I either want the Lord to come
back right now, or I hope that we will be singing that as we
are carried up into glory with Him, which I know we won't be.
Our Lord has something way better than that prepared. But that
makes me excited to go be with Him. That's a good thing. It's always a good thing. Turn with me to 2 Timothy chapter
1. We were just here for the Bible
study. It will be my intention to finish Matthew. I have not left the book of Matthew. We have two more chapters left.
And if the Lord is willing, we will finish it. But my attention
and my heart was greatly drawn to this for today. And I want us to look now at
what initially caused me to want to be here, what initially grabbed
my attention to even come here. Verse one says, Paul an apostle
of Jesus Christ by the will of God, according to the promise
of life, which is in Christ Jesus. Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ
by the will of God, according to the promise of life, which is in Christ Jesus, the
promise of life. Isn't that glorious? The promise
of life. Do you enjoy hearing that? The
promise of life. When I read that, I really entered
into the fact that that is what every soul on earth desires. Life. That is literally what everybody
wants. Life. If you get down to the greatest
natural desire of every human being on earth, it's life. That's what it is. It's life. It's why people exercise and try to eat right some of
the time. They're trying to maintain a
quality of life. It's why people fear dangerous
situations and avoid dangerous areas or dangerous activities. They're worried that it might
end their life. God gave a great and precious
gift to man when he gave life. But there's something that I
want all of us to understand. The life that we now live in
the flesh is not the life he's talking about right here. All
right? This life that we all know and
experience and are living right now in this flesh, this is not
the life he's talking about. This is a promise of life. This life is something that man
had, but lost. The life he's talking about is
something that man had, but lost. Turn with me over to Genesis
chapter two. Genesis 2 verse 7 says, and the Lord God formed man of
the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath
of life. God himself formed man of the
dust of the ground and God himself breathed into his nostrils the
breath of life, and man became a living soul. In the beginning, God gave man
the very life of the Spirit of God Himself, the very life of
the breath of God Himself, spiritual life, holy life, righteous life,
justified before God life. Verse 8. And the Lord God planted
a garden eastward in Eden, and there he put the man whom he
had formed. And out of the ground made the
Lord God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight and
good for food, the tree of life also in the midst of the garden,
and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Verse 16, and
the Lord God commanded the man saying of every tree of the garden,
thou mayest freely eat that included the tree of life. Lay hold of
it, partake of it, enjoy it, freely eat from it. Verse 17,
but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt
not eat of it for in the day that thou eatest thereof, thou
shalt surely die. And you know that they ate it. But here's the thing about it.
They kept on going. They ate it. And then they kept
on going. They kept on living in the world.
They had children. We can read about it. They had
children and grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Do you know
how long Adam lived on the earth? 930 years. He lived on this earth
930 years before physically he left it. Physically he was taken
from it. So what was our Lord talking
about? What happened in the garden? What happened in the garden?
What was the death that Adam and Eve died in that day? It was the death or the loss
of their spiritual life. God is a spirit. And it was the death, or they
were, in that moment, they became cut off from God, dead to God,
separated from God. They lost their spiritual life. Now they retained the physical
life of their flesh for a while, but they lost the spiritual life
of God. And that's the life that Paul
was talking to Timothy about, the spiritual life of God, the
very life that God possesses. Paul said, Timothy, God has promised
to give that life again. That's amazing. That's goodness. What a promise. God has promised
to give that life again to sinners like you and me. He said, Paul, an apostle of
Jesus Christ, by the will of God, according to the promise
of life. true life, the very life of God
himself. There is a promise. It is the
will of God. And in Adam, you know, Adam was
the first man and we all came from him. And as he died, so
did we. Every soul here is spiritually
dead before God in his natural condition. But there's a promise. If there was not a promise, I
would not be standing here. This is the only reason I'm standing
here. There's a promise. It is the will of God, according
to the will of God. There is a covenant promise from
God that He is going to give that life again. And I want us to just take a
second this morning and look at the promise and some things
concerning that life that Paul is talking about. This life that
God has promised to give again. Starting with this, I want us
to see a few things starting with this. Turn over to John
17. John 17 verse 1 says, These words spake Jesus and lifted
up his eyes to heaven and said, Father, the hour is come. Glorify
thy son that thy son also may glorify thee. As thou has given
him power over all flesh. that he should give eternal life
to as many as thou hast given him. Number one, this promise
of life is a sovereign promise. It's a particular promise. This gift of life that he gives,
it is a sovereign gift. It's his to give to whoever he's
pleased to give it to. Verse two says, as thou has given
him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to
as many as thou has given him. This promise is to a particular
people. That's that's what I want to
say. That's what I want us to understand.
That's what we need to know. There's a promise of life. Paul
told Timothy. There is a promise of life. But
it's a particular promise to a particular people. It's a sovereign
promise of a sovereign gift. Who is it? Who are the people
that this life is promised to? As many as the Father gave to
Christ. as many as the Father gave to
Christ. Before the foundation of this world, God the Father
elected a particular people to save. Why is it so important
that we constantly repeat that? Because that is what causes men
and women to say, wait a minute, what if I'm not one of them?
Wait a minute, Lord God Almighty, be merciful to me. Choose me,
elect me. Isn't that what we want? Lord,
let me be counted among them. Before earth was ever made, God
the Father elected a particular number of people to save. He
called it a remnant. He chose a remnant before the
world was created, or man was created, and before sin ever
even happened, knowing that man would sin. Knowing that man would lose the
spiritual life that He gave to him. In the goodness of God's
grace, He chose a particular group of sinners to save, and
He gave every single one of them to the Lord Jesus Christ. Every
single one of them. He gave the work of their redemption
to the hands of his son. And when that work and when those
people were placed in the hands of the Lord Jesus Christ, he
said to his father, I promise I'll save them. This promise
was made by Jesus Christ to his father. This promise is to his
people by the Lord Jesus Christ. In a covenant that he made with
his father, he said, I promise I'll save them. I promise I will
redeem their life from destruction. I'll do that for every single
soul you gave to me. Acts 13, 48 says, as many as
were ordained to eternal life, Many as were ordained. So this
promise of life from God, number one, it's a sovereign promise. It's a sovereign gift. He will
give this life to whoever he sovereignly purposed in the beginning
to give this life to. Here's the second thing I want
us to know about it. John 17 verse two says, as thou
hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal
life to as many as thou hast given him. This life that is
promised to God's people, this is a life that can never be taken
away from them. Never, never taken away again. This promise is an eternal promise. of an eternal life. Just think
about that. I know that we can't get our
minds around it, but just try. Go out into eternity. See how
far you can go into eternity. Eternal. Eternal, never-ending
eternity. Look at John chapter 10 with
me. Verse 27, John 10, verse 27. Our Lord said, my sheep hear
my voice and I know them. They follow me and I give unto
them eternal life and they shall never perish. Neither shall any
man pluck them out of my hand. What a promise. What a promise. Once this life
is given, there is no possibility of spiritual death ever again. Never again. Those of God's children
who leave this world, those who are God's children, the receivers
of the promise, who leave this world, the scripture says their
bodies are sleeping. That's what it says, their bodies
are sleeping. Why does it say that? It's because
their bodies are going to get back up one day. They're going
to get back up. On that day that the Lord returns,
the scripture says the dead in Christ are going to rise from
the ground and they're going to be caught up into the clouds
to meet the Lord in the air. And so shall they ever be with
the Lord. The promise of this life is an
eternal promise of an eternal life. Eternal life. Here's the
next thing. And I love this, okay? I love
hearing this. I just love knowing this. Go
over to Romans 6. Romans 6 verse 4. Therefore,
we are buried with him by baptism into death, that like as Christ
was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even
so we also should walk in newness of life. newness of life. This life that's
promised to God's people is a new life. Now let me tell you why
I love hearing that so much. See if you can enter into that.
That means it's nothing like the life that we're trudging
through down here on this earth. It is nothing like this life. It's not just a continuation
of this life. You talk about good news. God's
people are burdened and worried and troubled and tired of this
life. What if, what if there was no
end to this life? What if there, what if this life
just kept going and going and going? God's people are always
just, ah, what if it just kept going and
going and going? It's brand new. In Christ, everything
is all new. It's made completely, completely
new. It is nothing like this life. It's not a continuation of this
life in any way, shape, or form. This life is so full of sin and
misery and sorrow. The end of, if you look at Romans
5 verse 18, just a few verses up in my Bible, it says that
this new life is a justification of life. It's a justified before
God as it was in the beginning. It's a holy life, it's a spotless,
sinless life. Brand new. Look at 2 Corinthians
5. 2 Corinthians 5 verse 1, it says,
for we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were
dissolved, that means if this body fell and we left here, God's
people, we have a building of God and house not made with hands
eternal in the heavens. For in this we groan earnestly
desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven.
if so be that being clothed we shall not be found naked. For
we that are in this tabernacle do groan being burdened Not for
that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon that mortality might
be swallowed up of life. He's saying we're so ready to
be rid of this body and this life of sin that we're living
in. We're so ready to be robed with this new body of righteousness
that Christ has for his people. That mortality might be swallowed
up of life. That death might just be swallowed
up by life. No more death because it was
all just swallowed up by life. This life that Paul is telling
Timothy about is a life of victory. It's what it is. It's a life
of victory. It's a victorious life. This
spiritually, sovereign, eternal, justified, holy, spotless, sinless
life, it's a victorious life. This pitiful life of flesh that
we're living right now, this is a life of defeat. It always has us feeling defeated. Don't you feel defeated most
of the time? We can't conquer our sin. We can't conquer ourself, we
can't conquer our emotions, we can't conquer our tongues, we
can't conquer our pride, we can't conquer anything. This life of sin has us constantly
feeling defeated, but not the promise of life to come. That's
a life of victory. And here's the reason why. All
right, go back to 2 Timothy 1. 2 Timothy 1 verse 1 says, Paul,
an apostle of Jesus Christ, by the will of God, according to
the promise of life which is in Christ Jesus. That's why it's a sovereign promise
of life. That's why it's an eternal life. That's why it's a holy, sinless,
spotless life. That is why it's a victorious
life. It's because this life is in Christ Jesus. This life
is in the Lord Jesus Christ. John 1 verse 4 says, In Him was
life. He said, I am come that they
might have life. He said, because I live, you
live also. Martha said, I know that my brother
will rise again in the resurrection at the last day. He said, Martha,
I am the resurrection at the last day. I don't know how to explain this,
but I believe this with all my heart. When that moment comes,
what we're going to realize is, Christ is the life. I don't know
how to put that into words. We think of this being there
and better. That's not what it is. We're
gonna see Christ is the life. I am the resurrection. He said
I am the way, the truth, and the life. I am your life. He
said, I'm the bread of life. I'm the water of life. He that
believes on the sun hath life. Why? Why is that? He said, it's
because I laid down my life to give it to you. I laid down
my life to give it to you. This promise of life to us came
from a promise of death to Christ. By the predetermined counsel
and foreknowledge of God, they crucified and slayed the Prince
of Life. That's what it says. The Prince
of Life. That happened, that he might
be the provider of life to every one of his people. He said, I
died so you could live. I suffered your death so you
could receive my life. Turn over to 1 John 5. Our brother
just read from here. 1 John 5 verse 9, If we receive the witness of
men, the witness of God is greater. For this is the witness of God,
which he hath testified of his Son. He that believeth on the
Son of God hath the witness in himself. He that believeth not
God hath made him a liar, because he believeth not the record that
God gave of his Son. And this is the record that God
hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He that hath the Son hath life,
and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life. These things have I written unto
you that believe on the name of the Son of God, that you may
know that you have eternal life, and that you may believe on the
name of the Son of God. The promise of life is the promise
of Christ. It's in Christ because it is
Christ. He is our promise. He is our
life. Christ who is our life. That's
what Colossians says. That's the promise of God to
his people. Christ to you. Grace to you. That's Christ to
you. Life to you. That's Christ to
you. And this is what God has said.
in His Word. I just want to leave us with
this thought. Christ with us, Christ in us, us in Christ. The life that we will forever
live and move and have our being in. The Word of God says it is more
abundant than anything that we could ever imagine. Our Lord
said, I am come that they might have life more abundant. And
we just read in our Bible study a moment ago, one of the scriptures
that we turned to was 2 Corinthians 12, where Paul said, I was caught
up to the third heaven. And he said, I heard things.
that are not possible for a man's mouth to utter. He said, you
know, you talk about a thorn in the flesh. After Paul went
to heaven, Paul went to heaven, Paul saw Jesus Christ, and then
he had to come back to sinful earth. Can you imagine? But he came back to earth, whether
in the body or out of the body, he could not tell. God knew. But he said, I heard things.
I heard Jesus Christ say things. I heard the conversation of heaven. In 1 Corinthians 13, he said,
though I could speak with the tongues of angels, I've heard
the tongues of angels, and I can't speak that language down here. But he gathered the saints and
he said, I heard things that are not possible for a man's
mouth to utter. I would love to tell you what
I heard. I'd love to tell you what I saw.
But I just can't. It is literally not possible
for a man's mouth to utter it. Well, I've always thought about
that in this way. This is a little illustration
that doesn't come close to doing that justice. Let me just start
by saying this is a pitiful illustration that doesn't come close to doing
that justice. But I've always thought about
that in this way. We have a little dog named Ellie Mae. And that dog is alive. She is. She's alive. She eats. She breathes. She can communicate
with us. And she can communicate with
other dogs. And I'm pretty sure she's a sinner
by the way she treats the other dogs. She can communicate with them
very well. But the point is, is she is a living being. She's
alive. She has a life that she lives. But if she ever had the opportunity
for one day or one week to become a human being, if she could become a human being, and if she could hop a flight
to one of the exotic places in the world, and experience the culture and
the cuisine rather than just our house and
that little bitty tiny fenced in area behind our house. Or
that bowl of dog food she gets every single day. She eats every
day. She eats every single day dog
food. But if she could get out and
see this world and experience these things and experience the
culture and the cuisine. Or if she could go to college and study physics, I don't even
know what physics are, that's bigger than me, but if she could
study physics or astrology, astronomy, I don't even know what all that
is, but rather than just learning how to sit, or chase a ball, or if she could sit right there
in a pew and hear the glorious news gospel
of the promise of eternal life that is in Christ Jesus our Lord,
and if she could sit there with understanding, I mean real understanding, and belief in her heart, Belief
in that little heart and the hope, the hope of eternal life
in this man Christ Jesus. And then the next day go back
to being a dog. If she could do all that and
then the next day go back to being a dog, she'd gather all
those other dogs that she's constantly barking at and she'd say, y'all,
I have experienced life more abundant, more abundant than
we could ever imagine. She would tell them it is not
possible for a dog's mouth to utter the things that I heard,
the words that I heard, the communication, the conversation. It's just not possible. It's
greater than anything we have ever known. All we can do down
here right now is bark. That's all we can do. We just
bark. Grovel here below. There is a life that's coming. And it far exceeds anything that
we could ever imagine. There is a promise. Of an abundant
life. And that life is in the Lord
Jesus Christ and. You know, the reality is, you
know that doesn't even come close to comparing to the things that
God has prepared for them to love you. It doesn't even come
close. Eye hath not seen, ear hath not
heard, neither hath entered into the heart of man the life that
God has promised and prepared for his people in Christ. But
if he is willing, may he begin more and more through this word
to reveal it to us, cause us to believe on Christ who is that
life, and to give us hope. hope in it, hope for it. To him
be glory. To his people be hope, mercy,
peace, and love. And to him be all the glory.
Amen.