Lord, to Whom Shall We Go?

Transcript

Good morning, Saints. If I haven’t had the privilege of meeting you yet, my name is Andre. I am a member here at Trinity Church of Portland, and I have the immense privilege of serving as one of the staff pastors at our church. This morning, we find our way back into the Gospel of John as we continue our study in our series titled, Word Life. This morning, we’ll do something a little bit different than what we normally do in our series, and as the Trinity members and those of you that have been worshipping with us on Sunday mornings for the last few months know, we’ve been walking through the Gospel of John piece by piece every Sunday morning, and we’re currently in chapter six. Now, if you’ve been worshipping with us these last few weeks, you’ll know that we’ve had a few schedule changes, a couple of emergencies, a couple of necessary adjustments, and so

last week, we skipped a week, and that was supposed to be Pastor Thomas’ sermon on chapter six, verses 22 through 59, but we’re going to get back to that text next week, and we’re actually going to jump ahead to verses 60 through 71, and so we’ll do things kind of in reverse. And I think it’s important for us to note that when we gather here to worship, and when we’re walking through texts of Scripture, and when we’re sticking to a series, this isn’t so much a matter of, hey, we have a program, and we’ve got to stick to the program, and whatever happens, whatever life throws our way, you know, faithfulness looks like X, Y, and Z, and we stick to the script. We’re a family, and things happen, and we’re so incredibly grateful that the Lord has been with the Terry family and has used all of you to encourage them, and has taken care

of Tobin, and so where necessary, we adjust because we’re a family, and because we want to serve one another and care for one another, and so unfortunately for you, that adjustment means you have to listen to me for three weeks in a row, but fortunately for you, it’s not me that you’re listening to, it’s the Word of God, amen? And so as I said, we’re doing things a little bit in reverse. We’re going to jump to verses 60 through 71, and then we’re going to go back and finish chapter 6 next week, but when we kind of jump ahead, just think of it like we’re, you know, you’re watching a movie, and you know how some movies at the beginning, the first scene that you see is like the story ending, and then the guy kind of dies in the opening scene, and then you get the, and now we’ll tell you what happened as the movie progresses?

Hard Sayings, Hard Hearts

So that’s kind of what’s happening. So as we jump to the end of chapter 6, we see how this really massive, theologically significant chapter ends after Jesus teaching on him being the bread of life. Then next week, Lord willing, we’ll see what led up to that ending. And so if you have your Bibles, I want to invite you to open them to John chapter 6. John chapter 6, we’ll look at verse 60, and if you don’t have a Bible with you, there should be a Bible in the seat in front of you. You’re welcome to use that Bible, and if you don’t have one at home, we would just love for you to take that Bible, take it home, read it, study it, love it, hear from the Lord as you read those words, and consider it our gift to you. John chapter 6, can I invite you to stand for the reading of the word of God?

Beginning with verse 60. When many of his disciples heard it, they said, this is a hard saying, who can listen to it? But Jesus, knowing in himself that his disciples were grumbling about this, said to them, do you take offense at this? Then what if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before? It is the Spirit who gives life. The flesh is of no help at all. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life, but there are some of you who do not believe. For Jesus knew from the beginning who those were who did not believe, and who it was who would betray him. And he said, this is why I told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted him by the Father. After this, many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him.

So Jesus said to the twelve, do you want to go away as well? Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, and we have believed and have come to know that you are the Holy One of God. Jesus answered them, did I not choose you, the twelve? And yet one of you is a devil. He spoke of Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot, for he, one of the twelve, was going to betray him. Saints, this is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God. Please be seated. Would you pray with me? Father, speak to us this morning. We plead with you in the name of Jesus. We want so badly to see him more clearly and love him more fully, but we need you to do that in our hearts. And so we ask, please be with us.

Please encourage us. Please draw us closer to yourself and please give us a greater picture of Jesus as we see him in your word, amen. An estimated 62.4 million people died globally in the year 2024, 62.4 million people. Of those, it’s estimated that 31% of those people were Christians of some sort. Now it’s impossible to know what percentage of those 31% were genuinely born-again Christians or simply professing Christians, but even if we just believe that all of them, all 31% were Christians, unlikely, but even if, that would still leave 69% of the people who died last year who found somewhere else to go other than Jesus for hope of eternal life. Somewhere else to go for the answers to life’s most important questions. Consider that, seven out of 10 people. So when Peter asks this question, this is a really, really important question, but when

Peter asks this question and follows it up with this profound, beautiful statement, this poses a bit of a dilemma. Why is it that some people, upon hearing the words of Jesus, upon encountering Jesus, go elsewhere for answers? Why is it that some people, upon encountering this Jesus, see something else as the answer to life’s greatest questions, as the answer for what we are to hope in? Why is it that some see him clearly and others misunderstand him completely? Why do so many so easily find someone or something else to go to? As this theologically meaty chapter comes to a close and we’ve had a chance to see Jesus’ care and his provision in the feeding of the 5,000, the power of his presence in his walking on water to his disciples on a turbulent sea, and as we’ll see next time, the importance of his teaching on him being the bread of life were led to this text.

Those who reject and those who accept him, those who believe and stay, and those who refuse his salvation and walk away searching for something else to satisfy that desire. Today as we continue our study of John’s gospel, of Jesus’ life and ministry, we’ll consider this rhetorical question that Peter asks Jesus in response to virtually all of the disciples leaving. Why did Peter and the other 11 choose to stay when everyone else was leaving? What made all of those people leave, despite the fact that they’d repeatedly seen Jesus’ power, his wisdom, his kindness, his goodness, his influence, seen him perform miracles, heard him teach in a way that no one else had ever taught before, teach in a way that utterly confounded the spiritual elite, the most educated of that time? What made these people leave? Look at this question by seeing the hard sayings and hard hearts in our text, followed by what

we can learn here about eternal life and eternal security. So, in verses 60 through 66, we see hard sayings and hard hearts. Much of what Jesus said over the course of his earthly ministry was somewhat difficult for people to process. Jesus was often misunderstood, sometimes mocked, usually at the very least his listeners seemed to miss the main point of what he was saying or doing, even if they could kind of somewhat wrap their minds around, you know, the direction in which he was headed or why he would do something. The main point was often missed. What was so hard for these people to wrap their heads around? What is this hard saying that made the disciples want to leave him? Well, I’ll let Thomas unpack that next week, but the fact that in struggling to wrap their heads around what he was saying, they were prepared to stop following him, shows us that

it wasn’t him that they were after. Clearly, they were after what he had to offer. He gave them something, something of value, something of significance, which made them come back repeatedly, which made them want to sit under his teaching, which made them want to observe what he was going to do next, so there was something that he offered them that was enticing enough to keep them coming back, but clearly when push came to shove and he said something controversial and put himself at the center of that controversy, that was enough to push them away. That was enough for them to say, too far, too much. They didn’t want a relationship with him, but they were more than happy to receive his gifts. But in regard to this hard saying, one thing I will note is that Jesus seems to be telling these people something incredibly important, which I think is incredibly important for

us. No, I know is incredibly important for us, and that is it’s all or it’s nothing. It’s everything or it’s nothing. It’s all of me or it’s none of me. You have to have all of me, Jesus says. You can’t have a relationship with me on your terms. This isn’t like a choose your own adventure thing. This isn’t like a piece together your own kind of worship. This isn’t like a modular worship experience that you get to participate in on your own terms. And the people, once they heard that, they didn’t want that at all. They wanted the gifts. They wanted the miracles. They wanted the teachings. They wanted the charismatic guy up front. They wanted the cool, interesting, hip thing. They wanted the food. They wanted the miracles, the fanciful stuff, the cool stuff to write home about, the cool stuff to tell their neighbors about.

You wouldn’t believe what Jesus did this week. They wanted their own religion. They wanted a savior of their own choosing. They wanted a Messiah that functioned according to their system of values, that said the right thing at the right time and let them remain however they wanted to stay. Clearly what he was teaching was at least somewhat difficult to wrap their heads around. Clearly there was some challenge there. And we know this because if you read a bunch of commentaries on what it is that Jesus was saying in this discourse on him being the bread of life, theologians are still arguing about it today. Clearly there was some difficulty there. But the point isn’t that it was a challenging saying. The point isn’t that it was a difficult to grasp doctrine, but the fact that when they didn’t get what they want, when their craving wasn’t satisfied, they were out.

On to the next thing. On to the next teacher. On to whatever else might pique my interest. And notice when this happens, Jesus doesn’t apologize for the offense. Jesus doesn’t apologize for the hard saying. He doesn’t say, well, okay, you’ve misunderstood. Here’s what I was actually saying. Here’s what I was actually trying to communicate. You need to consider this. You need to nuance it a little bit. He doesn’t apologize. He simply states the truth as it is. Do you take offense at this? Have I offended you? Have I upset you? Then what if you were to see the son of man ascending to where he was before? In other words, Jesus is essentially saying to them, were you offended by what I said about having to eat my flesh and drink my blood? Well, what if you saw the son of man ascending back to his rightful place?

If you see me glorified, will you still be offended? If you see the glorified son of man, will you still stumble and trip up? Jesus is saying that there will be many things that he says or asks of us that will offend him, that will offend us, excuse me. There will be many things that he asks of us or says to us that will confuse us, be difficult to accept, but all of that will be forgotten when we see him glorified and perfected, the creator of the universe, the one who spoke all things into existence, the one who sustains all life. When we see him as he is in his glory, all of that falls away. What he’s calling his people into is faith in him and to follow where he’s going, not just to satisfy today’s needs, not just to stay where we are.

Yes, Jesus calls people from where they are, but he calls them not to stay where and how they are. He’s taking us somewhere. And note the tension here. If you’ve studied the Gospels at all, if you’ve read the teachings of Jesus, there is a tension here. On the one hand, this is the same Jesus that says, my yoke is easy and my burden is light. On the other, he says things that are so difficult to understand and so difficult to stomach and he asks so much that people are saying that’s way out of the realm of possibility for me. This is not what I signed on for. It’s hard to fit him into this neat little religious box of he’s Jesus that does X, Y, and Z, or he’s Jesus that presents truth in this way. When Jesus regularly challenges the preconceived notions of what we have in terms of God, in

terms of the Messiah, in terms of ourselves, and in terms of what a religious life actually looks like. When Jesus then says to his disciples, it is the spirit who gives life. The flesh is of no help at all. What is he referring to? It is only the spirit of God that can bring someone to life. We can’t do it in and of ourselves. We can’t earn our own way. He has to do it. And how does he do that? How does this happen? The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life. He does this through God’s word. We read in Romans 10, 17, so faith comes from hearing and hearing through the word of Christ. And so saints, I want to ask you, do you love God’s word? Are you excited to hear it preached, to study it, to ponder it?

The Spirit Gives Life

I want to remind you that when we sit under the preaching of the word, this is worship. This isn’t just like a segment of the service where we kind of block away and whoever is not preaching just gets to like sit and learn and study. You are learning. You are studying the word of God, but this is worship. And what does God do through his word being preached, through his word being read, through his word being opened and studied and loved and pondered? He changes lives. He makes dead things come alive. He fixes families. He removes addictions. He saves sinners. It’s the word. This is how hard hearts are softened. This is how God brings dead people back to life. Humbly submitting ourselves to God’s truth revealed in his word changes everything. The fact is, as we contemplate all of this, as we think about the things that Jesus is

saying, as we think about the ways that he’s challenging these people, the way of God is very much counterintuitive to how a person would try to reach him. And Jesus just keeps saying this over and over and over and over. John 3, 3, Jesus answered him, speaking to Nicodemus, truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. He challenges this idea that this religious man had of how one might worship God, might draw near to him. And speaking to the woman at the well, he says, the woman said to him, I know Messiah is coming, he who is called Christ, and when he comes, he will tell us all things. Jesus says to her, I who speak to you am he. Remember, he pursued this adulterous woman. He went out of his way to reach this one woman.

This is not an effective ministry model, but this is what Jesus does. He comes and he speaks and he changes people. And then in verse 42 of that chapter, we see that he uses the testimony of this one adulterous woman to go and reach her village. Chapter 5, verse 24, we read, truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment but have passed from death to life. It’s not religion. It’s not doing the right thing. It’s only with him and what he does can we have any hope. It’s only through him that life is available. And so when I say that God’s way is counterintuitive to how we might want to do it, we want to earn our own way. We want to have some say in it. We want to be able to say, well, I contributed X, Y, or Z.

I participated in this way. God says, no, no, no. I bring dead people to life. I give you the gift of faith. I give you the word. I send my son and I will make you like him. And so the issue wasn’t that he fed large crowds. The issue wasn’t that he healed people or challenged the religious elite. The issue was that when the expectation of the people that he would do just what they wanted and what made them happy was challenged by what he said in verses 53 through 58, they wanted nothing to do with him. This isn’t what I signed up for. This isn’t the kind of thing that I want to do. Jesus provided generously. He met the needs of the people, but he was also clear repeatedly about why he came. And this didn’t fit into the people’s program. They hear the words of Jesus.

They see who he is and they don’t want it. So Jesus says, this is why I told you, no one can come to me unless it is granted him by the father. Jesus is saying they don’t believe because they’re not alive. Friends, there’s something for all of us to consider as we encounter Jesus’ teaching, as we encounter this, even as believers. Do some of us maybe show allegiance and loyalty to Jesus until we hear something in his word that we don’t like, that challenges the way that I want to live my life? I’ve heard this saying and it’s, I mean, no better way to put it, it’s insane, but people will say something along the lines of, well, that’s not the kind of God I want to worship when they encounter something challenging or challenging doctrine. It’s a crazy thing to say. That’s either the God that exists or it’s not, but who you want to worship and what you

want to worship like is kind of irrelevant. You’re not God, not even close. He either is who he says he is or he’s not. So you need to make that judgment call. But if you encounter something that you don’t like and up until then you’ve liked everything, what are you doing? This. No, no, no, no, no, no. Too far for me, man. That’s not the kind of God I want to worship. So friend, I want to ask you, are you a fair weather follower of Jesus? Does his word sometimes prick your heart in a way that makes you uncomfortable, that challenges the way that you view God? That prick of the heart may be exactly what you need, friend. That prick of the heart may be exactly what you need to remind you if you continue to follow that you’re still alive and that God is doing his work in you and that the Jesus

that you follow is not a Jesus of your own imagination. I know I need that regularly. Now, having said that, I understand the difficulty of hearing and accepting certain things that the Bible communicates with difficulty. I’m not saying that lightly. I’m not saying, well, just kind of take it all is whatever’s going on in your life. However this challenges you, however this kind of pricks you or whatever, I know it’s challenging. I know that it hurts. There are things that I read. I’ve been studying the Bible for a while now, not as long as some of you, but nevertheless, there are things that I come across in scripture. There are things that are revealed about Jesus, about the way that God operates that sometimes make me uncomfortable. I struggle with certain truths when I encounter them in the Bible. I have to wrestle with things.

I have to spend time processing. I have to spend time praying, seeking counsel from mature Christians, from many of you, seeking advice. But the thing I regularly have to remind myself of is the fact that I’m dealing with God. I’m dealing with God. We’re dealing with God. We’re studying His Word, delving into His truths, the creator of the world, the sustainer of all life, the one who saves sinners. And do we really expect that He’ll just be really easy to pack away into a neat little box? No, we will be challenged. We will be pushed beyond our comfort zones, and that’s a good thing. As we consider difficult truths and alternative options, as we see in our text, what do we see about where life is found? It’s in Him. It’s ever only in Him. We may not understand everything. We may not be at peace with everything.

Everything may not fit together perfectly, but He is enough. Life with Him is all we need. It’s the only thing that can be truly called life, is life with Him. And yet, as we see with the massive crowds leaving, hard-heartedness does keep a person from Him. It keeps that person from believing in Him, from seeing Him as He truly is. And we read in our text, after this, many of His disciples turned back and no longer walked with Him. They looked the Savior in the face. They heard the good news from His very lips. We don’t want it. So what does this tell us about eternal life and eternal security? Look with me at verses 67 through 71. So Jesus said to the twelve, do you want to go away as well? Simon Peter answered Him, Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, and we have believed and have come to know that You

To Whom Shall We Go?

are the Holy One of God. Jesus answered them, did I not choose you, the twelve? And yet, one of you is the devil. He spoke of Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot, for he, one of the twelve, was going to betray Him. Apart from His drawing a person to Himself, no one can come to Christ. I know that’s a very difficult, objective statement for some of you to hear, and I don’t say it just to be kind of harsh, but the Word of God clearly and plainly says that apart from Jesus drawing a person to Himself, no one will come to Him. On the one hand, it’s difficult to hear that. On the other, it’s incredibly humbling, and it’s incredibly comforting. Why? Because it doesn’t depend on what we do or what we don’t do, how good or how bad we are. But also, if we feel like we’re not moving in the right direction, if we feel like we’re

not desiring the right thing, and we’re not finding our way to God, if you don’t find yourself to be a believer this morning and you’re thinking, well, I can’t seem to navigate that way. The Word of God tells us that God can still break through and pull you in, friend. No one is beyond His reach, and it doesn’t depend on you doing the right thing or saying the right thing or being at the right place. It depends on Him. His grace is such that it can penetrate our hearts, our hard hearts, and our sinful desires. And so why didn’t Peter leave when the others did? Why did some leave Jesus and others stay with Him? Why, if you’ve studied the Gospels and read this whole story, why did Judas’s betrayal go one way and Peter’s betrayal go another way? After watching people leave, after watching people lose faith and hope, Jesus turns to

the twelve and He asks, do you want to leave as well? Are you guys also done? Is this the end of the road? Where could we go? To whom can we go? Jesus, we know that this is life. We know that You are life. Where else can I go? This is a profound truth. I love Peter. I love Peter because I think I’m a lot like Peter, unfortunately, in that I have to put my foot in my mouth a lot, and I misunderstand a lot, and I’m slow to learn, and I doubt, and I question too much, and I mess up, and I say the wrong thing. But every now and then, you can just see the Spirit just crushing Peter’s heart, just breaking down his character, changing him, molding him more and more and more into the shape of Jesus. And then just out of nowhere, when it all looks bad, everyone is leaving, just crowds

moving away. Where can we go, Lord? Where do I turn? It’s just You, if not Jesus, then who? Where can we truly find answers, truly have any hope, when all around us crumbles, when nothing makes sense, when everything seems like it’s been upended? To whom do we turn? To what do we cling but the rock of ages? The thing is, when these 12 commit to stay with Jesus, when Peter makes this incredible proclamation, it’s unlikely they even understood what they were saying. It’s unlikely that they fully wrapped their heads around the magnitude of this truth. In fact, Peter will continue to fumble through his walk, as we’ll continue to see in our study of John. They couldn’t have totally wrapped their heads around everything, but they knew. They knew, even with their small, their feeble, imperfect faith. I don’t know much, but I know if it’s not Him, it’s nothing.

If it’s not with Him, I die. He’s the only hope. To whom shall we go? Atheism? Agnosticism? Ambiguous spirituality? Islam? Buddhism? Theologically liberal pseudo-Christianity? Philosophy? Podcasters? Self-help gurus? The manosphere? Where do we go? None of them but you, Lord, have the words of eternal life. And so in a matter of a day or so, from 5,000 to 12, talk about an anti-church growth strategy. From 5,000 to 12, no wait, actually 11. Why is Judas brought up here in this way? And why is Judas mentioned twice? Bringing him up points to the main point of what this chapter seems to be about. Bringing him up seems to be kind of pointing to what’s actually going on in this chapter. When Jesus says in this chapter of verse 44, No one can come to me unless the Father who sent him draws him. And then in verse 65 when He says,

This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted him by the Father. And so is God sovereign in salvation? Does He call those whom He will save? Yes. Absolutely. Without a doubt. And yet is man responsible to repent of his sin? To turn from it? To run to God? Yes. Absolutely. How do these two things work together? How do we make sense of this reality that God has to call and if He doesn’t call, we won’t come. And you are a sinner and you need to repent of that sin, turn from your sin and run to God. How do we fit those two things together? I don’t know. It’s a hard saying after all. But God tells us that these two things are truth. And so we hold on to both of them for dear life. We cling to them and we trust God even when we can’t fit it together perfectly.

Believing them both, we desperately plead with non-believers to come to God. To turn from their sin. And yet we also plead with God to save those in our lives. To call them. To change them. To reveal Himself to them. The thought often is, well if God is sovereign in salvation, that means I guess like evangelism is pointless. And it’s like He’s just going to save who He’s going to save. It doesn’t really matter all that much. The truth is exactly the opposite of that. I heard this thing years back. I was studying this question of evangelism, the sovereignty of God. And I came across this thing that has just completely changed my understanding of evangelism and God’s sovereignty in salvation. And it is that because God is sovereign in salvation, and because God elects those whom He will save,

and He will always save those whom He’s elected, evangelism is 100% effective. We don’t know who God has called. We don’t know whose heart He’s working on. The Apostle Paul says this beautiful thing, I planted the seed, Apollos watered, God caused the growth. You don’t know where you are in that process. Are you planting the seed? Are you watering the seed? Do you get to harvest? You don’t know. But the fact remains, God is sovereign in salvation, and He will save every single person He has called. And so we plead with unbelievers. Turn from your sin. Turn to God. And we plead with God. Lord, please save this person. Please work in their heart. Please draw them to yourself. Saints, fight against indifference and apathy. Weep over hard hearts. Weep over rebellion against God. It’s not a trivial thing. This is people’s souls. Charles Spurgeon said this beautiful thing in regard to this question.

He said, if sinners be damned, at least let them leap to hell over our dead bodies. And if they perish, let them perish with their arms wrapped around their knees imploring them to stay. If hell must be filled, let it be filled in the teeth of our exertions and let no one go unwarned and unprayed for. This is the attitude and the demeanor of every single Christian. We will encounter hard sayings. We will find things that don’t make sense. That don’t fit into my understanding. That don’t fit into my idea of what this whole Christianity thing should look like. Trust in the Lord and cling to Him. Believe that God is sovereign in salvation. That He will soften hard hearts like He promised. And be faithful to what He’s calling you to. Peter here points out his own faith. He says, we’ve come to believe this about you.

Eternal Life, Eternal Security

But Jesus reminds him that he only believes because Jesus chose him. We are only His because He has called us. And we are secure because He keeps us. Eternal life. Eternal security. We read in John 10 verses 27 and 29. My sheep hear my voice and I know them. And they follow me. I give them eternal life and they will never perish. And no one will snatch them out of my hand. 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. We read in 6.37. All that the Father gives me will come to me. And whoever comes to me I will never cast out. Isn’t that so incredibly reassuring? Doesn’t that provide so much comfort? So much peace? I can’t out sin the Savior. That’s not licensed to sin. May it never be.

It’s freedom. Freedom from sin. And I know that He won’t stop loving me. And I know that He won’t stop holding me. And I know that He won’t stop working in me. Jesus is saying you’re safe with me. I’m with you and I won’t let anything or anyone harm you or take you away from me. And so what’s a clear sign that someone’s hard heart has been softened? Turned into a heart of flesh? What’s a picture of someone who believes and who trusts in Jesus? This is beautiful dependency on Him. If not you, then who? Where am I going to go? This little faith. This minuscule feeble faith that the disciples had. Limited in what they could see. Limited in what they could understand. They hung desperately on to the fact that they believed in who He was and that they needed Him. They understood that small as their understanding was, they didn’t want to be anywhere else.

I don’t get the whole picture, Lord. I haven’t wrapped my head around this whole Christianity thing. But I know that there’s nowhere else I want to be. God’s sovereignty in your life is what draws you. What keeps you. What makes something good and beautiful out of everything that happens in your life. Yes, even the pain. Even the difficulty. Even all of the stuff that doesn’t make sense. God’s sovereignty is such that He makes good of all of it. And His sovereignty is what promises you eternity. Even if you, like me, limp into it. Now consider how we’ve arrived to our text as we’ve worked our way through John 6. Jesus’ provision of food for the large crowd, pointing to His ultimate provision. Jesus’ presence in His voice giving peace to His disciples. Jesus being the bread of life, the only way to God. The prophet who is greater than Moses who was promised long ago.

Jesus Is Enough

Consider also that over and over, the picture that we get to see is that Jesus is enough for His people. He’s sufficient. Jesus is the only way that we can have any hope. And if not Him, we have nowhere to go. He’s the one that provides. He’s the one that gives hope and comfort, life and assurance. So friend, I ask you. Have you ever been in the thick of it? Like really struggling, confused as to what’s going on in your life? When the trials are going to be done finally and when I get to just coast on cruise control for a little bit? Have you ever been unable to wrap your head around some aspect of your Christian life? Some aspect of God’s word that tells you something that doesn’t seem to sit right with you? Have you ever been tempted to leave? Doubts? Questions?

Fears? It’s normal to go through these. But the question we have to come back to is the one that Peter asks in our text. Yes, Lord, I don’t understand a lot. Yes, Lord, I don’t like the way things are going. Yes, I want a different path. I want things to work out a little bit differently in my life. But when everything is said and done, where else could I go? This life is full of pain and confusion, but there is one place. Rather, one person who has the answers, who has the words of eternal life. It’s the one who gave his life for me. Before we pray, I want us to consider how we came to be his and what that means for us in our day-to-day lives. His promises, his care, his provision. As I often do, I want to read to you the words of a hymn that I love.

I hear the Savior say, Thy strength indeed is small. Child of weakness, watch and pray. Find in me thine all in all. Lord, now indeed I find Thy power and thine alone Can change the leper’s spots And melt the heart of stone. For nothing good have I Whereby thy grace to claim. I’ll wash my garments white In the blood of Calvary’s Lamb. And when before the throne I stand in him complete, Jesus died my soul to save, My lips shall still repeat, Jesus paid it all, All to him I owe. Sin had left a crimson stain, He washed it white as snow. Would you pray with me? Lord, to whom can we go? Where else can we find hope? Where else can we find anything that would give us a greater understanding of life and joy and peace and comfort? Where else but you? And so, Lord, with feeble faith,

we grab on and we hold to you. And we thank you, Lord, for this assurance that you will never, ever let us go. Amen.