It was a blessing to me to be
reminded that the Lord is my keeper. I sure can't keep myself,
but what a blessing to know that He is my keeper. Turn back to
1 John 2. Verse 25. And this is the promise that
he hath promised us, even eternal life. I've entitled this message,
The Promise of Eternal Life. And I would think the first order
of importance for us to consider is what is meant by eternal life. This is the promise. that he
has promised us, even eternal life. What is meant by eternal
life? Well, I know he doesn't merely
mean eternal existence. I hope I'm saying this with a
tear in my eye or at least a tear in my heart, but hell is eternal
existence. People will live eternally. So when he's talking about eternal
life, he's not talking merely about eternal existence. But I'm thankful that we don't
have to grope around for an answer as to what eternal life is. Would
you turn with me to John 17? Verse two. as thou hast given him power
over all flesh. I like that thought, don't you?
He has power over all flesh. That he should give eternal life. to as many as thou hast given
him. And this is life eternal. You wanna know what eternal life
is? Well, he tells us that they might know thee, the only true
God and Jesus Christ. whom thou hast sent. Now that's eternal life. To know
God. And the only way I can know him
is if I know Jesus Christ. And don't miss this, whom he
hath sent. There's some understanding of
the fact that God sent him and why God sent him. Thou shalt
call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins. That's why the Father sent him.
And we know that we can't know the living God apart from the
Lord Jesus Christ. Now, you have eternal life when
you hear his voice. It takes eternal life, the life
of God in your soul. Eternal life is regeneration.
Eternal life is the new birth. Eternal life is a new heart,
a heart that he has given you, that loves him, that hears his
word. Listen to the scripture. The
hour is coming and now is when the dead shall hear the voice
of the Son of God. And David here shall live. They'll live eternally. They
have the life of God in their soul. Now, to hear his voice
doesn't mean to hear it audibly. I've never heard his voice audibly. Somebody wrote me a letter not
all that long ago, and it was one of these weird religious
letters. And they said, God told me to do this. Christ spoke to
me. And I wrote him back. I don't
generally do that, but I wrote him back. I said, you're a liar.
He never spoke to you. Why would you even say that?
You're just doing that trying to get something out of somebody. It's
not hearing his voice audibly. It's hearing his voice in his
word, in the gospel. in the preaching of the word.
You've heard his voice when you know this is God's truth being
preached. That's when you hear his voice. When you know this
is the truth and you know it. That's hearing his voice. The
hour is coming and now is when the dead shall hear the voice
of the Son of God and the reason the dead hear is because God
gives them life. to hear. You can now hear what
you formerly could not hear. You can now see what you formerly
could not see. You can now feel what you formerly
could not feel. Spiritual life. Turn with me to John chapter
four for a moment. I love this passage of scripture. John the fourth chapter. When therefore the Lord knew
how the Pharisees had heard that Jesus made and baptized more
disciples than John, though Jesus himself baptized not but his
disciples, he left Judea. When he saw that there was this
competition going on, who had the most converts, who baptized
the most people, what did the Lord do? He left that place.
He's not gonna participate in something that foolish. He left
Judea and departed again to Galilee and he must needs. And that word means it was absolutely
necessary that he go through Samaria. Now it wasn't absolutely
necessary because that's the only way to get to Samaria. It was necessary because one
of his elect was there. and he was going after her. And I want you to think about
this. If you're a believer, there was a time when he must needs
come after you. What a blessing. He must needs
go through Samaria. Then cometh he to a city of Samaria,
which is called Sychar, near to the parcel of ground that
Jacob gave to his son Joseph. This place had been inhabited
for thousands of years. Now Jacob's well was there, Jesus
therefore being wearied with his journey. Sat thus on the well, and it
was about the six hour noontime. There cometh a woman of Samaria
to draw water, Jesus saith unto her, give me to drink. Now, this is speculation, I realize
that, but why was she going to the well at noon? Because she
didn't want to go when everybody else was going to be there. As
we're going to go on reading, this woman's been married five
times. And she is living with somebody who currently isn't
her husband. And I'm sure she didn't want to face the judgmental
looks of people. And she wanted to go when she
knew nobody would be there, which would be noon. You don't go draw
water at noon, the hottest point of the day. But that's the time
she selected. Verse seven, there cometh a woman
of Samarit to draw water. Jesus saith unto her, give me
to drink. For his disciples were gone away
into the city to buy meat, and then saith the woman of Samaria
unto him, How is it that thou, being a Jew, askest drink of
me, which am a woman of Samaria? For the Jews have no dealings
with the Samaritans. She found that out by experience. They didn't have anything to
do with the likes of the Samaritans. Jesus answered and said unto
her, if you knew the gift of God. And who it is that saith to thee,
give me to drink? Thou wouldst have asked of him,
and he would have given thee living water. The woman saith unto him, Sir,
thou hast nothing to draw with, and the well is deep. She had
no idea what he was talking about. From whence then hast thou this
living water? Art thou greater than our father
Jacob, which gave us the well, and drank thereof himself, and
his children, and his cattle? What a question. Are you greater
than Jacob? Infinitely so. Infinitely so. Jesus answered and said unto
her, Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again. But whosoever drinketh of the
water that I shall give him shall never thirst. But the water that
I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing
up into everlasting life. Now you drink of this water,
it'll satisfy your thirst temporarily, but you will thirst again. But whoso drinketh the water
that I give shall never thirst. Now I want you to think about
this. This water that ends up being a well of water springing
up in you unto everlasting, eternal life. That's what we're talking
about. It's a water, it's a life in which you find true satisfaction. Now what do I mean by that? You'll
never thirst again. You won't be hungry. You won't
be thirsty. You'll be completely satisfied
if you drink of this water. my own experience, I'm not satisfied
with myself and you're not either. As long as I'm still a sinner,
I can never be satisfied. But beloved, I can say this honestly,
I am satisfied to be saved by him. And I'm not looking for
anything else. I'm not thirsting for anything
else. I'm satisfied to have His righteousness as the only righteousness
I have. I'm satisfied with this. In Him
dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily and you are
complete. You lack nothing. Right now you
can't have anything added to you. It can't get any better. You're complete. You're perfect. You're like nothing. I'm satisfied
with that. 1 Corinthians 1.30 says, Of him
are you in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us. Wisdom
and righteousness and sanctification and redemption. Christ Jesus
is my wisdom. Christ Jesus is my righteousness. Christ Jesus is my sanctification
or my holiness. Christ Jesus is my redemption,
my complete deliverance, and I am not looking for anything
else. I'm satisfied to be nothing and
Him to be everything in my salvation. I'm not looking for anything
else. Somebody says there's got to be more than you haven't seen.
I've heard that before. There's got to be something else
you've never seen in the first place because you wouldn't say
that if you'd ever heard. to never thirst again. Now, like I said, as long as
I'm in the realm of Romans chapter seven, I'll be looking forward
to getting out of here. You are too. I mean, there's
never a time when we can't say, oh, wretched man, that I am.
Not that I was, but that I am. That's with us all the time.
All the time. I, what David said, I'll be satisfied
when I awaken thy likeness. That's when I'll be satisfied
with myself, when I'm just perfectly conformed to the image of Christ.
But I can truly say, with regard to the gospel, I'm not thirsting
for anything else. The gospel we believe cannot
be improved on. It's perfect. It's worthy of
God because God is the author of it. And to have eternal life
is to not be thirsting for anything else. We thirst for Christ. Oh,
we hunger and thirst for Him continually, but we're also completely
satisfied to be saved by Him. Oh, that well springing up, the
living water makes you never thirst again. The Lord said,
I'm come that they might have life. and they might have life
more abundantly. Eternal life is the life of God
in the soul of man. That begins in our experience
in being born from above. and it will continue forever,
enjoying and worshiping God, being made partakers of the divine
nature. Now, this is what happens when
you're born again. You're actually made a partaker
of God's nature. You have a new nature. It's way
beyond anything you'd ever experienced before. That's what eternal life
is. It's the life of God in your soul that makes you satisfied
with the Lord Jesus Christ and makes you despise anything that's
contrary to that. That is the life of God in the
soul. And we're going to enjoy this
forever. And it is necessary to be given
this eternal life before you can ever believe, before you
can ever repent, before you can ever love God. A natural man
can't know him. The believer, now I've said this
before, I believe it, don't understand it, but the same nature that
I'm gonna have in heaven. When I stand before God perfect
and accepted, I have right now. It's called eternal life. It's the everlasting life. And
this, what this shows us, it's a reminder to us of just how
much the flesh brings us down. But when I go to heaven, I'm
no longer gonna be contending with the flesh. But I'm not gonna
be holier than. than I am right now in the Lord
Jesus Christ if I have eternal life. Now, that's what eternal
life is. It's the life of God in the soul. It's a quality, not just a quantity
of days. It's a quality of life to be
able to see the beauty of Jesus Christ, to be able to really
be satisfied with being saved by him, to rest in him. to know that his righteousness
is your righteousness. That is eternal life. That's
the life of God in your soul. That's what eternal life is.
Now, the next question that I think about when I read this verse
is who's the us? This is the promise that he's
promised us, even eternal life. Now that us isn't everybody.
Everybody doesn't have eternal life. How can I know if I'm in
this special demographic us? This is the promise that he promised
us even eternal life. Now, whoever the us is, they
have the promise of him who cannot lie, that they will have this
eternal life. Now, this us is determined by
the context. Look in verse, turn back to 1
John 2. Verse 19, they, 1 John 2, verse 19, they went out from
us, but they were not of us. For if they had been of us, they
would no doubt have continued with us, but they went out that
they might be made manifest that they were not all of us. Now,
this group is not in the us, are they? The ones who went out,
the ones who didn't continue, the ones who left. They're not
in this us, but here's the people who are, but verse 20, you have
an unction. an anointing from the Holy One,
and you know all things. I've not written it in you because
you know not the truth, but because you know it, and that no lie
is of the truth. Who is the us? The folks who
have this divine unction, this teaching, not being taught merely
by a man, but by God Himself, to where you know the truth. You know the truth about yourself.
If you have this unction, You know the truth about yourself.
You know that in and of yourself, you're nothing but evil, and
you know it. It's not something you have to be argued into or
talked into. As soon as you hear it, you say, that's me. You know
the truth that Christ is all in salvation, that all God requires
of you. He looks to Christ for it. You
know that's the truth. You couldn't find any rest or
assurance in anything else. You know the truth that salvation
really is all of grace. You know this Bible's the word
of God. You know that. You don't have to be argued into
it, you know it's the truth. These are the people that are
included in this us. Look in verse 22. Who is a liar?
But he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ, God's prophet,
God's priest, and God's king. He is antichrist that denieth
the Father and the Son. Whosoever denieth the Son, the
same hath not the Father. But he that acknowledgeth the
Son hath the Father also. Somebody that denies he's the
Christ? No, they're not in the us. Here's the us, verse 24,
let that therefore abide, remain in you, which you have heard
from the beginning. Now, what'd you hear from the
beginning? I know from the beginning, the
first thing I ever heard, savingly and spiritually, was that I was
nothing but sin. and Christ is all in salvation. You know what? What was true
then is true now. It's no different. You know,
when we were singing that hymn, What Can Wash Away My Sin, Nothing
But the Blood of Jesus, if there's a better hymn, I don't know what
it is. And it's so eternally now true. What can wash away
my sin? Right now. Nothing but the blood
of Jesus. What can make me whole again
right now? Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
This is all my righteousness right now. Nothing but the blood
of Jesus. That's the point. Whatever we
were, we stay there. You know the key, listen to this,
and this is so true, the very key to growth and grace, the
very key to continuing in the faith is staying a sinner. I
know people can abuse that, and I can't help it if they do, but
it's still so. The key to continuing in the
faith is staying a sinner, because when you stay a sinner, that
makes you not see grace just as something you agree with or
give assent to, but it's something that's absolutely necessary for
you. It's necessary for your salvation. It's necessary for
you to hear. You can't handle it if that's
not what you're hearing. Now that's the person, that's the
us he's speaking of. He's talking about the same us
that Paul spoke of in Romans 8.31, when he said, if God be
for us, who can be against us? He's talking about the elect
of God. That's who the us is. This is the promise he's promised
us. even eternal life. Now let's think for a moment
about the fact that eternal life comes from the promise of God. This is very important. This
is a promise that he had promised us. Every believer, even eternal
life. Listen real carefully. God does
not offer anybody eternal life. I despise listening to preachers
talk about God offering something. God doesn't offer anything. He doesn't offer you eternal
life, but it's up to you as to whether or not you'll accept
it or reject it. He doesn't offer you the forgiveness of sins,
and it's up to you as to whether or not you'll receive it, as
if salvation is ultimately in your hands. That's not so. God
does not offer things. God offers you the forgiveness
of sins. I beg your pardon. He does not. If He forgives you, you're forgiven. And you find out that it's His
work, but it's not something, well, I think I'm going to take
it or I'm going to reject it. It doesn't work that way at all. Eternal life
doesn't come from an offer. God offering. You know, that's
offensive. It's offensive. It's ridiculous
to think of God offering somebody something. The living God doesn't
offer. I love what the Lord said in
John chapter 12, verse 15. I know this is His commandment.
even eternal life. If you have eternal life, it's
not because He's offered it to you. It's because He commanded
you to have it. And He said, live, and you lived.
You know that's so. That's eternal life. It comes
from the same commandment that raised Christ from the dead,
the same commandment that created the universe, the same power
is used in giving every believer this eternal life, this life
of God in the soul, and it's given because of God's promise. You see, eternal life begins
with God's purpose and with God's decree. Titus 1.1 says, In hope
of eternal life, which God, who cannot lie, promised before the
world began. That's when this promise was
made by God. Before the world began. Acts chapter 13 verse 48 says,
As many as were ordained to eternal life, believed. It doesn't say as many as believed
were ordained to eternal life. No, not at all. It says as many
as were ordained to eternal life. Before time began, they're the
ones who believed. And I've already read that scripture.
John 17, to thou has given him power over all flesh, that he
should give eternal life to as many as thou has given him. When Peter is opening the gates
wide in preaching the gospel, On the day of Pentecost, he ends
his message with this, the promises to you and to your children and
all that are far off, even as many as the Lord our God shall
call. That's what the promises do.
Even as many as the Lord our God shall call. Now God's promise
is not like our promise. Todd, will you do this tomorrow?
Yeah. You promise? Yeah. Am I going
to be able to do it? Probably not. I'll probably get
sick. Maybe I'll get killed. Maybe
I'll forget. I mean, we ought to be good to our word. Don't
anyone think that I'm saying it doesn't matter whether you
keep your word. But what I'm saying is, let your yea be yea and your
nay be nay. When you promise, you make a
promise you can't keep. You don't know if you have your next breath
coming. Our promises, they mean so very
little, but not his promise. You see, the scripture says he
cannot lie. When he makes a promise, it is
good. Galatians 3.18 says, if the inheritance
be of the law, If what you get is according to some personal
obedience on your part to the law, it's no more by promise,
but God gave it to Abraham by promise. Now God's promise for
the children being not yet born, neither having done any good
or evil, but the purpose of God, according to election might stand
not of works, but of him that calleth. That's God's promise. It doesn't have anything to do
with works. You get it because it gave it
to you. Not because you deserve it, not because you earned it.
I love David's statement, his nine words. Although my house
be not so with God, yet hath he made with me an everlasting
covenant, ordered in all things. And sure, that's God's promise. All the promises of God in him
are yea and amen. Listen to this scripture. Romans
4 16, therefore it, speaking of justification, therefore it
is by faith that it might be by grace to this end that the
promise might be sure to all the seed. Now the only way the
promise is sure is if it's all of grace. If it's something you
need to do to make the promise work, it's gonna be a failure.
I promise I'll give you this. If you do that, that won't work.
That won't work because you won't do it and I won't do it either.
Oh God's unconditional promise. Now turn to Romans chapter five. This shows how much the eternal
life is by grace. Verse 20, moreover, the law entered
that the offense might abound. That's talking about the Ten
Commandments. That's talking about the holy law of God. It entered, and we
think, well, that'll restrain sin if you put men under law.
No, it won't. No, it won't. The law entered that the offense
might abound. But where sin abounded. Would that be in you? Are you a place where sin abounds?
Where it overflows and you can't stop it? Where sin abounded,
grace did much more abound. that as sin hath reigned unto
death, now what that's saying is sin has complete control just
like death does. How much power do you have to
stop death? None. How much power do you have
to stop the reign of sin? None. That's what the book says. Let's go on reading. That as
sin hath reigned unto death, Even so, in the exact same manner,
might grace reign through righteousness. It's righteous grace, the righteousness
of Christ unto eternal life by Jesus Christ, our Lord. Now, eternal life is the gift
of his grace. When he gives it, it's experienced. He doesn't offer it, it's given. I'd still love to think about
what the Lord said to that woman, if you knew the gift of God. And who it is that's talking
to you? If you knew, I know what you'd do. You'd ask, right now,
you'd ask. And He would have given you eternal
life, the gift of God's grace. Now, eternal life begins with
God. It's His gift given to the elect for Christ's sake. It's
being born of God. It's being born from above. It's
being born again. It's God's work. And you can't
separate eternal life and the words of life. You cannot separate eternal life
and the words of eternal life. There are words that are received,
that are rejoiced in, that are believed wherever there is eternal
life. Somebody says, well, I have eternal
life. Well, if you receive the words of eternal life, you have
eternal life. If you don't receive the words
of eternal life, I don't know what it is you have, but it's
not God's eternal life. Turn with me to John chapter
six. Very familiar passage, but In 60, verse 67, then said Jesus
unto the 12, will you also go away? John chapter six, verse
67. Will you also go away? Then Simon Peter answered him,
Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal
life. You see where there's eternal
life, it's because you're being begotten by the Word. Of His
own will begat He us, birthed us, gave us life through the
Word of truth. Now what led Peter to speak of
the Lord's words as words of eternal life. Well, look in verse
59, these things said he in the synagogue, as he taught in Capernaum,
many therefore of his disciples, when they'd heard this, said,
this is a hard saying. Who could hear it? When Jesus
knew in himself that his disciples murmured at it, he said to them,
does this offend you? Are you offended by what I've
said? What if you shall see the Son of Man ascend up where it
was before? I love when he says that. He says, are you offended
now? You'll really be offended when
you see me again. at the right hand of the Father,
you being in my complete sovereign control. You're offended now,
you'll be a whole lot more offended then. Verse 63, it's the spirit
that gives life, that gives eternal life. The flesh profiteth nothing. The words that I speak unto you,
they are spirit and they are life. Look back in verse 25. John chapter
6. And when they found him on the
other side of the sea, they said unto him, Rabbi, when camest
thou hither? Jesus answered them and said, Verily, verily, I say
unto you, you seek me not because you saw the miracles, but because
you did eat of the loaves and were filled. A religion of how
you can be benefited. You know, if I become a Christian,
I'll have a better life. I'll have a better marriage.
It will heal my relationships. It'll do things for me. My life
will be enriched by being a Christian. Wrong. Wrong. In many ways, your life
will become much more difficult. The Lord says, In verse 27, labor
not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth
unto everlasting life. Eternal life, which the Son of
Man shall give unto you. For him hath God the Father sealed.
Then said they unto him, What shall we do that we might work
the works of God? They heard that labor, and that's
all they could come up with. They didn't hear that he said,
the Son of Man will give you eternal life. Jesus answered
and said unto them, this is the work of God, that you believe
on him whom he hath sent. Do you? Do you believe on him whom he
hath sent? They said therefore unto him,
what sign showest thou then that we may see and believe? What
does thou work? Our fathers did eat man in the
desert, as is written, he gave them bread from heaven to eat.
Then Jesus said unto them, verily, verily, I say unto you, Moses
gave you not that bread from heaven, but my father giveth
you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is he which
cometh down from heaven and giveth life unto the world. Then said
they unto him, Lord evermore, give us this bread. Those were
still thinking physical bread. And Jesus saith unto them, I
am the bread of life. He that cometh to me shall never
hunger. He'll be satisfied. He that believeth
on me shall never thirst. He won't be looking for anything
else. But I say unto you that you've also seen me and believed
not. It's almost like he's saying that's no discouragement to me.
All that the Father giveth me shall come to me. And him that
cometh to me, I will in no wise cast out. For I came down from
heaven not to do my own will, but the will of him that sent
me. And this is the Father's will, which has sent me, that
of all which he hath given me, I should lose nothing, but should
raise it up again at the last day. And this is the will of
him that sent me, that everyone which seeth the Son and believeth
on him may have everlasting, eternal, same word, life. And I will raise him up at the
last day. The Jews murmured unto him, because he said, I'm the
bread that came down from heaven. And they said, is not this Jesus,
the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How is it
then that he saith, I came down from heaven? Jesus therefore
answered and said unto them, murmur not among yourselves,
no man came unto me, except the father which has sent me draw
him. and I'll raise him up at the last day. It's written in
the prophets, and they shall be all taught of God. Every man,
therefore, that hath heard and hath learned of the Father cometh
unto me, not that any man hath seen God, 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. Now, these
are the words of eternal life that they did not like, but you
can't separate eternal life and the words of eternal life. Now,
what is the evidence of eternal life? What is the evidence? Turn with me to John 3. Verse 14, and as Moses lifted
up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be
lifted up that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but
have eternal life. Now what is the evidence of eternal
life? that you've been bit by the snake
of sin and the venom is killing you and you cannot cure yourself. You can't keep the snakes away.
By the grace of God, you look to Christ. That's what faith
is. It's a look. You look away from yourself,
you look away from the snakes, you look to him. Faith is the
evidence of eternal life. Somebody says, well, I think
I've got eternal life because I see I'm just doing better than
I used to. I don't seem to have quite the
same struggles with sin that I once did. I feel like I'm getting
holier. I feel like I'm getting better.
I feel like I'm manifesting more of a Christian attitude and I'm
growing in grace. I feel like I'm doing pretty
good. Surely, I must have eternal life the way I'm doing. And my
dear friend, you'll improve by that. You don't have any life
at all. You see, it takes a holy nature to see sin. If you see
that about yourself, you don't have a holy nature. You just
got a natural nature, a sinful nature, and you can't even see
sin. It takes a holy nature to see sin. And you know what somebody
does in seeing sin? They look to Christ only. That is the evidence of eternal
life. Turn to 1 John chapter 5. Let
me wrap this up. 1 John chapter 5. Verse 11. And this is the record
that God hath given to us eternal life. And this life is in his
son. Now understand this. Everything
God has for the sinner is in the Lord Jesus Christ. It's in
His Son. It's not some response to you.
It's not some response to something you do. It's in response to His
Son. Is that good news? This life
is in His Son. He that hath the Son hath life. And he that hath not the Son
of God hath not life. These things have I written unto
you that believe on the name of the Son of God, that you may
know that you have eternal life, and that you may believe on the
name of the Son of God. If you believe on the name of
the Son of God, if you believe His name is the only way you'll
be brought into heaven. If you believe his name is Jehovah
to Ken of the Lord our righteousness, you believe on his name, you
have eternal life. Only those who have eternal life
can look to his name only. Verse 20 of the same chapter.
And we know that the son of God has come and has given us an
understanding that we may know him that's true and that we're
in him that is true. Now, isn't that everything in
salvation? Is that everything? To know Him that's true to know
God. To be in Him. Oh, that I may
win Christ and be found in Him. Those are my two desires. To be in Him and to know Him. To worship Him. To see His beauty. And look what John says about
this. This is the true God. And this is eternal life. This is the promise. He's promised
us even eternal life. Let's pray together. Lord, what a glorious gift, eternal
life, to be enabled to know you, to be in your son. Lord, I ask
in Christ's name that everybody in this room might be given this
glorious gift of eternal life. Lord, we confess we can't produce
it. Lord, we ask that you'd give
your commandment, eternal life. in each heart here according
to your will for the glory of your name. Bless these words
for the Lord's sake, in his name we pray, amen.