The Backslider Restored
Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation, and vphold me by thy free Spirit. Then will I teach transgressors thy ways; and sinners shall be converted unto thee. — Psalm li 13.
This passage of Scripture reveals to us the method which God usually employs in commencing a revival of religion. He first revives his work in the hearts of his people, and thus prepares them to pray, and to labor successfully for the salvation of their fellow men.
This prayer of David carries back our thoughts to that period in his history, when, after having seen his lost condition, he was brought up out of the horrible pit and the miry clay, and his feet were set upon a rock, and a new song was put into his mouth, even praise unto our God. It was then that he first experienced the joy of God’s salvation; and having lost it by falling into sin, he penitently and earnestly prays that it may be restored.
In treating of this subject it is important to discriminate between that joy which is spiritual, and that which is natural. All religious joy is not the joy of God’s salvation. There is the joy of the hypocrite, which is but for a moment. Job xx: 5. The stony ground hearers received the word with joy. They rejoiced prematurely, and having no root in themselves, they endured only for a time.
Sinners may flatter themselves without any good reason, that their sins are pardoned, and be filled with joy. Their joy may arise to a high degree, and be accompanied by the warmest expressions of gratitude, and by great zeal in the external duties of religion. Thus a criminal, under sentence of death, understanding, through mistake, that he is pardoned, is filled with transports of joy, and cannot find words to express his gratitude to his sovereign for his kindness and mercy. But when he discovers his mistake, his joy vanishes, and all his love and gratitude to his supposed benefactor, disappear at once. In like manner, the self-deceived sinner, who rejoices only in his own fancied safety, has no love to the character of God, no delight in holiness, and no joy in the contemplation of divine objects. All his regard centers in self. If he only can be safe, he cares not what becomes of God, or his glory, or the interests of his kingdom. But the joy of God’s salvation is not a selfish joy It results from the exercise of the Christian graces, and consists in the delight which the renewed soul takes in contemplating the objects of holy affection, without reference to self, or self interest.
God’s salvation, is not a salvation from punishment merely; but a salvation from the power and dominion of sin. Christ was called Jesus, because he should save his people from their sins. “Out of Zion shall come a deliverer, who shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob.’^” Unto you first, God having raised up his Son, Jesns, sent him to bless you, in turning away every one of you from his iniquities.’’^
The first joy of the new born soul does not arise from the belief that his sins are pardoned; for his sins are not pardoned until the love of God is shed abroad in his heart. He can, of course, have no evidence that he is pardoned, until he finds himself rejoicing in the contemplation of the divine character. The joy of God’s salvation may be realized, when the individual has no idea that his sins are pardoned. The renewed soul while contemplating the loveliness of Christ, and other divine objects, forgets himself, and his mind is absorbed in the delightful contemplation of these objects.
This joy of God’s salvation, may, for a season, be lost; not only by falling into open and scandalous sins, as in the case of David; but by the indulgence of secret sins; or by becoming cold, formal, or negligent in the performance of duty.
When the Christian loses the joy of God’s salvation, all his spiritual consolation departs, and he is filled with sore distress. It was so with David. The pains of hell gat hold upon him, and he found trouble and sorrow.
And what must the backslidden Christian do, that the joy of God’s salvation may be restored? He must consider from whence he has fallen, and repent, and do his first works. Like the Psalmist, he must confess his sins, and turn from them unto God. He must obtain this joy as he did at first, by repentance and faith in Christ. God is ready to forgive those who come unto him with broken and contrite hearts. ^’ Turn O backsliding children, saith the Lord.” ‘’ I will heal their backslidings. I will love them freely.”
When the Christian is thus restored, he will be like one converted anew; and he will be more humble and watchful than he was before. He will also be more sensible of his dependence on divine grace, and will look to God to keep him from falling. Thus David prayed that God would not only restore unto him the joy of his salvation, but that he would uphold him with his free Spirit — free in two senses.
1. Because the gift of the Spirit is gratuitous. And
2. Because by the operations of the Spirit the sinner is liberated from the bondage of corruption.
‘’Then,” the psalmist says, “will I teach transgressors thy ways, and sinners shall be converted unto thee.” The best preparation for usefulness in ministers, and in Christians, is the possession of a right state of heart. The spirit which they manifest, they will be likely to diffuse around them.
To teach transgressors God’s ways, is to teach them not only their duty and their sinfulness, but the ways in which God deals with his sinful creatures, in bringing them into a state of favor with him. Thus David could say, ‘’ when I kept silence, my bones waxed old through my roaring all the day” — “I acknowledged my sin unto thee, and mine iniquity have 1 not hid. I said I will confess my transgressions unto the Lord, and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin.”
This whole subject is strikingly illustrated in the history of Peter. Think of the Warning which Christ gave him, and of his confident assurance that he should not deny his master. Think of his unhappy fall, and of his deep and bitter repentance. Now witness his preaching on the day of Pentecost, and the remarkable success which attended his labors. God had restored unto him the joy of his salvation, and upheld him by his free Spirit; and he taught transgressors God’s ways, and sinners were converted unto him.