sidelined by sin and 89 00:04:44,340 --> 00:04:47,260 is completely useless to God in his barren 90 00:04:47,260 --> 00:04:51,560 condition, which bears no fruit nor vital testimony. 91 00:04:52,200 --> 00:04:55,720 A backslidden church within a community will have 92 00:04:55,720 --> 00:04:59,320 no spiritual influence upon that wicked community. 93 00:04:59,820 --> 00:05:03,760 A backslider in the secular workplace will blend 94 00:05:03,760 --> 00:05:06,440 in with the lost and not stand out 95 00:05:06,440 --> 00:05:07,860 for God or the gospel. 96 00:05:08,620 --> 00:05:12,060 A backslider will have a religious life, but 97 00:05:12,060 --> 00:05:15,880 without the power, his witness will lack divine 98 00:05:15,880 --> 00:05:18,560 authority like Lot and Sodom. 99 00:05:19,000 --> 00:05:22,640 His religious duties are done out of habit 100 00:05:22,640 --> 00:05:26,200 rather than love to God, and his works 101 00:05:26,200 --> 00:05:30,420 have no lasting spiritual fruit or influence upon 102 00:05:30,420 --> 00:05:31,400 a generation. 103 00:05:32,160 --> 00:05:35,260 He is a vapor without a scent, a 104 00:05:35,260 --> 00:05:37,360 shadow without any distinction. 105 00:05:38,080 --> 00:05:41,320 He is like Jeremiah's basket of fruit, rotten 106 00:05:41,320 --> 00:05:44,520 in the sun, good to nobody and good 107 00:05:44,520 --> 00:05:45,320 for nothing. 108 00:05:45,840 --> 00:05:49,060 A backslider joins the company in Revelation 2 109 00:05:49,060 --> 00:05:52,260 .4, whose members had walked away from a 110 00:05:52,260 --> 00:05:54,740 hot pursuit of God and turned to the 111 00:05:54,740 --> 00:05:58,800 world because thou hast left thy first love, 112 00:05:59,280 --> 00:06:02,600 meaning Jesus no longer held the first place 113 00:06:02,600 --> 00:06:04,880 of priority in their lives and in their 114 00:06:04,880 --> 00:06:08,720 affections, but became secondary or lesser. 115 00:06:09,700 --> 00:06:13,200 But the backslider is ignorant to his great 116 00:06:13,200 --> 00:06:17,140 danger before an offended God, and the backslider 117 00:06:17,140 --> 00:06:20,440 has a weakened testimony for God and falls 118 00:06:20,440 --> 00:06:23,480 into the company of Demas, whom Paul said 119 00:06:23,480 --> 00:06:27,900 of, For Demath hath forsaken me, having loved 120 00:06:27,900 --> 00:06:30,400 this present world, and is departed. 121 00:06:31,260 --> 00:06:34,240 And almighty God will only bear so long 122 00:06:34,240 --> 00:06:36,940 with the backslider, for God is a God 123 00:06:36,940 --> 00:06:40,240 who must punish sin, and a holy God 124 00:06:40,240 --> 00:06:43,780 will not tolerate unrepentant sin in a believer 125 00:06:43,780 --> 00:06:46,780 long nor bear with it forever. 126 00:06:47,340 --> 00:06:50,500 Either the backslider will fall on his face 127 00:06:50,500 --> 00:06:54,560 before God, broken in humility and shame, seeking 128 00:06:54,560 --> 00:06:57,560 the grace of true repentance, and be reclaimed 129 00:06:57,560 --> 00:07:00,320 back to God in a walk of intimacy 130 00:07:00,320 --> 00:07:04,240 and obedience to him, or bear the unforeseen 131 00:07:04,240 --> 00:07:08,520 consequences of that grievous disobedience to God in 132 00:07:08,520 --> 00:07:09,040 sin. 133 00:07:09,780 --> 00:07:13,360 A backslider runs the risk of ending his 134 00:07:13,360 --> 00:07:17,620 days in spiritual apathy and indifference to the 135 00:07:17,620 --> 00:07:20,660 things that matter for eternity, and will heap 136 00:07:20,660 --> 00:07:24,220 up for himself wood, hay, and straw at 137 00:07:24,220 --> 00:07:25,900 the judgment seat of Christ. 138 00:07:26,300 --> 00:07:28,660 We see the sad ending of a king 139 00:07:28,660 --> 00:07:31,780 who began well, but who did not finish 140 00:07:31,780 --> 00:07:34,960 well in the life of King Solomon, of 141 00:07:34,960 --> 00:07:37,720 whom 1 Kings 11.4 describes. 142 00:07:38,340 --> 00:07:41,780 For it came to pass, when Solomon was 143 00:07:41,780 --> 00:07:45,440 old, that his wives turned away his heart 144 00:07:45,440 --> 00:07:49,520 after other gods, and his heart was not 145 00:07:49,520 --> 00:07:53,480 perfect with the Lord his God, as was 146 00:07:53,480 --> 00:07:55,500 the heart of David his father. 147 00:07:56,100 --> 00:07:57,620 Let us pray.