A Cake Not Turned a Study on Backsliding — E.A. Johnston

The Hidden Signs of Backsliding

It's not easy to spot a backslider, for most appear quite well on the outside. Not all backsliders are an open, public, and overt sin. Some attend church regularly, serve faithfully, and some are even in ministry.

The drift away from God goes unnoticed by the one drifting away. Why is this? How does this happen? What are the marks of a backslider? The very first thing is lost love. We lose our first love for God.

The sweetness is gone. The passion we once had for Jesus and the pursuit of knowing God all but slackens. It's replaced by activity in the name of Christ, routine service, rituals, intellectual theology, and dead orthodoxy.

Biblical Warnings Against Spiritual Declension

My message this afternoon, friends, is entitled, A Cake Not Turned, A Study in Backsliding. And I'm going to use the life of King David as our illustration. When the people of God depart from following God, when the people of God fail to obey the commands of God, and when the people of God cease to pursue love and worship God with an overflowing heart of thankfulness, they fall into a condition of spiritual sickness, which the Bible calls backsliding.

Some illustrations of this are found in the following passages. Jeremiah 8, verses 5 through 6 declares,. Why then is this people of Jerusalem slidding back by perpetual backsliding? They hold fast to seat.

They refuse to return. I hearkened and heard, but they spake not aright. No man repented him of his wickedness, saying, Oh, what have I done? Everyone turned to his course as the horse rushes into the battle.

The next passage, friends, is Isaiah 1, verses 3 through 4, which says,. The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master's crib. But Israel doth not know. My people doth not consider. Ah, sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evildoers, children that are corruptors.

They have forsaken the Lord. They have provoked the Holy One of Israel unto anger. They are gone away backward. And Proverbs 14, 14 declares,. The backslider in heart shall be filled with his own ways.

All of the mentioned passages describe in sad detail how the people of God become adrift in people filled with their own plans and desires. There's even a better picture of a backslider in scripture, and this picture illustrates most perfectly what is the true spiritual condition of those who have drifted away from God.

This vivid and startling illustration is found in the book of Hosea. Hosea 7, 8 through 9 says, Ephraim, he hath mixed himself among the people. Ephraim is a cake not turned. What the passage illustrates is the sad condition of a backslider away from God, senseless to his condition.

He's a cake not turned. In other words, friends, he's a cake that's burned on the bottom. And because the cake is not turned over, it's not visible to the eye. And this describes the spiritual condition of the people of Israel who had drifted away from God in their hearts, though outwardly still maintained a level of formal worship, and their declension was completely hidden from their perception.

They were backsliders and did not know it. How true this is, when a child of God is in a backslidden condition, he or she is the last one to know. The process of this drift away from God is similar to baking a cake.

It happens in stages. In baking, first one needs a mixing bowl, then the ingredients, then the implements to mix the batter, then the oven to bake the cake in. In the spiritual life, first there's a mixing bowl, the heart, then the ingredients, sin, the world, and the devil, then the instruments to give sin a reality or opportunity, the mind, the lips, the body, then there is the oven of God's judgment.

Often, when a believer begins to drift away from the heart of God, it's usually a slow process that accumulates in stages until it's too late. A person who's in a backslidden state can easily and suddenly fall into gross sin without care or conscience.

The dullness of spiritual things occurs over time, like rainwater eroding a ditch. At first, there is little evidence of the erosion. Then, if left alone, soon there's a gaping hole full of mud. This happened to King David.

David's Gradual Drift into Sin

If one thinks that King David just suddenly fell into gross sin with Bathsheba on a whim, then there should be cause of alarm for us. No, if you study this passage, this sad chapter in the life of this godly king, you'll find that his drift had already occurred.

We read in 2 Samuel 11 and verse 1,. And it came to pass, after the year was expired, at the time when kings go forth to battle, that David sent Joab and his servants with him in all Israel, and they destroyed the children of Haman and besieged Rabbah.

But David tarried still in Jerusalem. David was not sick in bed. David was sick in soul. His great successes had begun to go to his head. He felt he was too indispensable to go fight the Lord's battles.

He was now above all that. A king should rest, not fight. He should enjoy the fruits of his spoils and leave the actual fighting to his mighty men. We see this as so in the next verse, as he is found upon his bed of ease.

And it came to pass in an evening tide that David arose from off his bed and walked upon the roof of the king's house. And from the roof he saw a woman washing herself, and the woman was very beautiful to look upon.

And David sent and inquired after the woman, and once said, Is not this Bathsheba the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite? And David sent messengers and took her, and she came in unto him, and he lay with her, for she was purified from her uncleanness, and she returned unto her house.

There was a progression, friends, to David's downfall. It occurred in stages. This message of cake not turned, a study of backsliding should be an alarm to each of us if this could happen to King David, how easily it could happen to us.

This progression happened much like baking a cake. First, there had to be a recipe, and this recipe was for disaster. We see this sad downgrade. He tarried at Jerusalem while others fought his battles.

He lounged upon his bed of ease, enjoying all the privileges and pleasures of being a king. He looked at a naked woman, but rather than turning away in embarrassment, he lingered, he lusted, he committed adultery first in his heart, in his mind, and then, sadly, in his flesh.

It's been said, A sin always takes you farther than you want to go, and leaves you there longer than you want to stay. And this was the sad case with David, for he remains unrepentant in his sins. For a while, and during this time, he still performed his kingly duties in leading the people of Israel, and he pretended to still be the man after God's own heart on the outside in leading them in corporate worship.

But on the inside, he was a cake not turned. He was backslidden, and he didn't even realize it. It took Nathan the prophet to convict him of his great sins, and David's ultimate and broken repentance can be found in Psalm 51.

David's Repentance and the Consequences of Sin

It is there, and it's sad to read his sad lament. Have mercy upon me, O God, according to Thy lovingkindness, according unto the multitude of Thy tender mercies. Blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin.

For I acknowledge my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me. Against Thee, Thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in Thy sight, that Thou might be justified when Thou speakest, and be clear when Thou judgest.

Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. Listen, friends. The backslider in heart will not love God like he should. The backslider in heart will not be able to diagnose his sick spiritual condition.

The backslider in heart will eventually fall into grievous sin if he doesn't repent and turn back to God. It's only the grace and mercy of God that draws us back unto himself. But as he draws us back with love, we must heed and repent of our wicked ways to avoid terrible judgment and chastisement.

King David remained in his unrepentant condition too long. He did not heed God's leadings during this darkened time. It took a prophet of God to wake him up and move him back to the intimate relationship he once enjoyed.

And after his repentance, King David still had to live with the sad consequences of his great sins. His kingdom and family were torn from him. May we heed the examples and warnings in Scripture, friends, and apply them to our lives as believers lest we too fall into the same pitfalls and danger.

Self-Examination and Returning to God

Now back to our illustration of the cake not turned. This was the true condition of all backsliders burned on the bottom and completely unaware. Therefore, it's imperative that we examine our hearts before God and ask him to reveal any displeasure he has with us, to reveal through his Holy Spirit any sins that are unconfessed, to grant us the grace to see ourselves as he sees us.

When a believer falls into a backslidden state, he or she has no idea what they look like to God, friends. We tend to think too highly of ourselves. A picture in your mind, a lovely garden full of beautiful blooming flowers.

This is how we view ourselves. As we enter a right relationship with God, we realize there's some ugly weeds in the garden. And the closer we get to God, we see how wicked our hearts really are. In our backslidden state, we saw no blemishes, imperfections or faults.

But when God turns the spotlight of his Holy Spirit upon our corrupt hearts, we see not only the weeds in the garden, but nasty little vermin running around throughout. Listen, friends, we must see ourselves and our sins as God sees them.

He is holy and he hates sin. Anytime we drift away from him, it's deadly. The longer we drift as an unmoored boat at sea, drift farther away from the shore, the farther we get away from God. The stark reality of our backslidden condition can shock us to the very core.

It often results in a spiritual crisis. But the loving heart of the Father will always take back the prodigal son. But when the son returns to him, the Bible clearly states, return unto me and I will return unto you, saith the Lord of Hosts.

That's in Malachi 3, 7. And to enter that right relationship with God, friends, we need to come to a place of brokenness and confession and repentance and to seek him again to restore that intimate, loving relationship and realign us back into a close fellowship with him.

All idols must be put away. All sins must be confessed and repented from. Anything or anyone that draws us away from God must be put aside. We must get clean. We must see ourselves as a holy God sees us.

A Final Call to Spiritual Vigilance

And I'll end this message with this remark. When Jesus was here in his earthly ministry, he said, I do always those things that please him, that please the Father. Can that be said of us, friends? Let the Holy Spirit examine our hearts this afternoon as we go into a period of prayer and self-examination before the King of Kings.