True freedom comes, as we'll see in the next episode, True
freedom comes from the grace of God, where you are not not doing
something because you've been taught not to.
No, but it's that you don't even have the desire in your hearts
in the 1st place. That is true freedom.
Right now, it may seem like we've deviated from backsliding,
but you know what? This is exactly what, what, what
the whole thing of backsliding looks like.
You know, it's that it is always based on actions, right?
And, and, and rightfully so, because we see in the Old
Testament. But the truth is that we are not
under the law. Hello Grace and chic Ben.
Well, all our face. Welcome back to another episode.
Yes, it's going to be a beautiful one as you can see
what of course you know you can see for yourself.
We have an exciting episode, a topic, rather, that you want to
talk about today, you want to introduce it.
No, it's OK. I think you are the best
introducer. We want to discuss and talk
about it and just unpack a topic that's actually been have you on
my heart the past couple of days.
And that is the topic of backsliding.
And I think, you know, as a, as an average Christian, I believe
like everyone has heard that word before, right, backsliding.
But we want to unpack it. We want to talk about it and
also just shed some new covenant lights when it when it comes to
backsliding. And yeah.
Yes, yeah. No, that's exactly what we want
to do, guys. I believe all of us have some
kind of definition of what backsliding is, and we, as
always, want to look into Scripture about what exactly
does the Bible say about it. And yeah, from there, just share
some biblical perspective on this topic.
Yeah. So I'm going to go ahead and
just read what Copilot says, our trusted AI advisor.
Not an advisor. I'm joking, just a source of
information. Amen.
So yeah, I'm just going to read what copilot says is a
definition of backsliding. So it says in Christianity,
backsliding refers to a believer drifting away from a previously
committed relationship with God, especially in faith, obedience,
or spiritual practices. What backsliding means in simple
terms is that one gradually turns, oh, sorry, one gradually
returns to old habits or behaviors that go against their
faith. One stops practicing things like
prayer, reading scripture or church fellowship.
Or one becomes spiritually indifferent, even if they still
identify as Christian. And it's usually understood as a
process. Or I think if you ask the
average person, backslider is not just, oh, I missed the
history of backslidden. You know, I think everyone will
describe it as it's a series of things.
It's not just the ones of your dying, you know.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. So can you just share your from
personal experience, what for you is backsliding in the past?
Yeah, you know, what have you been taught?
What is your understanding and what is your experience?
Yeah. Regarding backsliding.
So, you know when you get saved, Well, not, you know, but what I
learned back then when I got saved is that once you see it,
you are supposed to live in such a way, you know, let go of old
habits like this. Just this.
I don't want to just say an expectation, but it's almost
like a. Rules.
That say, OK, now that you're saved country 123, you know,
those things that aren't necessarily in the Bible or for
example, so you know when you get saved, do you there's this
basically almost in the requirements, you know, that get
placed on your things you must do or things you must not do.
And for example, you know, reading your Bible every day and
spending X amount of in prayer every day or every week.
It's why I said the list goes on, right?
And yeah, there's just certain times where I felt like I'm not
really living up to that expectation, you know, And I
felt like it's this backsliding, you know, sometimes having found
myself maybe like going back to my pastor or before I went,
before I got sick, do you know, making a mistake.
Yes, I would see that as, oh, OK, I've backslidden and I've
come back to court. Yeah.
But like you said, we, we want to share some, some light, you
know, in reference to the Scriptures.
So yeah, let's let's read a few scriptures of art backsliding.
Yeah, because it is a look. Is there such a thing as
actually backsliding publicly? And you know the answer is
actually yes, that is from the Word of God, right?
So one of the scriptures that we want to share where you actually
do find the word backsliding is in Jeremiah chapter 2.
So if you read the title there at the top of the chapter, it
says Israel forsakes God and God talks about how they were
devoted to him. So starting at the beginning, it
says the word of the Lord came to me.
Go and proclaim in the hearing of Jerusalem.
This is what the Lord says. I remember the devotion of your
youth, how as a bride you loved me and followed me through the
wilderness, through a land not sown.
Israel was holy to the Lord, the first fruits of his harvest.
All who devoured her were held guilty, and disaster overtook
them, declares the Lord right. And so God keeps talking about
them and their devotion to him initially as he walked with them
in the wilderness. But if you continue to read and
I want to jump when you have time, you can read the the whole
chapter. But when you continue to read,
God begins to talk about how basically their hearts turned
against him. And so we actually find the word
backsliding is in verse 19 where it says this is what God says to
them. 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 Almighty. And so in the book of Jeremiah
2, you see basically God talking about as we read how you know
they had devotion to Him, but as time went on, as he walked with
them in the wilderness, their hearts basically turned away
from the Lord. And the same thing you find in
Hosea Chapter 11 and the title there is God's love for Israel,
right? And it says from verse one, when
Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my
son. But the more they were called,
the more they went away from me. They sacrificed to the boughs
and they burned incense to images.
And so God begins to talk about all the wickedness that they
were doing. And in verse 7 he says, my
people are determined to turn from me.
Even though they call me God Most High, I will by no means
exalt them. That actually reminds me of that
first in Romans chapter 3. I think we can read it.
We're also talks about how everyone has turned away from
the Lord, right? Yeah, let's read it.
Yeah, no, exactly. So because now what I think a
lot of us when we read the journey of the Israelites with
the Lord and we see, you know, them turning from the Lord all
of their complaining, I believe we tend to have this perspective
that it can never be me. Basically we we think, no, it,
it can never be me. Sure, right.
And in the context of backsliding, as we saw in
Jeremiah, that's what God describes as backsliding, is
that, you know, your, your heart is turned away from the Lord
like he describes with the with the Israelites, which is the
same thing that he says in the book of Hosea as well.
Right now. The truth is that actually we
are all on equal footing, right? We are all in equal footing.
And we want to jump to Romans chapter 3 because you see the
Israelites at that point in time, like we know in terms of
their work with God, they were under the law.
And so God was judging them based on their works, right?
And that's why you'll find that as they were walking, you know,
for example, when they were complaining in the wilderness
and you know, the snakes, they in the desert started biting
them. You know, God's judgement came
upon them because of their works.
Right? Now, this is the unfortunate
thing. It's that today, though we are
not under the law, we still teach, for example, backsliding,
because you know, this whole thing has to do with our
relationship with God, right? And so backsliding you can
describe as this is you and God, right?
Maybe when you got saved or at any given point in your
relationship, you are like this with God.
And it's like at some point, because of most, most of the
time it's because you are not doing certain things or you
started doing certain things which are displeasing to the
Lord. That backsliding is you are like
this, but now you've distanced yourself.
Yeah, yeah. From God.
So this has to do like you see with the Israelites, it is
solely based on what they did, their performance, their
performance. Works their actions.
Yeah, yes, yeah. And I believe for most of us as
Christians, unfortunately, that's how even today we walk
with the Lord. Sure, that's why we feel far
from God. We.
Have done wrong when we've done wrong or when we have been
inconsistent? Yeah, I know, I know.
You know, I can. I can say from personal
experience that in terms of backsliding, the one thing that
used to really get me was the lack of consistency when it
comes to spending time with the Lord.
Because, you know, I was taught that the best time to spend with
the Lord is when you start your day in the morning.
And it happened so many times that, you know, because of the
business of life, I just wake up, I take a shower and I'm
running to wherever I need to be, right?
And because now I believe that because I didn't spend time with
him, there's a distance that I begin to feel.
And it's like even when things happen in the day, I feel like I
can actually even rely on the Lord.
You just feel like ash. I'm far from God, you know?
So, you know, it's like in my mind, I don't even bother to ask
for, for help, you know, for wisdom, for guidance, because
it's like, I mean, what's the point?
So why, why would I, why would God respond to me if you know,
if, if I haven't done what I was supposed to do?
And so in Romans chapter 3, you will see something very
interesting, which in essence is a revelation, yeah, of God to
the apostle poet regarding this whole matter of your
relationship go with God basically depending on on you.
And he says from verse 9 of Romans 3.
What shall we conclude then? Do we have any advantage?
Not at all, for we have already made the charge that Jews and
Gentiles alike are all under the power of sin as it is written.
There is no one righteous, not even one.
There is no one who understands. There's no one who seeks God.
All have turned away. And I mean to stop here.
I'm sure you, you you have an experience in your past where
you feel like you are far from God because you haven't been
seeking him. Yeah.
You know, not not seeking God, not pursuing him because you
know, again, we work with that low perspective of if I am not
doing what I'm supposed to do, then basically it's like I'm
turning away from the Lord. And Romans 3 continues to say
all have turned away. All have turned away.
They have together become worthless.
There is no one who does good, not even one.
Their throats are open graves, their tongues praxis, deceit.
The poison of Vipers is on their lips.
Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness.
Their feet are swift to shed blood.
Ruin and misery mark their ways and the way of peace.
They do not know. There is No Fear of God before
their eyes. And you know, in case you may
think that, ah, you know that's, that's not me.
Let me tell you, when the Bible says these things, it's talking
about all of us. Yes, yeah.
All of us have actually turned from the Lord, you know, even
now being saved as Christians, you know, a lot of the time we
actually do our own thing. Yeah.
We, we don't keep him, step with the Lord.
And there is something here that is so amazing that the apostle
Paul is about to ship through the Spirit.
Because, you know, when the Bible talks about how we have
all turned away, actually you must.
That should actually set you free from the pressure of yeah,
but but not me. You know, it should actually set
you free because that's what all of us do a lot of the time.
We choose other things. We choose to spend more time
doing other things other than spending time with the Lord.
You know, you may say that, you know, at least I do this, I do
this. You know, the truth is all of us
on a daily basis, you know, if you count the 24 hours you have,
I mean, let's say excluding sleep, maybe 16 hours you have
read. How much of that time do you
spend with the Lord? Not too bad rights.
And so the Bible continues in verse 19 to say, now we know
that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the
law, which we know is the Jewish people.
So then every mouth may be silenced, and the whole world
held accountable to God. And then verse 20, which is so
amazing, says, therefore no one will be declared righteous in
God's sight by the works of the Lord.
Amen. Rather, through the law, we
become conscious of our sin. Amen.
That is the most freeing verse. Amen.
Because then we know that. Even as believers, when we get
it wrong, it doesn't change our standing with the Lord.
Like you said, we go our days, some of us maybe don't even
spend a tithe of our day at 10% right with the Lord and it's
fine, there's no condemnation. But to know that even in that
state, I'm still righteous before the Lord because it's not
based on my works. Amen.
There's no such thing as as a believer.
You are out of fellowship with God just because you've done
something wrong or just because you haven't done what you were
supposed to do. Literally, our actions don't
change our standing before the Lord.
Amen. And so this, this, this really
actually sets us free because you know, and low mentality in
the context of backsliding is exactly this.
It is a it is, it is a posture of law of being under law.
You know that really you, you, you are in a posture of law when
you think I have to do this and this and this, you know, and,
and, and the perspective is always because this is what God
expects of me, right? And we walk with that burden on
our shoulders, right? When the Bible actually says
there is no person that will be declared righteous in God's
sight by the works of the law. In other words, you know it's
not possible for you to be in right standing with God based on
your obedience to God's commands.
That's what the Bible is actually saying here.
The the idea that one day I feel confident in my relationship
with God because I woke up and I actually prayed and I actually
read my Bible right. And we think because of the
right that I've done, that's why we feel confident and we feel
like, OK, it means on this day I'm actually in right standing
with God. Sure.
And unfortunately, because we are so fickle, something happens
in the day or the next day, you know, it's, that's why you find
that we always feel like our relationship with God is always
going up and down and, and, and, and, and, and the truth about
this Scripture is that for you to ever be declared righteous in
God's sight is not just doing one thing right.
It's it's keeping to God's standard in all things.
All the time. Literally exactly.
And no one can ever do that. No one can actually live like
that. And so even to people, the
Pharisees who thought they were better than others because they,
they thought, you know, they, they keep the law and so they're
better than others, You know, they, they feel like they are
actually closer to God, I suppose, as opposed to others.
And, and So what Jesus does is that he removes them from their
high horses and he says, well, you know what the, the standard
of comet when it comes to the law is not just the outward
action of keeping it. You see, if so, he says you have
heard and he's quoting now one of the commandments from from
the law, the 10 commandments. If you have heard before, you
said you know you shall not murder.
But I say to you, if you have anger towards a fellow brother,
as far as God is concerned, you've committed the ACT.
You know, as far as God is concerned, you've committed the
ACT because and, and I think this is what we're going to end
off with in this, in this episode.
Is it because the, the thing about the law is that the law
can never actually set you free. The one example that comes to
mind is offense, right? I know Pastor Campbell was
talking about this in I think on on one of the Sundays, right.
So offence for example, right. You see teaching that is law
based says when it comes to dealing with sin of any kind,
law teaching says you shall not. That's that's what law teaching.
Yes, don't be offended, you know, I suppose.
You're not supposed to be offended as a Christian.
Now here's the same thing. Is that now I've been taught as
a husband that I should not have an offence in my heart against
my wife. OK, then on a certain day, you
know, things happened and the offence now comes to my heart
right now because I've been taught that, hey chief, you are
a believer and so you should not actually be doing this right?
You find what happens a lot of the time is that because you've
been taught that you shouldn't when, when that offense comes.
Now what happens is maybe normally you know, you, you
would express that offense through your words or through
your actions, whatever it may be.
But now, you know, the teaching comes back to your mind that I
was actually taught that I shouldn't.
You know, you see, The thing is that you, you, you haven't
actually changed in your heart. Now, in terms of your actions,
you know, in terms of my actions in this case, you know, I'll be
holding the offense in my heart, but you know, towards my life,
I'm not going to express it right, because that's what I've
been taught. But this is the offense this
day. But because I've been taught
that I shouldn't, you know, you'll find in terms of my
physical actions, you know, maybe in that moment I'm like,
OK, no, you know, I understand, you know, whatever, whatever,
whatever, whatever to my wife. And it's like, no, you know,
this piece in the house, but in my heart I'm actually burning
with offence. That is exactly what Jesus
Christ was talking about in Matthew 6, is that, you see, the
law can't set you free. Yeah.
Don't think because you are not expressing what is in your heart
physically that you are better. Sure, you know that we are
actually all the same. Yeah, true freedom comes, as
we'll see in the next episode. True freedom comes from the
grace of God, where you are not not doing something because
you've been taught not to. No, but it's that you don't even
have the desire in your hearts in the 1st place.
That is true freedom. Right now, it may seem like
we've deviated from backsliding, but you know what?
This is exactly what, what, what the whole thing of backsliding
looks like. You know, instead, it is always
based on actions, right? And, and, and rightfully so,
because we see in the Old Testament, but the truth is that
we are not under the law. And so we read Romans 3 and
verse 20 where the Bible clearly says no one will be declared
righteous in court's side by the works of the law, right.
Rather, through the law, we become conscious of our sins.
In other words, if if you think that it, you know everything
your relationship with God, you know, in order to not backlight,
I need to be doing this, I need to do it's a law mentality.
And by such a perspective, you can never actually that the law
in fact exposes it. It exposes sin that is in your
heart, and that's where we're going to leave this episode.
Yes, we will see you for quite tuning the next one.