686. What is a Backslider? (#2) - November 18, 2024

[00:00:06] Welcome to Wisdom Today. My name is Bill Kelley and I'll be your host. In this podcast we will be exploring the book of Proverbs.

[00:00:21] Let's open in prayer. Father God, I thank you for anyone listening to this podcast today. Lord, I pray that you would reveal to everyone listening how much you truly love each and every one of them.

[00:00:34] In addition, I pray that everyone listening would have favor with both God and man. I ask this in Jesus' name. Amen.

[00:00:44] This is Proverbs 18, beginning in verse 1.

[00:00:48] A man who isolates himself seeks his own desire. He rages against all wise judgment.

[00:00:56] A fool has no delight in understanding, but in expressing his own heart.

[00:01:02] When the wicked comes, contempt comes also, and with dishonor comes reproach.

[00:01:10] The words of a man's mouth are deep waters. The wellspring of wisdom is a flowing brook.

[00:01:18] It is not good to show partiality to the wicked, or to overthrow the righteous in judgment.

[00:01:26] A fool's lips enter into contention, and his mouth calls for blows.

[00:01:33] A fool's mouth is his destruction, and his lips are the snare of his soul.

[00:01:40] The words of a tailbearer are like tasty trifles, and they go down into the inmost body.

[00:01:47] He who is slothful in his work is a brother to him who is a great destroyer.

[00:01:55] The name of the Lord is a strong tower. The righteous run to it and are safe.

[00:02:02] The rich man's wealth is his strong city, and like a high wall in his own esteem.

[00:02:10] Before destruction, the heart of a man is haughty, and before honor is humility.

[00:02:18] He who answers a matter before he hears it, it is folly and shame to him.

[00:02:25] The spirit of a man will sustain him in sickness, but who can bear a broken spirit?

[00:02:34] The heart of the prudent acquires knowledge, and the ear of the wise seeks knowledge.

[00:02:41] A man's gift makes room for him, and brings him before great men.

[00:02:48] The first one to plead his cause seems right, until his neighbor comes and examines him.

[00:02:55] Casting lots causes contentions to cease, and keeps the mighty apart.

[00:03:03] A brother offended is harder to win than a strong city, and contentions are like the bars of a castle.

[00:03:12] A man's stomach shall be satisfied from the fruit of his mouth.

[00:03:17] From the produce of his lips he shall be filled.

[00:03:21] Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruit.

[00:03:29] He who finds a wife finds a good thing, and obtains favor from the Lord.

[00:03:36] The poor man uses entreaties, but the rich answers roughly.

[00:03:41] A man who has friends must himself be friendly.

[00:03:47] But there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.

[00:03:52] Friends, today I'd like to key in on two verses, verses 10 and 11.

[00:03:59] And Proverb 18, verses 10 and 11 tell us this.

[00:04:04] The name of the Lord is a strong tower.

[00:04:07] The righteous run to it and are safe.

[00:04:11] The rich man's wealth is his strong city, and like a high wall in his own esteem.

[00:04:19] Now friends, we will come back and visit those two verses prior to closing today.

[00:04:25] But what I'd like to do is to continue the lesson that I began on Thursday's podcast.

[00:04:33] Now Thursday's podcast was number 684, and I entitled it,

[00:04:39] What Does It Mean to Backslide?

[00:04:42] I want you to think about that.

[00:04:45] Now as a Christian, you often hear of that term.

[00:04:49] But before we go into today's lesson, I would like to review a couple things that I brought up on Thursday.

[00:04:58] And first of all, to be a backslider, you must first have a true relationship with Jesus Christ.

[00:05:08] Now what exactly does that mean?

[00:05:11] Well, that means that you said the sinner's prayer.

[00:05:15] But you have to go way, way past that.

[00:05:20] Many people say the sinner's prayer, and they'll leave church that day, and they won't do anything with it.

[00:05:26] That is not true salvation.

[00:05:30] True salvation is doing something with that decision that you just made.

[00:05:36] And a lot of that has to do with the first chapter of James, when it says,

[00:05:43] you must be doers of the word and not hearers only.

[00:05:47] If you are truly saved, then your life is going to change.

[00:05:54] But you have to purpose in your heart that it's going to change.

[00:05:58] You have to willingly change and make some changes in your life.

[00:06:03] It's not going to happen unless you literally are a participant in this activity.

[00:06:09] You have to go about it.

[00:06:12] And the second part is, can Christians backslide?

[00:06:16] And the point I wanted to get on Thursday's lesson, and I'll reiterate here today,

[00:06:22] is only Christians can backslide.

[00:06:26] If you have never had a true relationship with Jesus, then you can't backslide.

[00:06:34] You never really were saved.

[00:06:37] So what I'd like to do today is to review our lesson on Thursday and just add a little bit to it.

[00:06:45] Okay?

[00:06:46] The lesson that I went was found in BibleStudyTools.com

[00:06:52] And the contributing writer who wrote this particular article is Clarence Haynes, Jr.

[00:07:00] So what I'd like to do is go directly to the two takeaways from Thursday's lesson.

[00:07:09] Now, friends, what that means is if you do get an opportunity,

[00:07:12] I invite you to go back to Thursday's lesson and listen to what I said prior to these two takeaways.

[00:07:21] But if you don't, I will kind of review anyway.

[00:07:24] So takeaway number one is that the backslide is temporary.

[00:07:31] Now listen carefully to what this author has to tell us.

[00:07:35] If you recall in the story, and here we're talking about the prodigal son,

[00:07:42] which is found in Luke's Gospel.

[00:07:44] The son returned to his senses and realized what he had left behind by leaving the father's house.

[00:07:53] This created in him a desire to return home.

[00:07:58] If you look back at the same chapter in Revelation,

[00:08:02] Jesus told the church in Ephesus to repent and do the things you did at first.

[00:08:10] And the actual words are return to your first love.

[00:08:15] Friends, once we receive Jesus and accept him into our hearts,

[00:08:19] we change. Our desires change.

[00:08:23] And that's what he's talking about here.

[00:08:26] The prodigal did exactly that after recognizing his error.

[00:08:31] I believe everyone who has entered a true relationship with Jesus Christ

[00:08:37] will have a similar experience.

[00:08:40] Even in a backslidden state, they will come to their senses.

[00:08:46] The change will not just happen of their own accord,

[00:08:51] but the Holy Spirit will work in their heart,

[00:08:55] and they won't be able to enjoy the sin they have returned to.

[00:09:00] This temporary condition speaks more to God's faithfulness to keep us

[00:09:07] and never give up on us than it does to our ability to come to our senses.

[00:09:14] Once you belong to Christ, you belong to him forever.

[00:09:19] Even if you have moments where you are faithless,

[00:09:25] he will remain faithful to you.

[00:09:27] Now, that bears repeating.

[00:09:30] Let me repeat that last comment I just made.

[00:09:34] Even if you have moments where you are faithless,

[00:09:39] he will remain faithful to you.

[00:09:42] Friends, Jesus is always going to be faithful.

[00:09:47] His Father God is also always going to be faithful.

[00:09:52] If anyone is going to fall off the railroad tracks,

[00:09:56] it's going to be us and not either of them.

[00:10:00] Now, the second takeaway from Thursday's lesson is

[00:10:03] that Christians will never lose that salvation.

[00:10:08] And friends, this is something that we can hang on to

[00:10:11] because I know a lot of people have asked me,

[00:10:14] what if you do this?

[00:10:16] And what if you do this?

[00:10:17] Can you or will you still be saved?

[00:10:21] And this article explains this very clearly.

[00:10:25] Listen to what the author has to tell us.

[00:10:28] There is another truth we must see in this story

[00:10:33] that lets me know when a Christian backslides,

[00:10:37] they don't lose their salvation.

[00:10:40] In the story of the prodigal son,

[00:10:42] at no point did he stop being the father's son.

[00:10:47] While his fellowship with the father was broken,

[00:10:51] and friends, I'm going to pause just a moment here

[00:10:54] because whenever we enter into sin,

[00:10:58] our relationship with God is immediately cut off.

[00:11:03] God is not going to stay with us if we are sinning.

[00:11:09] And it doesn't matter what the sin is.

[00:11:11] I want everybody to understand this

[00:11:13] because there's a verse in scripture that's very clear.

[00:11:15] And it says,

[00:11:16] and in him, there is no darkness at all.

[00:11:21] Friends, sin is darkness.

[00:11:24] If you are sinning, then you are in darkness.

[00:11:30] It may only be temporary, but you are in darkness

[00:11:34] and God or Jesus, neither one is going to be there.

[00:11:37] So let's go on.

[00:11:40] And he says,

[00:11:41] he was a son when he decided to leave the father's house.

[00:11:45] And he was a son when he finally returned.

[00:11:49] Now I'm going to make mention of this

[00:11:51] because some of you may not be all that familiar

[00:11:55] with the story of the prodigal son.

[00:11:57] But before he came back,

[00:11:59] he had squandered all of the inheritance

[00:12:02] his father had given him.

[00:12:04] He had squandered everything.

[00:12:05] And he was in a miserable state.

[00:12:08] And he actually was living among pigs.

[00:12:12] And he actually got to the point where he was so hungry.

[00:12:15] He said, I'm going to eat like a pig rather than starve.

[00:12:19] And he says, I need to go home.

[00:12:22] But he finally came to his senses.

[00:12:25] But before he did, he had to literally live among the pigs.

[00:12:31] Again, this speaks to the father's heart

[00:12:34] because he never disowned his son.

[00:12:38] And friends, Jesus will never disown us.

[00:12:41] God will never disown us.

[00:12:44] We may rebel, but he will always love us

[00:12:48] regardless of what it is that we do.

[00:12:50] I must clarify one thing.

[00:12:53] This truth does not give people license to sin freely

[00:12:58] and still be saved.

[00:13:00] Someone who thinks that way

[00:13:03] was probably never saved in the first place.

[00:13:08] So friends, God has an immense amount of grace

[00:13:13] that he is willing to bestow upon us.

[00:13:16] But if we have a mentality

[00:13:19] that it is okay to sin,

[00:13:22] then more than likely

[00:13:24] we never were saved in the first place.

[00:13:28] So do not think in your heart

[00:13:32] that it is ever okay

[00:13:34] to have a license to sin.

[00:13:37] It simply is not so.

[00:13:40] Now, before I close today's lesson,

[00:13:43] I'd like to answer this question.

[00:13:44] How can we help someone who is backsliding?

[00:13:50] In other words, we have a friend

[00:13:52] or maybe a family member

[00:13:54] and you know they're saved beyond the shadow of a doubt.

[00:13:56] And if there were to die that day,

[00:13:59] they would be going to heaven.

[00:14:01] You know that.

[00:14:02] They've demonstrated that they are a Christian

[00:14:04] and yet they have slipped off the rails temporarily

[00:14:10] and they are doing something that they should not be doing.

[00:14:14] They know it.

[00:14:15] You know it.

[00:14:16] And sometimes many people know it.

[00:14:18] So what do you do?

[00:14:19] And we can find that answer in the book of Galatians.

[00:14:22] If you go to the first verse in Galatians of chapter six,

[00:14:27] listen to how we do that.

[00:14:31] Brothers and sisters,

[00:14:33] if someone is caught in a sin,

[00:14:38] you who live by the spirit should restore that person gently.

[00:14:46] You should restore that person gently.

[00:14:50] That means that you're not ridiculing them.

[00:14:54] That means that you're not trying to put shame on them

[00:14:58] or make them feel guilty.

[00:15:01] But watch yourselves

[00:15:04] or you also may be tempted.

[00:15:08] Now, friends, I have to add that last point.

[00:15:11] Because if you, for example,

[00:15:14] and your friend is, say, cheating on their spouse,

[00:15:19] I want you to think about this.

[00:15:21] If you do not correct them

[00:15:25] and you go someplace with this person

[00:15:29] and all of a sudden, next thing you know,

[00:15:32] one of their friends goes

[00:15:34] and you may be able to be tempted

[00:15:38] if you say that your friend is indulging in that activity,

[00:15:43] do not allow yourself to go there.

[00:15:48] That what this is said.

[00:15:50] We go after them with the same love and compassion

[00:15:54] that God goes after us.

[00:15:57] This does not mean we don't speak the truth,

[00:16:00] but we do this with love.

[00:16:03] It is important to understand why their love for Jesus went cold.

[00:16:09] You can ask them.

[00:16:10] This will call for patience and grace,

[00:16:13] not necessarily criticism and judgment,

[00:16:16] as I mentioned earlier.

[00:16:17] Don't forget, backsliding is often connected to something that has happened in their life.

[00:16:24] And it is our responsibility to help them through it.

[00:16:30] I will finish this with one thought.

[00:16:33] Don't give up on any believer who is in a backslidden position.

[00:16:39] Also, don't talk about them.

[00:16:42] Instead, pray for them, love them, encourage them,

[00:16:48] and don't leave them alone.

[00:16:51] Remember, Jesus left the 99 sheep to go after the one sheep that was lost.

[00:17:00] And if you want to read that story, that could be your homework tonight.

[00:17:05] Go to Matthew's Gospel, chapter 18, and visit verses 10 through 14.

[00:17:12] You may not be that one today, but you could be tomorrow.

[00:17:17] Go after the backslider the same way you would want someone to go after you.

[00:17:24] When you remember that God's kindness often wins back, the heart leading to repentance.

[00:17:32] Friends, before we close today's lesson, I would like to go back to our Proverb of the day.

[00:17:38] And that was found in Proverb 18.

[00:17:40] And let's go over verses 10 and 11 one more time.

[00:17:45] And it says,

[00:17:53] Now verse 11 is different.

[00:17:57] It contrasts the believer to the rich man who does not know God.

[00:18:03] Listen to verse 11.

[00:18:05] The rich man's wealth is his strong city and like a high wall in his own esteem.

[00:18:14] Listen to the commentary for those two verses.

[00:18:18] The phrase,

[00:18:19] The name of the Lord is a way of speaking of God's person.

[00:18:23] The righteous, meaning godly people who have received Jesus as their Lord and Savior,

[00:18:29] turn to God for security.

[00:18:32] They know that you're safe with him.

[00:18:34] Rich people, by contrast, tend to trust their wealth.

[00:18:39] And friends, money is never going to buy you happiness.

[00:18:42] Money is never going to fulfill your soul.

[00:18:47] It's never going to.

[00:18:49] Only God and his son Jesus can fill that void in your life.

[00:18:56] So friends, it's time for my call to action.

[00:19:00] And what I'd like for you to think about after listening to this lesson today is,

[00:19:09] Are you in a backslidden state?

[00:19:13] Are you currently in a good relationship with God?

[00:19:19] Are you satisfied with where you are in your relationship with God?

[00:19:27] Or do you need to tweak your relationship and maybe take a few things that are in your life and get rid of some things?

[00:19:36] It's very important that you consider that.

[00:19:40] It's not hard to backslide if you are willing to enter into temptation.

[00:19:50] Temptation can be very subtle.

[00:19:53] And the devil is a wily creature.

[00:19:57] He will come after you.

[00:19:59] He will make you question whether some of the things that you're doing need to be done.

[00:20:06] He is crafty.

[00:20:09] Do not allow him into your heart and allow you to be tempted.

[00:20:16] Friends, I will never end a podcast without giving anyone an opportunity to receive Jesus as their Lord and Savior.

[00:20:25] If there is anyone listening today and you've never taken that step,

[00:20:29] I invite you to repeat a simple prayer after me today.

[00:20:33] Jesus, I confess that I am a sinner and in need of a Savior.

[00:20:38] I ask that you come into my heart.

[00:20:41] I make you my Lord and Savior.

[00:20:44] Friends, that's all you need to do.

[00:20:46] If you said that prayer, I want to welcome you to the family of God.

[00:20:51] Now, may the Lord bless you and keep you.

[00:20:55] The Lord make a face shine upon you and be gracious to you.

[00:20:59] The Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.

[00:21:05] Friends, tomorrow is Testimony Day.

[00:21:09] Please join me and a special guest as we further explore Wisdom Today.