Faithfulness and Falling Away
Hi Friends,
I am sharing an important vision today. It is about faithfulness and backsliding or falling away from the faith. We see that the world is becoming darker by the day. The enemy, the devil is working overtime to entice the church to compromise. He wants to lead people away from Christ and become followers of himself.
Just before receiving this vision, I heard the words “The theme is faithfulness.” This vision was one of nine that I received at the same time. I wrote about the first of these in last week’s post. But today, I am concentrating on one primary thing: that of sin, tolerated sin in the church, and backsliding.
We know that in the last days there will be a great falling away from the faith. It is not simply that churches will close their doors, although it is happening today. But there will be a departure from true faith, a departure from the Word of God. There will be a politically accepted faith, a socially accepted faith, and worldly faith that opposes the Word of God. We must be aware.
The Vision
The Red Truck
In the vision, I saw the red truck backing up. Red represents sin. So, I believe that this vision represents retreating or backsliding. When a person hears the gospel, if his heart is ready to receive the Lord, he will experience Godly sorrow for his sins. He will want to get right with God. If he stays faithful to the Lord, he will bear fruit and become a blessing to all. As he fully surrenders his will to the Lord’s and continues to persevere in his faith, he will receive what is promised: the gift of eternal life, to live with God forever.
However, when someone hears the gospel, and is offend by its message, or has no desire to follow the Lord, he will back off and go his own way. The red truck in the vision did just that, he backed away. So many hear the message of the gospel, but are unwilling to surrender to the Lordship of God. They see that Christian values are in direct conflict with their personal lifestyle and goals. So, they back away, and continue in their sin.
There are those who are willing to make a commitment, bu then discover that the cost is more than they want to pay.
As they were going along the road, someone said to him, “I will follow you wherever you go.” And Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.” To another he said, “Follow me.” But he said, “Lord, let me first go and bury my father.” And Jesus said to him, “Leave the dead to bury their own dead. But as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God.” Yet another said, “I will follow you, Lord, but let me first say farewell to those at my home.” Jesus said to him, “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.” Luke 9:57-62
Even the rich young ruler, wanted to follow Jesus, until he found that it would cost him everything to follow the Lord. It was simply too much to ask. He turned and sadly walked away. He gave up eternal life and a walk with the Lord in preference for his personal wealth, power and influence. He made a serious mistake.
Just then a man came up to Jesus and asked, “Teacher, what good thing must I do to get eternal life?”
“Why do you ask me about what is good?” Jesus replied. “There is only One who is good. If you want to enter life, keep the commandments.”
“Which ones?” he inquired.
Jesus replied, “‘You shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, you shall not give false testimony, honor your father and mother,’ and ‘love your neighbor as yourself.’”
“All these I have kept,” the young man said. “What do I still lack?”
Jesus answered, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”
When the young man heard this, he went away sad, because he had great wealth.
Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Truly I tell you, it is hard for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of heaven. Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.”
When the disciples heard this, they were greatly astonished and asked, “Who then can be saved?”
Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”
Peter answered him, “We have left everything to follow you! What then will there be for us?”
Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, at the renewal of all things, when the Son of Man sits on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or fields for my sake will receive a hundred times as much and will inherit eternal life. But many who are first will be last, and many who are last will be first.” Matthew 19:16-30
To follow Jesus, we must count the cost. When a time of testing comes our way, we need to be able to remain true to our Lord. If we fail, and give in to compromise, or deny the Lord altogether, we will regret it. We don’t want to give in to fear, or the fear of man. Let’s prepare ourselves now, for everyone’s faith will be a tested.
“For everyone will be salted with fire.” Mark 9:43
“You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its savor, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled by men.” Matthew 5:13
I believe that the examples above are about people that never really appreciated the value of knowing the Lord, or the salvation of their souls. There are some who “believe in science,” and do not believe in a heaven or a hell. But heaven and hell are both very real places. And are the only two options after death.
There are some who believe that because Jesus died for “the whole world,” that they are automatically saved and automatically destined for heaven. Others believe that everyone will go to heaven if they faithfully go to church. They believe that there is a place called purgatory for those who weren’t living for God, but weren’t “that bad.” They believe that it is a place to wait, while someone “prays them into heaven.” Some believe that purgatory is a place where they pay off their debt and then they go to heaven.
Jesus is the only one who can pay the debt of sin. We cannot earn it, we have nothing to offer God in exchange for our souls. No—purgatory was created by man to take hell out of the equation.
And there are others who try to brush off the idea of hell as if it were nothing. They joke about the topic saying,
”Hell can’t be that bad!” They are all deceived. Salvation is found only in a genuine relationship with the Lord Jesus.
“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’” Matthew 7:21-23
But let’s discuss what happens to the believer who is faithful for a time, perhaps several years and then just stops. Why does this happen? The Lord gives several reasons in his parable of the seeds.
“A sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seeds fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured them. Other seeds fell on rocky ground, where they did not have much soil, and immediately they sprang up, since they had no depth of soil, but when the sun rose they were scorched. And since they had no root, they withered away. Other seeds fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them. Other seeds fell on good soil and produced grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. He who has ears, let him hear.” Matthew 13:3-9
And then Jesus explains this parable to his disciples:
“Hear then the parable of the sower: When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what has been sown in his heart. This is what was sown along the path. As for what was sown on rocky ground, this is the one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy, yet he has no root in himself, but endures for a while, and when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately he falls away. As for what was sown among thorns, this is the one who hears the word, but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and it proves unfruitful. As for what was sown on good soil, this is the one who hears the word and understands it. He indeed bears fruit and yields, in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty.” Matthew 13:18-23
So we see the Lord gives many reasons why so many people fail to become fully committed and fully surrendered to the Lord. I have a few example of real life situations. Let me share a few.
I was told by one relative that when she was a young girl she was invited to a church where there was an altar call to come forward to receive the Lord. She went forward and prayed to commit her life to Jesus. But when she got home and told her mother, her mother replied, “Well, we’ll have none of that!” And the next Sunday, her mother put her on a bus to go to the local denominational church. Her mother wasn’t interested in God, but she wanted to make sure that her daughter went to a respectable church and didn’t get any notions about becoming “born again!”
A friend of mine, has a son who was a family man and took his entire family to church every Sunday for years. One day he hears that his wife met someone and now wants a divorce. We prayed for him, talked with him, encouraged him to keep his faith strong, but when the divorce went through, in spite of all the prayers, he walked away from God. We told him over and over again that God will not over ride her free will. If she chooses to harden her heart towards him, there is nothing we can do. Even though we tried to encourage him to remain faithful to God, he chose to walked away and is now living a life that denies God.
And the wife, who seemingly loved the Lord, who had been a Christian for several years, prayed with people and attended Bible studies, how could she leave her love for God and her family for a man? Why? Did she not read the fine print in the Bible? Did she forget that salvation and eternal life is only for those who remain faithful til the very end? How could a person, a man, or anyone be more important than her relationship with God? For me, it is unimaginable!
Another person I know was raised in church, and became born again and filled with the Holy Spirit, speaking in tongues, and wanted to become a missionary. Then, at a Christian university, she met leaders, professors, and visiting missionaries which caused her to became disillusioned with the denomination. She realized that the leaders were all about building the kingdom of God, not for the love of people and the love of God, but to build their own kingdoms. They saw a successful church as their personal success. They believed that the tithe was a means to a comfortable lifestyle. She saw that the focus was on establishing churches to encourage people to tithe. Those new churches would then send their tithes to the denominational headquarters. And this seemed to be the emphasis. “In this way the church grows and the denomination prospers.” Her faith was so shaken, that she even to day, she claims that “churches are not trustworthy.” What a shame.
“For, as it is written, “The name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you.” Romans 2:24
Everyone must choose for themselves whether to follow the Lord. Some will be faithful, and some will not. Some will love the Lord and put him first in all matters, and others will not. However, if we walk away, or backslide, we may or may not have a second chance. Let’s look first at the scriptures that tell us about backsliding or apostasy:
“You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under men’s feet.” Matthew 5:13
“If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left, but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God.” Hebrews 10:26:27
”How much more severely do you think one deserves to be punished who has trampled on the Son of God, profaned the blood of the covenant that sanctified him, and insulted the Spirit of grace?” Hebrews 10:29
You can see that the above scriptures do not give much hope for the believer who has tasted the goodness of God, walks away, and later wants to return to Him.
But I can tell you that with God all things are possible!
The Lord tells the parable of the prodigal son so that people understand, that the Lord is like the father in the story. The father gives the younger son his inheritance, knowing that he will spend it on wild living. When the son runs out of money and cannot feed himself, he wants to return home. He realizes that he has sinned against God and against his own father, so he returns with a humble and repentant heart. He admits that he is not worthy to be called a son, but is willing to take a position as a hired hand. But the Father is so overjoyed at the sight of seeing his son return, that he showers him with kisses, gives him a ring showing that he has authority as a son, and throws a party to celebrate his return. God is like that father. He loves us and wants us to return to him with a humble repentant heart. Jesus tells us that heaven rejoices when a sinner turns to God:
“I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent.” Luke 15:7
I was also like that prodigal. I walked away from God in my college years, and afterward, I wanted to return to him. I wanted to have the relationship that I had with him as a child. I wanted to be reconciled with the Father. But it wasn’t until I was 37 years old that I was delivered and set free. Finally, I was able to return to God!
Today, after many years in love with the Lord, I know how much I have been blessed. I am so loved, so accepted, by Jesus. He is my Lord, my Savior, my God and my King! Hallelujah! I have promised him, that I will never forget what He has done for me. And I intend to keep that promise every day of my life and for all eternity!
If you would like to get right with the Lord right now. Then pray with me:
Dear Jesus,
Please forgive me of my sins. I have sinned against you, and others, by my thoughts, words, and actions. Please forgive me and reconcile me to the Father. I know that you died on the cross as payment for my sins. I know that your blood paid for the sin of all mankind, and I am truly grateful. Please fill me with your Holy Spirit. He will be my guide, and comforter who will lead me into all truth. I acknowledge that you are my Savior, my healer and my deliverer. Please write my name in the Book of Life, so that when I die, I will be able to spend all eternity with you. Thank you Jesus; thank you Heavenly Father, thank you Holy Spirit, you are mine and I am yours. Thank you that today I am born of the Spirit of God; I am born again! Help me to live for you and grow in the love and knowledge of your word. I commit my life to serving you faithfully. Amen!
God bless you and keep you in all your ways! I pray that you will be faithful to the very end!
