Backsliding

“Backsliders get what they deserve; good people receive their reward.” Proverbs 14:14 NLT

One of the greatest dangers we face in the Christian life is the danger of backsliding. And the fact that church rolls are filled with the names of people who seldom, if ever even darken the doors of a church building, reveals just how serious this problem is. At this time we have 232 members in the church database. I went through the database and looked at each name and we have 131 that come fairly regularly.

Just a generation ago, sermons on backsliding was the “meat and potatoes” of most preachers and especially evangelists. But these days we rarely, if ever, hear the term backsliding. It is possible that some of us may have never heard a lesson or sermon on backsliding, and perhaps have never even heard the term “backslide” before today. How long has it been since any of you have heard this term? Let’s look at what “backsliding” means.

The definition from the Dictionary of “backsliding” is: “Slipping back; falling back into sin or error; sinning.” Also, “The act of one who backslides; abandonment of faith or duty.”
Other meanings are “turn one’s back on the Lord” …………or………”to turn one’s heart away from the Lord. To backslide means to lose one’s spiritual passion, enthusiasm and interest.

Backsliding also means “to fail to make progress in one’s spiritual life.” If I am not moving forward in my spiritual life then I am moving backwards. If am not progressing spiritually I am regressing spiritually. There is no such thing as “standing still” spiritually. A Christian can’t just maintain “status quo” and be in God’s will.

God takes really dim view of backsliding in the Old Testament. In some translations it is referred to as turning your back on God: “You have abandoned me and turned your back on me,” says the LORD.” Jeremiah 2:19 NLT. And backsliding in others: “You have rejected me,” declares the LORD. “You keep on backsliding. So I will reach out and destroy you; I am tired of holding back. Jeremiah 15:6 NIV.

The term "backsliding" is applied only to God's people, not to unbelievers. In other words, the backslider must have at one point in his life been placed in a position close to God from which he/she has since slid back or away from and toward a more distant position from God.

Backsliding is not an event, it is a process. It doesn’t occur over night, it occurs over a period of weeks and months and even years. Backsliding is not like jumping off a cliff, but rather it’s like slowly drifting down a long hill.

The New Testament gives us a number of examples that describe backsliding. Luke 9:62 Jesus says a man “who puts a hand to the plow and then looks back is not fit for the Kingdom of God.” Jesus also says that “You are the salt of the earth. But what good is salt if it has lost its flavor?” Matthew 5:13. In II Peter 2:21-22 the apostle Peter gives us two very graphic pictures to describe backsliding: “It would be better if they had never known the way to righteousness than to know it and then reject the command they were given to live a holy life. They prove the truth of this proverb: “A dog returns to its vomit.” And another says, “A washed pig returns to the mud.”

In Revelation 2:4 (NKJV) Jesus tells the church at Ephesus that “I have this against you, that you have left your first love.”

The Bible gives us many examples of people who backslid. Some backslid for a period of time then came to repentance, while others left this world in a backslidden condition. People such as Lot, Samson, King Saul, King David and King Solomon and the entire nation of Israel in the Old Testament. As well as Peter, Judas, Ananias & Sapphira, and the prodigal son in the New Testament.

The fact that GOD includes so many examples of backsliding in the Scriptures ought to serve as a warning to every believer that any one of us is capable of backsliding. As the apostle PAUL warns us that “If you think you are standing strong, be careful not to fall.” 1 Corinthians 10:12

What Are Some Symptoms of Backsliding?
Backsliding is a heart condition. And because it is a sin of the heart, its symptoms may not always be obvious to anyone, including the one who has backslidden.

Sometimes the symptoms of backsliding are very obvious and easy to identify. For example, let’s say someone accepted Christ years ago and for a time they were active in the church and faithful in their church attendance. But over the course of time they became less active and their church attendance became more sporadic. And now that individual rarely if ever darkens the doors of a church building. Well it’s obvious that individual is a backslider, isn’t it?

Or, lets say someone professes to be a Christian, yet lives a very worldly and sinful lifestyle. Well again, it’s very obvious that individual is in a backslidden condition.

But there may be things going on inside of one’s heart long before any outward symptoms are visible.

It is very possible for one to be in Sunday School and church every week and yet be backsliding in their heart. It is possible for one to teach a Sunday school class every week or serve as a deacon or even stand in the pulpit to preach every Sunday and yet be a backslider in the heart.

Could we be a backslider in our heart and not realize it yet?

Here are some soul searching questions every Christian needs to ask themselves
on a regular basis. As we ask these questions, ask ourselves, do I have this symptom?

• Like Lot, do I spend little or no time alone with God?
• Like King Saul and King David, have I lost my spiritual joy and enthusiasm?
• Like Samson, David, Judas and Ananias & Sapphira, is there a “secret” or
“habitual” sin in my life?
• Like the church at Ephesus “you have left your first love.”
• Like Peter am I currently following the Lord “at a distance?”

By no means are these all the symptoms. Any pattern of sinful speech or behavior, any kind of an addiction, any loss of appetite for spiritual things or increased appetite for worldly things are all symptoms something is going on inside your heart.

As one minister once said “If there was ever a time when you were closer to Christ than you are now……….if ever there was a time when your prayers were sweeter and your worship more meaningful than it is now, you have backslidden.”

What Are the Sorrows of Backsliding?
“Backsliders get what they deserve” What this verse is saying is that when one’s heart is in a backslidden condition, he invites all kinds of sorrows and troubles into his life. The Bible says: Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows.” Galatians 6:7 (NIV). One only has to look at King David and see the many sorrows that can happen to a backslider. Read Psalm 38 and see what David says after he had an affair with Bathsheba and had her husband killed. An example of what David writes in verse 2-3, “Your arrows have struck deep, and your blows are crushing me. Because of your anger, my whole body is sick; my health is broken because of my sins.”

What is the Solution to Backsliding?
Let’s suppose you are sitting here today or reading this lesson and you now realize your relationship with God is not as it should be. And you are wondering, what can I do to make that relationship right again?

Jesus’ parable of the prodigal son in Luke 15, provides us with some valuable insight as to what we must do when we have backslidden. You remember after receiving his share of the inheritance from his loving Father ……..the Prodigal ran away to the “distant land” and wasted all his money on “wild living”. When he was broke, had lost all of his friends, and was so desperate that he went to work for a farmer who assigned him the job of feeding the pigs. This is about the worse thing a Jewish person could do. He was so hungry that he was eating “slop” with the pigs. He finally came to his senses. It was then the prodigal said, “I will go home to my father and say, “Father, I have sinned against both heaven and you, and I am no longer worthy of being called your son. Please take me on as a hired servant.”’ Verse18

The most beautiful part of Jesus’ parable comes in verse 20. “So he returned home to his father. And while he was still a long way off, his father saw him coming. Filled with love and compassion, he ran to his son, embraced him, and kissed him.”

We certainly don’t don’t miss the valuable truth God is revealing here: “while he was still a long way off, ……HIS FATHER RAN TO HIM!

Our Heavenly Father wants you and me to know, that when we backslide the road back to home is shorter than the road that took us away from Him. When He sees us coming back to Him with a repentant heart, He runs to meet us and wraps His loving, forgiving arms around us to welcome us home.

Where do you go, when you’ve come to the end of your road? And you feel like the only one and you’re all alone? When you’ve seen all you wanted to see. And become all you wanted to be. And you still don’t really know where you belong? You go to the place where life begins. To the love that never ends. To the One whose arms are open wide, You run on inside. And HE tells you…….. “You should have come sooner! You should have come sooner!”


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