I'm reading to you this morning
from the book of 1 John chapter 5, the epistle of 1 John chapter
5, in which John the Apostle is writing to believers. He's writing to God's people.
He's writing to those who were born of God. He's not writing
to everyone without exception, but he's writing to God's people,
believers. Those who are born of God, born
of His Word, born of His Spirit, sons of God, daughters of God.
All men are not. All women are not. The children
of God are not God's people. But he is writing to God's people,
and he says in verse 11, 1 John 5, this is the record. That is, this is what God has
written, this is what God has recorded, that God hath given
to us, speaking to God's true people, to believers, to those
born of God, God hath given to us eternal life. Salvation is
of the Lord. It's to be given life, and this
life is in His Son, he said. Salvation is of the Lord. It's
God's to give. Life is God's to give. He doesn't
offer life. He gives life. He imparts life.
He creates life. We're born of God, born of His
Word, born of His Spirit. It's a miracle. It's not something
we do, but it's what God does. God gives eternal life. Your
parents didn't offer you life. They gave you life. And so it
is with God the Father. He gives life to whom He will. And it says this life is in His
Son. speaking of Jesus Christ. And
verse 12 says, He that hath the Son hath life, and he that hath
not the Son of God hath not life. Nineteen words. Nineteen one-syllable
words. Very plain, very simple, yet
few understand it. Few have this life. He says,
he that hath the Son hath life, and he that hath not the Son
of God hath not life. Do you have the Son? Do you have
this life? Do you know what this means?
There are three basic forms of life. There's plant life, animal
life, and then spiritual life. And they differ greatly, one
from another. Plant life is the lowest form,
and then animal life, dogs, cats, horses, and so forth. They have
this animal life. And man has animal life, but
he has no spiritual life, the life of God, until God creates
that in him. Man is not much better than a
beast if he doesn't know God, if he does not have this eternal
life. And eternal not only means the
duration of it, it never ends, but the quality of it. It says
here very plainly, He that hath the Son hath Life. We hear, he that hath not the
Son of God hath not life. We hear of people who are living
the good life. And what others mean by that
is they have all that this life can offer, all the material things,
and have no financial worries, and they're at ease, and they're
living the good life. Well, not if it all dies. If
something dies, it's not life. And the Scripture says in Adam
all die, but not in Jesus Christ. Those in Jesus Christ have life. They never die. Do you know what
that means? He that hath the Son hath life.
Now let me try, but it's God that must reveal. But let me
try to just declare what this life is. Now first of all, life,
true life was revealed by Jesus Christ. It says, and John said
in 1 John 1, that which was from the beginning, which we have
heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked
upon, and our hands have handled, of the word of life. For the life, the life, was manifested. He's speaking of Jesus Christ.
Life was revealed by Him. He is life. He is the God in
whom we live and move and have our being. Life was revealed
by Him, true life, spiritual life revealed by Him. Let me give you some reasons,
some illustrations. He had no home, no physical place
to lay His head, no house He lived in, no earthly possessions,
nothing but the shoes on His feet and the robe upon His back.
These are the things that we think are living, all the things,
material things in this life that we think is life and makes
us happy. He had none of those things,
yet he was truly happy, content, the blessed man of whom Psalm
1 speaks of. So, life is not in these things. He said that a man's life consisteth
not in the abundance of things which he possesseth, because
if you can lose them, you lose life. He said life is more than
meat and the body more than raiment. Scripture says the kingdom of
God It's not in meat and drink, things, but in righteousness
and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost. Do you know what that
means? Righteousness, peace, joy in
the Holy Ghost. Well, it all has to do with Jesus
Christ. He revealed what true life is. He had no home, no possessions,
but he was truly blessed, happy, content. He was not married,
physically, humanly speaking, not married. He had no wife.
He had no children. Oh, spiritually speaking, he
is the great husband of his bride. He is the father of his children,
which no man can number. But he had no earthly wife and
no earthly children, yet he was not alone. He was never lonely. Scripture says it's not good
that man should be alone. God made a helpmate for Adam,
and yet Christ came here alone, but was never alone. Why? The Father was always with Him.
He was with the Father. Life, spiritual life, the life
of God. The Lord as a man ate very little,
sometimes not at all. His disciples worried about him
sometimes. They said, Lord, eat something.
You haven't eaten something. And he said, I have meat to eat
that ye know not of. He said, I am eating. I am feasting. On what? They didn't see him
eat anything. He's feasting on the bread from
heaven, the Word of God, the truth of God. He slept very little,
yet he had perfect rest. Perfect rest. He worked twelve
hours a day. He said a man must. Well, there's
twelve hours. He must work, yet never murmured,
never complained. He was hated by nearly everyone,
and yet he had perfect, undisturbed peace. Why? He knew the Father
loved him. God loved him. So, Christ revealed
this life It's not in things, but it's to be alive unto God
and dead to this world. Oh, I know men like Buddha and
Gandhi, Mahatma Gandhi and Mohammed, pretended to have renounced this
world, but no, they lived in it and they're liars, but not
the Lord Jesus Christ. And this life, this spiritual
life, It's a life of God. It's a life of holiness. It's
a life of love, mercy, peace. It's a life and a love for God,
an affection set on things above it, peace which passeth understanding,
rest in God, joy unspeakable, full of glory. And now, what
is it to have the Son? He that hath the Son hath eternal
life. What is it to have the Son? Well,
let me try to tell you. It's first of all to have a knowledge
of the Son. To know who He is. To know Him. To know Him. Now, Paul said,
Oh, that I might know Him. Oh, that I might win Christ and
be found in Him. Oh, that I might know Him. He meant more than just know
about Him, to be acquainted with Him, to know something about
Him, who He is, but it's to have intimate understanding, acquaintance,
to have Christ revealed to you and in you, to know who He is,
and no one does. Our Lord said, No man knoweth
the Son but the Father, neither knoweth any man the Father but
the Son, and he to whom the Son will reveal him. And John said
here in 1 John 5 verse 20, He said, we know, we know that the
Son of God has come and has given to us, given to His people an
understanding that we might know Him that is true and we're in
Him that is true. Even in His Son Jesus Christ.
This is the true God and eternal life. To have a knowledge of
the Son and we don't know Him till He reveals Himself. Christ
came to this earth. And he walked along the Sea of
Galilee one day, and there were many boats out there, many fishermen
and many boats. And he chose two boats, the boat
of Simon and Andrew, the boat of John and Jane. And he called
them by his power, by his word. He chose them. He elected them. He called them. He revealed Himself
to them. Who He was. Why He came. And that they belong to Him from
now on. In Matthew 16, the Lord asked
this question to His disciples. He said, whom do men say that
I am? And they said, well, some say
you're this and some say you're that. He said, whom do you say
that I am? And Simon Peter spoke up on behalf
of them and all of God's true people. He said, Thou art the
Christ, the Son of the living God. In another place he said,
No, we're sure that Thou art the Christ, Son of God, that
God was manifest in the flesh. Simon knew him. Simeon, there
was an old man coming to the temple one day and he saw a young
woman with a babe in her arm. And he held that child in his
arm. He said, Now I have seen thy salvation. Thomas knew him. He said, My Lord and my God,
to have a knowledge of the Son is to have the Son. What is it
to have the Son? It's to have a need for the Son.
Like a hungry man needs bread. Like a thirsty man needs water.
Our Lord said, Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after
righteousness. What's that? Well, it's a person,
not a thing, not a doctrine. It's Him. It's Christ. To have
a need for the Son is like a guilty man who needs an advocate, like
a child needs its mother, like a sheep needs a shepherd, like
a sinner needs a Savior. Oh, it's to have a need for the
Son. To have the Son is to have faith in Him, hope in Him, and
only Him. It's to believe Him, to trust
Him, to come to Him, to cast all your care upon Him. to believe,
to know that He's your Prophet, your Priest, your King, your
Lord, your Messiah, your Covenant Head like Adam, your Savior,
your Everything, your Righteousness, your Lamb slain. To have the
Son is to have a love for Him, a love for His person, to admire,
to love His person and want to be like Him, to love His sovereignty,
to love His salvation, to love His work, to love His work on
Calvary's tree, to love His Word, everything He said and did, is
to hang on it. Words of life. Not hard sayings,
but salvation itself. To have the Son is to have life. It's to have Christ in you. Christ
in you. It's to have the Son of Man,
the Son of God, Christ the Savior, the Lord, your righteousness
revealed not only to you, but in you. And you know from your
heart that Christ is your only hope, your only salvation. Do you have the Son? Do you have
the Son? Do you have a hunger for Him,
a need for Him? Do you know who He is? Do you
know why He came? What He did? Do you hang on Him? Do you? He that hath the Son
hath life, and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life.
Oh, I pray, I hope, that through the preaching of His Word He
may reveal Himself to you and in you. Amen.