WATCHING OVER YOUR SOUL SERIES: BACKSLIDING I

2 Timothy 4:10 For Demas hath forsaken me, having loved this present world, and is departed unto Thessalonica; Crescens to Galatia, Titus unto Dalmatia.

Text: Heb. 10:38-39; Luke 9:62; Ezekiel 16.; Prov. 24:24–25; Prov. 28:4; Isa. 43:18–19; Phil. 3:13–14; John 15:1–25; Rev. 2:4; 1 Sam. 3:11–13

As we find ourselves in the close of the age, and as Jesus revealed in Matthew 24:12 the abounding nature of iniquity in our world…. And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold. There will be a change in our Love for the Lord. This signifies that in the Last days believers’ love for the Master will be under a serious attack. This is a major warning signal from the Lord. There is so much pressure to sin today.

There is so much pressure to compromise and follow the crowd. Many people are sacrificing their long-held convictions on the altar of compromise, negligence and carelessness. We don’t have that fear that makes a believer tremble at sin and flee from it. Today, people can sin at the blink of an eye and not be bothered. The Lord Jesus also pointed to the cares of this world as a major factor that mounts pressure on our spiritual survival. The need to make ends meet, run the rat race and keep up with the world moving train put us in a lot of compromising situations. Quite a number of believers in the church have died inside. There are a lot of forms of godliness expressed from the altar to the pew, but the seeing eyes of God see behind the wall.

We cannot hide from God our true spiritual standing. We may hide it from others, but not from God. Ezekiel 8:7 And he brought me to the door of the court; and when I looked, behold, a hole in the wall. 8 Then said he unto me, Son of man, dig now in the wall: and when I had digged in the wall, behold a door.9 And he said unto me, Go in, and behold the wicked abominations that they do here.10 So I went in and saw; and behold every form of creeping things, and abominable beasts, and all the idols of the house of Israel, pourtrayed upon the wall round about. As the Holy Spirt dig behind your wall, what will he find? You may claim you are not committing any known sin but where do you stand compared to when you first believed?

Who can backslide? An individual can, a family can, a church can, a community can, a nation can. Anyone great or small can be brought down into a state of backsliding. How is your love for the Lord and the things of the Lord? How is your consecration to the master at this present time “T”? The purpose of this study is not to crush you but to find you. Not to condemn you but to help you trace your steps back to him. To remind you of who you once were. To lead you to a conclusion that you need Him again.

WHERE ART THOU? (WHAT IS BACKSLIDING) Genesis 3:9, Ezekiel 16 and Ezekiel 23,Amos 5:1-3, Backsliding is change in position (from up to down, from mighty to minor, from strength to weakness from many to few, for flowing to dryness, from good to bad…. the list is endless. The fact is that there is a compromise in the original context. God is asking you where is the original You? Genesis 3:9 And the Lord God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou? God left you somewhere but you are no longer there. When you are in that situation you have backslidden. The Word is actually a biblical word that came out of the mouth of Prophet Jeremiah and Hosea. In all the accounts where it was, we will see the passionate expression of the Lord and His concern.

In Jeremiah 2:19 Thine own wickedness shall correct thee, and thy backslidings shall reprove thee: know
therefore and see that it is an evil thing and bitter, that thou hast forsaken the Lord thy God, and that my fear is not in thee, saith the Lord God of hosts. Backsliding was linked to the word wickedness, bitter thing and evil thing. The Lord termed a state where someone forsakes His God. There is a departure from the Original, a departure from the Truth, A departure from the way, A departure from right. A departure from perfection. It is a state where there is no more fear of God, and your heart is not pricked about your actions.

In Jeremiah 3:6-22 The Lord said also unto me in the days of Josiah the king, Hast thou seen that which backsliding Israel hath done? she is gone up upon every high mountain and under every green tree, and there hath played the harlot. It is a state of spiritual adultery. A state where you are serving two Masters at the same time. You are with God, and at the same time, you are with other things or a state you have practically abandoned the Lord for another master. Today, some have abandoned the Lord for mammon, the enticing things of this world, the pleasure of life, falsehood and deceptive teachings. Vrs 22 Return, ye backsliding children, and I will heal your backslidings. Behold, we come unto thee; for thou art the Lord our God. It is a state of Sickness. Spiritual sickness that needs healing. The believer has lost wholeness and soundness. The believer is diseased and with wounds. Isaiah 1:6 From the sole of the foot even unto the head there is no soundness in it; but wounds, and bruises, and putrifying sores: they have not been closed, neither bound up, neither mollified with ointment. A state of spiritual degeneration and rottenness. Rottenness in the heart, rottenness of character.

In Jeremiah 8:5 Why then is this people of Jerusalem slidden back by a perpetual backsliding? they hold fast deceit, they refuse to return.

 

In Isiah 1:3 The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master’s crib: but Israel doth not know, my people doth not consider. 4 Ah sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evildoers, children that are corrupters: they have forsaken the Lord, they have provoked the Holy One of Israel unto anger, they are gone away backward. 5 Why should ye be stricken anymore? ye will revolt more and more: the whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint. There is no good about backsliding. It is a state a Christian must cry out and work out to get out of it. In that place, the friendly Father becomes dissatisfied and unhappy. Backsliding is a backwards journey from LIGHT. A journey deeper into darkness. Every step taken in backsliding takes you deeper into darkness. It is the most wrong turn a believer can make.

In Isiah 1:11 To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me? saith the Lord: I am full of the burnt offerings of rams, and the fat of fed beasts; and I delight not in the blood of bullocks, or of lambs, or of he goats. 12 When ye come to appear before me, who hath required this at your hand, to tread my courts? 13 Bring no more vain oblations; incense is an abomination unto me; the new moons and sabbaths, the calling of assemblies, I cannot away with; it is iniquity, even the solemn meeting. 14 Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hateth: they are a trouble unto me; I am weary to bear them. 15 And when ye spread forth your hands, I will hide mine eyes from you: yea, when ye make many prayers, I will not hear: your hands are full of blood. It is a state where we offer vain services, abominable devotions, a state where our prayers make no sense, our repentance is not genuine because it is not coming from the heart. Many prayers but no results.

In Jeremiah 7:24 But they hearkened not, nor inclined their ear, but walked in the counsels and in the imagination of their evil heart, and went backward, and not forward. It is a state where and when God is no longer in charge of your life. You are now the sole proprietor of your destiny; you have shut God out. You, according to your own imagination and your own counsel. You don’t pray anymore to get direction, but do things as you deem fit in your eyes. It is a state where your counsellors are those who support your backslidden ways.

In Lamentations 1:8 Jerusalem hath grievously sinned; therefore she is removed: all that honoured her despise her, because they have seen her nakedness: yea, she sigheth, and turneth backward. Genesis 3:7 and the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons. Revelation 3:17 Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked: It is a state of spiritual nakedness and exposure to all sort of harm. The state shamelessness. Today some are so shameless in the way they dress they have lost sense of decorum and sanity.

In Luke 9:62 And Jesus said unto him, No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God. Backsliding renders a believer a state being UNFIT. Unfit for Gods use, unfit for the kingdom. It is a state removing your hand from your consecration and vow. From your assignment and purpose. You have abandoned your God given duty to something else.

In Ephesians 5:11 And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them. It is a state of mixture. Mixture with the world. A state of pollution. A state of compromise and permit evil and uncleanness. A state of Bro or Sister YES. Where you nod to everything that comes your way. You have no more boundary or limits. Everything goes and allowed. You joined others or permit others to do evil around you. A state of being part of another mans sin. You condone others sin(s).

Philippians 3:13 Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, 14 I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. A state when you dwell on old glories and have no new passionate pursuits. A relaxed state of accomplishment and no willingness or zeal to do more when there are yet more things to do. A state with no more enthusiasm. Romans 12:11 Not slothful in business; fervent in spirit; serving the Lord; No more reaching forth.. A state of FULL STOP. You have stopped: Stop praying, stop fasting, stop evangelizing, stop caring, stop loving, stop giving, stop caring, stop studying, stopping going deeper, stop consecrating. You have stopped adding. 2 Peter 1:5 And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; 6 And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; 7 And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity. 8 For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. You don’t give diligence anymore. It is a barren state. You have stopped bearing fruits. You have delivering value to your Christian Walk. You have stopped walking on the narrow path. Where you are absent in prayers, absent in church, absent in HIM. You are lost.

In Revelation 3:15 I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot. 16 So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth. A state of lukewarmness. A state of blowing hot and cold. A state of indecision about anything Godly. A state of inconsistent Christian life. A rising and falling life. A seasonal believer and not all-weather Christian. A Christianity of convenience and ease. Christianity without the cross, Christianity without tears and sacrifice. Christianity without persecution. Christianity without true and passionate love for the Master.

In Leviticus 10:1 And Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, took either of them his censer, and put fire therein, and put incense thereon, and offered strange fire before the Lord, which he commanded them not. Backsliding is a state of being familiar with God and taking God for granted. It’s a deliberate willful disobedience to Gods command and instruction.

In Galatians 3:3 Are ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh? It’s a starting in the spirit and ending in the flesh. You began with fire but now you are using your own ability. You started with the Holiness but now ending in carnality. You started with divine wisdom but now you are now using your own wisdom.

Obviously, there is nothing being a backslider. Many attribute backsliding to big sins and major draw back, but backsliding begins with very minor little things we pay no attention to. A drop of water that leaked out of a tank. Even though it’s just a drop the tank is no longer having the same volume. Next study we shall be considering: The causes of backsliding, Danger of Backsliding and Overcoming Backsliding.