Backsliding

“….There are many scriptures that do clearly evidence a possibility of the saints falling into the same sins whereof they have formerly repented. ‘I will heal their backslidings, I will love them freely: for mine anger is turned away from them.’ Saith the Lord by the prophet Hosea14:4. So the prophet Jeremiah speaks: ‘Go and proclaim these words toward the north, and say, Return, thou backsliding Israel, saith the Lord, and I will not cause mine anger to fall upon you: for I am merciful, saith the Lord, and I will not keep mine anger for ever. Turn, O backsliding Israel, saith the Lord: for I am married unto you: and I will take you one of a city and two of a family, and I will bring you to Zion’ 3:12, 14. So the psalmist: ‘They turned back, and dealt unfaithfully with their fathers; they were turned aside like a deceitful bow.’ And no wonder, for though their repentance be never so sincere and sound, yet their graces are but weak, and their mortification imperfect in this life. Though by grace they are freed from the dominion of sin, and from the damnatory power of every sin, and from the love of all sin, yet grace doth not free them from the seed of any one sin; and therefore it is possible for a soul to fall again and again into the same sin. If the fire be not wholly put out, who would think it impossible that it could catch and burn again and again?”

Thomas Brooks - Photo by Elena Getzieh