The Wordless Sermon

A member of a church, who previously had been attending services regularly, stopped going. After a few weeks, the pastor decided to visit him on a very chilly evening. The pastor found the man at home alone, sitting before a blazing fire.

Guessing the reason for the visit, the man welcomed him, led him to a big chair near the fireplace, and waited.

The pastor said absolutely nothing. In grave silence, he contemplated the play of the flames around the burning logs. After some minutes, he took the fire tongs, carefully picked up a brightly burning ember, and placed it to one side of the hearth all alone. Then he sat back in his chair, still silent.

The host watched all this. As the one lone ember's flame diminished, there was a momentary glow, and then its fire was no more. Soon it was cold and "dead as a doornail."

Not a word had been spoken.

Just before the pastor was ready to leave, he picked up the cold, dead ember and placed it back in the middle of the fire, and immediately it began to glow once more with the light and warmth of the burning coals around it.

As the pastor reached the door, his host said, "Thank you so much for your visit and especially for the fiery sermon. I shall be back in church next Sunday."

12 Ways to Tell if You're Backslidden

 

When you grow bolder with sin, or with temptations to sin, than you were in your more watchful state—be sure something is wrong!

When you make a small matter of those sins and infirmities which once seemed grievous to you and almost intolerable.

When you settle down to a course of religion that gives you but little labor, and leave out the hard and costly part.

When your God and Saviour grows a little strange to you, and your religion consists of conversing with men and their books and not with God and His Book.

When you delight more in hearing and talking than in secret prayer and the Word.

When you use the means of grace more as a matter of duty than as food in which your soul delights.

When you regard too much the eye of man and too little the eye of God.

When you grow hot and eager about some disputed point, or in forwarding the interests of some party of Christians more than about those matters which concern the great cause of Christ.

When you grow harsh and bitter towards those who differ from you, instead of feeling tenderly towards all who love Christ.

When you make light of preparing for the Lord's Day and the Lord's Table and think more of outward ordinances than you do of heart work.

When the hopes of Heaven and the love of God do not interest you, but you are thirsting after some worldly enjoyment and grow eager for it.

When the world grows sweeter to you and death and eternity are distasteful subjects.

—Charles H. Spurgeon

What Can Worldliness do to a Christian?

1. Worldliness Destroys Christian Joy.

If sin wasn't pleasurable, people wouldn't sin. But all the Devil's apples have worms. Remember the pleasures of sin are only for a season. The results of sin will come back to haunt you. What does a Christian lose when he backslides and becomes worldly? He loses the joy of his salvation.

Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me with thy free spirit. Then will I teach transgressors thy ways; and sinners shall be converted unto thee.—Psalm 51:12-13.

2. Worldliness is a Fog.

Worldliness is a spiritual fog that hides the presence and will of God. You will start to pray, and your prayers won't get through the ceiling. You will start to sing, but all the spirit is taken out of the song.

When your heart is out of tune with God, worldly fog hides his presence and his will for your life. When everyone else is praising God, you won't have praise to offer. 

3. Worldliness will put a damper on your zeal for the Lord.

the first thing that happens to a backsliding Christian is that he cools off. He loses his zeal. He starts missing services. He starts withholding tithes and offerings. His prayer life is interrupted. His burden to see the lost get saved is gone. He starts to find fault and criticizes and blames others for everything. 

4. A Worldy Person has his Peace Destroyed.

Peace is the absence of conflict, the absence of war. In peace there is a calmness, a serenity, a contentedness. God calls it "the peace of God, which passeth all understanding."

5. Worldliness Will Tarnish the Christian Testimony.

If you engage in the things of the world, you will have no witness for Christ. Have you ever been around a Christian who so glowed that you knew he was a Christian?

Love the Lord with all your heart. Love the Lord with all your strength. Don't just go through the motions by pretending to love God while loving the enemy of God—the world.

Backsliding Christians. Why Do We Do It?

Why do Christians fail God and fall into sin?

• Some allow themselves to be hurt by others. Too often we get our eyes on others instead of Christ; and when they fail, we, in turn, follow them. Satan uses others as a stumbling block.

• Because they neglect the house of God. And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works. Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another; and so much the more, and ye see the day approaching.—Hebrews 10:24,25

• Some fail to discipline themselves against temptations. We ought to avoid, stay away from, and stay clar of areas where we are weak. Romans 14:13 says, "Let us not therefore judge one another any more: but judge this rather, that no man put a stumbling block or an occasion to fall in his brother's way."

• Often our memory fails us. We need to remember our salvation experience, answered prayer, God's blessings and rewards. Remember the pit from which we are digged and the rock from which we are hewn (Isaiah 51:1).

• Some backslide because of coldness of heart. We grow cold, indifferent, apathetic, lukewarm, and lose our first love.

• Unconfessed sin causes backsliding. The psalmist cried, "If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me" (Psalm 66:18). As Christians, our responsibility is to follow Galatians 6:1-3; Matthew 18:15-19; and James 5;19 and 20 in helping to restore those who have backslidden.