I'm going to read a passage of
scripture which is very familiar to most of you. It's found in
1st John chapter 5 verse 11 and 12. Now I've preached from these
verses many times before and I hope to preach from them, God
willing, many more times. 1st John chapter 5 verse 11 and
12. Now here's the subject. Life
is in His Son. I'm talking about eternal life.
Life is in His Son. Now here's the scripture. 1 John
5, 11. And this is the record. What
does that word record mean? This is the record. This is the
testimony. This is the truth of God. This
is the record of God. That God has given to us eternal
life. Now listen. And this life is
in His Son. This is the truth. This is the
testimony of God. This is the record that God hath
given to us. He didn't sell it. He didn't
lend it. He gave it to us. Eternal life. And this life is
in His Son. And listen, he that hath the
Son of God hath eternal life. And he that hath not the Son
of God hath not life. He doesn't have eternal life.
Now I begin this message with three most important statements. Plainly stated, clearly set forth. Three important statements. I'm
going to begin the message with these three statements. I'm going
to close the message with these three statements. Now listen
to them. Here's the first one. Eternal life. Eternal life, the
life of God. Eternal glory, heaven. Eternal
life, which God gives, is not even a possibility. It's not
even a possibility apart from the Lord Jesus Christ. Because
the scripture says, this life is in His Son. That's right. So it's not even, without Christ,
it's not even a possibility. This life is in His Son. That's clear. That's plain. Eternal life is in Christ. Colossians
119 says, it pleased God that in Him, in Christ, should all
fullness All life, all grace, all mercy dwell. It dwells in
Him. That's the habitation of mercy
and grace and life is Christ. That's the source of life. That's
the fountain of blessings. It's all in Him. Listen to Colossians
2 verse 9. In Him dwelleth all the fullness
of the Godhead bodily. In Christ. That's where it dwells.
He said this. He said, I am the way, I am the
truth. I am life. I am life. Now here's a passage of scripture
with which everybody's familiar. This is the verse of scripture
that children learn. I suppose the first one that
they learn. John 3, 14 through 16. Now listen to it. And what
I'm saying is eternal life is not even a possibility outside
of Christ, apart from Christ, because The life is in His Son. Now listen to John 3, 14. Very
slowly. As Moses lifted up the serpent
in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man, the Lord Jesus
Christ, be lifted up, that whosoever believeth in Him might not perish,
but have everlasting life. For God so loved the world that
He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him
might not perish, but have eternal life. That's clear, isn't it? Eternal life is not in the church.
But I'm a church member in good standing, but life is not in
the church. Life is not in the altar. I've been to the altar
preacher and had a wonderful experience, but eternal life's
not in the altar. You won't find it there. Eternal
life is not in the sacraments. Not in the communion, it's not
in the baptism. Eternal life's not in the law.
This life is in His Son. You say, well, that's just what
the Bible says. Well, where else do you get any information about
eternal life? The Bible is the only source
of any kind of material regarding salvation, or life, or heaven,
or God, or Christ, or anything else spiritual. There's no other
source, except our imagination, There's no possibility, none
whatsoever, of eternal life apart from Jesus Christ, because this
is the record. God hath given us eternal life,
and this life, my friends, is in His Son. And he that hath the Son of God
hath life, and he that hath not the Son of God hath not eternal
life. He doesn't possess it. It's not
in His power or in Him at all. Listen to this scripture. When
Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall we appear
with Him in glory. He is life. Alright, here's the
second statement. Resurrection from the dead. Everybody
talks about resurrection, the life beyond the grave. When we're
going to be raised and when we're going to live in heaven together
and meet Mother and all these wonderful things, you know, in
heaven. We die and we're buried, well, we've got to be raised.
Well, let me tell you something. Resurrection from the dead to
eternal glory, that's fantasy. That's nothing but an empty wish
apart from our resurrected Lord. He's the firstborn from the dead. And He said, because I live,
you live. He's the firstborn of every creature.
He's the first begotten from the dead. He is the resurrection. If Christ be not raised, there
is no resurrection. Lazarus had died. You remember
the story. In the little town of Bethany,
there were three people, Mary, Martha, and Lazarus. Two sisters
and a brother. And our Lord frequently came
to that home and visited with them. And Lazarus died. And the
Lord Jesus finally came. He stayed away on purpose. And
He finally came. And they'd already buried Lazarus.
And he'd been in the grave several days. And Martha ran out to meet
him. And she said, Master, Master,
if you had been here, my brother would not have died. Well, he
said, Martha, your brother will rise again. Oh, she said, I know
that. I know that he'll rise again
on the resurrection day. Now, that's what most people
believe. There's going to be a resurrection. Martha believed
that. She believed there's going to
be a resurrection. Her brother would rise on that resurrection
day. And Christ said, Martha, I'm the resurrection and the
life. He that liveth and believeth
on me shall never die. Do you believe this? There's
no resurrection apart from Christ. It's fantasy. It's an empty dream. It's hogwash. apart from Jesus
Christ. That's right. There's no resurrection
from the dead apart from Him who is the first begotten from
the dead. He said, because I live, you
live. He said, I'm come that they might
have life. He that hath the Son hath life. There's no eternal
life apart from Christ and there's no resurrection apart from Christ.
It's an impossibility and it's nothing but fantasy. All right, here's the third statement. Now listen carefully. You have
to, if you have a Bible and have any understanding of it at all,
you have to agree with these first two statements. This life
is in His Son. He that hath the Son of God hath
life. Apart from Christ, there's no life. Resurrection. Paul clearly
stated that in 1 Corinthians 15, if Christ be not risen, We're
of all men most miserable. There is no resurrection. He
is the resurrection. He's the proof of the resurrection.
He's the truth of the resurrection. He's the heart of the resurrection.
Now, here's the third statement. Peace with God. Oh, we hear a
lot about that. Peace with God. Peace with God. But I'm telling you this. Peace
with God is an impossibility without the blood of the Lord
Jesus Christ. There is no peace. without the
blood of Christ. Now listen to Colossians 1. Having
made peace with God through the blood of his cross, by the death
of Christ, God reconciled all things to himself. Second Corinthians
5.19 says God was in Christ reconciling You talk about reconciliation,
then that means there's a difference, there's a problem. You don't
reconcile friends. But God was in Christ reconciling
this world to himself because there's anger and wrath and enmity
between God and men. I know that folks talk about
people making their peace with God. I've heard that ever since
I was a child. He made his peace with God. How'd
he do that? How did he do it? Did he just
erase the wrath of God? Did he just blot out the wrath
of God? How did he make peace with God?
You hear people say, well, I'm at peace with my Maker. But I'll
tell you, the Lord described that kind of peace. He said,
they cry, peace, peace, when there is no peace. Peace comes
from the Prince of Peace. My peace I give unto you, Christ
said. having made peace with God through
the blood of His cross. You see, we're not the ones who
decide whether there'll be peace with God. He's the one that determines
the terms of peace. God determines the terms of peace. Romans 5, 1, Therefore being
justified by Christ, we have peace with God. Therefore being
justified by faith, by Christ, by His blood, We have peace with
God. Through our Lord Jesus Christ,
that's where peace, that's where it comes from. It's through Christ
by whom we have access into this grace wherein we stand. I wonder,
have you read these verses in Isaiah 59? Have you read them
before? Isaiah 59, 1 and 2. Listen to
them. Isaiah 59, verse 1 and 2. Listen. Behold, the Lord's hand is not
short, that he cannot save. He's able to save. Neither is
his ear heavy that he can't hear. He can hear. He can save and
he can hear. But, now here's the problem,
but there's a problem. Your iniquities have separated
between you and your God. There's a problem between us
and God. It's our iniquities. Listen,
your sins have hid his face from you, and he will not hear you. That's the problem. So no matter
what men think, what they say or what they do, there's trouble
between men and God. And that trouble is iniquity,
sin. Your iniquities have separated
between you and your God. Your sins have come between you
and God and hid his face from you, and he will not hear. We
need someone to go to God for us. You know what we need? I
wonder if these words are familiar. We need a mediator. Now a mediator
is not of one, a mediator is of two. And if there's a mediator
present, it's telling us that something's wrong. When you call
in a mediator, you call in a mediator because two sides can't get together. And that's what we need is a
mediator. We need also an advocate. What is an advocate? It's one
who pleads for us. It's a lawyer. It's one who takes
up our cause and our case, who has some pull, some authority. We need an intercessor. Are you
familiar with those words? I know you are. Do you recognize
them? Here, there's one God. and one Mediator between God
and men, Christ Jesus. That's what I'm telling you.
There's no peace with God apart from that Mediator. You're not
going to make peace with Him without Him. You're not going
to settle things with our Almighty, Holy, Eternal God without the
One who settles it, the Mediator. There's one Mediator. Advocate Lawyer, if any man sin,
we have an advocate with the Father. We better have who is
Jesus Christ the righteous. He can't have any sins of his
own. If he has sins of his own, he can't help us. But he has
no sin. And I tell you this, he has something
to plead. My lawyer has something to plead
with God. You know what it is? He took
my sins and paid for them. He took my place. He was wounded
for my transgressions. He was bruised for my iniquities.
The chastisement of my peace was upon Him by His stripes.
I'm healed. And He tells the judge, you've got nothing against
Him. I took His sins and paid for them. You've got no charge. Who can lay anything to the charge
of God's elect? Case dismissed. I've got a lawyer. He's the son of the judge. And
He took my sins and my place. You see that? So I have peace
with God because I'm not guilty. He's guilty. My advocate. I need an intercessor. What's
an intercessor? Someone to plead. Someone to
pray. Someone to represent us to God.
We need a substitute. Someone who can fulfill what
God requires. Someone who can meet what God
demands. Someone who can enable God to
be just and justifier. And that person's Christ. Do
you see those three statements? There's no peace with God. apart
from Christ, for He made peace through the blood of His cross.
Now I'm going to give you seven things for you to remember. And
if you want to, you can write them down. This is the reason
that I need Jesus. I need the Savior. I need the
Mediator. This is the reason. Number one,
there's a holy God whom I cannot please. Immaculately, infinitely,
eternally, unspeakably, Holy is the Lord God of Heaven and
I cannot in any shape, form or fashion please that God. In my
flesh dwelleth no good thing. In the flesh no man can please
God. But Christ my Savior did please
Him. The Father said of my Lord, this
is my Son in whom I'm well pleased. So He pleased Him for me and
for you in our place. Secondly, there's a holy law
I cannot keep. Oh, we can keep the outward law.
People say, well, I've never killed anybody. Not with a gun
you haven't, but in your heart you have. I've never done this. I've never stolen anything. Did
you ever covet anything? Did you ever want something you
didn't have? Well, certainly. Then you stole it in your heart. See
what I'm saying? There's a holy law, a spiritual
law, a law that reaches not just to the act, but to the attitude.
Not just to the deed, but to the thought, to the spirit. And I can't keep it. Paul said,
when the law came, when the law came to me in its spiritual demands,
I died. He was one of the most moral
men who ever lived. And yet when he faced God's holy,
immaculate, impeccable law, he said, I died. Well, but Christ
kept it. My Savior kept that law perfectly. He said, I didn't come to destroy
it. I came to fulfill it. And that He did. for you and
me. Thirdly, there's a righteousness I cannot produce. God must have
it. In fact, the Lord Jesus said
this to his disciples. He said, if your holiness and
your righteousness does not exceed that of the scribes and Pharisees,
you won't enter the kingdom of God. It's got to be perfect.
I told a congregation recently, I can jump over a barn if you
let me build the barn. I can be perfectly holy if you
let me determine what holiness is. I can be perfectly righteous
if you let me make the standard. But when God builds the barn,
it's too high. And when God determines what
holiness is, His holiness, I'm a total failure. And when God
sets the standard of righteousness, we're all failures. But Christ
kept it. He's the Son of God. He's the
Lord of righteousness. Perfect in every jot and tittle. Perfect. And then fourthly, there's
a sin that I can't put away. Your sins have hid His face from
you. Your sins have separated between
you and your God. There's a sin problem. I say
with David, my sins are ever before me. Aren't yours? Don't
you mourn over your sins and grieve over your sins? I can't
put them away, but he can. He did. It said, once in the
end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice
of himself. And he said, your sins and iniquities
I'll remember no more. No more. He bore our sins in
his body on the tree and paid for them. And he said, I separated
them from us as far as the east is from the west. In Christ you
have no sin. You can't do anything about it,
but he can. And then there's a death. There's
a death for sin that I cannot escape. The Scripture says, the
soul that sinneth shall surely die. No question about it. No way to beat the rap. No loopholes. The soul that sinneth. Have you
ever sinned? Yes, I have. Many times. Then you're going
to die. That's what it says. But wait a minute. But Christ
took that death. Wait a minute, wait a minute.
He was made sin for us. He, who knew no sin, was made
sin for us. He suffered for sin, the just
for the unjust, that we might not die. That the curse of the
broken law, the curse of sin, that the judgment for sin shall
not fall on us, it fell on Him. That's what He did on that cross.
He died under our sins. And therefore, he that believeth
on me shall never die." And then six, listen, in the sixth place,
there's a judgment I don't want to face. And you don't either. Everybody talks about going to
the judgment. You don't want to go to the judgment. Listen,
it says, I saw the dead. I saw them, John said. A multitude. I saw the dead. Sea gave up the
dead. Death and hell gave up the dead.
I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God. And they were,
books were open. And they were judged according
to the things written in the books. Now my friend, I don't
want any part of that gathering. I don't want to be there. I don't
want to be judged out of those books. And I'll tell you, believers
are going to miss that judgment. It says, there is therefore now
no judgment to them who are in Christ Jesus. Christ's people
will never be brought to judgment because our sins have already
been judged, and they've been punished, and they've been paid
for, and they've been put away. And there's nothing in the books.
No charge. Who can lay anything to the charge
of God's elect? It's God that justifies. Who
is He that condemns? It's Christ that died. No judgment. Because Christ, that's the peace
we have. And then in the last place, there's
an eternal life and an eternal glory that I covet, I desire. I want to live eternally, don't
you? I want to live in glory. I want, the Apostle Paul says,
I want to attain unto the resurrection of the dead. I want to so badly,
so desperately. But it's beyond my ability. Beyond
my ability. But it's not beyond His. Now
listen. Philippians 3.20, listen. For our citizenship is in heaven,
from which we look for our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, I'm looking
for Him, who shall change our vile bodies, that our bodies
may be fashioned like unto His glorious body. according to the
working whereby he is able to subdue all things to himself. Are you in darkness? He's the
light. Are you a sinner? He's a friend
of sinners. Are you hungry? He's the bread. Are you thirsty? He's the water. Are you poor? He's the riches
of God's grace. Are you weary? Come unto me so
I'll give you rest. Are you weak? He's our strength. He's our strong tower. Are you
guilty? He's our refuge. Are you dying?
He's the resurrection. He's the life. It's all in Him.
Now my three statements. Let's go back over them and refresh
your mind. I tell you a lot of the problem
with preaching today is not what men are saying. It's what they're
not saying. And I'm trying to say what most
are not saying. And I'm trying to say it plainly,
clearly, and truthfully, so as not to be understood from the
Word of God. And I'll repeat these three statements.
Eternal life is not even a possibility. You needn't talk about it, think
about it, or plan on it. It's not a possibility apart
from the Lord Jesus Christ. For God has given us eternal
life, and this life is in His Son. And he that hath the Son
of God hath life, and he that hath not the Son of God hath
not life. And then resurrection. And I've
gone many a time and stood between, before many an open grave and
watched that casket go down and the dirt being put in. And we
stand there and talk about a resurrection. We talk about, oh, one day there'll
be a resurrection. One day we're going to, the circle,
will the circle be unbroken? We're going to be in heaven with
all our friends and loved ones. Fantasy. utter, absolute fantasy,
apart from the Lord Jesus Christ. That's right. But in Him, resurrection
is a certainty, because He said, because I live, you live. He said, I am the resurrection
and I am the life. And if Paul said in 1 Corinthians
15, and you get that chapter and read all those reasons he
gives, if Christ be not risen, We're false witnesses. Our faith
is vain. Everybody who died is perished.
We're of all men most miserable. There is no resurrection if Christ
be not risen. But I'll tell you, our graves
will open because He is open. And we're in Him. That's a promise. And that's the only thing. Alright,
the third question, the current statement. Peace with God. Peace
with God. Peace with God is an impossibility
without the blood of Christ, because He made peace through
the blood of His cross and reconciled us to God. And without the shedding
of blood, there is no forgiveness. Without the shedding of blood,
there's no forgiveness. There's no reconciliation and
there's no remission. But Christ has once suffered
for sin, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God.
There's a fountain filled with blood, drawn from Emmanuel's
veins, and sinners plunged beneath that flood lose all their guilty
stains. This life is in His Son.