May I draw your attention this
morning please to John's Gospel in chapter 6 and verse 66 where
we read the following. From that time many of Jesus'
disciples went back and walked no more with him. Then said Jesus
unto the twelve, will ye also go away? Then Simon Peter answered him,
Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal
life, and we believe and are sure that thou art the Christ,
the Son of the living God. Will ye also go away? And Simon Peter answered him,
Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal
life and we believe and are sure that Thou art that Christ, the
Son of the Living God. What distinguishes Christianity
from every other religion in this world? What distinguishes
the true gospel from every false gospel. What distinguishes the
message of Jesus Christ from any other message, any other
religion, any other philosophy which you may hear can be answered
in one word. Life. Life. Everlasting. eternal life. How may we be sure that the gospel
is true? How may we be sure that the message
of Christ as preached in Christianity is true? We may be sure when we know the
life which is in Christ. And until you know the life which
is in Christ, it will remain just words to you, just a message
on the same level as any other message or any other religion
or any other claim to truth. We live in the days of plurality. Once Britain could have claimed
to be a Christian nation, And not very long ago it was normal
for people to go to a church on a Sunday morning and hear
the Bible read. It was normal for people to speak
of God and to acknowledge the existence of God and to acknowledge
that when they passed from this world that they would go either
to hell or to heaven. want the majority whether they
truly believed or not at least recognized and respected that
there was a reality and a seriousness about the Christian message but
we live in a very different age. We live in a day where other
religions have flooded the nation, where other religions are promoted
as at least the equal in terms of the validity of their message
as Christianity, and indeed we live in days where the popular
opinion, both of the masses and also of the media and the leaders,
the politicians, goes a very different way. where the popular
opinion is to discredit the truth of Christianity, to ridicule
the truth of Christianity, to promote science, falsely so-called,
and the claims of false science to discredit the very existence
of God, and to claim that these things are but myths, are but
tales, which a former, more foolish, less enlightened generation than
ourselves used to hold on to. But we who live in the enlightened
21st century are smarter and are wiser. And the message is
made to be a message with no greater claim or validity than
any other message. You can read it, you can hear
it, you can weigh up its claims, and if you believe the media,
you are to find it wanting and to dismiss it. Well, if that's all it is, if
that's all Christianity is, if that's all my message which I
bring you today is, mere words, mere information, no more than
any other message, then you may indeed weigh it up. You may indeed
apply your mind to it. You may indeed weigh up the probabilities
of whether these things are true or false. And you in your own
wisdom may indeed reject it. You won't believe. You look,
you consider, you weigh it up, you say, what is there in that
to make me believe? How can I know that what you
say of Jesus Christ is true? How can I know that what you
say of God is true? How can I know that what you
say of eternity is true? I cannot see God. I cannot see
Jesus Christ. I have yet to die, so I don't
really know what eternity might bring. How can I know And that's a valid question.
And my answer is you will not know and you cannot know until
that which distinguishes Christianity from all other becomes something
which you are a partaker of. Until you who are dead in trespasses
and sins are brought to life you will not believe. But should
you, as others, hear and hearing have life imparted
by the Spirit of God into your soul, then you will believe. And it is that life, that eternal
life, the reality of that life, which validates the claims of
Christianity as being absolutely true. For in this message and
in Jesus Christ, there is life. And the reason why I believe
on Jesus Christ and why others believe on Jesus Christ why I
can stand here this day and tell you with a certainty that Jesus
Christ is the Son of God and he does bring life to those that
believe on his name. And He did die on a cross 2,000
years ago to suffer for the sins of His people. And having died
and laid in the grave, He did with a certainty rise again from
the grave and ascend into heavenly glory. And the reason why I can
tell you with a certainty that this Christ, the Son of God,
who is God, will come again in almighty power in a day not too
far away to judge this world and to judge every person who
has ever lived in this world and to usher in those who believe
on him into eternal glory and to send those who reject and
despise and mock him into eternal damnation. The reason I can tell
you that he is whom he claims. and He did die and He did rise
again and He is coming again. And I can tell you with a certainty,
is because I have experienced that life which is found in Christ. And the reason why others can
say with a certainty that Christ is whom He is, is because they
too have experienced that eternal life which is in Christ. Our message is not a persuasion. Our message is not an intellectual
persuasion. Our message is not one which
we have been brainwashed with. Our message is not one which
we have embraced simply because our parents brought us up in
this way, or we were taught it from a child. For there are many
who follow Christ who were never taught it as a child. There are
many who follow Christ this day who lived a life just as others. who lived for self, who lived
for pleasure, who went out drinking on a Friday night, who went to
the cinema, who built up their own riches and who came to a
day when they were broken and realized what is it all for? Where am I heading? They were
brought to a point of recognising that there is more than just
what they could see and touch and feel in this world. That
there must be a God and there must be an eternity. And the
Spirit of God came unto them in the Gospel and taught them
that there is a God and that there is eternity. and that they
have a soul within them which never dies and which when they
pass from this world will go into eternity and will have a
destiny in eternity in one destination or another. And the Spirit of
God taught them what they are by nature, that naturally they
are sinful, that they live in a certain way, they do things
in a certain manner, and what they do is not neutral, but what
they do has a standing before the God that created them and
sustains them in this world. And they found out that they
are accountable to this God, and that this God will hold them
to account. And they realized that they were
not good, and that their deeds were not good. And that should
they stand before this God, upon that day in which he would judge
them, Should they die and go to stand before Almighty God,
they recognised, as the Spirit taught them, that they would
be found wanting, for they knew that their hearts were not good.
Their hearts were selfish and their hearts were corrupt. But
they heard in the gospel of one who came to give them new hearts. And they heard in the gospel
of one who could wash them clean. And they heard in the gospel
of one who could take those who were bad and make them good. Of one who could take sinners
and make them righteous. Of one who could take those who
live in a dying world and give them everlasting life. They heard of Jesus Christ, not
just as a figure in history. not just as a name which men
take upon their lips and despise and take in vain and use as a
swear word but they heard of Jesus Christ and they heard of
Him as the Son of God and they came to know that this was indeed
the Son of God and is indeed the Son of God and this Jesus
Christ is the one before whom they would have to stand and
give an account. And they heard that this Jesus
Christ is the one who died upon a cross to wash their sins away,
and who rose to bring those who were once dead into life, into
everlasting life. Yes, there are those who believe.
And those who believe are not just brought up with this message.
There are many, many, like Simon Peter, whom we read of in this
passage, who would not believe. There was a time when I would
not believe. There was a time when I despised
this message. When it went in one ear and out
the other. I could not see and I could not
understand. But there came a time when God
came in power. And he came with his gospel.
He came with the message of Christ and he spake it. He spoke in
power. Words which were not words on
a page, not simply intellectual reasonings. He didn't persuade
me, he didn't convince me, he didn't just take proof and make
it so plausible that I could no longer object against it. But he spake in power life. And what I once rejected and
laughed at and treated lightly, suddenly shook me up and turned
me and suddenly I stood as a sinner who looked and beheld the one
who died for sinners and suddenly I became one who looked upon
one who I knew was my saviour. What distinguishes this message
is that this message when God speaks it when God brings it
to your hearing is one which brings life. You may listen this
day. You may listen to the claims
of Christianity. You may have listened for many
years. You may have had contact with
Christians and heard what they said and thought nothing of it. You might have found it a thing
of ridicule. But what will open your ears,
and what will open your eyes, and what will turn you from laughing
at this Gospel, to believing upon the Jesus Christ that this
Gospel makes known, is that Word of Life, which only God can speak. When you hear God speak this
message, then you believe and you will never laugh at it again. What gives Christianity its authenticity? The fact that it is true and
it is true because there is a God and he isn't something resigned
to history and to the words in an old book written two thousand
and more years ago But the same God that wrote that book is the
same God who today speaks to millions of people scattered
around this world in different countries from time to time and
speaks to those who were dead and brings them to life. How
will you know this is true? You will know it is true on that
day when God comes to you in the gospel and says unto you,
live. And until he says that, you will
remain dead. There is nothing that you can
do to bring life to yourself. You can go to any church. You can hear any preacher. You can go to a Bible college
or a university and take up a theological course. You can read every writer
upon the scriptures and upon Christianity. And it will all
be words in the head until that day when Christ comes unto you
and says, come forth, live, take up thy bed and walk. Thy sins
be forgiven thee. The power to live is not in the
hands of man. The power to live is in Christ's
words and his gospel. In John and chapter 6 we see
this portrayed very, very vividly. Very, very vividly there is a
distinction shown Between those who followed Christ and those
who departed. Between those who were given
to believe and those who could not believe. Between those who
ate of that bread which came down from heaven and in eating
they lived. And between those who hearing
of such things said this is a hard saying. went away. Christ says in John chapter 6
and verse 40, this is the will of Him that sent me, the will
of God, the will of the Father of Jesus Christ, the will of
God, this is the will of God, of Him that sent me, that everyone
which seeth the Son, everyone which sees Christ, and believe
if on him may have everlasting life. And I will raise him up
at the last day. God's will is that everyone that
sees his Son will believe on him and may have everlasting
life. Do you believe on the Son of
God? Do you believe in Jesus Christ? Have you seen Him? If you haven't, it's because
the Father has yet to bring you to see. For the only way that
you will see, the only way that you will believe, and the only
way that you will have eternal life is at the will of Him that
sent Christ into this world. When He brings you to see the
Son, then you will believe and you will have everlasting life.
The decision, the will, lies in the hand of God. It's at His
will and His discretion. It's when He commands, it's when
He speaks, it's when He chooses. He brings people to believe on
His Son, not them. They may hear, they may go. They
may hear a preacher, they might make a decision. They might go
to the front in a meeting. They may say they have accepted
Jesus into their hearts. But there's no life in their
heart until God says, live. There are many who think they
believe on Jesus Christ. There are many who follow for
a time who have no life. They have a persuasion. They
have their own decision. They have their own will. They
don't want to go to hell. They want to go to heaven. They
like a Jesus who loves everyone. They like someone they can run
to with all their problems and all their troubles. But they
don't like the one who is the bread from heaven. They don't
like the one who brings hard sayings, as Christ did in this
passage. They don't like the one who says
that it is my Father's will to bring sinners unto me. All that the Father giveth me
shall come to me, and him that cometh to me I will in no wise
cast out. The father draws his people to
the son. Have you seen the son? Simon
Peter had. Simon Peter had. From that time
after Christ had given the teaching in John 6, spoken of the bread
of life, he's spoken of the need to eat spiritually of his flesh
and of his blood. Mysterious sayings. Ones which
confounded many. Ones which caused many to say,
this is an hard saying, who can hear it? Ones which caused many
to be offended, such that they left. Those who once followed,
those who once claimed to follow Christ, they departed. From that
time, many of his disciples went back. People who once followed
Christ, they had a persuasion. They liked some of what they
heard. This pleased their intellect. But there was no life in them.
And in the end, his message offended and they walked no more with
him. So Christ says unto the 12, will ye also go away? You 12, you're all that's left. Will you go away too? These hundreds
have gone, what of you? What kept the 12 with Christ? What kept Peter with Christ?
Why didn't he, like them, go away? Why didn't these sayings
of Christ offend Peter as it did many others? as they may
do you. What keeps some when others reject? Will you also go away? And Simon
Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the
words of eternal life. And we believe and are sure that
thou art that Christ, the Son of the living God. Peter did
not depart because there was something different in Peter
from all these others. Something had happened to Peter
when he heard Christ's message which hadn't happened to others.
You may listen and it may just be words to you but someone else
like Peter here listens and there's a transformation. When Peter
heard, he was brought to this point. To whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal
life. And we believe and are sure that
thou art that Christ, the Son of the living God. Peter was
sure. Why? Because Peter had life. When Christ spake to Peter, his
words of eternal life entered into Peter's heart in such a
way that it transformed Peter. It took Peter, a rough and ready
fisherman, a sinful man, one whose lips would have been full
of cursing, one who was used to a hard life with working men,
one who was not religious, not accustomed perhaps to going with
the higher classes regularly to church as it were, one who
might have done his duty when he had to but a rough and a ready
man, one who knew what it was like to live And yet there came
a time with Peter, one who had previously lived for himself,
previously lived for this world as you may do, there came a time
with Peter when what he heard from Christ were not just words
as they were to others, but were words of life, words which changed
him. he could say of these words,
thou hast the words of eternal life. To whom shall we go? To whom else should we go? Why
should we leave you? Why should we go anywhere else?
Your words are life. And we're sure that thou art
the Christ, the Son of the Living God, the One who would come,
the One who was promised to the Jews of old, the Messiah, the
One who would come to save a people, to redeem from sin, to bring
in the Kingdom of God. We know you are Him. We know
you're the Son of the Living God. Peter heard words unlike
any other. Words of eternal life. The majority
heard the same words, but to them these words were just words
in the head. They could read the same scriptures,
but to them they were hard sayings. You today
may pick up this Bible, you can read John's gospel, you could
read John chapter six for yourself in your own time. I encourage
you to do so. For you won't find life except
in these words. But to you, they may yet be just
words on a page, or words from a preacher. But to Peter, they
were words of eternal life and when God is pleased to speak
through his Gospel by his Spirit perhaps even to you then they
will be words of life and you will know with a certainty a
certainty that Christ is indeed the Son of the Living God that
this is not a mere claim, not a mere persuasion, not something
which some people called Christians like to talk about because they
like to be good, or they like to live a certain way, or they
like to push their opinions on others, but they believe what
they believe because there came a time when these words came
as life. and they could look back and
say that once I was dead and now I live. Once I was blind
and now I see. Words of life. There are many
with words. There are many in this world
with words. You may hear many. Many have
a message. You may read the philosophers.
Be they the ancient philosophers or the philosophers of our day.
They have words. Clever words, enticing words,
wise words, persuasive words. The politicians have words. You
might not be so impressed with the politicians words. But they're
there to bring their words and to convince you. And they convince
and they lead many And there are many who say, oh, did you
hear his speech? Did you hear Obama's speech? That's the message we need. That's
what the world needs. We need a change. We need something new. Oh, have
you heard those words? Scientists have words. You hear
them everywhere. They publish their books. They
tell you many things. Persuasive words. The media. Entertainers of words. The masses probably prefer the
words of the entertainers and the celebrities to the heavier
and the more boring words of the politicians and the philosophers.
But there's plenty of words in this world which you may hear.
Plenty of words which you take in. And you may say, what's different
about Christianity? As I said at the beginning, the
difference is life. You hear the words of the philosophers. You heard the words of the politicians. Hear the words of the scientists,
the media, the press, the entertainers. Be taken in by them if you will.
Be amused by them if you will. Be impressed by them if you will. You won't find life in them.
You won't find life in them. You may say, what do you mean?
it's stimulating, it's intelligent, this is what living's about. You tell me that in 70 years
time. You tell me where Obama's words have got you in 100 years
time. You tell me what the scientists
have done to preserve you in 100 years time. You tell me what worth the entertainer's
words are. in a hundred years time, when
you're lying in the grave, and despite all the claims and all
the promises and all the vain hopes, your life ebbed away and
you could not cheat death. There's no life in any of these
words. All right, you say, what of the
other religions? Religions about the afterlife, isn't it? Why
don't I go and listen to them? Well go and listen, compare them
all, hear them all. But I tell you for a fact you'll
find life in none but Jesus Christ. They will give you a way of life
in the here and the now. They'll give you a pathway and
a wisdom and a philosophy by which you can conduct your few
passing years on this globe. But you are dying and you will
feel the effects of death in your limbs increasingly as the
days go by and you will discover that for all the claims there's
no life in any of these words. Where will their words lead you?
What true wisdom is in them? Their words are of this world. They're of this life, this time,
this realm. They are of the flesh. And as Christ says of the flesh,
the flesh profiteth nothing. The words that I speak unto you,
they are spirit and they are life. The difference between
the words which Christ speaks and the words which everyone
else speaks is that their words come from the flesh and their
words profit nothing. But Christ's words that he speaks
are spirit and are life. There's no life in the words
of men. Listen all you like, but you'll
find no life in them. Test whether what I say is true. I tell you with a certainty,
it is true. I have proven it. Others have
proven it. And you, should you give it the
time, will discover that for all the claims and all the vaunted
claims of all the philosophies, all the religions, all the politicians,
all the schemes, all the methods, all the ways, all the entertainments,
all the promises of science, all the promises of the technological
world will ultimately bring nothing. But Christ's words are spirit
and they are life. And those are the words which
Peter heard. And because he heard, and because
they gave him life, he could say with a certainty, we believe
and are sure that thou art that Christ, the Son of the living
God. the one, the only one who can
come and take away our sins, who can wash away our sins, who
can destroy our sin, who can make us right, who can bring
us life, who can make us righteous, who can bring us into eternity. The only one who can deliver
us from the corruption which is in this world. The only one
who can deliver us from the mortality which is in this world. From
the poverty, from the ruin, from the misery, from the trial of
this world. The only one in whom there is
hope. Thou art that Christ, the Son
of the Living God. To whom shall we go? Why should
we go away? We would be fools to go away. Many do go away. Many do say
these are hard sayings. Foolish sayings. We won't have
your Christ. We won't have your gospel. We
won't have your Christianity. You can keep your religion. We're
going to live. We're going to eat, drink and
be merry. For tomorrow, we die. Life is short. We're going to
live it to the full. Yes, life is short. You live
it to the full and then what? Go on, go away, go away if you
will. Christ here does not run after
these masses who departed him. Any modern religious huckster,
any one of these popular TV evangelists you see in the United States
and even here, anyone of popular religion, if they had a following
of hundreds or thousands and suddenly in one day everybody
departed, they'd have a crisis meeting. What are we going to
do to get them back? What are we going to do to our
message? What are we going to tell them to convince them to
come? How can we smarten up our message? How can we make it more
relevant, more appealing to this day and generation? They'd have
gone after them. They'd have enticed them back
with their wicked and false claims. Not Christ. They all fled and
departed. He didn't go after them. He spake
to the few, the 12 that sat with him. And all he said was, will
you also go away? They might have said yes. He
might have been left alone. He did not panic and run after
them. He was not after those that despise him. He came to
save those whom the Father gave him. He came to bring life to
many. He came to speak words of life
to those who receive and believe. He came for Peter and Peter hearing
believed on him in whom there is life, salvation, righteousness,
redemption, justification, sanctification, life. He came for Peter. Many don't want to know, the
world depart, the world don't care for it. Only 12 here remained
and one of them would betray Christ in the end. One of them
was Judas, even he who stayed for this time wouldn't stay forever. He hadn't heard the words of
life. He'd heard the words, he stayed with the other 12, but
he didn't remain. At the end when Christ was nailed
to the tree, the 12, the 11 found it hard to remain at his side.
Even they fled when they panicked in his hour of need. Yet they
remained to the end. Christ brought them back because
in the end they had life. What distinguished them from
the rest? The Spirit did. Because they
heard the words of God by His Spirit. They heard the Gospel
not in the letter, not in word only. But when they heard the
gospel it came in power, it came in the Holy Ghost, it came in
much assurance, it came as living words, living words and that's
what you need to hear. You may say I've listened to
Christianity, I've come to church, I've listened to these preachers,
there's nothing. That's because you need to hear
it in power. And until God is pleased to bring
this message to you in life, you'll remain dead. But should
he, in his love for his own, in his love for sinners, sinners
such as you, should he be pleased to speak life into your soul? Then, then you'll hear a very
different message. Then words which were just words
will be words of life. Then when the temptation comes
to turn away and go back to the world and the ways of the world
and what you've always done, you'll say no. Why would I go
away? To whom shall we go? Thou hast
the words of eternal life. Thou hast the words of eternal
life. And you'll find yourself as them
who have eaten of the flesh of the Son of Man and who have drunk
his blood because in eating and drinking of his Flesh and of
his blood you have eternal life and he will raise you up at the
last day. What do you mean, you say? How
can I eat his flesh and drink his blood? His flesh is that
which was nailed to the tree in which he took away the sin
of his people. His blood is that which was shed
when he died for sinners to wash and clean. And when you hear
his gospel and with the eyes of faith which God does give,
when you look and behold Christ crucified upon that tree, and
his blood shed, and when God gives you to know that he died
on that tree for you, and his blood was shed for you, to wash
your sins away and to give you eternal life. then you will eat
his flesh and drink his blood and you will know what it is
like to be amongst the living who praise the Lord God. like Hezekiah of whom we read
in Isaiah, who was sick and prayed to God to heal him and was brought
to that point where God answered his prayer and he could say with
a truth that the grave cannot praise thee O Lord, death cannot
celebrate thee, they that go down into the pit, they that
go down into hell cannot hope for thy truth. But the living,
the living, he shall praise thee as I do this day. The father
to the children shall make known thy truth. Yes, the living shall
praise the living God, for the living know what it is to hear
Christ's words of eternal life, and hearing, they believe, and
believing, they know that he is the Son of God who died for
them, who loved them, and gave himself for them. that they should
no longer die, no longer be dead, but should live forevermore. Amen.