There's something that the wealthiest
men on earth would give up all they possess to have. There's something that movie
stars, sports stars, famous men and women would trade all their
fame and fortune for. Presidents. world dignitaries,
who trade their so-called notoriety and place in history to have
it. Yet they will not come that they
might have it. This thing that I speak of is
eternal life. And the amazing thing about it
is that it's free. It's free. There are others who desire to
purchase it, and there's others that are frantically working
to earn it. Some are seeking a way to achieve
it, and yet others daily sacrifice themselves to merit it. But it's
all in vain. for they do not know how or to
whom this life eternal freely comes. The scriptures have a lot to
say about this life. I tell you this, life eternal
cannot be found in some religious guru I recently read where a
famous musician searched the world over, all Eastern religions
and tribal chiefs and here and there to find the meaning of
life. Chances are it was right on his
coffee table. Buddha and Mohammed cannot show
and give you life eternal. It can't be understood and explained
by some so-called holy man or, as I said, tribal priest. The
answer concerning life eternal is found in the Scriptures. And
even then, it must be revealed to the sinner by a sovereign
God. That's why our Lord Jesus Christ
said in John 539, you search the scriptures, for in them you
think you have eternal life. You think you do. And they are they which testify
of me. In searching the scriptures,
the holy scriptures, if you do not see Christ and Him crucified,
then you only think you have life. But the scriptures are
those that testify of Him and Him alone. I want to show you
a few things that scriptures teach us concerning life forever
with Christ. And then I want to concentrate
on one verse. that tells us plainly what eternal
life is and where it's found. Now, I just, in the concordance,
went into the words eternal life, life eternal, and got some verses
here that I just want to read to you. If you want to write
them down, you can, but for the sake of time, we won't turn.
First of all, eternal life is a promise from God Almighty. Titus 1.2 says, in hope of eternal
life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world
began. Eternal life is a promise from
God Almighty. 1 John 2.25, and this is the
promise that He hath promised us, even eternal life. Secondly, eternal life is ordained
by God. In Acts chapter 13 we see where
the Gentiles heard this marvelous gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ
and they were glad and they glorified the word of the Lord and as many
as were ordained to eternal life believed. Sinners are ordained
unto eternal life. They're elected, they're predestinated
according to the will and the purpose of God in Christ. Eternal life is ordained by God.
Another truth concerning eternal life is that it's a gift from
God. And that gift is from God in
Christ. John 10, 28, and I give unto
them eternal life, and they shall never perish, neither shall any
man pluck them out of my hand. And I give unto them, Christ
says. Ephesians 2, 8, for by grace
are you saved through faith, and that's not of yourselves.
It's what? It's a gift. It's a gift of God. Eternal life is a gift from God
in Christ. Eternal life is believing on
Christ. John 3.15, that whosoever believeth
in Him should not perish, but have eternal life. Eternal life
is believing on the Lord Jesus Christ. Eternal life is laying
hold on Christ. Paul wrote to Timothy in 1 Timothy
6.12, and he said, fight the good fight of faith, lay hold
on eternal life. Lay hold of it! wherento thou
art also called, and hast professed a good profession before many
witnesses." Lay hold on Christ. He is life eternal. Our faith
must be in Christ. It is wherento we are called,
and Christ is our good profession. laying up in store for themselves
a good foundation, 1 Timothy 6, 19, against the time to come
that they may lay hold on eternal life. The Lord Jesus Christ is
our good and sure foundation. He is the solid rock on which
God's people must stand. Eternal life is eating and drinking
Christ Well, that sounds strange Our Lord said in John 6 54 whosoever
eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood hath eternal life And
I'll raise him up at the last day. Now. This is a spiritual
eating and drinking is to eat and drink. To eat and drink Christ
is to believe that Christ came in the flesh. That He came and
died and rose again. That is the believer's hope.
It is to believe that His flesh is given for the life of His
people and that His blood was shed for their sin. What can
wash away my sin? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. Nothing but the blood of Jesus. And we like believers are like
hungry dogs. We desire more and more of our
master. And he is the Lord Jesus Christ.
Eternal life is to have Christ. First John 5 11 and 12 and this
is the record that God has given to us eternal life and This life
is in his son That's where eternal life is he that hath the son
hath life He that hath not the son hath
not life Eternal life is for the righteous
Matthew 25 46 and these shall go away into everlasting punishment
but the righteous into life eternal I Hope that we can see from these
verses Something concerning the salvation and everlasting life
of God's people But what is eternal life How does a man receive it? We've seen in these verses that
eternal life is promised from God to chosen people that God
has ordained to possess it. We know that eternal life is
a gift from God and it's the spiritual eating and drinking
of the bread from heaven and the water of life. And it can't
be bought, it can't be earned, it can't be deserved. We're told
from the scriptures to lay hold. Lay hold of eternal life. And
that's done by laying hold of Christ, who is our good profession
and our sure foundation. We often talk about begging and enticing and putting
men under pressure to come to Christ and to be saved. We've
said many times, and I've heard other men say many times, if
a man's drowning, you don't have to beg him to throw him a life
raft. You just throw it and he'll grab
on and he'll cling and he'll lay hold. And if that boat that
you throw it from is still moving, He's going to lay hold on that
thing and He's not going to let go until you get Him in that
boat. That's what it is to lay hold of Christ. Not let Him go. Lay hold of eternal life. We see that eternal life is for
the righteous, and we must have Christ, who is the Lord, our
righteousness. But there's one scripture, and
it comes from my favorite chapter, one of my favorite chapters in
the Gospel of John, chapter 17, if you'll turn there, verse three. Let's spend the rest of our time
considering this blessed verse. John 17, verse 3. It starts out very direct in
answering this question of what life eternal is. And this is
life eternal. Let's don't beat around the bush.
Let's don't chase rabbits. This is life eternal. What is life eternal? That they
might know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom Thou hast
sent. This is eternal life. Now there
are many people when they hear or read that expression, suppose
it to mean heaven. For many years I did just that. Heaven and eternal life were
just synonymous with me. Mainly because men were preaching
to me pearly gates and gold streets instead of the one who is heaven. Eternal life means much, much
more than just heaven. Heaven is heaven because of who
is there, right? Heaven is life eternal because
He who is life eternal is there in heaven. Eternal life starts right here. You know, it begins in the believer
the minute that he's born again. We then receive the same life
which we will have throughout all eternity. There is therefore
now no condemnation to those that are, to them which are in
Christ Jesus. Now listen, death does not transport
us as believers into a new life. It doesn't. It simply rids us
of all the fleshly impairments, impediments, whatever you want
to call them, that now hamper us in this life. That's what
death does. Life right now for the believer
is the triumphant life that is to be enjoyed throughout all
eternity after this earthly life ends. Eternal life starts right
now to the believer the minute that he bows to the Lord Jesus
Christ. Allow me to say it once again,
those who love, trust, rely on Christ for eternal life possesses
eternal life right now, in this life. It's in the power of the Lord
Jesus Christ to give this eternal life. Look at verse 2. As thou
hast given Him, who, Christ, power over all flesh, that He
should give, what? Eternal life. to as many as thou
hast given him." It's by the Lord Jesus Christ's power to
bestow eternal life. And it's upon every elect chosen
child of God. He gives eternal life to a specific
people. Verse 2 tells us who they are.
to as many as thou, God, has given him." That's who. Not the whole world, not everybody
in the world. That's to cheapen the salvation
of Christ, to say that there are those who Christ died for
who will not be saved. That's the same as calling him
a failure. God from the foundation of the
world, by His sovereign will and purpose, He chose a people
unto Himself. And God declares from the pages
of Scripture, and you tell me now, if your Bible reads differently,
He says, I will have mercy. Thank God He said, I will. I
will have mercy. But He says, I'll have mercy
on whom I will have mercy. And I'll have compassion on whom
I will have compassion. And that makes people mad. I'm
thrilled to death that he's going to have mercy. That he's going
to have compassion. Just maybe, maybe it'll be on
me. God does not say. And if your
translation of the Bible says this, you need to throw it away.
God does not say my mercy comes according to your free will.
Does not say that my mercy comes according to your internal righteousness
or goodness. No, God's mercy and compassion,
dear friends, comes from within himself. And he says, I will
have mercy. I will have compassion. I, even I, am he that blotteth out thy transgressions
for my own sake, and will not remember thy sin." I, even I. Well, that doesn't seem fair.
You better get ready to deal with an unfair God then. It doesn't have anything to do with
fair. It has everything to do with justice. holiness and righteousness. I'm talking about that's not
fair. God didn't choose His elect by
looking ahead in time. If I hear that one more time,
and basing His choice on something in the center, well, that's just
nice. We'll just come right out and
say, you're saved by works. Get to workin'. Get to workin'. It's the same thing. Say that
he looked ahead in time and saw if you were gonna accept him
and that you were gonna love him and that you were gonna live
right. It's a lie. It's a lie that sends people
to hell. I've got loved ones in hell right now who men lied
to and told that horrible, horrible thing to. Somehow or another
based on something in you. It's not. It's not. Now considering all the verses
that I've read to you this morning, I want to consider the question,
where in does this eternal life consist? Today, we'll only consider
this one verse of scripture, and this is life eternal, as
we just read, that they might know Thee. He lets them know very quickly
who the Thee is. He says, the only true God, and
Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent. Now these words came from
the mouth of the Lord Jesus Himself. Life eternal consists in the
knowledge of or in knowing the only true God. They might know Thee, the only
true God. This knowledge was once possessed
and lost by Adam in the fall. As long as man knew his God,
trusted his God, obeyed his God, all was happy and good. But all
men and Adam lost the knowledge of God. And with that loss, dear
friends, we lost everything. Everything. The highest privilege that can
be given to a man or a woman is to be acquainted with God.
I wish the whole world could see that. I wish that we as his
people could see it more clearly. The greatest privilege that we
have as sinners that we are is to be acquainted with God. When our first father Adam turned
his back on God, and that's what he did, That's exactly what he
did. He turned his back on God. He began to unlearn what he'd
already knew and forgot all that he'd been taught. It became a
downward spiral. And our fall in him was a great
fall indeed. And that's where all idolatry
has come from. Did you know that? A man cannot
be happy. There's something in every man
that cannot be happy without God. And it's kind of like an
old dog that can't be truly happy without a master. That's one thing about dogs I
love. You can treat them horrible. Walk out the door, walk back
in, and they're just, tails just wagging, and oh, they're so happy
to see you. Dog loves his master, doesn't
he? Man lost his fellowship with
the great creator, dear friends, the great preserver, the great
judge, whom we must have, must have, or we're utterly undone. Without God, our nature is disabled. It is. It's divided. It's separated. Separated from God and it's dead. Dead. How great was our fall? All the way to dead. And in this
dead state, we don't even know ourselves, much less God. That's
right. you ask a man that don't know
christ that's unregenerated that's unsaved are you a sinner? well i wouldn't say sinner i
mean i'm not perfect dead don't even know about themselves
much less about a holy god and let me ask you this truthfully
now can anyone to truly put their trust in someone that they don't
know. If I don't know you, then how
can I trust you? That's not... Precious little
girl right there, you wouldn't walk up and ask some stranger
you didn't know to watch her for you, would you? Absolutely
not. You can't. But you'd let Aunt
Desta Watch her in a heartbeat, because you know her. How can I trust someone I don't
know? How can I truly rely on someone for anything that I don't
know? It'd be just a stab in the dark,
wouldn't it? It'd just be one of those, I
hope that works out. Life eternal is to know something,
but really it's to know someone. It's to know God, the true God. It's to know Him personally.
It's to know Him truthfully. It's to know the only true God. Life eternal cannot be obtained
by knowing a false God. Why do people think that? I know some professing believers
who seem to believe that. Now, allow me just for a second. They have a loved one that goes
to a church where Christ is not preached. The gospel is not proclaimed. And someone they love makes a
profession of faith. And I hear them say things like,
well, my friend, my brother, my sister, my grandchild, my
mother, my father, so on and so forth got saved. Did they? Did they? Did the true God of
heaven and earth reveal Himself and His Son to them? This is eternal life, that they
may know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom Thou
hast sent. Now, there are little g-gods.
Little g, that's what I call them, little g-gods. And if the God they know is a
little g-God, or is He the God of the universe? Is He a God who's trying to save,
or is He a God that saves? There's a big difference. Is He a lost God who you accidentally
and luckily found? That's the way people talk, isn't
it? I found Jesus. He wasn't lost. I found Jesus. You accidentally
and luckily ran into Him on a street corner, I guess. Or is He the God that saves according
to His own will and purpose? Is He the God that says, I'll
have mercy on whom I will have mercy? And whom I will, I'll
hardeneth. Is he that God? I think about Paul as he stood
on Mars Hill. They were so superstitious. They
had a God for everything. A God for this, a God for that,
man. Just right on down. I can just see them lined up.
And finally he ran across one who said, to the unknown God. Unfortunately, that's who God
is this day and during this time. He's an unknown God. He's not
known by the masses, but He's known by His people. And this
is life eternal, that you know Him, the only true God, in whom
also we have obtained an inheritance being predestinated according
to the purpose of Him who worketh," what? All things, after the counsel
of His own will. That's the God I'm talking about.
And knowing Him is life eternal. "...of His own will beget He
us with the word of truth, that we should be kind to firstfruits
of His creatures." His creatures! And I'll tell you something else.
There's a difference in preaching the crucifixion of the sinner. What do you mean by that? Well,
that's what you do when you preach the law of dos and don'ts. You preach the law and you crucify
your hearers. That's exactly what you do. None
can keep it. None can keep the law. And you
crucify them without any hope. But if you preach Christ and
Him crucified in the place of sinners, well, that's what Paul
said. He said, I'm determined. I'm
determined not to know anything among you, but this one thing, Jesus Christ, Him crucified. What do you think of that? What
do you think of that? 1 Corinthians 1.23 says, but we
preach Christ crucified. I recently heard a message by
Pastor Don Fortner and he said, we preach Christ crucified. He
said, that's not a slogan. He said, people put that on the
outside of their church building and out on the sign and in quotations,
we preach Christ crucified. He said, I dare you to go in
and try to find it. Try to hear it. This is not a
slogan. This ain't something witty that
we stick out on the church sign to entice people to come in.
We preach Christ crucified. We preach Christ! And He's crucified for the sins
of His people. That's the only message worth
hearing. There are a lot of churches that
say, we preach Christ crucified. Eternal life is not to know that
there is a God. Did you know that? Eternal life
is not to know that there is a God. There's many who believe
that and still remain dead. To know there is a God and yet
not to seek to know Him personally in truth and trust Him for all
things is to remain spiritually dead. It's not to know that there
is a God. I know there's a President, but
I don't know Him. And I'm not too upset about that,
I might add. But there is no way, personally,
a way that he might be of any help to me. I don't know the
man. I can't go ask him a favor. I mean, I could, but it would
be no avail. I'd have more of a chance of
it being a comment if he knew me, if I knew him. And it's a
sad, sad thing for anyone to know that there is a God and
not truly know God. The first thing that is meant
by knowing God is to know Him as God. True God. True God. It's to know that He
is God. Everybody has something that's
a God to them. One of them little G-Gods. Everyone
has something that's superior to himself, that rules over and
overrules them. Everyone has something to which
he looks up to and worships. But the hope of life eternal
is vain unless the great, invisible Jehovah, the one God that made
the heavens and the earth, spoke them into existence, and whose
hand your breath is in. If you don't know Him, your religion is vain. It's useless. to those who have eternal life.
He's revealed Himself to in the Trinity of His divine person.
He's the Father. He's the Son. He's the Holy Spirit. He's the God of Abraham. He's
the God of Isaac. He's the God of Jacob. He's the
God of every Old Testament saint and prophet. And He is pictured
as the Lord and Savior, the Just and the Justifier in all the
types and ceremonies of the law of God. Can I say it again, friends? It's a hymn book. It's about
Him. The God of the whole world must
be God to us. True God. To bow to the true
God as your God is eternal life. And this is to be known in an
inward sense. He's invisible, but we see Him
and hear Him. Isn't that amazing? We feel Him
and know that He's everywhere. And we rejoice in being with
Him. He's not far from any one of
us. Bette Midler sang a song. Well,
I liked her until that song came out. It said, God is watching
us from a distance. That's not true. He's in me. Christ in me, the hope of glory. We're reconciled to Him and we
have no fear, no dread, no bondage when we think of Him. To know
God is to regard Him as your best friend. One you love. One in whom you
delight. Just like you pour out your grief
and your heart breaks to a friend or a brother, God is a friend
closer than a brother. for He's within your soul. Oh, dear sinner, if you really
want to know and understand what I'm talking about, look to Christ. Look to God, the true God. And if you do know and understand
what I'm talking about, then you have life eternal. Your life is eternal because
God is the grand object in your life. Mr. Spurgeon once said, a prisoner
with faith in God is happier than the king upon his throne
without God. You think about that. This is
life eternal. That they might know Thee. The only. Only. Only One. Only one true God. Now there's the God of men's
imaginations. Men themselves make themselves
to be God, but we're talking about the only true God. And Jesus Christ whom thou hast
sent. That second part of eternal life
consists also in a knowledge, and it's in the knowledge of
Jesus Christ, whom God has sent. Now, let me say quickly that
this point in no way, shape, or form implies that Jesus Christ
is not God. It's impossible to know God apart
from Christ. Christ in you is the hope of
glory, Colossians 127. But you consider for just a moment
with me, God the Father apart from Christ. Just consider that
thought. You see, God is an almighty being. Words really fail me here in
trying to describe this. He's a superior, almighty being. He's infinitely just. And his
laws, you've broken. And you've violated. Every one
of us. Me included. You. Your sweet,
dear grandmother. Rocking in her rocking chair.
Sinner. Sinner. And yet He's a being who's infinitely
loving. And He would bless you, but He
cannot do so. That's right. I said He cannot
do so because you're violating His laws. You're saying God can't
do something? Well, I'm going to tell you,
He's a God full of tremendous power and unfailing wisdom. He
would exercise all mercy. But you, having broke His law,
the penalties are just and inevitable. They can't be reversed. There
are some things God can't do when it comes to His justice. There's a penalty for sin, death. It's got to be punished or God
ceases to be God. And there's nothing more cruel
now, I'm telling you the honest truth and you know this, than
for a righteous judge to allow men to sin without being punished
for it. There's nothing more ugly to
me. I'm talking about a righteous judge. I'm not talking about
what we as men call judge. We see injustices all the time. If you watch TV at all, you do.
A man murders somebody and he gets off on a technicality because
somebody didn't do something, you know, exactly in order. That's
injustice. How unjust, let me ask you, would
it be for a God of love? and justice if sin would be made
nothing without punishment attached to it. What kind of justice would
that be? And that speaks of all of us.
That's why Paul says, among whom also we all had our conversation
in times past. in the lust of our flesh, fulfilling
the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and we were by nature.
It comes as natural to me as breathing, friends, to sin. We're
by nature children of wrath, even as all others. But God,
who's rich, He's rich in mercy, for His great love wherewith
He loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened
us together." But listen. with Christ. Somebody paid the
penalty. If you and I are ever to truly
know God, we must know Him as infinitely loving, yet infinitely
just. And He must and He will punish
sin. This is why we must know Jesus
Christ, whom God has sent. That's right. The redeemed one
sees God and Christ meeting us, demanding a penalty of our offenses,
and yet providing it Himself. You see, I was once troubled.
I was tossed to and fro, driven to despair under a sense of enload
and guilt of my sins. You say that about yourself if
you know God. And it was only when God in sovereign
mercy and grace revealed Christ to me that I understood a substitutionary
sacrifice and truly realized only because God showed me that
he stood in my place. Christ and him crucified, the
whole council of God. You want to preach the whole
council of God? Tell people about Christ and him crucified for
elect sinners. Christ did for me what I could
not do for myself. To know the true God, You must
know Christ. To know Christ, whom God has
sent, you must know the true God in Him. This is eternal life. That will give you life, friends.
This is life eternal. This is eternal life. that you
know the true God in Jesus Christ, whom He sent.