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“I will heal their apostasy; I will love them freely, for my anger has turned from them.”
(Hosea 14:4)
There are two kinds of backsliders. Some have never been converted; they’ve joined a Christian community and claim to be backsliders, but they’ve never truly “slid forward.” They’ve not been born again. These need different treatment from true backsliders—those born of the incorruptible seed who have turned aside. We want to guide the latter back the same way they left their first love.
Turn to Psalm 85:5-8: “Will you be angry with us forever? Will you prolong your anger to all generations? Will you not revive us again, that your people may rejoice in you? Show us your steadfast love, O Lord, and grant us your salvation. Let me hear what God the Lord will speak, for he will speak peace to his people, to his saints; but let them not return to folly.”
Nothing helps backsliders more than contact with God’s Word; the Old Testament is as helpful as the New. Jeremiah has wonderful passages for wanderers. We want backsliders to hear what God says.
Image illustrating Hosea 14:4, focusing on healing and divine love.
In Jeremiah 6:10: “To whom shall I speak and give warning, that they may hear? Behold, their ears are uncircumcised, they cannot listen; behold, the word of the Lord is to them an object of scorn; they take no pleasure in it.” This describes backsliders—they find no delight in God’s Word. We aim to bring them back, helping God get their ear. From verse 14: “They have healed the wound of my people lightly, saying, ‘Peace, peace,’ when there is no peace. Were they ashamed when they committed abomination? No, they were not at all ashamed; they did not know how to blush. Therefore they shall fall among those who fall; at the time that I punish them, they shall be overthrown, says the Lord. Thus says the Lord: Stand by the roads, and look, and ask for the ancient paths, where the good way is; and walk in it, and find rest for your souls. But they said, ‘We will not walk in it.’ I set watchmen over you, saying, ‘Pay attention to the sound of the trumpet!’ But they said, ‘We will not pay attention.’”
This was the Jews’ state when backslidden, turned from the ancient paths. Backsliders today are similar, straying from the Bible. Adam and Eve fell by ignoring God’s Word, believing the tempter. Backsliders fall by turning from God’s Word.
In Jeremiah 2, God pleads like a father with a son: “Thus says the Lord: What wrong did your fathers find in me that they went far from me, and went after worthlessness, and became worthless? … Therefore I still contend with you, declares the Lord, and with your children’s children I will contend … For my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed out cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns that can hold no water” (Jeremiah 2:5, 9, 13).
Note: the Lord never forsook them; they forsook Him without cause! “What wrong did your fathers find in me?” Is God not the same as when you first came to Him? Has He changed? People think God changes, but the fault is theirs. Backslider, what wrong have you found in God that you’ve left Him? You’ve hewed broken cisterns that hold no water. The world can’t satisfy the new nature. No earthly well can quench a soul that’s tasted the water of life, yet seeks the world’s fountains. Earthly wells dry up, unable to satisfy spiritual thirst.
In Jeremiah 2:32: “Can a virgin forget her ornaments, or a bride her attire? Yet my people have forgotten me days without number.” God charges backsliders with forgetting Him endlessly.
I’ve startled young ladies by saying, “You think more of your earrings than of the Lord.” They deny it, but when asked if they’d be troubled losing an earring and search for it, they admit they would. Yet turning from God doesn’t trouble them, nor do they seek Him.
Many once in daily communion with God now prioritize dresses and ornaments over their souls. Love hates to be forgotten. Mothers would be heartbroken if their children left without a word; God pleads with backsliders like a parent, asking, “What have I done that you’ve forsaken me?”
The Bible’s most tender words are from Jehovah to those who’ve left Him without cause (Jeremiah 2:19): “Your evil will chastise you, and your apostasy will reprove you. Know and see that it is evil and bitter for you to forsake the Lord your God; the fear of me is not in you, declares the Lord God of hosts.”
I’ve seen hundreds of backsliders return, all admitting it’s evil and bitter to leave God. Jeremiah 2:19 is often used to bring wanderers back. May it bring you back if you’ve strayed.
Look at Lot. Didn’t he find backsliding bitter? Twenty years in Sodom, he made no converts. The world saw him as influential, but he ruined his family. It’s pitiful to see him warning his children at midnight, only for them to ignore him.
I’ve never known backslidden parents whose children weren’t ruined, mocking religion and deriding their parents: “Your evil will chastise you, and your apostasy will reprove you.” David found this true, crying, “O my son Absalom, my son, my son Absalom! Would I had died instead of you, O Absalom, my son, my son!” (2 Samuel 18:33). His anguish was for Absalom’s ruin, not just his death.
Years ago, I spoke past midnight with an old man who’d wandered in sin for years. That night, he sought to return. We prayed until light broke in, and he left rejoicing. The next night, he sat before me, looking wretched. In the inquiry room, I asked, “Is your eye off the Savior? Have doubts returned?” “No,” he said. “I spent today visiting my married children in this city. Not one didn’t mock me. It’s the darkest day of my life. I’ve awakened to what I’ve done, leading my children into the world, and now I can’t get them out.” God restored his joy, but the bitter consequence of his sin remained. Many who came to your city serving God, but forgot Him in prosperity, have children on the road to ruin.
We warn backsliders out of love, as a sign of danger. Israel’s truest friend was Moses. Jeremiah, a weeping prophet, sought to bring them back, but they rejected God, forgetting the One who led them from Egypt to the Promised Land. In prosperity, they turned away. God warned them (Deuteronomy 28). Their king, mocking God’s Word, was captured by Nebuchadnezzar, his children slain before him, his eyes gouged out, and he was bound in bronze fetters in a Babylonian dungeon (2 Kings 25:7). He reaped what he sowed. Backsliding is evil and bitter, but God calls you back with His Word.
In Jeremiah 8:5-7: “Why then has this people turned away in perpetual backsliding? They hold fast to deceit; they refuse to return. I have paid attention and listened, but they have not spoken rightly; no man relents of his evil, saying, ‘What have I done?’ Everyone turns to his own course, like a horse plunging headlong into battle. Even the stork in the heavens knows her times, and the turtledove, swallow, and crane keep the time of their coming, but my people do not know the rules of the Lord.”
“They refuse to return.” No family altar, Bible reading, or private devotion! God listens, but His people have turned away. For penitent backsliders seeking pardon, Jeremiah 3:12-14 offers tender words: “Go, and proclaim these words toward the north, and say, ‘Return, faithless Israel, declares the Lord. I will not look on you in anger, for I am merciful, declares the Lord; I will not be angry forever. Only acknowledge your guilt, that you rebelled against the Lord your God and scattered your favors among foreigners under every green tree, and that you have not obeyed my voice, declares the Lord. Return, O faithless children, declares the Lord; for I am your master; I will take you, one from a city and two from a family, and I will bring you to Zion.’”
“Only acknowledge your guilt.” I’ve shown this to many backsliders. A man asked, “Who said that? Is it there?” I pointed to the passage, and he knelt, crying, “My God, I have sinned.” God restored him instantly. If you’ve wandered, God wants you back.
In Hosea 6:4: “What shall I do with you, O Ephraim? What shall I do with you, O Judah? Your love is like a morning cloud, like the dew that goes early away.” His compassion is wonderful!
In Jeremiah 3:22: “Return, O faithless children; I will heal your faithlessness. Behold, we come to you, for you are the Lord our God.” God puts words in the backslider’s mouth. Come, and He’ll receive you graciously and love you freely.
In Hosea 14:1-2, 4: “Return, O Israel, to the Lord your God, for you have stumbled because of your iniquity. Take with you words and return to the Lord; say to him, ‘Take away all iniquity; accept what is good, and we will pay with bulls the vows of our lips … I will heal their apostasy; I will love them freely, for my anger has turned from them.’” The call is “Turn! Turn! TURN!”
If you’ve wandered, you left Him, not He you. Return the same way you strayed. If we treated Christ like an earthly friend, we’d never leave. If in a town for a week, I’d say goodbye to friends before leaving. Leaving without a word would be blameworthy. Have you heard a backslider say, “Goodbye, Lord Jesus, I’m tired of Your service; Your yoke isn’t easy; I’m returning to the world”? No, and you won’t. In your closet, shutting out the world, you can’t leave Him. Your heart will say, “To whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life” (John 6:68). Treat Him thus, and you won’t return to the world. You left by forgetting Him. Come back today, refusing to rest until God restores His salvation’s joy.
In Cornwall, a gentleman met a known backslider and asked, “Is there estrangement between you and Jesus?” The man admitted, “Yes.” “What has He done to you?” A flood of tears was the answer.
In Revelation 2:4-5: “I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first. Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first. If not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent.” Don’t mistake “do the first works.” Many think they must relive their initial conversion, keeping them from peace. You won’t have the same experience. God doesn’t repeat Himself. No two people have identical experiences. Let God restore His joy His way. Don’t expect the same experience from years ago. Confess your sins, and He’ll restore you.
Peter’s fall shows how most stumble. “Let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall” (1 Corinthians 10:12). Early in my faith, I thought standing twenty years would secure me. But the closer to the Cross, the fiercer the battle. Satan targets high, singling out Judas and Peter. Most fall on their strongest trait. Edinburgh Castle was assailed where steep rocks seemed secure. If you think you’re strong against the devil, watch that point; the tempter strikes there.
Abraham, head of the faithful, denied his wife in Egypt (Genesis 12:10-20). Moses, known for meekness, was barred from the Promised Land for one hasty act (Numbers 20:10-12). Elijah, bold, fled like a coward from Jezebel’s threat (1 Kings 19:1-4). No matter who—preacher or layman—self-conceit leads to a fall. We need constant prayer for humility. Moses’ face shone, but he didn’t know it (Exodus 34:29). True humility doesn’t boast; it shows in life. A lighthouse doesn’t need drums or trumpets; its light testifies. Near my home, a noisy brook quiets in fair weather, but a deep river flows silently. Deep love for God shows without proclamation.
Peter’s first step was self-confidence. Jesus warned, “Simon, Simon, behold, Satan demanded to have you, that he might sift you like wheat, but I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail” (Luke 22:31-32). Peter boasted, “I am ready to go with you both to prison and to death” (Luke 22:33) and “Though all may fall away because of you, I will never fall away” (Matthew 26:33). Jesus replied, “Before the rooster crows today, you will deny three times that you know me” (Luke 22:34). Despite the warning, Peter insisted he’d die for Him. Boasting often precedes a fall. Walk humbly; our tempter is cunning, and in an unguarded moment, we may scandalize Christ.
Next, Peter slept. If Satan lulls the Church to sleep, he works through God’s people. Instead of watching in Gethsemane, Peter slept, and Jesus asked, “Could you not watch with me one hour?” (Matthew 26:40). Then, he fought in the flesh’s energy, and Jesus rebuked, “All who take the sword will perish by the sword” (Matthew 26:52), undoing Peter’s act. Next, he “followed at a distance” (Luke 22:54). When a Christian follows afar, associating with worldly friends and misaligning influence, disgrace soon follows, wounding Christ in His friends’ house, causing others to stumble.
Then, Peter was friendly with Christ’s enemies. A servant girl said, “You also were with Jesus the Galilean.” He denied, “I don’t know what you mean.” Another girl said, “This man was with Jesus of Nazareth.” He denied with an oath, “I do not know the man.” An hour later, another said, “Certainly this man was with him, for he too is a Galilean.” Angry, Peter cursed and swore, “I do not know the man!” The rooster crowed (Matthew 26:69-74).
From self-conceit’s pinnacle, Peter descended to cursing, denying his Lord. Jesus could have said, “Peter, have you forgotten healing your wife’s mother (Luke 4:38-39)? The miraculous catch of fish (Luke 5:8)? Saving you from drowning (Matthew 14:30)? The Mount of Transfiguration (Matthew 17:4)? The Last Supper and Gethsemane?” But He didn’t. One loving look broke Peter’s heart, and he wept bitterly (Luke 22:62).
After the resurrection, Jesus tenderly dealt with Peter. The angel at the tomb said, “Tell his disciples and Peter” (Mark 16:7). Jesus didn’t forget Peter despite his denials, sending a special message to the repentant disciple. What a loving Savior!
If you’re a wanderer, let Jesus’ loving look win you back to His salvation’s joy. I trust God will restore some backslider reading this, making them a useful member of society and a bright church ornament. Without David’s restoration, we’d lack Psalm 32: “Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered” (Psalm 32:1), or Psalm 51. Without Peter’s restoration, we’d miss his Pentecost sermon converting three thousand (Acts 2:14-41).
Born in Northfield, Massachusetts, Dwight L. Moody overcame a poor upbringing and limited education to become a leading 19th-century evangelist. Converted in 1855, he left a successful Chicago business career for ministry, founding the Moody Church and leading the Chicago YMCA. His powerful revivals with singer Ira D. Sankey drew millions in America and Britain. Moody’s simple, heartfelt preaching on salvation transformed lives. He established the Moody Bible Institute and Northfield Schools, leaving a lasting legacy in modern evangelism.
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