John 6:67

FALLING AWAY

‘Will ye also go away?’

John 6:67

The sin implied in this affecting appeal of Christ is that of backsliding and apostasy from Him and His cause.

I. Some forsake the way of the Lord because of its growing straitness.—The extreme narrowness of the way does not fully appear to the believer on his first setting out in the Divine life, and many have fallen away. Such individuals never counted the cost of a Christian profession of Christ. They took not into consideration the self-denial demanded, the battle with sin involved, the crucifixion to the world required; and when these things came upon them, these half-hearted pilgrims swerved from their profession, and returned to the sins they professed to have renounced, and to the world they professed to have abandoned, and walked no more with Jesus.

II. The world is another fruitful cause of alienation from a religious profession.—It is a deadly snare, a fatal rock to many a towering professor. Its seductions are so powerful, its disguise so successful, its pleas so plausible, its eddies so numerous, its vortex so powerful and absorbing, few who profess to have come out of and to have renounced it for ever, escape from its entire enthralment, and hold on their Christian course of daily dying to its fascination and power. Oh, what a snare to the Christian profession is the ungodly world! And is there not, at the present moment, cause for alarm at the growing encroachment of the world upon the professing Church of Christ? We verily think so.

III. Offence because of the truth is another popular cause of inconstancy of religious profession and of apostasy from the faith. As the Gospel becomes more unfolded to their view, and those truths and doctrines are propounded which teach eternal election, Divine sovereignty, free grace, effectual calling, spiritual regeneration, perceptive holiness, final perseverance, and cognate doctrines of grace, by and by they become offended, go back, and walk no more with Jesus.

—Rev. Dr. Octavius Winslow.

Illustration

‘It is an affecting thought that multitudes who appear to set out for heaven, moved by some powerful, undefinable impulse, eventually flag, halt, and finally turn back, and never touch the borders of the good land. They seem to make some spiritual progress, to bid fair to hold on their way to the end, but by and by, when the straitness, the difficulties, and the dangers of the way unfold themselves, they tire, and stumble, and gradually decline and walk no more professedly with Jesus.’

(SECOND OUTLINE)

A TOUCHING APPEAL

What was the feeling our Lord here betrayed? It was a deep, intense, earnest sympathy with the Christian progress and perseverance of His true disciples. ‘Will you leave and forsake Me? Will you sever from My faith, no more walk with Me, and henceforth cease to be My disciples?’ What must have been the touching tenderness of that look, the melting tones of that voice, the winning power of that appeal when these words were spoken! What is the subject thus so dear to the heart of Christ?—with what is His sympathy so closely, so warmly entwined? It is the perseverance of His disciples in spiritual knowledge, grace, and steadfastness, resolving itself into a simple, single, and firm adherence to Himself. ‘Will ye also go away?’ The subject is important— Christian perseverance. Let us present it in two or three particulars.

I. Perseverance in the growth of spiritual knowledge must necessarily occupy a prominent place in religious progress.—‘ Add to virtue knowledge.’ Real growth in experimental Christianity demands calm thought, mental abstraction, patient and prayerful study of Divine truth. Christian progression would be an anomaly not based upon, and accompanied by, Christian knowledge—an increasing knowledge of Christ, knowing more and more of the glory of His person, the excellency of His work, the sufficiency of His grace, and the depth of His love. The point from which we start and the goal to which we aspire are the same—a knowledge, spiritual and saving, of God and Christ. ‘ This is life eternal, that they might know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ Whom Thou hast sent.’ With this we commence our spiritual life, with this we close it on earth, and with this we prolong it through eternity.

II. A faithful, consistent attachment to Christ also includes a firm, unswerving adherence to His pure truth.—To compromise the Gospel is to compromise the Christ of the Gospel. To give heed to the teaching that causeth to err, to exchange truth for error, is to turn the back upon Christ. Adherence to truth and loyalty to Christ are inseparable. As error enters the mind, love to Christ leaves the heart.

III. Adherence to Christ includes also adherence to the Church of Christ.—Christ and His Church are one, as the Church per se is one and indivisible. We cannot, therefore, in any way separate from the Church of Christ without compromising our union with Christ Himself.

—Rev. Dr. Octavius Winslow.

Illustration

‘We know but little of the Gospel, and the hindrance to our deeper learning lies in our belief that we know it intimately. We are ignorant of its laws, and we have not searched out its spirit: we make curious inquisition into the words of man, and we are negligent of the Word of God. One sentence of the Gospel is more precious than all the literature of the world—it is the fountain of truth. With what love, what faith, what adoration, should we give ear to Jesus Christ in His own Word! Let us then, henceforward, say to Him with Peter: “Lord, to whom shall we go?” One moment of devout aspiration, of love, and of the Divine Presence, gives a deeper insight into the truth than all the reasonings of men.’