Ways of a Backslider - and the Way Back

It is exciting to see the zeal & fanaticism of a new believer who comes to Christ, having been gloriously delivered from a life of sin. We are commanded in the scriptures to maintain that initial zeal, and are warned not to quench the fire of the Holy Spirit in our lives. However, it is often the case that sometime after conversion, perhaps due to some calamity or a devastating turn of events, or just simply a dropping of one's spiritual guard and succumbing to the allurements of this world, that much to the shame, misery and despair of the Christian, he gives into temptation and falls back into those old ways again and gets entangled and snared in some old sin or addiction.

The Bible describes this as a condition called backsliding, which in Biblical terms does not mean loss of salvation, as true salvation cannot be lost; but it does mean a loss of zeal, a loss of desire to be obedient, a time or season of disobedience and turning from God's will, a loss of fellowship with God and loss of the joy of salvation caused by that disobedience. Backsliding is something born-again believers can fall into; it is something the Bible warns us against and forbids, but it is also something that God can by His grace deliver us out of again. This message presents the warning signs and ways of backsliding, and also presents the Biblical path of repentance and deliverance.