Jesus' Departure Sermon (John 14-17)
Part Two

Introduction. This morning we began a consideration of Jesus’ teaching in John 14-17 which constitutes the final sermon that Jesus taught His disciples before His death. We compared its similarities to other final discourses among Israelite leaders, but noted that it is not a farewell—it lays down principles of the ongoing relationship Jesus would have with His people. We ended by noting the four sections of the lesson related to the four chapters, the final section which ends with a prayer for His people.

IV. Major Themes.

A.    Jesus as an example of obedience to the Father (John 14:31; 15:10).

1.      Most farewell discourses call people to obedience.

                                                             a.      Immediate response to Joshua: “Far be it from us that we should forsake the LORD to serve other gods (Josh. 24:16).

2.      Speaker does not offer himself as a pattern of behavior.

                                                             a.      Joshua asserted the intention to remain faithful (Josh. 24:15), but he did not act as a model of obedience.

3.      Mortals: “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Rom. 3:23).

                                                             a.      God in the flesh: “the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29).

                                                            b.      He was “a lamb without blemish and without spot” (1 Pet. 1:19).

4.      Jesus sets His behavior as the standard of obedience.

5.      Before He started toward Gethsemane, He would go to the cross “that the world may know that I love the Father, and as the Father gave Me commandment, so I do. Arise, let us go from here” (14:31).

                                                             a.      Jesus’ departure to the garden begins the chain of events that would culminate in His crucifixion.

                                                            b.      Obedience to the commandment given from the Father. “If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love” (15:9-10).

6.      The disciples are called to see in His obedience “to the point of death” (Phil. 2:8), the type of faithfulness they should practice to abide in the love of God.

B.     Jesus as an example of love (John 15:12-13).

1.      He had previously taught that the greatest commandments of Divine Law are love for God (Matt. 22:37) and to “love your neighbor as yourself” (Matt. 22:39).

                                                             a.      Now, only hours away from His death: “This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.” (15:12).

2.      His disciples might have called to mind His compassion on them as they followed Him.

                                                             a.      They might have considered the miracles, and miraculous feedings they had enjoyed.

3.      These were not the things that Jesus had in mind: “Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends” (15:13).

C.     Jesus as an example of suffering hatred and persecution (John 15:18-24).

1.      During His final journey from Caesarea Philippi towards Jerusalem, at least three times Jesus foretold His coming death in Jerusalem (Matt. 16:21-23; 17:22-23; 20:17-19).

                                                             a.      Now, He sets Himself as an example of the treatment they too could expect to receive as His disciples: “If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you” (15:18).

                                                            b.      Because: “A servant is not greater than his master” (15:20a).

                                                             c.      Being spared this would have elevated them above Jesus: “If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you” (15:20b).

2.      Any mistreatment would have consequence: “He who hates Me hates My Father also” (15:23).

                                                             a.      The disciples would share in Jesus’ persecution, but also in an eternal relationship with God—which the world could not share (15:19, 24).

V. Jesus’ Method of Preaching. While this sermon was not a lesson preached before a synagogue or an assembly of the church, it contains many features that teach us some very practical and important elements gospel preachers should incorporate into the sermons they preach. Some of these include:

A.    Demonstrating concern for the audience (John 14:1, 27).

1.      He begins: “Let not your hearts be troubled” (14:1).

                                                             a.      He repeats this later saying “Let not you heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid” (14:27b).

                                                            b.      A preacher should consider the impact his words have on his hearers.

2.      In telling them He would go away, Jesus knew this troubled His disciples.

                                                             a.      He wanted them to feel a sense of peace about this.

                                                            b.      He prefaced His repetition of this by saying “Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you” (14:27a).

                                                             c.      Hebrew, even in modern times, you ask “how are you doing?” by saying literally “how’s your peace?”

                                                            d.      The Hebrew shalom! literally wishes “peace” to a  person.

3.      Jesus was concerned and openly expressed this to them.

                                                             a.      Preachers of the gospel today must leave no doubt that the words they speak are drawn from hearts deeply concerned for the souls of those to whom they preach.

B.     Challenging the audience to think (John 14:4). 

1.      He offered a statement that motivated an immediate challenge on the part of Thomas. Jesus said, “where I go you know, and the way you know” (14:4-5).

                                                             a.      Thomas didn’t understand this and openly revealed his bewilderment, confessing “Lord, we do not know where You are going, and how can we know the way?” (14:5).

2.      We are all familiar with Jesus’ profound exclamation in answer to this, when He declared that He is “the Way” of truth, life, and the path “to the Father” (14:6).

                                                             a.      We must not miss, however, the fact that it would not be until two chapters later that He plainly declared what He challenged them to recognize at first—“I go to the Father” (16:16-17, 28).

3.      Was Jesus trying to be cryptic?

                                                             a.      No, He was challenging them to think.

                                                            b.      Chrysostom explained, “it is the expression of One, who declares that He shall not perish, but that His end is a kind of translation” (Homily 79.1, on John 16:16-17).

4.      A sermon must not be simply the pouring out of information. Like Jesus, the gospel preacher should challenge the thinking of his hearers to move them to make the truths they come to understand their own.

C.     Seeking to move the audience to belief (John 14:10-11).

1.      As God the Son, Jesus’ relationship to God the Father was something He wanted His disciples to believe firmly.

                                                             a.      When Philip was not satisfied with Jesus’ assertion that He was “the Way” to the Father (14:8), Jesus expressed disappointment—“Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me, Philip?” (14:8).

2.      In spite of this disappointment, Jesus even at this late moment of His time on earth, asked “Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me?” (14:10), going on to appeal to them “Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father in Me, or else believe Me for the sake of the works themselves” (14:11).

3.      Preaching is not salesmanship.

                                                             a.      There are dangers in viewing conversion and teaching as if it is nothing more than closing a sale.

4.      At the same time, the message of the gospel calls those who hear it to action. Jesus shows by example that to preach we too must seek to move our hearers to accept and believe the message.

                                                             a.      The Lord seeks “doers of the word, and not hearers only” (James. 1:22).

D.    Illustrating the point with figures known to the audience (John 15:1-6; 16:21-22). Jesus used two illustrations in this sermon.

1.      First, He identifies Himself as the “true vine” (15:1) and His disciples as the “branches” (15:5).

                                                             a.      In order to call them to continued adherence to His words (15:7), He compares this to a branch that can only “bear fruit” if it “abides in the vine” (15:4).

                                                            b.      The Near East and Mediterranean regions have from the earliest times been ideal environments for grape production.

                                                             c.      Jesus’ disciples would have been quite familiar with how these plants grew, and how similar illustrations had been used in the Old Testament.

                                                            d.      Hutchison, drawing a connection between Jesus’ words and the psalmist’s description that in Israel God “brought a vine out of Egypt” (Ps. 80:8), suggests: “The ‘I am’ claim of Jesus in John 15 is much more than a simple metaphor. Several factors support the claim that Jesus’ main point is Messianic in nature, as he makes the outright claim to be the ‘vine’ that Israel failed to be” (“Significance of the Vine Motif”).

2.      A second illustration – Jesus compared their present sorrow to a pregnant woman.

                                                             a.      When the time comes for a child to be born, the joy she feels over the birth of the child is such that “she no loner remembers the anguish” (16:21-22).

                                                            b.      In the same way, Jesus explained that their sorrow would soon vanish away (16:20).

3.      It is appropriate for a preacher to help his audience understand points unfamiliar to them by utilizing things common and well known.

                                                             a.      In Jesus’ example of this we should note, however, that Jesus’ illustrations emphasize and illuminate the message; they do not constitute the primary substance of the message. 

E.     Seeking to connect with the audience (John 15:13-15). 

1.      One of the most touching elements of this sermon has to do with a new identification Jesus makes with His disciples.

                                                             a.      Jesus had already declared, “I am in the Father, and the Father in Me” (John 14:10-11) and “he who has seen Me has seen the Father” (John 14:9).

                                                            b.      That was a claim of Deity, and Deity deserves all honor, glory, and reverence. The psalmist put it, “The LORD is high above all nations, His glory above the heavens” (Ps. 13:4).

2.      Before this, He had identified His disciples as “salt” (Matt. 5:13), “light” (Matt. 5:14), “sheep” (John 10:1-7) and even servants (John 12:26).

                                                             a.      Now He tells them “No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you” (15:15).

                                                            b.      Jesus tells them He will demonstrate towards them the greatest love possible “to lay down” His “life for his friends” (15:13).

                                                             c.      The God of all the universe was willing to consider those who were His feeble and frail creation—friends!

3.      Preachers may sometimes struggle to connect with their audience.

                                                             a.      Our generation has often sought to overcome this with gimmicks that have little to do with a genuine connection.

4.      Jesus demonstrates that a preacher must make it clear to those who hear him that he is not above them, beyond them, or out of touch with them.

                                                             a.      A gospel preacher is merely a Christian with the same needs, struggles, and frailties of any other member.

F.      Preparing the audience for what it may face (John 15:18-24; 16:1-2).

1.      In the limited commission when Jesus sent out the Twelve, He had warned them of persecution that would come for His “name’s sake” (Matt. 10:16-26).

                                                             a.      Two days before this, in the Olivet Discourse, He had warned them “you will be hated by all nations for My name’s sake” (Matt. 24:9).

2.      In our text, Jesus’ concern for their troubled state of mind did not keep Him from preparing them for what they would soon face.

                                                             a.      He warns them yet again “If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you”—“all these things they will do to you for My name’s sake” (15:20-21).

                                                            b.      Foreshadowing the behavior of men like Saul of Tarsus, He warned them “the time is coming that whoever kills you will think that He offers God a service” (16:2).

3.      True concern for others does not hide from them dangers they will face.

                                                             a.      The gospel preacher today must not neglect to warn people to guard against temptations.

                                                            b.      He must not neglect warning against error and apostasy.

4.      There are many positive and encouraging things the faithful preacher must proclaim, but to fail to warn our hearers of dangers that lie before them leaves them vulnerable and unprepared to endure faithful to the end (cf. Matt. 10:22; Rev. 2:10).

G.    Reminding the audience of the message (John 14:29; 15:20; 16:4).

1.      Jesus did not use a PowerPoint projection. He did not hand out an outline for the disciples to keep for their files.

                                                             a.      He simply spoke to them, and yet He used a convention of communication practiced from the time we are children through the end of our life: repetition and reminder.

2.      Twice Jesus emphasized, “I have told you” (14:29; 16:4).

3.      Twice He urged them “Remember the word that I said to you” (15:20)—“when the time comes, you may remember that I told you” (16:4).

4.      The mind of a hearer can wander. While dwelling on one point a preacher makes, he may miss the next point.

                                                             a.      This isn’t always because of inattentiveness; sometimes it is an issue of understanding, capability, or maturity.

5.      Jesus shows that it is proper to remind an audience of the points that have been previously addressed in order to help them establish a full understanding of what is being considered.

H.    Building to a climax (John 16:33).

1.      Jesus was not a showman, but like any good form of communication His departure sermon built to a clear climax immediately before He offered His intercessory prayer.

                                                             a.      “These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world” (16:33).

2.      The disciples may not have realized it at the time, but these words were a type of climax to Jesus’ sermon.

                                                             a.      He had spent three chapters telling them about His departure and warning them of their own coming persecution, yet in spite of this He affirmed, “I have overcome the world.”

                                                            b.      There is no more persuasion that comes after this.

                                                             c.      There are no more challenges to lead them to faith and understanding. Christ’s conquest of the world is the fact of Jesus’ work and coming that they would ultimately have to accept.

3.      Every sermon needs a climax.

                                                             a.      It may not always be a matter of tears and emotion—it doesn’t have to rattle the rafters or bring the room to dead silence, but there should be some point to which the flow and the movement of the lesson ultimately builds.

VI. The Distinctiveness of Jesus’ Message. We are living in a time of competing dynamics when it comes to the vision many see for the church in the years to come—perhaps it has always been this way.

•         Some feel that the church must reject an insistence on authority for its actions.

¤  They believe that growth and progress have been stifled by archaic methods of “book, chapter, and verse” preaching. They insist upon only uplifting, motivational lessons, filled with entertaining stories, with less and less emphasis on Scripture.

¤  Instead of rejecting ties with denominational churches, they believe that the church should embrace any who advocate a claim to faith in Jesus whatsoever.

•         Those on the other side of this competing vision do not consider a rejection of authority progress, but a regression into the chaos and division of religious error.

¤  They do not see too much emphasis on Scripture in the pulpit, but fear that the more we elevate the doctrines and commandments of men, the further we move away from the church Christ “purchased with His own blood” (Acts 20:28). 

Does Jesus’ departure sermon offer any direction to us in the face of this competing vision?

•         It is interesting to note that in this lesson Jesus quotes only one Old Testament Scripture.

¤  When He foretells that His disciples would be hated just as He was hated, He quotes David to say, “They hated Me without a cause” (John 15:25; cf. Ps. 69:4).

•         Of course, we must recognize that as God in the flesh every word Jesus uttered was “god-breathed” (cf. 2 Tim. 3:16, NIV).

¤  His words, therefore, establish the basis for New Covenant doctrine. His words, whether spoken directly, or as given by inspiration to His apostles will be the standard of judgment on the Day of Judgment (John 12:47-48; 1 Cor. 14:37).

We realize, therefore, that to follow Jesus’ method and message doesn’t mean that we should seek to develop an increasing number of illustrations about vines, pregnant women, or some modern parallels. To follow Jesus’ approach to preaching we must proclaim the message He taught. This isn’t plagiarism—it is the proclamation of truth. It honors our Master, rather than the messenger. It guards the purity of our doctrine.

In considering the danger we face of moving away from an emphasis on book, chapter, and verse preaching—the danger of surrendering the distinctiveness the Lord’s church must maintain from the apostasy of the religious world, we should note that it is in this very sermon that Jesus articulates many of the very principles that define this distinctiveness. For example:

 

A.    Jesus prays for unity (17:20-23). 

1.      Our world demonstrates a blatant duplicity when it comes to matters of unity.

                                                             a.      Average person, “should all churches be united,” most would probably say, “yes!”

                                                            b.      If you then asked, should all churches be “perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment” (1 Cor. 1:10)—should the same things be taught “everywhere, in every church” (1 Cor. 4:17), most would either say that is impossible or unnecessary.

                                                             c.      The only thing on which much of the world is really united is opposition to any who insist on being truly united!

2.      In Jesus’ final “High Priestly Prayer” He prayed for those who would believe through His apostles’ teaching “that they all may be one” (17:21a).

                                                             a.      It is in this unity that Jesus acknowledges that “the world may believe” (17:21b), and “the world may know” (17:23a) that He was sent from God.

                                                            b.      It is in this unity that the world can know that God “loved them” (17:23b).

                                                             c.      Disunity contributes to unbelief!

                                                            d.      On the other hand, as Clinton Hamilton points out, “Unity among believers such as that which exists between Jesus and the Father will cause the world to believe that the Father sent Jesus” (24).

3.      The message of Christ insists on unity of doctrine and practice.

                                                             a.      To teach the message of Christ we must teach that it is God’s will for His people to seek unity of teaching and collective action.

B.     Jesus teaches the exclusiveness of coming to God through Him (14:6).

1.      Our world has grown increasingly more materialistic—many reject a belief in the supernatural and a life after death.

2.      In the religious world many still cling to a belief in the afterlife, but reject that any will face condemnation.

                                                             a.      Even among those who accept some concept of hell—increasing acceptance of the belief that many different paths lead to salvation—not exclusively through Jesus Christ.

                                                            b.      The appeal of such a view is obvious. No rational person would long for eternal punishment for himself or those he loves.

3.      In this sermon, are some of the most exclusive claims that Jesus made about Himself found all of the New Testament.

                                                             a.      As Jesus urges them to consider the unity He shares with God the Father He declares, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me” (14:6).

                                                            b.      Brother Dan King, after pointing out the many false authors of salvation to whom many in the world look, notes well: “Modern liberalists who attempt to water down this intrepid proclamation of Christ in order to make room for these various religious alternatives to Him have learned nothing from their Bible reading” (286).

4.      To teach the message of Christ, we must teach that Christ alone offers the way to eternal life with God in heaven.  

C.     Jesus teaches the necessity of abiding in Him (15:7-10).

1.      The religious world embraces the false doctrine of the impossibility of apostasy. This can take two forms...

                                                             a.      Arguing that the child of God cannot sin in such a way as to forfeit his or her salvation, or...

                                                            b.      It may be cloaked in the Calvinistic view that the true elect will be so preserved by the empowering grace of God that they will not fall away.

                                                             c.      Either way, the result is the same—men and women are led to believe that they are secure in sin.

2.      The message of Christ is contrary to this doctrine.

                                                             a.      Jesus describes Himself as the “true vine” (15:1), and He tells His disciples “you are the branches” (15:5).

                                                            b.      In this figure He warns of the possibility that they, as branches, can be “cast out as a branch” and “burned” (15:6b).

                                                             c.      This describes attaining a condition of discipleship, and yet then forfeiting a relationship with Christ resulting in condemnation.

3.      What does Jesus say can cause this alienation?—A failure to “abide” in Him (15:6a).

                                                             a.      Abiding in Christ is accomplished by allowing His word to abide within a person (15:7), and by keeping His commandments (John 15:10a).

                                                            b.      He describes this as abiding in His love (15:10b).

                                                             c.      The instructions to “abide in Me” (15:3) and “abide in My love” (15:9) in the Greek are imperative in form (i.e. they are in the form of a command).

                                                            d.      You do not command what can happen no other way.

                                                             e.      Chrysostom was correct that this figure of Christ as the “true vine” teaches, “That the man who gives no heed to His words can have no life” (Homily 76, on John 14:31; 15:1).

4.      To teach, therefore, the message of Christ, the gospel preacher must preach against the doctrine of “once saved, always saved.”

D.    Jesus teaches that love for Him is demonstrated by obedience (14:15, 21, 23; 15:10).

1.      Our world constantly uses the word love.

                                                             a.      Many would say that love is “all that matters.”

                                                            b.      For many people, love alone defines whether one is pleasing and acceptable to God or not, but...

                                                             c.      It is argued that how a person demonstrates this love is personal, variable, and subjective.

2.      Jesus’ disciples may well have thought that the sorrow they felt over Jesus’ words about His coming death demonstrated love, yet...

                                                             a.      As Parsenios notes, “To love Jesus was not to grieve Jesus’ departure, but to understand the significance of the cross in his life and work, as well as in the life of His disciples” (226).

3.      Three times in this final sermon Jesus established a connection between “love” and obedience to Divine commandments. Jesus begins, “If you love Me, keep My commandments” (14:15).

                                                             a.      He says further, “He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him” (14:21).

4.      Not only is this how human love for God is demonstrated, but this is a necessity in order to receive Divine love.

                                                             a.      He explains, “If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love” (15:10).

5.      To remove any ambiguity Jesus even further clarifies, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him” (14:23).

                                                             a.      David Lipscomb says it well, “All pretenses to believe in Him and trust Him, while refusing to keep His words, are false and misleading” (231).

6.      The message of Christ defines love as obedience.

                                                             a.      To teach the message of Christ we must teach that obedience demonstrates love, and is required in order to receive Divine love.

E.     Jesus explains the work and coming of the Holy Spirit (14:16-17, 26; 15:25; 16:7-14).

1.      Many within the religious world teach that the Holy Spirit would operate upon disciples throughout this entire age in the same way it was given to disciples in the first century.

                                                             a.      Brother Lewis Willis is correct that this type of misunderstanding “is the principle cause of today’s confusion concerning the Holy Spirit” (100). Jesus promised the Holy Spirit would bring to the apostles’ “remembrance all things that I said to you” (14:26).

2.      Jesus identifies this as things He spoke “while being present” with them (14:25).

                                                             a.      Disciples who have not walked with Jesus during His time on the earth could not be made to remember what they had not heard in the first place.

                                                            b.      This was a specific promise to the disciples of the first century, not a promise to all Christians at all times.

3.      Jesus promised that the Holy Spirit would reveal to the apostles “many things” He still had to say to them (16:12), in order to guide them “into all truth” (16:13).

                                                             a.      One of these apostles wrote near end of His life that this had been accomplished. Peter claimed, “His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue” (2 Pet. 1:3).

                                                            b.      There would be Scriptures that were revealed after these words were written, but the fullness of the gospel was completely revealed to the generation to whom this promise was made.

                                                             c.      If more revelation on the part of the Holy Spirit is needed mankind does not yet have “all things that pertain to life and godliness.”

4.      The message of Jesus taught that the work of the Holy Spirit accomplished a specific purpose within the life of those to whom this promise was made.

                                                             a.      To teach the message of Christ we must reject false doctrines regarding continuing revelation on the part of the Holy Spirit.

F.      Jesus teaches the nature of indwelling (14:20, 23).

1.      Much of the religious world teaches a personal direct indwelling of the Holy Spirit.

                                                             a.      It argues the Holy Spirit personally lives in individual Christians helping them overcome sin and enabling them to understand Scripture.

2.      Jesus taught that the “Helper” (14:16a), later identified as the “Holy Spirit” (14:26), would be with them forever (14:16b).

                                                             a.      This was promised in a special sense to those who walked with Jesus while on earth. He would help them remember what He said to them (14:25-26).

3.      To understand the sense in which we may understand Jesus’ promise to all Christians that the Helper “dwells with you and will be in you” (14:17), we may note some important statements Jesus made in this sermon.

                                                             a.      After promising that He would not leave them “orphans” (14:18), He explains that they would soon see “I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you” (14:19-20).

                                                            b.      Brother Colly Caldwell, commenting on other elements within this sermon observes: “Strikingly, this passage which says that Christ dwells in us, also repeatedly affirms that WE dwell in Christ. The question again becomes, “Is the indwelling personal, direct possession?” Obviously, to me at least, Jesus is speaking of the intimate relationship or communion between the divine being and obedient, loving Christians” (“Divine Indwelling With Man,” 65).

4.      The Spirit’s indwelling in all Christians is the same as the indwelling of the Father and of the Son within a Christian.

                                                             a.      It is accomplished when one has the Lord’s “commandments and keeps them” (14:21a), which He equates with one who “will keep My word” (14:23a).

                                                            b.      It is in this sense that He promises that, “My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him” (14:21b).

                                                             c.      It is in this sense that Jesus promises, “My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him” (14:23b).

5.      The message of Jesus equates the indwelling of the Spirit with the indwelling of the Father and Son through His word.

                                                             a.      To teach the message of Christ we must reject a personal direct indwelling of the Holy Spirit.

Conclusion.  Jesus’ final departure sermon to His disciples was a powerful and compelling demonstration of His concern for His people. It introduced the ongoing relationship He would have with them, and teaches us wonderful lessons about the message we must continue to proclaim today.

Years ago a young man who was a very good friend of mine was preaching for a small church. He was a fine young man, and had been very influential on me when my wife and I first left institutionalism. On one occasion, he became very discouraged when an elder for the church with which he was working told him that his preaching should be more “distinctive.” I don’t know if this was handled with the kindness and gentleness it should have been, or not—I wasn’t there. The concern the elder raised was that some of his lessons were so general that they could be preached in any denominational church in town. He urged him to include in his lessons more elements that demonstrated the distinction between the church of Christ we can read about in the New Testament and the denominationalism of the religious world.

I was sympathetic to my friend in those years, but as time went on I came to understand more and more what that elder was talking about. In 2003 I wrote an article influenced by this situation, entitled “Distinctive Preaching” in which I expressed the concern that all of us need to continually affirm exactly how we are distinct from the religious world. Without articulating a distinction we slowly and subtly surrender our commitment to maintain a distinction. Little could I have known that the concerns that dear elder expressed would not be merely abstract and distant unrealized fears. The congregation where he once served as an elder, in the years after his departure drifted further and further away from the truth. When its doors were finally closed some years ago, its members were dispersed among various unsound congregations in town, and my friend no longer serves the Lord faithfully.

I pray that we will recognize that the need to call people away from religious apostasy is not an old fashioned, archaic appeal. We must continue to call people back to a unity grounded upon the doctrines and practices of the New Testament church. The danger of turning back to error is only too real. Religious history teaches us that more often than not, men and women find it easier to embrace error rather than truth. May we do all that is within our power to call our generation to avoid the mistakes of the past in order to set a sound course for those who will come after us.