The title of my message this morning is, To Whom Shall We Go? Go ahead and turn with me to John chapter 6, if you would please. Hang around somewhere, verse 67 or so, we'll cover several different verses here, not necessarily in order, but John chapter 6, I'll give you a moment to get there. Now here in John chapter six, many who once followed the Lord Jesus walked away. Look at verse 66.

It says, from that time, many of his disciples, these weren't just regular folks. These were people who declared to be the Lord's disciples. They went back and walked no more with him. Those are alarming words. And they didn't walk away because his words were unclear. They walked away because he was too clear. His teaching had become hard because it was not what people wanted and expected to hear. It's the same today.

His teaching slayed the expectations of a physical kingdom. That's why the Jews wanted a king, one that would deliver them from Roman oppression and set up his own kingdom on earth, and they'd be the bosses, not the Roman government. His teaching demanded total dependence on him and him alone. And in their hearts, they said, we will not have this man to rule over us. His teaching required faith without full understanding. And His teaching exposed their unbelief. And many of them left, walked no more with Him.

And it was then that the Lord turned to His 12 disciples, His 12 closest friends. And he asked them a piercing question. You know what it is in verse 67. Then said Jesus unto the 12, will you also go away? That's when Simon Peter gives one of the most honest and one of the most powerful responses in all of scripture as to why a sinner must have Christ as their substitute. Look at it,

68. Then Simon Peter answered him, Lord, He knew who he was. Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life. Now, Peter's question comes as others are walking away. Though this is a question, it's also an answer.

It recognizes no other alternatives. There's no other source of life. Peter knew this. Christ is the way. And we add, He's the only way. He added that. That's why we believe that. And that's pretty exclusive. I've been accused of being dogmatic. Yep, I am. When it comes to the Scripture, I believe what the Scripture says. Christ is the way. There is no other way. He is the truth. There is no other truth. He is the light. There is no other light.

That's pretty exclusive, isn't it? So just for a few minutes this morning, I want us to consider three things in particular that will always cause us to answer the Lord's question the same way Peter did. And that is with a question of his own. And the Lord's question to Peter and the Lord's question to us is, will you also go away? That's a solemn question that we cannot ignore.

Will we endure to the end? The scripture talks about enduring to the end. You see, only those who endure to the end will be saved, will obtain eternal life. So our first consideration this morning is the recognition of our need. That's what our Bible study was about, Psalm 143. Peter's answer to whom shall we go shows a heart that recognizes its desperate need. I'd have you notice that Peter actually answers his own question. He answers with what had been divinely revealed to him.

Thou hast the words to eternal life. Where else am I gonna go, Lord? You've got the words to eternal life. Nobody else does. Peter identifies the Lord Jesus as the only source of eternal life. Do you and I? And this, excuse me, isn't flattery, it's a confession of faith. Peter isn't asking for options. He's declaring that there are no other options. The matter's already been settled in his heart. Has it been yours? This puts all the focus back on Christ. It's a question that answers itself. There's no other who has the words that can give eternal life. Pretty exclusive. Pretty narrow, isn't it? Thou has the words to eternal life.

Now Christ not only does the work that saves us, but He has the words that saves us. And our Lord's Word carries with it authority and power. Why? Because He's God. He's the God-Man. All God and all man. His Word transforms hearts. His Word heals souls. His word forgives sin. His words deliver salvation.

Whom else we gonna go? Secondly, we see the uniqueness of Christ. What a unique Savior. We see again, the exclusivity of the Lord Jesus. There's nowhere else to go. He's the only one who can, we can go to for eternal life. We can't go to Moses. We can't go to the law. We can't go to religion. We're going to go to self-effort? We're going to try to make a go of this on our own?

The gospel strips away all other alternatives. There is no other alternates. Just one way. And as we saw last study, last week, Christ is our sufficiency. He, no one else has the words to eternal life. That's what Peter said. Nobody else got these words to life eternal. Peter has an eternal focus. Christ has the words to eternal life. We all have an eternity to live. Did you know that? Not in these bodies, but when we leave these bodies, some will spend eternity in condemnation and wrath, and some are gonna spend eternity in eternal bliss and glory. Look up at verse 63.

The Lord said, it's the spirit that quickeneth. It's the spirit that maketh alive the flesh profiteth nothing. The words that I speak unto you, they are spirit and they are life. This is not about improving our life. This is about security in the next life. Christ's words speak to man's deepest needs, and what is that? It's deliverance from sin and death. Our biggest needs are not what most people think they are. They're not. God shall supply all your need, singular. None needs, all you'll need, what is in Christ Jesus. Jesus Christ is what we need. And if we seek Him and His righteousness, all these other things will be added to us as we saw in the first hour. Everything else just falls short. Christ remains the only place a sinner can go for life.

And Peter isn't just simply making a statement here. He's closing every other door. In a world filled with philosophies, and there are a bunch of them, and religions, and there's a bunch of them, and moral codes, and there's a bunch of them, no one else can satisfy the deep hunger of the soul. And then thirdly, Peter displays a commitment despite uncertainty, uncertainty to the world.

Others went away and followed the Lord no more. Yet Peter and the others stayed. Faith often means standing when others walk away. True faith independence often means trusting when understanding is limited. Saying, Lord, to whom shall we go is not a declaration of indecision. Peter wasn't asking because he was undecided. It was an acknowledgement of a commitment in the midst of doubt.

All those he saw going the other way. All in the midst of confusion and opposition among others, Peter said, there ain't no place else for me to go. I'm not going anywhere. None of us are. And that's what separates, friends, true discipleship from the false. A true disciple keeps following Christ because He's their only hope. Where else are we going to go? And what Peter was saying was, if we leave you, we don't have anything. Christ is not one option among many. Jesus Christ is the only option to life. And the world has no words of eternal life. This wisdom of this world gives you no hope of life after this life. Religion without Christ has no hope of eternity. It's false hope.

Men go out to meet God, just like those did that the Lord spoke of, and said, Lord, Lord, haven't we done many wonderful works in your name? Haven't we done this? And haven't we done that? And you know what the Lord said? You've done iniquity. All your works are iniquity, just sin. Because you thought you could do something to save yourself, and you didn't trust in me and me alone. Makes it a work of iniquity.

And then he says those words that will echo through a lost man and woman's mind and heart forever. I never knew you. I shall pray he knows me. Peter wasn't claiming here to know everything. He's claiming to know one thing. How much I gotta know to be saved? No, who do I have to know to be saved? I have to know one thing, the Lord Jesus Christ. He's my only hope of salvation.

Christ had the words to eternal life. That's what he knew, and that's what we need to know. And without Christ, there's no hope of any kind. So again, we say what? Christ is exclusive. Christ is necessary. Christ is sufficient. These 12 men weren't staying because it was easy. You think about it, they gave up lucrative careers. They were successful fishermen. They were staying with Christ because this was true. When Christ's been revealed to you, there's no place else to go.

Look at verse 69, and we believe and are sure that thou art the Christ, that Christ, the Son of the living God. Now, it's a privilege for me to tell you again what you already know. First is salvation is believing on the person of Jesus Christ. Salvation is founded on faith in a person. Jesus is the Christ. What does that mean? He's the promised Messiah that was sent to save. In the Old Testament they said there's one coming. The Lord told Adam and Eve that in the garden. There's one coming. There's one coming. He's the son of the living God.

He's divine and he's holy and he's the only one that can Keep God's law and satisfy God's justice and make a path of righteousness for you. Secondly, true faith is both belief and certainty. Peter says, we believe. That's what faith is. It's believing. It's trusting. And then he adds, we're sure. Now, you may ask a believer, why do you believe what you believe? And they may tell you something like, Because that's what God says. That's a good answer. Are you sure about that? Are you absolutely sure about that? Well, how do you know?

I just know that I know. Because His Spirit bears witness with my spirit. I can't explain it. I just know it so. We know. We're sure. We believe. We know. We're sure. It's conviction born from experience. The Gospel produces a whole lot more than just curiosity. It produces a settled assurance that Christ is enough. That was our message. That's what Christ is enough. More than enough. The Gospel draws the line and folks will either leave or stay. Many had walked away from the Lord Jesus.

In this chapter, the Lord reveals Himself as the true bread of life. Read the whole chapter at your convenience. and that to believe in Him brought eternal life. And he contrasts physical hunger with spiritual hunger, and he emphasizes that only true life comes from Him. And it's then that he introduces this eating of the flesh and drinking of the blood as a symbolism of trusting in Him alone.

And this confused people. They were offended at this. But he was just simply calling on his followers to trust in him fully. What he was saying is, you have to bow to me and enter into a union with me. We're one. He was, in essence, saying that the partaking of Him was the life and the sustenance that brought eternal life.

Only He could provide what God required, and I can assure you that many that day left shaking their heads, thinking that the Lord believed in cannibalism. Where'd He come up with this at? The eating of His flesh and the drinking of His blood. You know, ignorance often, very often, displays itself in preposterous ways. People believe the most ridiculous things about salvation when the gospel would be the simplest and most reasonable way. To eat and drink of Christ was to internalize Him, if I can use that word.

I'm not even sure it is a word, but it was taking Him to be a part of ourselves. to bow to Him as the only source of life, and it required abandoning self-reliance, and it required acknowledging that nothing else worked. You know, sometimes you're trying to do something, trying to figure it out. A lot of us ask Luke his advice on faith, because he knows something.

And I tell you, when you listen to somebody, when they say, I've tried everything and nothing worked but this. You listen. You don't want to experience all those other things that didn't work. Abandoned self-reliance, acknowledging nothing else works.

Look at verse 53. Then Jesus said unto them, verily, verily, I say unto you, except you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you. Spiritual life, true, eternal life doesn't come from works or knowledge or religion. It comes from Christ Himself. To eat and drink is to depend on Him only. You just can't observe Him or admire Him from a distance. You've got to take Him in within yourself. You've got to rely on Him completely. He has to become one with you. That's what He's saying. You've got to partake of Me.

Verse 54, Whoso eateth My flesh and drinketh My blood, whosoever feeds on Me hath eternal life, and I'll raise him up at the last day. And listen to me, trusting Christ is not temporary. It has eternal consequences. He promises resurrection and eternal life. And to rely on the Lord Jesus Christ, to place your hope entirely on Him, is for the present and is for the future. Your own strength, your own plans, your own understanding cannot secure eternal life. Only partaking of Him can. Only being in a union with Him. Only Him being a part of you and you being a part of Him will do the job. Nothing else works.

Verse 55, For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. And he that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood, look at it, dwelleth in me, and I in him. Christ here is declaring that He's the essential source of life To follow Him is to bow to Him and to ask God to enable Him to penetrate your life. Lord, make me one with You. Gives new meaning, doesn't it, to the passage, Christ in you, the hope of glory. Abiding in Christ means resting your spiritual well-being, your soul in Him. and not in anything else. Look at verse 60. Many thereof of His disciples, therefore of His disciples, when they heard this, said, this is a hard saying. Who can hear it? Who can hear this? Who can understand that? To many who heard this, it seemed extreme and impossible.

But true faith requires trusting the Lord Jesus, even when His words are difficult to understand. I don't understand everything in this book, far from it. But true faith requires trusting Christ, even when I don't understand it. God said it, I believe it. That settles it because God said it, not because I believe it. I've often said that we don't need a God or a Savior that we can understand. We just need the only true God and Savior. Matter of fact, if we truly understood God and we understood Christ, they probably wouldn't be God, because it goes past our understanding.

Job said, He doeth great things past finding out. Yea, and wonders without number. And Paul echoed the same in Romans 11, 33. He said, out of the depths, out of the depth of the riches, both of the wisdom and knowledge of God, how unsearchable are His judgments and His ways.

Pass finding that. But this is the problem. Men and women want a God they can understand. They want a God who all together is such a one as themselves. Let's just be honest about it. They want a God that they can understand. They want a God that's dumbing down to their level. They want a God that they can manipulate, a God that they can control, a God that they can talk out or talk into something. But that's not God. No, sir. His ways are past finding now. And again, verse 66, from that time, many of His disciples went back and walked no more with Him. And listen, this is a real lesson for us to learn. It's a stark and urgent warning.

Not all who follow Christ truly believe Him. Did you hear me? Not all who follow Christ truly believe Him. I remember when I was a young believer, and when I started attending Sovereign Grace Church, and we have to qualify as Sovereign Grace because most people, everybody believes in grace, but they're not the same kind of grace that we believe in. Our grace that we believe in is sovereign, because God gives it to whom He wills, and He withholds it from whom He wills.

Oh, that'll short-circuit them real quick. Up to this point, many had been drawn by the Lord's miracles, especially the feeding of the 5,000 in this very chapter. Look up at verse 26. They sought Him to get their bellies full. Jesus answered them and said, Verily, verily, I say unto you, you seek Me not because you saw the miracles, but because you did eat of the loaves and were filled. labor not for the meat which perisheth, but for the meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of Man shall give you." So we see that when the Lord pressed the truth that He Himself was the bread of life, not just a provider of bread, that's what they wanted. They wanted free meals. Who don't? When they saw that He was the bread of life, not just a provider, they turned away. They wanted his benefits, but they didn't want him.

That's true today still. And here's the heart of it all. The gospel exposes false faith. It will. When Christ reveals himself in ways that confront pride, and self-reliance, false disciples fall away. The Gospel doesn't just save, it reveals what kind of faith a person really has. Is it faith in themselves? With Christ as their Helper? Or is there faith in Christ alone to provide everything? What about your faith?

The problem here was not a lack of evidence, but just rejection of the truth. These people had seen miracles. They weren't lacking any proof, but they were unwilling to bow to Christ as their Lord. Oh, I don't have a problem with Him healing the sick, and I don't have a problem with Him feeding multitudes, and I don't have a problem with giving blind eyes sight, and deaf ears hearing, and all that.

I just have a problem bowing to Him as the only means of salvation. Why? Because I've got to do something. The gospel is come and bow to who Christ is. Departure from Christ is the natural result of unbelief. Did you hear that? Departing from Christ is the natural result of unbelief.

These folks didn't lose their salvation. I thought you believed one saved, I always saved. If God saved you, that's exactly what I believe. They just simply proved that they were never saved. They never trusted fully in the Lord Jesus. When the Word of God cuts deep, unbelief walks away. And most of the time don't come back. They follow Him no more. You remember what John wrote in his first epistle?

I think about this often. It breaks my heart and it causes me great concern because I know that if God take His hand off me, I'm capable of doing the same thing. I look around this morning and with sorrow in my heart, there are several not here that used to be here regular.

Some departed in the faith and are now with the Lord, but that's not what I'm talking about. Some departed for no good reason. than unbelief. The gospel creates something real, not temporary. That's what the beloved John meant when he wrote, they went out from us, but they were not of us. That's pretty plain. For if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us. That's pretty blunt and simple. But they went out that they might be manifest that they were not all of us. They're leaving their unbelief. Proved that they were never believers, true believers at all.

The Apostle John here makes it clear that being attached to a group is not salvation. You can belong to sovereign grace, Bible believing, you know, election trusting, predestinating purpose, whatever. and still go to hell. Those who ultimately abandoned Christ were never truly His, no matter how convincing they may have once seemed.

Paul said, men, do I preach to others and myself be a castaway? Oh, that's such a concern. John says they were with us, but they weren't of us. See, mere association is not salvation. The gospel is not being around believers, it's being born of God. Anyone can make a profession of faith. Anyone can be baptized. They sure can. Anyone can join the church. Anyone can be involved in church activities. But those who believe and endure to the end shall be saved. A little further in his first epistle, John wrote, we know that we've passed from death unto life because we love the brethren, and he that loveth not his brother abideth in death.

Well, I like you, Brother David, but I just can't go along with this sovereign God and grace stuff. I can't go along with this predestination and election stuff, which is just basically saying that salvation is of the Lord. That's all election proves. It's not anything mystical.

It just proves salvations of the Lord. If God chose me before the foundation of the world and gave me to Christ, then what did I have to do with it? Speaking of Jacob and Esau, before they were ever born, before they'd ever done any good or evil, that the purpose of God might stand what? The salvations of the Lord. John added that they might be manifest.

Departures, as painful as they are, uncover reality. And the gospel just draws a line. And there's many that we loved and that are just no longer among us. They left. Some walk away when it costs something to follow, but some follow Christ because He is life. That's what Peter said. Where else am I gonna go? Where we gonna go? Where can I go but to the Lord? He has the words to eternal life.

We live in a world that's full of voices, and some of those voices promise a lot, but don't deliver anything. And some are easy to follow, but they don't lead nowhere. Pardon my English. But Peter's declaration still stands for every believer. Lord to whom shall we go? You alone have the words to eternal life.

This was revealed to Peter. It's not something you read in a magazine and just believe. It's got to be revealed to you by God through His Word. Peter didn't figure this out on his own. Look at verse 65. And he, Christ said, therefore said I unto you that no man can come unto Me except that we're given, revealed, a gift. unto Him of my Father." Coming to Christ is not a matter of human effort or decision. It's a free gift of God's grace. Salvation is initiated by God. The Father opens the heart to enable us to come to Christ. If He don't, you'll never come. No man can come. That simply means no man has the ability to come except... Except what?

God giving the grace to come. And this emphasizes that faith is a divine work. We cannot come or follow Christ apart from His enabling. It points to the mercy and the sovereignty of God in salvation, showing that eternal life comes through His initiative, not human striving. You can try to believe till you're blue in the face, but until God reveals it to you, you'll never believe. You'll never come. Our hope's not in popular opinion and comfort or in our own understanding.

It's in Christ alone. Today, we're called to stand where Peter stood, to trust Christ fully, to follow Him faithfully, knowing that in Him, in Him alone, we find life that never ends. To whom shall we go? There's only one place. There's only one person. There's only one way, there's only one truth, there's only one life. No man comes to the Father but by the Lord Jesus Christ. He's the only source, the only source of salvation and eternal life. Have you come to Christ?