The following are some of the things that God uses:
Christ Intercedes for Us—
The Lord Jesus goes to the Father and prays that we would be brought to repentance (Luke 22:31). At the same time He maintains our cause before God against the accusations of the devil regarding the sins in our failure (Rev. 12:10). He does this, so to speak, by pointing to the blood, which has made propitiation for our sins (1 John 2:2).
The Spirit of God Brings the Word of God to Bear on Our Conscience—
The Spirit of God will address our state and our sinful course, and will occupy us with our failure until we face it, and repent. He will use the Word of God to break down our sin-hardened hearts. “Is not My Word like as a fire? Saith the LORD; and like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces?” (Jer. 23:29) He may bring a verse to mind, either by hearing, reading, or remembering it, that will speak to us about our course (Luke 22:61). God’s Word can be used to restore our souls. “The law of the LORD is perfect, converting [restoring] the soul” (Psa. 19:7; Psa. 119:9). The Spirit will also impress the love and goodness of God on our hearts. This will work to produce repentance (Rom. 2:4). “Grace” and “love” will touch our heart and turn us back to the Lord (Jer. 31:2-3: Mal. 1:2; Rev. 3:19).
The Father Exercises Holy Discipline in Our Lives in a Governmental Way—
God may use suffering and sorrow to speak to us as a disciplinary means to correct us. He will get our attention, one way or another—even if it requires suffering. He loves us that much! (Job 33:14-22) If there is a Christian here today that is backsliding, hear this; He’ll bring you back, sooner or later. He will have it out with you. He may have to make you smart with the rod of correction in order to accomplish His gracious purpose for in your life. Hosea 2:6-9 tells us that He will “hedge up” our way, allowing all kind of negative things to happen to us to frustrate our purposes. Would a loving father and mother allow a child to go uncorrected? No, and neither will the Lord (Heb. 12:5-11). He may have to strip you of everything that your heart clings to here in the world—even if it means to bring you to your dying pillow to do it! The whole purpose behind it is to bring you back, and that He will do. The Psalmist said, “Before I was afflicted I went astray: but now have I kept Thy Word” (Psa. 119:67).
God Exercises Our Brethren About Our State—
God will exercise the saints about our sad state, and they will pray for our restoration. And God answers prayers! Perhaps you have a praying mother and father. God will answer their prayers in His time. “Thus saith the LORD; A voice was heard in Ramah, lamentation, and bitter weeping; Rahel weeping for her children refused to be comforted for her children, because they were not. Thus saith the LORD; Refrain thy voice from weeping, and thine eyes from tears: for thy work shall be rewarded, saith the LORD; and they shall come again from the land of the enemy” (Jer. 31:15-16). Furthermore, God will exercise our brethren to go after us to restore us. “Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such a one in the spirit of meekness” (Gal. 6:1; James 5:19-20). They will come to us and speak to us about our course. The duty of a brother is to warn an erring one who is heading for shipwreck in his life. Proverbs says, “If thou forbear to deliver them that are drawn unto death, and those that are ready to be slain; if thou sayest, Behold, we knew it not; doth not He that pondereth the heart consider it? and He that keepeth thy soul, doth not He know it? and shall not He render to every man according to his works” (Prov. 24:11-12). So, if the Lord sends someone to speak to us, let’s not shoot the prophet—God may be speaking to you through him! Scripture says, “Despise not prophesyings” (1 Thess. 5:20).
What Are the Signs That Indicate a Backslider Is Restored?
A Realization of Our Sad State
The first thing that will be evident in a person whom the Lord is restoring is that he or she becomes exercised about their sad state. Friend, have you gotten away from the Lord in your heart? I ask you, “Do you know it?” It is good to know it. It shows that you have awakened somewhat!
There came a time when the prodigal son woke up. He “came to himself” and considered what he was doing (Luke 15:17). When a backslider reaches this point, it is directly on account of the intercession of Christ his Advocate. In fact, the Lord may use all of the means I’ve mentioned to accomplish this end with us.
Repentance
The second thing that will be seen in a person whom the Lord is restoring is true repentance. Repentance is having a changed mind, and a passing of judgment on all that we are and have done. This, too, is the result of the goodness of God having its effect in our souls. As mentioned, it is “the goodness of God” that leads a person to repentance (Rom. 2:4). When the Prodigal son thought on the goodness of his father, it led him to change his mind about his father, and pass judgment on himself (Luke 15:17-19).
Repentance is truly a word that has lost it’s meaning today. Many have confused ideas about it. Some of that confusion is not exactly their fault—religion has instilled those erroneous ideas in people. The following are some examples.
• Repentance is not Penance. Penance is the effort of man to, in some way, atone for wrongs done. This, of course, is something we cannot do. It’s the blood of Christ that makes atonement for the soul (Lev. 17:11; 1 John 1:7).
• Repentance is not Confession. Some mistakenly think that if they apologize for some wrong done, that they are repenting. However, it’s possible to make a confession, and not be repentant. Confession is an act; repentance is a process.
• Repentance is not Reformation. Reformation is merely an outward change. It is turning over a new leaf—the attempt to supplant bad habits with good ones. Though those things will spring out of repentance, they are not repentance. He is not asking us to make solemn promises that we don’t have the power to keep.
• Repentance is not Penitence. Penitence is sorrow for sin. It might result in repentance, but sorrow itself is not repentance.
Repentance is an inward work in the soul, involving a changed mind toward the course that we have been on, and a passing of judgment on what we have done. We may have thought that what we were doing was OK, but now we hold it as bad, and that leads us to cease from doing it. If a person is truly repentant, he will turn from it.
Luke 15:10 says, “There is joy before the angels of God for one repenting sinner.” Notice, it says, “repenting.” This shows that repentance should be an on-going process in the life of the believer. We should never stop repenting! If repentance meant to be sorrowful, as some think, then that would mean that we should go around being sorrowful for the rest of our lives, which is not true! But we should always have a changed mind about a course of sin, and always hold a spirit of judgment on it. If we stop repenting, we cease to have a changed mind about our sin, and we’ll soon be heading toward it again!
I remember a brother saying about a certain sister, “She repented.” Did he mean that she was finished with repentance, and was not repentant anymore? I don’t think he realized that repentance is something that should continue throughout our lives. As I say, it doesn’t mean that we go around moping over our failures and bemoaning ourselves. It just means that we hold the thing that we have done wrong under judgment, and don’t alter our minds from it. We are to always view it that way.
Confession
There should also be confession. The verse we read earlier in 1 John 1:9 speaks of confessing our sins. When we do, it says that He is “faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” This is necessary in order to be restored to communion. The backslider will frankly own his wrong.
Restoration of soul to communion need not be a long drawn out process. The confession in the verse mentioned above does not take long. However, it may take some time for a person to be restored to fellowship among the Lord’s people, if the nature of one’s sin is such that he or she has been excommunicated. It takes time to prove that one’s repentance is genuine. The brethren need to see the “fruits” of repentance (Luke 3:8); and that might take some time. We are reminded of Absalom who formed a party to kill the heir to the throne, so that he could have it (2 Sam. 13:23-39). He returned later, through the work of Joab, but without confession or repentance (2 Sam. 14); and since he hadn’t judged his sins, he turned around and formed another party—this time to assault the throne in an all-out insurrection (2 Sam. 15). We would do well to wait for the signs of true repentance in such a one.
What Is the Proof That a Person Is Truly Repentant?
Peter is the outstanding backslider in the New Testament, but Naomi is the outstanding backslider in the Old Testament who was restored by the grace of God. Let’s look at her history that beautifully illustrates the marks of true repentance.
The Example of Naomi
She Made a Clean Break With Life in Moab.
Turn now to the first chapter of Ruth, and verses 6-7, “Then she arose with her daughters in law, that she might return from the country of Moab: for she had heard in the country of Moab how that the LORD had visited His people in giving them bread. Wherefore she went forth out of the place where she was.” We see here that the goodness of God had worked in her heart, in that she heard that He had given His people bread. The result was that “she went forth out of the place where she was.” That is, she made a clean break from what she had been engaged with in Moab. We do not read that she ever went back to that land. This shows that she was truly done with Moab. Proverbs 28:13 says, “He that covereth his sins shall not prosper: but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy.” That’s exactly what Naomi did; she forsook Moab.
If people want to be restored but won’t break their links with the world (the very persons and things that led them away from the Lord in the first place) it shows that their repentance is not very deep, if indeed there is repentance at all. It’s a tell-tale sign that something is wrong. Friend, if you want to be restored, you have to get out of the circumstances that you’re in! It’s imperative that you do that. If you don’t, they will drag you right back down.
She Was Grieved That Her Disobedience Had Caused Sorrow for Others.
In verse 13 Naomi said, “It grieveth me much for your sakes that the hand of the LORD is gone out against me.” She was sorry that she had caused sorrow in the lives of her daughters in law. It’s always a good sign when a repentant person realizes that their disobedience has hurt other people. Friend, if you have been raised in a Christian home, think of the sorrow you have caused in the heart of your parents! Have you ever stopped to think of the sorrow and pain that you have brought to your father and mother in your pursuit of the pleasures of sin?
She Got Back to the Point of Departure.
In verse 19 it says, “So they two went until they came to Bethlehem.” Bethlehem was the very place from which Naomi came when she lived in the land of Israel (Ruth 1:1). She went right back to where she left the path in the first place. God would have us to go back to the very root of our backsliding—to the beginning of the course of things and judge it. The person needs to get back to the place where they were before they went off.
Abraham is another example of this. When he came back out of Egypt, it says that he returned to the very place where he had left his altar in the first place (Gen. 12:8; 13:3). The altar speaks of communion with God. This points to the fact that communion was restored. A good sign whether one is truly restored is that they are enjoying fellowship with the Lord again.
She Showed a Spirit of Genuine Brokenness and Humility.
In verse 20 she said, “Call me not Naomi, call me Mara.” Mara means “bitter.” She was indicating that there was real bitterness of soul with her over her whole course. This is another thing that will evidence itself in one who in truly repentant—there will be a genuine brokenness and humility. David said, “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, Thou wilt not despise” (Psa. 51:17). When Hezekiah was restored, he said, “I shall go softly all my years in the bitterness of my soul” (Isa. 38:15). God desires “truth in the inward parts” (Psa. 51:6); when there is, there will be that humility. If one professes to be restored to the Lord, but there is a pompous attitude with them, it shows that the work of repentance has not been very deep. The deeper the plowing of repentance, the more one will walk in humility.
She Justified God in All That He Allowed to Happen to Her.
In verse 20 she said, “The Almighty hath dealt very bitterly with me.” When she said this she was not complaining—she was justifying God in His faithfulness in speaking to her to bring her back. She had lost her husband and two sons in death and accepted the discipline of it all as right and just. She didn’t say, “Look what’s happened to me; it’s not fair. I don’t deserve this.” No, she accepted it as from the hand of a faithful and loving God.
She Made a Frank Confession of Her Wrong.
In verse 21 she said, “I went out ... ” She blamed nobody but herself for her departure. She didn’t say, “My husband took me to Moab against my will. If it wasn’t for him, I would never have been there.” No, she didn’t make excuses for where she had gone and what she had done. She blamed herself, owning her failure in it all. Some confess their sin but at the same time excuse themselves. That’s not repentance. Years ago there was a man that was caught stealing. He came and confessed that he stole a length of rope but neglected to say that there was a horse attached to the other end of it!
If you hear someone having a hard time admitting that they have done wrong, there is something seriously lacking in the genuineness of their confession.
She Gave Full Credit to the Lord for Her Restoration.
In verse 21 she said, “The LORD hath brought me home again.” Unlike the brother I mentioned earlier who said, “I came back,” she gave the credit to the Lord for bringing her back. Psalm 23:3 says, “He restoreth my soul.”
She Wanted to be Among the Lord’s People.
The last verse says, “So Naomi returned, and Ruth the Moabitess, her daughter in law, with her, which returned out of the country of Moab: and they came to Bethlehem.” This suggests that she wanted to be among the Lord’s people again. This is another sign that one is truly restored. If a person says they have been restored, but they don’t want to be among the Lord’s people, there’s something wrong. It reminds me of someone who said, “The assembly I love—it’s the people I can’t stand!” Such an attitude shows there’s something wrong. It is normal to want to walk in fellowship with your brethren. It says in Acts 2:42, “And they continued stedfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers.” These are the four anchors of normal assembly life.
Repeated Backslidings
If a person has the history of repeated backslidings, it’s because the work of repentance is superficial. God wants “truth in the inward parts” in a repentant one (Psa. 51:6). In other words, He wants reality. What usually is at the bottom of a person repeatedly backsliding is that their will has not been broken. Simply put, the person is not marked by the things we’ve seen in Naomi. They want to be restored, but they don’t want to give up their lifestyle—a lifestyle that has drawn them away from the Lord in the first place! They have not apprehended the holiness of God, and have they seen the seriousness of what they have done in that light. Consequently, they don’t see the dangers of going on with such associations.
The “Third” & “Seventh” Day
In the wilderness journeys of the children of Israel, the Lord graciously provided a means for them to be cleansed from defilement. He gave them the “Water of Separation” (Num. 19:9). This was literally a concoction of water and certain other ingredients that they kept to cleanse themselves if someone contracted defilement. It is a type of the restoring grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, Who cleanses us from defilement if we get into sin.
I bring this up because there had to be a double application of the Water of Separation before a person was cleansed. There was an application that was to be made on “the third day,” and then again on “the seventh day” (Num. 19:12). The fact that it took a double application tells us that God does not make light of sin. It shows that full restoration takes time. These two days are typical of the two stages in the restoration of a person’s soul. “The third day” would speak of the soul’s realization of its sin. Conscience comes into exercise and brings the person to confess it. The person sees Christ suffering for his sin, and that he’s been taking his pleasure in something that cost Christ the agonies of the cross. On the seventh day, the work in the person goes further to where he or she sees what the grace of God has done to put that sin away.
A person is at “the third day” when they are overcome with grief in regards to their sin. When he has reached “the seventh day” there is joy in the soul, knowing that grace has put it away.
Encouragement for the Backslider
Friend, if you are in need of restoration you need to understand that the devil doesn’t want you to get restored. He will hinder if he can. The way he does it is to push you down with discouragement—to the point where you’ll give up. Don’t let that happen.
Perhaps you’re filled with doubts and fears about returning to the Lord and His people. I want to say, don’t let those negative thoughts discourage you from rising up to return to the Lord; you’ll find that He loves you just the same! The reception the Prodigal son received from his father will be the same for you.
But, gracious Lord, when we reflect
How apt to turn the eye from Thee,
Forget Thee, too, with sad neglect,
And listen to the enemy,
And yet to find Thee still the same—
‘Tis this that humbles us with shame.
(L. F. # 224)
Perhaps you’re saying, “It’s no use for me to come back. I’ve failed, and everybody is going to look at me as a failure. They’ll probably shun me and treat me as a second class Christian.” Friend, this attitude shows that there has not been much depth of repentance in your soul. You’re worried about your reputation more than the Lord’s glory! Doing the will of God in your life should be paramount, cost what it may. You’ll never be restored until you feel that you rightly deserve to be shunned by the Lord and His people. However, I hasten to say that you’re making a mistake thinking that the Lord’s people are as hard as you imagine. Many of them are restored backsliders themselves! And they know what you are feeling. Don’t listen to that lie of the devil.
Perhaps you’re saying, “I’ve backslidden, and once you backslide, you’ll backslide again, because once a backslider always a backslider.” Friend, I want you to know that there is no truth to that either. In fact, it’s a lie that comes straight out of the pit! The devil is the father of lies, and he will use such ideas to cause the backslider to give up. I know a brother who has been a backslider for years, who said that an old sister told him that once a person becomes a backslider they will always backslide thereafter. She said, “Once a backslider, always a backslider!” At the time, he was seeking to rise up, but that statement troubled him so deeply that he just gave up and went back to his sins. He believed the lie! Friend, it is a boldfaced lie; it’s pure fiction. We’re here to tell you that the Lord can restore you, once and for all. It says in Jeremiah 3:22, “Return, ye backsliding children, and I will heal your backslidings.” Your backslidings may be “many” as Israel’s were (Jer. 5:6; 8:5; 14:7), but you’ve never backslidden too many times for the Lord to restore you.
Rueben failed grievously in a moral way, but the word to him was, “Let Reuben live, and not die; and let not his men be few” (Deut. 33:6).
Dear fellow Christian, if you have backslidden there is hope for you. The Lord can and will restore you. He is waiting to receive you with open arms. He loves you and has paid the price for all your sins—even the ones you have committed after you’ve been saved. He’s put them away, and He’s calling to you to return to Him. May God give you the grace to do it.