8 Bible Verses about Backsliding, Christian Examples

And at nightfall the two angels came to Sodom; and Lot was seated at the way into the town: and when he saw them he got up and came before them, falling down on his face to the earth. And he said, My masters, come now into your servant's house and take your rest there for the night, and let your feet be washed; and early in the morning you may go on your way. And they said, Not so, but we will take our night's rest in the street. But he made his request more strongly, so they went with him into his house; and he got food ready for them, and made unleavened bread, of which they took.read more.
But before they had gone to bed, the men of the town, all the men of Sodom, came round the house, young and old, from every part of the town; And crying out to Lot, they said, Where are the men who came to your house this night? Send them out to us, so that we may take our pleasure with them. And Lot went out to them in the doorway, shutting the door after him. And he said, My brothers, do not this evil. See now, I have two unmarried daughters; I will send them out to you so that you may do to them whatever seems good to you: only do nothing to these men, for this is why they have come under the shade of my roof. And they said, Give way there. This one man, they said, came here from a strange country, and will he now be our judge? now we will do worse to you than to them; and pushing violently against Lot, they came near to get the door broken in. But the men put out their hands and took Lot into the house to them, shutting the door again. But the men who were outside the door they made blind, all of them, small and great, so that they were tired out with looking for the door. Then the men said to Lot, Are there any others of your family here? sons-in-law or sons or daughters, take them all out of this place; For we are about to send destruction on this place, because a great outcry against them has come to the ears of the Lord; and the Lord has sent us to put an end to the town. And Lot went out and said to his sons-in-law, who were married to his daughters, Come, let us go out of this place, for the Lord is about to send destruction on the town. But his sons-in-law did not take him seriously. And when morning came, the angels did all in their power to make Lot go, saying, Get up quickly and take your wife and your two daughters who are here, and go, for fear that you come to destruction in the punishment of the town. But while he was waiting, the men took him and his wife and his daughters by the hand, for the Lord had mercy on them, and put them outside the town. And when they had put them out, he said, Go for your life, without looking back or waiting in the lowland; go quickly to the mountain or you will come to destruction. And Lot said to them, Not so, O my Lord; See now, your servant has had grace in your eyes and great is your mercy in keeping my life from destruction, but I am not able to get as far as the mountain before evil overtakes me and death; This town, now, is near, and it is a little one: O, let me go there (is it not a little one?) so that my life may be safe. And he said, See, I have given you your request in this one thing more: I will not send destruction on this town. Go there quickly, for I am not able to do anything till you have come there. For this reason, the town was named Zoar.

Now in the spring, at the time when kings go out to war, David sent Joab and his servants and all Israel with him; and they made waste the land of the children of Ammon, and took up their position before Rabbah, shutting it in. But David was still at Jerusalem. Now one evening, David got up from his bed, and while he was walking on the roof of the king's house, he saw from there a woman bathing; and the woman was very beautiful. And David sent to get knowledge who the woman was. And one said, Is this not Bath-sheba, the daughter of Eliam and wife of Uriah the Hittite?read more.
And David sent and took her; and she came to him, and he took her to his bed: (for she had been made clean;) then she went back to her house. And the woman became with child; and she sent word to David that she was with child.

Have pity on me, O God, in your mercy; out of a full heart, take away my sin. Let all my wrongdoing be washed away, and make me clean from evil. For I am conscious of my error; my sin is ever before me.read more.
Against you, you only, have I done wrong, working that which is evil in your eyes; so that your words may be seen to be right, and you may be clear when you are judging. Truly, I was formed in evil, and in sin did my mother give me birth. Your desire is for what is true in the inner parts: in the secrets of my soul you will give me knowledge of wisdom. Make me free from sin with hyssop: let me be washed whiter than snow. Make me full of joy and rapture; so that the bones which have been broken may be glad. Let your face be turned from my wrongdoing, and take away all my sins. Make a clean heart in me, O God; give me a right spirit again. Do not put me away from before you, or take your holy spirit from me. Give me back the joy of your salvation; let a free spirit be my support. Then will I make your ways clear to wrongdoers; and sinners will be turned to you. Be my saviour from violent death, O God, the God of my salvation; and my tongue will give praise to your righteousness. O Lord, let my lips be open, so that my mouth may make clear your praise. You have no desire for an offering or I would give it; you have no delight in burned offerings. The offerings of God are a broken spirit; a broken and sorrowing heart, O God, you will not put from you. Do good to Zion in your good pleasure, building up the walls of Jerusalem. Then you will have delight in the offerings of righteousness, in burned offerings and offerings of beasts; then they will make offerings of oxen on your altar.

Simon, Simon, Satan has made a request to have you, so that he may put you to the test as grain is tested:

I am surprised that you are being so quickly turned away from him whose word came to you in the grace of Christ, to good news of a different sort;

But now that you have come to have knowledge of God, or more truly, God has knowledge of you, how is it that you go back again to the poor and feeble first things, desiring to be servants to them again? You keep days, and months, and fixed times, and years. I am in fear of you, that I may have been working for you to no purpose.

It is said, in fact, that there is among you a sin of the flesh, such as is not seen even among the Gentiles, that one of you has his father's wife. And in place of feeling sorrow, you are pleased with yourselves, so that he who has done this thing has not been sent away from among you. For I myself, being present in spirit though not in body, have come to a decision about him who has done this thing;read more.
In the name of our Lord Jesus, when you have come together with my spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus, That this man is to be handed over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may have forgiveness in the day of the Lord Jesus. This pride of yours is not good. Do you not see that a little leaven makes a change in all the mass? Take away, then, the old leaven, so that you may be a new mass, even as you are without leaven. For Christ has been put to death as our Passover. Let us then keep the feast, not with old leaven, and not with the leaven of evil thoughts and acts, but with the unleavened bread of true thoughts and right feelings. In my letter I said to you that you were not to keep company with those who go after the desires of the flesh; But I had not in mind the sinners who are outside the church, or those who have a desire for and take the property of others, or those who give worship to images; for it is not possible to keep away from such people without going out of the world completely: But the sense of my letter was that if a brother had the name of being one who went after the desires of the flesh, or had the desire for other people's property, or was in the way of using violent language, or being the worse for drink, or took by force what was not his, you might not keep company with such a one, or take food with him. For it is no business of mine to be judging those who are outside; but it is yours to be judging those who are among you; As for those who are outside, God is their judge. So put away the evil man from among you.

You have had news that all those in Asia went away from me; among whom are Phygelus and Hermogenes: