The Backslider | Part 1

Do you love Jesus more today than ever before?

Listen to Adrian Rogers. Welcome to Love Worth Finding, featuring the timeless teaching of pastor and author Adrian Rogers. At some point in our walk with Christ, we're going to stumble and experience setbacks in our growth. Even King David, though a man after God's own heart, was a great sinner and backslider.

But we also find that David was a great repenter, and he exemplifies the way back to God after sliding into sin. If you have your Bible, turn to Proverbs chapter 14. Look at verse 14, as Adrian Rogers shares part one of The Backslider. Take your Bibles and look in Proverbs chapter 14 and verse 14.

Are you ready? Proverbs 14 and verse 14. The backslider in heart shall be filled with his own ways, and a good man shall be satisfied from himself. The backslider in heart. I want to talk to you today about the backslider, who he is and what he's like. Well, you say, preacher, I hope some of those old backsliders may be here to listen to you today.

Well, friend, you may be the one I'm talking to. You know, frequently a backslider does not realize that he is a backslider. What is a backslider anyway? Well, you say a backslider is a lost person who doesn't know the Lord.

Well, you're wrong. A backslider is someone who does know the Lord. No unsaved person can be a backslider. A backslider is someone who does know the Lord.

You have to go somewhere before you can slide back. A backslider is someone who has known the Lord, met the Lord, and then has slid back from that relationship that he once had with the Lord. He is still saved, but he is out of fellowship with God. As a matter of fact, if there was ever a time when you loved the Lord Jesus Christ more than you do today, you are a backslider. If there was ever a time when you trusted him more, if there was ever a time when your prayer life was richer, if there was ever a time when you loved and enjoyed the Bible more, if there was ever a time when you were a better soul winner than you are now, then you're a backslider. And you need to pay attention because the Bible says the backslider in heart should be filled with his own ways. And by the way, many are a backslider in heart before they become a backslider in action.

And the Bible says out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaketh, and as a man thinketh in his heart, so is he. And the first step is to become a backslider in heart. So I want us to pay very much attention as we talk about a backslider now.

I want us to go for an illustration. I've thought of many illustrations in the Bible of what a backslider is and what happens to a backslider, but I could think of no better illustration than to have you turn right now in your Bibles to 2 Samuel chapter 11. In 2 Samuel chapter 11, we have there the story of David and his committing adultery with Bathsheba. There's hardly a person who has not heard of David and Bathsheba and the horrible, terrible thing that David did when he committed adultery with Bathsheba. But let me say as we're turning to 2 Samuel chapter 11 that David was one of the greatest men who ever lived. I have a profound admiration in my heart for David. As a matter of fact, I've read and studied about David so much in the Bible that I think of David as one of my friends, though I've never met him. And I tell you, I'm looking forward to a couple of thousand years of fellowship with David one afternoon in heaven as we sit around and talk about the things of God. What a man was David. The Bible calls David a man after God's own heart. I tell you, David was a courageous man.

The Bible tells about how David slew a lion and how David slew a bear, and we all know what he did to old Goliath. He was a courageous man. What a gifted man was David, David the sweet singer of Israel, David who was a musician, David who was a poet, David who was a prophet, David who was a king, David who led the kingdom to such heights of glory that he perhaps was Israel's greatest king. Few people in all of the world have ever been more singularly blessed and gifted, had more talent, more ability, more natural innate ability than did this man that we call David. Not only was he a courageous man, and not only was he a gifted man, but he was such a humble man. After he was anointed to be the king over Israel, you know what he did?

He went right back out to tending the sheep. What a humble man was this man David. Few men have been more humble, had genuine humility than this man David.

And then again, what a noble man he was. Do you remember reading in the Bible how Saul was trying to kill David, Saul who was at that time the king of Israel, and David fled for his life like a partridge on the mountains of Israel? And yet there came a time when Saul was in David's hand and David had the ability to kill Saul. David didn't do it. David said, God forbid that I should touch the Lord's anointed. What nobility there was in this man.

Are you listening to me? And yet David fell, and he fell hard, and he fell long. Terrible and tragic was the fall of David.

Now that brings me to say something, and I want you to pay attention. If David became a backslider, don't you think that ought to be a warning to you? I mean, listen, you don't love God more than David did. You're not more gifted than David. You're not more humble than David. You're not more noble than David. David was a man after God's own heart, and what a solemn warning.

What a solemn warning. This passage of Scripture ought to be to every one of us, so I want you to give me your attention, and don't you let the devil steal away the seed that's going to be sown in your heart and in your mind today. Now, we're going to find the story of David's sin here, and look, if you will, first of all, as we think of the cause of David's backsliding, the cause of David's backsliding. I'm reading here in chapter 11, verses 1 and 2, and it came to pass, after the year was expired, at the time when kings go forth to battle, that David sent Joab and his servants with him and all Israel, and they destroyed the children of Ammon and besieged Rabbah, but David tarried still at Jerusalem.

And it came to pass in an evening tide that David arose from off his bed and walked upon the roof of the king's house, and from the roof he saw a woman washing herself, and the woman was very beautiful to look upon. Now, we're talking here about the cause of David's backsliding, and the very first cause I want to say is the cause of casualness, the sin of casualness. David now has become very casual about the things of the Lord. Verse 1 tells us that it was the time when kings went to war, but David didn't go to war. David did not go to fight Israel's battles.

He did not go to fight God's enemies. David was the king. David was the commander-in-chief. He was a warrior king, and in his younger days, David would have been there right in the forefront of the battle.

But do you know what's happened? David has had victories piled upon victory. David has known nothing but success, and now he thinks he can send Joab and somebody else to fight for him.

David now has decided he's going to live a life of ease. You see, he's taking God for granted. He's taking the blessings of God for granted. He's taking the victories of God for granted, and he's sending somebody else into the battle.

Now, the Bible tells us that we're to endure hardness as good soldiers of Jesus Christ, and many of you here today are just like David. God has blessed you in your younger years, and you've known victory, and you've known power, and you've known God, and God has been with you. Now you're beginning to coast. Now you're beginning to presume.

Now you just simply assume that God is going to be with you, and you're committing the sin of casualness. If you'll notice in verse 2, the Bible says it was at evening time. Are you watching? That David arose from his bed.

Look at that! It's getting dark, and David is getting out of bed. He's going to be going to bed, and he's getting out of bed. Do you know what David has been doing? He's been lounging around being lazy.

It doesn't even sound like David. How casual this man has become. There's a cliché, a little slogan, a proverb as it were. I believe you've heard it. An idle mind is the devil's workshop. Have you ever heard that? Brother, I want to tell you that's what happened to this man David. Now, if they had a television, he'd have been lying up in bed watching television.

He was simply taking it easy, and about even time now he gets out of bed. Now, let me tell you something, friend. God never intended for you to be idle in spiritual things, and God never intended for you to get out of the battle spiritually.

Never, never. You say, well, I'm going to retire one of these days. Well, you may retire from your job, but you're not going to retire from serving the Lord Jesus. And I want to tell you, those of you who are retired, that only gives you more time to serve Jesus Christ.

Did you know that? Brother, I want to tell you, you can pray better, and you can witness. Oh, I'm not saying you ought not to go fishing and putter in the yard and all of that, but as far as your relationship with God, you better watch that idleness. Here was a man who began to take God for granted, take the blessings of God and the victories of God for granted, and some of you have been so blessed, and it can happen to a church. A church can be so blessed that we get casual about the blessings of God.

But now watch. His sin of casualness turned to the sin of carelessness. Look, if you will, now, as we continue to read here in chapter 2, and the Bible goes on to say, But David arose from off his bed, and walked upon the roof of the king's house, and from the roof he saw a woman washing herself, and the woman was very beautiful to look at.

Well, you say, pastor? He couldn't help the fact that he saw her. He's just walking around, and there she is. She ought not to have been taking a bath out there like that. True.

True. And if God holds the man accountable for lusting, he certainly holds a woman accountable for acting or dressing or displaying herself in such a way as to cause a man to lust. But the idea is here that when the Bible says she was very beautiful to look upon, the idea is that David just stayed there to gaze upon her. He looked on her as Jesus said, Whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart. You see, now David, because he's casual, he's getting careless. I mean, had he been in the battle, had he been in the forefront, had he been keeping his time with God, had he not, when he saw that immediately, you know what he would have done?

He would have looked away. But now he's entertaining things and thoughts that he has no right to entertain. Somebody as well said, We can't keep the birds from flying over our heads, but we can keep them from making a nest in our hair. And here's what happened to David now. This thing is getting to lodge down in his heart. You see, the Bible speaks of the backslider in heart. That's the reason the Bible says in Proverbs 4 and verse 23, Keep by heart with all diligence, for out of it are the issues of life. As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he.

Whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her in his heart hath committed adultery with her already is what Jesus said. And so here the man is getting careless. He's dropped his guard. He is not keeping his heart. The word to keep your heart means to guard your heart. Young men, listen to me.

Young ladies, listen to me. You guard what goes into your mind and what goes into your ears and what you see with your eyes. The Bible says, Guard your heart with all diligence. You wouldn't put garbage in your mouth.

Why put garbage in your mind? The Bible says in Isaiah 33 and verse 15, He that walketh righteously and speaketh uprightly, he that despiseth the gain of oppression, that shaketh his hands from the holding of bribes, now listen to this, that stoppeth his ears from the hearing of blood and shutteth his eyes from seeing evil, he shall dwell on high. Now what does God say?

God has said there's some violence, there's some sin. You better not look upon it. You see, can a man take a fire in his bosom and be not burned?

Can a man go upon hot coals and it not affect him? The Bible says there's certain things that you're to close your eyes to, that you're to stop your ears to, and listen, but many of God's people and some of you, because you've gotten casual in these last days, you're getting so sophisticated, you're watching things you have no business watching. You're listening to things that you have no business listening to. You're going places you have no business going. You're associating with people that you have no business associating with. You have become careless.

Now watch. First he was casual, just lolling around. Then he became careless, and not only was it a sin of casualness and carelessness, it was also a sin of compulsiveness. Look, if you will, now as we continue to read here in verse 3, and David sent and inquired after the woman.

Now, compulsively he did that. That is, David had not planned to do this thing. It was the spur of the moment. He looked down there and he said, hmm, come over here, see that woman down there?

What's her name? Find out for me, will you? Now he had not planned this thing. It was the spur of the moment, but it came out of a heart that was casual and careless. David, had you told David a week prior to this that he would have done such a thing, he would have denied it.

He never knew that he had this proclivity, this evil within his heart, but David did something that he was ashamed of doing that humiliated him, he did it on an impulse, he did it in a moment. Are you listening? Some of you are going to fall and you're going to fall hard, and when you fall you're going to be surprised and amazed, but God will not be surprised because you've been casual about your relationship with God, you've been careless in the things that you've been saying and doing and seeing and the places you've been going, and then when the devil has you right at the right moment, you are going down, going down. You're going to fall and you're going to be amazed. You sit there right now and you protest and you say, not me, I would never do anything like that.

There are three persons sitting in the chair that you're in this morning. There's the person you are right now and the person you could be for God. I tell you, very few people realize what God could do through you if you were to give him everything.

I mean, if you were just to get sold out for God, you cannot begin to dream what God could do through your life if he had every inch, every ounce, every nerve, every fiber of your being, what God could do with your life, but I want to tell you something else. There's a person sitting in that seat that you occupy that you would hardly recognize that has a capability of evil and sin. Oh, you say, not me. Yes, you.

Yes, you. That old life, that flesh is still there, and I want to tell you, dear friend, Paul said, I know in me and my flesh dwelleth no good thing, and if you'll study the lives of God's saints, almost every one of them, there's been a terrible, horrible episode where they took their eyes off the Lord Jesus Christ and got into sin, and down they went, and you listen to me. I told you in the beginning of this message, you know better than David. You know wiser than David.

You know stronger than David. God put this here in the 11th chapter of 2 Samuel as a warning to every mother's child among us. He committed the sin of compulsiveness. He did something in a moment. He did something that he had not intended to do.

He had not thought about doing, but the devil moved him from casualness to carelessness to compulsiveness, and now he moves to callousness. In this same chapter, you're going to find out, and had I time, I would tell you the whole story, but many of you know the story, how David, in order to try to cover his sin, had Bathsheba's husband put to death. Now, what happened is this, that David wanted everybody to believe that the child that was conceived was not David's, but indeed Bathsheba's husband. His name was Uriah. But what David did, and by the way, Uriah was one of the finest men in David's army. David, in order to try to cover for his sin, told Joab, the commander-in-chief, put Uriah out there in the hottest part of the battle, and when the battle is real thick, and when the arrows are flying, and when there's great danger, tell the rest of the soldiers to withdraw. Leave Uriah out there stranded, and he'll be slain.

Nobody, nobody will know what has happened. They will all believe it was but an accident or an act of war, but it was at the best manslaughter. At the worst, it was murder, and David did this thing.

Now, pay attention with me. When David committed sin with Bathsheba, that was a warm-blooded sin, but when David put Uriah to death, that was a cold-blooded sin. He had to think it out. This was not a sin of casualness. This was not a sin of compulsiveness. This was not a sin of carelessness. This was a sin that was connived. It was a sin that was planned.

It was a sin of callousness. I can't believe that David is doing such a thing. David was Uriah's friend. He was Uriah's king. He was Uriah's commander-in-chief, and as such, he should have been his protector, but rather than being his protector, he would have changed his life, and Uriah, who would have died for David's honor, died at David's hand. How could David do such a thing?

The devil knew exactly how to get David. David, the man after God's heart, became careless, and from that time on, he went down. That's the cause, the cause of David's backsliding. Now, some of you have come to the part where David is right now. David got so calloused and so hard-hearted that he wouldn't even admit his sin, and there's some of you that way listening to me. There are those who are listening who know God and love God in their heart, but you have become so hardened in your sin that you're actually now scheming and conniving and sinning with your eyes wide open. The second thing I want you to see, not only do I want you to see the cause of David's backsliding, but I want you to see the cost of David's backsliding.

What did it do? I want you to see that God took the prosperity out of David's life. I want you to see what sin did to David because sin has its cost, and it began to cost David very much. What happened is this, that David went for almost a whole year without confessing his sins. The Bible tells us about it in Psalm 32. Turn to Psalm 32 with me for a moment. Here's David's testimony. This was written after David got right with God, and he said, Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Boy, I want to tell you when a backslider gets right with God. Oh, boy, what a joy, what a relief it is. Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.

Blessed, David says, is the man to whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile, that is, no deceit. He's quit trying to cover his sin. And then he gives his testimony. He tells what happened to him. When I kept silence, my bones waxed old. Now, what happened to David in that year?

He aged, I imagine, ten years. Sin causes premature aging. A merry heart doeth good like a medicine. But then he went on to say that sin causes brittleness, the dryness of the bones. That's what he's saying here. He's saying that the physical strength went out of me.

For a year, my bones waxed old. Look, if you will, in verse 3. He says, through my roaring all the day long.

Now, the word roaring, don't let that fool you. What it literally means is through my groaning all the day long. All day long, David's heart is vexed within him because he sinned.

I want you to pay very much attention to me because if you don't pay attention, some of you are going to get misled. Some of you who are living in adultery or some kind of sin say, well, if David went to heaven, I'm going to heaven, too. Well, I hope, dear friend, if you're living in that kind of sin, the same thing is true about you that was true about David. Do you know what happened to David? I want to tell you David was having a turmoil in his heart. It was, pardon the expression, eating his guts out.

My roaring, my roaring all the day long. When God saves you, mister, God doesn't fix you up where you cannot sin anymore, God fixes you where you cannot sin and enjoy it anymore. And the most miserable man in the world is not a lost man. The most miserable man in the world is a saved man out of fellowship with God. And David talks about the hand of God that was upon him. He goes on to say, thy hand, verse 4, was heavy upon me night and day. When you're a child of God and you do this way, the Bible says those whom the Lord loves he chastens and God laid his hand upon this man. God had David in his grip.

God was shaking David and reminding David of his sin. Maybe today you have questions regarding your relationship with God. We'd love to offer an insightful resource on our website. It's our Find Answers page. There you'll find resources and materials that will answer questions you may have about your faith in Jesus. We also want to invite you to check out our Grow Your Faith page, where you can get grounded and dig deeper in the scriptures.

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