He Hath Given Us Eternal Life

What is eternal life? It says
here in 1 John 5, 11, this is the record that God had given
to us eternal life. Well, let me make four observations.
Now, the first one is this. Now, listen to this. Eternal
life commences right here. Most people, when they hear the
expression eternal life, suppose that you mean life in heaven. Most people think when you mention
eternal life, you're talking about life after death. Well,
it does mean that, but it means much more. Eternal life commences
right here. It is not a future experience
only. It begins in the believer as
soon as he's born again. He has eternal life. We have the same spiritual life
in Christ right now that we'll have throughout eternity if we're
born of God. That's true. That's what the
Bible teaches. We have the same life. Now, we're
going to lay aside the body of flesh, the body of sin. We're going to lay aside the
carnal, natural flesh. But we have the same life. If
we're born again, if we're God's children, we'll have the same
life we'll have in heaven throughout eternity. We have it right now.
Death does not bring us eternal life, nor does it transport us
into eternal life. Death simply rids us of the things
of the flesh which hinder our eternal life. Death does not transport us into
eternal life. We already have eternal life,
if we're God's children. Death simply rids us of those
things of the flesh which hinder our spiritual life in its full
expression, in its full beauty. When the rose finally blooms,
that's not when it got life. It got life when it was a little
old sawed-off, withered root. But when it came to its full
beauty, expression of its full glory, that's what it was meant
to be. And someday I'm going to be what
I was meant to be when God gave me eternal life. And I'm going
to lay aside the things that hinder me. Paul said, when I
would do good, evil's present with me. In that day I won't
have evil. Now I see through a glass dimly,
but I see, I couldn't see if I didn't have life, but then
face to face. Now I know in part, but I do
know Then I shall know as I'm known. You see what I'm saying,
Bob? I have eternal life, if I'm God's child. Let me show
you that in the Scriptures. Look at 1 John 5, 11. This is
the record God hath given to us eternal life. This life is
in His Son. He that hath the Son hath life. Right now, if you have the Son.
And he that hath not the Son of God does not have eternal
life. He doesn't have life. Now, the
life we're talking about here is not natural life, because
men who have not the Son have natural life. But they don't
have eternal life, spiritual life. Turn back to 1 John 3,
verse 14. Listen to this. 1 John 3, verse
14. John is talking about right now.
He says, We know that we have passed from death unto life. And it's indicated by the fact
that we have love for the brethren. That's a proof of it. It's something
we didn't have before. We had a selfish love, a natural
love, a carnal love, but not spiritual love. We have passed
from death unto life. Christ said, Verily, verily,
I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on me,
hath everlasting life. Right now. So eternal life is
not altogether life in heaven. That's part of it. But it is,
it commences just as soon as a person is saved. You have been
quickened who were dead in trespasses and sin. You have been quickened
or made alive. Alright, the second statement
now. This is why Christ came into the world. This is why Christ
came into the world. This is the grand design and
end of his covenant of his grace, of his incarnation, of his obedience,
of his death, of his resurrection, of his intercession, is to give
life to his people, to all believers. Listen to John chapter 6. Turn
over there a moment. The sixth chapter of John, I
think it's beginning with verse 51. John chapter 6, verse 51. Listen to this. I am the living
bread which came down from heaven. If any man eat of this bread,
he shall live forever. And the bread that I will give
is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world. The
Jews therefore strove among themselves, saying, How can this man give
us his flesh to eat? Then Jesus said unto them, Verily,
verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of
Man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you. Whoso eateth
my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life, and I will
raise him up at the last day." He has the life already. and
I'm going to raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is
meat indeed, my blood is drink indeed. He that eateth my flesh
and drinketh my blood dwelleth in me, and I in him. As the living Father hath sent
me, and I live by the Father, so he that eateth me, even he
shall live by me." Christ said, I am come that they might have
life and that they might have it more abundantly. Now, Christ
is our Savior. He redeemeth our life from destruction,
he forgiveth our iniquities, he healeth our diseases, but
he is only your Savior if he has quickened in you this life. He is our Savior, but He is only
our Savior if He has quickened in us this life. And this life
He's talking about is infinitely superior to the fleshly nature
and the fleshly life with which we were born. Now let me show
you Martha's idea of eternal life. Turn to John 11. You remember
Mary, Martha, and Lazarus. And I want to show her, and this
is the average person's conception of eternal life. Now listen,
the Lord was down there somewhere, and Lazarus died, and he stayed
away three days or so. And then he came back, and Martha
met him, and she said in John 11, verse 21, Then Martha said
unto the Lord, Jesus, Lord, if thou hast been here, my brother
would not have died. But I know that even now whatsoever
thou wilt ask of God, God will give it to thee. And Jesus said,
unto her, thy brother shall live again. Martha said, I know he
shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day. And Jesus said,
Martha, I am the resurrection. I am the resurrection. I am the
life. He that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall
he live. Where are our loved ones who
died trusting and believing in Christ? Do you think they're
in the graves? They're with the Lord. They have
eternal life. I have eternal life right now.
He is my life. Colossians chapter 3. Look at
this just a moment. Colossians the third chapter.
And this is what I was trying to preach this morning. Christ
is our life. He is our life. He is eternal
life. He that hath the Son of God hath
life. He that hath not the Son of God
hath not life. Colossians 3 verse 4, listen,
When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also
appear with him in glory. The average person has this conception. I'm sitting out in the congregation
and I've got sins, I'm a natural man. And I'm going to die. Now what I'm going to need to
do is get fixed up so that when I die and I come to the judgment,
my sins will be taken care of and then I can enter into eternal
life. and then I'll receive eternal life because Christ has fixed
up my record and obliterated and erased all of my transgressions
and when everybody's judged and Jesus Christ's blood will cleanse
my sin and the fellow that didn't receive it and believe on him
over here, he'll not have that redemption and he'll perish and
then I'll enter into eternal life. This is what Martha is
saying, Lord, I know my brother is going to rise again at the
resurrection But he says, I am life. The person who has been
brought to a knowledge of Christ already has eternal life. He already has a divine life. He already has a new person,
a new being. Now this is the reason. I hope
you'll, now turn to 1 John 2. I hope you'll listen carefully
to what I'm trying to say. I may be able to reveal to you
the reason for the the great turnover in religious circles
and religious leadership and religious organizations and religious
denominations. This big turnover. Folks are
busy trying to get fixed up for heaven. Folks are busy trying
to get, they're trying to find the preacher that's preaching
the message that appeals to them. that expresses their concept
of the Bible or understanding of the Bible, understanding of
death and judgment and heaven and hell and God and Christ and
all of these things. And when they find that message
that fits in with their way of life, they'll believe that message
and they'll make a profession and join that religious organization
and give themselves as best they can to it and die in the faith,
their faith, that church's faith or that preacher's faith or somebody's,
my faith or somebody's faith. But somehow, if their life lasts
long enough, they get weary of it all, and they're busy, and
then they drop out, and somebody else takes their place. Somebody
else gets that interest and comes and makes a profession and gets
baptized. The church takes into membership 200 and loses 150,
but that's not unusual. And you have a revival, a preacher
comes in, and 90 or 100 folks walk the aisle, and next Sunday
you've got the same crowd you had before, with a few exceptions.
And nobody pays attention to those things. I do, because this
is what I'm saying. And John says this in 1 John
2, 19, listen to this, they went out from us. They went out from
us, but they were not of us. Who are these people he's talking
about here, us? The people that have the Son,
that have life, that have Christ, that have real, genuine, God-given
faith. These folks departed from us.
They were not of us if they had been of us. They would no doubt
have continued with us. There's no doubt in my mind,
John said, that he that hath the Son hath eternal life, and
he that hath eternal life can no more leave it than he can
quit breathing and go on living physically. This is what I'm
saying. And he says this over here in
the chapter we read a while ago in verse 4. For whosoever is
born of God. Now this is that new life. This
is eternal life. This is born of God. If you haven't
been born of God, you've got no life in you. And he that's
born of God, he doesn't say he ought to overcome the world.
He says he overcometh the world. What does that mean? This is
the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith. It's just
this right here. that when a man is born again,
he has a new goal and a new object, he has new desires, he has new
understanding, he has a new life, he has Christ in him. And he
loses his interest in these things. He loses his concern and care. It's like when a child, he said,
when I was a child, I spake as a child, understood as a child.
When I became a man, I put away. these toys. He's no longer interested
in getting in the floor and running a little car. It doesn't interest
him at all. He's a new person, a new being.
And here's what I'm preaching, and I believe the Bible teaches
this, and I want you to look into it, that this thing of salvation,
God's salvation, this thing of eternal life, Which, I say, the
Bible teaches, commences right here. He that hath the Son hath
life. He that hath not the Son of God
hath not life. That this thing of Christ is
our life. He that believeth on the Son.
He's passed from death unto life. He's passed from darkness to
light. He's been translated from the kingdom of darkness to the
kingdom of God's dear Son. If any man be in Christ, he's
a new creature. He that loveth not his brother
is a liar, and the truth's not in him. That's what it says over
here. He that loveth not knoweth not God. I'm saying that when
God performs a work of grace in a person's heart, I don't
care if he's ten years old or a hundred years old, black or
white, Jew or Gentile, that person receives a life that'll never
die. A life that will grow. A life
that will possess him. A life that will grip him. A
life that will change his whole lifestyle. It'll change his attitude. It'll change his thinking. It'll
change his direction. It'll change his interest. And
he'll never part from it. And you can just write this down,
when he does, when something, I don't care what it is, is more
interesting to him than the scriptures, than Christ, than the worship
of the Lord, than the fellowship of God's people, than the cause
of Christ, he has not Christ in him. He does not have the
Holy Spirit in him. If he did have the Holy Spirit,
the Holy Spirit would never allow that interest to engulf and overcome
him. Who is he that overcometh the
world? He that is born of God. I tell you, we've got a lot at
stake, like I said at the beginning of this message, and this is
what the Scripture teaches. This is what God's Word teaches.
Eternal life commences right now. Eternal life is born in
us, begotten in us by the Spirit of the living God. It's unexplainable. I don't know why God loved me.
I don't know why God called me. I don't know why God passed by
someone else and chose me. I can't explain that. I just
know that the evidence of eternal life is Christ living in us. And He is our life. He is our
life. His word is our rule of life. His glory
is our desire. His fellowship is our hunger
and thirst. Now, here's the third statement.
Turn to John 17, John 17, 3. I'm talking about eternal life.
Now, I'm not talking about getting saved. That's what the preachers
are talking about now everywhere. Don't come down and get saved.
You're dying, you ought to get saved. You've got to stand someday
at the judgment, so you ought to get saved. They mean come
down, some of them will sprinkle water on you and get you saved,
and some of them will put their hands on your head and get you
saved, and some of them will get you to a mourner's bench
and pray through and get you saved, and some of them will
take you in a pool of water and get you saved, and some of them
will give you some doctrine to believe and get you saved, and
some of them will give you some rules to live by and get you
saved, but that's not what I'm talking about. I'm talking about
the person here tonight who wants eternal life. He's tired of all
this getting saved, getting fixed up, and going on in the same
lifestyle, and the same disappointment, and the same unrest, and the
same confusion, and the same here today and gone tomorrow,
the same arguing of doctrine. Oh, Paul said that I may win
Christ and be found in him. Oh, that I may know him and the
power of his resurrection. He said, I travail, talking to
his congregation, till Christ be formed in you. Are we interested
in forming doctrine in people, denominations in people, laws
in people? Are we interested in them coming
to a living, vital union? an indivisible union with the
Son of God, so that you cut into a man's mind and you find thoughts
of Christ, and cut into his heart and you find love for Christ,
and cut into his will and you'll find a desire to obey Christ,
and cut into his soul and you'll find a panting after Christ. That's what I'm talking about.
That's what I'm interested in for you and for myself. John
17, verse 3. Verse 2 says, And as thou hast
given him, well, let's go back and read verse 1, These words
spake Jesus, lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, Father,
the hour is come. Glorify thy Son, that thy Son
also may glorify thee, as thou hast given him power, what a
word, authority, unlimited authority, over all flesh, that he should
give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him. The only way to receive eternal
life is for him who giveth life to speak that life into being. That's right. The one who said, let there be
light the one who breathed into Adam the breath of life, and
he became a living soul. Turn to John 5, 25. Listen to
this. There are two different quickenings
talked about here in John 5. Our Lord said in verse 25, "...verily,
verily, I say unto you, the hour is coming, and now is, when the
dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and they that
hear shall live." That's not talking about the graves, because
he says in verse 28, don't be marveling at this, but the hour
is coming in which all that are in the graves shall hear his
voice, and they shall come forth, some to the resurrection of life
and some to the resurrection of damnation. That first resurrection he's
talking about, that's what we're interested in tonight, in verse
25. He that heareth the voice of
the Son of God lives, lives, lives. It is in the power of Christ
and only in the power of Christ to give life. The Son quickeneth
whom he will. You have to be quickened who
were dead in trespasses and sins. Let me give you a fourfold outline
here. The purpose of life is in Christ. The purpose of life is in Christ.
The scripture says that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.
That's why God gave him a people. That he might be the firstborn
among many brethren. That he might have the preeminence.
That's why God chose to save some of Adam's race. That he
might show the exceeding riches of his grace. That at his name
every knee should bow and every tongue should confess that he's
Lord to the glory of God the Father. That's the purpose of
all this. You see, would I shock you too
much to say that God purposed to save us from our sins? But
God's grand design in redemption goes a lot further, Cecil, than
just saving you from hell. God's grand design in redemption
has to do not with you, but with Christ. Now you think about that
a little bit. God's grand design in redemption
has to do not with the sinner, but with his son. Now listen
to Romans 8, 29. For whom he foreknew, he predestinated
to be conformed to the image of his son, that he might be
the firstborn among many brethren. All right, listen to Philippians.
He made himself of no reputation. took upon himself the form of
a servant, and so forth. Wherefore God hath highly exalted
him, and given him a name which is above every name, that at
the name of Jesus every knee should bow." Turn to Ephesians
2, let me show you there. Ephesians chapter 2. Now, we're
on a powerful point right here, and an important point in your
thinking, that ought to motivate your thinking. Now watch this,
it talks about what we were, children of wrath, walking according
to the course of this world, the Prince of the Fire there,
verse 4 says this, listen, But God, but God, who is rich in
mercy for his great love wherewith he loved us, even when we were
dead in sin, hath quickened us together with Christ by grace
are you saved, and hath raised us up together and made us sit
together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages
to come, He might show the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness
toward us through Christ Jesus. That's right, the purpose, the
grand design in redemption is the glory of Christ. It's not
just the gathering of a people, it's the glory of Christ. That's
what this thing's all about. All right, secondly, the promise
of life is in Christ. Not only the purpose of life,
but the promise of life. is in Christ. When he spoke to
Adam and Eve in Genesis 3.15, that was the promise of life,
and that's Christ. In Acts 10.43, it says, To him
give all the prophets witness. And then the purchase of life
is in Christ. We are redeemed not with corruptible
things such as silver and gold, but with the precious blood of
Christ. And then the prospects of life are in Christ. Turn to
1 John 3. Let's listen to this. 1 John
3, verse 1 through 3. 1 John chapter 3, verse 1 through
3. Now listen to this. Behold what
manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we of
all people should be called sons of God. Therefore, the world
doesn't know us, doesn't understand us, because it didn't know him. Beloved, now are we the sons
of God. It does not yet appear what we
shall be, but we know that when he shall appear, we'll be like
him. That's the prospect, like Christ. Paul said, to depart is to be
with Christ. That's the prospects. It wasn't
until we quit reading the Bible and started talking about the
prospects of life were to not have any more sickness and live
in mansions and walk straights of gold, not have to work anymore. In the scriptures, the prospects
of life was to be like Christ. David said, I'll be satisfied
when I wake with his likeness. We've come a long way the other
way. The prospects, the purpose of
this life, this eternal life, it commences now. And that's
why Christ came, to give us life. I've come that they might have
life. Not a profession of religion,
not just salvation from hell, not just a ticket to heaven,
but life. I've come that they might have
a new life. And he's got the power to give
it. He has the power to give it. That power is vested in Him. The power to give life. He's
the only one who can give life. He speaks and life is begotten. We're born of God. We're not
born of the will of the flesh or the will of man or the will
of a preacher or the will of a family member. We're born of
the will of God who gives life. I'm talking about eternal life.
It's the same thing. And the very purpose of your
getting eternal life, the purpose of it is found in Christ. We
were chosen in him, loved in him, redeemed in him, raised
in him, seated in him, and when he comes he'll bring us with
him. The purchase of it's in him, the promise of it's in him,
and the prospects of it is in him. Turn to Philippians 3, let
me show you another scripture along this same line. Philippians
3, verse 20, our conversation is
in heaven, from whence also we look for the Savior, the Lord
Jesus Christ, who shall change our vile body, that it may be
fashioned like unto his glorious body, that's the prospect, whereby
according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all
things unto himself. You say, Pritchard, I'm concerned
about the preaching of this day. I think that would be a great
step in the right direction for you to become concerned about
your spiritual well-being in relationship to the preaching
of this day. I got concerned about mine about 28 years ago
when I heard the gospel. I was already been through Bible
school, gone to college, and pastored a church, and been religious
for years, and had a ticket to heaven, and trying to win people
to the Lord, and all of these things. And I heard one day who
it is that saves and what salvation is. And it took on a new light. And there's no use justifying
our position because God's not going to judge us by what we
thought, but by what he taught. That's right. Christ Jesus said
to those people, he said, this book of judging is what God says. It's not what I think is right. There's a way that seems right
to me, but my soul's too important to rest in those things. And
I'll tell you, This thing of eternal life is just spiritual
life. That part which we have in glory
begins right here, when a person is born again. And that life
is Christ. It's his presence, his indwelling
presence. He said, I'm the vine, you're
the branches. He that abideth in me bringeth
forth fruit. And then he has the power to
give that life. It's in his power. It's in his will. That's why
he came, that you might have life. And the prospects of heaven
are in Christ. Now, last of all, now watch this.
Back to John 17 again. John 17, 3. And he says this
in John 17, 3, Thou hast given him power over all flesh, that
he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given
him. to as many as thou hast given him." Now, brethren, don't
fight it. Don't argue against it. Don't
find fault with God's way of doing things. God has an elect
people, given to his Son. And as long as the Bible endures,
untouched and untempered with by human beings, as long as this
Bible endures, there's no way of getting rid of that truth.
No way of getting rid of it, unless we willfully pervert God's
work. Christ said, I have all authority
over all flesh that I should give this life to as many as
thou hast given me. If you look at 2 Thessalonians
2 verse 13, I'll just read you a few scriptures. 2 Thessalonians
2 verse 13, in which the Apostle Paul said, We're bound to give
thanks. 2 Thessalonians 2 verse 13, we're
bound to give thanks always to God for you, brethren, beloved
of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you
to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the
truth. All right. What are the evidences
of this life? Let me read you over here in
1 John, and then I'll bring this message to a close. In 1 John,
chapter 5. Now, I think we've identified
successfully, to get us to thinking at least, and this is what we
want to do. If we could just get folks from
blindly following tradition and blindly resting in a false refuge
at And blindly building on a false foundation and just saying well,
that's what I always believed. Don't bother me. Don't disturb
me Don't disturb me with it with anything else Wouldn't it be
better if we were disturbed? What if the Lord had never disturbed
the Apostle Paul? He's pretty comfortable in his
religion pretty comfortable but the Lord in order to bring Paul
to know him he had to he had to unhorse him he had to blind
him he had to shake him to pieces. He had to put him in the dust. He had to go through a traumatic
experience. But he saved him, he gave him
life. And you may have to do the same. Paul lost a lot of companions
He lost the respect of a lot of people, and he was persecuted. He butted heads with the ecclesiastical
leaders. He was thrown out of the synagogue. He was put in prison and all
these things, but he came to know the Lord. And I say, whoever
you are and wherever you are, Don't rock the boat, preacher.
Yeah, I want to rock the boat. I want to be so shaken and disturbed
that I'll dig deep and find the rock Christ Jesus and build on
it, don't you? All right, now watch this. In 1 John 5, 20,
we know that the Son of God is come and has given us an understanding. Our Lord said in John 17 3 this
is eternal life that they might know thee The living God and
Jesus Christ whom thou has sent to know him now brethren It would
not be eternal life to know God apart from Christ Now listen
to me It'd be terror It'd be horrible. It'd be death to know
God apart from Christ I think about this alone It would not
be eternal life to have a revelation of God apart from Christ. Because
God's infinitely holy. And I've broken his law. And
God is infinitely just. He must punish my sins. And God
is infinitely mercy, but he cannot exercise that mercy at the expense
of his justice. So God would have nothing for
me apart from Christ. You see what I'm saying? Eternal
life is to know God and to know Jesus Christ. Now to know God
apart from Christ, to come to knowledge of His holiness and
His justice and His righteousness would be terror. It'd be horrible. It'd be an experience that would
drive me like Israel away from Him, not to Him. There's no way
that you're going to run to an infinitely holy being if you're
unholy. And there's no way you're going
to run to an infinitely just God if you deserve the wages
of sin, death. All right, switch this now. It
would not be eternal life to know God apart from Christ, and
it would not be eternal life to know Christ if he's not God.
Because if he's nothing but a man, he couldn't save himself, let
alone me. He has nothing to offer me. He has nothing to give me. He's a son of the flesh just
like I am. He's under the judgment of God
just like I am. But eternal life is to know God
and to know Christ, and to know God was in Christ, and to know
that Christ is God, and that God hath loved us and sent his
Son. to be the propitiation for our
sins. And that's what he's saying in
1 John 5, 20. We know the Son of God has come. You see how
delightful? We know God, infinitely holy,
righteous, just. We know Christ to be God incarnate
in human flesh, and we know that he's come. All right, look at
the next line. And he's given us an understanding. Now, we don't claim to have arrived
at a high plateau of spiritual knowledge. But the coming of Christ has
given us some understanding of things that are necessary to
our redemption. For example, the Son of God has
come, God in human flesh, and given us an understanding of
Old Testament prophecies. That's right. That rock is Christ. Christ is our Passover. The seed
of woman, Genesis 3, is Christ. The serpent lifted up on the
pole is Christ. The tabernacle where God met
man and man met God is Christ. The priest who takes the atonement
into the Holy of Holies is Christ. The altar is Christ. He's given
us an understanding of these Old Testament promises. He's
given us an understanding of the Old Testament sacrifices.
He's given us an understanding of Adam's fall and how we have
received guilt as a result of that transgression. He's given
us an understanding of God's righteousness in Christ. By one
man's disobedience we were made sinners, by another's obedience
we were made righteous. He's given us an understanding
of how God can be just in Christ and justify the ungodliness.
He has come and given us an understanding. Read on, that we may know him
that is true. He's true to his word. He's true
to his attributes. He's true to his promises. He's
true to his son. He's true to his grace. We have
an understanding. And that we're in him. You see,
chosen in him. That's our only access to God
is to be in Christ. We're in him. We're in him. We know, eternalized to know
the living God and Christ whom he has sent. To know God apart
from Christ, terror. To know Christ, if he's not God,
useless. But to know Christ as God in
human flesh, and he has come, the word is made flesh and dwelt
among us, is to receive an understanding of how that God can be just now
and justify me because a man has obeyed the law, and a man
has endured God's wrath, and a man has been slain under the
judgment and righteousness of God, and a man has been buried
and rose again, and a man is seated on God's right hand, and
I am in him, and God's satisfied with him, the man Christ Jesus.
And the only reason that he could do all this for so many is because
he's not only man, he's God. Infinitely perfect God. And I
have an understanding of that. And I have an understanding of
this, that we're in him. We're in him. And he says, and
brethren, this is the true God and this is eternal life. It's not you deciding that you
believe certain doctrines, although you will. It's not you making
a profession that from this day forth you're going to grit your
teeth and like it or not you're going to serve God, you don't
really enjoy it, you don't really take delight in it, you'd really
rather be somewhere else, but to get to heaven you'd do anything,
crawl on nails, that's not it. It's to be given understanding. And that comes by life. Hail,
sovereign love that first began the scheme to rescue fallen men. Hail, matchless, free, eternal
grace that gave my soul a hiding place. against the God that rules
the sky, fought with hand, uplifted high, despised his rich abounding
grace, too proud to seek a hiding place. But thus the eternal covenant
ran, Almighty love, arrest that man, I found the errors of distress
and found I had no hiding place. Indignant, justice stood in view. To Sinai's fiery mountain I flew,
but justice cried with frowning face, that mountain's no hiding
place. Ere long a heavenly voice I heard,
and mercy's angel's form appeared. She led me on with gentle pace
to Jesus Christ, my hiding place. On Him, almighty vengeance fell
that would have sunk a world to hell. He bore it for our sinful
race, and thus He became my hiding place. Should storms of thundering
vengeance roll and shake this globe from pole to pole, no flaming
bolt shall daunt my face. Jesus is my hiding place. A few
more rolling suns at most will land me safe on Canaan's coast,
where I shall sing the songs of grace, and I'll be just like
the Lord, who is my hiding place." And that, to me, is eternal life. We know the Son of God has come
and given us an understanding that we may know him, that is
true, and that we may know we're in him, that is true, and this
is the true God, and this is eternal life. I don't know, I know we're bucking
a trend, we're bucking a direction that most all churches and religions,
the direction in which they're moving, and they seem to be enjoying
some form of success. Although it amazes me that they're
not unhappy with the turnover. Back even before I learned the
gospel of redeeming sovereign grace, I used to sit in my study
as a 22-year-old pastor and read the cards. I had 434 members
in that little church, and I preached to about 100, 110. I wondered,
where are these people? I thought they saved, and I couldn't
account for it. I couldn't account for it. Why
don't they worship the Lord? I couldn't account for that.
Why don't they love Christ? And even the people I was trying
to pastor, they wouldn't speak to one another, and they despised
black people, and they didn't love the neighbors, and they
always had a fight going. I'd think, what's wrong? This
is not eternal life, but they're saved. That's what I was told,
that they'd meet me in heaven. They couldn't get along with
me here, but we'd get along in heaven, you know. That bothered me. I
couldn't figure those things out. Then I came up here to Pollard,
and they had 1,234 members, and didn't place about 250 over there.
I went, where's all these folks, you know? And then I found out
one day. I found out. I found out. I found out they'd
done something to God, and God never done anything for them.
That's exactly what I found out. I found out they had a profession
of life, but not a possession of life. That's what I found
out. I found out that their conception
of eternal life and what God said was two different, totally
different directions. This is what I'm going to preach.
That if Christ comes in, he comes in to dwell. He comes in to reign. He gives a man a new life. I'm
not saying we won't fall and fail and fumble and struggle. I'm not saying we're perfect.
Not by any means. We will be someday, but not yet.
I'm not saying we're not going to have strife and difficulty
and division and all these things. But brethren, when it comes,
It's soon forgotten. It's prayed about. The will of
God is sought. The glory of the Lord is sought.
And these things are put aside. Who is he that overcometh the
world? He that's born of God. And greater is he that's in you
than he that's in the world. I'm not going to say you'll never
get mad at me and I'll never get mad at you, but tomorrow
it'll be all right. Isn't that right? Tomorrow it'll
be all right. Tonight it'll be alright because
we're not supposed to let the sun go down on our wrath. We're
supposed to pray about it tonight. And tomorrow it's a new day.
And we forgive as we've been forgiven. We're kind as God has
been kind to us. We're merciful because we receive
mercy, right? It's a new life. And I believe
this, and if it turns out differently, and I leave you, you just say
he didn't, he knew what he was talking about, but he hadn't
experienced it.

He Hath Given Us Eternal Life

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He Hath Given Us Eternal Life

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