The Backslider | Part 2

From the Love Word Finding studios in Memphis, Tennessee, I'm Byron Tyler here with Kerry Vaughn, the CEO of Love Word Finding. Kerry, today we continue our series, A Word to the Wise. These messages all from the book of Proverbs. You know, I believe God will give us wisdom, but I also believe that we need to live out the marks of maturity. In other words, we need to do the things we already know, right?

Prayer, read His Word, evangelize. You know, we need to play that out. And be obedient in those things so that God will open up the door to more wisdom. That we can become backsliders. And that's really the title of today's message, the backslider, as we look in Proverbs chapter 14.

Yeah, it's hard to get two things. It's hard to get self and sin out of the way. I'm reminded, Proverbs 28, 13, He who covers his sins will not prosper, but whoever confesses and forsakes them will have mercy. Well, the example two of King David, you know, though he was a man after God's own heart, he was a great sinner and a backslider. In 2 Samuel chapter 11, we see where he committed adultery.

And in covering it up, he committed murder. But we find that David was also a great repenter. He turned from his sin. And this exemplifies the way back to God after we slide into sin. And that is such a wonderful thing to know about His grace. Well, that's right. And David goes down in the history books as a man after God's own heart. So it's God's grace that we all are blessed with. Well, I think we need to be careful again.

David's casualness was quickly turned into carelessness and the compulsive affair with a married woman. And we've got to guard our hearts. We've got to make sure that we have an accountability system and that we're staying faithful to Christ. Dr. Rogers once said that you wouldn't put garbage in your mouth. So why would you put garbage in your mind?

And why would you put garbage in your mind? And that's a great, great reminder to us that we need to really be buried in the Word of God. Oh, that's so good. Well, Nicole from Ministry Services is back with us this week. Nicole, I'm really looking forward to you sharing this story. You know, Love We're Finding we talk about reaches so many people around the world, but it also has a ministry in prison.

Absolutely, Byron. This one is a very special testimony. And I just want to thank you for inviting me to be with you and Carrie in the studio. Today, and I'm going to share this testimony from a prisoner and I know that our listeners will be encouraged and blessed by it. The letter says, I came to the Lord Jesus about 10 years after I came to death row.

Since then, Love We're Finding has been a continual blessing. I want to encourage you all in the faith. Stand firm and continue to fight the good fight.

Know you all are in my prayers this day. Wow, that is powerful. That is so powerful. What a great testimony.

Old things have passed away. Behold, all things have become new. That's exactly the ministry of Love We're Finding. Now, we're a mass communications ministry, but the essence of radio and those radio outlets going into the prison going into the souls of people. And what a great opportunity. So thank you, those that listen, those that support and pray for this ministry. That is a tremendous, tremendous tool for us in the days ahead. Well, with today's message, the backslider part two.

Here's Adrian Rogers. 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 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. And you sit there right now and you protest and you say, not me.

I would never do anything like that. The three persons sitting in the chair that you're in this morning. 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. Or you say, not me. Yes, you.

Yes, you. That old life, that flesh is still there. 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 has 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. And 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 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.

Pay attention. 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. 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 took 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. 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. 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? Do you remember a few Sundays ago, I preached on Proverbs chapter 28, where the Bible says, He that covereth his sin shall not prosper? 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 cause.

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. 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. He says, 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. And then 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 it was true about David. Do you know what happened to David? 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, but 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 four, 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. You know, sometimes you go out soul winning. You come to the door, you know, sometimes there'll be a man in a undershirt, you know, with a cigarette.

He says, What do you want? Well, I'm here to talk to you about Jesus. Well, yeah. Oh, you don't need to talk to me about that.

I know all about that. I used to be a member of that church down there. Guess I'm just an old backslider. He's not a backslider. He's lost and going to hell.

No backslider laughs about it, mocks about it. I mean, listen, you claim that you gave your heart to Jesus Christ and there's sin in your life. Mister, I want to tell you, if you're saved, as surely as I'm standing here, there's going to be a cost to your sin.

You cannot sin against your God with impunity. David said, Thy hand was heavy upon me. He goes on to say, in verse four, My moisture has turned into the drought of summer. What does he mean by that? He means all the joy has gone out of his life. All the juice has gone out of his pride.

He's got a prayer in his praise. Is your faith dull and dry? You say, I don't know. I just don't enjoy going to church anymore. I just don't enjoy singing anymore.

I'll tell you why. I'll tell you why your faith is so dry. Because you're backslidden. Remember when you were right with God? Think back about that time when you loved the Lord the most, when you were right with God. You'd get in the car and roll up the windows and sing. Sometimes just lift your hands off the steering wheel and praise the Lord and just say, Lord, I love you.

Make up little songs and sing songs to the Lord. And God was real. And when the saints sang, the tears came down your cheeks, and there was joy. It's gone now.

It's gone now. No, David didn't say, Lord, restore unto me thy salvation. He said, Lord, restore unto me the joy of thy salvation, the dryness, the barrenness that comes when sin gets in the light. No, the cost, the cost. I want to tell you, dear friend, the cost of sin is high, and the pleasures of sin are brief for the child of God.

Let me go on. I want to talk to you about the crisis of David's backsliding. When a crisis is precipitated, when a man gets out of fellowship with God. Now, what happened to David was this. God deals with a backslider in four ways, and he'll deal with you the same four ways.

Step number one is conviction. God will convict you of getting away from him. He'll convict every child of God who gets out of fellowship with him. That's what David meant in Psalm 32 when he said, thy hand is heavy upon me.

God lays his hand on me. And God shakes you, and God says, that is wrong. Now, if you can sin without that conviction coming in your life, you're not really saved. That conviction will come. God will place you on a conviction. And by the way, that's the time to get right with God. That's the time to repent. The Bible says, agree with thy adversary quickly while you're in the way with him.

When God tells you that you're wrong, that's the time to get right. Now, we've raised four children. Some of those children, I'll not tell you which ones, in order to get their attention, you had to take off your belt. Others of them, all you had to do was just speak a word, and a tear would show up, and a chin would tremble, and they'd say, Daddy, I'm sorry.

So you didn't have to spank some as nearly as much as others. Any of you have children like that talking about you know some of them just like a mule, aren't they? And others, you just speak a word. We need to be that kind of a child that God can just speak to, for the Bible says if we would judge ourselves, we would not be judged that we should be chastened with this world. If we would just say, Lord, I'm sorry, Lord, you don't have to do it.

You see, when we whip our children, we're not trying to get even. What we're trying to do is to correct them, to correct them. God's not trying to get even with us. All God wants to do is to correct us.

And so the very first thing that will come, listen, pay attention, the very first thing that will come is conviction. After conviction, if you do not get right with God, chastisement comes. Whom the Lord loves, he chastens and scourges every son whom he receives.

That's what the Bible says in Hebrews chapter 12, verse 6. When the Lord loves, he chastens and scourges every son whom he may receive. God will lay the rod on you. Now, I don't know how God's going to do it.

I don't know how God's going to do it, but God will lay the rod on you. God is more interested in your obeying him and knowing him than he is your driving a Cadillac. God is more interested in your knowing him and obeying him than he is in your being healthy. God is more interested in your knowing him and obeying him than your having a lot of friends in a big time. God wants you to be right with God and he knows how to bring that chastisement.

into your life and he does it not because he doesn't love you but because he does love you. And the chastisement that was upon David was because God loved David. But now the third thing that will happen. If there comes that conviction and you don't turn and there comes that chastisement and you do not turn, there will come a challenge. God will bring a challenge to you. God brought a challenge through Nathan the prophet. Nathan the prophet came to David and confronted David. If you had time, you could read it in 2 Samuel chapter 12 where Nathan said to David, David, you have sinned against God.

You are the man. And I want to tell you when that challenge came, had David not gotten right with God, God would have killed David right then. Some of you are going to die prematurely. If you truly are a backslider and God has convicted you and you don't get right and God has chastened you and you don't get right, then God is going to challenge you. And if you don't get right, then comes the consummation. The conviction, the chastisement, the challenge, the consummation.

Now let me show you what I'm talking about. Look in 2 Samuel chapter 12 and verse 7. 2 Samuel chapter 12 and verse 7. And Nathan said to David, thou art the man. That is God put his finger upon David. And thank God that David had enough sense to get right with God. Look in verse 13. And David said unto Nathan, I have sinned against the Lord. And Nathan said to David, the Lord also hath put away thy sin. Thou shalt not die. Thou shalt not die. Had David not gotten right with God, David would have died. God would have killed David prematurely. Moses died that way. When Moses sinned against God and refused to get right with God, he died on Mount Nebo and the Bible tells us his eye was not dim, neither was his strength abated.

Moses died prematurely. The Bible tells us in 1 John that a brother can commit a sin that is unto death. That when God places a challenge, how does that challenge come? That challenge can come in many ways. It may come through your wife. It may come through your pastor.

It may come through a book that you're reading. This sermon may be God's challenge to you. But you will know it when God gives that challenge.

And when you step across that deadline, then, dear friend, you die. You go to heaven. You get there. Some people say, can a backslider get to heaven? Friend, he may get there quicker than somebody else. You will go to heaven.

David would have gone to heaven. But there's a point beyond which a man may not go. God puts that challenge there.

Are you paying attention? And if you cross that deadline, you're going to die. You will die prematurely. God will call you home. There's a sin unto death.

Do you know what she's going to say to him? Party's over. Let's go home. You're not going to stay here and humiliate me this way. Let's go home. Come on, son.

We're going home. Did you know that God's going to call some of you home? I mean, if you're saved, you say, well, I live in sin. God doesn't chastise me.

That's because you're not saved. The Bible says if you are without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are you bastards and not sons. You say, that sounds like rough language, not the way the Bible uses it. The Bible says if you were my child, I would have chastised you. God will not let one of his children stay here and disgrace him.

First conviction, then chastisement, then a challenge, and then a consummation. I could take you through the Bible and show you, and I could take you through life and show you. There was a man named Balaam who was a prophet of God, and Balaam got out of fellowship with God. You remember the story? He was the one whose donkey talked to him. He was riding along, and he was going against the will of God, and there appeared an angel of God. The donkey saw the angel.

Balaam did not see the angel. The donkey got so frightened that it crushed Balaam's foot against the wall. Balaam got angry. Then again, the donkey got started and got so frightened that it just fell down beneath Balaam. Balaam got off and began with a rod to strike that animal, and the dumb beast spoke to Balaam and said, Why are you beating me? Haven't I been your faithful donkey all this time? And the Bible says that the eyes of Balaam were opened, and Balaam saw the angel of the Lord.

Now pay attention. There was an angel with a drawn sword, and that angel holding that sword aloft said to Balaam, Had you come any further, I surely would have slain you. Now Balaam was a man of God, but there's only so far that he could have gone before God would have slain him.

Had David persisted in his sin, he would have died. God sent his prophet to challenge him. This message may be God's word of challenge to you. You'll know when the challenge comes. God won't leave you in doubt.

You'll know when the challenge comes. There is a sin unto death. It happened to Moses. It almost happened to Balaam.

It almost happened to David. God's going to say to some of you, Come on home. The party's over. The party's over. You're my child.

I love you. It's not that you're lost. Once you're saved, you cannot be unsaved. I tell you, God deals very seriously with this matter of backsliding.

The backslider in heart should be filled with his own ways. I want you to know that God loves you. He said, O God, have mercy upon me, according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my transgression. For a multitude of sins, there was a multitude of mercies. Those mercies are new for you right now. If you'd like to accept his mercy and forgiveness right now, pray something like this from your heart. Oh, God in heaven, I know that I've sinned against you. You're holy.

I'm not. So there is this deep chasm between us. And Jesus came to take the punishment for my sin. He took my place on the cross and then rose again to new life.

And that's what you're offering me right now. So I accept the gift of your mercy and your grace and your forgiveness. Come enough. I want Jesus as Lord of my life from this day forward. I pray in his name.

Amen. Well, if you're joined in that prayer just now, we want to celebrate with you. Go to our website. We have a Find God's Love page right there. You'll find answers you may need about your newfound faith. The website is lwf.org slash radio and click the tab at the top that says Find God's Love. Welcome to his prayer.

It's forever family. We can't wait to hear from you today. Well, maybe as you've listened today, there is some sin, something you haven't confessed that's weighing on your heart. Ask God to search you and reveal that sin to you. Confess it. Be cleansed by his forgiveness and join us next time for more from Adrian Rogers right here on Love Worth Finding. We'll be right back.