Guarding the Heart: The Journey of Backsliding

 

Summary

In Proverbs 14:14, we find a profound truth about the human condition: "The backslider in heart shall be filled with his own ways, and a good man shall be satisfied from himself." This verse highlights the inevitable consequences of our spiritual state, whether we are backsliders or faithful followers of God. Our lives are like sponges, absorbing the environment in which we are immersed. A backslider, like a sponge in foul water, becomes filled with the bitterness of his own ways, while a good man, immersed in the grace of God, is filled with joy and peace.

The backslider's journey is a solemn one, marked by a gradual decline from faithfulness to spiritual apathy or even open sin. This decline often begins subtly, with a heart that grows lukewarm and a love for Christ that wanes. The backslider may not immediately recognize the danger, as the descent is often gentle and unnoticed. However, the consequences are severe, leading to a life filled with sorrow and dissatisfaction. The backslider becomes absorbed in worldly pursuits, prideful in his condition, and eventually faces the chastisement of God, reaping the bitter fruit of his own ways.

In contrast, the good man finds satisfaction not in external circumstances but from within, through the grace of God. His contentment is independent of worldly accolades or possessions, as he draws joy from the wellspring of life within him, sustained by an unbroken connection to God. Faith, hope, and love fill his heart, providing a deep and abiding peace that transcends understanding. This inner satisfaction is a result of living in obedience to God, maintaining fellowship with Christ, and being filled with the Holy Spirit.

The journey of the backslider serves as a warning to guard our hearts diligently, while the life of the good man encourages us to remain steadfast in our faith, drawing our satisfaction from the eternal and unchanging love of God.

Key Takeaways:

- The Consequences of Backsliding: Backsliding begins in the heart, often unnoticed, leading to a life filled with one's own ways, which results in sorrow and dissatisfaction. It is crucial to guard against even the smallest decline in faith and love for God. [19:11]

- The Subtlety of Spiritual Decline: The enemy often leads believers away from God through gradual, almost imperceptible steps. It is essential to remain vigilant and proactive in our spiritual walk to prevent such decline. [15:22]

- The Importance of Inner Satisfaction: A good man's satisfaction comes from within, independent of external circumstances. This inner joy is sustained by a deep connection with God, through faith, hope, and love. [38:16]

- The Role of Faith, Hope, and Love: These three graces fill the believer's heart, providing assurance, joy, and peace. They are essential for a life that is content and fulfilled in Christ. [41:04]

- The Necessity of Obedience and Fellowship: Maintaining obedience to God and unbroken fellowship with Christ is vital for spiritual satisfaction and peace. This relationship ensures that we are filled with God's grace and love. [44:35]

Youtube Chapters:

- [00:00] - Welcome
- [00:12] - Introduction to Proverbs 14:14
- [01:22] - The Backslider's Journey
- [03:22] - Types of Backsliders
- [05:03] - The Example of Judas
- [08:29] - The Example of David
- [11:41] - Subtle Backsliding
- [13:32] - The Backslider's Heart
- [20:18] - Filled with One's Own Ways
- [24:23] - Chastisement and Consequences
- [28:24] - The Path to Restoration
- [32:13] - The Good Man's Satisfaction
- [36:22] - Independence from Circumstances
- [39:26] - The Well of Life Within
- [44:50] - Maintaining Fellowship with Christ

Study Guide

Bible Study Discussion Guide

Bible Reading:
- Proverbs 14:14

Observation Questions:
1. What does Proverbs 14:14 reveal about the consequences of being a backslider versus a good man? How does this verse illustrate the outcomes of their respective spiritual states? [00:12]
2. In the sermon, what analogy is used to describe the backslider and the good man, and how does it help us understand their spiritual conditions? [01:48]
3. How does the sermon describe the subtlety of spiritual decline, and what are some examples given of this gradual process? [15:22]

Interpretation Questions:
1. How does the sermon explain the concept of being "filled with one's own ways," and what does this mean for both the backslider and the good man? [20:36]
2. What role do faith, hope, and love play in the life of a good man, according to the sermon, and how do these graces contribute to his inner satisfaction? [41:04]
3. How does the sermon illustrate the importance of maintaining obedience and fellowship with Christ for spiritual satisfaction and peace? [44:35]

Application Questions:
1. Reflect on your own spiritual journey. Are there areas where you might be subtly backsliding? What steps can you take to guard your heart against spiritual decline? [19:11]
2. The sermon emphasizes the importance of inner satisfaction that comes from a deep connection with God. How can you cultivate this connection in your daily life, independent of external circumstances? [38:16]
3. Consider the role of faith, hope, and love in your life. How can you actively nurture these graces to ensure they fill your heart with joy and peace? [41:04]
4. The sermon warns against being filled with one's own ways. Are there worldly pursuits or distractions in your life that you need to address to prevent spiritual apathy? [21:06]
5. How can you maintain unbroken fellowship with Christ in your daily routine? What practical steps can you take to ensure this relationship remains strong and fulfilling? [44:35]
6. Reflect on a time when you experienced the consequences of backsliding. What did you learn from that experience, and how can it inform your spiritual walk moving forward? [28:24]
7. Identify one area in your life where you can practice obedience to God more diligently. How might this obedience lead to greater peace and satisfaction in your spiritual journey? [43:21]

Devotional

Day 1: The Hidden Peril of Backsliding
The journey of backsliding often begins unnoticed, with a heart that gradually grows cold towards God. This subtle decline can lead to a life filled with one's own ways, resulting in sorrow and dissatisfaction. It is crucial to guard against even the smallest decline in faith and love for God. The backslider becomes absorbed in worldly pursuits, prideful in his condition, and eventually faces the chastisement of God, reaping the bitter fruit of his own ways. This serves as a solemn warning to remain vigilant and proactive in our spiritual walk. [19:11]

Hebrews 3:12-13 (ESV): "Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called 'today,' that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin."

Reflection: Identify a small area in your spiritual life where you may have become complacent. What steps can you take today to rekindle your passion for God?


Day 2: The Subtle Drift from Faith
The enemy often leads believers away from God through gradual, almost imperceptible steps. This subtle drift can happen when we become too comfortable in our spiritual routines, allowing our hearts to grow lukewarm. It is essential to remain vigilant and proactive in our spiritual walk to prevent such decline. By staying alert and nurturing our relationship with God, we can avoid the slow fade into spiritual apathy. [15:22]

1 Peter 5:8-9 (ESV): "Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world."

Reflection: Consider a spiritual discipline you have neglected. How can you reintroduce it into your daily routine to strengthen your faith?


Day 3: True Satisfaction from Within
A good man's satisfaction comes from within, independent of external circumstances. This inner joy is sustained by a deep connection with God, through faith, hope, and love. Unlike the backslider, whose life is filled with dissatisfaction, the good man draws joy from the wellspring of life within him, sustained by an unbroken connection to God. This satisfaction is a result of living in obedience to God and being filled with the Holy Spirit. [38:16]

Psalm 16:11 (ESV): "You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore."

Reflection: Reflect on a recent situation where you sought satisfaction from external sources. How can you shift your focus to find true contentment in your relationship with God?


Day 4: The Power of Faith, Hope, and Love
Faith, hope, and love are essential graces that fill the believer's heart, providing assurance, joy, and peace. These virtues are crucial for a life that is content and fulfilled in Christ. They enable us to rise above our circumstances and find joy in the eternal promises of God. By cultivating these graces, we can experience a deep and abiding peace that transcends understanding. [41:04]

1 Thessalonians 1:3 (ESV): "Remembering before our God and Father your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ."

Reflection: Which of the three graces—faith, hope, or love—do you feel is lacking in your life? What practical steps can you take to nurture this grace today?


Day 5: The Necessity of Obedience and Fellowship
Maintaining obedience to God and unbroken fellowship with Christ is vital for spiritual satisfaction and peace. This relationship ensures that we are filled with God's grace and love, allowing us to live a life that is pleasing to Him. By staying connected to Christ, we can draw strength and joy from His presence, regardless of our external circumstances. [44:35]

John 15:4-5 (ESV): "Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing."

Reflection: Reflect on your current relationship with Christ. What is one specific way you can deepen your fellowship with Him this week?

Quotes


Men are affected by the course which they pursue for good or bad their own conduct comes home to them, the backslider and the good man are very different but in each of them the same rule is exemplified they are both filled by the result of their lives, the backslider becomes filled by that which is within him as seen in his life and the good man also is filled by that which Grace implants within his soul. [00:00:32]

The backslider lies a soak in the Dead Sea of his own ways and the brine fills him, the good man is plunged like a pitcher into siloa's Brook which flows hard by the Oracle of God, and the river of the Water of Life fills him to the brim, a Wandering heart will be filled with sorrow and a heart confiding in the Lord will be satisfied with joy and peace. [00:02:04]

There are several kinds of persons who may with more or less propriety be comprehended under the term backsliders, and these will each in his own measure be filled with his own ways there are first apostates those who unite themselves with the Church of Christ and for a Time act as if they were subjects of a real change of heart. [00:04:02]

Judas was a professed believer in Jesus, a follower of the Lord a minister of the Gospel an apostle of Christ The Trusted treasurer of the College of the Apostles, and after all turned out to be the Son of Perdition who sold his master for 30 pieces of silver, he Earl long was filled with his own ways, four tormented with remorse he threw down the blood money he had so dearly earned. [00:05:11]

There are men who descend from Purity to careless living and from careless living to Indulgence of the flesh and from Indulgence of the Flesh in little matters into known sin and from one sin to another till they plunge into uncleanness, they have been born again and therefore the trembling and almost extinct life within must and shall revive and bring them to repentance. [00:08:40]

All backsliding begins within begins with the hearts growing lukewarm begins with the love of Christ being less powerful in the soul, perhaps you think that so long as backsliding is confined to the heart it does not matter much, but consider for a minute and you will confess your error, if you went to your physician and said sir I feel a severe pain in my body. [00:19:09]

The first kind of fullness with his own ways is absorption in his carnal Pursuits, he has not much time to spend upon religion he has other things to attend to if you speak to him of the deep things of God he is weary of you, and even of the daily necessaries of godliness he has no care to hear much except at service time. [00:21:01]

The back slider keeps easy because the minister thinks well of him and Christian friends think well of him, but the genuine Christian who is living near to God thinks little of the verdict of men, what other people think of him is not his chief concern he is sure that he is a child of God he knows he can say Abba Father he glories that for him to live is Christ and to die is gain. [00:38:29]

The Christian needs to maintain unbroken fellowship with Jesus his Lord if he would be good as a soldier of Christ, but if his communion be broken, his satisfaction will depart, if Jesus be within we shall be satisfied from within but not else if our fellowship with him be kept up and it may be from day to day and month to month and year to year and why should it ever be snapped at all. [00:44:24]

The man who walks in God's ways obediently resting wholly upon Christ looking for all his supplies to the great eternal deeps, that is the man who will be filled filled with the very things which he has chosen for his own filled with those things which are his daily delight and desire, well may the faithful believer be filled for he has eternity to fill him. [00:46:12]

The believer has omnipotence to fill him for all power is given unto Christ and of that power Christ will give to us according as we have need, living in Christ and hanging upon him from day to day beloved we shall have a peace of God which passeth all understanding to keep our hearts and Minds through Christ Jesus. [00:47:31]

May we enjoy this peace and magnify the name of the Lord forever and ever, amen. [00:47:56]

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