I feel overwhelmed with my subject. Lay hold upon eternal life. Seize. Take hold of eternal life. Timothy already had eternal life
when Paul wrote this. He'd been born of God. He'd been
born of the Spirit, he was a believer, and yet Paul says to him, lay
hold upon eternal life. Now why would you have to lay
hold of something if you already had it? You just do. I don't know how
else to answer that. You just do. I think of Paul
saying in Philippians chapter 3, Verse 9, O that I may win
Christ and be found in Him. Aren't you in Him, Paul? Yes,
but O that I may win Christ and be found in Him, that I might
know Him. Don't you know Him, Paul? Yes,
but O that I might know Him. Lay hold, seize, grab, take eternal
life. Would you not agree that all
of us live below our privileges? The Lord said, I came that they
might have life and that they might have it more abundantly. And the Lord said, take my yoke
upon you and learn of me. Now this is important. He didn't
say learn about me. He said, learn of me. I love
that song. More of Jesus would I know. More of His grace to others show. More of His saving fullness see. More of His love who died for
me. More of Jesus let me learn. More of His holy will discern. Spirit of God my teacher be. showing the things of Christ
to me. More of Jesus in his word, holding
communion with my Lord, hearing his voice in every line, making
each faithful saying mine. More of Jesus on his throne,
riches in glory, all his own, more of his kingdom sure increase,
more of his coming Prince of Peace. Timothy, lay hold upon
this eternal life, which you've been called to. This is what
you've been called to. And I can say to every believer
here, you have been called to lay hold upon eternal life. You're called to a higher thing.
If I can use that kind of language than the things of this world.
lay hold upon eternal life. Now, what is eternal life? Well, it's not eternal existence.
Everybody's got that. Everybody's got that. There's plant life, there's animal
life, there's human life, and there's eternal life. And this
is an overwhelming thing to say, and I don't even know how to
say it, but to say it, I don't even know much about what to say about
it, but eternal life is the life of God in the soul of a man. Now that's a big statement. If I
have eternal life, I have the life of God in my soul. I have Christ in me. the hope of glory. I've been
made a partaker of the divine nature. I've been born of God. That's what I have if I have
eternal life. The life of God in me. That's an overwhelming thought.
And a lot of times as far as the way we feel, we don't feel
much like God is in us or we have his life in us. But if I'm
a believer, At all times, I have the life of God Himself in my
soul. Those that do not possess eternal
life are dead in sins. They have no spiritual life.
What can a dead man do to give himself life? He can't do anything,
can he? He's dead. The man dead in sins
does not have the capacity to know God. to have fellowship
with God, to have communion with God. He doesn't have the capacity
to love God. They don't have the capacity
to believe or repent. They see no beauty in the gospel.
They can't hear the joyful sound. It's not a joyful sound. It's
just words. It's just doctrine. They don't
hear the beauty of Christ. They've never tasted that He
is gracious. They smell no sweet savor of
the gospel. They can't feel the burden of
their sin. Oh, they might feel the consequences of sin, but
they can't feel the burden of their sin before God. How does one come to have this
life of God in the soul? How does one come to have eternal
life? I want it, don't you? Whatever eternal life is, I want
it. How can I get it? Well, here's the first way. I've got to be ordained to it.
Now, that's where we've got to begin. Turn to Acts chapter 13. I'm not going to up and just,
well, I think I'm going to get eternal life. It doesn't work that way. Verse 48, and when the Gentiles
heard this, they heard Paul preach the gospel. When the Gentiles
heard this, they were glad, and they glorified the word of the
Lord, and as many as were ordained to eternal life believed. Who had this eternal life? As
many, no more, no less. as many as were ordained to eternal
life. The elect are those who have
eternal life. They've been ordained to that.
And they have it because it was given to them as a gift of His
grace. The scripture says the wages
of sin is death. Now, if I go to hell, all my
sin is all my fault. And I get exactly what I deserve. The wages of sin is death, but
the gift, the free gift, oh, I think of what the Lord said
to that woman at the well, if you knew the gift of God, and
who it was that saith to thee, give me to drink, thou would
have asked, and he would have given. If you knew the gift,
you'd ask, and he'd give. Turn with me for a moment to
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. He that hath the Son hath life. And he that hath not the Son
of God hath not life. Now all of God's blessings, all
of eternal life, everything God has is in the Lord Jesus Christ. And he that hath the Son has
life. He that has not the Son has not
life. Now, eternal life has something
to do, when God has given it to you, it has something to do
with hearing the voice of the Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord said,
My sheep, hear My voice. and I give unto them eternal
life. And they shall never perish,
neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. Now what is it
to hear the voice of Christ? Now I've never heard the voice
of Christ audibly, but I've heard it a whole lot louder than that.
I've heard the voice of Christ when I've heard the gospel as
the gospel of God. That's the very truth of God. That's what it is to hear His
voice. You know, this is the truth. This is His word. This
is words of eternal life. You see, eternal life has something
to do with that faith of hearing the words of Christ and hearing
them as words of eternal life. Will you also go away? To whom
shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal
life. And we believe and are sure that
thou art that Christ, the Son of the living God. Eternal life
has something to do with looking, just looking to Christ. What
did the Lord say in John chapter 6? John chapter 3 rather, as
Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must
the Son of Man be lifted up that whosoever believeth on him should
have eternal life. Now if you look away to yourself
right now, if you look away from yourself and you look to Christ
as all you need to make you accepted before thrice holy God, that
is eternal life. The Lord said in John chapter
6 verse 54, Whoso eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood, hath eternal
life. Except you eat the flesh of the
Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you. Christ
is my food. He's all I can live on. What is eternal life? Christ Himself. is eternal life. I'm going to show you a couple
of scriptures. Turn to John chapter 11. Lay hold upon eternal life. John
chapter 11. Verse 23, Jesus saith unto her,
thy brother shall rise again. Martha saith unto him, I know
that he shall rise again in the resurrection of the last day.
I understand the doctrine of the resurrection. I've been taught
well, and I know what that means. I know he'll rise on the last
day. Jesus saith unto her, I am the resurrection and the life. He that believeth in me, though
he were dead, yet shall he live. And whosoever liveth and believeth
in me shall never die. Now do you believe this? I am
the resurrection and life. The resurrection is not a doctrine.
The resurrection is Him. Turn to 1 John chapter 1. Here's eternal life. Verse 1, That which was from the beginning,
which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which
we have looked upon, and our hands have handled of the word
of life. For the life was manifested. I love the way the The scripture
refers to the Lord's life as the life. When Christ, our life,
shall appear. His life, His life is my life
before God. That's my eternal life. His life,
whatever His life is, that's eternal life. Who He is, that's
who I am in Him. Our hands have handled of the
word of life, for the life was manifested and we've seen it
and bear witness and show unto you that eternal life which was
with the Father and was manifest unto us. That which we've seen
and heard declare we unto you that you also might have fellowship
with us. and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with His
Son, Jesus Christ. The Lord Himself is eternal life. Well, if the Lord's eternal life,
how do I experience it? If eternal life is a person,
how do I experience this eternal life? We'll turn to John 17. This is the true Lord's Prayer,
where he prayed for his people. Verse 1, 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
hast given him. Now, eternal life is his to give,
and he gives it to those the father gave him, the elect. Now
go on reading verse three, and this is life eternal. And I love the simplicity of
this, that they might know thee, the only true God. and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast
sent." Now, eternal life is to know the only true God. Now, there are many false gods,
aren't there? Many false gods. Most of what goes on under the
name of Christianity is false. It's of the devil. It's not the
truth. There are many false gods, but
there's only one true God, the living God. And to know him is
more than knowing things about him and having an arsenal of
correct theological facts, theological facts. It's knowing him so that
he knows me. When I speak of Him, I'm not
name dropping. He actually knows me. That's
what it is to know Him, for Him to know me. I love what Paul
said, now that you've known God, or rather are known of God. Now, if He knows me, I know Him. I know the President of the United
States. I know his name. I know what
he looks like. I could point him out if I saw him in a crowd.
But if you asked him, do you know Todd Norbert? He said, never
heard of him. You see, that's not the knowledge I'm talking
about, about knowing who somebody is. I'm talking about a relationship,
knowing the living God, where I know him, and he knows me. And he's for me. And he loves
me. And He forgives me of my sins.
And He keeps me by His grace. And He has mercy on me. And He
won't let me go. He's given me eternal life and
He won't let me go. I'm in His hand. He walks with
me. To think that I've got the life
of the God of glory in my soul. You know, if you don't have anything
else, you've got everything, don't you? the life of God in my soul. Now this word that they might
know thee, the only true God in Jesus Christ whom thou hast
sent, this word know carries with it more than just information. Adam knew his wife Eve. She had
an intimate, loving, or he had an intimate, loving relationship
with her. The word carries with it the
idea of approval and favor. The Lord says, I know my sheep.
I know them. That means more than I know who
they are, I love them. When he says, depart from me,
I never knew you, what that means is he knew exactly who they were.
I never loved you. He knows his sheep. I know my sheep, and am known
of mine. Now, the foundation of me knowing
him is him knowing me. Whom he did foreknow. Does God foreknow everything?
Of course He does. He predestinated everything. He decrees everything.
But whom? This thing of predestination
and foreknowledge, it's not about events, it's about persons. Whom
He did foreknow. He also did predestinate to be
conformed to the image of His Son. That's the foundation of
my salvation, whom He did foreknow. Paul said in 2nd Timothy 2.19,
the foundation of the Lord standeth sure, having this seal, the Lord
knoweth them that are His. Oh, to know the living God through
the Lord Jesus Christ. This is life eternal, that they
might know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom Thou
hast sent. Look in verse 8 of this same
chapter. For I have given unto them the
words which Thou gavest Me, words of eternal life, And they have
received them. And they have known surely that
I came out from thee. And they have believed that thou
didst send me. Do you believe the Father sent
him? Look in verse 18. As thou hast sent me into the
world, Even so have I also sent them into the world. Verse 21,
that they all may be one. As thou father art in me and
I in thee, that they also may be one in us, that the world
may believe that thou hast sent me. Verse 23, I in them and thou
in me, that they may be made perfect in one, that the world
may know that thou hast sent me. and has loved them as thou
has loved me. Now we know him as the sent one,
don't we? Sent of the father. What did
the father send him to do? Thank the Lord for this verse
of scripture. This is a faithful saying. and it's worthy of all
acceptation. You and I ought to rejoice in
this and receive it as absolutely the best thing we've ever heard
in our life. That Christ Jesus came into the
world. He was sent by the Father and
He came into the world for what purpose? To save sinners. I'm one of them. He came to save
me. He's the sent one. Aren't you
thankful He came to save sinners? If you're a sinner, you're rejoicing
that. This is life eternal, that they
might know Thee, the only true God, as opposed to the many false
gods. They know God in His true character,
and Jesus Christ, whom Thou hast sent. You know, what He sent
for is found in His name, Jesus. Thou shalt call His name Jesus,
for He shall save. His people from their sins. Christ,
His offices. The Christ, God's Word. He's
the very Word of God. Christ, God's priest. He's the
priest that brings me into God's presence. Christ, the King. He's the King who causes me to
do His will. And that's what I need. I need
someone, a divine being to cause me to do His will. Christ, the
King. This is life eternal. that they
might know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom Thou
hast sent." Paul says to Timothy, who already
has eternal life, lay hold on eternal life. Take! Seize! eternal life. Now, what does it mean to lay
hold on eternal life? And it's strong language. Well,
let's say you're in a boat that's sinking. Let's say there's two
men in a boat that is sinking, and neither one of them can swim.
And one of them is looking for something to take hold of, so
he takes hold of his possessions and his gold and holds on tight.
He's a fool. There's another. The life jacket
is thrown to him. He takes hold of it. And he holds
it and he will not let it go. Take hold on eternal life. We have so many examples in the
scriptures of people who laid hold of eternal life, who seized
it. The first man that came to mind
was Blind Bartimaeus, the son of Timaeus. Sitting by the highway
side begging. The scripture says that when
he heard that Jesus of Nazareth passeth by. Now I have no doubt
that blind Bartimaeus, somewhere along the line, he heard in the
scriptures, the scripture talked about the Messiah giving sight
to the blind several times during the book of Isaiah. And I know
that He said, that's what I need. One day he heard, you know he
sat there by the wayside and he heard all kinds of rumors
and stuff going around. He heard about Jesus of Nazareth
that had healed one who'd been born blind. And he said, that's
the Messiah, I know it. If he ever passes by this way,
I'm gonna cry to him, I'm gonna cry for mercy. So there he is,
sitting by the highwayside begging. And all of a sudden, he hears
this commotion. What is this? Jesus of Nazareth passeth by. Jesus, our son of David, have
mercy on me. And you know, they told him to
shut up. They said, hold your peace. But the scripture says,
he cried the more a great deal. Have mercy on me. He wouldn't
be denied. Now that's what it is to lay
hold upon eternal life. And the Lord said, Come here,
Bartimaeus. Rise and come here. What do you
want? Lord, that I may receive my side. The Syrophoenician woman laid
hold on eternal life. She had a great, great need. Her daughter was demon possessed,
vexed with the devil. Can you imagine how that woman
felt? What a great, great need. And she said, Have mercy on me,
O Lord, thou Son of David. My daughter is grievously vexed
with the devil. You can read about this in Matthew
15. And the scripture says, He answered her not a word. He didn't
speak to her. Have you ever prayed and you
knew it wasn't getting anywhere? It wasn't getting past the ceiling?
I mean, that's how she felt. Did she give up? No, she kept
crying. She kept crying. The disciples
said, send her away. She's crying after. She's driving
us crazy. She kept crying. And then the Lord made this statement.
He said, I'm not sent, but to the lost sheep of the house of
Israel. I didn't come for everybody.
What did she do? Give up? No, the scripture says,
then came she and worshiped him saying, Lord, help me. Help me. I know you've only come
for the lost sheep of the house of Israel, but help me. And then
he said, it's not right. It's not me to take the children's
bread and to throw it to dogs. And she said, that's the truth,
Lord. If you ever said the truth, that's
me. I'm a dog, but even the dogs feed of the crumbs that fall
from the master's table. I need your mercy. She would
not be denied. She laid hold upon eternal life. You remember when Jacob is wrestling
with the angel, and that angel is nobody less than the Lord
Jesus Christ. He said, I've seen God face to face. And the angel
said, let me go! He said, I will not let you go
except you bless me. I have to have your mercy. I
have to have you to do something for me. That's what it is to
lay hold upon the Lord Jesus Christ. Now if you can give up,
you never lay hold on Him. You just never have. I think
of that woman with the issue of blood crawling through the
crowd on her hands and knees touching the hem of his garment
because she said if I can just touch his clothes I'll be whole.
That's laying hold upon eternal life. It's not something you're
apathetic about. It's not something you're indifferent
about. It's not something you can wait on. It's not something
you can do tomorrow. Lay hold upon eternal life. I think of that scripture The
kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force. But you won't have a while. I may not know that I am one
of God's elect. Now you listen real carefully.
I may not be positive that I'm one of the chosen. I may not
see evidence in my life that makes me think, yes, you've certainly
been born again. I may not know that all my sins
are forgiven, but I know this. I must have Christ. I know that. In the very depths
of my soul, I know I must have Christ. Nobody needs the great
physician more than this sinner. I need thee, precious Jesus,
for I am full of sin. My soul is dark and guilty. My heart is dead within. I need the cleansing fountain
where I can always please. The blood of Christ, most precious,
the sinner's perfect plea. You know, when the Lord looked
up in that tree and saw Zacchaeus, said, Zacchaeus, make haste,
come down. Today I must abide at thy house.
You know what Zacchaeus did? He made haste and he came down. And he received him joyfully. Now, Paul says to Timothy, lay
hold upon eternal life, whereunto thou art also called. Now, do you know what you're
called to do? Somebody says, I want some direction for my
life. Me too. I'd like to have some direction for my life. Here's
what we're called upon to do. to lay hold upon eternal life. One last scripture, turn to 1
Corinthians 1. This is what every believer is
called for. Let's start in verse 17. For Christ sent me not to baptize,
but to preach the gospel, not with wisdom of words. If I use
human wisdom, all I'll do is make the cross of Christ of none
effect. It'll just take away the meaning of it. For the preaching
or the doctrine of the cross, what the cross teaches concerning
God, man and salvation is to them to perish foolishness. but unto us which are saved.
Oh, it's the power of God, for it's written, I'll destroy the
wisdom of the wise. This is God speaking. And I will
bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent. Where is the
wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this
world? Hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? For
after that in the wisdom of God, the world by wisdom knew not
God. It pleased God by the foolishness
of preaching to save them that believe. For the Jews, the religious,
they require a sign, and the Greeks, they seek after wisdom,
but we preach Christ crucified. Now what does that mean? That one who is crucified, who
was crucified, is the Savior. And in His glorious death, He
actually saved everybody He represented. And the message of the cross,
we preach Christ crucified, who He is, His person, He's the God-man,
His work. We preach Christ crucified. That's our message. We preach
Christ crucified, now unto the Jews. This is a stumbling block. You tell me that If Christ died for me, I'm saved?
That's it? Are you telling me something
that simple? I mean, what about the things I need to do? That's
too simple. Do you expect me to believe that?
That all that it takes for me to enter heaven is the death
of the Lord Jesus Christ? Do you expect me to believe that?
I stumble at that. What about good works? What about
the things I can do? Unto the Greeks. Foolishness. You expect me to believe that
man that died on a cross is God? And that you're saved by somebody
else's righteousness? Well, that's foolishness. I don't
believe that. But, verse 24, unto them which
are called. Called. Well, have I been called? Well, I know this. If I had been
called, I'd be calling. The called call. They call on
the name of the Lord. If the Lord is calling you, you
know what you'll do? You'll call on his name. Now
that's the evidence of being called. You'll call. To them
which are called. In the original, it's literally
the called. Both Jews and Greeks. Christ. The omnipotence of God. and Christ the wisdom of God. Now, if I'm called and I have
eternal life, I see Christ as the very power of God that actually
has put away sin. You know, it takes the power
of God to put away sin. You can't just get rid of it
or put it under the cover. You know, matter Once it's in
the universe, it never leaves. It's always here. I mean, it
doesn't disappear. It takes a miracle of God for
something to disappear. Christ, the power of God, has
made my sin to disappear. He put it away. And he's the
wisdom of God. Oh, that God is so wise that
he can make a way to remain just and holy and yet justify someone
who's evil. What wisdom. What wisdom. The power and the wisdom of God. That is eternal life. Let's pray together.