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Shall we then go back

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"From that time many of His disciples went back, and walked no more with Him. Then said Jesus to the twelve, Will you also go away?" John 6:66, 67

Shall we then go back to the WORLD? Have we not had enough of that? Were we not in it before the Lord was pleased to call us out of it by His grace? Was there any true happiness there—any real satisfaction, contentment, rest, peace, or quiet? Well may we answer, "No!" Even then, it was but one continued scene of—harassing turmoil—vain amusement—empty pleasure—the end of which we knew would be death. When we were in it there was no real happiness—and will there be happiness now when we have come out of it, to go back to it?

Take it now at its best or at its worst. Do you find any comfort in worldly company, any happiness in carnal society? Do its maxims suit you, its customs, its pleasures, its vanities? Do you get any happiness from them? No! Then must you not at once reply, "Whatever I do, whatever becomes of me, I cannot go back into the world, because when I was in it I had no comfort from it, and to go back now would be but to redouble my misery and ensure my utter ruin."

But shall we go back to SIN? O, perish the thought! What! sin that was the cause of such guilt upon your conscience in times past! Sin that brought such a very hell into your soul! Sin that crucified a dear Redeemer!

To go back to sin—to wallow in the base lusts of the flesh—to drink down iniquity—to work all uncleanness with greediness—and to spend health, strength, and life itself in those things the end of which we know is certain destruction—O, how can we for a single moment dare to entertain the thought that we can leave a holy Jesus, a heavenly Redeemer, the sweet company of God's family, the sacred communion with the Lord Himself—to wallow in sin, and thus to bring a certain hell into our conscience, death into our soul, and the dreadful end of all our profession to be banishment from the presence of the Lord into the blackness of darkness forever!

O Lord, whatever we do, wherever we go—we never can go back to sin! Lord, "to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life!"