Sometimes people sin against God, then immediately cease their profession and just drift along day after day, making no effort to obtain forgiveness. They think they will “get saved again” when some evangelist comes to hold a revival. We often see reports of meetings saying that so many “backsliders were reclaimed.” This expression tells a sad story of such careless living before God that it makes one’s heart sad to contemplate it. If Satan gets advantage of you, or your foot slips in your upward climb, do not let go all holds and go clear to the bottom into the pit of sin, there to lie carelessly; do not lose an inch more than you can help losing. If you have sinned, resolutely determine that you will not add to it another sin. Repent of the one committed and press your way right back to God; do not wait for some preacher; do not wait for anything; return to God. To drift along and wait is folly. It is giving Satan all the chance he needs.
One of the most hurtful ideas existing among us today is, that one sin puts a man back in the same place where he was before he was saved. Nothing could be more false; nothing could more obscure what salvation has done for him. Nothing could tend more to make him indifferent and careless. I want to oppose that idea with all my strength, for it is Satan’s lie. When a man sins he becomes guilty, but the good character that has been built up, the pure feelings and desires, the right habits of thought and action, the Christian point of view to which he has attained—these are all a wealth that he still possesses. They are something of exceeding value, which in a large measure still remain in his possession. They are, however, in serious danger. If he persists in sin, he will lose them all; but if he recovers himself in time, he will save them.
I offer no excuse for sin; it is terrible, and how quickly its deadly infection spreads through all the being! Fear it as you would fear a plague. If you have sinned, make your way back to God at once before that sin shall “increase to more ungodliness.” If you are a backslider, do not think that it does not matter what you do; for it does matter greatly. Do not add sin to sin, increasing your guilt; but let the fear of God be upon your heart. If you are overcome, do not let yourself be routed. Do not throw away your weapons in a panic, but turn again and face the foe and fight him until the victory comes, until you regain what you have lost, until you stand “more than conqueror through him that loved us.”