Your backsliding!
(Charles Simeon) LISTEN TO AUDIO! Download Audio
"Your wickedness will punish you; your backsliding will rebuke you! Consider then and realize how evil and bitter it is for you when you forsake the Lord your God, and have no awe of Me!" declares the Lord, the Lord Almighty. Jeremiah 2:19
Since all, more or less, have a sinful bent towards backsliding from God, it is of great importance to ascertain whether our backslidings are the sinful infirmities of a sincere godly man—or the conscious rebellion of a willful hypocrite.
Because it is indeed difficult to determine this with entire accuracy, I wish to give you some advice to aid you in this inquiry.
We must diligently examine the cause, the duration, and the effects of our backslidings.
1. The CAUSE of our backslidings.
The backslidings of sincere Christians arise from the weakness of their flesh, while their spirit is yet as willing as ever.
The backslidings of hypocrites proceed from a radical dislike to the ways of God.
2. The DURATION of our backslidings.
The backslidings of sincere Christians continue but a short time, and are an occasion of greater diligence.
The backslidings of hypocrites are lengthy, and become the habit of their life.
3. The EFFECTS of our backslidings.
The backslidings of sincere Christians humble them in the dust.
The backslidings of hypocrites produce a blindness of mind, a seared conscience, and a hardness of heart.
We encourage all backslidden Christians to guard against the first risings of spiritual decay!
"Return, you backsliding children, and I will heal your backslidings."
"Indeed we do come to You, for You are the Lord our God." Jeremiah 3:22
God mercifully warns the hypocrite of his final doom:
"The hope of the hypocrite shall perish! What he trusts in is fragile; what he relies on is a spider's web. He leans on his web, but it gives way; he clings to it, but it does not hold." Job 8:13-15
"For what is the hope of the hypocrite, though he has gained, when God takes away his soul?" Job 27:8