TO WHOM SHALL WE GO?

TO WHOM SHALL WE GO?

Text: John 6:53-69.

Delivered on: January 8, 2006. Streetsboro.

Introduction.

1. To whom shall we go?

2. This is a question we ask ourselves all the time.

3. To whom shall we go for:

   1. Medical help.

   2. Auto repair.

   3. Plumbing problems.

   4. Legal Assistance.

   5. Etc.

4. However, mankind’s greatest need is spiritual help.

5. To whom shall we go?

6. John 6:53-69. Then Jesus said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you. ⁵⁴“Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. ⁵⁵“For My flesh is food indeed, and My blood is drink indeed. ⁵⁶“He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him. ⁵⁷“As the living Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father, so he who feeds on Me will live because of Me. ⁵⁸“This is the bread which came down from heaven—not as your fathers ate the manna, and are dead. He who eats this bread will live forever.” ⁵⁹These things He said in the synagogue as He taught in Capernaum.⁶⁰Therefore many of His disciples, when they heard this, said, “This is a hard saying; who can understand it?” ⁶¹When Jesus knew in Himself that His disciples complained about this, He said to them, “Does this offend you? ⁶²“What then if you should see the Son of Man ascend where He was before? ⁶³“It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life. ⁶⁴“But there are some of you who do not believe.” For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were who did not believe, and who would betray Him. ⁶⁵And He said, “Therefore I have said to you that no one can come to Me unless it has been granted to him by My Father.” ⁶⁶From that time many of His disciples went back and walked with Him no more. ⁶⁷Then Jesus said to the twelve, “Do you also want to go away?” ⁶⁸But Simon Peter answered Him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. ⁶⁹“Also we have come to believe and know that You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”

Body.

1. To whom shall we go for peace?

   1. Sinners do not have peace.

      1. Isaiah 48:22. “There is no peace,” says the Lord, “for the wicked.”

      2. Peace is not found in wealth (Ecclesiastes 5:9-13). Moreover the profit of the land is for all; even the king is served from the field. ¹⁰ He who loves silver will not be satisfied with silver; Nor he who loves abundance, with increase. This also is vanity. ¹¹ When goods increase, They increase who eat them; So what profit have the owners Except to see them with their eyes? ¹² The sleep of a laboring man is sweet, Whether he eats little or much; But the abundance of the rich will not permit him to sleep. ¹³ There is a severe evil which I have seen under the sun: Riches kept for their owner to his hurt.

      3. Peace is not found in power (Ecclesiastes 2:1-11). I said in my heart, “Come now, I will test you with mirth; therefore enjoy pleasure”; but surely, this also was vanity. ²I said of laughter—“Madness!”; and of mirth, “What does it accomplish?” ³I searched in my heart how to gratify my flesh with wine, while guiding my heart with wisdom, and how to lay hold on folly, till I might see what was good for the sons of men to do under heaven all the days of their lives. ⁴I made my works great, I built myself houses, and planted myself vineyards. ⁵I made myself gardens and orchards, and I planted all kinds of fruit trees in them. ⁶I made myself water pools from which to water the growing trees of the grove. ⁷I acquired male and female servants, and had servants born in my house. Yes, I had greater possessions of herds and flocks than all who were in Jerusalem before me. ⁸I also gathered for myself silver and gold and the special treasures of kings and of the provinces. I acquired male and female singers, the delights of the sons of men, and musical instruments of all kinds.⁹So I became great and excelled more than all who were before me in Jerusalem. Also my wisdom remained with me. ¹⁰ Whatever my eyes desired I did not keep from them. I did not withhold my heart from any pleasure, For my heart rejoiced in all my labor; And this was my reward from all my labor. ¹¹ Then I looked on all the works that my hands had done And on the labor in which I had toiled; And indeed all was vanity and grasping for the wind. There was no profit under the sun.

      4. Peace can not be found in the pleasures of sin (Hebrews 11:25). choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin

      5. All these things are mere temporary pleasures.

   2. True peace is found only in Jesus Christ.

      1. John 14:27. “Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.

      2. Isaiah 48:18. Oh, that you had heeded My commandments! Then your peace would have been like a river, And your righteousness like the waves of the sea.

      3. Philippians 4:6-9. Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; ⁷and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.⁸Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things. ⁹The things which you learned and received and heard and saw in me, these do, and the God of peace will be with you.

   3. This peace is only possible because Jesus paid the price.

      1. Colossians 1:20. And by Him to reconcile all things to Himself, by Him, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of His cross.

      2. Hebrews 9:22. And according to the law almost all things are purified with blood, and without shedding of blood there is no remission.

2. To whom shall we go for spiritual security?

   1. Should not go to:

      1. Our own opinions (Proverbs 14:12). There is a way that seems right to a man, But its end is the way of death.

      2. To religious teachers or parents.

         1. 2 John 7-9. For many deceivers have gone out into the world who do not confess Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist. ⁸Look to yourselves, that we do not lose those things we worked for, but that we may receive a full reward. ⁹Whoever transgresses and does not abide in the doctrine of Christ does not have God. He who abides in the doctrine of Christ has both the Father and the Son.

         2. Israel was commanded to teach their children God’s word (Deuteronomy 6:6-7). “And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart. ⁷“You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up.

         3. Yet they had failed in that (Matthew 15:7). “Hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy about you, saying:

   2. We can go to Christ.

      1. John 10:27-29. “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. ²⁸“And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand. ²⁹“My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father’s hand.

      2. Christ alone can save us from our sins and give us security (John 14:6). Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.

3. To whom shall we go with our sins?

   1. Money will not pay away our sins.

      1. Psalm 49:6-7. Those who trust in their wealth And boast in the multitude of their riches,⁷ None of them can by any means redeem his brother, Nor give to God a ransom for him.

      2. 1 Peter 1:18-19. Knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, ¹⁹but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.

   2. Modern “Positive Thinking” preacher.

      1. Proverbs 28:13. He who covers his sins will not prosper, But whoever confesses and forsakes them will have mercy.

      2. Jeremiah 6:14-15. They have also healed the hurt of My people slightly, Saying, ‘Peace, peace!’ When there is no peace. ¹⁵ Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination? No! They were not at all ashamed; Nor did they know how to blush. Therefore they shall fall among those who fall; At the time I punish them, They shall be cast down,” says the Lord.

   3. Not to an earthly priest to confess (1 Timothy 2:5). For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus.

   4. We must go to Calvary with our sins.

      1. He died for us.

         1. Isaiah 53:6. All we like sheep have gone astray; We have turned, every one, to his own way; And the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.

         2. Acts 4:12. “Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”

         3. Acts 20:28. “Therefore take heed to yourselves and to all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood.

      2. Believe, Repent, and Be Baptized or else die in your sins.

         1. John 8:24. “Therefore I said to you that you will die in your sins; for if you do not believe that I am He, you will die in your sins.”

         2. Luke 13:3. “Therefore I said to you that you will die in your sins; for if you do not believe that I am He, you will die in your sins.”

         3. Mark 16:16. “He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned.

Conclusion.

1. At the time of your death.

   1. If you rejected Christ and His Way…

      1. You have no hope.

      2. Can not got to, turn to, anyone for relief or help.

   2. If you accepted Christ and His Way and have continued therein…you are safe in the arms of Jesus.

2. Nothing will matter more at the time of your death than your relationship with Christ.