When was a time in your life that you did something that you were later ashamed of? You may have made an embarrassing mistake, you might have done something illegal, and because of that it caused you to feel very disappointed in yourself. Well if you have ever felt this way about yourself then you likely would want to never ever do that thing again, right? You would choose to make the right decisions in the future and never go back to that way of life ever again.
Some people have had certain addictions to alcohol or drugs which have completely ruined their lives, but they overcame those personal problems and become clean. Several years go by and they remain clean and free from those addictions. Why would they go back to doing that kind of lifestyle once more? It is the same way when someone becomes a Christian.
Luke 9:62 “And Jesus said unto him, No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.”
When you become a Christian, it is like redeeming a one time use code, such as a gift card. If you choose to throw that card away without using that code, you will not be able to get it again. It is gone forever. Being a Christian is a lifelong commitment, which when you start you need to continue on until the end. There can be no going back to the ways of the world, because if one does, there is no return.
Hebrews 6:4-6 “For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost,
And have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come,
If they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame.”
When you take a shower and clean yourself off, would you want to go right back outside and throw dirt all over yourself? Of course not! You have just been cleansed, and you would not want to go back to being dirty again.
In Genesis 19, before the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed, the Lord sent angels in to warn Lot and his family to save them from that destruction. But what happened to Lot’s wife as they were leaving the cities? She looked back after being expressly warned not to, and she turned into “a pillar of salt.” They had just been saved from the sin and death behind them, yet she did not seem to want to leave it behind, which as a result ended disastrously for her.
We may have times in our life when we experience trouble overcoming certain temptations or other issues in our life, but through these trials of our faith we can learn patience and come out even stronger in the end.
When we become a Christian, we have “put to death the old man” which is our former carnal natures, and have been reborn in the Spirit. The old man is gone, forgotten, and left behind. We have become “a new creature.”
2 Corinthians 5:17 “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.”
So you see, if someone who has tasted the love and forgiveness of Jesus decides to return back to their old lives of sin once again, they are returning to a dead man, in whom there is no hope of attaining eternal salvation.
We have been washed in the blood of Christ. Why would you want to go back to the filth of sin once again? If someone throws away the gift that they have been given, then they are unworthy of the kingdom of God.
Through Christ we are saved, through faith. Because of His love for us He died so that we can go to Heaven. Don’t throw away that gift, and never look back. We have been freed from our sins, don’t go back to them again.
In Christ,
Andrew
Teufer Lake King James Bible Church 