John 6:23-7123(Howbeit there came other boats from Tiberias nigh unto the place where they did eat bread, after that the Lord had given thanks:) 24When the people therefore saw that Jesus was not there, neither his disciples, they also took shipping, and came to Capernaum, seeking for Jesus. 25And when they had found him on the other side of the sea, they said unto him, Rabbi, when camest thou hither? 26Jesus answered them and said, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Ye seek me, not because ye saw the miracles, but because ye did eat of the loaves, and were filled. 27Labor not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of man shall give unto you: for him hath God the Father sealed. 28Then said they unto him, What shall we do, that we might work the works of God? 29Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent. 30They said therefore unto him, What sign showest thou then, that we may see, and believe thee? what dost thou work? 31Our fathers did eat manna in the desert; as it is written, He gave them bread from heaven to eat. 32Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Moses gave you not that bread from heaven; but my Father giveth you the true bread from heaven. 33For the bread of God is he which cometh down from heaven, and giveth life unto the world. 34Then said they unto him, Lord, evermore give us this bread. 35And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst. 36But I said unto you, That ye also have seen me, and believe not. 37All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. 38For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me. 39And this is the Father's will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day. 40And this is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day. 41The Jews then murmured at him, because he said, I am the bread which came down from heaven. 42And they said, Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? how is it then that he saith, I came down from heaven? 43Jesus therefore answered and said unto them, Murmur not among yourselves. 44No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day. 45It is written in the prophets, And they shall be all taught of God. Every man therefore that hath heard, and hath learned of the Father, cometh unto me. 46Not that any man hath seen the Father, save he which is of God, he hath seen the Father. 47Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me hath everlasting life. 48I am that bread of life. 49Your fathers did eat manna in the wilderness, and are dead. 50This is the bread which cometh down from heaven, that a man may eat thereof, and not die. 51I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world. 52The Jews therefore strove among themselves, saying, How can this man give us his flesh to eat? 53Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you. 54Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day. 55For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. 56He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him. 57As the living Father hath sent me, and I live by the Father: so he that eateth me, even he shall live by me. 58This is that bread which came down from heaven: not as your fathers did eat manna, and are dead: he that eateth of this bread shall live for ever. 59These things said he in the synagogue, as he taught in Capernaum. 60Many therefore of his disciples, when they had heard this, said, This is an hard saying; who can hear it? 61When Jesus knew in himself that his disciples murmured at it, he said unto them, Doth this offend you? 62What and if ye shall see the Son of man ascend up where he was before? 63It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life. 64But there are some of you that believe not. For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were that believed not, and who should betray him. 65And he said, Therefore said I unto you, that no man can come unto me, except it were given unto him of my Father. 66From that time many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him. 67Then said Jesus unto the twelve, Will ye also go away? 68Then Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life. 69And we believe and are sure that thou art that Christ, the Son of the living God. 70Jesus answered them, Have not I chosen you twelve, and one of you is a devil? 71He spake of Judas Iscariot the son of Simon: for he it was that should betray him, being one of the twelve. (John 6:23‑71); Matthew 16:13-2813When Jesus came into the coasts of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, saying, Whom do men say that I the Son of man am? 14And they said, Some say that thou art John the Baptist: some, Elias; and others, Jeremias, or one of the prophets. 15He saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am? 16And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. 17And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-jona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven. 18And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. 19And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. 20Then charged he his disciples that they should tell no man that he was Jesus the Christ. 21From that time forth began Jesus to show unto his disciples, how that he must go unto Jerusalem, and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised again the third day. 22Then Peter took him, and began to rebuke him, saying, Be it far from thee, Lord: this shall not be unto thee. 23But he turned, and said unto Peter, Get thee behind me, Satan: thou art an offence unto me: for thou savorest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men. 24Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. 25For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it. 26For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul? 27For the Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father with his angels; and then he shall reward every man according to his works. 28Verily I say unto you, There be some standing here, which shall not taste of death, till they see the Son of man coming in his kingdom. (Matthew 16:13‑28)
In these scriptures we have recorded Peter’s dual confession of the Lord Jesus. It is a thing of the greatest importance to the soul to confess Christ boldly, for the Holy Spirit has said in our days, “If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.” Now when Peter made his confession in John 6, which I believe was previous to the confession in Matthew 16, the Lord Jesus Christ had not died, nor did Peter think that He was going to die. What is so beautiful to see, is that his heart was deeply attached to Christ. His was no mere head knowledge of who Jesus was; that is made quite clear by the glowing, burning confessions he makes.
We saw in a previous view of this affectionate man that when Peter walked on the water to get to Jesus, he did not quite get to Him, but that Jesus got to him, and that was what he wanted. His one desire was to get near Jesus. When the Lord was taken into the ship, immediately they were at the shore whither they would go, and the disciples then discovered that He was the Son of God. This was the day previous to that which we get recorded in the end of the sixth of John. In that chapter we find the Lord giving forth startling, yea marvelous ministry, as He says, “I am the living bread,” and “Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink His blood, ye have no life in you.”
Get hold of this clearly in your soul, my reader, that unless you have eaten the flesh of the Son of Man, and have drunk His blood, you have no life in you; and do not think that this means the communion — the Lord’s Supper. Nay, nay, this is the substance; the Lord’s Supper is the shadow. This is the reality, the communion is the figure. A man might eat the Lord’s Supper a thousand times, and yet spend eternity in hell, but no man could eat the flesh of the Son of Man and not have eternal life. When the Lord said this, He knew that He was going to die, and to rise again, and go, as man, to the right hand of God — that He was going to do a work whereby man might be brought to God, a work which enables the believer in Him in righteousness to go to the spot where He now is; and therefore here the Lord presses the necessity of knowing Himself, of eating Himself, saying, “Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day” (vs. 54). Again, “He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him” (vs. 56). In plain words He says to the believer, We are one. In view of the gravity of this matter, let me ask you, my reader, Have you ever yet eaten the flesh, and drunk the blood of the Son of Man?
That is a question that you must answer to God, and to Him alone.
It is a very happy thing to eat the Lord’s Supper with the saints of God, but that is only the symbol; whereas what the Lord means here is, we must accept Him in His death, and feed on Him in death. Thereby only can we get life to our souls.
The result of this ministry of the Lord’s was that the Jews murmur; and He then says, “Doth this offend you? What and if ye shall see the Son of man ascend up where He was before?” (vss. 61-62.) He has ascended, and consequently we are immensely better off than if He were on earth. If He were on earth now — say in Jerusalem — He would not be also in Edinburgh; but being in glory the Holy Spirit has come down to dwell among us, and to abide in each believer, and He gives us the sense of the Lord’s presence no matter where we are located.
The result then of the Lord’s ministry was that “from that time many of His disciples went back and walked no more with him” (vs. 66). They had been looking for, and hoping that He was going to set up a kingdom, in Messianic power, and glory; and when He talked to them of His death, that did not suit them at all, and many left Him. Indeed, I suppose the defection was very great, for He turned round, and looking at the twelve, said unto them, “Will ye also go away?” (vs. 67.) To this query warm—hearted Peter fervently answers, “Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou halt the words of eternal life.” Splendid testimony, grand confession, made too at the moment of general defection Peter, as it were, led the forlorn hope, as he said, Go from you, Lord? Never! “We believe and are sure that thou art the Holy One of God” (JND). I wonder if you have ever confessed the Lord after this fashion, my reader. There was no “I hope,” nor “I think,” but “WE BELIEVE and ARE sure.” None of that half-heartedness of the nineteenth century, in which people are uncertain about everything, except that they cannot be certain about anything that relates to the Person of Christ, and to the things of eternity, was seen in Peter. Fatal folly is all such blundering in matters of momentous and eternal import.
Well might Peter say, “To whom shall we go?” Others had gone. Whither, we are not told. They disappear and are seen no more. So much the worse for them. It is a poor thing to turn away from Christ in a day of difficulty. This Peter felt, as he puts his touching and unanswerable query, Where in all the universe of God could one be found like his blessed Master? There was no other. He was unique, and Peter felt and knew it, though perhaps conscious how little he could rise to the height of His heavenly teaching. That was one thing; leaving Him was altogether another. He alone could fill the heart, pacify the conscience, calm the soul, and control the whole man. Leave Him then? Never!
Two things mark Peter’s confession here, as he says, “Thou halt the words of eternal life,” and “Thou art the Holy One of God.” Peter had got deeply in his soul what He was, and what He had, as he said, “Thou art” and “Thou hast.” What He is forms the stable resting-place of our souls as we pillow them on Him, and on His work. What He has forms the everlasting supply to our souls in all their varied need. He gives us all we need, and then becomes the object of our affections forever. He gives us eternal life and eternal joy. What an immense mistake to let aught here eclipse Christ in the view of our souls!
Do you believe after Peter’s fashion, my friend, I ask, or are you a nineteenth century doubter?
There was one standing by that day who was detected by Peter’s exclamation, for the Lord turns round as He heard the beautiful, burning confession of Peter’s soul, and says, “Have not I chosen you twelve, and one of you is a devil?” I believe in that moment when so many were slinking off, the thought in Judas’s heart was, “It is time for me to go too;” but then he thought he would follow the Lord a little longer, and make gain ere leaving Him. He would put the Lord in such a position that, though of course He would easily extricate Himself from it, yet he — Judas — would basso money by his act. Judas loved money, not Christ. His god was gold; his master, Satan; his end, an eternal hell.
Is there one who reads these lines who loves money more than Jesus? Brother of Judas, thou art detected here. Beware, beware, God is giving thee thy warning. Wilt thou spend thine eternity with Judas, or with Jesus? Which?
Turn now, my reader, to Matthew 16 After this noble confession of Peter’s which we have been considering, the Lord had gone up to the coasts of Tyre and Sidon, and there had blessed the daughter of the Syro-phoenician woman. Then he had gone to Galilee and Decapolis, and northward to Caesarea Philippi. This place must not be confounded with the Caesarea on the borders of the Mediterranean, the Roman seaport capital of Palestine, where Peter preached so successfully afterward (see Acts 10). Caesarea Philippi — now known as Baneas — was a town outside the limits of the land of Israel, situated at the foot of Mount Hermon, close to the most easterly source of the river Jordan.
The Lord had gone out, on to Gentile ground. In this outside place, He asks His disciples, “Whom do men say that I, the Son of man, am?” Jesus likes to know what men think of Him; whether the hearts of men had risen to the moment, and the occasion; if they had found out who He was — and so He puts the question. And they answer, “Some say that thou art John the Baptist; some, Elias; and others, Jeremias, or one of the prophets.” This was only supremely careless indifference. Men might have known, and should. Eighteen months before, John the Baptist had declared who He was, and crowds had flocked to Him; but now, after these many months — in which He had visited “every city and village, preaching and showing the glad tidings of the kingdom of God” (Luke 8:11And it came to pass afterward, that he went throughout every city and village, preaching and showing the glad tidings of the kingdom of God: and the twelve were with him, (Luke 8:1)), months of unwearied testimony by lip, life, and miracle, that had proclaimed God, blessed man, and defeated Satan — the tide had turned, and instead of receiving Him as the Messiah, they did not even know, or care to know, who He was! Alas, for poor, blind man!
Almost invariably in the gospel narratives the Lord speaks of Himself by the title of the Son of Man. He calls Himself a King but once (Matt. 25:3434Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: (Matthew 25:34)). He was a King, but as yet uncrowned, and throneless. Unrecognized by the nation in His proper glory, He now asks His disciples, “Whom say ye that I am?”
Your eternal destiny, my reader, depends upon the answer you can give to this question, “Whom say ye that I am?” Be you what you may, if you do not know and confess Jesus as the Son of the living God, you are still in your sins. You may be the most religious person in the world, and the most intelligent to boot, but what is all your knowledge worth if you do not know Christ? The person who is not right about Christ, is right about nothing. Ah I my friend, if you pass into eternity ignorant of Christ, yours will be an awful eternity. The Lord’s query to you therefore, just now, is this, “Whom do ye say that I am?”
Peter comes magnificently to the front again, at this juncture of national indifference to the Messiah. In the buoyancy and fullness of his heart, as well as in real faith, and true attachment to the person of his Lord, he answers, “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Heaven-born deliverance! and how grateful to the ear and heart of the blessed Lord it must have been. It was a beautiful confession, and carried with it lovely consequences. Equally so does confession of His name now, for “If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt he saved,” is the word of assurance to us in this day. Blessing rich and full always follows simple and true confession of Christ.
Observe what the Lord says to Peter immediately on his confession, “Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-jona, for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven.” The soul that knows Jesus as the Son of the living God, He, Himself, declares to be blessed of the Father. No doubt Peter had learned much of the Lord, as he had followed that lovely, and blessed life of devotedness, and self-sacrifice, but the Father had taken hold of that uncultured, and unlettered Galilean fisherman, and taught him the truth, that the blessed Man he was following was the Son of the living God. The Father Himself alone can teach you this blessed truth, my friend. No university curriculum, no human teaching, can impart to your soul this knowledge of the Son; but the Father loves to teach the willing, and Christ-seeking soul, the divine and moral glories of that rejected One, who is at once His eternal Son, the lowly Son of Man, and, blessed be His peerless name, the Saviour of the lost.
Do you, my reader, confess that He, the spotless Son of Man, was God’s Son, ever God’s Son, though born here in time? Good indeed for you is it if you thus confess Him, for it is written, “Whoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in God” (1 John 4:1515Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in God. (1 John 4:15)). Note, it is the confession of His person, not of His work. There are many who know something of the work of Christ, and tell you they are clinging to the cross, but yet they are full of doubts and fears? Why? I believe the reason is that they have not a deep or adequate conception of the fullness of His person. They have not fully in their souls the sense of the divine glory of His person, as being the Son of the living God, as well as being a true, real, veritable Man, holy and sinless, and hence able to be a sacrifice for sin. To all such I commend the poet’s lines:
“How wondrous the glories that meet
In Jesus, and from His face shine;
His love is eternal and sweet,
‘Tis human, ‘tis also divine!
His glory — not only God’s Son —
In manhood He had His full part,
And the union of both joined in one
Forms the fountain of love in His heart.”
It is the inscrutability of the glory of His person that is the guarantee to faith of the divinity of Jesus, divinity which His self-renunciation — in emptying Himself and assuming humanity — might have hidden from the eyes of unbelief. But His divinity, and the fact that He is the Son of the living God, is proved by His resurrection from among the dead. The life of God cannot be destroyed, and the Son of the living God cannot be overcome of death; nay, by going into it He overcomes and destroys it. Hence it is as risen from the dead that He begins the work of which He nest speaks — the building of His Church.
After saying that the Father had revealed this truth to Peter. the Lord goes on, “And I also say” — not “And I say also,” invert those two words, the Father had spoken, and now He Himself has somewhat of grave moment to say to Peter — “I also say unto thee, that thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” What did the Lord mean by this? He confirms Peter in his new name, a stone. But where was this stone to be built? On the rock. “Upon this rock will I build my church.” Rome has tried to make out that Peter was the rock. A poor rock would Peter have been! Peter was far too much like you and me. No, no, Peter was a stone, but Christ was the rock, Christ, according to the confession of Peter here, the Son of the living God.
Peter is very fond of the word “living.” In his epistles we get a “living hope” (1 Peter 1:33Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, (1 Peter 1:3)), “a living stone” (2:4), and “living stones” (2:6). It is a grand thing, in this world of death, to be introduced into a circle of living realities.
Observe that the Lord says to Peter, “Upon this rock I will build my church.” It had not been begun to be built then. I think I hear you say, “But I thought the Church began with Abel.” Not at all; there had been, without doubt, saints of God from Abel onwards; but when does the Church, the body of Christ, begin? The Church the Lord speaks of here could not be built until the rock — He Himself — had been laid as its foundation, that is, until He Himself had gone into death, annulled it, had come up out of it, and gone into glory, and from the right hand of God had sent down the Holy Spirit to unite believers — now forming His body here — with Himself the living Head there on high.
Remark that it was not Peter who was going to build, it was the Lord who was going to build; and “I will build,” not “I have been building,” are His words. Christ’s assembly, His Church, commenced to be formed on the day of Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit came down; and from that day until the moment when the Lord comes into the air to gather up His people (see 1 Thess. 4:15-1815For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. 16For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: 17Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. 18Wherefore comfort one another with these words. (1 Thessalonians 4:15‑18)), the Church is being formed.
The Church was the peculiar thought of God from all eternity, but the truth about it never was fully unfolded until the apostle Paul’s ministry. The first intimation about it that we find in all Scripture, we get, however, here from the lips of the blessed Lord to His beloved servant Peter.
The Lord says further to Peter, “I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven.” How did Peter get these keys? By the sovereign grace of Christ undoubtedly, but nevertheless they are committed to a man that is evidently going on. He was a man that was earnestly going forward, and I believe that it is always the matt that is earnestly going on, in settled affection to the person of Christ, who gets light, and gets further truth. Peter, of course, had a very special place given him by the sovereign favor of the Lord, and was in that sense “a chosen vessel,” but the character of the man must not be lost sight of.
But do you think, my friend, that Peter had the keys of heaven? God forbid! Peter had no more to do with the keys of heaven than I have; it is “the keys of the kingdom of heaven.” This kingdom relates to earth, whereas the Church belongs to heaven. The kingdom of heaven is the administration of the Lord’s things here on earth, while He, who is the King — as yet unrecognized, and disowned — is in heaven.
In all the great pictures that men have painted you see Peter with the keys hanging at his girdle, and the sheep gathered round about him. But men do not feed sheep with keys, nor do they build with keys. The use of a key is to open a door, and when that is done the key has no more service. The figure has been misconstrued. The Lord Himself was going to heaven, but He was about to have a work carried on here on earth, and through Peter’s administration “the kingdom of heaven” — a term only found in Matthew’s gospel, and there never said to be nearer than “at hand” — was to be inaugurated. I believe Peter used one of these keys when he spoke to the Jews in the second of Acts, and he used the other key when he went down to the house of Cornelius in the tenth of Acts. The keynote in Acts 2, when he spoke to the Jews, was “REPENT!” They had to judge themselves, and own their sin in crucifying their Messiah; but when he went to the Gentiles the ward of the key, that fitted the hitherto firmly locked door, that barred them from blessing was “Believe.” “To him give all the prophets witness, that through His name whosoever believeth in Him shall receive remission of sins.”
The Lord further says to Peter: “And whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth, shall be bound in heaven; and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth, shall be loosed in heaven.” This is a question of administration, on earth, and in the assembly, not of how a man gets to heaven. Peter gets a peculiar place of administration down here on earth, to act in the assembly for Christ, as the whole believing company does afterward (see John 20:2323Whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them; and whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained. (John 20:23)).
If you want to go to heaven, you must get to Peter’s Saviour, and let Him save you, as He did Peter; and if you get into His assembly on earth, you must be careful to walk rightly, or you may fall into that which will dishonor the Lord, and bring you under the solemn exercise of the authority thus committed to the assembly, to bind the sin upon you in putting you away from its midst (see 1 Cor. 5:1313But them that are without God judgeth. Therefore put away from among yourselves that wicked person. (1 Corinthians 5:13)).
From this moment the Lord alters the character of the testimony concerning Himself, and “charged his disciples that they should tell no man that he was Jesus the Messiah.” From that moment He forbade them to preach Him as being the Messiah. Why? He knew the nation would not believe, and He never likes to give more light when it is rejected, because the greater the light the greater the judgment. Then we read: “From that time forth began Jesus to show unto his disciples, how that he must go unto Jerusalem, and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests, and scribes, and be killed, and be raised again the third day.” So far from taking the kingdom, He announces plainly that He is going to die. This Peter could not understand, so took Him, and began to rebuke Him, saying, “Be it far from thee, Lord; this shall not be unto thee.” He could not understand that the Lord must die. How the one who could heal the sick, cleanse the leper, open the eyes of the blind, make the deaf to hear, and the dumb to speak, still the storm, and raise the dead to life again — how He could die, Peter saw not, hence he says, “This shall not be unto thee, Lord.”
What a volume of instruction is in the Lord’s answer as “He turned, and said unto Peter, Get thee behind me, Satan; thou art an offense unto me.” A moment before it had been: “Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-jona;” and now, favored disciple as he was, the Lord treats him as Satan, because He saw behind this dear disciple’s words, the temptation of Satan himself. Yes, it was the enemy using Peter as a vessel. Satan can often make even a servant of God do his dire work. But the Lord saw the author of the suggestion, and He says, “Get thee behind me, Satan.” If we are going to follow Christ, we must accept His pathway of shame and sorrow here. If we refuse the cross, we shall not have the crown. If we refuse to follow a rejected Lord, we shall not know much of the joy of His company. “If anyone will come after me,” He then adds, “let him deny himself, and take up his cross and follow me.” Poignant words for Peter to hear, and equally addressed to us.
Then Jesus says, “Whosoever will save his life shall lose it; and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it. For what is a man profited if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul!” Oh, my friend, what will it profit you if you lose your soul! What shall a man give in exchange for his soul? Only think of the blackness of despair that must seize the soul that has lost everything. The things for which you have bartered your soul, you must leave them all, and then lose your soul too. Ah! my unsaved reader, you are paying a terrible price for those pleasures of sin which endure for a season. You are going on with the world, and the flesh, and the devil, and you are denying yourself heaven, and glory, and eternal joy, and the company of Christ. And the Christian, what is he doing? He is denying himself certainly the pleasures of sin for a season, but he is denying himself also a thorny pillow on his dying bed, he is denying himself the judgment of God, and denying himself an eternal hell. Surely, my friend, the Christian has the best of it. When are you going to be one?
After these pointed queries, the Lord reveals the future blessedness of those that are His, as He says, “For the Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father, with his angels, and then shall he reward every man according to his works,” adding “There be some standing here which shall not taste of death till they see the Son of man coming in his kingdom.”
The meaning of these words we shall find in our next chapter.