Take your Bibles and turn with
me to John chapter 14. I suppose you could take this
message that I'm going to preach tonight and use almost any chapter in the
book of John because he begins with this message And he just
keeps repeating himself over and over and over. But here in John chapter 14,
beginning with verse 1, he's about to leave his disciples,
and he begins to give them some words of comfort. Words of comfort. And he says, let not your heart
be troubled. You believe in God, Believe also
in me, that is, in the same sense, equal with the Father, as God and yet man in one person. You believe in God, believe also
in me. In my Father's house are many
mansions. If it were not so, I would have
told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place
for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself, that
where I am, there you may be also. And whether I go, you know,
and the way you know. Now listen to this. This is somebody
that's been with the Lord for a while. Not with me. With the Lord. Listen to what
He tells us. Thomas saith unto him, Lord,
we know not whither thou goest. Huh? The Lord said He did. He said, I don't. And how can we know the way? We don't know where you're going
and we don't know the way. How can you say we know the way? Now listen to what the Lord tells
him. Jesus saith unto him, I am the way and the truth and the
life. No man cometh unto the Father
but by me. talk to you a little while this
evening on this subject, life. Life. I read this. We're going
through the book of John, and I just keep going back and recapping,
and then I'll see something, and I'll go back a chapter, and
then I'll go back another. And I always wind back up in
chapter one, because he just keeps saying the same thing over
and over and over. Is there a greater mystery in
all the world than this? Life. Life. Is there a more controversial
subject than this? You can't start a conversation
anywhere you go with somebody without running into a problem
right here on this subject of life. What it is, where does
it come from, what's it like, and so on. And is there anything
in your experience that you question more than this? Have I got this
right? Is there anything more pressing
right now this evening? We came in here and I've got
a wedding on my mind and I've got other things on my mind,
and a church down there on my mind, and folks who write me
on the internet, and I have that. But is there anything more pressing
tonight than this? Life. Life. Well, I'll tell you this, nothing
else much matters if I miss this. So whatever else it is on your
mind, it's not going to make any difference if you miss this.
Don't miss this. The Lord said, what shall it
profit me if I gain the whole world? Not just monetarily, but
if I gain the recognition of the world, if I gain the fame
of the world, if I gain the consent of the world. And like Billy
Graham, everybody holds me up in high esteem and said, boy,
if there ever was a man called of God, it was him. What would
it profit me if I gained the whole world and lost my soul? You see what he's saying? What can be more important and
more pressing than this? And I know this, whatever this
life is, it's what the Lord's coming was all about. Now they had controversies about
Moses and had controversies about the law and they had controversies
on what was good and evil and who was going to sit in the highest
seat and who knows what else. There was controversies all along
the way. He just keeps telling them. He
said, I come that they might have life. That's pretty plain,
isn't it? I come that they might have life
and have it more abundantly. Now, in order to consider the
subject, let me ask you four questions. And we'll look at
the scriptures and see what God has to say about it. And the
first question I asked myself when I began this study was this.
What is this life? What is it? It's on every page,
but what is it? What is it? Men talk about it.
Men tell me all the time, I have it, I have it. But then when
they start talking, it don't sound like they have it. What is it? Well, whatever this
life is, men are void altogether of it. I do know that. They're
void of it. The scriptures tell us that we're
dead in trespasses and sins. You happy quicken who were dead. It's something new. We don't
know anything about it. We weren't born knowing anything
about it. And the scriptures tell us that
death is of a spiritual nature, so whatever this life is, it
must be of a spiritual nature, and I'm ignorant of it because
spiritually I'm dead. I believe that's what the scripture
teaches. To be carnally minded, he said, is death. Paul just
keeps talking about it. There's in us a law, he said,
a principle of evil or nature that brings us into captivity
of the law of sin which is in our memory. He says in Ephesians
chapter 2, we were by nature the children of wrath even as
others describing that death from which we were quickened.
And then Paul really paints an ugly picture in Romans chapter
3 of our spiritual condition. He says in verse 9 that it renders
religious and heathen on the same level. Whatever this death
is, it takes folks who go to church and folks who don't and
puts them on the same level. And it says they all under sin. Now wait a minute, I went to
seminary. You're all under sin. That's what Paul said. But I've
got a master's degree in theology. And you're all under sin. That's
what he said. He said, there's none that understandeth. I can't understand this life.
None that understandeth. None that seeketh after God.
Nobody's seeking it. They're all gone astray. They're
together become unprofitable. None that doeth good. Destruction
and misery are in their ways. There is no fear of God before
their eyes. They're dead in nature. Dead. And death has no common ground
with life. Death has no place to compare
life or relate to life. Life is not in the realm of the
dead. When Lazarus died, nobody was
talking to Lazarus. They went out and talked to the
Lord. They talked to one another and they talked to the mourners.
They talked to everybody in the town, but nobody was talking
to Lazarus. What's the purpose? He's dead.
Well, that's kind of the way it is about this life, and you
and I, we're dead. We're dead. And somebody stands
up and describes it, and you've got nothing to compare it to.
What are you going to compare it to? How are you going to understand
this life? How are you going to enter into
an understanding of something that's not in you? You can't
look around in this world and find it. It's not in the church. It's not in the catechisms. It's
not in the book. The Lord said you search the
scriptures for in them you think you have eternal life and there
they would testify of me and you won't come unto me that you
might have life. You can't find it in there either. Life. And I'll tell you this, because
man has no understanding of it, no common ground on which to
compare it to, in his nature and experience, he's very easy
to be deceived. Deceived. Now that's where it
begins. That's where the deception starts.
It starts with the ignorance of man. He's dead. And Satan,
we were talking this afternoon, he must have Laugh all the time. He'd just laugh. He'd take the
most ridiculous thing and dangle it out there and we'll grab it
and call it life, whatever it is. Have a dream one night. Call it life. I'm born again. I had a dream. I had a dream. One of the most
famous speeches that was ever heard in the United States, probably
repeated more than any other. I had a dream. Shall we see it? Man comes under a moral conviction
of conscience, attempts to turn over a new leaf, change his ways,
he calls it life. He has a religious experience
born out of calamity or fear, he calls it life. He's brought
to hear certain facts and the way they're presented to him
in an understandable fashion or logical. And so he enters
into an agreement with those facts and he calls it life. Or maybe he has what he believes
to be a supernatural experience. Speaks in tongues, sees visions,
prophesies. Something so real that like a
dream, when he awakes out of his sleep, the scripture talks
about that. these supernatural experiences
that men have. It's just like when he wakes
out of a dream. It's so real to him. And he makes an abrupt turn,
and he's an alcoholic, and he quits drinking, he's a womanizer,
and he quits chasing women, and he's a gambler, and he quits
gambling, and his life turns around, makes an abrupt turn,
and he calls it life. Satan has been in the deceiving
business from the very beginning. The Lord called him a liar and
a father of lies. He works a work of deception
in his ministers and they're said to be, now listen to the
terminology here, transformed. Ain't that the word he used?
He didn't just use it once, he used it three times. Three times. Listen to this. Transformed into
the apostles of Christ. Transformed into angels of light. transformed into ministers of
righteousness. These are the ministers of Satan
I'm talking about. And these men, for the most part,
are sincere. And they believe they're partakers
of eternal life. You talk to them, they'll tell
you. So what do you and I know about life? Nothing. Nothing. Let's be honest. What do we know
about it? Nothing. What do we got to compare
it to? I sat and stared at that verse
of scripture forever. Life. What a mystery. What a mystery. Nothing in us
to compare it to. Nothing around us to identify
with. And a world full of people who
think they're saved and telling others how to be saved. And yet still in their sins and
know nothing of this life. What is this life that he speaks
so often of and declares to be the very manifestation of His
glory? Turn with me to John chapter
17. Let's see what the Lord has to say about it. The Lord lifts up His eyes to
heaven, and He begins to speak to the Father. He's spent the
last three or four chapters talking to His apostles, giving them
comfort, talking about this life, telling them that He is the life,
telling them He's going to send a comforter to them. All of these
things. And now He turns His eyes from
His disciples to the Father. And He turns His eyes in prayer,
and it's concerning the suffering and death to which He was appointed.
And He said, Verse 1, the hour has come. Glorify thy son that
thy son may glorify thee. That is in my life's obedience
from the day of my birth to the day of my death. In the ministry that I have fulfilled,
in the sufferings I must yet face, And that awful death I
must die on the cross. Glorify me so I can glorify you. Reveal in me my work, my accomplishments,
all that I do. Reveal in me the glory of your
own self, of your redemptive purpose. Glorify your justice, glorify
your holiness, glorify your mercy and grace to sinners. Do not
allow my death to be a death in vain, the way this world makes
it out to be. But fulfill the glory which was
purposed from the beginning. As thou, verse 2, as thou has
given him power over all flesh to give, now listen, eternal
life. to as many as thou hast given
him, and this is life eternal." What is life? Here it is. That
they might know thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom
thou hast sent. What is this life? It is a propitiatory
understanding of the eternal God. That's what it is. It is a heart perception of the
glorious character and will of God to save sinners. Paul said,
if our gospel be hid, it's hid to them that are lost. 2 Corinthians
4, 4, in whom the God of this world hath blinded the minds
of them that believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel
of Christ, who is the image of God, that's what they're blind
to, should shine unto them. We preach not ourselves, we don't
preach our experiences and professions and good work. We preach not
ourselves but Christ Jesus the Lord and ourselves your servants
for Jesus' sake. For God who commanded the light
to shine out of darkness has shined in our hearts to give
the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face
of Jesus Christ. It is the very essence and glory
of the eternal God manifest in the doing and dying of the Lord
Jesus Christ. And he said, we have this treasure
in earthen vessels that the excellency of the power might be of God
and not of us. All right? Where is this life? Turn with me to 1 John chapter
5. I see what this life is. This
life is the very essence and glory of God, but not just God
as God, but God in a propitiatory understanding. That is, I see
the will of God concerning sinners. I see the will of God to reveal
His mercy to sinners. Is that not a mystery? That's
a mystery. Grace? Is grace not a mystery
to you? A fella told me not long ago,
he said, OK, OK. He said, I get it. I get it.
What's next? I said, you don't get it. When you get it, there won't
be no next. You'll just stand and look at
this till you die. And Mark, how can God, how can
the living God, Larry, look down on me? and love me, and show mercy to me, and in grace reveal what even
the angels can't understand. You're not enamored with that? I don't care. I've got nowhere
else to go. I'll tell you. I'll just stand
and look at you. I just stand and look at it.
One fellow, he was upset about Don preaching out of 2 Corinthians
5.21 and he went on and on talking about it. He said, I've got a real problem
with that. I said, I even got past John
1 where he said, and the Word was made flesh. Let's talk about
that for a little while. You get a handle on that, then
we'll go over 2 Corinthians 5.21 and see if we can figure out
what that says. Let's get back over here to this. Let's get
back over here to this. Where is this lie? Well, he says
in 1 John 5.11, this is the record. And if you'll go through this
chapter, he's talking about the record that was established and
agreed on by the triune God in heaven from the beginning. This
is not just the record of some prophet or some theologian in
time, some preacher, some idea some man had and put down like
the five points of Calvinism. This is the record agreed to
by the triune God. set forth in the Word of God,
by the Spirit of God, and by the Gospel of God. And this is
the record testified both of God, the Holy Spirit, by those
who He hath called. And He says that God hath given
to us eternal life. This is the record. And this
life, where is it at? In the Son. In the Son. He that hath the Son hath life. And he that hath not the Son
of God, whatever else he has, hath not God. He don't have life. The whole redemptive purpose
of God is vested in the Lord Jesus Christ. It's not in you. It's in Him. It ain't in the
church. It's in Him. It's in Him. The purpose of life,
the nature of life, the grace of life, the justification of
life, the guarantor of life, the seated king who dispenses
all life, the Lord Jesus Christ. John begins his gospel with this
declaration. He said, in him is life. Huh? Then why are we looking
everywhere else? In Him is light. And the light
is the light of the world. There's not going to be any light
apart from this light. There's not going to be any light
apart from Christ. And we're living in a day when
men will not endure sound doctrine. They profess to have life independent
of Christ. And this is getting into the
heart of what it is I want to talk to you about. They define
this life by feelings and experiences and decisions and commitments.
They define this life by obedience and submission and sacrifice.
They define this life by boldness and eagerness and dedication
and motivation. But I can't find this life anywhere
in this book defined in any way except in the person of Jesus
Christ. He just keeps telling you. This
light is in His Son. God so loved the world that He
gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in Him might
have everlasting life. It's in Him. It's in Him. Where do we go? Back to the experience. I remember the night. I remember the minute. You don't
remember anything. This light's in Him. Let's quit
lying to ourselves. It's in Him. It's in him. Over and over, he tells no less
than nine times in the book of John alone. He takes to himself
the title of I Am. I know this congregation is familiar
with that term. And he does so in connection
with this life. I am is God's declaration of
his eternal deity. Now listen to this. He said,
I am the bread of life. Ain't that what he said? Just
like that old man that fell down and they went out and gathered
it up and they consumed it, it went inside of them and it gave
them life. He said, I'm the bread. I'm the
bread. He said, except you believe that
I am, you'll die in your sins. I am the good shepherd who giveth
his life for the sheep. The thief cometh not but for
to steal and destroy. I am come that they might have
life and have it more abundantly. I am the resurrection. She said,
I know you'll rise in the last day. Boy, we like that, don't
we? Something way off somewhere. Something distant. Don't bring
it in close. Leave it way out there somewhere.
Get in a big group. This is what we believe. What
do you believe? What do I believe? They said,
Martha, I am the resurrection. You believe that? Huh? You believe that? What do you
believe about that? I am the way. I am the truth.
I am the life. I am the light of the world.
I am the door. And life is not just in Christ,
but he said, I am life. Ain't that what he said? I am
the life. The life. And I have life only
in as much as I have Christ. Folks come to me all the time
and they sit and they talk to me and they want me to feel good
about them. They want me to feel like they know God and they're
saved. Nobody wants to come under conviction, does he? Nobody wants
to admit I'm a sinner. I'm a sinner. Well, I ain't always
done the right thing. You never did the right thing.
We're sinners. We just don't want to own up
to it. I'm the life. Folks come to me
and they start talking. Two people in the last six months
have come and talked to me, young men, about being converted when
they were 11 years old. And from that day, they began
to see the hand of God in their life. And then eight years later,
when they're married and have two kids, they miraculously,
and after all this time, finally come to a knowledge of the Lord
Jesus Christ. I ain't allowed to say the word
in here. But it's a crock. That's exactly
what it is. And that brings me to my fourth
question. How do sinners attain this life?
And I don't care how good it sounds, a man cannot have life
apart from true saving faith in Christ. It can't be done.
The life's in him. How are you going to have life
apart from that? But I listen to them. I want
to hear what they're saying. I'm not trying to pick people
apart, but they come to me and they talk about life. And then
we talk about Christ. There is no life apart from Christ. You just had an experience. You
got lied to. You was deceived. You were deceived. You can't find the new birth
in the Scripture set forth anywhere apart from hearing, number one,
apart from understanding, and apart from believing. And yet men talk about it, being
born again, and then like a child, you know, some six or eight years
later, and then we come over here and we begin to learn some
things. And the reason is because you can't find the
life of God anywhere else but in Christ. There is not life
in Christ, there's just life. Listen to these scriptures. Colossians
chapter 2 verse 3. Paul said, for ye are dead. Do
you know that? I believe he finally convinced
me of that. I'm dead. I'm dead. And your life is hid
with Christ in God. When Christ, now listen, who
is our life, shall appear, then shall you also appear with Him
in glory. Listen to this one, John chapter
3 verse 36. He that believeth on the Son
of God hath life, and he that believeth not the Son shall not
see life. But the wrath of God abides on
him. Eternal life has something to
do with knowing. It has something to do with understanding. And it has a lot to do with believing.
And it's the only way that this life is manifest. Now we want
to look, we want to kind of look and see how this man walks. So
we set a standard. It just depends on the congregation
what the standard is. Depends on what part of the world
you're in as to what the standard is. But if he don't come up to
the standard, he ain't got a life. Check him off the list. Now I
told the folks the other day, let's suppose that you and I
had eyes to see and we were setting up in heaven and we looked down
here on young David. He comes down in that valley
and the whole nation of Israel sitting up here on the side of
the hill, scared their knees are knocking. And this huge giant
standing down here with a spear big as a weaver's beam and a
shield that David couldn't even pick up. And he's thundering
out that voice, send down your champion. And here comes David. He has to take Saul's armor off
because he couldn't even move his arms. And he gets out his
little sling and he stops there in the brook and gets him five
smooth stones, one for Goliath and one for his four brothers
of Newbie. And put it in that sling. And
he said, you come out against me with a spear and a shield. He said, I come against you in
the name of the living God. He whirled that sling around. Pow! That giant hit the dirt
dead. Went up there and cut his head
off and took it up and throwed it down at Saul's feet. He's
on my list. He's got life. But then a few
years later, he's up on the roof and he's king. He's got everything
a man could ever want except Bathsheba. And he's wanting her. Take him off the list. You see
what I'm saying? We have no idea what this life
is. We want to look at something somebody does and say, well,
he's got life, but he don't. The one you said don't, more
than likely the one that has life. This life's in Christ. That's where it is. It's in Christ. Listen to this, 1 John 5, 20,
and we know that the Son of Man has come. And how many times has the Lord
told us this? He told Nicodemus this. He was
a master theologian. He told Nicodemus. He said, except
a man be born again, he cannot perceive. He can't see. He can't
understand. He can't be acquainted with.
He can't be a partaker of the kingdom of God. But over here in John 5.20, he
said, and we know that the Son of Man is come and hath given
to us an understanding. that we may know Him that is
true and that we're in Him that is true, even in His Son, Jesus
Christ. This is the true God and eternal
life. And I'm well aware that this
book teaches imparted righteousness as well as imputed righteousness.
I believe that. I know it teaches that we're
made partakers of the divine nature, but it does not mean
that I have in me, independent of Christ, the very essence of
the nature of God. If I did, I wouldn't sin. I wouldn't
lie. I wouldn't get upset. Satan came
for 40 days and hacked and hacked and hacked on the Lord and couldn't
find anything in Him. All you say, but you have a sinful
nature in you. Couldn't examine me any closer
than Satan did him, could he? Didn't affect him at all. Paul
said it brought him, it brought him down. It destroyed him. Over
in Romans 7, brought him into captivity. Brother, if I had
that essence, if I had that pure nature of God, if I had that
in its fullness, that little nature of sin that's in me couldn't,
it couldn't touch it. Couldn't touch it. Only Christ
has that. Now, I believe we have the earnest
of it. I believe we have the benefits
of it. I believe we have the very spirit of Christ in us. But we don't have the perfection
of it yet. Paul discovered this life in
Christ. And when he did, he took his religious past out and threw
it on the dung heap. He said, I count it all lost.
For the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord. He saw
that life, didn't he? He said, this ain't life. What I'm doing is not life. What
I professed is not life. How'd he know that? Because God
showed it to him in Christ. And he said, I don't have this,
but I want it. So he took his stuff out, threw
it on the dung heap. He said, I count it all lost.
Oh, he said that I might know him. That I might win Christ and be
found in him, not having my own righteousness, which is of the
law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness
which is of God by faith. That I may know him and the power
of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings being made
conformable unto his death. Philippians 3.11, if by any means
I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead, not as though I
had already attained, either were already perfect, but I follow
after, if that I might apprehend that for which also I am apprehended
of Christ Jesus. Brethren, I count not myself
to have apprehended, but this one thing I do, forgetting those
things which are behind and reaching forth unto those things which
are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high
calling of God in Christ Jesus. He wanted that life, didn't he?
And he knew where it was. He knew where it was. I tell
you this, the new birth is not some spiritual elixir that men
experience and it raises them up and gives them power to do
good. That's not what the new birth is about. The new birth
brings you to faith in Christ who is life. That's what it does. How do I know if I have this
life? Do you believe? Do you see that life in Him and
just blows you away? You just stand and look at it
and all of it. I want it. I want it. I look at myself and I can't
find it. But I have a hope of it. And
the more I hope in it, and the more I see it, and the more I
glory in it, the more I purify myself. Because I want to be
like it. I want to be like it. Paul said if you got it,
why you yet hope for it? Huh? Why you hope for it? You don't
hope for something that you already have. Well, how's this hope manifested
in the believer? It's manifested by faith. Paul
said, I'm crucified with Christ. Nevertheless, I live. Yet not
I. Look at that. Isn't that something?
But Christ liveth in me. And the life I now live in the
flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and
gave himself for me. And the very reason why there's
no All of these divisions in churches and splits and arguments
and things of this nature is because the God of this world
has convinced men that they have a life independent of Christ. That life in Christ puts us all
on one level. Here's how you're going to have
that life, by grace. By grace. Well, how am I going
to have that life by grace? Through faith. Dare I say it? By grace are you saved through
faith. And that not of yourselves, it
is the gift of God. Life. Life. Faith is personified in the scriptures
as a body. Walking, looking, reaching, resting,
running, expecting, waiting, hoping. It sees, it hears, it
touches, it tastes. Peter said, if so be that you've
tasted, that the Lord is gracious. And it's best summed up like
this. Christ in you, the hope of glory. I have a message prepared for
the church at Fairmont, West Virginia, if the Lord will give
me some liberty to bring it, on the second coming of Christ. Now listen to this scripture
in Hebrews chapter 9. So Christ was once offered to
bear the sins of many. And unto them that look for him
shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation. And I thought as I read that,
I know what he's talking about. He's talking about the priesthood.
All down through chapter 9. He's talking about the high priest,
the tabernacle, the mercy seat, All them things, that sacrifice
that he offered? And I started thinking to myself, who stood
outside the gate of the tabernacle and waited for the high priest?
Who looked for the high priest to come back out from under that
veil? Who stood there and looked? Those with an interest in the
blood. Those who wanted to live. They stood and watched, waited
on him, waited to see him. Waited to see Him. Who's patiently looking, waiting
for the Lord's return? All those that have an interest
in this life. When's the last time you looked? Did you get up this morning,
peek outside, look at the sky? Did the thought even pass over
your mind? The Lord may come back today.
I might have this life today. What a sad commentary on us.
I fear most of us did just what I did. We got up, had our breakfast,
started the entire day. Never a thought of His coming.
Unto them who look for Him. Who looks? Those who are enamored
with that life. Taken up with it altogether.
What's our problem is this world, this world and this flesh, this
flesh. I can't remember who sent it
to me, whether it was Larry or Joe Terrell or who it was, but
it was a film clip that they downloaded off of YouTube on
the internet. Most of you, I think, probably
got it. But it was about the Special Olympics. There was this young handicapped
son whose father took him through this decathlon. And he sat there in his little
thing, and his father pushed him. He pushed him down. And
this little fella, as they passed first one and then another, this
little fella, he'd just hold his hands up and cheer. He'd
just cheer. All through the race, the son
rejoiced, smiled. Celebrated the victory. It had
absolutely nothing to do with Him. And while they showed the scene,
they played this grand old hymn, I know my Redeemer liveth, and
on earth again shall stand. I know eternal life is given,
that grace and power is in His hands. Christ in you. You have that life? It's in Him.
It's in Him. How does He give us that life?
He shows it to us. He shows it to us. And when He
does, we begin to turn loose. Not all at once, but we turn
loose at this, and we turn loose at that, and we turn loose at
that, and we just keep turning loose, turning loose, turning
loose. Why? Because we see something better.
We see something better. Our Father, we thank you for
life. Life in your son. Not in a man
that it may be lost as it was in Adam. Not in a believer even who's
taken down daily. But in your son, the brightness
of the Father's glory and express image of his person, seated,
victorious, secure in the heavens, seated at the right hand of God.
Oh, our Father, stir these cold, cold hearts and give us an expectation of
that life that will change this one we live for Christ's sake.
Amen.