In this enlightening episode, we delve deep into the phenomenon of spiritual relapse experienced by many believers. Despite genuine conversion, some individuals find themselves reverting to old habits and lifestyles. We unpack common misconceptions around salvation and discuss the difference between losing fellowship and losing salvation. Our guide reveals key insights from Romans 12, offering hope and practical strategies to steer clear of spiritual relapse. Join us as we explore the process leading to relapse, the enticing nature of sin, and the environmental influences that challenge new believers. Charles Stanley emphasizes the need for continuous renewal of the mind
Welcome to the InTouch Podcast with Charles Stanley for Thursday, January 1st. I’ll see you next time.
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Why is it that some people who have been converted, either for a few weeks, a few months, or sometimes for a few years, turn right back where they were, living in sin, almost as if they had never been saved? But remember now, here’s a person who has been saved by the grace of God, who’s had a new birth experience. And the Bible says, therefore, if any man be in Christ, he’s a new creature, a new creation. Old things have passed away, and old things have become new. And by new creation, that means that God… has made something new that was not before, not like anything else that is in existence. That is, God hasn’t put a new suit on an old man. He’s made him a new creation. What about these people who have had a genuine conversion experience and then they turn and go back to their old way? Well, there are two simple explanations that most people give. One of them is, well, Real simple, they were never really saved. No. These people were genuinely converted, born again by the grace of God, the Spirit of God. They’ve been saved, so we can’t accept that excuse. Somebody says, well, but a simpler one than that is, man, they just fell from grace. I mean, anybody’s got to know that. Well, the truth is that we do not believe the Bible teaches that you fall from grace. And the first verse that usually comes to mind is in Galatians chapter 5. But what that verse means when it says, “…falling from grace, that those Jews who’d been converted…” And who had learned to live by the grace of God had fallen back to living under the law and by the law in order to continue or what they thought was to continue God’s approval of them. Doesn’t mean they lost their salvation. So the Bible doesn’t teach that you can lose your salvation. You can lose your fellowship. You can mess that up, but you’re not losing your salvation. So what about those people who are genuinely converted and yet they go back to their old way and for a season of time they live in it. Sometimes a short season, sometimes a long season. Now I’m not talking about somebody who’s saved and then commits a sin here, commits a sin there, because that’s going to happen in all of our lives. What I’m talking about, they go back and from all outward appearance it looks like that’s the way they were living before they were saved. What is the reason why does that happen? And that’s what I want us to discuss today. And if you’ll turn to Romans chapter 12, verses 1 and 2, I believe the explanation of how to prevent that from happening is found in these two verses. And we’re going to talk about why it happens, the process a person goes through, how it takes place, and then primarily how to prevent relapse. And so the title of this message is Renew or Relapse. And so beginning in chapter 12, verse 1 and 2. I urge you therefore brethren by the mercies of God to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice acceptable unto God which is your spiritual service of worship. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind that you may prove what the will of God is. That is, that it is good and acceptable and perfect. Now, for first, let’s begin to look here at the believer’s relapse into sin. That is, a believer has a spiritual relapse. We are talking about those who have been genuinely converted. Now, look at this second verse, if you will, because… The possibility of having a spiritual relapse, Paul warns us here in this second verse. Now look what he says. Do not be conformed to this world, but rather be transformed. When he says do not be conformed, Paul uses an imperative mood here. And what he’s saying, putting it in the negative, he says stop being conformed to this age. When he says world, he uses the word here, which means age. Paul was saying to those Roman Christians, watching them. hearing about them having been saved by the grace of God, living in the Roman culture, in the Roman world with their ungodly philosophies, he said to them, I warn you, stop being shaped and molded and conformed back into the philosophy of life, the way of life, and the lifestyle from which you have been redeemed by the grace of God. He says, stop allowing the philosophy of the age in which you live to shape you back into the mole which God has redeemed you from. Now the word here, conformed, means assuming an outward appearance that is inconsistent. Inconsistent with the inner spirit. When a person is saved by the grace of God, what happens? They are saved by the Holy Spirit coming into their life and they receive, the Bible says, the life of Christ. The man’s spirit is made alive by the presence of the Holy Spirit and we become the possessors of the life of Christ. Now watch this. If a man has the life of Jesus Christ living within him, and this life which is perfect and holy, and in this body, this body goes back into the world system. Paul says, listen, you are not what you were before you were saved. You can’t ever be what you were before because the redeeming grace of God has made you what you were not. You can’t ever be what you were because you have been regenerated. You have been born again and you have been born a new creation. Now, how does a person like that relapse back into sin? Well, they certainly can because Paul is warning them here, stop being shaped. Don’t let the culture in which you live, the philosophy of your day, the age in which you live, the ungodly age in which you live, shape you, mold you, fix you back the way you were. Now, you say, well, I don’t believe I could ever be the way I was. Now, in essence, you cannot. But all of us could act the way we used to act before we were saved. And I want to show you what happens. And what I’d like to do is to show you the steps that takes place in a person’s life when this happens. So I want you to get a pencil and piece of paper. They all start with E so you can remember them. Now, let’s say, for example, that He saved you and lifted you to a higher level of living. So now you’ve been saved by the grace of God. And for illustration, let’s say that you are 25 years of age, a 25-year-old man, a woman. And you were saved on last Sunday by the grace of God. And I mean, you’re excited about what God has done in your life. So here you are now, a new creation in Christ Jesus. And a few things have changed about your thinking because Christ Jesus has come into your heart. Now watch this. So what happens? What happens is that this new experience, and that’s the first word, the experience of grace in your life, what happens is you go back into the same old environment on Monday morning. That’s the second word, environment. The environment you walk into on Monday morning at your office is the same environment you left on Friday. And that crowd didn’t get saved. They’re still telling their dirty jokes, and they’re still living like the devil, and they had a big weekend, and all kind of things went on. So you walk back into that. Here you are in your wonderful, exciting Christian experience, and you’re going back smiling, and you’re excited about Jesus, and you walk into that. Now, friend, listen. Don’t expect the world to change just because you got saved. You remember what Jesus said in the 17th chapter of John? We’re not to be like the world. He has not taken us out of the world. So back in your environment you go on Monday morning. Well… You’re not there very long on Monday morning, and it may be Tuesday, Wednesday, before this happens. The time is not important. It’s a sequence of events. And the third thing that happens is they begin to entice you a little bit. Well, look, you’re not going to the party. You’re not going out for a cocktail at lunchtime. What do you mean you’re not listening to our dirty joke? What’s the matter with you anyway? After a while, you know, they turn you off and then they begin to entice you. Listen, after all, we’re all going. Everybody’s going to be there. We’re all going to do it. I mean, after all, you’re not all that holy and righteous because we knew you win. And so they give you some of that. So what happens? Here’s a guy who’s been saved. Now, he hasn’t been taught very well, but out of this new experience, in this same old environment, they begin to work on him a little bit and to induce him to sin. And before long, the next step, he finds himself having to endure this. So after a while in this endearment, and it just comes on and on and on, somebody says, look, now, I mean, one time it’s not going to hurt you. You used to. I don’t doubt that you say, we don’t want to mess up your church life, but come on. I mean, it’s not going to hurt you to go out and have a cocktail with us. I mean, after all, is one going to kill you? So what does he do? well I guess one’s not gonna hurt me so he takes the fatal step and here’s the fatal step the fatal step is that once you’re entrapped by sin once you’re enslaved by sin and God redeems you from that my friend listen one step willing that knowing that back in the same old thing and Satan lays it on you here’s what he does and this is why he approaches you He doesn’t worry about the action itself. What he begins to attack is your faith. Well, well, well. So all of his demonic powers begin to mount. So you trusted God. So you believed God. So you were saved. So you had a changed life. So you are going to win your friends to Christ. So things are different in you. Look at you now. There’s nothing different. You’re back doing the same old thing you used to do, which is proof you never have been saved. What are folks going to think about you? And before long, the fellow, what? He’s not just enduring. He’s back enslaved to sin. Now, the process may be long or short. You say, well, I don’t believe a person who’s really saved would ever do that. Let me ask you a question. How many of you, having been saved by the grace of God, have ever been entrapped by anything since you were saved? All right. So what I’m saying is just as realistic as it can be, and it can happen to anybody. And if you’re one of those persons who says, well, that would never happen to me, then, friend, you’re just setting yourself up for a satanic attack because at the point you think you’re the strongest, that’s the point you let your guard down. Satan attacks. So here’s the fellow who’s done what? Now watch him. He started off this wonderful Christian experience back in the same old environment. the enticement of sin, the inducement of sin, and then he finds himself having to endure, and then what happens? He falls and he becomes enslaved, and the next step down is estrangement. Listen, Satan works on him day and night and tells him that what he thought he had he didn’t have, what he thought was real wasn’t real, and Satan just hammers and hammers and chisels and chisels and chops and chops and prunes and prunes. He does everything he can do possibly to destroy the person’s faith in his original experience of grace. And you’re talking about being trapped. That’s why sometimes a fellow’s feelings, a woman’s feelings are worse the second time in than before. Because you see, before they were at least able to sort of enjoy a little bit of sin for a season. But now, here’s what happened. Before, what were they doing? They were acting natural. The Holy Spirit wasn’t in their life. They may have been convicted at times. So they were acting natural because that’s the way they were. But then they were transformed by the grace of God and they became a brand new person. Now this brand new person goes back over here to the way things were and then all of a sudden something’s wrong. Because you know what he’s done? He’s brought the life of Christ back over into this field. He’s brought the life of Jesus back over into this evil environment. He’s brought the life of Jesus back into the same old muck and mire he was in. And now the Holy Spirit within him is convicting him. He’s guilty. He’s miserable. He’s wretched. He wants to do better, but he’s back in. Satan’s working on him. He wants to do better, and he doesn’t know the truth about himself, about God, and about his relationship to him. He doesn’t have anybody to help him, and here he is stuck. Well, I want to tell you, my friend, that’s not the Christian life. Not the way God intended for it to be. But that is exactly where a large number of people are living their lives and they wonder, why don’t I have any joy? And you know what they do? They settle for a life of spiritual enslavement most of their life until somebody comes along and says, friend, look, you can get out of that. You don’t have to live that way. Listen, don’t settle for anything Satan enslaves you with. And I want to show you why it’s not necessary. So the whole purpose of this message is to analyze how people relapse into sin who have been saved and then what can we do to prevent that from happening because it can be prevented. You say, well, how do we prevent it? How is it that we can prevent from doing that? After all, I’m going back to the same old job. And you see, the folks I run with, they don’t understand why I feel the way I feel and the way I act and so forth. But you see, Peter says in 1 Peter 4, verse 4, and in all this, they’re surprised that you don’t run with them into the same excess of dissipation and they malign you and criticize you. They don’t understand that you’ve become a new person. Now listen. And the frustration is that having become a new person on the inside, the evidence on the outside is not there. And so having been trapped and ensnared and giving over to the flesh, which is my own personal attempt to meet my own needs out of my own strength, when I fall to the flesh… and begin to live my life in the flesh once again, I’m right back where I started. Now, I’m not saying that a person may be to the same depths of entrapment, enslavement they were before, but they’re back there, and they know they’re where they ought not to be, but they don’t know how to get out. Well, the last word in that list, all the way down the list there, is escape. And how does a person escape that? It is the truth that sets a man free. Only when he knows the truth of his enslavement, that he can be free, that he’s been made free, that the victory is already his, that it was won at the cross, and it’s his by claiming through faith. Only when he understands that and is able to claim. to repent of that sin and to claim his position, which is, I have been crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ lives in me. And the life which I now live by the faith of the Son of God, on he goes, quoting those verses of Scripture, taking his position, claiming what is true. But suppose the fellow doesn’t know that. When Christ died on the cross, he took care of all your sins, past, present, and future. Your sins have been atoned for. And any moment, any moment that you’re entrapped, any moment, listen, before you were saved and you were living in sin, you couldn’t help yourself. It was by the grace of God he reached down and saved you out of that. Now that you’ve been saved by the grace of God, the person who’s entrapped is a different person. Listen, you’re a child of God, my friend. A child of God whom God loves and loves dearly. And he will take you out any moment you’re willing to confess and repent and tell him, God, I cannot. If you don’t do it, it won’t be done. I’m trusting you. I’m taking my position. I’m taking my position at the cross. I’m believing what you did at the cross for me, and I’m claiming by faith my release because of who you are, who you are in me, and that he that is within me is greater than he that’s in the world. And the whole message of the cross is the only hope of redemption and the only hope of coming out of Satan’s clutches, repentance toward God. All right, now the question is, how do we prevent that? And that’s the most important part of this message. Okay, let’s go back to Romans chapter 12, verse 1 and 2 again. When Paul says, I urge you, that is a term used by a general oftentimes before they sent their troops into battle. He says, I urge you, I am encouraging you, I’m challenging you therefore, brethren, speaking of believers now, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living, holy sacrifice acceptable to God, which is your personal or your spiritual service of worship. Now watch this. He says, stop being conformed, assuming an outward appearance that is unlike the real you on the inside. Now watch that. Stop being conformed to this age, but be transformed. That is, let the outward become like the inner. He says, by transformation, allow that which is inside of you to begin transforming. to appear on the outside. That is, the transformed life, which is a continuing process, is a process whereby the Christ who is within us is continually expressing itself through us so that the life of Christ is seen through us, the power of Christ is seen through us. It is Christ living and expressing His life within us and through us. Now he says, “…by the renewing of your mind that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.” The renewing of the mind is God’s work of the Holy Spirit by His Word within us to protect us by a continuous cleansing and a continuous molding and shaping into our thought patterns those things that are consistent with the life that is within us so that renewing of the mind is a protective shield from relapsing back into the old way of life. Now let me ask you a question. Are you one of those persons who would have to say, That’s what happened to me. I knew that I was saved, but I relapsed back to my old ways. And I want to tell you, my friend, you can be freed and liberated from that right now. If you’re willing to ask God to forgive you, to name the sin, ask, tell God that you’re repenting of that sin, that you’re trusting in His grace to deliver you and not yourself. You’re trusting in his supernatural power within you that you’re taking your position of who you are as a child of God. You’ve been disobedient. You’ve been a renegade, but you’re still a child of God. And your position is that you’re in Christ and he’s in you. He that’s within you is greater than he that’s in the world. And by faith, you are claiming your victory and you’re repenting of that sin by faith and claiming your victory. And you are stepping out today by faith in the power of God to release you and liberate you from what has ensnared you. And friend, you can step out of it right now. You are the redeemed child of God who stumbled and fell and who’s been entrapped by sin. But listen, he says, my sheep hear my voice and I know them and they follow me. And they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. For he which gave them to me is greater than all and no one can pluck them out of my Father’s hand. Which means that Almighty God is willing to rescue you any moment. You come to him in absolute total dependence in faith and repentance. God will free you.
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Thank you for listening to Renewal or Relapse. If you’d like to know more about Charles Stanley or InTouch Ministries, stop by intouch.org. This podcast is a presentation of InTouch Ministries, Atlanta, Georgia.
