We are therefore going to point out what are the "conditions" of recovery from a spiritual decline, or what are the "means" of restoration for a backslider, or what is the "way of" deliverance for one who is departed from God. Before turning to specific cases recorded in Scripture, let us again call attention to Pro_28:13. First, "he that covereth his sins shall not prosper." To "cover" our sins is a refusing to bring them out into the light by an honest confessing of them unto God; or to hide them from our fellows or refuse to acknowledge offenses to those we have wronged. While such be the case, there can be no prosperity of soul, no communion with God or his people. Second, "but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy." To confess means to freely, frankly, and penitently own them unto God, and to our fellows if our sins have been against them. To "forsake" our sins is a voluntary and deliberate act: it signifies to loathe and abandon them in our affections, to repudiate them by our wills, to refuse to dwell upon them in our minds and imaginations with any pleasure or satisfaction.

But suppose the believer does not promptly thus confess and forsake his sins? In such case not only will he "not prosper," not only can there now be no further spiritual growth, but peace of conscience and joy of heart will depart from him. The Holy Spirit is "grieved" and He will withhold His comforts. And suppose that does not bring him to his senses, then what? Let the ease of David furnish answer: "When I kept silence, my bones waxed old through my roaring all the day long. For day and night thy hand was heavy upon me: my moisture is turned into the drought of summer" (Psa_32:3-4). The "bones" are the strength and upholders of the bodily frame, and when used figuratively the "waxing of them old" signifies that vigor and support of the soul is gone, so that it sinks into anguish and despair. Sin is a pestilential thing which saps our vitality. Though David was silent as to confession, he was not so as to sorrow. God’s hand smote his conscience and afflicted his spirit so that he was made to groan under His rod. He had no rest by day or night: sin haunted him in his dreams and he awoke unrefreshed. Like one in a drought he was barren and fruitless. Not until he turned to the Lord in contrite confession was there any relief for him.

Let us turn now to an experience suffered by Abraham that illustrates our present subject, though few perhaps have considered it as a case of spiritual relapse. Following upon his full response to the Lord’s call to enter the land of Canaan, we are told that "the Lord appeared unto Abram" (Gen_12:7). So it is now: "He that hath my commandments and keepeth them, he that it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him" (Joh_14:21). It is not to the self-willed and self-pleasing, but to the obedient one that the Lord draws near in the intimacies of His love and makes Himself a reality and satisfying portion. The "manifestation" of Christ to the soul should be a daily experience, and if it is not, then our hearts ought to be deeply exercised before him. If there is not the regular "appearing of the Lord," it must be because we have wandered from the path of obedience,

Next we are told of the patriarch’s response to the Lord’s "appearing and the precious promise He then made him: "and there He built an altar unto the Lord." The altar speaks of worship—the heart’s pouring of itself forth in adoration and praise. That order is unchanging: occupation of the soul with Christ, beholding (with the eyes of faith) the King in his beauty, is what alone will bow us before Him in true worship. Next, "and he removed from thence unto a mountain" (Gen_12:8). Spiritually speaking the "mountain" is a figure of elevation of spirit, soaring above the level in which the world lies, the affections being set upon things above. It tells of a heart detached from this scene attracted to and absorbed by Him who has passed within the veil. Is it not written "they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength: they shall mount up with wings as eagles" (Isa. 40:31)? And how may this "mountain" experience be maintained? Is such a thing possible? We believe it is, and at it we should constantly aim, not being content with anything that falls short of it. The answer is revealed in what immediately follows.

"And pitched his tent, having Bethel on the west and Hai on the east. The "tent" is the symbol of the stranger, of one who has no home or abiding-place in the scene which cast out of it the Lord of glory. We never read that Abram built him any "house" in Canaan (as Lot occupied one in Sodom!); no, he was but a "sojourner" and his tent was the sign and demonstration of this character. "And there he builded all altar unto the Lord": from this point onwards two things characterized him, his "tent" and his "altar"—Gen_12:8; Gen_13:3-4; Gen_13:18. In each of those passages the "tent" is mentioned first, for we cannot truly and acceptably worship God on high unless we maintain our character as sojourners here below. That is why the exhortation is made, "Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul" (1 Peter 2:11) and so quench the spirit of worship. Are we conducting ourselves as those who are "partakers of the heavenly calling" (Heb. 3:1)—do our manners, our dress, our speech evidence the same to others?

Ah, dear reader, do we not find right there the explanation of why it is that a "mountain" experience is so little enjoyed and still less maintained by us! Is it not because we descended to the plains, came down to the level of empty professors and white-washed worldlings, set our affection upon things below, and in consequence became "conformed to this world"? If we really be Christ’s, He has "delivered us [judicially] from this present evil world" (Gal_1:4) and therefore our hearts and lives should be separated from it in a practical way. Our Home is on high and that fact ought to mold every detail of our lives. Of Abram and his fellow saints it is recorded they "confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth" (Heb_11:13)—"confessed’ it by their lives as well as lips, and it is added "wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God" (Heb_11:16). But alas, too many now are afraid to be considered "peculiar," and to escape criticism and ostracism compromise, hide their light under a bushel, come down to the level of the world.

The young Christian might well suppose that one who was in the path of obedience, who was going on whole-heartedly with God, who was a man of the "tent" and the "altar" would be quite immune from any fall. So he will be while he maintains that relationship and attitude: but it is, alas, very easy for him to relax a little and gradually depart from it. Not that such a departure is to be expected, or excused on the ground that since the flesh remains in the believer it is only to be looked for that it will not be long ere it unmistakably manifests itself. Not so: "He that saith he abideth in him, ought himself also so to walk even as He walked" (1Jn_2:6). Full provision has been made by God for him to do so. "Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof" (Rom. 6:12). But Abram did suffer a relapse, a serious one, and as it is profitable for us to observe and take to heart the various steps which preceded Peter’s open denial of Christ, so is it to ponder and turn into earnest supplication that which befell the patriarch before he "went down into Egypt."

First, we are told "and Abram journeyed" (v. 9), nor is it said that he had received any order from God to move his tent from the place where he was in, communion with Him. That by itself would not be conclusive, but in the light of what follows it seems to indicate plainly that a spirit of restlessness had now seized him, and restlessness, my reader, indicates we are no longer content with our lot. The solemn thing to observe is that the starting point in the path of Abram’s decline was that he left Bethel, and Bethel means "the house of God"—the place of fellowship with Him. All that follows is recorded as a warning of what we may expect if we leave "Bethel." Abram’s leaving Bethel was the root of his failures, and in the sequel we are shown the bitter fruit which sprang from it. That was the place which Peter left, for he followed Christ "afar off." That was the place which the Ephesian backslider forsook: "thou hast left thy first love." The day we become lax in maintaining communion with God, the door is opened for many evils to enter the soul.

"And Abram journeyed." The Hebrew is more expressive and emphatic. Literally it reads "And Abram journeyed, in going and journeying." A restless spirit possessed him, which was a sure sign that communion with God was broken. I am bidden to "rest in the Lord" (Psa_37:6), but I can only do so as long as I "delight myself also in the Lord" (Psa_37:4). But, second, it is recorded of Abram: "going on still toward the south" (Gen_12:9), and southward was Egyptward! Most suggestive and solemnly accurate is that line in the picture. Turning Egyptward is ever the logical outcome of leaving Bethel and becoming possessed of a restless spirit, for in the Old Testament Egypt is the outstanding symbol of the world. If the believer’s heart be right with his Redeemer he can say "Thou O Christ art all I want, more than all in thee I find." But if Christ no longer fully absorbs him, then some other object will be sought. No Christian gets right back into the world at a single step. Nor did Abram: he "journeyed toward the south" before he entered Egypt!

Third, "and there was a famine in the land" (Gen_12:10 ). Highly significant was that! A trial of his faith, says someone, Not at all: rather a showing of the red light—God’s danger-signal of what lay ahead. It was a searching call for the patriarch to pause and "consider his ways." Faith needs no trials when it is in normal and healthy exercise: it is when it has become encrusted with dross that the fire is necessary to purge it. There was no famine at Bethel. Of course not: there is always fulness of provision there. The analogy of Scripture is quite against a "famine" being sent for the testing of faith: see Gen_26:1; Rth_1:1; 2Sa_22:1, etc.—in each case the famine was a Divine judgment. Christ is the Bread of Life, and to wander from Him necessarily brings famine to the soul. It was when the restless son went into the "far country" that he "began to be in want" (Luk_15:14). This famine, then, was a message of providence that God was displeased with Abram. So we should regard unfavorable providences: they are a call from God to examine ourselves and try our ways.

"And Abram went down into Egypt to sojourn there" (Gen_12:10 ), and thus it is with many of his children. Instead of being "exercised" by God’s chastenings (Heb_12:11), as they should be, they treat them as a matter of course, as part of the inevitable troubles which man is born unto; and thus "despise" them (Heb_12:5) and derive no good from them. Alas, the average Christian instead of being "exercised" (in conscience and mind) under God’s rod, rather does he ask, How may I most easily and quickly get from under it? If illness comes upon me, instead of turning to the Lord and asking "Show me wherefore thou contendest with me" (Job_10:4), they send for the doctor, which is seeking relief from Egypt. Abram had left Bethel and one who is out of communion with God cannot trust Him with his temporal affairs, but turns instead to all arm of flesh. Observe well the "Woe" which God has denounced upon those who go down into Egypt—turn to the world—for help (Isa_30:1-2).

We cannot now dwell upon what is recorded in Gen_12:11-13, though it is unspeakably tragic. As soon as Abram drew near to Egypt, he began to be afraid. The dark shadows of that land fell across his soul before he actually entered it. He was sadly occupied with self. Said he to his wife, "They will kill me . . . say, I pray thee, that thou art my sister, that it may be well with me. How true it is that "the backslider in heart shall be filled with his own ways" (Pro_14:14)! Fearful of his own safety, Abram asked his wife to repudiate her marriage to him. Abram was afraid to avow his true relationship. This is always what follows when a saint goes down into Egypt: he at once begins to equivocate. When he fellowships with the world he dare not fly his true colors, but compromises. So far from Abram being made a blessing to the Egyptians, he became a "great plague" to them (Gen_12:17 ); and in the end they "sent him away." What a humiliation!

"And Abram went up out of Egypt: he, and his wife, and all that he had, and Lot with him, into the south." Did he remain in that dangerous district? No, for "he went on in his journeys from the south." Observe that he received no directions so to act. They were not necessary: his conscience told him what to do! "He went on in his journeys from the south, even to Bethel, unto the place where his tent had been at the beginning . . . unto the place of the altar, which he had made there at the first; and there Abram called on the name of the Lord" (Gen_13:1-4). He again turned his back upon the world: he retraced his steps; he returned to his pilgrim character and his altar. And note well, dear reader, it was "there Abram called on the name of the Lord." It had been a waste of time, a horrible mockery for him to have done so while he was "down in Egypt." The Holy One will not hearken to us while we are sullying His name by our carnal walk. It is "holy hands" (1Ti_2:8), or at least penitent ones, which must be "lifted up if we are to receive spiritual things from Him.

The case of Abram then sets before us in clear and simple language the way of recovery for a backslider. Those words "unto the place where his tent had been at the beginning" inculcate the same requirement as "teach you again which be the first principles of the oracles of God" (Heb_5:12), and "Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works" (Rev_2:5). Our sinful failure must be judged by us: we must condemn ourselves unsparingly for the same: we must contritely confess it to God: we must "forsake" it, resolving to have nothing further to do with those persons or things which occasioned our lapse. Yet something more than that is included in the "do the first works": there must be renewed actings of faith on Christ—typified by Abram’s return to "the altar." We must come to the Saviour as we first came to Him—as sinners, as believing sinners, trusting in the merits of His sacrifice and the cleansing efficacy of His blood, We must doubt not His willingness to receive and pardon us.

It is one of the devices of Satan that, after he has succeeded in drawing a soul away from God and entangled him in the net of his corruptions, to persuade him that the prayer of faith, in his circumstances, would be highly presumptuous, and that it is much more modest for him to stand aloof from God and His people. Now if by "faith" were meant—as some would seem to understand—a persuading of ourselves that having trusted in the finished work of Christ all is well with us forever, that would indeed be presumptuous. But sorrow for sin and betaking ourselves unto that Fountain which has been opened for sin and for uncleanness (Zec_13:1) is never out of season: coming to Christ in our wretchedness and acting faith upon Him to heal our loathsome diseases, both becomes us and honors Him. The greater our sin has been, the greater reason is there that we should confess it to God and seek forgiveness in the name of the Mediator. If our case be such that we feel we cannot do so as saints, we certainly ought to do so as sinners, as David did in Psa_51:1-19—a Psalm which has been recorded to furnish believers with instruction when they get into such a plight.

This is the only way in which it is possible to find rest unto our souls. As there is none other Name given under heaven among men by which we can be saved, so neither is there any other by which a backsliding saint can be restored. Whatever be the nature or the extent of our departure from God, there is ho other way of return to Him but by the Mediator. Whatever be the wounds sin has inflicted upon our souls, there is no other remedy for them but the precious blood of the Lamb. If we have no heart to repent and return to God by Jesus Christ, then we are yet in our sins, and may expect to reap the fruits of them. Scripture has no counsel short of that. We have many encouragements to do so. God is of exceeding great and tender mercy, and willing to forgive all who return to Him in the name of His Son: though our sins he as scarlet, the atoning blood of Christ is able to cleanse them. There is "plenteous redemption" with Him. As Abram, David, Jonah, and Peter were restored, so may I, so may you be restored.