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Dr. "Broughton’s Farelvell Sermon
Tabernacle Sermon by Reb. Len G. Troughton, D. D., Upon His Departure Tor England
Steuographically reported for The Golden Age. —Copyright applied for
Text: “Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye
steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work
of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour
is not in vain in the Lord.’’ 1 Cor. 15: 58.
UR ING the last few days my mind has
been dwelling a great deal on the
Ifteenth chapter of Corinthians. 1
have attended a large number of
funerals, larger than 1 have attended
for the same length of time during my
work as pastor. It is always appropri
ate to read the fifteenth chapter of
first Corinthians on such occasions, and
■■l -I
somehow for the past week I have felt led to
read it at every funeral that I have conducted, and
as I have gone over and over the chapter, under cir
cumstances so sad, and yet under circumstances so
full of hope, I have been led to make careful
search into the teaching of the chapter.
You are of course aware of the fact that the
church is sent to proclaim the old doctrine of the
resurrection of the body. This is the resurrection
chapter, and in studying it you will see how logic
ally the Apostle treats the resurrection of the body.
But the Apostle is always logical in all of his
writings. There was never born a more logical
writer than the Apostle Paul. He was a logician
of the highest possible type.
This is true in his dealing with the subject of
the resurrection of the body. He is pursuing here
as you will see a very logical line of thought. He
starts out in the beginning of the chapter dealing
with the fact of the resurrection, and say what you
please about modern teaching concerning the
doctrine of the resurrection, no man can read this
chapter without seeing that the Apostle Paul be
lieved in the actual resurrection of the body. And
if the Apostle Paul was an inspired man, as we all
hold that he was, then there is no place for
questions concerning the fact of the resurrection of
the body; that this body that we have today will
be raised again. If that is not so, then the Apostle
Paul was an unreliable man; and ■if he was an
unreliable man he was not an inspired man, and if
he was not an inspired man then his teachings have
no place in the Word of God. So, when people
come to me talking in a critical and questioning
manner concerning the great fact of the resurrection
of the body, I always refer them to the Apostle’s
teaching without any hesitation whatever. That is
my only argument for the resurrection of the body.
My brethren, the older I get and the more I study
the Bible and the more I see of the w r ays of the
world, the more I am shut up to one course to
pursue with reference to the integrity of the
Scriptures, and that is this: Whenever God says
a thing in the Bible, I am going to accept it without
a single solitary question mark, and I do not pro
pose to argue concerning it with any man. Since
the Bible has lived through all these years of
criticism, I have no fear of any criticism that can
come, so I do not propose to spend the time that
the world needs so much, in argument about Bible
doctrines. If our pulpits would stop arguing about
doctrines and go right ahead preaching them and
practicing what they preach, there would be no time
nor place nor need for any argument about the
integrity of the Scriptures.
RESURRECTION OF THE BODY.
Then you will see that the Apostle in the fiftieth
verse of this fifteenth chapter is concerned alto
gether with reference to the argument put up con
cerning the resurrection of the body. You will
find, to start with, that he links the resurrection of
the body to salvation. “If Christ be not risen from
the dead, then is your faith vain.” That is to say,
without the resurrection of the body of Jesus Christ,
there is no salvation for the sinner. In the Roman
letter he also brings out the same idea. Look at
Chapter IS, verses nine and ten, where he says,
The Golden Age for August 6, 1908,
“If thou shall confess with thy mouth the
Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that
God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be
saved. For with the heart man believeth unto
righteousness; and with the mouth confession is
made unto salvation.” In this connection the
Apostle is speaking directly to Jews. That entire
section of the Roman Epistle is directed to the Jews
primarily, referring to the salvation of the Jewish
people, as a people, at the second coming of the
Lord. At that time the Jewish people will fall
down before Him, when they see Him in all His
spectacular glory, and glorify Him as Messiah. Then
they will be taught that He was the same one whom
they crucified and who had arisen from the dead,
and as the result of that they will confess that He
is Lord of the resurrection, and upon that confes
sion, the whole Jewish nationality shall be ushered
into the Kingdom of Christ.
In that section the Apostle is speaking directly
with reference to the Jew at the coming of the Lord,
and yet the promise contained in these verses
in Romans is identically the same truth that he is
here teaching in this letter written to the Gentile
world, the church in particular, namely, that it is
essential for salvation that He shall be accepted,
not only as the Christ of the cross, but as the
Christ of the resurrection. There is no salvation
independent of the resurrection of the body of
Jesus.
That brings me to say just a word with reference
to the ordinances of the church The church properly
has two ordinances, one the ordinance of baptism,
and the other the ordinance of the Lord’s supper.
These ordinances are instituted by the Holy Spirit,
who gave them to teach two things. These two
things are, first, baptism, which typifies the burial
and resurrection of the body, and the communion
service, which typifies the broken body and shed
blood of Jesus, which is also essential to salvation.
It was essential that Jesus should die, that His
body should be broken, His blood shed. That was
a part of the great pre-arranged program of God
for the redemption of the world. Then it was neces
sary that this broken body should be taken from
the cross and carried through the grave in order
that the whole scheme of human redemption could
be complete. These ordinances are typical, there
fore, for all time, of the completed plan of redemp
tion. They are not essential to salvation, but they
are essential for a type. Communion typifies the
broken bodv im! the shed blood, but it is not enough
to typi p jroken body and shed blood. If that
is a iave an incomplete redemption. There
must c.ierefore be some other ordinance to typify
the burial and resurrection, and when that is done
we have set forth a type of the completed plan of
the world’s redemption, therefore we have the
ordinance of baptism, signifying the burial and
resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Who is ever present at a baptism and does not
think of the burial and resurrection of Jesus
Christ? And when we take communion we are
completing the type of the plan of human redemp
tion. In no other way have we a chance to set
forth in type that which took place on Calvary and
in the grave.
THE BLESSED HOPE.
Then von will see that in his argument he also
brings out the fact that His resurrection makes our
resurrection possible; that just as the body of Jesus
was raised from the dead by the power of the
Spirit of God inherent in Him, so this body of ours
at some time, under some sort of condition and
circumstances, will be quickened by the same quick
ening Spirit and will rise from the dead and live
again in bodily form. What a comfort this is! What
a comfort it is to have a truth like that to hold
up to the broken hearted loved ones as they stand
facing the open grave! How grateful we ought to
be, those who have Christian privileges and teach
ings, that we have got something to comfort our
loved ones and friends with under these circum
stances !
I stood by the grave of a little child the other
day, and the mother stood there looking like she
had more sorrow than she could bear. After it was
over, the mother turned to me and said, “Do you
really believe that my precious baby will some day
arise from the dead?” Can you imagine how glad
I was that I could say, without a single, solitary
doubt, “1 not only believe it, I know it”?
“Then,” she said, .“1 can stand it better.”
After the Apostle has spoken along this line, he
draws this conclusion, and it is well worth con
sideration, “Wherefore, my beloved brethren, be ye
steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work
of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labor
is not in vain in the Lord.”
That word “wherefore” is a very significant
word. This is what it means: “After hearing all
this that preceded, wherefore be ye steadfast, un
movable, always abounding in the work of the Lord,
forasmuch as ye know that your labor is not in
vain in the Lord.”
It is with reference to this conclusion drawn by
the Apostle that I wanted to speak especially,
drawing a lesson or two for all of us as we are to
separate for three months. I want, if I can, my
beloved friends and brethren, to live in the admoni
tion of this text, and I want, if I can, to write it
upon your hearts as indelibly as the Apostle desired
that the church at Corinth might have it written
upon theirs.
I need not stop again to recall the teaching of the
verse. I need not stop to again speak of the blessed
doctrine of the resurrection; I need not say a word
about salvation, and how precious it is to us, but
in the light of these truths, I came to ask you to
consider the question of steadfastness as it relates
to us at the present time.
I have said to you already that this is my last
morning service for these next three months. It is
not a pleasant and easy task for a man who loves
his work as I love this to tear loose and go so far
away for so long. If it were not for the call of
duty, there is not a steamboat on earth that could
take me away from my work for three months. I
feel, in the first place, that there is a duty to myself
to be considered. The past year has been the best
year of my life, but it has been the hardest. Caring
for the work that we have here under such
strenuous circumstances as this year has brought,
the projection and completion of our new Infirmary
building, together with all the other work that has
been upon me, has been just a little more than the
physical man can stand up under longer. I feel,
therefore, that the need of rest is urgent with me.
While I shall be working every day that I am away,
I shall be free from the cares incident to the
operation of a plant of this sort.
Then I feel that it is a duty to you. Had I the
time this morning, I should like to retrace the
history of this church and of all of its movements.
In all its history I am sure it is proven beyond the
shadow of doubt that, after all, the greatest blessing
that has come to this church and to this city and to
this community in connection with our work, has
been the fact that.we have been able to bring to
this platform and to this people the men and the
women who have come to us from the four quarters
of the civilized earth. Usually such rare privileges
are for those who have rare fortunes, and yet God
has opened the windows of heaven and literallv
showered upon us blessings that even people of
for' cannot command. This has been brought
about by this commingling with other people in
other lands, and I realize that this commingling must
be kept up if this great blessing is to be maintained.
I feel that we have had a blessing, I know I have,
and have tried to pass it on, resulting from
