John 10:14 "I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine".
The word, "know" here shows the love that the sheep show toward their good
shepherd, whom they trust and obey. Jesus asserts here that he is the good
shepherd, who will not let his sheep be stolen by his enemy. He would leave
ninety nine sheep aside for some time to go in search of one lost or backslidden
sheep to bring it back to join the ninety nine. John 10:27-30 "My sheep hear my
voice, and I know them, and they follow me: And I give unto them eternal life;
and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My
Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck
them out of my Father's hand. I and my Father are one".
Jonah 2:10 says, "So the Lord spoke to the fish, and it vomited Jonah onto dry
land." After this, God picked Jonah up, dusted Him off and gave him a second
change to bring an entire people unto Himself. [...Read how Jonah was brought back by God to work for him...]
Listen to the words of the wisest man, who ever lived on the earth, King Solomon
as he writes in Proverbs 14:14. The backslider in heart shall be filled with his
own ways: and a good man shall be satisfied from above himself. The Bible points
to the backslider in several other verses. Jeremiah 2:19 Your own wickedness
shall correct you, and your backslidings shall reprove you: know therefore and
see that it is an evil thing and bitter, that you have forsaken the LORD your
God, and that my fear is not in you, says the Lord GOD of hosts.
The tendency of a saved person to commit sin, repeatedly, is because of lack of
fear of God, and lack of fear of God's displeasure, that leads him eventually to
fall out from the mercy of God, who will chastise the person and bring him back
to his fold. Though the salvation is not lost, yet the chastisement becomes
inevitable and, therefore, God brings upon the person chastisement, until he is
corrected. Man's backslidings will themselves reprove him, and pave the way for
his alienation from God. The consequences of sin make a person miserable. In
order to keep aloof from sin, which is evil, every saved person's soul should
worship God, in spirit in truth, and praise Him, and pray to Him incessantly, so
that he remains within the fold of God.
Revelation 3:4-5 You have a few names even in Sardis who have not defiled their
garments; and they shall walk with me in white: for they are worthy. He that
overcomes, the same shall be clothed in white clothing; and I will not blot out
his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his name before my Father,
and before his angels.
The Bible does not leave a person without help. It also provides remedy. A note
for backsliders to come back to the mercy of God. He will heal you. God wants
backslider to come back and be in his fold, so that He will shown mercy upon
him. God has no pleasure in any believer staying in sin. He is longsuffering and
waits patiently for His child to come back. If an earthly father has pity on his
child coming back with dirty clothes, it is worth meditating, how much more our
heavenly Father has compassion on backslider. He waits patiently to receive his
child back in to his bosom with infinite love. His love is more than the earthly
father, whose story Jesus narrated in a parable, showing how that father
received prodigal son, in to his bosom, when the son repented and came back to
his home.
Few verses that will help us to meditate on backsliding and God's
chastisement and the return of backslider:
Life after backsliding is miserable to the backslider just as the prodigal son
experienced, when he fought with his father, and went far off, with his share
from the property and spent entire money, ate the food that is given to pigs,
and returned to his father, when he found himself, helpless. Backsliding is not
just committing sin on a day and asking forgiveness, but it is when a saved
child of God turning away from God to seek his own will. Backsliding in a saved
child of God can occur when the child of God falls in to sin and becomes slave
to it, or when he does everything according to his own will and his will takes
precedence over God's Will. It is rebellious nature in man that makes him
rejecting God's will or his pride overtaking him when he thinks that he can do
everything without depending upon God. It is when a child of God thinks that
God's purposes in his life are of no avail, but he has wisdom to manage his own
affairs. It is when a saved child of God thinks that he no longer needs God, but
he can attain a place in heaven through his own good works, or wisdom.
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.
Our God is long suffering and has patience to wait for the sinner to repent of
his sin, and backslider to return to him. God has no pleasure in sinner dying in
his sin. He has abundant love to pardon any one of any sin. There is only one
sin that is unpardonable and that is blasphemy against Holy Spirit; any other
sin is pardonable by God. Return to him.
Hosea 14:4 I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely: for my anger
has turned away from him.
God rejoices when a backslider returns to him and asks for forgiveness. The
Bible calls backsliding as a disease and God says he loves the one, who returns
to him, asks him forgiveness and depends upon him. God loves to heal the
backslider his disease and he says his anger is turned away from him.
1 Corinthians 3:3 For you are yet carnal: for while there is among you envying,
and strife, and divisions, are you not carnal, and walk as men?
1 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.
Hebrews 7:25 Therefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come
unto God by him, seeing he ever lives to make intercession for them.
Luke 11:13 If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your
children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them
that ask him?
Luke 15:17-18 And when he came to himself, he said, How many hired servants of
my father's have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger! I will
arise and go to my father, and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against
heaven, and before you.
John 10:16 And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must
bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, and one
shepherd.
1 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.