How To Be An Overcomer

Through your personal relationship with the Lord

 

Sunday, January 6, 2002

How Can I Avoid Spiritual Indifference and Dryness?

Faith Community Church, Pipestone, MN, Dr. Oliver R. Blosser, Pastor

 

Revelation 2:4-5- Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love. Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent.

Do you still have your first love for the Lord? The believers at Ephesus were an active church, sound in doctrine, but deficient in love, Revelation 2:2-3. Our Lord Jesus warned and admonished them because they had left their first love, Revelation 2:4. Is Jesus Christ still first in your life? Have you given Him the priority that will bring joy in to your life? (JOY = Jesus first, Others next, and then You last!) Rearrange your priorities in any other way, and you will lack the joy of the Lord in your life!

 

Love for the Lord must be a desire of the heart.

The Great Commandment of Scripture reminds us that it is God’s will for each of us to love the Lord with all of our being and existence- And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart, Deuteronomy 6:5-6.  Is it in your heart to put Christ first, as your Lord and Savior? The Jews were required by Mosaic Law to...

•teach diligently the Great Commandment to their children throughout the daily routine of life.

•display the Great Commandment on their person, or their clothing, in a visible way.

•display the Great Commandment on home entrance and the gates to the city.

Throughout the history of Israel, in spite of this outward display, the people often backslid and worshiped other gods. You see the visible reminder to love God above all is good, but ultimately, it has to be a desire within the human heart. God has left that choice to love Him to your personal decision.

According to the Bible, backsliding is a lapse

 in morals or religious practice.

Backsliding means-

•to grow cold in one’s love for the Lord.

•to become indifferent to spiritual matters.

•to lose one’s fellowship with the Lord.

• to turn away from the truth of the faith (apostasy).

•to commit sins of the spirit such as lying, cheating, gossip, envy, selfishness or jealousy, in a purposeful, conscious way, Galatians 5:19-21.

•to habitually give in to the sins of the flesh, such as immorality, drunkenness, or stealing, Romans 13:13-14.

You can see that there are varying degrees or stages of backsliding- from losing one’s first love to habitual sinning.

 

Repentance and confession are the

Biblical solution to backsliding.

When the carnal/fleshly Christian is in the backslidden stage of habitual sinning, he/she has returned to the bondage and slavery of sin from which Jesus Christ had once set that individual free. There is no hope for that person to break from this bondage of sin until there is a desire, like that of the prodigal son, Luke 15:11-32, to return to the Heavenly Father and His mercy. That return to the Lord, the Bible calls ‘Repentance.’ It is the Lord’s grace, goodness, and greatness that leads the individual to repentance, Romans 2:4b. When the prodigal found himself in the pigpen and pit of despair, he said, I will arise and go to my father, Luke 15:18.

The confession of one’s sins to the Father creates spiritual resurrection and spiritual restoration. The prodigal son said, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in thy sight, and am no more worthy to be called thy son, Luke 15:21. A humble penitence brings forgiveness. Confession brings restoration. Confession brings the Father’s mercy. Confession brings divine forgiveness.

Psalm 51:17   The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.

Proverbs 28:13   He that covereth his sins shall not prosper: but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy.

 I John 1:9   If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Hear what the Father says to the prodigal- For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found, Luke 15:24. Restoration is a spiritual resurrection. It is a return to one’s first love for the Lord and a turning from sin’s bondage. Think of it- the pathway that leads to the pit of sin and despair, begins with the believer losing that first love for the Lord.  That is why Jesus challenged the Ephesians, who had lost their first love for the Lord, with these words- Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent, Revelation 2:5. God’s solution to backsliding is repentance and confession.

Repentance and confession bring

spiritual renewal and restoration.

What are the things that lead to the loss of one’s first love for the Lord, or spiritual backsliding?

•A failure to fully appreciate the blessings of salvation.

•A failure to grow spiritually through discipleship and to develop one’s relationship with the Lord Jesus.

•A failure to love the things of God more than the things of this world.

•A failure to place the study of God’s Word, prayer, and witnessing into the proper perspective of the Christian life.

•A failure to be faithful in Church attendance and fellowship with God’s family.

•A failure to practice the Christian’s responsibility and accountability.

•A failure to obey the Lord’s revealed will.

•A failure to confess willful sin to the Lord.

These are the failures which lead to a loss of the believer’s first love for the Lord. These are the things that lead to backsliding. And backsliding is turning from the Savior and His love in order to revert to sin and the bondage of shame. The prophet Jeremiah had to constantly rebuke the nation of Israel for her backsliding from the Lord, Jeremiah 2:19; 31:22; 49:4. Backsliders often see or imagine inconsistencies in other Christians, while they are blinded to the condition within their own hearts.

The Bible reminds us that we are in a spiritual battle and that each believer must continually take heed to his/her life/walk with the Lord. Scripture gives the warning-   Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall, I Corinthians 10:12.

 

How can you be renewed in your love for the Lord, or how can you lead someone to be renewed in his/her love for the Lord?

•Turn from sin and return to the Savior’s love. This is repentance.

•Confess all known sin to the Lord, I John 1:9.

•Remember that restoration comes through repentance and confession, and that there is no sin which the Lord will not forgive through the shed blood of Jesus Christ, I John 1:7.

•Start to read and study the Bible and to pray daily.

•Seek a Bible-believing church for fellowship, discipleship and ministry opportunities.

•Make restitution, if necessary, to make the wrongs done to others, right!

•Pray for full restoration and spiritual blessings will follow.

Isaiah 55:7- 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.

 

How can the believer remain in his/her first love for the Lord and avoid spiritual backsliding?

•Let Jesus Christ rule over year heart so that you can know the love of God.

Ephesians 3:17-19- That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God.

•Take everything to the Lord in prayer so that you can know the peace of God.

Philippians 4:6-7- Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.  And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

•Let the Word of Christ enrich your life and praise Him so that you can know the presence of God.

Colossians 3:16-   Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.

• Acknowledge the Lord in all of your ways so that you can know the guidance of God.

Proverbs 3:5-6-   Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.

•Trust in the Lord for daily victory so that you can know the power of God.

Romans 8:37-   Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.

•Practice Peter’s Spiritual Principles so that you can see the grace of God at work in your life.

II Peter 1:4-11   Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity. For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But he that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins. Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall: For so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.