Backsliding away from God

 

Coming to the Lord is not difficult. The road to Him is filled with the mercy and grace of God. Walking away from, or back-sliding from, the Lord, sad to say, is also easy. Read these five biblical warnings, which will help us to remain solid in our walk with our Lord, Jesus Christ.

 

-John 6:60, 66: "Many therefore of his disciples, when they had heard this, said, This is an hard saying; who can hear it?" vs 60 "From that time many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him." vs. 66

 

(1) Watch out that you don’t get offended at "hard teachings."

 

When a preacher preaches biblical themes like commitment, submission, and faithfulness, some hearers automatically reject these truths. They feel that these things violate their (very wrong) understanding of being "free" in Jesus Christ; of being a "new creature" in Christ. Apparently, they want to remain "unlearned" and keep one foot in the world and one foot in Christ. No!

 

Similar negative reactions sometimes occur to teachings such as:

 

-the cost of discipleship

 

-salvation that includes true repentance as a pre-requisite

 

-instantaneous sanctification as a second definite work of grace

 

-baptism with and in the Holy Ghost with the initial evidence of speaking in tongues

 

-salvation can be forfeited

 

-marriage is a lifelong commitment severed only by death

 

-and there are others

 

Just as in the days of our Lord, there are Christians today, who reject biblical truths that make them feel uncomfortable, by saying (or thinking to themselves) that they are "hard teachings." By doing this, they risk entering the backslider’s road away from God. At the very least, they risk living a mediocre Christian life, not knowing or not wanting to know the fulness of the Lord. Lord, help us not to be one of them!

No one has ever said that Christianity was an easy life. There are great demands and high costs to following the Lord diligently. We need to count the cost of walking faithfully with the Lord. But, it is worth the price. Amen!

 

-Luke 8:14: And that which fell among thorns are they, which, when they have heard, go forth, and are choked with cares and riches and pleasures of this life, and bring no fruit to perfection.

 

(2) Life's riches and pleasures can choke our Christian walk and prevent us from ever maturing.

 

Jesus said, “No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon. ” (Matthew 6:24). Are riches evil in and of themselves? No. It’s what we do with them, and our attitude towards material wealth, that can choke our Christian walk. The apostle Paul warned, “For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows. (1 Timothy 6:10). Not money, but the love of money.

 

Jesus said the same about “life’s pleasures”. God has placed many things on this earth for us to enjoy- "Charge them that are rich in this world, that they be not highminded, nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God, who giveth us richly all things to enjoy; (1 Timothy 6:17). But the primary pursuit of pleasures once again violates Jesus’ warning that we "cannot serve two masters." We will serve God. Or we will serve the pursuit of pleasure. But we will not serve both!

 

Another thing that Jesus warned about in the parable of the seed was the negative effect of “life’s worries” on our spiritual walk. Worries keep our minds focused on the problems- whether they are real or imagined, instead of on God. The apostle Paul encourages us with this:

 

“Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. " (Phil. 4:6-7).

 

-Luke 8:13: "They on the rock are they, which, when they hear, receive the word with joy; and these have no root, which for a while believe, and in time of temptation fall away."

 

(3) Times of testing can cause us to fall away if we haven’t worked at growing solid roots in our Christian walk.

 

Jesus said that “ In the world ye shall have tribulation ” (John 16:33). Today, it seems to be OK, even encouraged by some, to make fun of Christians. In some countries, Christians are being killed. Just watch the news. Stay tuned to ISIS (the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, or ISIS for short.).

 

The point that Jesus was making is that we need to grow solid spiritual roots so we can have the strength to remain victorious in times of testing. These roots are grown deep in our lives through faithfulness to such things as:

 

-prayer and meditation

 

-reading and studying the Bible

 

-heeding to the "all things" message of God's Word

 

-faithful attendance at church services in a non-compromising, Bible-believing, teaching, and preaching church

 

-gathering to worship and also worshiping and praising God by yourself at times throughout your day

As we do these things, we will build a strong foundation for our Christian walk. And when trials and testings come our way, guess what, we will stand strong.

 

-Hebrews 3:13: "But exhort one another daily, while it is called To day; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin."

 

(4) We can subtly and progressively become hardened by sin's deceitfulness. It is a rare thing for a Christian who is living right for the Lord to "all the sudden," backslide. It usually doesn't happen that way.

 

No, no, sin is usually a bit more subtle. Temptation comes, and if we give in to it, it becomes sin. Sin can gradually creep into our life, and if we get in the habit of giving in to it, the next thing we know, some conduct we would have previously rejected now seems OK. Ehhh, no big deal.

 

-Our anger, or our short temper, gets easier to vent.

 

-Our standards go down, and we find ourselves doing things and going places that just a while back we would have avoided.

 

-Covetousness and materialism begin to have a stronger grip on our attention.

 

-Our prayer, our devotional time, and our church attendance begin to suffer.

 

"Your glorying is not good. Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump?" 1Cor. 5:6

 

"A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump." Gal. 5:9

 

How does this happen? What is the typical process? Let's think this through. 1.) We give in to temptation to commit a sin 2.) There doesn't seem to be any immediate negative consequences 3.) Our deceived heart becomes hardened and finds the next sin easier to commit. This process repeats itself over and over and over again, until a hardness builds up in our hearts and we find sin tolerable. Soon we find ourselves on the backslider’s road away from God!

 

-1 Corinthians 15:33: "Be not deceived: evil communications corrupt good manners."

 

(5) Keeping "evil communications" (or bad company) corrupts good manners. And if we don’t believe that, we have already begun to be led astray in the understanding of our mind. The apostle wrote: "evil communications" (or bad company) corrupts..." Over two thousand years have past since he wrote that, and his warning to us has proven true again and again and again.

 

Proverbs 13:20 "He that walketh with wise men shall be wise: but a companion of fools shall be destroyed."

As we conclude, let's look again at the five ways to walking away from God:

 

1. Becoming offended at what we consider "hard teachings" from the Bible

 

2. Allowing life’s worries, riches, and pleasures to choke our walk

 

3. Not digging deep spiritual roots in order to maintain our victory in times of testing

 

4. Allowing our hearts to become hardened by sin’s deceitfulness

 

5. Allowing the corrupting influence of bad company

 

 

 

Hermano Art Carrillo

Zion Assembly Church of God in Visalia, CA

(finished editing on Sunday, 09/21/14 08:35am)