BACKSLIDING

(Falling away from the
Lord and His will)

1. Spiritual
problems that lead to backsliding:

A. Cooling off
& losing "first love" for Jesus:

Rev.2:4-5                Thou
hast left thy first love...remember from whence thou art fallen, &
repent...or else I will remove

Rev.3:15,16            Thou
art lukewarm, & neither cold nor hot

B. Being filled
with own ways & desires:

Pro.14:14                Backslider
in heart shall be filled with his own ways

Ezk.14:3,5
These men have set up their idols in their heart...they are estranged
from Me through their idols

Ezk.14:7-8               Every
one which...setteth up his idols in his heart ...I will cut him off from the
midst of My people

1Tim.6:9 Hurtful lusts...drown men in perdition

C. Losing sight of
the Heavenly goal in favour of temporal gain:

Pro.29:18                Where
there is no vision, the people perish

Mal.3:14 Ye said, It is vain to serve God...what profit
is it?

Lk.15:12,13             Give
me the portion of goods that falleth to me. He (left) & wasted his
substance with riotous living

Heb.12:16-17         Esau,
for one morsel of meat sold his birthright

2Pet.1:9  He...cannot see afar off, & hath for
gotten that he was purged from his old sins

D. Quitting when
the going gets tough:

Mat.13:20,21          When
persecution ariseth...by & by he is offended

Jn.10:12,13             An
hireling...seeth the wolf coming, & leaveth the sheep, & fleeth. He
careth not for the sheep

E. Desiring worldly
pleasures & riches:

Heb.11:14-15         If
they had been mindful of that country from whence they came out, they
might have...returned

Gen.19:26               (Lot's)
wife looked back...& became a pillar of salt

Num.11:5,6             [Lusting
for things of Egypt] (See also Exo.16:3)

Psa.73:2,3               My
steps had well nigh slipped. For I was envious at ...the prosperity of the
wicked

Mat.13:22               The
care of this world, & the deceitfulness of riches, choke the Word

2Tim.4:10               Demas
hath forsaken me, having loved present world

1Jn.2:15-17             If
any man love the world, love of the Father not in him

Rev.3:17 I am rich & increased with goods & have
need of nothing

(See
also 1Cor.10:5,6)

F. Not grounded in
or obeying the Word:

Lk.8:13    These have no root...in time
of temptation fall away

Mat.7:26-27           [He]
that heareth these sayings...& doeth them not... house upon the
sand...great was the fall of it

1Tim.1:19               Faith...which
some having put away made shipwreck

2Tim.4:3,4              They
shall turn away their ears from the truth

G. Having a
doubting, questioning, unbelieving attitude:

Jn.6:60,66               Many
disciples said, this is an hard saying; who can hear it? Many went back, &
walked no more with Him

Rom.11:20              Because
of unbelief they were broken off

Col.2:8    Beware lest any man spoil you
through philosophy

Heb.3:12 Take heed, lest there be in you an evil heart
of unbelief, in departing from the living God

Jude
5     The Lord, having
saved the people out of Egypt, afterward destroyed them that believed not

H. Hardening heart to
the truth:

Mat.13:15               Ears
dull of hearing...their eyes they have closed

Eph.4:18-19            Having
understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through
blindness...past feeling

I. Doublemindedness
& wavering:

2Chr.25:2,14           He
did that which was right, but not with a perfect heart [& soon worshipped
other gods] (See Psa.78:36,37)

Psa.78:8,9               (They)
set not their heart aright...spirit was not steadfast with God...turned back in
the day of battle

Hos.10:2 Their heart is divided; now (are) they found
faulty

Jam.1:6-8                A
double-minded man is unstable in all his ways (See also Eph.4:14)

J. Refusing to
receive correction:

Pro.14:9  Fools make a mock at sin [as if it's not
serious]

Pro.15:10                Correction
is grievous to him that forsaketh the way

Job
33:9,10             I
am clean...I am innocent; neither is there iniquity in me [vs.10--"He just
has it in for me."]

K. Not confessing
problems & sins:

Pro.28:13                He
that covereth his sins shall not prosper

Jn.3:19b-20            Neither
cometh to light, lest his deeds be reproved

(See
Isa.29:15 & Saul's problem in 1Sam.15:1-35.)

L. Not responding
to God's loving chastisement:

Pro.29:1  He that being often reproved, &
hardeneth his neck

Isa.1:5     Why should ye be
striken any more? Ye revolt more

Isa.57:17 I was wroth, & smote him [but] he went on
frowardly in the way of his heart

Jer.2:30a In vain have I smitten your children; they
received no correction

(See
also Isa.42:25; Jer.5:3; Dan.9:13.)

M. Allowing
bitterness to grow:

Heb.12:15               Lest
any man fail of the grace of God, lest any root of bitterness springing up,
trouble you

(See
also Jam.3:14,15; Eph.4:31.)

N. Being led astray
with vain imaginations:

Jer.7:24   They walked in the imagination of
their evil heart, & went backward (See also Jer.13:10; 16:12.)

O. Idleness &
gossiping:

1Tim.5:12,13          They
have cast off their faith. They learn to be idle, wandering...tattlers &
busybodies

2Tim.2:16               Vain
babblings...will increase unto more ungodliness (See also Eph.1:14;
1Tim.6:20,21.)

P. Murmuring &
ingratitude:

Num.14:27-30        [Murmurers
not allowed to enter the promised land]

(See
also Num.11:1; 21:5,6; 1Cor.10:10; Jude 15,16a.)

Q. Fellowshipping
with trouble-makers:

Pro.6:12-16,19        Frowardness
is in his heart...he soweth discord

Pro.13:20                A
companion of fools shall be destroyed

1Cor.15:33              Evil
communications corrupt good manners

Gal.5:7    Who did hinder you that ye
should not obey the truth?

(See
also Lk.6:45; 1Ki.11:4.)

R. Desiring
fellowship with the world:

Jam.4:4   Whoever will be a friend of the
world is enemy of God

S. A lack of fear
of the Lord:

Jer.2:19b Thou hast forsaken the Lord...My fear is not in
thee

2. How the Lord
views those who turn their backs on

Him:

Pro.26:11                As
a dog returneth to his vomit, so a fool returneth

Jer.2:13   They have forsaken Me, the fountain
of living waters

Jer.2:19   Know...that it is an evil thing
& bitter, that thou hast forsaken the Lord thy God

Lk.9:62    No man...looking back, is fit
for the Kingdom of God

Heb.10:38               If
any draw back, My soul shall have no pleasure in

2Pet.2:22                The
dog is turned to his vomit & the sow to wallowing

3. The danger of
fellowshipping with those who have turned away from the Lord:

A. They can corrupt
& undermine others:

Deut.20:8               Let
him return unto his house, lest his brethren's heart faint as well as his heart

Judg.7:3 Whoever is fearful, let him return & depart
early

Acts
29:28-30        Of
your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away
disciples after them

1Cor.5:6,7               A
little leaven leaveneth the whole lump. Purge out therefore the old
leaven

(See
also 2Pet.2:18,19)

B. They cannot be
trusted or depended upon:

Psa.78:57                They
turned aside like a deceitful bow

Pro.25:19                Confidence
in an unfaithful man in time of trouble is like a broken tooth & a foot out
of joint

(See
also Pro.23:7; Gal.2:4,5.)

4. God's punishment
of those who forsake Him:

Deut.28:63             The
Lord will rejoice...to bring you to nought

Josh.24:20              If
ye forsake the Lord...He will do you hurt, & consume you, after that He
hath done you good

Ezra
8:22b              His
power & wrath is against them that forsake Him

Jer.15:6   Thou art gone backward: therefore
will I destroy thee

Mat.5:13 If the salt have lost savour...it is good for
nothing, but to be cast out, & trodden under foot

Jn.15:6    If a man abide not in Me, he
is cast forth...& is withered; &...they are burned

Heb.10:26               If
we sin wilfully after we have received the truth, there remaineth...a fearful
looking for of judgment

2Pet.2:21                Better
for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after they have
known...to turn

(See
also Job 34:26,25; Psa.44:20-21; Pro.28:10; Jer.5:6,19.)

5. God's promises
of mercy to those who return to

Him:

2Chr.30:9b             God
is gracious & merciful, & will not turn away His face from you, if ye
return unto Him

Isa.54:7,8                For
a small moment have I forsaken thee; but with great mercies will I gather thee

Isa.55:7   Let the wicked forsake his way
& return, & He will have mercy upon him

Jer.3:12   Return, backsliding Israel...for I
am merciful

Jer.3:14   Turn, O backsliding children, for I
am married to you

Jer.3:22   Return...& I will heal your
backslidings

Hos.14:4 I will heal their backsliding...Mine anger
turned away

Joel
2:12-13            Turn
ye to Me with all your heart, & with weeping...God is gracious &
merciful, & of great kindness

Zech.10:6b             I
will have mercy upon them: & they shall be as though I had not cast them
off

(See
also Job 14:7; Isa.1:18; Ezk.36:26,27; Dan.9:9.)

6. Attitude for
repentant prodigals to have:

2Chr.7:14                If
My people...humble themselves & seek My face, & turn from their wicked
ways...I will forgive

Psa.41:4  Lord...heal my soul; for I have sinned
against Thee

Psa.51:3  I acknowledge my transgressions: & my
sin is before

Psa.84:10                I
had rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God, than to dwell in the tents
of wickedness

Psa.119:176            I
have gone astray like a lost sheep; seek (me)

Jer.14:7   Our backslidings are many...have
sinned against Thee

Jer.24:7   I will be their God: for they shall
return unto Me with their whole heart

Ezk.36:31                Then
shall ye remember...& shall loathe yourselves...for your iniquities

Hos.6:1   Come, let us return unto the
Lord...He will heal us

Lk.15:19,21             I
am no more worthy to be called thy son: make me as one of thy hired servants

(See
also Job 40:1-5; 42:1-6; Psa.51:all; Dan.9:3-20; Jam.4:6-10.)

7. How to avoid
backsliding:

A. Love the Lord
& keep the Heavenly vision:

Mat.6:21 Where your treasure is, there will your heart
be also

Mat.6:24 Hate the (world), & love the (Lord)...hold
to the (Lord), & despise the (world)

Col.2:6,7 Rooted & built up in Him, & stablished
in the faith

Col.3:1,2 Set your affection on things above, not
on...earth

Heb.12:2,3              Looking
unto Jesus...lest ye faint in your minds

B. Remember that
serving Jesus is worth it all:

1Cor.15:58              Be
stedfast, unmoveable...in the work of the Lord, your labour is not in vain in
the Lord

Gal.6:9    Let us not be weary in well
doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not

Heb.10:35               Cast
not away your confidence...hath great recompense

Heb.11:26,27          Esteeming...Christ
greater riches than the treasures of Egypt...endured, as seeing Him Who is
invisible

Jam.1:12 Blessed is the man that endureth
temptation...he shall receive the crown of life (See also 2Tim.4:7,8)

Rev.3:11 Hold fast which thou hast, that no man take thy
crown

(See
Jn.15:2-7 about "abiding in the vine"; See also 2Cor.4:16-18;
Rev.2:26-28.)

C. Trust the Lord
to keep you faithful:

Psa.17:5  Hold up my goings in Thy paths that my
(feet) slip not

Psa.26:1b               I
have trusted in the Lord; I shall not slide

Jude
24   He (God) is able to keep
you from falling

D. Hide the Word in
your heart:

Psa.119:9                Cleanse
his way by taking heed...to Thy Word

Psa.119:11              Word
hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against

Psa.37:31                Law
of God is in his heart; none of his steps slide

Psa.119:165            Great
peace have they which love Thy law: & nothing shall offend them

(See
also 2Thes.2:15; 2Pet.1:4.)

E. Forsake
daydreaming & vain thoughts:

Psa.119:113            I
hate vain thoughts: but Thy law do I love

2Cor.10:5                Casting
down imaginations, & everything that exalteth

Phi.4:8    Whatsoever things are
true...honest...think on these

F. Have conviction;
know what you believe:

1Ki.18:21                How
long halt ye between two opinions? If the Lord be God, follow Him

Jn.6:67-68               Jesus
(said) unto the twelve, Will ye also go away? To whom shall we go? Thou hast
the words of life

Acts
20:24             None
of these things move me...that I might finish (my) ministry...to testify the
gospel

Rom.14:5b              Let
every man be fully persuaded in his own mind

2Pet.1:10                Make
your calling & election sure...shall never fall

G. Receive
correction & reproof:

Psa.141:5                Let
righteous reprove me...shall be an excellent oil

Pro.6:23  Reproofs of instruction are the way of
life (See also Pro.10:17)

Pro.27:5,6               Faithful
are the wounds of a friend

Heb.3:13 Exhort one another daily, lest any of you be
hardened

Heb.12:5-13           Endure
chastening...lest (ye) be turned out of the way

H. Confess your
problems & sins:

Pro.28:13                Whoso
confesseth & forsaketh (sins) shall have mercy

Heb.12:1 Lay aside every weight, & the sin...&
run the race

Jam.5:16 Confess your faults one to another, & pray
one for

(See
also Job 11:14; 1Jn.1:8-10.)

I. Withdraw
yourself from those who turn away from the truth:

Psa.1:1-2                (Walk)
not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor (sit)

Psa.119:63              I
am a companion of them that fear Thee, & of them that keep Thy precepts
(See also Pro.13:20)

Rom.16:17,18         Avoid
them...by fair speeches deceive the simple

Eph.5:11 Have no fellowship with...but rather reprove
them

2Thes.3:6               Withdraw
selves from brother that walketh disorderly

1Tim.6:3-5              Perverse
disputings...from such withdraw thyself

2Pet.3:17                Beware
lest ye being led away with the wicked, fall

(See
also Exo.23:2a; Pro.1:10,15.)

J. Love not the
world:

Rom.12:2                Be
not conformed to this world, but be ye transformed

Gal.6:14  Cross of Christ, (whereby) world is
crucified unto me

2Tim.2:4 No man that warreth entangleth self with...this
world

1Jn.2:15  Love not the world, neither the things in
the world

(See
also Col.3:2; 1Cor.7:31.)

K. Endure hardships:

Psa.44:14-18          All
this is come upon us: yet...our heart is not turned back, neither have our
steps declined

2Tim.2:3 Endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus
Christ

Heb.11:24,25          Choosing
rather to suffer affliction...than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season

(See
also Heb.12:1-3)

L. Remember how
much you've already endured:

Gal.3:4    Have ye suffered so many
things in vain?

Heb.10:32               Call
to remembrance the former days, in which...ye en dured a great fight (See also
Heb.6:11)

M. Give up personal
desires, endure temptations:

Lk.9:23-25              Whosoever
will save his life shall lose it

1Cor.9:27                I
keep my body (under), & bring it into subjection: lest...I myself should be
a castaway

Phi.3:7,8 Suffered the loss of all things & count
them but dung

(See
also Lk.14:33; 1Tim.6:10,11; Jam.1:12; 1Pet.2:11.)

N. Be thankful
& content:

Phi.4:11  Have learned, in whatever state I am...to
be content

1Thes.5:18             In
everything give thanks

1Tim.6:6-8              Having
food & raiment let us be therewith content

(See
also Pro.15:16; Eccl.6:9; Heb.13:5.)

O. Forget your
worldly past:

Psa.45:10                Forget
thine own people, & thy father's house

Lk.9:60    Let the dead bury the dead:
but go thou & preach

Phi.3:13,14             Forgetting
things which are behind, I reach forward

(See
also 1Pet.4:2,3)

P. Be thankful for
what He's delivered you from:

Psa.40:2  He brought me out of an horrible
pit...& set my feet upon a rock

Q. Consider what
backsliding leads to:

Pro.5:8-13               Lest
thou give thy years unto the cruel...& thou mourn at the last

Pro.13:15                The
way of the transgressor is hard

Pro.21:16                (He)
shall remain in the congregation of the dead

Ezk.3:20  Righteousness which he hath done...not be
remembered

Lk.17:32  Remember Lot's wife [She became a pillar
of salt]

1Cor.3:11-15          If
any build...wood, hay, stubble...he shall suffer loss

Gal.4:9    How turn ye again...ye desire
again to be in bondage

2Pet.2:20                If
after they have escaped the...world...they are again entangled therein, the
latter end is worse

(See
also Psa.106:15; Ezk.18:24; Gal.6:7,8; Rev.3:11.)

8. The attitude to
have towards backsliders:

A. Try to win them
back, if possible:

Jer.31:20 Since I spake against him, I remember him still

Lk.15:4-6                What
man...having 100 sheep, if he lose one, doth not

Lk.15:20-24            [Father
rejoiced & welcomed prodigal son back home]

(See
also Gal.6:1,2; 2Tim.2:24-26.)

B. Don't give up on
one-time backsliders:

Jer.31:17 There is hope in thine end...that thy children
shall come again to their own border

(See
the story of Simon Peter in Lk.22:54-62; Mk.16:7; Acts 2:14,38,40.)

(See
the story of John Mark in Acts 13:5,13; 14:36-40; 2Tim.4:11.)

C. But forget
trying to win chronic backsliders:

Judg.10:13-14        Ye
have forsaken Me...I will deliver you no more

1Sam.15:35;
16:1   Samuel mourned for
Saul...& the Lord said..."How long wilt thou mourn for Saul, seeing I
have rejected him"

Jer.8:5     Slidden back by a
perpetual backsliding...they refuse to return

Hos.4:17 Ephraim joined to idols: let him alone (See
Mat.15:14)

Heb.6:4-6               Impossible...if
they shall fall away, to renew them

(See
also 1Tim.6:5; Tit.3:10,11.)

D. Some people were
never really part of your fellowship:

Gal.2:4    False brethren
unawares...came in privily to spy out

1Jn.2:19  They went out from us, but they were not of
us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued

Jude
4     Men crept
in...who were ordained to condemnation

E. Some backsliders
become enemies of the cross:

Mat.12:30               He
that gathereth not with Me, scattereth abroad

Phi.3:18  For many walk...they are enemies of the
cross

(Judas'
backsliding: Mat.26:14-15,47-50; 27:5.)

(Alexander's
backsliding: 1Tim.1:19,20; 2Tim.4:14,15.)

Special chapters: Num.13:31-33,14:1-34; Neh.9:15-37; Psa.78, 106;
Ezk.16; Lk.15:11-32; 2Pet.2.