GOD'S VOMIT!--The Lukewarm Backslider!   DFO 1652         9/83

         1. THE VERSE I GOT AFTER I READ THIS BOY'S LETTER REJECTING OUR OFFER OF A [SPECIAL] JOB was, "Demas hath forsaken me, having loved this present world" (2Tim.4:10). He's like Esau. He's going to realise one of these days what he missed, how he sold his birthright for a mess of pottage! (Gen.25:34) And he's going to seek a place of repentance & find it not, even though he seeks it carefully with tears! (Heb.12:17) "He that having put his hand to the plow & looking back is not worthy of Me." (Luk.9:62)
         2. THE SADDEST STORIES IN THE BIBLE ARE OF THE MEN WHO WERE DISAPPOINTMENTS TO GOD, the ones He gave every chance & opportunity to make good & they flubbed it & went back on it, forsook Him or their job & the Work because they weren't willing to forsake something else--their wives or their family or their home or their wealth or their pride or their "freedom"! There are so many stories about the guys who almost made it but didn't. They tried to do the Master's Work without the Master's power!--And they chose to do their own thing in their own way.
         3. HE REALLY HARDENED HIS HEART. He really rejected God's will, & he said it was a relief to have made the decision even if it was the wrong one! Think of that! Well I'll tell you, you may have temporary relief when making a decision even if it's the wrong one, but you'll have hell to pay in the long run! The wrong decision will only give temporary relief from the strain & stress of the battle & having to make a decision.
         4. THE THING ABOUT THOSE GUYS IS THE LORD NEVER SEEMS TO EVER GIVE THEM ANOTHER CHANCE, at the same opportunity. He might use them somewhere somehow in some lesser capacity. But if God offers them much & they're unfaithful in that, He can hardly even trust them with that which is least after that!
         5. GOD HATES TO SEE PEOPLE'S BACKS! (Heb.10:38) THEY MAKE GOD SICK AT HIS STOMACH! He said, "I wish you were hot or cold, but because ye are lukewarm I will spew you out of My mouth." (Rev.3:16) It doesn't mean you're not saved, it just means He can't use you. He can't stomach you, He can't swallow you, He can't use you, so He spits you out! So you've become nothing but God's vomit!
         6. THERE ARE TIMES WITH CERTAIN DECISIONS THAT GOD DOESN'T GIVE YOU A SECOND CHANCE! In the case of a few outstanding cases of backsliding in the Scriptures & in church history where there was a tremendously great repentance, there was a great forgiveness!--But usually at the same time there was also a great punishment. David lost his son, he lost his kingdom, he lost another son, his favourite son, & he nearly lost everything! God let him lose everything until he saw the error of his ways & finally really repented. He was really, really sorry. Then the Lord gave him one of those rare second chances. But it's very rare.
         7. HE HAS JUST TOPPLED FROM THE TOP TO THE BOTTOM THROUGH HIS SAD, RIDICULOUS DECISION! Imagine, after all he knows & has read & been taught!--To choose his family over the Lord & God's Work, when he knows all about forsaking all & forsaking wife & children & home & all these things for the Lord.--And he's deliberately choosing them instead. He's deliberately disobeying, failing God, forsaking the job God was about to give him to do, so he knows he's wrong, he knows it. If we sin after we have the knowledge of the truth, if we sin wilfully, God's Word says, then we have nothing but a fearful looking forward to judgement, punishment in other words. (Heb.10:26-27)
         8. THE MINUTE PEOPLE MAKE THAT DECISION, YOU DON'T WAIT A MINUTE FOR A BACKSLIDER, YOU GET THEM OUT QUICK! I found out that the safest & best way to do it was to just be nice to them, take them down to the bus & buy'm a ticket, put'm on a bus & ship'm hopefully as far away as possible to get rid of them! The very first thing, once they make their decision, you should get them out instantly! When they make a decision like that I wouldn't want them to spend another night in the house! I'd be afraid to have the Devil's territory in my house overnight!--And a backslider is the Devil's own territory! The quicker you get rid of a backslider the better off you are!
         9. AND I'D WARN OTHERS NOT TO USE HIM IN ANY KIND OF LEADERSHIP WHATSOEVER. I certainly would not want to put him in any kind of responsibility. The minute a man has turned his back on his job, he can't be trusted with any kind of leadership, nothing, absolutely nothing! I wouldn't trust him to lead anything, he's hardly worthy of leading his own family.
         10. WHEN THEY FAIL THE LORD & THEY FAIL US, THEY APPARENTLY HAVE NO IDEA WHAT A BIG FAILURE THAT IS & how bad it is & how far they are on their way down! Anybody who chooses [anything] over a job for the Lord is a backslider! God's Word says "It shall be impossible to renew them to repentance." (Heb.6:4-6) They'll never be sorry enough to be trusted with another similar chance. They're the lukewarm, & the Lord would rather you're hot & on fire for the Lord or a cold dead sinner!
         11. GOD HAVE MERCY & PROTECT US FROM BACKSLIDERS! They're the worst enemies of all & the worst reproach to God's Work & the worst possible testimony! But there are going to be those in Heaven who are going to be suffering everlasting shame & contempt. They're almost going to be sorry they were saved! Lord deliver us from backsliders, God's vomit!--In Jesus' name, amen.--What are you?


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