When the Fire Goes Out.

 When the Fire Goes Out

Matthew 3:11: I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.

·        When you were born again, you were baptized in water and baptized in the Holy Spirit and fire. Jesus called this “the Promise of the Father.”

·        We know that our God is a “consuming fire” as the Spirit burns away the dross or impurities within us, and sets us ablaze with the power of the Spirit.

1 Thessalonians 5:19:  Do not quench the Spirit.

Ø “Quench” means to satisfy a thirst, but it also means to extinguish or put out a flame.

·        Paul warns us not to quench the Holy Spirit. But what do we do if we allow the fire of the Spirit to go out? The Bible refers to this process as backsliding.

·        If we have allowed this, what does the path back look like?

Revelation 2:4-5:  Nevertheless I have this against you, that you have left your first love. 5 Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent and do the first works, or else I will come to you quickly and remove your lampstand from its place—unless you repent.

·        Even in the early church, the believers were losing their affection for Jesus.

Ø Backsliding begins in the heart and they go back to what comes natural to them. People tend to turn away from God, their desire for Him and their passion grows cold God knows this better than we do.

·        The fire for the things of God begins to cool off; slowly the communion with Him becomes dry and brittle.

·        If you’ve been in a relationship for any length of time, you can tell when the love begins to grow cold. You know something is wrong. Perhaps that person would rather be with someone else.

·        How do you think God feels when He feels our hearts slipping away and we won’t even admit it to ourselves in our deepest moments? We may not admit this out loud, but it’s all the same.

·        For a while the backslider will keep up religious appearances and talk the talk and seem to enjoy it. But this is similar to half-heartedly laughing at a joke that you don’t get. Soon it becomes difficult to keep up the charade.

Luke 22:31-34: And the Lord said, “Simon, Simon! Indeed, Satan has asked for you, that he may sift you as wheat.  But I have prayed for you, that your faith should not fail; and when you have returned to Me, strengthen your brethren.” But he said to Him, “Lord, I am ready to go with You, both to prison and to death.”  Then He said, “I tell you, Peter, the rooster shall not crow this day before you will deny three times that you know Me.

·        Satan wanted to “sift Peter as wheat,” which means that he wished to shake Peter’s faith.

·        In truth, the adversary wants to destroy the faith of every believer.

·        Jesus did not promise to remove Peter’s testing; instead He predicted that Peter would fail the test by denying Christ three times.

·        Trials are to be expected in the Christian life… they can help us grow.

·        Jesus was confident that Simon Peter would get back up again and go on to strengthen the other disciples.

·        Our faith and perseverance are revealed in repentance and restoration, not in sinless perfection. We get up and keep going, after we fall.

Luke 22:54-57: Having arrested Him, they led Him and brought Him into the high priest’s house. But Peter followed at a distance. 55 Now when they had kindled a fire in the midst of the courtyard and sat down together, Peter sat among them. 56 And a certain servant girl, seeing him as he sat by the fire, looked intently at him and said, “This man was also with Him.” 57 But he denied Him, saying, “Woman, I do not know Him.”

·        Peter was following at a distance.

·        What begins in the heart soon manifests in the physical.

·        Jesus had been arrested, and the promise of the Kingdom of Heaven that the Messiah would establish here on earth seemed to be crashing. Peter was disappointed and discouraged because his expectations were not met in Jesus.

·        Jesus didn’t do things the way Peter wanted Him to do and when he wanted him to do it.

Ø Discouragement and disappointment can happen to any Christian; mature or just born again. It spares no one.

·        Joy, and victory cannot grow in a climate of discouragement. The devil uses discouragement and disappointment in Christians when other forms of temptation do not work.

·       We become more distant and attending church less because it loses some priority in our lives. We often find excuses not to attend with our brothers and sisters, it loses its importance in our hearts. It’s no longer convenient, our hearts are cold, and the fire is quenched.

·       Peter was warming himself by the “enemy’s fire” as his own fire started to dim. He was now sitting with the unbelievers, not the brethren.

·       He was hanging out in the wrong place with the wrong people at the wrong time… because it was the easy thing to do.

·       And soon what was unthinkable became possible; Peter denied Christ.

·       Backsliding started one step at a time.

Hosea 11:7: My people are bent on backsliding from Me. Though they call to the Most High, none at all exalt Him.

·       The term “backsliding” comes from a cow being led forward and for no apparent reason she decides she won’t go another inch. The more they pull her the more she backs up.

·       The old times prophets were not shy about calling out the people on their backsliding.  But you don’t hear it much anymore from our preachers.

·       It’s not that God is vengeful and wants to punish our backsliding; it’s a matter of cause and effect.

·       It’s as if someone swallows a poison pill; God isn’t angry over the fact that someone swallows the pill… it’s a matter that the pill will kill you.

·       Sin is like that, it has its own effect on us apart from God. He loves us so much; He hates to see us do this.

How can we know if we are backsliding?

Ø We are backsliding when our desire for spiritual things begins to lack our enthusiasm.

·       We are backsliding when we have lost our desire to read our Bibles,

·       We are backsliding when we have lost our desire to pray.

·       And we are backsliding when we have lost the joy of giving.

Ø We are backsliding when we become more tolerant of evil than we once were.

·       We are backsliding when we lose any sympathy for the lost and the poor.

·       We are backsliding when we are not eager to gather with other Christians for church, Bible study, and worship.

Hosea 14:4-7: “I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely, for My anger has turned away from him.  I will be like the dew to Israel; he shall grow like the lily, and lengthen his roots like Lebanon. His branches shall spread; his beauty shall be like an olive tree, and his fragrance like Lebanon. Those who dwell under his shadow shall return; they shall be revived like grain, and grow like a vine. Their scent shall be like the wine of Lebanon.

·        Some people say that their job or their business dragged them down, or maybe they blame somebody else for their backsliding.

·        No, our own desires of our hearts cause us to backslide.

·        The Bible says that our God loves us as much when we are backsliding as when we are not. He understands we are prone to wandering like sheep gone astray. He says He will heal our backsliding.

·        Therefore backsliding requires “healing.” He heals us through His love not by being angry with us. He provides dew for us in our dryness, He strengthens our roots…He revives us again.

Ø Did you know that we can have personal revival? It’s a refreshment of the Holy Spirit. He comes alongside of us and joins our battle, He calls us to return.

John 21:17: He said to him the third time, “Simon, son of Jonah, do you love Me?” Peter was grieved because He said to him the third time, “Do you love Me?” And he said to Him, “Lord, You know all things; You know that I love You.” Jesus said to him, “Feed My sheep.”

·        Peter in his discouragement, returned to fishing…his old life.

·        There are preachers of the gospel who have dragged a full net of fish to shore; they have been successful workers, but they can become discouraged in their hearts too!

·        Jesus didn’t ask Peter, “Are you sorry?” nor “Will you promise never to do that again?” Jesus challenged Peter to love.

·        Jesus refocused Peter’s heart. And then put him right back into the race!

Luke 15:11-14:  Then He said: “A certain man had two sons. 12 And the younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the portion of goods that falls to me.’ So he divided to them his livelihood. 13 And not many days after, the younger son gathered all together, journeyed to a far country, and there wasted his possessions with prodigal living.

·        This prodigal son was a backslider. He’d known the good things in his Father’s house, but now the things of the world are more interesting to him than the things of His Father.

·        You could say he was blinded by worldly things. He had let his heart wander, and he had attached his imagination to the possibilities of prodigal living

Luke 15:15-18: But when he had spent all, there arose a severe famine in that land, and he began to be in want. 15 Then he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country, and he sent him into his fields to feed swine. 16 And he would gladly have filled his stomach with the pods that the swine ate, and no one gave him anything.

·        Backsliding causes us to hunger and thirst for the things of our Father’s house. We soon see that the things of this world are nothing but dung.

·        We were not made to live with the pigs, we are children of God. We are made to live with Him.

Luke 15:17-19:  “But when he came to himself, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger! 18 I will arise and go to my father, and will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you, 19 and I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Make me like one of your hired servants.” 

·         He recalled the good ol’ days of living in His Father’s house. He knew he must return. I believe all backsliders have this desire if they were ever really saved to begin with.

Luke 15:20-21:  “And he arose and came to his father. But when he was still a great way off, his father saw him and had compassion, and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him. 21 And the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight, and am no longer worthy to be called your son.’

·        His Father was waiting for him. Your heavenly Father is waiting for you. You will be received with love, not with anger. You will be welcomed, not condemned.

·        The son experienced his Father’s love, and then “repented” of his backsliding. It’s the goodness of God that leads us to repentance.

Luke 15:20-21: “But the father said to his servants, ‘Bring out the best robe and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet. 23 And bring the fatted calf here and kill it, and let us eat and be merry; 24 for this my son was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ And they began to be merry.

·        There was more in the Father’s house than the son ever knew, and now there was joy and gladness that was way beyond what he had ever experienced before.

• He had a “personal revival.”

·        He was refreshed! Why live in misery, just return!