I've entitled the message for
this evening, What is Eternal Life? That's a big question,
isn't it? It's not easy to answer. What
is eternal life? And I was thinking about that. Do I have eternal life? What
is eternal life? And there were two things that
came to my mind, thinking about this scriptural concept, eternal
life. First, eternal life is the life
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, his life, literally, actually
is my life before God. That's a wonderful thought, his
life. He said, I'm the truth. I'm the life. He said, I'm the
resurrection and the life. His life, his perfect obedience,
his life is my life before God. Eternal life is that life that
he gives, the new birth, regeneration, when God gives a new heart and
a new spirit. That's eternal life. It's not talking about endless
existence. People in hell had endless existence. That's talking about eternal
life. Life before God. The life of
God in a man's soul. Eternal life. Isn't that glorious? Every believer has, possesses
eternal life. Now the Lord says in 17th chapter
of John, verse 2, as thou hast given him power, authority over
all flesh. I love thinking about that. Rich
men, poor men, black men, white men, famous men, unknown men,
everybody, everybody, all is under his control, is under his
dominion. He has power over all flesh. I think it's almost amusing to
think of people who hate the Lord Jesus Christ. They don't
realize they're in his hand. He's going to do with them whatever
he's pleased to do. Thou hast given him power over
all flesh for this purpose, that he should give eternal life. to as many as thou hast given
him." This was God the Father's purpose, that he should give
eternal life to all those that the Father gave him, referring
to all the elect. He came for this purpose, to
give them eternal life, and our Lord tells us what eternal life
is in verse 3. And this is life eternal, that
they might know thee, the only true God and Jesus Christ, whom
thou hast sent. Eternal life. Now, if you talk to your average
religious person and you say, what do you think the Bible means
by eternal life? They would probably say, well,
that means afterlife, being in heaven forever. And indeed that
is part of what eternal life is, but it's a whole lot more
than that. There's plant life. I appreciate plant life, don't
you? I like to look at the plants, growing, trees, the Lord's creatures. There's animal life. God's creatures. I like animal life. There's mental
life. That's the life that human beings
have. And then there is spiritual life
or eternal life. It means the same thing, eternal
life, spiritual life. Now men are said to be, in the
scriptures, dead in trespasses and sins. That means they do
not have spiritual life. We're born into this world without
it, dead. Dead in trespasses and sins.
That's what happened to Adam in the garden. He didn't die
physically, but he did die spiritually. And that's why we're sinners.
We're born into this world spiritually dead. The Lord said in John chapter
5, verse 39, you search the scriptures. For in them, you think you have
eternal life. You think if I can figure out
what this book means, if I can obey these rules, I'll have eternal
life. And he says, they are they, the
scriptures which testify of me. And you will not come to me that
you might have eternal life. Now, when God saves a man, he
gives him eternal life. Once again, this is not talking
about eternal duration. Eternal existence is talking
about eternal life. Our Lord said, I am come that
they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly. Turn with me to 1 John chapter
1 for a moment. John says in verse 1, That which
was from the beginning The Lord is always the great
I am that I am, that which was from the beginning, which we
have heard, which we have seen with our eyes and which we have
looked upon and 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. That's the Lord Jesus Christ.
He calls the Lord Jesus Christ that eternal life. You want to know what eternal
life is? He is. He is. We show you that eternal
life, which was with the Father and was manifested unto us, that
which we've seen and heard declare we unto you, that you may have
fellowship with us. And truly, our fellowship is
with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. Now, eternal
life is the Lord himself, and eternal life is knowing this
person. Look in 1 John 5. You're already
there. Verse 11. And this is the record. that
God hath given to us eternal life. And this life is where? It's in His Son. He that hath
the Son hath life, and he that hath not the Son of God hath
not life. Look at it in verse 20. I've
already read this. 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 we're in Him that's true, even in His Son, Jesus Christ.
This is the true God, knowing Him and being in Him. This is the true God, and this
is eternal life. When one has this life, this
is an operation of the Spirit of God. It's God, the Holy Spirit,
birthing me into the kingdom of heaven. Heaven saying, live.
And I live. I now have something I did not
have before. I have spiritual life. I was
dead. God says, live, through the preaching of the gospel.
I hear. I live. I believe. It's the life of God
in the soul. Our Lord said, it's the spirit
that quickeneth, the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak
unto you, they are spirit and they are life. You know, eternal
life has something to do with the words of the Lord Jesus Christ,
don't they? The words that I speak to you, he said. The words. What's
in this book? They're spirit and they are life. Eternal life is the gift of God.
Romans chapter 6 verse 23 says the wages of sin is death. Do
you really want what is owed to you? I sure don't. The wages of sin. If God gives
me what I got coming, if He rewards me according to my works, apart
from the Lord Jesus Christ, this is what I'll get. Death. When people hear the gospel of
distinguishing, discriminating grace, they say, how can that
be fair? Do you really want God to be fair with you? No, I'm not interested in that.
But I'm interested in this gift, the gift of God, the free, gracious
gift of God. I want this gift, don't you?
The gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Now, this eternal life begins
with the decree of God. You can turn to this scripture
if you want to, but I'm going to quote it. Acts chapter 13. Paul's been preaching. And when
the Gentiles heard this, they heard the preaching of Paul,
what a message it was. They were glad and they glorified
the word of the Lord. And the scripture says, as many
as were ordained to eternal life believed. It doesn't say everybody
who believed was ordained to eternal life. It said as many
as were ordained to eternal life believed. Now, eternal life is
what Christ gives his sheep. My sheep, he said, hear my voice.
I know them and they follow me and I give unto them eternal
life and they shall never perish. Neither shall any man pluck them
out of my Father's hand. Eternal life has something to
do with faith. As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness,
Now, what had taken place? You're familiar with that passage
of Scripture. 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 not perish, but have eternal life. Now, remember what took place?
The children of Israel are discouraged. They say, we're tired of this
manna. We're tired of this light bread, they call it. It's insubstantial.
We want something better than this. Why did you brought us
out into the wilderness to kill us, Moses? They were complaining
after all the Lord had done for them. And the Lord sent fiery
serpents into the camp. And they started biting the children
of Israel. And when people were bitten,
they were dying as a judgment. They deserved it. And they come
to Moses and they said, Moses, we've done wrong. Ask the Lord
to forgive us. Do something for us. And Moses
goes before the Lord. He says, you take a Serpent. You make a serpent of brass,
just like the ones biting. You put it up on a pole. And
anybody who looks at that serpent, they'll live. But I can't see. It doesn't say
see. It says look. If a blind Israelite
would have looked toward that pole, he would have lived. That's faith. Faith is not looking
to yourself. It's looking away from yourself.
It's looking to the Lord Jesus Christ. It's looking to Him.
Don't you love the simplicity of that? He said, look unto me
and be ye saved. All the ends of the earth for
I am God and beside me is none else. Eternal life has something
to do with looking to Christ as your salvation before God. The Lord said in John 6, 54,
Whoso eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood hath eternal life. Now, in a few moments, we're
going to observe the Lord's table. We're going to eat that broken
bread and we're going to remember this is his broken body. And
we're going to drink that wine which represents his shed blood.
And when we do this, we're doing this in remembrance of him. I'm
remembering that I live by his death. I live by what He did
for me. That's my sustenance. That's
all that gives me hope right now. What He did for me. Right
now, at any rate. I hope I'm being sincere. The
only thing I've got is Christ. But that's all I want. I'm resting
in Him. That's my salvation. And I'm
living off of that. And that's eternal life. What
is eternal life? Now hear the words of our Lord
Jesus in John 17, verse 3. He says, This is life eternal. This is what happens when you
have the life of Christ. This is what happens when you
have this new birth, God the Holy Spirit. This is life eternal,
that they might know thee, the only true God. Now, eternal life
has something to do with an actual relationship with the living
God, where I really know Him. I don't simply know things about
Him. know him. And this is not an
arsenal of correct theological facts concerning the nature and
being of God. It's knowing to where I know
him and he knows me. Now, the word no means much more
than the knowledge, the way we use the word. I love the way
the scripture uses this word. You know, Peter says to your
husbands, he says, husbands, dwell with your wives according
to knowledge. Now that's not just knowing the
right stuff. That means according to love.
According to love. Not just knowing the right things
to do, but you love them. Dwell with them according to
knowledge. Adam knew his wife Eve. He had an intimate relationship
with her. Joseph didn't know Mary. He didn't
have this intimate relationship with her. This thing of knowing
God, it has something to do with loving Him. It has something
to do with approving of how he is. Not that he needs our approval,
but we love the way he is. We know him. We wouldn't change
him if we could. We love him just as he is. We
love all of his attributes. We love his holiness. We love
his justice. We love his righteousness. We
love his sovereignty. We love his wisdom. We love his
grace. We love everything that he reveals
about himself in his word. We know him. And we love him. And when we hear somebody who's
not him, we know it because we know him. When somebody preaches
a God and somebody preaches a Christ that's contrary to the one revealed
in this book, we know because we know him. This is life eternal
that they might know thee, the only true God in Jesus Christ,
whom thou hast sent. Now, the foundation of me knowing God is Him knowing me. The only way
I'm going to know God is if He knows me. This is the very foundation
of our salvation, His knowledge of us. II Timothy 2, 19 says,
For the foundation of God stands sure, having this seal, the Lord
knowing. Them that are His. Paul said to the Galatians, now
that you've known God, or rather, are known of God, how turn ye
again to these weak and beggarly elements? Now, here's what I'm
depending on. I'm not depending on my knowledge of Him. I know
Him, but that's not where my confidence is. My confidence
is not in my knowledge of Him. My confidence is in His knowledge
of me. At where salvation begins, his
knowledge of things. You know, he doesn't know everybody
like this. I think of Romans chapter 8. His foreknowledge
is the very foundation of our salvation. Romans 8, 28. And
we know that all things work together for good to them that
love God, to them who are called according to his purpose, for
whom he did what? Foreknowledge. Not what he foreknew. Somebody says, well, God knows
everything that's going to happen. Yeah, sure he does, but foreknowledge
doesn't have anything to do with him knowing what's going to happen.
Who he did foreknow. Foreknowledge has to do with
persons. whom he did foreknow, them he also did predestinate
to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be
the firstborn among many brethren. The very foundation of our salvation
is God's foreknowledge, his forelove of us. And remember, he doesn't
love everybody like this, or he doesn't know everybody like
this. Matthew chapter 7, Lord, Lord, have we not preached in
your name? In your name have we not cast out demons? In your
name have we not done many wonderful works? Then will I profess to
them, depart from me ye that work iniquity. I never knew you. I never knew you to worship me.
I never knew you to adore my person. I never knew you to believe. I never knew you, period. I never
loved you. I never had a relationship with
you. That's what he's saying to those
people. Eternal life is knowing God is having a relationship
with the living God as he's revealed in the scriptures. Now turn to
Hebrews chapter 8. This is part of the New Covenant. Hebrews chapter 8, verse 9. Not according to the covenant
that I made with their fathers, this is God speaking of the old
covenant, salvation by works, in the day when I took them by
the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt. That seems
like a pretty good thing for God to take you by the hand,
doesn't it? But while he had these people's hand, he didn't
do anything for their heart. He led them about. It didn't
do them any good. He says, They continued not in
my covenant, and I regarded them not, saith the Lord. For this
is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after
those days, saith the Lord. I will put my laws into their
mind and write them in their hearts. Now, he's not talking
about the Ten Commandments. Everybody's got that written
in their heart. He's talking about the new birth. He's talking
about the law of faith. He's talking about the law of
love. He's talking about the law of
liberty. His laws, He places them in. Why would the Lord write
on my heart, don't you? Oh, that He would, by the pen
of His Spirit, write on my heart. This is eternal life, that He
writes on our hearts. He says, I'll be to them a God,
and they shall be to me a people. That means He'll be for you.
If God be for us, who can be against us? And you'll be for
Him. You'll be His people. Verse 11,
And they shall not teach every man his neighbor and every man
his brother, saying, Know the Lord, for all shall know me from
the least to the greatest. And here's how I come. For I
will be merciful. I will be propitious to their
unrighteousness and their sins and their iniquities. Will I
remember no more when he knows me? He knows me as I really am. You
know how I really am? just like Christ. That's how
He knows me. But what about that stuff's taken
care of? He knows me as I am in the Lord
Jesus Christ. And He has fellowship with me.
He communes with me. I commune with Him. And that
is the heritage of every believer. That's not just talking about
somebody else. Every believer, this is their blessing. To know
the living God. I love what the Lord said to
Jeremiah, before I formed thee in the belly. Listen, believer,
this is just as true of you. Before I formed thee in the belly,
I knew thee. Oh, to be known of God. This is eternal life. that they
might know thee, the only true God, as opposed to the many false
gods, the idols, that they might know thee, the only true God,
and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent." Now, every believer, we
know Jesus Christ. Now, I've never seen Him. I've
never heard His voice audibly. But I know Him. And He knows
me. And this is true of every believer.
We know the Lord Jesus Christ. We know Him as Jesus. I love
His name. Now, I can't stand it when religious
people say, Jesus this and Jesus that. The disciples never spoke
this way. They called Him Master and Lord. He said, you call Me
Master and Lord and you say, well, for so I am. We know His
name as Jesus. We don't say that flippantly,
but we know what His name means. That means Savior. Thou shalt
call His name Jesus, for He shall save His people from their sins. We know Him as Christ, God's
anointed prophet. We know He's the Word of God,
don't we? He is the prophet. He is the priest. The one who stands in God's presence
for us. And I'm saved because of His
intercession. I'm saved because He lives for me before the Father.
And we know Him as King. He's the King. Now unto the King
eternal. He's the one who is in control.
We know Him. We know Jesus Christ. And don't
miss this. Jesus Christ, whom He hath sent. Look back in John chapter 17. And this is life eternal, that
they might know thee, the only through God and Jesus Christ,
whom thou hast sent." Now, you'll find this interesting. That phrase
is found 33 times in the book of John. He continually identifies
himself as the one that was sent from the Father. And look what
he says in verse 8 of John chapter 17. For I have given unto them
the word which thou gavest me, and they have received them and
have known surely that I came out from thee, and they have
believed that thou didst send me. This is essential to faith. We believe that God the Father
sent the Lord Jesus Christ. Let's turn to John chapter 3.
I'm just going to read several Scriptures regarding this. Verse 17. For God sent not his Son into
the world to condemn the world. You know the world already was
condemned. But that the world through him might be saved. Look in verse 34. For he whom
God hath sent speaketh the words of God. For God giveth not the
Spirit by measure to him. John chapter 4, verse 34. Jesus saith to them, My meat
is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work. John 5, 23. That all men should
honor the Son, even as they honor the Father. He that honoreth
not the Son honoreth not the Father which hath sent him. Look in verse 30. I can of my own self do nothing.
As I hear, I judge, and my judgment is just, because I seek not my
own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me." Look
in John chapter 6, verse 38. For I came down from heaven,
not to do my own will, but the will of him that sent 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 life. And I'll raise him up at the
last day." Verse 44, no man can come to me except the Father
which hath sent me draw him. John 7, verse 16. Jesus answered them and said,
My doctrine is not mine, but his that sent me. John 28, verse 28 of the same
chapter. Then cried Jesus in the temple,
as he taught, saying, You both know me, and you know whence
I am. I have not come of myself, but he that sent me is true,
whom you know not, but I know him, for I am from him, and he
hath sent me. Verse 33, Then said Jesus unto
him, Ye have a little while, and I go while I am with you,
and then I go unto him that sent me. John chapter 8, verse 16. And yet if I judge my judgments
true, for I am not alone, but I and the Father that sent me. Now this is, I could go on reading
just for a long, I've got a bunch more scriptures about this He
sent me. Now here's the point. Faith has
something to do with believing that God sent Christ. And you believe that He did whatever
it was the Father sent Him to do. Do you believe that? Do you believe that God sent
Him, and He did whatever it was the Father sent Him to do, And
that's what we are relying on. We're of that number that believes
that God sent him. Now, Paul said in 2 Timothy 1.12, I know whom I have believed. Isn't that eternal life? I know whom I have believed. And I am persuaded. I am convinced. I'm persuaded
of this. I know whom I have believed,
and I am persuaded that He is able. That's what I'm persuaded
of. I'm persuaded. I am convinced
that He is able to keep that which I've committed to Him against
that day. Now, here's what faith is. It's
knowing who He is. You know, what you believe is
determined by who you believe. That's just a given. You know,
somebody doesn't believe the doctrine of Christ because they
don't know Him. Somebody that knows Him, they believe His doctrine.
What we believe is determined by who we believe. You see, we
believe a person. Christ is eternal life. Now, I know whom I have
believed, and I'm convinced. I really believe this. I believe
that He is able to keep that which I've committed to Him.
Now, I have committed to Him the salvation of my soul. I'm not looking to myself for
a thing. I'm really, by His grace, I'm not. I'm not relying on myself
for a thing. I've committed everything to
Him. If He doesn't do it all, then
I won't be saved. All my eggs are in that basket.
I'm not looking anywhere else. Now, somebody that fails to commit,
they don't really believe grace, do they? They don't really believe
that He's able. I believe that He is able. I believe in the ability of the
Lord Jesus Christ. I believe He's able to save me
and to present me faultless before the very throne of God with no
help from me. I really believe that. Do you
believe that? Do you believe He's able to keep
that which you committed to Him against that day? Now, this is
eternal life. It's to know Thee. the only true
God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent." John 17, verse 8, "'For I have
given unto them the words which thou gavest me, and they have
received and have known surely that I came out from thee, and
they have believed that thou didst send me." Would that describe
you? Are you one of these people that
believe that God sent Christ? And you understand what He sent
Him to do. He came to save His people from their sins. And you
believe that that is in fact what He did. He saved His people
from their sins. And when we observe the Lord's
table as we're doing this, we are celebrating the fact. It's more than a fact. I even
hate to use the word fact. We're celebrating the reality. that when he said it is finished,
my salvation was signed, sealed, and delivered. Isn't that wonderful? What a glorious gospel. We rejoice
in it.