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'WILL YOU ALSO GO AWAY?”
Tabernacle Sermon by Reb. Len G. roughton, D. D.
. Stenographically reported for The Golden Age. —Copyright applied foi.
Text: “Upon this many of his disciples went
back and walked no more with Him.’’ John 6:66.
THINK one of the most pathetic utter
ances that ever fell from human lips
is given in the text. Just a little while
ago Jesus was seated upon the moun
tain with His disciples, where they
had gone for recreation and fellowship,
and while they were there seated upon
the mountain holding communion, a
great multitude of hungry people
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gathered about them; and Jesus, seeing that they
were hungry, turned to one of His disciples, Philip,
and said to him, “Whence shall we buy bread that
these may eat 1 ?” and Philip, not knowing w-hat else
to say, said, “Two hundred penny-worth of bread
is not sufficient for them, that every one of them
may take a little.”
Just at that time it was found that a lad was
there with a little lunch, which was surrendered to
the Master. Then He commanded the disciples to
have the crowd seated. When they were comfort
ably seated, He took those loaves and fishes and
broke them in pieces and gave to the disciples, and
they in turn gave them to the people. It was a
strange sight, it is not strange that they wondered
about it. There they were, five thousand people,
and there in front stood the Master with five loaves
and two fishes, preparing to satisfy the hunger of
the crowd. After the bread had been broken and
distributed, not only was every one satisfied to the
full, but twelve baskets of food were left. Jesus
then, in order that nothing might be lost, directed
that all that which was left over should be gathered
up. I say that this was a mysterious occasion;
but it was more than a mysterious occasion; it was
an occasion showing forth great and divine pow T er.
Every miracle is an occasion of marvelous power,
but this seems to be one of the most marvelous
miracles that Jesus ever wrought, and the dis
ciples and the immense crowd were made the
beneficiary of it. I would also have you to remem
ber that it w y as on this occasion that the crowd
arose and said, “Os a truth this is the prophet that
should come” —not a prophet, not a prophet who'
shall take his place in rank with the other prophets
of the world, but, “This is the prophet,” the one
great prophet of prophets that should come.
THE CURSE OF IDLENESS.
So impressed were they that they would have
forced Him to be their king. And this is not the
first time that a people wanted a ruler who would feed
them without work. There are many people like
that now. It is a great curse to any nation. I
believe that this is largely the cause of the rapid
tendency toward socialistic developments in this
country; developments which have in them the
germ of death and destruction to our government
and society.
A friend of mine was telling me the other day
about a man wdth whom he has been having quite a
long conversation; a man who had just become a
Christian and who had been giving the story of his
life. He had said, “About twenty-five years ago
. I made up my mind that I would make my living
without striking one lick of work, and for twenty
five years I have kept that resolution.”
That man stands out to'day as a type of hundreds
of people that we have in this country. This is
true of every other country also. The other day
I read in an English newspaper these words, “The
curse of England today is not the drink traffic; it
is not gambling; the curse of England is idleness,
and that not because people cannot work, but be
cause they will not work.”
The truth of it is that men everywhere for all
time have been hungry for bread which did not
cause them labor. Jesus knew this; he knew the
secret purposes and intents of the human heart and
He had something else to do besides listening to the
cry that they raised for a king who would encourage
The Golden Age for May 28, 1908.
their idleness. He had come to this world on the
mission of redemption, and that He might accomp
lish that mission of redemption He had to pass
byway of the cross, and so on that occasion when
they arose to make Him king, He chose the cross
rather than the crown. Where is there a man in
the world that would have measured up to this
standard set by Jesus on that occasion? Where is
there a man who would have turned his back upon
an imperial crown and received the shameful death
upon the cross? The world has never produced such
a man. It took a God to do it. Are you ever
discouraged when you think of the life of Jesus
and how far short of that life your life comes?
Never let that discourage you, remember that He
was God as well as man. Only let it inspire you
to let Him have more complete sway in your life.
It is that difference between His life and the lives
of other men that sets Him apart as the one man to
be worshipped among men. If in any way our lives
could be brought to measure up to the same standard
that His measured up to, all our teaching would
fall flat, for then He would be no more than the
rest of us.
Jesus, in order to prevent the interference of His
plans and purposes, took Himself to the mountains.
And I do not know of a better way to resist tempta
tion than to follow the example laid down by our
Lord. He got out of the way of the temptation,
and Ido not know of a better way than that to resist
temptation. It is when the temptation and the
tempter comes, that we shall turn our backs upon
it and upon him and not stop to trifle -but flee to the
place of hiding, and there alone with God we may
get strength with which to meet the tempter the
next time and win the victory.
While Jesus was in the mountains at prayer, the
disciples, according to instructions, got into a ship
and started toward the other side. Instead of pray
ing for Him in His hour of need, I imagine I can see
those disciples, as they sail out, begin to joke and
make merry. They forgot the need of their Master,
and lost the realization of their need for Him, and
so they get out into the lake, laughing and joking.
THE TIME OF NEED.
But they soon forget their merry making, for
dark clouds gathered suddenly and soon the little
boat is tossing and heaving, and they have no power
to guide her course. They have forgotten Jesus and
now fear has come to them and they do not know
what to do. For months He has been with them to
guide them and to w’arn them of danger and to
protect them in dangerous places, but now there
they are alone with no one to turn to.
How many people have I seen that reminded me
of that! I talked the other day with a man who
was dying. He was one of the most dejected, dis
consolate looking men that I have ever seen. He
was the very picture of despair. I talked with him
and tried to find the secret of his disconsolate con
dition. Finally he gave me his secret, and it was
this: “Twenty-five years ago in a certain town
in this state I had an opportunity to give my heart
to Jesus. I felt a desire to do so that I had never
felt before. I was just on the verge of it, but when
I stopped to consider all that it might mean to me,
I deliberately made up my mind that I would enter
into a certain course of sin, and that I would fol
low that course until I got tired of it, and that I
would then come back and find peace by turning
my life over to Him. I did this, knowing that my
course was a sinful one, and it has gone on and on
for tw T enty-five years, and never a moment of that
time have I had peace, but I had started to pursue
this course, and once started it is hard to give it
up, and now I am overtaken by ill health and laid
upon this bed to die, and the thought that occurs
to me over and over is the thought that for
twenty-five years I have lived without Jesus, when
I could have had peace with Him all that time, and
now as I lie upon this bed spending my last days,”
and as he uttered these words, there came such a
look of despair over his face as I hope never to see
again on mortal sac I come to spend these
last days, can I call on Him to stretch His mercy
out over those wasted twenty-five years, and stay
with me and save me, when I have rejected Him all
that time?” He was nearing the end of his voyage
without Jesus on board. God grant that we may
never engage in anything where Jesus is left out
or forgotten.
But Jesus was not unmindful of the condition of
his disciples. His eye was upon the sea. He saw
the disciples as they gathered in that little boat.
He knew of their merry laughter. He saw the
sky as the clouds gathered. He knew when the
winds began to gather. He knew what He was
going to do before they even saw the storm brew
ing, and now I see Him as He starts out to help
His disciples and to relieve their fear. What a re
lief to them when they got Him on board and
heard His word of command to the boisterous
waves, “Peace, be still.”
The next day the people whom Jesus had left
on the other side of the lake found that He was not
there, and did not know where He had gone. They
had seen the disciples go off in the boat, but they
knew that Jesus was not with them. However, they
thought that, if they could find the disciples,
they would be able to give them some information
about Him, so they took boats, as many as could
find passage that way, and others walked complete
ly around the lake, seeking to find out something
about Him. They wanted Him for their king, but
they could not find Him anywhere.
When they found Jesus on the other side with
His disciples, imagine their amazement. They said
to Him, “Rabbi, w r hen earnest thou hither?” As
much as to say, “We saw the disciples leave yes
terday and we know that no other boat left after
that, and how did you get here?”
It was then that Jesus began to give them some
of His deepest and most significant teaching con
cerning the kingdom of God. He knew that they
sought for Him on account of the temporal bless
ings, and not on account of the spiritual. He un
derstood that they were asking about His presence
there, but He began teaching them a more signifi
cant lesson, concerning His divine origin. “I came
down from above.” Then He proceeded to tell
them of His mission. He explained that He came
to do the will of His Father; then He told them
of His method; that it was the method of faith.
“He that believeth hath eternal life,” and then
He tells them something of the marvelous mystery
of the incarnation, and the mystery of His death
and to some extent of His resurrection; and then,
turning from that, He seized the probe and probed
into their very hearts and revealed to them the ex
ceeding hypocrisy of their nature. When they saw
that He knew of this hypocrisy, it is said that,
“From that time many of his disciples went back
and walked no more with him.”
THE TWO CLASSES.
I repeat, these are in many respects the saddest
words that were ever spoken concerning our Lord.
Think of it! Here is this company of men, women
and children, who have been fed by Him and
blessed by Him and taught by Him concerning the
deeper mysteries of His life, when the probe is
put into their hearts and they are forced to see
their unworthiness, they turn their backs and walk
away. Many were there who had been following
Him for some time. Some had just started, but
when the probe is brought into play they follow
Him no more forever.
Jesus’ heart, as He looked upon that multitude
moving in the direction of the world, was very sad.
He must have felt a great, deep sorrow in His
heart,-for He knew why they were leaving. He
knew that their hearts had been hardened; that
they were turned toward sin instead of righteousness
—moving from Jesus toward sin and sorrow and
