Canons of Dort, Fifth Head of Doctrine, Articles 4, 5, and 6. Backsliders. Brothers and sisters in the Lord Jesus Christ, it is normal to fall into sins. But there's a special category of sins that we must address. Those who fall into sin and remain there for a long time. Are these people who fall into sin and remain there a long time really and truly believers? Are they really Christians? Do they believe who live in adultery, let's say, for two years? Is someone a Christian? if he abuses drugs. Suppose someone doesn't go to church for maybe a year. May you declare that person not to be a Christian. Well, this is really what this section of the canons address. addresses today. And our headings are three. First of all, believers succumb to serious sins. Second, believers suffer from serious sins. And then third, believers saved from serious sins. Our goals are that you will praise God for the assurance of His salvation. Remember, that's the final category of the preservation of the saints. That you will not lose hope when someone you know backslides. And third, that you will ask God to restore the one who has backslidden. First of all, believers succumb to serious sin. Let me read this one. This is long and a little bit cumbersome in the way it was translated, but please follow the best you can. Article 4, the danger of true believers falling into serious sins. The power of God strengthening and preserving true believers in grace is more than a match for the flesh. Those converted are not always so activated and motivated by God that in certain specific actions, they cannot, by their own fault, depart from the leading of grace, be led astray by the desires of the flesh, and give in to them. For this reason, they must constantly watch and pray that they may not be led into temptations. When they fail to do this, not only is it possible for them to be carried away by the flesh, the world, and Satan into sins, even serious and outrageous ones, but also by God's just permission, They sometimes are carried away, witness the sad cases described in Scripture of David, Peter, and other saints falling into sins. First of all, God equipped believers with his word and his spirit. And therefore, the believer has the perfect means to prepare and fight the devil, the world, and his flesh, and win every single time. You see, God doesn't give us a screwdriver and say, overhaul this diesel engine. God doesn't give people an ax and say, this is what you're going to need for heart surgery. God gives the right tools so you can do what he has called you to do. The problem is that believers often fight against God's word and fight against God's spirit because he is not, remember the two words, he's not activated and motivated in his heart to stay close to God. He has God's word, he has God's spirit, but Inside, he somehow manages to stray. He doesn't draw strength from God's Word and God's Spirit. He doesn't pray as he should to ask for that help. He doesn't devote time to the Word of God as he should. And when he is not doing that, he becomes weak. And he becomes exposed. Exposed to danger in that weakened state. And remember, The root of this is selfishness, ties in quite well with the first command. He thinks he was put on this earth for his own pleasure rather than to serve for the pleasure of God. That selfishness then leads to lust, lust of the flesh. Remember the description that Jesus used, the temptations that he endured, the lust of the flesh. turning stones into bread, the lust of the eyes, look at the kingdoms of the world, I'll give it to you if you worship me, the pride of life or presumptuousness, jump off the temple and he will send his angels to catch you. Those things overwhelm us when we become selfish. Lust would lead him to violate the law of God, God's holy decrees, because it's all about him. all about him. So he rebels against the authorities, Law 5. He murders, Law 6. He commits adultery, Law 7. He steals, Law 8. He lies, Law 9. He covets. And then even before that, he lusts after other gods, namely himself. He's enamored with himself. That's what narcissism is based on, looking in the mirror and seeing yourself and think, the world must go around me. It's all about me feeling good. And when things don't go the way I want, then I act however I wish. And he takes God's name in vain because he doesn't care about the value of God and treats God's person with contempt. He makes idols of things. He ignores the Sabbath. In other words, he breaks all of God's laws because that's what selfishness leads to. He forgets his weakness and how easily he can be drawn into sin. You know, apart from Christ, we are weak. Man, apart from Christ, will always fall into sin. To live apart from Christ is death, and that's where he is going. And the Lord knew that. Look at what he said to Simon Peter, Luke chapter 22, verse 31, together. And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, indeed, Satan has asked for you that he may sift you as wheat. And remember what Jesus' response was to that? But I prayed for you. I know what the devil wants to do. I know how weak you are. Simon Peter said, I will die with you. I'll never leave you. And then before the rooster crowed, he denied Jesus three times. And in fact, it wasn't just that. He started swearing, taking an oath before God, saying, I don't know. I swear to God, I don't know Jesus. Taking an oath and denying what sin. This is a man who had lived with Jesus for three and a half years. And look how he fell into sin. Believers do succumb to sins, even remarkable and great believers. Now, how does this work in your life? Let me show you some practical ways in which this works. So if you aren't close to God, When you work hard and you get a lot of money, you then forget to guard your soul. You forget that your money belongs to God and He directs how you spend it. And you think wealth was given for your own personal pleasure and profit for your own enjoyment. And then you're lured away by others to sin. when you have all that money, you feel powerful. So you don't love your wife and sacrifice for her as you ought to. And then you end in divorce. And this is true for women as well. In fact, it's probably a greater danger sometimes for women because they get a job, they have money, they feel powerful. They don't feel like they have to submit anymore. They think submission to the husband was based upon the fact that he worked for money rather than the fact that God said so. And that's where the compromise comes. Selfishness comes and then destruction takes over. With wealth you can choose creature comforts over kingdom work. Another example, if you aren't close to God when you choose a spouse and you don't pray for wisdom to make the right choice because you think, I know more, I set the standards, I determine what to look for. If I'm looking for a husband, I just want to find someone who is rich and handsome and powerful. Or if I'm looking for a woman, I'm looking for one who's beautiful. anyone who has money. And then you don't look to God's standards because you think you are the number one person. God doesn't matter anymore. And what is the end result? You end up worshiping idols like King Solomon did. He had the money, but his lust pulled him away and he ruined the whole middle part of his life. It's one area of weakness. The Bible says, and Solomon loved strange women, and it turned his heart away from God, and he worshiped idols. Third, if you aren't close to God. And you can become a follower of wicked friends. And when you follow wicked friends, they can pull you away from worshiping. Why do you have to go to church every Sunday? Why do you have to go to church twice on Sunday? And then you would run people like that. They change the way you talk because you want to fit in. and you talk like they talk, and you stop caring for the fellowship of believers because there are other things you can do on Sunday. Why not go shopping? Why not go fishing? Why not go sit in the park? Why not have a picnic? Why not, why not? Because if it's all about you, then you don't care about what God wants. That's where lust will bring you. And think about it, the contempt that many people show for the worship of God. If you aren't close to God and His Word, and the Word of God doesn't resonate in your heart, and then you sit in front of a computer, then you end up likely wandering into websites that you shouldn't. And I'm not simply talking about those who are dragged away in pornography, though that is certainly an issue. Sometimes you can be wandering around just looking for stuff and just trying to find things to buy. You're not looking for anything. You just waste your time doing nothing good. By the way, there are other things as well that will pull you away. We like to think it's always about sexuality or drug use. But people who are dragged away by a lust for food. Remember, the lust for food is mentioned more in the Bible than any other kind of lust. Or people are pulled away. It's all about the tastiest foods. That's why North America is the fattest continent in the world. We have lots of food, but That's the problem. That becomes the focus. Certainly the unhealthiest of all with all our modern technology to the point where our lifespan is getting shorter and shorter, where all the places is getting higher and higher. We need to think about that as well. And by the way, don't think for a minute that you won't fall into this trap. You wouldn't get lured away and waste time on the computer. You wouldn't fall into pornography. You wouldn't fall into not caring about your family. You would not abandon the worship of God. Peter, who was with Jesus directly, who saw all those miracles, who heard the best teacher in the world, he fell into sin. David was described as a man after God's own heart. He fell into sin. Even ministers and deacons and elders can be led down this path. You know, the truth is the Bible says we only have the beginnings of obedience in this life. So you must guard yourself. God may permit you to be carried away by your lust and backslide. This does not make God the cause or the source of your sin. God simply leaves you to your own devices. That's what God did to David. Remember, David ran and numbered the children of Israel. Look at 2 Samuel 24, verse 1, together. Again, the anger of the Lord was aroused against Israel, and he moved David against them to say, go number Israel and Judah. Now, it looks like there that God caused David to backslide and trust in his military, but God simply left him alone because that was David's desire. He became arrogant. He felt powerful. He was the greatest military king in Israel's history. And it went to his head. and he opened himself up to Satan. 1 Chronicles chapter 21, verse 1, look at who the real culprit is here together. Now Satan stood up against Israel and moved David to number Israel. You see who the one who really did this, the Lord simply left him. So when God left David, the devil lured him to trust in horses and chariots instead of God. That's why we have that song. Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we will remember the name of the Lord our God. Yet David lived in that state for a long time. Even when he committed adultery, he lived in that state, that backslidden state for a long time. And yet at the same time, even when a believer backslides, remember God is still in control and his hand is always on him because that person is a true believer. Remember the song, he didn't lift you up to let you down. Now we come to our second point. Believers suffer because of serious sins. Article 5, the effects of such serious sins. Let's read now together. By such monstrous sins, however, they greatly offend God, deserve the sentence of death, grieve the Holy Spirit, suspend the exercise of faith, severely wound the conscience, and sometimes lose the awareness of grace for a time, until after they have returned to the right way by genuine repentance, God's fatherly face again shines upon them. Now, because we know, because he knows better, the one who backslides and offends God's holy majesty deserves death in hell. There's a consciousness of guilt. There's a sense of knows what he's doing is wrong. Look at an example of what we truly deserve for our sin, even as Christians. And that's something to remember, even as Christians, your sin deserves death. Exodus 32, 9 and 10, together. And the Lord said to Moses, I have seen this people, and indeed it is a stiff-necked people. Now therefore, let me alone that my wrath may burn hot against them, and I may consume them, and I will make of you a great nation. Look at the anger of God against His covenant people when they complained. He said, let me just destroy it. Let me wipe them out. I'll be justified in doing so. Look again, Numbers 11, verse 33, these backsliding gluttons at this time together. But while the meat was still between their teeth, before it was chewed, the wrath of the Lord was aroused against the people, and the Lord struck the people with a very great plague." Imagine what that was like. While they were eating, God struck them. And then you know what happened the time of the Assyrians, how they were taken into captivity, the time of the Babylonians when they're taken into captivity, the time of the Greeks under Antiochus Epiphanes and the damage he did to God's people. And then ultimately in 70 AD when the Romans came, what they did to them then, that's what they really deserved. Why would God be so angry? because they grieve the Holy Spirit when they sin. And when you grieve the Holy Spirit, you expect a life of discomfort. When you know something is wrong and you still do it, because you just want to do it. Why? Because you want to be God. God's Spirit will bring pain upon you. It's because He loves you. The pain can be very real and stinging. David understood this, and he understood the depth of the anguish that he suffered. You can read Psalm 32 and also Psalm 38, describe the struggles of living in sin and the punishment that God brought upon him. Verse 3 and 4, Psalm 32 together. When I kept silent, my bones grew old through my groaning all the day long. For day and night, your hand was heavy upon me. My vitality was turned into the drought of summer. What a language. Groaning all day long because of his sin. He said his friends would run away from him. He had heart palpitations because of sin. What a wretched state he had fallen into. Why? Because he had grieved God's Spirit. Now, in our case, practically now, if you are seriously suffering in a backsliding state, you will show it as well. You will experience it. How would you know someone is living in a backslidden state? Well, you will not sing like you ought to. Maybe you mumble the words, but there's no focus, there's no passion. You will not be as friendly as you ought to be. You would be a complainer. Nothing is going right. The preaching isn't right. You complain against others. They're not doing their work. I'm frustrated. You don't look forward for the celebrating of the Lord's Supper. You don't realize this is a meeting. It's a banquet with the Lord and his people, and how special that is, and how it's a picture of heaven. You think, oh, no, that means the service is going to be 10, 15 minutes longer today. If that's your view, that's living in that state a backsliding. And then your life becomes just an exercise in existing. You go through the rhythm. You go through the motion. But the passion for Christ and his things wane. And it can be so bad that there are times when you don't think you're a Christian anymore. That's so far we can fall. Or we doubt that we are even believers. And it's just because we're living in a state apart from God. There's no love. There's no fellowship. There's no God talking to you and you talking to God. There's no close relationship with God's people. And by the way, you could be in church and live that way, even in church. So how do we fix this problem? You have to cry out for help. And that's our third point now. Believers saved from serious sins. Article 6, God's saving intervention. Let's read together. For God, who is rich in mercy, according to the unchangeable purpose of election, does not take the Holy Spirit from the chosen completely, even when they fall grievously. Neither does God let them fall away so far that they forfeit the grace of adoption and the state of justification, or commit the sin which leads to death. the sin against the Holy Spirit, and plunge themselves, entirely forsaken by God, into eternal ruin. So, the backsliding Christian is not saved by his own strength, but he is only saved from his condition when God intervenes, and God grants him aid, and God bends his will, and God makes him look back. That's what God had to do. 2 Samuel chapter 10, 24 verse 10 together. And David's heart condemned him after he had numbered the people. So David said to the Lord, I have sinned greatly in what I have done. Who condemned David's heart? Who worked in David's heart? It was the Holy Spirit of God. That's why when David sinned the other time with Bathsheba, he said, Oh Lord, please don't take your Holy Spirit from me. He knew the hurt, but he knew it was God and only God who could save him from his sin. So God then restores the backslider because God elected him for eternal salvation. You notice in the canons here, God called you, God justified you. This was the once for all times declaration that your sins are gone. God adopted you. When he adopts you, he doesn't unadopt you. You are his child forever. And remember, God doesn't help the backslider because the backslider is good. God helps the backslider because God is good. He's the one who loves us. The backslider will stay in that state if he could, but God in his love doesn't leave you there. He says, come. He bends your will. He convicts you. He sends His Holy Spirit to make you feel ashamed, to see how lonely you are, to see where you are heading. And then you repent. Look in Malachi chapter 3, verse 6, together. You notice he doesn't say, you sons of Jacob, you are so wonderful. How can I destroy you? He says, I am the Lord. I don't change. You know what? This is based on or premised upon the promise of his salvation in Jesus Christ. Philippians 1, verse 6 says together, being confident of this very thing, that he who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ. We sing that song, don't we? I know in whom I believe and I am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I've committed unto him till that day. He doesn't slip by. You don't go 99% of the way and then drop out. Once day one has started, the end is guaranteed. God will even protect the believer from backsliding, who has backslidden against the sin of blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. I don't have time to talk about that, but that's a very difficult sin to commit. It's a very serious sin. It's called the unpardonable sin. Because God loves you, he will protect you. You're his child, he will save you from committing that sin. But we have to deal with the problem with how some of our Armenian brothers deal with this doctrine. First of all, they believe that a Christian can be lost completely. He can become a pagan. But look at what God's Word says, John chapter 10, verse 28, together, There are three things that are mentioned there. One, it's eternal life. So if it's eternal life, it can't stop being eternal life. Second thing is, he then says, they will never perish. will never be destroyed. And if that were not enough, then the Lord says, not only will they not perish, but I have them in my hand and no one can snatch them out of my hand. So the Armenians are wrong. And they're robbing God of the greatness of his work by saying, you can lose your salvation. Because the true believer will never be lost. God will bring him back. But there's another problem. They believe if a Christian backslides and becomes a non-Christian, so you're a Christian one day and have eternal life, but that eternal life disappears, and it's not eternal life another day, that he can come back by himself. And to try to prove this point, the Armenian uses the prodigal son. And they say, look, aha, he was a Christian, he became a non-Christian, and then he became a Christian again. First of all, that's one of the most horrible sins you can commit in the Scripture, is to take a Scripture out of context, and you ignore the meaning of the passage. Remember, that's a parable, that's not a real story, and in a parable there's only one meaning. There's only one main point. You cannot look at the details. And what is the point of the parable of the prodigal son? point of the parable of prodigal son is to show that there is rejoicing in heaven when one sinner repents. It was showing the joy of how special people are. It wasn't intended to teach someone was a Christian then they're not a Christian and then they came back. because all the parts of scripture deny that. The Lord has already said, I give them eternal life, they will never perish, no one can snatch them out of my hands. Three ways, he says, they're secured forever. So the prodigal son must never be interpreted in that way. And by the way, if you look at the prodigal son to show that that was not teaching the way of return after sin, it is linked to two other parables. A man had a hundred sheep, he loses one, he looks for it, finds it, he rejoices. A woman has ten pieces of silver, she loses one, she finds it, she rejoices. A man has two sons, he loses one, he finds it, he rejoices. That was the point. The joy of heaven. It was showing how special you are. It wasn't intended to teach that. If you do that with parables, you will be in a lot of trouble with some of the parables that the Lord taught. Just look for one main point. But there's one more passage before we conclude that we must deal with. They would often use another passage, and it's this. Hebrews chapter 6, verse 4 through 6. Let's read together. For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened and have tasted the heavenly gift and have become partakers of the Holy Spirit, and having tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, if they fall away, to renew them again to repentance, since they crucify again for themselves the Son of God and put him to an open shame. Now, they will say, look, this is saying if they fall away, meaning that for sure they can fall away. But of course, I talked about this before, there are different kinds of conditions. This is not saying it is possible. In fact, how do we know what this passage means? This passage was not intended to teach that a believer can lose his salvation. In fact, this is teaching the opposite. This passage is teaching that you can't lose your salvation. It's impossible to lose your salvation. How do we know that? Well, like good Reformed people, we look at the whole context. Let's read from verses 6 and 9 of that same chapter, and you will see what the Lord was speaking of through the writer of Hebrews. Together. But beloved, we are confident of better things concerning you. Yes, things that accompany salvation, though we speak in this manner. It's sort of looking like he was saying you could lose your salvation, but he's saying, actually, we know better. We know that you're saved. We know that you're secured. We know you will never fall away. Why? Because Christ was superior. The whole point of the book of Hebrews was to show the superiority of Christ. And saying, when He saves you, He doesn't lose anything. You are secure in Him. So there's no chance of this happening. He was simply emphasizing the greatness of your salvation. God would keep you and prevent you from losing your salvation. By the way, one more thing. Even if this verse meant what they say, that you could lose your salvation, if that were the language, if you read the passages saying, it sort of seems to suggest that you can't repent after you've fallen away. But they believe you can repent, the Armenians. So it would discount even that possibility in a negative way. Because they will say you can be saved after you're unsaved. But this is saying you can't if you take the literal rendering. But that's not the point of it. It just shows the inconsistency of the Armenian argument. Let's conclude. Believers succumb to very serious sins at times and can suffer serious spiritual and physical pain from them. They may even be away from the church for a long time. They may even think they're not Christians. or you may think they're not Christians. But there's a way back, and the only way back is when God works in him by his word and spirit. So, brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ, three thoughts in closing. First of all, you must praise God for his protecting power of his children. Though you may stray or though your loved ones may stray, He always brings you back. You know, we use the picture in Romans 8 of that golden chain, but it's a beautiful chain with which you're tied. He keeps you close to Him. You're never lost. He chose you. He called you. He justified you. He sanctified you. He will glorify you. So praise Him for that. Praise Him for His willingness to bring you back. I mean, you've tasted of His wonder and then you stray. He could have left you alone like He could have left the children of Israel. But He didn't. You are His treasured possession. Second, knowing that too, then love Him. Not just praise Him, but love Him. Stay close to Him. Just as the one who stays close to his spouse will not strain to sin, so if you stay close to God, you will be safe. And then third, let others know of His love. Tell them the old, old story of Jesus and His love. Tell them of the cross. Say, at the cross, at the cross where I first saw the light, tell them about Jesus and let them come. We often would sing, there's room at the cross. There's never a shortage of space for others to come in. God doesn't become poor when others join. You're not deprived of His gifts when others come. He has room for all. He has blessings for all. So let them know of His love. You know, this world is hurting. There are a lot of really hurting people. They need to learn about Jesus, and it's your job to tell them. And finally, if you're not a Christian, you will walk holding the devil's hand right into hell. That is, unless you get God to be your Father, He has your interest at heart. And to get God to be your Father, your sins have to be paid for in Jesus Christ, and He offers that payment to you. Take it. Let us pray. Thank you, Heavenly Father, that you've given us your words again to reflect on. to remind us of how we are prone to stray, and it's likely that we all stray at different points in our lives. Sometimes the way we stray might be evident to all, and sometimes only we know, because our hearts struggle with sin. And we might be in church and look like others, and maybe even mumble the words of the song, and give token greetings to others, but, Lord, we all stray. We know you can bring us back because if we stay in that state, we suffer. We get frustrated. We feel alone. We feel depressed. We're not patient with others. We don't share the gospel with others. You bring us back because you love us. You work in us. You bend our wills. You send someone like you sent Nathan to King David. Speak of his sin. And Lord, you may use us, too, to challenge others. Give us the courage to speak up when we see others straying. We will be the Nathan to speak up and challenge others to come back to Jesus Christ. That will be a conscience to each other. Help us, for we want to be close to you so we can work to build up the kingdom of Jesus Christ, in whose name we pray. Amen.