Turn back with me to that 6th
chapter of John. And I want to look back and read
one of the verses that Lee read, and that is the 68th verse. And this is the answer. of Simon
Peter to a question that the Lord Jesus Christ has asked these
few that remain after the great multitude have departed. His
question was, will ye also go away? The most had. But now listen
to what Peter answers in verse 68. Then Simon Peter answered
him, Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal
life. To whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal
life. Words are a means of communication. We communicate with each other
by words. And the Bible as a body of words
is called the Word because it is the communication of God to
men. It is not what men say about
the words, but it's what God says by the words. We will not stand before God
and face any judgment based on what any man's opinion was about
what the words mean. But we will be facing God based
on the words of God. I've thought about it several
times recently. And I'm sure this is true, that
all of our error comes from men and all of our truth comes from
God. God who tells us this, all Scripture
is given by inspiration of God That is, it is literally God-breathed
and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction,
for instruction in righteousness. And then the Apostle Peter, who
himself had been enabled, as we see in our text, to behold
Christ face to face, and to hear the words as they were spoken
from his actual lips, this is what he writes in his second
epistle, We have also a more sure word of prophecy, a more
sure word than actually having heard Christ speak from His lips
these words, because many who heard Him speak these words,
they went away. And not only greater than the
miracles that they behold, He says, we have also a more sure
word of prophecy, whereunto you do well that ye take heed, as
unto a light that shines in a dark place until the day dawn, and
the day star rise in your heart. And, of course, the day star
he's talking about is the sun, and none other than the sun of
righteousness himself. He says, knowing this first,
that no prophecy of the Scripture is of any private interpretation,
for the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man,
but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost."
These words are not merely from the will and mind of men, and
they concern the good news concerning the Son of God, the Lord Jesus
Christ. Hebrews records these words for
us. God, who at sundry times and
in diverse manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the
prophets, He has in these last days spoken unto us by His Son. whom he hath appointed heir of
all things, by whom also he made the worlds." He appointed unto
him all things, and by him he made the worlds, and he has in
these last days spoken unto us by him. And these people that
we read about in John 6, in their blindness, they chose the bread
that Christ had miraculously made, but they rejected the true
bread. They would eat that bread to
fill their belly that he made by his power. But when he began
to speak these words, they had no interest. And the scribes
and the Pharisees and the Sadducees, all of them, just as it is in
our day, they had many words for men. But they did not have
the words of eternal life. If you remember when the angels
set those disciples free from the prison in Acts chapter 5,
He gave them a specific commandment. He said, Go, stand, and speak
in the temple to the people all the words of this life. The words of eternal life. And so, as a part of Peter's
confession here in verse 68, he says that to leave Christ,
to leave His words, to leave these words of eternal life is
to have nothing but death. Think about that. For you and
I, for every one of us, to have no interest in, no understanding
of, and no desire to hear the words of eternal life, that means
only death. There is no other place and no
other one to go to except to him who has the words of eternal
life." Because these are the words that he uses to quicken
sinners. Look back in verse 63. He tells
us, it is the Spirit that quickeneth, the flesh profiteth
nothing. The words that I speak unto you,
they are spirit and they are life." And not only is he talking
about the words themselves, But he is talking about these words
which must be spoken into our hearts and into our minds by
the Spirit of Christ, or we, like these in this text, will
never hear. We will never understand. We will never have any interest
in. We will never know their life-quickening
power. And just as our Lord on so many
occasions, and like He did with Lazarus, the dead man, He spoke
those words, And in those words communicated to that dead man
life, he said, Lazarus, come forth. And these are the words
that our Lord Jesus Christ speaks to his people that he commands
them by them to live, and unless we hear those words, we will
simply remain dead. And when He brings us to light
and to life, we are made to know and to feel their necessity. If you remember the words of
the psalmist, he said this, say unto my soul, I am thy salvation. In other words, words on a page,
even if they be the words of God, they must also be communicated
to us by the Spirit of God. Say unto my soul, I am thy salvation. Hold your place right there and
turn over to I Peter and the first chapter. Listen to what
Peter writes in this epistle, this first epistle, beginning
in verse 23. He says, being born again, not
of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible by the Word of God, which liveth
and abideth forever. Now, some people believe that
the Word of God there is a reference to Christ Himself, and maybe
so. But listen a bit further. He
says, For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the
flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the
flower thereof falleth away. the word of the Lord. The word of the Lord endureth
forever, and this is the word which by the gospel is preached
unto you." These words that God uses and by which He speaks life
to our soul. These words and this Word, He
says, is preached unto you by the Gospel. And it would seem
like if this is the case and if this is the necessity and
this is the urgency, that we would have a far greater interest
in hearing the Gospel. And mainly because these words,
or these words of eternal life, they are all concerning the Lord
Jesus Christ who is Himself called the Word. Turn over to John's
Gospel and the first chapter, and listen to what we read there,
beginning in verse 1. And I'd say to you that you cannot
separate, you cannot isolate the written Word from the incarnate
Word because the words of eternal life are concerning Him who said,
I am the life. Listen to it. In the beginning
was the Word. and the Word was with God, and
the Word was God, the same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by Him,
and without Him was not anything made that was made. In Him was
life." If you look down at verse 14, We find out unmistakably
that this is God's Christ, for it says, and the Word was made
flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory
as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. And when He walked here in this
world, He made us to know if we but listen, and can listen
to what He said, we know something about the very importance of
these words which He gave, and they are forever His words. Look over in John 17. John chapter 17, first of all
in verse 8, here He is in this high priestly prayer, praying
to the Father and saying this, "'For I have given unto them
the words which thou gavest me.'" Now, when did he give to Christ
in this sense, these words? He gave these words in that everlasting
covenant. He gave him this world when he
stood up as the mediator and the surety of his people representing
it. He gave him words concerning
both him and them as their mediator. All right, listen. For I have
given unto them the words which thou gavest me, and they have
received them, and have known surely that I came out from thee,
and they have believed that thou didst send me." What did he give
them? He gave them the words. All right,
look down in verse 14. He says, "...I have given them
thy word, and the world hath hated them, Because they are
not of the world, even as I am not of the world. Why did they
hate these to whom Christ gave the word? Because they are the
words of God. That natural heart of all men
by nature, whereby we are enmity against God, when Christ gave
them the words, and they began to speak the words, He says,
the world hates them. Look down in verse 17. He says, sanctify them through
thy truth, thy Word is truth. How are they set apart by God? How will God's people, His elect
from all eternity, and these for whom the Lord Jesus Christ
came into this world to die, how will they be separated unto
God in this sense of sanctification? It's by His words. It's by His
truth. And this is the means by which
He speaks to and calls out His people The Word contains the
whole counsel of God for bringing sinners to eternal life, and
there is no other Word. This is the way that the Spirit
of God teaches them. This is the way that they are
made manifest. These are the things that they
are to believe, and this is the only good news that there is. Is that right? Well, so much so is this the
case that John, this same apostle, writes this in his first epistle,
his first letter in 1 John 4. He says, we are of God. And that's a pretty bold statement. John, how can you say, how can
you be so sure that you are of God? He says, he that knoweth
God, heareth us. He that is not of God, heareth
not us. Hereby know we the spirit of
truth and the spirit of error." In other words, it boiled down
to this. They had been taught this message,
this gospel, these words by the Lord Jesus Christ Himself, by
the very Son of God, and given this authority, and they could
rightly say, he that hears us, hears from God. And he who does
not, does not hear from God. And it amounts to this. If I
stand up here and tell you what my opinion is, or what my
thoughts are, or what my ideas are, or anything that flows out
of me, myself, I don't have any authority that you should believe
it. But if I tell you the words of
God, if I say to you exactly what God has said, if I do not
add to that, if I do not take away from that, if I am a mouthpiece
that simply speaks exactly what God says, then the requirement
is on you to believe it. To believe it. The psalmist writing in Psalm
119, where all that whole big psalm, every verse has some reference
to the Word or to the truth of God, he said this, the entrance
of thy words gives light. In other words, there is no light
for us as sinners. who in ourselves not only sit
in darkness, but are full of darkness. It is only by the entrance
of His words that gives us life. It gives understanding to the
simple. And that's what we are. That's
what I am. When wisdom cries out there in
the book of Proverbs, wisdom which is none other than Christ
Himself, the very wisdom of God, when wisdom cries out, it is
a message to the simple ones. And we have no light. We sit
in absolute darkness. unless the Spirit of God is our
teacher, taking the words, taking the things of Christ and showing
them to us. And the only message that God's
elect are to believe and will believe is preached by those
who are sin of God, who declare what He says. Look back over in John chapter
6 and verse 45. In that 45th verse, it says,
it is written in the prophets, and they, who is that God's people,
God's elect, God's children, those He loves, and those he
redeems by his blood, and they shall be all taught of God." They'll all, every one of them,
without exception, not only be taught by those that God sends,
but they shall all be taught of God And every man therefore
that hath heard and hath learned of the Father comes to me." He doesn't go to
the law. He doesn't go to Moses. He doesn't
go to anybody else or anything else. Everyone that is taught
of the Father, everyone who learns of Him, comes to Christ, comes to the Lord Jesus Christ. As a matter of fact, to me, about
as clearly and as plainly as it can be spoken, was spoken
by our Lord in John 8 when He said this, He that is of God
heareth God's Word. Now my friend, those that he
was talking about, they had just in one sense heard God's words. But they didn't really hear. Because the hearing here is in
the sense of hearing so as to believe them. so as to heed them. He that is of God heareth God's
words, ye therefore hear them not, because you are not of God."
And I can tell you this, that the Lord Jesus Christ never speaks
words to a sinner. that are contrary to these words
that he has already spoken both by himself personally and by
those he sent forth. He doesn't have One set of words
over here for this one, and another set of words over here for another
one, and another set of words over here for somebody else in
a different place, or under different circumstances, or different individuals
personally. He simply has the words of eternal
life. And for these reasons, we ought
to study the Scripture. And we ought to hear the Word
preached with all sincerity and give it all our attention and
thought. They're the words of eternal
life. I read something that Old Whitfield
said. He said we ought to wait constantly
at wisdom's gate. And she will then, and not till
then, display and lay open to you her heavenly treasure. He said we ought to wait constantly
at wisdom's gate. We ought to seek to be taught
of God. We ought to listen and seek to
have an ear to hear the words of eternal life. But the problem with us is this. As Paul said, For after that
in the wisdom of God, the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased
God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe." Now,
there's a two-fold problem there. And that twofold problem is bound
up in this very thing, and that is the preaching of the cross. First problem. And that is to
imagine that God would employ such feeble and weak vessels
and instruments by which to speak the words of eternal life. Won't He send an angel to do
that? Won't He send some great celebrity
to do that? No. The Apostle said, but we
have this treasure. And he was talking about the
gospel. He was talking about these words
of eternal life. But we have this treasure in
earthen vessels. Why? He said that all the glory
might go to God. When he's talking about the ministry,
he's talking about this business of preaching. He said, God hasn't
chosen many wise or many noble or anything like that. He's chosen
the base things. He's taken crooked sticks to
draw His straight line. He's taken stumbling and stammering
foolish man to proclaim the words of eternal life that He might
get all the glory. But there's a second difficulty,
and that is the words of eternal life have to do with this preaching
of the cross. Somebody give me an inspirational
message. Somebody talk to me about how
we're to live in this world. Give us some morality preaching
and give us some cheerleader preaching. He said it is the
preaching of the cross. The preaching of the one who
died on that particular cross. The preaching of the need of
why He must die on that cross in order to save His people. The preaching of the cross in
that it glorifies and magnifies God in all that He is. It's the words. You see, the words are not only
the means by which God saves His people, but they're also
the words by which everyone shall be judged. I'm thankful sometimes when I
think about it that I'll never face God on the basis of what
somebody else said that the Word says. I'll only face Him on the
basis of what His Word said. In John 12, he said, If any man
hear my words and believe not, I judge him not, for I came not
to judge the world, but to save the world. He that rejecteth
me and receives not my words hath one that judgeth him. The
word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last
day. He said, the very words that
I speak, the words of man begin to die as soon as they are spoken. But the words of God increase,
and they live forever, and they shall accomplish the purpose
to which He sends them, to bring the good news of His salvation
in Christ to His people and to magnify His name. manifest His
words. And what is the sum of the words
of eternal life? Now, there are a whole lot of
things that could be said, that should be said. But the sum of
the words of eternal life is that simply the salvation of
God, this eternal life that He gives as a gift, is in His Son,
Jesus Christ, and Him crucified. He said, For as the Father hath
life in Himself, So hath he given to the Son to have life in himself. This life that he's talking about
as having been given to the Son, that he might have this particular
life in him, this eternal life, is this life that he gives through
his being the mediator. who mediates between God and
men, the man Christ Jesus, who by virtue of His shed blood,
by virtue of His sacrifice and death in the behalf of His people,
is altogether their life. You don't have Christ, you don't
have life. He says, and this is the record. Same apostle, John. I John 5. And this is the record. What does that mean? These are
the words. This is the doctrine. This is
the declaration of the God of all truth. And this is the record
that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in His
Son." It's not in you and His Son. It's not in you helping
His Son. He says, and this life, this
is the record of God, this life He gives as a gift. and this
life is in His Son, so that he that hath the Son hath life,
and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life." We are to listen to Him. Do you remember what God spoke audibly
from heaven and said? Looking down at the man Christ
Jesus, and speaking of Him, Jesus of Nazareth, He said, This is
My beloved Son, hear Him. Hear Him. And when we don't hear
those who say what He says, you don't have to be afraid of any
man who comes in the name of God who says something other
than what Christ says. But every one, he says, who refuses
you that I have sent," he said, they refused me. And they refused
my Father who sent me. Did you hear what Peter said? Lord, to whom shall we go? You
have the words of eternal life. You're the one that has been
speaking here concerning your flesh and your blood. and the
necessity of all who would have life of being a partaker of your
flesh and your blood. All that simply represents is
the person and work of Christ. His words have to do with who
He says He is and what He says that He's done. The crucified
Christ is the one we are to believe on. And our confidence is to
rest on who He is and what He did. And the fact that He said,
the flesh profits nothing. Nothing. Now, surely, surely
you mean how we live and what we do even after we're Christians? Surely that's got to figure into
the equation somehow. The flesh profits nothing. We can be like these Pharisees
and strut about in this world in a form of outward piousness. We can speak lofty, swelling
words. We can call ourselves Christian,
we can do all these things, live in strict morality outwardly,
we can be sacrificial as givers and do all these things, but
it still comes down to this. But the flesh, that's everything
I am and everything I do of myself, and the flesh profits nothing. Nothing. It's the words. And they clung to what they thought
they had rather receive, these people did, rather than what
was given of God through the words. That's the way we all are by
nature. We'd rather have what we think might come from
the hand of God than what he promises and gives in the words,
in the gospel. The words of eternal life. Verse 64, he says, But there
are some of you that believe not, for Jesus knew from the
beginning who they were that believed not, and who should
betray Him. And he said, Therefore said I
unto you, that no man can come unto me, except it were given
unto him of my father. From that time many of his disciples
went back, and they walked no more with him." They said, we're in it for a
loaf of bread. We're in it for a healing of some disease or
something. We're in it for a few fishes. All this spiritual stuff, all
this eternal life stuff, all this being a partaker of this
man who's doing this. We're not interested in it. That's
why in our day the world runs after the help and the wealth
and the morality gospel, but they have no interest in this
business of eternal life. And most of them walked away,
and now Christ speaks to these few that remain, knowing their
weakness and knowing the wavering of their flesh, And he says,
will you also go away? He knew they wouldn't. Do you know that? Paul, he knew
they wouldn't. Do you know why he knew they
wouldn't? He knew they wouldn't because he would keep them. That's the only reason any of
us don't go away. It's because He keeps us. He
keeps all His people. He said no man will ever pluck
them out of the Father's hand. I give unto them what? Eternal life. Peter himself describes the Lord's
people as those who are kept by the power of God through faith
unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. He knew they
would not go away and leave Him because He had given them faith
to believe the Word. And faith simply is something
like this. It's where we're enabled to see
and therefore brought to be unable to believe anything else but
what God says. Do you ever think about that?
Well, we're always wondering about faith, how much faith,
the degree of faith, all this. Well, all true faith is. is being
brought by God to be unable to believe anything or anybody else
but Him. Lord, to whom shall we go? You're the only one with the
words of eternal life. This is the only words of eternal
life. The gospel wherein the Lord Jesus
Christ and Him crucified is set forth. That's the only gospel that true
faith believes. Look at verse 69. He says, And
we believe and are sure that thou art that Christ, the Son
of the living God. They believed what the prophets
had said, and they believed that they had said them concerning
the one who stood before them in the flesh, Jesus Christ. They believed what he had said
of himself, I and my Father are one. I came down to do the will
of Him that sent me. I laid down my life for the sheep. I am the way, the truth, and
the life. No man comes to the Father but
by me." Do we believe Him? Do we believe Him more than we
believe ourselves? What do we do when self or conscience
or the devil or whoever rises up and gives us every reason
why? we shouldn't have eternal life. When Paul was on that ship that
was in that fierce wind, and everything around him appeared
to be just exactly the opposite of what God had said that it
would be. He rose up and he stood and he
told those sailors who were very much afraid. He said, I believe
that it shall be as God has said to me. That's what faith believes. Man-made faith can believe anything. But God-given faith believes
that it shall be as God has said. It shall be as Christ has spoken
in these words of eternal life. Now, where are we going to go?
Are we going to go to our own wisdom? You know, most all sinners
have their own opinion of which they are very proud. We're going to go to the law?
We're going to go to such religions as these Pharisees represented
who do not have the words of eternal life? Peter said there's no other one
to go to but you. The law can only speak condemnation
to us. These religions can only present
things that even those who speak them can't keep up with. You're the one who has the words
of eternal life for sinners. You're the Christ. We're sure
you're the Christ. There are a whole lot of things
we're not sure about. I've told you that in this text. Peter
didn't make any claim to being sure of like what so many people
are sure. Sometimes I hear preachers and they are so confident, they
are so bold, they are so sure. I want to say, shut up and sit
down. Peter wasn't so sure. He was just your one. We believe
and are sure that you're that Christ. What's Christ? That's the anointed. You're the one that was anointed
of God to be that great high priest forever whose work and
whose sacrifice alone is our hope. You're that anointed prophet
who alone can reveal to us God as He is. You're that anointed
King who rules over all and to whom we now bow and submit. We believe and are sure that
you're the Christ and that you are none other and not less than
the very Son of the Living God. The Living God. I love that term. Just take a concordance and go
throughout the Scriptures and look up that term, the Living
God. You're the Christ. Peter said,
the Son of the living God. Oh, you've been blessed, Simon
Peter, because flesh and blood has not revealed this to you,
but my Father which is in heaven. You've been taught of God. What
did you find out? That Jesus is the Christ. The One who would suffer and
enter into His glory. The Son of the Living God. We don't have anyone else to
go to. And let me say this, and I'll
close. The Lord's people, they are always
found going back to Christ. Because He's the only one who
has the words of eternal life. Now granted, if my voice is the
only voice you hear, it won't avail anything. But if Christ by His Spirit speaks
these words to your heart, it'll mean everything. And so all our
days in this world until He comes for us, whether it be in death
or in His second coming, we'll, as His people, He'll still be
the only one. When friend or family cannot
encourage you, when you fall to the depths, whenever you find
in yourself such contradictions and such unbelief, there's only one to go to. And to hear him speak the words
of eternal life. To hear him say, there is therefore
now no condemnation to those who are in me. That I'm able to save to the
uttermost them that come to God by me. that I came into the world. This
is maybe the best one. I came into the world to save
sinners. I give unto you eternal life
and you will never perish. The gospel spoken to our hearts by Christ is the words of eternal life. My prayer is that He'll speak
them to your heart and that He'll speak them to mine. And again,
and again, and again. Father, this day we give You
thanks and glory and magnify Your name as that name above
every name And we thank you. We know of no other one, no other
way, no other place, no other hope, no other salvation, but
that which you speak to the hearts of your people, these words of
eternal life. Cause us, as the old preacher
said, to lay at his gate. to look in his book, to hear
those who preach what he said, that we might have those words
spoken to our hearts. For that's all our hope and all
our comfort and all our salvation. Bless us as we depart out of
this place. Keep us, we pray. through faith
in your Son. Receive our thanksgiving and
our praise, for we pray in Christ's name, Amen.