[You could also call this study, “falling away” or “apostasy” because they are very closely related.]

Genesis 19:1-17 “. . . he said, Escape for thy life; look not behind thee. . . .”

v. 26 “But his wife looked back from behind him, and she became a pillar of salt.”

[In case you didn’t know it, this is an important spiritual example given for our sakes.]

2nd Peter 2:18-22 “For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein, and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning. . . . But it is happened unto them according to the true proverb, The dog is turned to his own vomit again; and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire.” (The word “escaped” is here used twice.)

Ezekiel 3:18-22 “. . . When a righteous man doth turn from his righteousness . . . he shall die in his sin, and his righteousness which he hath done shall not be remembered. . . .”

Hosea 6:4 “O Ephraim . . . O Judah, what shall I do unto thee? for your goodness is as a morning cloud, and as the early dew it goeth away.”

Hebrews 4:11 “Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief.”

6:4-6 “For it is impossible . . . if they shall fall away, to renew them again. . . .”

10:32-39 “. . . if any man draw back . . . [he will not] . . . receive the promise.”

Proverbs 14:14 “The backslider in heart shall be filled with his own ways. . . .”

Jeremiah 2:19 “. . . thy backslidings shall reprove thee: know therefore and see that it is an evil thing and bitter, that thou hast forsaken the Lord thy God, and that my fear is not in thee, saith the Lord God of hosts.”

Luke 8:1-18 “They . . . receive the word . . . for a while believe, and in time of temptation fall away.”

[This parable (verses 11-15) includes everybody who ever got called, but only those in verse 15 go on to be saved.]

Matthew 13:1-23 (v. 18) “Hear ye therefore the parable of the sower.”

Revelation 3:5 “He that overcometh . . . I will not blot out his name out of the book of life. . . .”

Luke 9:62 “No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.”

BONUS VERSE FOR THE WEARY:

Luke 10:16-20 “He that heareth you heareth me; and he that despiseth you despiseth me. . . .”