Armies often suffer defeat, but there is a great difference in the way
they take defeat. Sometimes an army is overcome and driven out of its
position, but retreats only as far as it must, then turns again upon the
foe to courageously renew the conflict. Other armies have been defeated,
and in a panic have thrown away their weapons and fled in disorder. The
first, though defeated, retains its honor, while the others have nothing
but shame.
Similar things are seen in individual lives. There are those who suffer
temporary defeat, but who count it only temporary and set themselves
immediately to the task of gathering together their forces and retrieving
what they have lost. Others, when they realize a defeat, give up all as
lost, throw down their weapons, and cease to fight. They forsake the ranks
of God’s people, sometimes for a very trifling reason, and go back into
the world and suffer the shame that attaches to a backslider. The serious
part of this is that many can do such a thing and consider it a rather
light matter. Instead of being a light matter, turning away from God is
one of the most terrible things that a soul can do and one which is often
fraught with the direst results and would be every time were it not for
the exceeding mercy of God. How it is that one who has ever truly loved
God can turn away from him and plunge again into the follies of the world,
doing those things which he knows God abhors, is more than I can
understand. Sometimes those who once seemed to be quite spiritual are now
among the most wicked, even worse than before they ever made a profession.
In one of the Southern States lived a lady who had at different times
professed to be saved, but as often backslid. Her daughter, while
conversing with me one day, said, “When Mother goes back, she goes full
length to the world.” She went on to tell me that when her mother gave up
her profession she at once laid aside her plain attire and decked herself
in jewelry and gay clothing and began attending worldly places of
amusement. She seemed to think that when she no longer claimed to be saved
she could cast off all restraint and ignore God’s claims upon her
entirely, and that it did not matter what she did now. Her excuse was,
“Oh, I am not saved now.” Just as though that changed in any degree her
solemn responsibility to obey God!
I was talking with a man who had been a preacher. I spoke to him about
something that had happened in his life on a certain occasion. He had been
guilty of immoral conduct. He acknowledged it with apparently no sense of
shame, saying, “Oh, I was not professing then.” He acted as though he
thought his past conduct made no difference in respect to his present
standing or influence. Some people seem to think that backsliding gives
them some sort of indulgence or license to act as they please. Such a view
is equally dishonoring to God and to themselves. Sin makes a stain that
never can be eradicated. Do not forget this. I make the statement
advisedly. I am aware that many persons do not view it thus, but it is
only because they do not consider the question as it should be considered.
Even the blood of Christ, all-powerful as it is, is not sufficient. This
is not heresy; it is solemn truth, and, reader, the sooner you find it out
the better. It may make the matter of sin appear more serious to you. The
blood of Christ will wash away the guilt of our sins, if we truly repent
and believe, and our hearts may be made as pure as though we had never
sinned; but the stain of it lies ever upon our memory, and its somber
shadow lies upon our life whenever memory calls it to view. No doubt that
shadow will be as eternal as our souls.
Its stain also lies upon our reputation. Men do not forget such things. If
you backslide and go into sin, you may obtain salvation again through the
forbearance of God, but you can not get away from the stigma of your
backsliding. The sins you committed may be forgiven by the saints, for
“charity shall cover a multitude of sins,” but the world neither forgets
nor forgives. The preacher who, after he has preached to others to live
right, goes into sin, can not expect repentance to put him back where he
was before, except in the mercy of God. He will have his sin to live down.
His words will have lost their power. His influence will have greatly
suffered.
This is true of others as well as of preachers. David was a man of God; he
sinned, and to this day men despise him for it. The skeptic and the
infidel cease not to point to the sad spectacle. The one sin of Peter in
denying his Lord stands out today as a dark stain upon his life. O my
friend, if you have been defeated in your Christian life, if you have lost
the sacred treasure of salvation from your heart, I adjure you today that
you do not throw away everything, but value at their true worth the things
that remain to you, and hold them fast. In your righteous life you formed
many good habits; do not turn away from them, hold fast to them. You had a
thankful and appreciative heart toward God; do not become hard and
thankless. You had a reverence for holy things; do not let it go. You had
a desire to please God; keep that desire still warm in your bosom. Keep
your face turned Godward, not worldward, and make your way back to him at
once.
Sometimes people sin against God, then immediately cease their profession
and just drift along day after day, making no effort to obtain
forgiveness. They think they will “get saved again” when some evangelist
comes to hold a revival. We often see reports of meetings saying that so
many “backsliders were reclaimed.” This expression tells a sad story of
such careless living before God that it makes one’s heart sad to
contemplate it. If Satan gets advantage of you, or your foot slips in your
upward climb, do not let go all holds and go clear to the bottom into the
pit of sin, there to lie carelessly; do not lose an inch more than you can
help losing. If you have sinned, resolutely determine that you will not
add to it another sin. Repent of the one committed and press your way
right back to God; do not wait for some preacher; do not wait for
anything; return to God. To drift along and wait is folly. It is giving
Satan all the chance he needs.
One of the most hurtful ideas existing among us today is, that one sin
puts a man back in the same place where he was before he was saved.
Nothing could be more false; nothing could more obscure what salvation has
done for him. Nothing could tend more to make him indifferent and
careless. I want to oppose that idea with all my strength, for it is
Satan’s lie. When a man sins he becomes guilty, but the good character
that has been built up, the pure feelings and desires, the right habits of
thought and action, the Christian point of view to which he has
attained—these are all a wealth that he still possesses. They are
something of exceeding value, which in a large measure still remain in his
possession. They are, however, in serious danger. If he persists in sin,
he will lose them all; but if he recovers himself in time, he will save
them.
I offer no excuse for sin; it is terrible, and how quickly its deadly
infection spreads through all the being! Fear it as you would fear a
plague. If you have sinned, make your way back to God at once before that
sin shall “increase to more ungodliness.” If you are a backslider, do not
think that it does not matter what you do; for it does matter greatly. Do
not add sin to sin, increasing your guilt; but let the fear of God be upon
your heart. If you are overcome, do not let yourself be routed. Do not
throw away your weapons in a panic, but turn again and face the foe and
fight him until the victory comes, until you regain what you have lost,
until you stand “more than conqueror through him that loved us.”