John 6:68

ABIDING WITH CHRIST

‘Then Simon Peter answered Him, Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life.’

John 6:68

Other teachers may do good or not, but they will do no great harm so long as they do not keep men away from Christ, nor take men away, nor tempt them to go away. Temptation to this there always has been of some sort. The disciples must have felt it when they were being left in a small minority, especially when those who had a reputation for clear-headedness and learning were mostly in the majority. They must have felt also, as others did, that in the teaching of Jesus there was much beyond their comprehension. From such temptations how were they saved?

I. The disciples’ conviction.—Not by their admiration of His character or of His teaching, nor by their affection for His Person, but by this conviction, ‘Thou hast the words of eternal life.’ His words supplied what had been wanting in the words of man from the beginning. Life—life of soul and body—what is it; will it continue, or will it come to an end? Such questions had weighed on the minds of all generations. Not only this, but we take all life to be that power in soul and body which is always fighting for health, and is itself untouched by decay, untainted by disease or death, so that any one who could tell of life which is everlasting could tell also of palliative or remedy for everything that would cut us off from life. It was no wonder that the disciples, persuaded of this, should refuse to go away.

II. How had the conviction come to them?—For two years they had been with Him, carefully listening and observing. They heard Him speak, as never man spake, such things as they felt in their inmost hearts that all men required to hear. They saw in Him the power to give life, healing all manner of diseases, bidding even the dead arise; they saw that all the powers of Nature were at His command; they saw Him holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate from sinners, boundless in compassion and love; they saw that all He was, and all He said and did, was in full accordance with what He professed to be; and, above all, those outward facts were crowned by the profound experience of new life and new power in themselves, which had come to them from Him. Before other two years had passed by they had seen and experienced greater things than these, and as they communed with their own hearts, or spake one with another, in their recollections of the past, there would always be the glad thought that they had not gone away.

III. Their conviction may be ours.—Let no one, be he teacher or not, step between us and our portion. Its value would be gladly proclaimed out of the fullness of our own hearts and minds, if we did but give them liberty, and thus and thus would they speak: The teacher and friend I need and long for, who alone can meet my case, is one who knows at least what it is to live in the body, as well as to be tempted through the soul and the body; who could speak to me with the voice of authority about sin and pardon; who could be always with me, and go where I go and stay where I stay; who could see me in the darkness as well as in the light, and see my whole being throughout, for how else could he bring me help? One who could say to me, ‘It is I; be not afraid,’ and to the storm, ‘Peace, be still,’ and to the power of evil, ‘Hitherto shalt thou come, but no further’; one who could fathom my perplexities, enlighten my darkness, and never misunderstand me; who could heal the sores of my conscience, rule my passions, and understand the groanings that I cannot utter; one who knows what the valley of death is, and would be with me there, and who can speak for me in the Day of Judgment, and receive me to glory. To whom then shall I go? To whom but to Thee, Lord Jesus? Thou art offering Thyself to us for all this and more, able to save to the uttermost, to the glory of God the Father.

Illustration

‘The Bishop of Manchester (Dr. E. A. Knox), speaking at the Blackpool Sands Mission in August, 1906, said that as a boy he had been brought up in a godly home, but when he went to Oxford he had, in preparing for examinations, to read infidel books, and he felt as though he were losing the grip of his faith. In his distress he took down the Bible his father had given him, and as he opened it his eye lighted on a text he had marked, “Will ye also go away?” and the reply of the disciple, “Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life.” This forced him to consider to whom he could go if he gave up Christ. Could he go to Aristotle? There were no words of eternal life there. Could he go to Plato? There were no words of eternal life there. Could he go to Hobbes? There were no words of eternal life there. Could he go to John Stuart Mill? There were no words of eternal life there. He saw from his mother’s Christ-like life and his sister’s bright example, that Christ had the words of eternal life, and he determined that before he left Christ he must find some one who could give him the words of eternal life. But he knew of no one then; he had found no one since, and never expected to find any one, for Christ and Christ alone had the words of eternal life.’