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I. OUR LORD'S QUESTION was —

1. The language of affection. Spoken in view of the loss of friends and immortal souls He came to save.

2. An implied warning. The propriety of such a question now rests on two grounds.

(1)  The possibility, so far as they know, that professed disciples are not real disciples.

(2)  The possibility that if real disciples they may apostatize. How our Lord's declaration (ver. 70) must have constrained each to ask "Lord is it I?"

3. Anxious concern in view of abundant reasons for it.

(1)  Many disciples had already forsaken Him.

(2)  They were all the subjects of much weakness and prejudice.

(3)  They were to be exposed to many temptations and dangers.

4. They were ignorant to a great extent of the nature of Christ's salvation, and similar reasons exist in the present day for anxious concern and it may be useful to consider some of the sources of danger.

(1) The deep depravity of the human heart. How easily does this depravity —

(a)  lead men to deny or disregard the great practical truths of the gospel;

(b)  to lose all just impression of the distinction between Christians and the world;

(c)  to disregard the comparative worth of temporal and eternal things;

(d)  to become insensible to the danger of small departures from duty;

(e)  to banish the thought of eternity;

(f)  to become more solicitous to preserve appearances before men than reality before God;

(g)  to neglect the means of grace.

(2) The power of temptations without us, arising from wealth or poverty, business, society, etc.

II. THE DISCIPLE'S ANSWER, which bespeaks a just sense of his wants as a sinner and of his dependence on Christ as a Saviour.

1. As sinners we need the forgiveness of God, and can obtain the blessing only through Christ.

2. As sinners we need sanctification, guidance, support, consolation which no one but Christ can give.

3. We need eternal life: Christ only has the words of eternal life.

(N. W. Taylor, D. D.)

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KJV: From that time many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him.

WEB: At this, many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him.