This Is Eternal Life

Let's turn for our message today
to the book of John, chapter 17. Now, subject, and this is
eternal life, and this is eternal life. Now, when Moses approached
the burning bush, the bush that burned but was not consumed,
God said, Moses, take off your shoes, you are on holy ground. And that's the way I feel when
I approach this seventeenth chapter of John. I mean that sincerely,
earnestly. It is holy ground. This is the
Lord's prayer. This is the Lord praying to his
Father. This is the priestly prayer of
our Lord Jesus Christ. The prayer of the great high
priest. The prayer he prayed just before he went to the cross,
and to the tomb, and to the right hand of the Father. If you look
at John 17, verse 1, following your Bible, Father, the hour
has come, this is the hour of his death, this is the hour of
his sacrifice. Glorify thy Son, that thy Son
may glorify thee, as thou hast given him power, authority, over
all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou
hast given him. Then he makes this statement,
and this is eternal life. And this is eternal life. Most people, when they hear us
use the term eternal life, they think we're talking about heaven,
and we are. But eternal life means much more
than heaven. It means much more than the life
which we shall have, it is the life which we now have. Eternal
life begins right here on this earth. Eternal life begins before
you die. If you don't have eternal life
before you die, you won't have it after you die. Eternal life
begins right here in a believer just as soon as he is born again,
just as soon as he is regenerated, just as soon as he receives the
Lord Jesus Christ. In fact, when he receives Christ,
he receives life. He that hath the Son hath life,
he that hath not the Son of God hath not life." And we're talking
about eternal life. The life of a newborn Christian
who first prayed just a few minutes ago is the same life which Moses
has right now, Moses who has been with God several hundred
years. Eternal life is a fountain of
water. It deepens, that's so. It widens,
that's so. The longer it's lived, the deeper
it gets and the wider it gets and the more it grows, but it's
the same river that started with a few drops of water. It's the
same river that began when Christ, the water of life, came in to
dwell. Paul, talking about our life
here on this earth, says, we see through a glass darkly, but
we see And you couldn't see if you didn't have life, and I'm
talking about spiritual sight, I'm not talking about fleshly
eyes. Our Lord said to the disciples, blessed are your eyes, they see
and your ears they hear. But Paul said we see through
a glass dimly, but we see. He said we know in part, but
we know. We grow in grace, and anything
that grows has to have life. You have to live, one must live
to grow. So the eternal life that Christ
is talking about here. This is eternal life. It is a
life which begins right here on this earth. The same life
which you will have in glory is the life you have right now
if you are one with Christ. If you are in vital union with
Jesus Christ, that he is the head and you are the body, he
is the vine and you are the branch, then you have eternal life. Death
does not transport the believer into a new life. That's what
a lot of people think, that when a believer dies he is transported
into a new Not so, he is transported into a new place, into the presence
of God. To be absent from the body is
to be present with the Lord. Christ said to the thief, Today
thou shalt be with me in paradise. But death does not transport
me into a new life, it rids the believer of an old nature, of
an old fleshed life that hampers and hinders his true life. The
new life in Christ is the new birth in Christ. That's the reason
Paul said, O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from
this body of death? I thank God that victory is mine
through Jesus Christ my Lord. And this which is corruptible
shall put on incorruption, and this which is mortal shall put
on immortality, and this which is sown in shame shall be raised
in glory. We shall be rid of the old nature
and rid of the old life, but we'll have the same eternal life. This eternal life, let me give
you a few things about it. First of all, it's the gift of
God. Scripture says in Romans 6.23,
the wages of sin is death. But the gift of God is eternal
life through Jesus Christ our Lord. That passage over in 1
John 5.11 is so powerful and so clear. This is the record
that God hath given to us, eternal life. And this life is in his
Son. Now, we were born dead in sin.
You have to quicken who were dead in trespasses and sin. We
were born in trespasses and sin, dead in sin. But the Father hath
decreed to give us spiritual life once again. Adam had spiritual
life, but when he fell, he died, and death passed upon all men.
And we inherit death, spiritual death, from our father. That's
the reason we are born again. That which is born of the flesh
is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. And
this eternal life is the gift of God. Secondly, it's the purchase
of the Son. He said, I am come that they
might have life. When Christ came to this earth,
people already had physical life. They already had mortal life,
they already had fleshly life, they already had carnal life.
He didn't bring fleshly life, he brought spiritual life. I'm
come that they might have life and have it more abundantly.
God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that
whosoever believeth on him should not perish, but have what? Eternal
life. He that believeth on the Son
hath eternal life. And he that believeth not the
Son shall never see eternal life. Christ suffered the just for
the unjust that he might bring us to God. So the gift of eternal
life is from the Father. The Son purchased it with his
own blood. He died that we might live. Now,
this eternal life is the gift of the Father, the purchase of
the Son, it's the work of the Holy Spirit. Turning your Bibles
to John 1, verse 11, the scripture says he came unto his own, his
own things, his own nation, Israel, his own people, his own ceremony. He came unto his own, his own
received him not. They rejected him. We have no
king but Caesar, they said. Why, you want me to crucify your
king, Pilate? We have no king but Caesar. They
rejected him. But as many as received him,
as the Lord, as the Redeemer, as the Christ, as many as received
him in their hearts of a truth, to them gave he the privilege
to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name."
But that's not the end of that sentence. Read that next verse.
"...which were born, not of blood," that is, I didn't inherit Christianity
from my parents, God gave it to me. I didn't inherit this
spiritual life from my father. I inherited death and sin. Not of the will of the flesh,
not of the will of man, but these were born of God. That's what
Christ was talking to Nicodemus about, something Nicodemus was
very religious and very studious and very intelligent, but he
couldn't understand it. There's mineral life, there's
plant life, there's animal life, there's physical, mental, human
life. There is spiritual life. And
just as human life is above animal life, spiritual life is above
natural life. Christ said, Nicodemus, you were
born the first time of the flesh. That which is born of the flesh
is flesh. You were born of a father and a mother. You have a fleshly
body. You came into a fleshly family. You have a fleshly heart and
mind and nature. You must be born again. born
of the water and of the Spirit, born from above, born of God.
And when a person is born of God and of his own will beget
he us through the word of truth, when you are born of God, you
receive spiritual life. Adam lost three things in the
garden. He lost the way to God, he was put out of the garden
and the flaming swords in front of the gate, he lost the way
to God, he lost the truth, he believed Satan's lies, And he
lost his life, his spiritual life. He didn't die for 700 or
800 years, but he lost spiritual life. And all of that was restored
in Christ, who said, I am the way, I am the truth, I am the
life, no man cometh to the Father but by me. So we must be born
again, born of the Spirit, born of the Word. And this eternal
life is given by Christ to those whom the Father gave him. from
all eternity. Look at verse 2, John 17, look
at it carefully, will you? Christ is praying here, he says,
Thou hast given me authority over all flesh. Now, our Lord
is not a beggar. I know he is presented as such
from the average prophet, poor little Jesus. Nobody will let
him have his way, nobody will let him do what he wants to,
poor little Jesus, just sitting up there in heaven, crying his
eyes out because folks won't let him have his way. Yes, I
know that's the way that Christ is presented, but that's not
the Christ of the Bible. He's not a beggar, he's a King,
he's Lord. He said to his disciples, I have
all authority in heaven and earth. You go preach the gospel. I represent
a sovereign God. I don't represent a weak, frustrated,
disappointed, disillusioned Reformer who died a martyr's death because
he couldn't get folks to let him have his way. I represent
a Lord, a Sovereign, who reigns over the armies of heaven and
the inhabitants of this earth, and giveth it to whomsoever he
will. And he saves you, it be by his grace. If he passes you
by, it will be to the glory of his justice, but he's on the
throne. On his way to the cross, he turned to those women who
wept and lamented, and he said, Don't weep for me, weep for yourselves
and for your children. Don't weep over the remedy, weep
over the cause. Don't weep over the cure, weep
over the disease. Weep over the king who has the
world in his hands. Weep over those who will not
submit themselves to his authority and therefore must be submitted
someday to his judgment. But I have all authority over
all flesh. That's what he said. Look at
verse 2. That I should give eternal life. It's a gift. It's not something you do for
God, it's something God does for you. that I should give eternal
life to as many as thou hast given me. Our Lord said in John
6, 37, All that my Father giveth me shall come to me, and him
that cometh I will in no wise cast out. In John 10, verse 24,
some of those religious people came to him and they said, Now
if you are the Christ, tell us plainly. He said, I told you.
I told you, just like I told these other people. But you didn't
believe me. And you didn't believe me because you are not of my
sheep. My sheep hear my voice, and they follow me, and I give
them eternal life. My sheep follow me. 1 Thessalonians
1, 4, Paul said to the church of Thessalonica, he said, Bergen,
I know your election of God. I know you were chosen of God.
Well, how do you know it, Paul? Because our gospel came not to
you in word only. That's where most people hear
preaching, just with their ears, not with their heart. That's
where most people read the Bible, just with their eyes and not
with their heart. That's where those people go to church. Their
bodies are sitting in the pew, but their minds and hearts are
off somewhere else. They're not getting anything.
And our gospel, Paul said, didn't come to you in word only, it
came in power. It came in the Holy Ghost, it
came in much assurance. In Acts 13.48, Paul said, these
Israelites rejected his message. He said, all right, we turn to
the Gentiles. We turn to the Gentiles. And when the Gentiles
heard this, They glorified God, and they believed the word that
Paul preached. And the scripture said, Acts
13, verse 48, "...and as many as were ordained to life believed."
They did believe. So our Lord says here, this is
life eternal. It's the gift of God. We know
that, the gift of God's eternal life. It's the purchase of the
sun, uncombed, that they might have life. It's the work of the
Holy Spirit, he has to regenerate, he has to quicken the dead, he
has to put life where there is no life and can be no life. And
then our Lord does this work for those whom the Father gave
him. If you read John 17, that whole prayer, there are twenty-some
odd verses, but six times in that one prayer, our Lord uses
this phrase, as many as thou hast given me. I don't know who
they are. But God knows who they are, and
they're going to hear the word, and they're going to receive
it, and they're going to be believed. Now, this is eternal life. We've
been talking about it. Now, just exactly what is it? We'll look at verse 3, and our
Lord defines eternal life. He says, And this is life eternal,
that they might know thee, the only true God. My friends, before Adam fell
in the garden, he knew God, he walked with God, he talked with
God, he knew the Lord. But when he fell, he lost everything,
and he lost the knowledge of God. Christ said, as a result,
no man knoweth the Father except the Son, and he to whom the Son
will reveal. He said one day to a crowd listening
to him preach, you don't know me and you don't know my Father. If you had known the Father,
you would have known me. You don't know God. You don't
know God. But man has to have a God. You
say that people have God. Sure, man has to have a God.
He's religious by nature. A man has to have a God like
a dog has to have a master, and a horse has to have a rider.
So not knowing the living God, not knowing the true God, what
does man do? He builds him a God according
to his own ideas, his own imagination. He finds a false God. He finds
an idol. He worships the creature, Paul
said in Romans, and not the Creator. Why does he worship the creature
and not the Creator? He doesn't know the Creator.
Why does he bow down before a stone idol? and not before the living
God. He doesn't know the living God.
Why does man worship the rain god and the sun god and the moon
god and not the living God? He doesn't know the living God.
Paul said to the people at Mars Hill, the East men of Athens,
you are very superstitious or religious. I saw all your shrines
out there, and I saw one which had this inscription, to an unknown
That's the one I'm going to preach to you, he said, the one you
don't know. You know your idols, you know
your rain God and sun God and moon, but you don't know the
living God. And man doesn't. He doesn't. And this lack of knowledge of
God has not only led him to idols, but it's led him to vain traditions
and human philosophy. Where do you think all the superstitious
beliefs came from? that people hold to walking under
a ladder and having bad luck. Huh? That's foolish, isn't it?
Isn't that heathen philosophy? That sounds like it came from
a heathen hot-and-pot out in the middle of nowhere. Do you
know why people believe those things? They don't know God.
They don't know a God of purpose, a God who controls things, a
God whose providence regulates our lives. And we're not in the
hands of bad luck or good luck, we're in the hands of God. Why
do you think people believe if you open an umbrella in the house
you'll have bad luck? Break a mirror, seven years bad
luck. Find a horseshoe and hang it up over the barn and have
good luck. Carry a rabbit's foot around with you and have good
luck. I know better than that, a rabbit had four of those feet
and it didn't bring him good luck, he lost one. That's foolishness,
that's heathen philosophy, and the reason man follows those
things, he doesn't know God. Christ said, I come in my Father's
name, and you receive me not. Let another come in his own name,
and him you will receive. My thoughts are not your thoughts,
my ways are not your ways, and there is a way that seemeth right
to you, but it leads you to death. So men don't know God. Eternal
life is once again to know God, to know God. What is it to know
the only true God? It's not just to have a God.
It's not just to believe there is a God. The devil believes
that. James said, you believe there
is one God, you do well. The devil believes that and trembles.
It is to know him as God, my God. Like Thomas, when he fell
at Christ's feet, my Lord and my God. The great, invisible,
infinite Jehovah is my God. Him, God, who reveals himself
as Father, Son and Holy Spirit, is my God. He who upholdeth all
things by the word of his power is my God. The one in whom we
live and move and have our being is my God. Who worketh all things
after the counsel of his own will is my God. Who showeth mercy
to whom he will show mercy, and is gracious to whom he will be
gracious, who reigneth over the armies of heaven and the inhabitants
of this earth is my God. I bow before his presence I worship
him in reverence and awe, I believe his word, honor his law, he is
my God. It's to know him as God. Secondly,
it's to know him as Father. Paul said in Romans 8.15, We
have received the spirit of adoption whereby we cry, Father, Father.
Do you know what it is to fear God and to love God? This is eternal life. When we
pray, we say, Our Father, which art in heaven. I'm conscious
of his power, but also of his peace. I'm conscious of his righteousness,
but also of his redemption. I'm conscious of his justice,
and thank God for his mercy. I can both fear him and love
him. And a man who has God as his
God and as his Father, you can strip him, but he'll still be
clothed with the presence and power and fellowship and communion
of God. You may shut him up in prison,
but his spirit will be free to worship his God. You may put
out his eyes, but he will see God's glory. You may cut out
his tongue, but he will sing God's praise in his heart. You
may forsake him, but he will never be alone. He may be sick
in body, but all is well with his soul. He may have a thousand
cares, but they all work together for his good. He may be at death's
door, but it will lead to God's To know God is to have a life
worth living, eternal life worth living. Physical, natural life
has no goal. It has no value. It has no worth.
If I didn't know God, I'd curse the day I was born, because there's
nothing out there. But I thank God for my existence. If I didn't know God, I'd feel
like a galley slave, pulling my oars for no pay and no future
and no reason. But knowing God, every daily
occurrence, every little success or failure, is all in his power
and his purpose. If I didn't know God, I'd be
in complete confusion about life and death and heaven and hell
and justice and mercy and righteousness and life. But I see his wisdom
in all these things. If I didn't know God, I'd tremble
at the prospects of growing old. I'd tremble at the prospects
of illness and death. If I didn't know God, there'd
be no joy for the day and no hope for tomorrow. Eternal life,
and this is life. This is life worth living, to
know God, to know Him as God, to know Him as my Father. But
watch this, and Christ adds, and this is eternal life, to
know the only true God and Jesus Christ whom he hath sent. Now, you listen carefully for
the next four minutes. To know God apart from Christ
would not be life. There would be no peace, joy,
rest, or happiness. For God apart from Christ would
be a holy being whose law I have broken, and he could not bless
me because I violated his law. He could not walk with me because
out of Christ I'm unclean. He could not smile upon me because
I'm a sinner. But Christ as my righteousness,
Christ's perfect robe covering my guilt, makes me accepted of
God in the beloved, clothed in his righteousness, to know God
in Christ. Secondly, to know God apart from
Christ would not be life, it would be death. Because God is
just and he must punish sin, not just will, he must. He said,
I will in no wise clear the guilty. The soul that sinneth, it shall
surely die. And so to know a holy, just,
righteous God apart from Christ would be nothing but terror. It would be like Israel standing
yonder at the Mount Sinai and they said, Moses, you speak to
God for us, don't let God speak to us lest we die. We want a
mediator between us and God, and that mediator is Christ,
who not only gives us a perfect standing and a perfect holiness,
but he gives us a perfect redemption, because he was wounded for our
transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement
of our peace was upon him, and by stripes we are healed. All
our sins are put away. To know God apart from Christ
would not be life, because my body would remain in the grave
forever. You know what Paul said in the book of 1 Corinthians? If Christ be not risen, your
faith is vain, you are yet in your sins, and the dead rise
not. For if Christ be not risen, the
dead rise not. So to know God apart from Christ
would mean no resurrection. But he said, thank God, because
I live, ye shall live. He that believeth on me, though
he were dead, yet shall he live." For a preacher, how do we come
to know God in Christ? Well, not by signs and not by
sight, but by faith. Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ,
and thou shalt be saved. He that believeth on the Son
hath life. What is it to believe? Well,
it's to believe the glory of his person. He's the God-man. God was in Christ, reconciling
the world to himself. is to believe not only the glory
of his person, but the efficacy of his blood. The blood of Jesus
Christ, God's Son, cleanseth us from all sin. We are not redeemed
with corruptible things such as silver and gold from our vain
conversation received by tradition from our fathers, but with the
precious blood of Christ. Full redemption, full atonement,
a full ransom. It is fairer to believe in the
power of his righteousness. I like that old with his holy
garments on, I am as spotless and holy as the Holy One. And
then it is to believe in the fulness of his intercession,
wherefore he is able to say to the uttermost, them that come
to God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for
them." We'd like to hear from you. If you want this message
on cassette tape, write to me. There will be a small charge,
but we'd be glad to send it Until next week at this time, I bid
you a very pleasant good day.

This Is Eternal Life

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This Is Eternal Life

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