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XV.
Admonitions and Warnings
Chapter 168
:
Backsliding
1. How does God regard
backsliding?
"Thy backslidings shall reprove thee:
. . . it is an evil thing and bitter, that
thou hast forsaken the Lord thy God, and
that My fear is not in thee, saith the Lord God
of hosts." Jer. 2:1:9. "If any man draw back,
My soul shall have no pleasure in him." Heb.
10:38.
2. What has ever bee
the tendency of God's people?
"My people are bent to backsliding
from Me." Hosea 11:7.
3. What inevitably
leads to departure from God?
"Take heed, brethren, lest there be
in any of you an evil heart. of unbelief,
in departing from the living God." Heb. 3:12.
NOTE.-Unbelief is "the sin which doth so
easily beset us." Heb. 12:1.
4. In what ways did the
constant backsliding of the people of Jerusalem
manifest itself?
"Why then is this people of Jerusalem
slidden back by a perpetual backsliding? they
hold fast deceit, they refuse to return. I
harkened and heard, but they spake not
aright: no man repented him of his wickedness,
saying, What have I done? everyone turned to
his course, as the horse rusheth into the
battle." Jer. 8:5,6.
5. To what is
backsliding likened?
"Surely as a wife treacherously
departeth from her husband, so have ye dealt
treacherously with Me, O house of Israel, saith
the Lord." Jer. 3:20.
6. To regain God's
favor, what must the backslider do?
"Only acknowledge thine iniquity,
that thou hast transgressed against the Lord thy
God, and hast scattered thy ways to the
strangers under every green tree, and ye have
not obeyed My voice, saith the Lord." Verse 13.
7. On what condition
does God promise mercy to sinners?
"Let the wicked forsake his way, and the
unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return
unto the Lord, and He will have mercy upon
him; and to our God, for He will abundantly
pardon." Isa. 55:7.
8. Why must the wicked
forsake their thoughts and ways?
"For My thoughts are not your
thoughts, neither are your ways My ways, saith
the Lord." Verse 8.
NOTE.-God desires that we shall think His
thoughts, which are right thoughts, pure
thoughts, everlasting thoughts. He desires
also that we shall take on His ways, which
are ways of pleasantness, and walk in His
paths, which are paths of peace.
9. What is especially
necessary to prevent backsliding?
"Watch ye and pray, lest ye enter
into temptation. The spirit truly is ready,
but the flesh is weak." Mark 14:38.
10. What are believers
exhorted to do?
"Examine yourselves, whether ye be
in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye
not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in
you, except ye be reprobates?" 2 Cor. 13:5.
11. If one has God's
law in the heart, what will not occur?
"The law of his God is in his heart;
none of his steps shall slide." Ps.
37:31.
12. What is one
characteristic of backsliding?
"Even from the days of your fathers
ye are gone away from Mine ordinances, and
have not kept them. Return unto Me, and I
will return unto you, saith the Lord of hosts.
But ye said, Wherein shall we return?" Mal. 3:7.
13. In response, what
neglected ordinance does God cite?
"Will a man rob God? Yet ye have
robbed Me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed
Thee? In tithes and offerings." Verse 8.
14. What remedy is
indicated?
"Bring ye all the tithes into the
storehouse, that there may be meat in Mine house,
and prove Me now herewith, saith the Lord of
hosts, if I will not open you the windows of
heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there
shall not be room enough to receive it." Verse
10.
15. Because of Christ's
plain teachings, what did some of His disciples
do?
"From that time many of His disciples
went back, and walked no more with Him."
John 6:66.
16. When the backslider
repents, what does God do?
"Take with you words, and turn to the
Lord: say unto Him, Take away all iniquity, and
receive us graciously: so will we render the
calves of our lips. . . . I will heal their
backsliding, I will love them freely: for
Mine anger is turned away from him." Hosea
14:2-4.
17. Will there be
special danger of backsliding in the last days?
"And because iniquity shall abound,
the love of many shall wax cold." Matt. 24:12.
18. What are some of
the evils against which we are specially warned
at this time?
"And take heed to yourselves, lest at
any time your hearts be overcharged with
surfeiting, and drunkenness, and
cares of this life, and so that day come
upon you unawares." Luke 21:34.
19. In view of the
perils surrounding us, what are we told to do?
"Watch ye therefore, and pray
always, that ye may be accounted worthy to
escape all these things that shall come to pass,
and to stand before the Son of man." Verse 36.
O
FOR a closer walk with God!
A calm and heavenly frame,
A light to shine upon the road
That leads me to the Lamb.
WILLIAM
COWPER. |
