From that time many of His disciples went back, and walked no more with Him. Then said Jesus unto the twelve, Will ye also go away? Then Simon Peter answered Him, Lord to whom shall we go? Thou host the words of eternal life. And we believe and are sure that Thou art that Christ, the Son of the living God. John 6: 66-69.
This is a sorrowful story-a disappointing episode in the life of the Great Worker, the Lord Jesus. We are very little workers indeed, but there are episodes in our experiences something like this. Let us, then, consider the story, that we may get some lessons from it.
What a difference the event of the evening and the promise of the morning of this day! In the morning the people had come over the lake to the Lord with their idle questions. They had no sense of spiritual need, but they knew it was a fine thing to have plenty of loaves and fishes, and this brought them around the Lord again. But He was not deceived by their pretensions and professions. He began to test them, and at the close of the day they all go back, one to his business and another to his pleasures. They no longer want Him; He does not suit their carnal purposes; He utters hard sayings which they do not understand and are not disposed to receive. Popular in the morning, He is exceedingly unpopular at night, and so they turn from Him, every one to his own way.
There are many to-day like that. They make great professions; but the Lord says, " If you make great professions to Me, I shall test you "; and when tested they are offended in Him.
They were the converts of the morning, and they are the lapsed converts of the evening. Let us turn our attention to the class they represent. Lapsed converts! We know them; we have broken our hearts over them sometimes, and we have gone into the presence of God with much heaviness about them. You have seen trees in the springtime covered with beautiful flowers, raising hopes of abundance of fruit, but the frost came or the rough wind, and at the fruit-bearing season there was nothing to show. How many of our young converts are like that! Many make a splendid start, but an evil influence affects them and they never get on.
Some of our readers may be Sunday School teachers who have been much cheered by some of the children in their class. For a time they went on very well, then they stopped and disappointed you by going back to the things they had abandoned. What is the cause of this sad lapsing? There are several. One is lack of depth. There is no root, no deepness of earth, as we read in the parable of the sower. It is so easy to affect a child and to make things clear to his understanding. The Scripture is readily received, faith in the letter is so willingly exercised, and you think that they have been converted, and you may lead them to think so too, when there has been nothing real. I am sure some children, through unwise treatment, have suffered much injury. We speak to them of important things-of sin, of judgment to come, and of the consequences of sin, and we need to have our hearts affected if we are to affect the hearts of others. Oh for a deeper sense of sin! One characteristic of the present time is the shallow sense people have of sin. I believe it one of the greatest mercies to be given a deep sense of sin and all unrighteousness. We need to make the children understand that a little sin is not a little thing at all, and that it necessitated the death of the Son of God upon the cross to put it away.
It is not enough, then, to explain a text until it be understood and you have gained assent to it. Sometimes when one shows a certain amount of anxiety we explain a text, and because the individual's intelligence is enlightened, it is at once concluded that he is converted. But to bring light to a soul by the word of Scripture is not enough. The Word must bring life. The words of Christ are spirit and life, and they must come with definite and divine power into the soul. Do not be satisfied with mere intellectual assent. See that the moral being is affected, that there is a hatred of sin, and some degree of sorrow for its consequences. If we do not find this let us seek to lead to it as far as we can.
Do not be in a hurry to bring anxious souls into peace. It is one of the greatest mistakes we make. The Lord did not do so with Saul of Tarsus; he was three days in Damascus before his sight returned and peace filled his heart. Why did the Lord keep him waiting three days? Because it was salutary for him to go through those experiences, and it is a good thing for a soul to have a deep conviction of sin. The presentation of a text may have its place and importance, and I am sure the Word of God is an excellent foundation, but do not look for mere assent. Send the soul straight to the Lord, and let him go and deal with the Lord about the matter, so that his first confession may be made to the Lord Himself. It is not our prerogative to save. We are to preach the word of salvation and present the Lord to the soul. Send them to Me, He says; I will deal with them. The only thing you can do is to send the anxious soul to Christ. Do not send him to a text of Scripture. Texts of Scripture cannot save any more than the inscription upon a finger-post can convey the traveler to his destination. And so let the Scripture fulfill its duly intended function of pointing the troubled soul to Christ to Whom you send it.
There is another thing which I believe causes lapsed converts. When you deal with a soul you very often find a certain amount of earnestness and desire, and he will say, " I will be a Christian; I will serve the Lord."
Now, if you are inexperienced, you will be very much gratified to hear that. I do not want one to hastily tell me he will serve the Lord. In the last chapter of Joshua the children of Israel said to Joshua, " We will serve the Lord, for He is our God," but Joshua was a wise man, and told them that they could not serve the Lord. When you find people so anxious to tell you they are going to serve the Lord, you know that the root of self-confidence has not been touched. Do not put reliance on resolutions or purposes which are based upon what the convert is going to do. Teach him that he is nothing and can do nothing for his salvation, and everything that had to be done has been done. Self-confidence lies at the bottom of a great deal of disappointment and failure, when the convert is unwittingly encouraged in the false opinion that he can do anything.
Another thing leading to these lapses is bad teaching. One may be truly converted and give evidence of it, but possibly if he is under bad teaching he will go on very badly. He may be in a sect where young converts are indulged in amusements of every possible kind, which only open the door into the world again. A young convert is often jeopardized in that way, and in consequence may fall into trouble and sin. The first few days are bright and happy, then there comes a reverse; and he begins to doubt if he was ever saved. This is the case nine times out of ten. Then he may feel so hopeless that he may go on for months or even years thinking he was never saved at all. I remember one in Victoria telling me with tears in her eyes that she believed she was saved, but someone told her that if she did not live without sin she could not be saved, and she believed it. What you want to teach the young converts is that there is restoring grace. Let them know that as soon as possible. Let them learn the preciousness of the verse, " If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." 1 John I: 9. Many a young convert has said, " If I had not known that text I should never have stood."
Many young converts are exposed to peculiar difficulties. They are in godless homes, surrounded by ungodly companions, and see, day by day, sights and scenes which are unfavorable to their spiritual growth, What are you to do? You may try to counteract these things if you can. Bring them under more wholesome influences. Get them on their knees in prayer; let them pour out their hearts to the Lord Jesus; the Lord delights in it. Get them together that they may help one another. One stick will not make a very good fire, but if you put fifty sticks together you will have a fine blaze. Get the young people together and give them suitable and simple instruction, which will help them to stand firm amidst all the sinful things through which their pathway lies.
Well, these are some of the things which cause lapses among young converts: shallow work, self-confidence, bad teaching and insufficient care. Let the love you have to those whom you have been the means of leading to Christ prompt you to go after them, that they may be kept faithful to the Lord Whom they have learned to trust.
May the Lord give us wisdom in all this, and may the blessed result be seen in more firmness and progress and fewer lapses amongst our young converts.