Open your Bibles, if you would,
to John Chapter 17. We'll continue our study in this
wondrous chapter, this wonderful chapter, which gives us a glimpse
of the Lord Jesus Christ praying to our Heavenly Father. And our
Lord lifts up His eyes to heaven. Beloved, He lifts His eyes to
home. He's looking homeward. The mission is already finished.
He's going to go to the cross. He's going to complete that work.
He's going to be lifted up from the earth. He's going to die
in our room and place, shed his precious blood for us, and he's
going to die. But it doesn't end there. Praise
be to God, it doesn't end there. He's risen. He's risen. He's risen for our justification.
He's sitting right now at the right hand of the Father, and
he has the glory that he had before the Lord sent him here.
My. He says that in verse 5. Father, glorify me with thine
own self, with the glory which I had with thee before the world
was. He has it again. Now he's the risen God-man in
heaven. He is the risen God, man of heaven. Let's read verses
one to five for the context of what we'll study tonight. These
words spake Jesus and lifted up his eyes to heaven and said,
Father, the hour has 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
has given him. And this is life eternal that
they might know thee, the only true God. The only true God. In Jesus Christ, whom thou hast
sent, I have glorified thee on the earth. I finished the work
which thou gavest me to do. And now, O Father, glorify thou
me with thine own self, with the glory which I had with thee
before the world was. Oh, we can never measure. Do
you know we can never measure the blessing of eternal life? We can never measure the blessing
of eternal life. It's immeasurable. You can never
plumb the depths of eternal life. You can't even
put a value on it. Eternal life is purchased by
something far more precious than anything in this world. It was
purchased with the blood of Christ. Can you put a value on the blood
of Christ? No. It's God's blood, isn't it? It's
the blood of the God-man. It's the blood of the sinless
one. And it's so precious in God's sight that it redeemed,
when it was shed, it redeemed everyone who the Father gave
to Christ in eternity. And that's a number you and I
can't number. You go to the ocean, you pick up that sand, you let
it run through your fingers. Can't count them grains, can
you? We go to the beach here at the Great Lakes, pick up some
sand from there, you can't count those grains. Oh my, God's people are more
than the sands of the sea. Isn't that amazing? Isn't that
a number that no man can number? Gives me hope for my family members
who don't know Christ. Gives me hope for my children
who don't know Christ. Gives me hope for friends that
I have that don't know Christ. My, we can't measure. We cannot measure the blessing
of eternal life. Of having eternal life in Christ,
we can't even measure it. We are above all people most
blessed. I'll tell you what, above all
people, we're richer than Bill Gates. Bill Gates got all the
money, right? So does Elon Musk, right? Lots
of money those men have. But we're far richer than them
in all the blessings that we have in Christ. You know why?
Because our riches are eternal. Theirs are temporary. When they
die, someone else is getting their money. But we have an inheritance,
beloved, that's incorruptible. We can't mess it up. It doesn't
fade away. It's not like you ever hear people
getting written out of their parents or family's will? God
will never write us out of his will. Yeah, we're bought. We're bought
with a price, aren't we? And that's the blood of Christ
Jesus, our Lord. A dying king was once heard to say these words,
my kingdom for an inch of time. My whole kingdom for just a little
more time. My. See, man cleaves to this
world, don't they? Natural man cleaves to this world
and the things of this world. But what is life? What is life? We're all living here. What is
life? What is life? Well, listen to what James pens
by inspiration of the Holy Spirit of God in James chapter 4, verse
14. He says this, whereas you know
not what shall be on the morrow. We don't have any clue what's
going to happen tomorrow. None of us. For what is your life? Good question,
isn't it? A question we should all ponder.
What is our life? It is even a vapor. that appear
for a little time and then vanishes away. You know, ever since I
was a little kid, and I still do it when that snow comes, that
first snowfall, you go outside and you go... Right? We all do it, don't we?
And that vapor appears, and it's gone. That's what our life is
like, beloved. And how fast it dissipates, right?
How fast that little... A puff of smoke comes out of
our mouth. That's what we used to, we used to pretend when we
were younger that we were smoking. But how quickly that just dissipates
and it's gone. It's gone. That's what our lives
are like. Do you know that which is most
eagerly sought for in this world? In life, by people, fame. A lot of people seek after fame,
don't they? They want to make a name for
themselves. They want to be known, possibly as a great person. Or
they may seek a fortune. I'm not saying it's not good to have
money. That's not what I'm saying. But people get so caught up in
the things of this world that all they do is seek money. I
have a family member who has all kinds of money. Be considered
a millionaire. Yet he wants more. He could retire. No, never enough. He could retire.
He's my brother. He could retire. He could spend
the rest of his life relaxing, enjoying the farm that he's on.
Nope. Got to keep working. Got to keep going. When's enough? When are we satisfied? When are we satisfied? People
also like power. Oh, they like power. They get
a hold of power and it's like a drug. And they fast learn how
to wield it. And usually people who get power
like that, it's never wielded in a good way. It's always detrimental
to someone. And then some people seek after
strength. Strength. And they get proud of their strength.
Real proud of their strength. But you know what? Every one
of those things are going to be gone at death. You know, money means absolutely
nothing when you're facing the righteous God of the universe.
It means nothing. How much money you had, how much
money you didn't have, means absolutely nothing when you're
facing the great judge of the universe, the Lord Jesus Christ.
Scripture says, for what shall profit a man if he shall gain
the whole world and lose his own soul? For what shall a man
give in exchange for his soul? All the money in the world couldn't
buy salvation for your soul. How people can think that? Does
God not already own everything? It's all His. It's already His. He needs nothing from us. So
anyone who thinks they can buy their way to heaven, they're
going to be in for a big surprise. Money means absolutely nothing
to the righteous God of the universe. Power. How do you think these folks
are going to feel when they stand in front of the righteous God
of the universe? Was the power that they held in the world going
to mean anything to God? Not a thing. Not a thing. Doesn't matter how
much power you have or how much power you don't have. The question
is, do you believe on the son? Because he's the one these folks
are going to be facing at the Great White Judgment Throne.
It's going to be the Lord Jesus Christ. I had a conversation
with someone the other day, and I said, well, it don't matter
what you think about that situation. Whether you believe it or not,
you're going to face God. You're going to stand in His
presence. Whether you believe in Him or
not, you're going to face Him. And I said, every knee, my knee
and your knee, I said to the fellow, your knee and my knee
are both going to bow and say, Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory
of God the Father. What a blessing to bow our knee
now to the Lord Jesus Christ. Because it's too late then for
those who do not know Christ. One old preacher, I think it
was Henry, said, better to bow your knee in this world than
in condemnation in the world to come. Strength. These folks who seek
after strength and are filled with self-righteousness about
what they can do and what they can't do. Do you think their
strength will matter at all when they face the righteous God,
the righteous judge, the Lord Jesus Christ at the great white
judgment throne? It won't matter anything how
weak you are or how strong you are. Isn't it amazing how God's
economy is the total opposite of man's economy? See, man thinks
they have to do something to gain salvation. God says, no,
you just look to my son. He's already done. The only way for us, we sinners,
to be saved is to look to the Crucified One, to look to the
Lord Jesus Christ. So the possessor of all things
who dies without Christ, they're in an incredibly sad state. They're
dying in self-righteousness. They're dying in their sins. And they will be lost forever.
Lost forever. Turn with me, if you would, to
Romans chapter 8, beloved. Romans chapter 8. Wonderful passage that Paul wrote
right after the autobiography of the believer, where Paul says,
O wretched man that I am, who can deliver me from this body
of sin? And he says that neither death,
nor persecution, nor anything in this world can separate us
from the love of Christ. Look what he writes here in Romans
chapter 8. We'll read verses 1 to 11. You know, we must be
born again by the Holy Spirit of God. And it is he who makes the spiritually
dead alive. It's he who, by his regenerating
power, gives us life. Gives us life. He makes the dead
spiritually alive, beloved. And he gives us faith to believe
on Christ, doesn't he? The Holy Spirit does that. And
it's Christ, as we saw last week, who's obtained eternal life.
He can give it to whomever he wills, right? It's his to give. And the Father's given him all
power to give it to all those whom the Father gave him in eternity. And that's all according to the
mercy of God. We do not get what we deserve. We get grace, and
we get mercy, beloved. Look at this here in Romans chapter
8 verses 1 to 11. This is wonderful. Magnificent
portion of scripture. There is therefore now no condemnation.
In the Greek that means judgment. Remember we were told back in
our religious days that we would have to stand before God and
his believers and he'd judge us for everything we did and
didn't do. We'd lose rewards or gain rewards. Would that not
be judgment? Would that not be judgment? Look
what it says here. There is therefore now what? No condemnation, no judgment.
We'll never be judged again. You know why? Because our sins
were judged at Calvary's cross in Christ Jesus our Lord. To
them which are in Christ, there's the, are you in Christ? That's the question. Are you
in Christ? Are you born again of the Holy
Spirit of God? Did he give you faith to believe on Christ? Are
you trusting and just looking to the crucified one? And look at this, we don't walk
after the flesh, it says, but after the spirit. For the law
of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from
the law of sin and death. See, the law of God is the law
of sin and death. The soul that sinneth, what?
It must die. See, that law of God is holy,
and it shows our sinfulness, doesn't it? Oh my. For what the law could
not do in that it was weak, it could not save us through the
flesh. It couldn't save us. Not one
of us can be saved by anything we do in the flesh. That's what
it's telling us here. God sending his own son in the
likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, condemned sin in the
flesh. Look at, hallelujah. That is
good news. He condemned sin in the flesh,
meaning he fulfilled everything the law demanded for us. He did
it all. The law has no claim on us anymore.
No hold. That's why Paul writes that we're
free. We're free, beloved. Christ hath made me free, Paul
writes. Every believer can say that.
We can go tell folks, Christ made me free. They say, well,
you were never in prison. Oh, yes, I was. Oh, yeah, I was
in the prison house of sin. That's where I was. But he set
me free. Oh, that's why we praise his
name. That's why we sing praises to him. Then it says that the
righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us. How was it
fulfilled in us? Because our substitute did it
for us. It can never be fulfilled by us, but we have Christ in
us, the hope of glory, don't we? He already fulfilled the
law in our place, beloved. Never could we, and then look
at this, who walk not after the flesh, but after the spirit.
We walk after the spirit, beloved. It's wonderful. For they that
are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh. But they
that are after the spirit, the things of the spirit. Why do
we have a battle constantly between this dead body of flesh and our
spirit? There you go. The flesh is at war with the
spirit in us. They do not like each other. The new nature don't want to
sin anymore, does it? But we're still sinners. In the
flesh, all it wants to do is satisfy the lust of the flesh.
That's all it wants to do. My, how do we guard ourselves
against that? Get in this world, listen to
gospel sermons, Keep our minds set on Christ. Now we're still
gonna sin because it's who we are. But oh my, I'll tell you
what, an old preacher said one time, he said, sin will keep
you from this book, but this book will keep you from sin.
It's true. Yeah, it's true. It's so true. Look at this, for to be kindly
minded is death. The wages of sin is death, but
the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. It is not subject to the law,
neither indeed can it be. The flesh hates the law of God.
That's why, you know, you tell, I remember when I was little
and my mom would say, Wayne, I make, just bake these cookies,
don't touch them. Well, that was just like saying,
Try to eat them all, Wade. Because as soon as she said that,
I wanted one. She'd be better just not to even
tell me she baked cookies. Now, I could smell them when
I came home. But if I didn't know where they were, but she
had to tell me where they were. My, how many times did I fail
that test? Oh, my goodness. Yeah, still
do. Still do. Oh, my gosh. See? That's how we are. Carnal mind is enmity against
God, is not subject to the law of God, neither can it be. So
then they that are the flesh cannot please God. Look at that.
Now folks think that they can please God. I used to think that.
I used to think my good would outweigh my bad. But the scripture
right there tells us, and this is what we can tell people, that
our flesh can't please God in any way. No matter what we do,
we can't please God. That's why the scripture says,
without the shed and the blood, there's no remission for sins.
Remember all that blood was shed in the Old Testament? It couldn't
take away sin, though, could it? And I was listening to a
message this week, and the young preacher brought forth that there
was all kinds of different offerings. You know what that's? Because
there's all kinds of different sins. But that blood that was shed
kept saying, the Redeemer's coming. The crucified one's coming. He's
been prophesied. He's coming. They were shadows,
weren't they, pointing to the substance, the Lord Jesus Christ. My, oh, my. Look, it says here,
though, in verse 9, but ye are not in the flesh. There was a
time when we were, though, wasn't there? You're not in the flesh,
but in the spirit. If so be that the spirit of God
dwell in you. Look at that. Now, if any man have not the
Spirit of Christ, he's none of his. If you're not born again,
you're not one of Christ. That's what that's saying right
there. And if Christ be in you, the
body is dead because of sin. But the Spirit is life because
of righteousness, and that's Christ's righteousness, that's
not ours. And it says, but if the spirit
of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that
raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal
bodies by his spirit that dwells in you. Born again by the Holy
Spirit of God. Remember we looked at in Sunday
school the spiritual circumcision, the circumcision made without
hands? That's exactly what that's talking about right there. That's
the work of God. Now, two causes may end our life
on Earth. Two causes may. It may be terminated
by an external force or by an inward disease. You
can boil it all down to an external force or an inward disease. But think on these, think on
how this verse before us, these verses before us here, as thou
has given him power over all flesh, verse two of chapter 17,
that he should give eternal life to as many as thou has given
him, and this is life eternal, that they might know thee the
only true God, Jesus, whom thou hast sent. Now think of this. Think about these points about
eternal life. Number one, it has nothing to
terminate it from within. It can't be terminated from within.
Bruce Crabtree and I were talking one time, he goes, Brother Wayne,
we can't mess up our salvation. Isn't that wonderful? We can't. It can't be terminated
from within. We can't terminate it. We wouldn't
want to anyways, would we? But it can't be. Think of who
eternal life comes from. It comes from God. It's not of
our doing, it comes from God. Now God can end our physical
life, can't he? Right? But eternal life is eternal
because it comes from him, the eternal one. So nothing, it can't
be terminated by anything in us or by anyone else in this
world. They may kill the body, right?
What's the scripture say? But they can't destroy the soul. I ask you this, I ask you this,
can any power in heaven or earth overcome God's power? Can any power in heaven or in
earth, angels, demons, principalities and powers, rulers of this world,
can any of them overcome God's power? No, not at all, right? Turn, if you would, to 1 Peter. We're going to see here in this
text, 1 Peter 1. We're going to see in this text
that we look at the reason why eternal life can never be terminated. Now, you've got some fools out
there that say that you can have eternal life and lose it. Those
people are just foolish. I'm telling you that. They do
not know. They do not have eternal life. If a person thinks that
way, they don't have eternal life. They just don't. Because eternal life is only
eternal because it comes from Christ. Because it's he who's
obtained it. And he is, who is he? He's the
eternal God in the flesh, isn't he? He's the word of God incarnate. Look at this. This will talk
any people who says they can lose their salvation by something
they do. You're talking to a lost man, and you need to preach the
gospel to him. Look at this. 1 Peter 1, verses 3 to 5. Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy
hath begotten us. That means to be born again.
It's he who's regenerated us. Into what? Unto a lively hope.
Do you have a hope? It's a lively hope, isn't it?
Our hope's a living hope. He's alive. He's alive and he's
in glory. We have a living hope. By the
resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. Look at this.
I love this. I love this. Now we can mess up our own inheritance,
can't we? People can squander, if they're
given an inheritance, they could squander the whole inheritance.
Right? Remember the prodigal son? Oh,
what'd the father do? Oh, son! Give him the best robe! That picture's the father putting
the righteousness of Christ on us. That's without pictures. That's a beautiful picture of
what God does for us. Because the Father said, bring
forth the best robe. Singular. The best robe. What's
the best robe that a sinner can be clothed in? The righteousness
of Christ, beloved. And it's the best robe, isn't
it? It's the best robe. Oh my, it's wonderful. Look at
this. To an inheritance incorruptible. You and I can't mess it up. Look
at this. And undefiled. It can't be defiled
by anything we do. Look at that. Can't send your salvation away.
Not that we'd ever want to do that. Right? Not that we'd ever
want to do that. That fadeth not away. God doesn't say, well, I'm going
to give you this inheritance and then a week later say, no,
no, you're not worthy of it. Well, we're not worthy of it,
none of us. That's what makes it a fact we're
saved by grace. Because we're not worthy of this
wondrous salvation. Look at this. You ever make a
reservation at a restaurant? And when you go there, there's
a little card that says reserved, right? That's exactly what this
means. There's a spot beloved of God
for each one of God's saints reserved in heaven for them,
purchased by the blood of Christ. Now that gives us hope and joy,
don't it? What a lively hope we have. What
a living hope we have. And now here we see, here we
see now, that we cannot be, our salvation cannot be terminated
by anything within us. Look at this. Speaking of God's
people who are kept by what? The power of God. You're looking at someone who's
kept by the power of God, and I'm looking at folks who are
kept by the power of God. If it was me, I'd be done. If it was anything I do, I'd
be done. As soon as I wake up, I'd be done. And when I'm dreaming,
I'd be done. But praise God, look at this,
we are kept beloved by the power of God through faith unto salvation. Who's our faith in? The Lord
Jesus Christ. Who obtained our salvation? The Lord Jesus Christ,
ready to be revealed in the last time. Oh my, when that time of
love was set for you and I, we heard the gospel, we heard the
shepherd's voice. Come to me, all ye that labor
and are heavy laden, and I'll give you rest. So in verse two there of our
text, or verse two of our text, we see that the son has all authority,
right? In John 17 verse two, the son
has all authority. He's been given to him by the
father. All power to give eternal life to as many as thou has given
him. He has the right to give it to whomever he pleases because
he obtained it. It's His. He can give it to whomever He
will. Praise God, He gave it to me. And praise God, He gave
it to you, beloved of God. Second point is this. Eternal
life cannot be ended by anything within. Again, by a disease. Now, disease destroys the body,
right? Disease destroys the body. We can get cancer and we can
just die from it. Our dear sister Denise was taken
from us by COVID, but that was the vehicle God took her home
with, right? So disease can wreck our bodies. And even as we get older, we
get aches and pains and we find we can't do things like we used
to be able to do. We find we, I can't move near
as fast as I used to. And that wasn't very fast because
of my hips, but I can't, now I'm at half the speed I used
to go at. And I go out and I work on the yard or do something,
and I'm plumb wore out. I gotta go rest. Sometimes, we've
been doing stuff before, Vicki and I working away outside or
working in the garage, and I gotta sit for a whole day the next
day. I'm so wiped out. You ever had that happen? But
when we were young, it wouldn't bother us at all. We could have
got up the next morning and went right back at it, couldn't we?
Not anymore, though. Now we need to rest. Eternal life comes from God.
And you know, it begins on this earth, like I said last week.
We who are the redeemed, we have eternal life right now. We're
not waiting until we get glory. We have eternal life right now.
It's ours. Do you have the sun? Then you have eternal life. Are
you resting and trusting in the crucified one, the Lord Jesus
Christ? Then you have eternal life right now. All dying is
is going to change our position, our place, that's all. We still
have eternal life though right now. That's just so comforting
and we can't mess it up. My, I remember in religion, you
used to get just, man, I used to just get hammered by the preacher.
I feel semi-good going in, and I feel worse coming out. I felt
like I just got lawn mowed. My, but now, when I hear a message
of God's grace, and I leave rejoicing. I listened to, like I say, a
young preacher this week, and when I was done listening to
the message, I was rejoicing. He preached Christ to me. It
was wonderful. Honey to my soul. My. So if you have the Son, you have
eternal life. Listen to, actually, let's turn
there. John chapter 6. John chapter 6. We'll turn there
and read this. We're going to read about eight
verses here, so I'd like us to turn here. John chapter 6, verses
43 to 51. My, this is a wonderful portion
of Scripture. You know, you always hear me say, this is a wonderful
portion of Scripture. Isn't all Scripture wonderful? Everywhere
I'm turned, you're going to hear me say, that's a wonderful piece
of Scripture right there. Because it all is, isn't it? And to think that we knew nothing
about this before the Lord saved us. Now it's so wonderful. It's so wondrous what's in this
book. And like you said last week,
Dave, there's parts of them, I find in my study, I'll be studying
and go, I never saw that. I must have read that portion
100 times and never saw that. But see, when it's God's time
for me to see that, then he reveals it to us. And what is it? It's
honey to our soul, isn't it? And sometimes we can roll that
around in our minds for weeks. And just, oh, it's just such
a blessing for us. Look at this here, though, in
John chapter 6. Jesus answered, verse 43, Jesus
therefore answered and said unto them, murmur not among yourselves.
No man can come to me except the Father which has sent me
draw him. Now in the Greek, that's drag. Yeah, that's drag. You know why we have to be dragged?
Because we never come to him. If he didn't bring us to him,
we'd never come to him. I'm happy he dragged me. I'll
tell you why. I'm happy I was made willing.
Aren't you happy you were made willing on the day of his power?
That's wonderful. And then look at what he says
about those who he draws to him. I'll raise them up at the last
day. What a promise. That's a promise
from God. It's a promise from the Messiah,
from the Son of God. Now look at what he says. It's
written in the prophets, and they shall all be taught of God. Well,
who teaches us? The Holy Spirit, the Comforter,
Scripture says he won't speak himself, but he'll tell us all
about Christ. Look at this. Every man, therefore, that hath
heard and learned of the Father cometh unto me. Not that any
man hath seen the Father, save he which is of God, he hath seen
the Father. Verily, verily, I say unto you,
he that believeth on me hath everlasting life. Do you believe
on Christ? And I'm not talking about just the knowledge in your
brain. I'm talking about a heartfelt
knowledge of who Christ is. Well, if you do, then the scripture
says, you have everlasting life. Rejoice, beloved. No one can
take that away from us. We can't even mess it up. That's
good news. That's probably the best news
I've ever heard in my life. Salvation through Christ and Him alone.
Scott Richardson used to say, once I heard the good news, I
ain't heard no bad news since then. I know what he means. I
know what he means. Look at that, though. He that
believeth on me hath everlasting life. Now, the question is, do
you believe on Christ? And look what he says. Look at
the statement. I am that bread of life. He's proclaiming who
He is right here. Your father is a deep man in
the wilderness and are dead. This is the bread which is coming
down from heaven that a man may eat thereof and not die. I am
the living bread which came down from heaven. Look at that. He
left heaven. So He was before He even came
to this world. We know He was the Son of God,
the Word of God, and He's the Word of God incarnate. If any
man eat of this bread, he shall live forever. And that bread
that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life
of the world. Now, that doesn't mean physically. It doesn't mean
cannibalism. Some people who are just enemies
of the Bible look at that stuff and they say, oh, you know, it's
cannibalism. Give me a break. The Lord's talking about spiritual
things here. He even said, I'm the bread of life. He is the
bread of life. See the word everlasting there
in verse 47? See where it says, He that believeth on me hath
everlasting life. Know what that means in the Greek?
It means eternal, perpetual. In this, I love this, it's not
affected by the limitations of time. You know why? Yeah, he's outside of time and
space. He made time for the plan of salvation to occur. We are
locked in time and space. You often hear me say that, right?
We're locked in time and space, but I'll tell you what, when
we die, we're leaving time and space. We're going to glory,
to be with the Lord. My oh my, it's wonderful. And then let's go back to John
17 with that in mind, with what we just read in mind. Now that
eternal life is eternal life. See what I mean by if someone
says they can lose their salvation, they don't have eternal life.
Because I'll tell you, I can't lose my salvation. I can't. It's in Christ. And in Christ
alone. My, it's wondrous. Look at this, let's read verses
2 and 3 again. Now that'll be our next meeting,
that'll be what we'll be looking at, the only true God. There's
only one God. There's only one, and he reveals
himself all through scripture as the one true God, in contrast
to idols. That's why that's here, written
in this. And people say, well, that was the old days. No, there's
people still worshiping idols today. Yeah, worship themselves. They
bow down to statues, pieces of wood, still today. Pictures. They bow down to all kinds of
things, crosses. And they got pictures of Wild
Bill Hickok on their wall. Right? You got blue eyes and
Wild Bill Hickok. It's got his long hair there.
And they bow down and say, oh, look, that's Jesus. That's not
Jesus at all. Jesus was an Israelite. He was
Semitic. My, how man can warp. warp things by their own imagination. And I was there, I know, we can. So in verse three of our text,
John 17, three, it says here, that life eternal is knowing
the one true God. Do you know him? And I don't
mean just the intellectual knowledge. I mean, do you know him? Has
He revealed Himself to you? That's the only way we get to
know Him, is when He reveals Himself to us. Has He revealed
Himself to you? As the sovereign God of the universe,
who saves whomever He wills, and we're just saying, oh, thank
you, Lord, you saved me. Thank you, Lord. You didn't pass
me by. Oh. and salvation is knowing the
one way to heaven, the one way to the Father, the Lord Jesus
Christ. Eternal life's in Him, and in Him alone. Now, many people
know of God. They believe there's a creator,
but they do not know the one true God. Many think they know God, but
the God, little g, that they know does not even come close
to the God of the Bible. That's the state I was in when
I was in religion. I found out the God that I thought
was God was a figment of my imagination. Couldn't do nothing without me.
Oh, was I in for a shock. God don't need me, he don't need
any of us, does he? But he uses us, and we glorify
him for that, don't we? We brag on our king, that's what
we do. Now, how is it possible that
one may think they know God, but don't know him at all? Well,
because they've never been born again by the Holy Spirit of God.
They've never been regenerated. And our Lord himself said, you
must be born again. They think they know God, but
in reality, they've just cooked up God of their imagination.
Yeah, they cooked it up. You know our hearts, our idol
factories? Well, we can make so many gods
in our natural heart, we could just pop them out. It's true. We can make gods out
of ourselves. We can make a god out of money.
We can make a god out of power, all those things. We can make
a god out of being strong. We can even make a god out of
things we love. And idol out of things we love. Oh, the heart's
deceitful and desperately wicked, isn't it? But praise be to God.
God has mercy on poor sinners. Poor sinners like you and I.
Oh, he's so good. He's so good. Oh, he's so good.
None of us by nature would ever choose God. We never come to
him. That's why he's got to bring us to himself. That's why, like
we saw on Sunday, he's got to come where we are. We may run
to him then, but he comes to us first. What did the father
do when he saw the prodigal son? He started running, didn't he? Oh my, I could just, oh, that's
such a lovely picture of how I was and the father saw me and
came running. And that's true for every believer.
That's true for all of us. Oh my, what a beautiful picture. You know, some people limit God
in His sovereignty. They say, well, I know God. I
love God. But they limit Him in His sovereignty.
They say God can't do anything unless you make a decision. Well,
that's not the God of the Bible, is it? God of the Bible is not
waiting for us to make a decision. not supposedly waiting for us
to exercise our free will. You know, if God had awaited
for me to come to Him, I'd have been doomed. I'd still be dead in trespasses
and sins. But praise be to God, He came
and He found me and He saved me. And I know He did the same
for you who believe. And that's why we rejoice so
much in the grace and mercy of God, isn't it? It's wondrous. In verse 3 here, it brings forth
How we know that we have eternal life. We know that we have eternal
life. None of us by nature would know
God. And none of us did know God by nature until we're born
again. And then he reveals himself to
us. And what happens? We're just like, oh my goodness. And then we start to learn that
he's ever been with us, protecting us and taking care of us the
whole time through our lives. We couldn't see him, but he never
left us because we're one of his sheep. My. And then we're made willing and
what do we do? We just run like that Syrophoenician woman, don't
we? And we run to the feet of Christ
and we beg God for mercy. Has God ever turned away anyone
who's come to him? Nope, Christ won't turn around, turn away
anyone who comes to him. No way, nope, he just won't. Turn, if you would, to 1 John
chapter 4. How do we know that we know God?
Well, when he reveals himself to us, we know God then. But
you know, before we know him, we're knowing to him. Before we know him, we're knowing
to him. He's known us from all eternity. He's known us from before the
world ever was. Look at this. This is wonderful.
1 John chapter 4. Oh, it's 1 John chapter 4, and
we who are believers, we believe on Christ, we trust in Christ,
we rest in Christ by God-given faith. Look at this, verse 7. Beloved, I love that, divinely
loved ones. Beloved, let us love one another,
for love is of God, and everyone that loveth is born of God and
knoweth God. He that loveth not knoweth not
God, for God is what? He's love. in this was manifest the love
of God towards us, because that God sent his only begotten Son
into the world, that we might have life through him. Oh, how
the love of God is manifested when he sent his Son to die for
you and I. God the Father manifested his
love by sending Christ the Holy One, the Word of God, The just
one to die for the unjust. The ungodly. That's me. I'm an
ungodly one. Not now, the Lord saved me, but
that was my natural state. It's wonderful. And I'm still
a sinner, but praise be to God, I'm a safe sinner. Oh my, look
at that. He manifested the love of God
towards us because God sent his only son, only begotten son of
the world, that we might live through him, here in his love.
Not that we love God, but that he loved us and sent his son
to be a propitiation for our sins. That means he extinguished
our sins. They're gone. I was talking to Joe Terrell
and I said, yeah, you know, there's no smoke coming up from the fire. And he says, no, the sacrifice
was consumed. And Christ was a sacrifice. And
our sins were imputed to Him. And the wrath of God fell upon
Him, beloved. Our sins are gone. Death couldn't hold the Holy
One, could it? Because our sins were just laid on Him. They weren't
His. They were ours. He's the sinless one. He never
sinned in thought, word, or deed. But now He's risen. See, like
I said, old death couldn't grip him. Scripture says, the devil
cometh and he hath nothing in me, Christ said. Now if he come for you and I,
he got lots in us, doesn't he? But nothing in Christ, nothing.
He's a propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us,
We ought also to love one another. No man has seen God at any time.
If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected
in us. Hereby know we that we dwell in him, and he in us, because
he hath given us of his spirit. And we have seen and do testify
that the Father sent the Son to be the Savior of the world.
Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God dwelleth
in him. Jesus is the son of God, God dwells in him, and he in
God. And we have known and believed
that the love that God hath to us, God is love, and he that
dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him. Herein is
our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day
of judgment, because as he is, so are we in this world. There
is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear, because
fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect
in love. We love him, because he first
loved us. See, we know God because He's
knowing us from eternity. In verse 3, the Father's called
the one true God. Look at verse 3 again, John 17.
And this is eternal life, that they might know Thee, the only
true God, and Jesus Christ, whom Thou hast sent. There's only
one God. There's only one true God. That's Jehovah. That's Jehovah,
and the union of Christ with the Father and the knowledge
of both are set before us in this text. That those who are
saved will know both the Father and the Son. You know why? Because the Holy Spirit will
reveal them to us. My, and we get great comfort from that.
Also in this text in verse three, we are set before us, Christ
again is God, the God-man. He is the Son and the Godhead,
the three are one, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
And all are the one true living God. Look what it says in this
verse. And this is life eternal, that they might know thee, the
only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent. Well, we
know he's the Word of God, don't we, from studying scriptures?
And we know God sent him, because we just read about that in 1
John, chapter 4. God sent Christ into this world
to be the Redeemer of his people. Again, we'll read that verse
again, and this is life eternal, that they might know thee, the
only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom now has sent. Here we see,
and we're going to see as we study this passage out further
down, remember the first five verses are Christ praying to
the Father, the next set of verses are about Christ praying for
the apostles, and in the last portion of this precious chapter
is Christ praying for his people, his elect. So that's him in his
meditatorial office, right? He's acting as our mediator.
He's God. He's the only mediator between
God and man, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself a ransom for
all. My oh my. And notice he prays,
we're going to see later on, when he prays in the section
for his elect, right, that he's praying for all that the Father
gave him as a gift. We're given to Christ as a gift
from the Father. Do you know that? We're his bride. We're his bride, beloved. The
elect of God, the ones who Christ will soon go to the cross for,
and to redeem their eternal souls by the shedding of his precious
blood, those he's going to pray for. The sinless one will give
his life for the unjust, for sinners. And we'll be raised by the power
of God one day. We're going to die in the flesh,
but we're going to be raised by the power of God, just as Christ
was raised. Praise be to God. The Lord Jesus
Christ died in our room and place. Let our lips be filled with joy
and praise for that. He paid for all of our sins.
He's the propitiation for our sins, beloved. He's the sin offering
for our sins. He's God's Passover lamb. He's
the perfect one. And the only way for us to know
the Father is through Christ, right? We would never know the
Father except through the Lord Jesus Christ. And this is not an intellectual
knowledge. No, this is a heart knowledge.
We've been redeemed. We've been born again. We're new creatures in Christ. Praise his mighty name. You know
what else we've been taught? We've been taught that we're
unworthy for this salvation. Aren't we? But are we so thankful
that we're part of that number? Oh yeah, I'm unworthy and I don't
merit it, but hallelujah, praise God, he saved my soul. all because
of his mercy and grace. And you know what? In the plan
of God's salvation, think of this. I want you to bring this
right home. In the plan of God's salvation, he included us. In the great plan of salvation
and eternity, for his redeemed, he included us in that number. And it had nothing to do with
us. We weren't even born. And then he created this world.
Think of this. He planned all this in eternity,
right? And then he created this world
so that the plan of salvation might be executed. And in the plan of salvation,
scripture tells us that Christ is the lamb slain from the foundation
of the world. So before he even came, he knew
that he had to come and die. He knew that the only way that
those chosen by the Father in Him were to be saved was by Him
coming into this world. He's the Word of God. He's got
all power and might. And oh my, does He humble Himself. No wonder the old timers called
His humiliation. The Word of God becomes flesh. and dwells in this sin-cursed
world. And he's despised. He's rejected. Man, them soldiers,
they beat him to a pulp, and they spit on him, and they said,
hell, king of the Jews. Little did they know that they
were doomed not to the prince of life. And you know what? They were going to stand before
him. If they died in their sins, we
don't know. I hope the Lord saved some of
them. I hope he saved all of them. We don't know. But those
who perished in their sins, they're going to stand, and they're going
to look upon him, and they're going to cry for the mountains
to fall upon them. And the one they'll be looking
at is the one they mocked, the one they beat. And I'll tell
you, he's no lamb then. He's the great judge overall. My. You know what? We'd have been there if it hadn't
been for the grace of God. That's what makes salvation so
wondrous, beloved, so incredible, that he saved my soul. He did
not leave us where we were, dead in trespasses and sins. He's
made us alive, and it's all according to the plan of salvation. So
he created this whole world, put Adam in the world, Adam fell.
And Adam fell, you know, people say, well, why did Adam fall?
Well, we know because he took of the fruit, right? But if Adam
hadn't fallen, none of us would have been needed to be redeemed,
would we? It's all planned and purposed
by God, isn't it? Wonder of wonders. Oh, my. My, oh, my. So we learn certain
truths, don't we? Certain truths about who we are. Certain truths about who Christ
is. Certain truths about what he'd done. He's died on Calvary's
cross in a Roman place. And this saving knowledge of
God will have us come to Christ, come to God, when we didn't want
to before. Now we look forward, we rejoice
to be in the house of the Lord. My. And we say, cast yourselves
upon Christ. He's the only hope for sinners,
isn't he? You don't hope for this old sinner. I'll tell you
what, I had no hope outside of him. We can't save our eternal
souls. I can't save anyone. You can't
save me. We can't even save ourselves. But I'll point to the one who
can save all who come to him, and that's the Lord Jesus Christ. Oh my, it doesn't matter how
black your sins are. It doesn't matter. It doesn't
matter at all. Just come to him just as you
are. You know, folks say, well, I got to clean up. No, you don't.
Just come to Christ. Because you never clean up enough to
be accepted by God. That's just self-righteousness.
That's all that is. My. You know why people hate
salvation through grace alone? Because it offends man's pride.
That's why. See, we've been taught how merciful
God is, haven't we? We've been taught how wonderful
he is. Now let us think upon this plan of salvation this week.
Let us think upon it. Let us think how it manifests
the glory of God. Sinners saved by the grace and
mercy of our great God, Jehovah. Let us praise the Father who
purposed and planned this wondrous salvation that we have in Christ. Let us praise Him that He created
the world and time and space so that this plan could be executed,
so that Christ could come into this world and save us by His
grace and mercy, save us by His sin-atoning death. And let us praise God the Word.
the Lord Jesus Christ. Let's praise him for leaving
heaven and coming to this world and saving our souls. Saving
our souls. Praise his mighty name. Praise
the word for becoming a man. Praise the word of God for fulfilling
the law of God in our place. Praise you, Lord Jesus, for bearing
the wrath of God that was due me. Praise you, Lord Jesus, for shedding
your blood for my soul. You know, he went around doing
good, didn't he? He went around doing good, beloved. He gave
sight to the blind. He healed the sick. He raised
the dead. He cast out devils from those
who are possessed of evil spirits. And then he goes to Calvary's
cross. Bleeds and dies to purchase our souls. And the souls of all
the Father had purposed to give him. in eternity, in the plan
of salvation. Marvel that the Son of God went
and died in our place, and we're enemies with God in our minds
before he saves us. Would we die for someone who
is our enemy? See, in our minds, we were enemies.
Notice that scripture says we were enemies. But he's loved us from eternity.
In our minds, we hated God. We might say, well, I never said
I hated God, never in my life. Well, you did by your actions.
And that's not my opinion. That's what the scripture says.
It says we're at enmity with God. Enemies in our minds, the
scripture declares, before he saved us. And marvel at the perfect sin
atoning work of the Son. It's finished. We're redeemed
so perfectly there's nothing we have to do. God's so satisfied
with it, with the sacrifice of Christ, he rose him from the
grave for our justification. He satisfied that law in God
so perfectly, the law that, he satisfied the law and the justice
of God so perfectly that it has not one claim upon us. Not one
claim. And we will never have a drop
of the wrath of God fall upon us because Christ bore it all
for us. It'll never touch us. Now that's grace! That's mercy!
You see how I said that this eternal life is immeasurable?
You can't measure the mercy like that. You can't plumb the depths
of that mercy. And then praise God, the Holy
Spirit, for his magnificent regenerating work, because it's all of him.
He's made we who are dead alive spiritually. It's all his work. He's magnificent, isn't he? He
is. He's absolutely magnificent.
My. We're born again by his almighty
power. And then he gives us faith to believe on Christ. Then he
teaches us the things of Christ. Turn, if you would, to John chapter
3, and we're closed with this. Oh, we're born again by his almighty
power, by the almighty power of God the Holy Spirit, giving
faith to trust Christ, and then he's our great teacher, revealing
the things of Christ to us, things we never knew. Never knew. I never knew about atonement. I had heard about salvation,
but I thought it was something I had to do. Not that it was
all completed. And you know what? I didn't even
really know I was a sinner. Now I do. And do you say, like
me, along with Paul, that I'm the chief of sinners? God would
be just to throw us into hell, wouldn't He? But by His mercy
and His grace, He saved us. Remember that this week. He saved
us by His mercy and grace, all according to that wondrous plan
of salvation. It's incredible. And I ask you,
do you know Christ? Do you know Jesus, my Lord? I'll
close with these words right here. John chapter three, verses
16 to 21. For God so loved the world that
he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in him
should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his son
into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through
him might be saved. Oh, I'm saved by the grace of
God, aren't you? It's wondrous. Now, look at this. This is where
the rubber hits the road, right here. He that believeth on him,
on Christ, is not condemned. But he that believeth not is
condemned already. My, because he hath not believed in the name
of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation,
that light is coming into the world. That's Christ. And men
love what? Darkness. Men love sin. And I
was right there. I loved my sin. My, that's what we were. Now
we battle against it. See, that thing that we loved,
now we hate. My. And this is the condemnation,
that light has come into the world, and man loved darkness
rather than light. Why? Because their deeds were evil. You know, people say, oh, that
person murdered because he's a murderer. No, that person murdered
because he's a sinner. Oh, that person steals because
he's a thief. No, that person's a thief because he's a sinner. You borrow everything. You know
what? I'm done with people calling sin a disease. Sin is sin. It's not a disease. It's sin. My problems in my youth? that
I got caught up into is all because of me, not because of anyone
else. My sin is my sin. My worst enemy is my flesh, myself. Spurgeon said that, and I sure
know what he means. Do you? Oh yeah, eh? Oh my. It's incredible. Our deeds are evil in our natural
state. Look at this. For everyone that doeth evil,
hateth the light. Why do men not come to Christ?
Because they hate him. Mine. Neither cometh to the light,
lest his deeds should be reproved. Now we've all, we're a bunch
of sinners that have been shown our state, and we said, Lord,
be merciful to me, the sinner, didn't we? We cry out to him.
We still cry out to him, don't we? I love that Syrophoenician
woman. Lord, save me. That's our cry. All the time! All the time, beloved. Oh my. And we've been reproved,
haven't we? Now we know. We own that we're
sinners now. And we're sorrowful that we sinned
against God. That's who our sins are against. You know, even when
we sin against each other, we're still sinning against God. Remember
Potiphar's wife, and she wanted to lay with Joseph? And he said,
You want me to sin against God? He said it in the proper order.
He said, you want me to sin against God and Potiphar? See, he took
it in the right order there. Our sin's against God, beloved. My, oh my. But praise be to God. Look at what it says here in
verse 21. But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his
deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God. You
know what? Any good I do, it's God working
in me. You get a blessing from my messages,
it's God working in me. I tell you what, I can't lay
claim to nothing. I don't want to lay claim to
nothing. We are saved by the mercy and grace of God. Let us
leave this place saying hallelujah. Praise his mighty name. Look
what God's done for me. He saved me by his grace. He
didn't have to and he did. Oh, what mercy.