Jesus was never one to pull punches. He laid His message out for everyone to hear and make the choice that they needed to make. There was no sugar coating with Jesus. In John 6 we have recorded a conversation that Jesus had with a group of Jews. What Jesus said in that conversation was considered by many of His disciples to be “a hard saying” (vs. 60). Because of His response to that many of the disciples stopped following Jesus.
Jesus looked at the twelve and asked them a question, which when read you can almost hear the hurt in the voice of Jesus. He asked, “Will ye also go away?” (vs. 67). Peter, in one of his best moments, said, “Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou has the words of eternal life. And we believe and are sure that thou art that Christ, the Son of the living God” (vs. 68-69). What a tremendous statement by Peter!
He asked a great question in that statement: “To whom shall we go?” Many in this life follow people that are of no benefit spiritually. They follow after false teachers or false ideas that they have come up with in their minds. The fact of the matter is, Peter was right. Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God. There is no other who can do for us spiritually what Jesus can do.
Long ago, the Psalmist wrote, “For the Lord taketh pleasure in His people: He will beautify the meek with salvation” (149:4). It is God and His Son Jesus to whom we must go if salvation is our desire. It is God that gives salvation to mankind as a gift. “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Romans 6:23).
Just like any other gift offered, this gift must be accepted. We do that by being obedient to the gospel of Jesus. God offers His grace to all men (Titus 2:11). We accept that grace by faithful obedience to the commands of God (Ephesians 2:8-9).
No one else can save us. There is no other place of salvation than in Christ. It is in Christ that all spiritual blessings are found (Ephesians 1:3). Men believe that there are other people and places where spiritual blessings are available. However, they believe this in spite of what the Bible says.
To whom have you gone for salvation? David penned that “…the salvation of the righteous is of the Lord” (Psalm 37:39). It is only to the Lord that we can turn for salvation. It is only in the Lord that one can find righteousness and be righteous. As the great hymn asks: “Where could I go but to the Lord?”
Ben Wright