BACKSLIDING The word ‘backsliding’ is used exclusively in the books of Jeremiah and Hosea.  It literally means to “backturn” or “turned one’s back and in some places it is rendered “faithless”.  Hosea and Jeremiah use to describe Israel’ s infidelity to God.  They were rejecting God for idols. Backsliding is an evil thing and full of bitterness said the prophet Jeremiah “Thine own wickedness shall correct thee, and thy backsliding shall reprove thee:  know therefore and see that 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. 2:19)  In the New Covenant we are told in Holy Writ that God’s children can fall from grace. (Gal. 5:4)  The Hebrew writer warms Christians “Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God.”  (Heb. 3:12)   James 5:19-20 and 1 Timothy 4:1 both warn of Christians erring from the truth and departing from the faith.  Brethren can get themselves into sin and stay there for so long, that the Hebrew writer says that  “it is impossible for those. . .to renew them again unto repentance. . .” (Hebrews 6:4-6).  Peter goes on further to say it would be better for them “. . . not to have known the way of righteousness, than after they have known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them”.(2 Peter 2:20-22).  This is a serious problem and we need to address it.   Let me offer a few suggestions. First I would suggest that we not “BACK UP”.  “Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,  looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God” (Heb. 12:1-2).   As Christians we usually get off to a fast start, after our obedience to the gospel.  Then, as time goes by, we slow down, return to our old habits and old way of life.  We stop praying as we should, stop attending worship services regularly, stop giving as we are commanded on the first day of the week, and just let Satan move back in.  There is no genuine devotion to God because as our Lord said, “. . . and because iniquity shall abound the love of many shall wax cold.” (Matt. 24:12)  Old Satan is alive and well and ready to take advantage of us, in our weaker moments.  That is why we should never back-up, but go forward “But we are not of them who draw back unto perdition; but of them that believe to the saving of the soul” (Heb. 10:39). Second to avoid backsliding, I would suggest that we must never “BACK DOWN”.  “. . .be strong and of good courage be not afraid, neither be dismayed. . .” God told Joshua in Joshua 1:9.  Our Lord is Matthew 10:28   said “And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul:  but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.”  “For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind” (2 Timothy 1:7).  The cause of Christ at St. Andrews Road or anywhere else will only advance when bold and brave soldiers of the cross stand fast.  We can not travel down the road of indecision or be unstable in our ways, because this will only set the cause of Christ backwards.  The church of our Lord needs men like Joshua who will says “. . .as for me and my house we will serve the Lord.” (Josh. 24:15)  We need Elijah’s who will cry out “If the Lord be God follow Him.  If Baal, them follow him.”  (1 Kings 18:21).  We need brethren with the courage to say NO and as Paul said in Ephesians 6:10 “Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might.”  We must believe like the apostle Paul that “I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me,” (Phil 4:3)  This congregation can grow, and be pleasing to God if we will stand fast and not back up. In the third place, I would suggest that we never BACK IN.  As God’s children we should not be ashamed of Christ.  If we are ashamed of him and his gospel he will be ashamed of us when he returns.  “Whosoever therefore shall be ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation; of him also shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he cometh in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.” (Mk. 8:38) Many who have fallen away, want to come back and become a part of the body of Christ, as if nothing happened.  Man, be he alien sinner or a wayfaring child of God, must come to God as he is, sinful, hopeless and helpless.  God wants his children to come back to Him but there must be repentance.  We just can’t walk in and pick up where we left off. Finally, If the church at St. Andrews Road wants to go forward, and prevent backsliding, we must never BACK OUT.  As Christians we are to be stedfast and unmovable “. . .be ye stedfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.” (1 Cor. 15:58)  We are also reminded by Paul in Col 1:23 “if ye continue in the faith grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel, which ye have heard, and which was preached to every creature which is under heaven; whereof I Paul am made a minister.”  Again, our Lord said in Matthew 24:13 “But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved”.  Many start backing out when they stop reading or studying their Bibles as they should.  They begin to make excuses for not attending Sunday and Wednesday night.  The enthusiasm that was once in their life for the cause of Christ is gone.  The winds of sin, Satan, and the world finally blows out the candle.  When the city of Pompeli was destroyed by an earthquake, hundreds of people were buried.  Some were found in different positions, in deep vaults where they had gone for security and other places,  Do you know where they found the Roman sentinel?  He was found at the city gate where his captain had placed him, with his hand still grasping his weapon.  He stood his post, amid all the shaking of the ground and others fleeing the city.  As Christians, we should be found at our post of duty, where the Lord has placed us.  What we need more than anything else in the Lord’s church is loyalty.  We need congregations, like St. Andrews Road to be filled with brethren that will stand their post, stick to it, and no matter what, the elders can depend on them. Dependability, an attribute, that is sorely missing in so many churches.  We need brethren at their post.  Brethren, who will not back up, back down, back in or back out.  Can the Lord  depend on you, no matter what? Bill Young