The greeting. Peace to you in the name of Christ Jesus.
The scripture. Please open your Bible to First John chapter two. I will read from verse twenty to verses twenty-seven, our sermon will be based on verse twenty-five. Hear God’s holy word, read.
I John 2:20. But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and you all know. 21 I have not written to you because you do not know the truth, but because you do know it, and because no lie is of the truth. 22 Who is the liar but the one who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, the one who denies the Father and the Son. 23 Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father; the one who confesses the Son has the Father also. 24 As for you, let that abide in you which you heard from the beginning. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, you also will abide in the Son and in the Father. 25 This is the promise which He Himself made to us: eternal life. 26 These things I have written to you concerning those who are trying to deceive you. 27 As for you, the anointing which you received from Him abides in you, and you have no need for anyone to teach you; but as His anointing teaches you about all things, and is true and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you abide in Him.
The prayer. Let’s ask our heavenly Father to fill us with the Holy Spirit this morning (Eph.5:18) – pray.
The doctrine. The content of our sermon verse, verse 25, is foundational to our holy faith.
God has made a promise of eternal life to all of those that believe in Christ as their Lord and Savior.
The outline. The three points under consideration are: 1) The Promiser, the God of the Bible, 2) The Promise, eternal life in Christ, and 3) The Promisee, those that receive Christ by Spirit-gifted faith.
The Promiser. Let’s begin with the Promiser and then we will work our way down to the promise.
God is. The text tells us the promise which He Himself has made to us. The “He” obviously is God. (WCF 2.1-3)
At the risk of sounding silly, Biblical Christianity is a religion that believes in God. We believe that God is, or that God exists. And we believe that only the God of the Bible, is the true and living God that is. (Gen.1:1, Jn.1:1)
We live in times of great apostasy in the Christian church, and many have fallen away from the sound words of holy Scripture. (2 Thess.2:2-9, Mt.24:4-24, 2 Tim.4:1-5), and many professing Christians follow blind religious guides. (Mt.15:14)
One example of the current apostasy is I just watched a video clip of a religious-cultural guru, a man many Christians give their time and their money to hear lecture on the Bible, he said, and I quote, that “God is the ultimate fictional character”. (YouTube, @CosmicSkeptic, “Jordan Peterson is an Atheist”)
Beloved, there are many professing Christians that do not think of God, or speak of God, or speak to God – they live like practical atheists. And the reason for this is many of them are atheists. (2 Tess.3:2, Lk.18:8, Heb.3:12, Jn.6:64-69, I Pt.4:17)
Sadly, even in the church, it is necessary to define who and what we mean by God in order to refute the lie, and to establish the truth. Here is a summary Scriptural definition of God.
WSC 4. What is God? A. God is a Spirit,(1) infinite,(2) eternal,(3) and unchangeable,(4) in his being,(5) wisdom,(6) power,(7) holiness,(8) justice, goodness, and truth.(9)
(1) John 4:24 (2) Job 11:7-9 (3) Ps. 90:2 (4) James 1:17 (5) Exod. 3:14 (6) Ps. 147:5
(7) Rev. 4:8 (8) Rev. 15:4 (9) Exod. 34:6,7
WSC 5. Are there more Gods than one? There is but one only, the living and true God. (Deut. 6:4; Jer. 10:10)
WSC 6. How many persons are there in the Godhead? There are three persons in the Godhead; the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost; and these three are one God, the same in substance, equal in power and glory. (1 John 5:7; Matt. 28:19; John 10:30)
We believe, because the Bible teaches, that all other so-called gods in the world, that they are not God, and they are either demons or the figment of fallen man’s imagination. (I Cor.8:5)
Again, I say, the Bible presents only the God of the Bible as the only God that is. Those that reject this God do not have eternal life. Those that believe in this God – do.
God reveals Himself in nature. The God of the Bible is a self-revealing God. God reveals Himself to man, that man might know God. He does this in two ways.
First, God reveals Himself to man in nature as the preexistent eternal God that is all powerful, and all wise, and all good.
The heavens declare the glory of God. The seasons and the crops declare that God gives good gifts to mankind. (Rom.1:18-2:16, Ps.19:1-6, Ps.139:14, Acts 14:15-17, Mt.5:45)
We learn that this kind of divine self-revelation is not propositional. This means, it is not with words.
This means that God does not make promises to man in nature.
Except of course, if we read certain natural revelation through the Scripture, like the rainbow, where God in the Bible promises never to bring destroying-judgment upon the world via a flood again. (Gen.9:13-16)
The next destroying-judgment to come, will be by fire, not by flood. (2 Pt.3:10-13, Rev.19:11-21:5)
But you get the larger point. God does not give promises to us in or by nature.
I know this seems so self-evident, but there are many in our day, even among professing Christians, that do not see their need of reading the Bible or of going to church to hear the Bible preached. They do not see the benefit of studying holy Scripture.
They say things like, I commune with God out on the beach, or God speaks to me while I am walking in the woods, or playing golf, and so on.
Well, at best God in nature reveals that He is God, and you are not God. And He reveals that He is the Creator, and that you are His culpable creature. The beach does not give you any promises from God. Walking in the woods does not promise you eternal life.
God reveals Himself in Scripture. Related to this is that God does not reveal Himself as Savior to man in nature.
God only reveals Himself as Savior of sinners in holy Scripture. (WCF 1.1, Rom.10:1-17, Jn.17:17, James 1:18, 2 Tim.3:14-17)
Holy Scripture is the very word of God. Only the Old Testament and the New Testament constitute this very word of God. (WSC 2, 3)
The Bible sometimes in Greek is called graphe and or gramma, the writings. Of course this means words. (2 Tim.3:15-16)
In the holy Bible, with words – God reveals Himself as a merciful Savior to fallen sinful man IN CHRIST. (Jn.3:16, Jn.17:17, Rom.10:1-17, James 1:18, Ps.19:7-14)
God gives promises of blessings in the Bible. Beloved, God makes promises to His people, and they are all recorded in His Bible, and only in the Bible.
You can buy books that list out the promises of God found in Scripture. I think Charles Spurgeon has one. The one I have is from Samuel Clarke an English Puritan (1675-1729) called Precious Bible Promises that lists 1,000 promises of God that He records in His word.
Beloved, it is in the Bible and in the Bible alone that God Himself makes promises to us as our Savior. The eternal life that is being promised to us is found only in the Bible.
The promise. Now let’s consider what a promise is.
Here is the dictionary definition of a promise.
A declaration or assurance that one will do a particular thing or that a particular thing will happen. A declaration that one will do or refrain from doing something specified. A legally binding declaration that gives the person to whom it is made a right to expect or to claim the performance or forbearance of a specified act.
Some synonyms that help us understand this passage. A promise is an oath, a vow, a pledge, a covenant, to swear – an oath or a vow.
Again, remember the One making this promise or pledge or vow is God Himself! (Heb.6:13-17)
God cannot lie. (Titus 1:2) And God cannot change. That means His promises are always true and they will never change!
Oh Beloved, God is the God of truth. (Isa.65:17) The Bible is the word of Truth. (2 Tim.2:15) Jesus is Truth come in the flesh. (Jn.14:1-6) The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of truth.
Beloved, when God makes a promise to us, we can build our life upon it. (Mt.7:14-29)
And of course, I mean our entire life here in this present age. But more than that, we can labor here below with full confidence that this promise of God has eternal blessings for us as well. More on this in a bit.
But my larger point is that we always ought to fully trust the Promiser of every one of His promises.
And when we doubt, and we do sadly, because of the world, the flesh (Mk.9:23-25), and the devil, then ask God the Holy Spirit to forgive you, and to strengthen you, and read again the promises of God – and trust. Know that in Christ, all is well with your soul, you have eternal life.
The promise of Savior Christ. The Greek word for promise is an interesting one, it is ep-anggelia.
The thing that is interesting to me is that this word sounds very similar to the Greek word for gospel, that word is eu-anggelia, meaning the good word or the good news.
This Greek word for promise is often used in the Bible in connection with the benefits of salvation by Christ.
And that is exactly how God the Holy Spirit is using it here in our passage. (Galatians 3:14-21, Acts 7:17, Rom. 4:14 -16, Rom. 9:4, Gal. 4:23, Heb. 11:17, 2 Pet. 3:9)
Listen to what the apostle John wrote earlier.
I John 1:1. What was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have looked at and touched with our hands, concerning the Word of Life– 2 and the life was manifested, and we have seen and testify and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was manifested to us– 3 what we have seen and heard we proclaim to you also, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ.
Here are some related promises that we see in holy Scripture:
Christ the Savior was the promised Savior made to the fathers in the Old Testament. (Rom.15:8)
Christ will be born according to God’s promise. (Rom.9:8)
Listen to the apostle Paul to the Romans.
Romans 1:1. Paul, a bond-servant of Christ Jesus, called as an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God, 2 which He promised beforehand through His prophets in the holy Scriptures, 3 concerning His Son, who was born of a descendant of David according to the flesh, 4 who was declared the Son of God with power by the resurrection from the dead, according to the Spirit of holiness, Jesus Christ our Lord, 5 through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith among all the Gentiles for His name’s sake, 6 among whom you also are the called of Jesus Christ.
The promise of eternal life. So, every good or blessed promise of God that He makes, they are all related to Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is the procurer of all of the promises of God.
I put it this way, because God actually does make some promises (sad promises, really threats and warnings) for those outside of Christ, and or those that reject Christ. Perhaps I will speak to this later in the sermon.
But for now, let’s talk a little bit about what this promise of eternal life means.
The creation and the gift of human life. When we talk about life we necessarily have to talk about death. And when we talk about life and death as human beings, we have to talk about how human beings came into existence.
Remember the Bible, which is God’s perfect infallible word. It tells us how we have life. And sadly, also why we have death. (Gen.1 and 2, Gen.3:1-15, Gen.2:16-17, Rom.5:12-14)
The Bible tells us that man is a creature, but a unique creature, the only creature that God has made in His likeness and image. (Gen.1:26)
The Bible says that God created Adam and Eve on the 6th day of creation.
The Bible says that God created Adam out of the dust of the earth, and God created Eve out of the rib of Adam.
God breathed into man His Spirit and made man a living creature, a living soul.
God created Man with a material body and an immaterial soul, which is eternal.
The soul of man is the part of man that bears the image of God.
Therefore, God created man with true knowledge of God, with righteousness and holiness. That is life.
Life for man meant union with God and communion with God. That is what life is, being in a love relationship with the God of heaven and earth.
The curse and the loss of human life. Now when our first father as our federal representative sinned against God by eating the forbidden fruit, then God cursed all creation with the penalty due to sin, which is death, which is having no union and no communion with God, Who is life itself.
Death then is physical death. But more importantly, the curse for sin made man spiritually dead, spiritually anti-God and pro-Satan. (Eph.2:1-3)
And this put man under the danger of eternal death, which is to exist under the wrath of an offended God for our sins, in hell, eternally.
And for our purposes, that means that life and death for man is unique. Man cannot think of life and death like the lower beasts, that have bodies and then they expire, and then they are no more. (Eccl.3:21)
Beloved, our society is busy telling people that we are just advanced apes, we live to eat and to drink and to pro-create. (Lk.12:19-20, Eccl.2:18-24, Eccl.8:15, Isa.22:13, Prov.23:25, I Cor.15:32) And then we die, like an ape. And then we are no more.
That is a Satanic lie beloved. God has created all Mankind with an eternal soul. Man exists eternally somewhere, in one of two places. (WCF 32, 33)
Oh beloved, the devil and his evil missionary servants have been so wickedly successfully tricking men and women to live like a beast, to live to serve their bodily lusts, and to take no thought of their eternal soul, and thus of their eternal destiny. (Lk.12:13-21, 14:16-21, 17:26-30)
Which if these sadly duped people continue in, it will be to share in the eternal woe of Satan himself, suffering eternal death. (Rev.20:10-15, I Cor.6:9-11)
The redemption and the restoration of human life. Now we come to eternal life.
Eternal life is the restoration of spiritual life in Christ.
Eternal life is union and communion with God.
Beloved, this promise of God is not personal reformation; it is not a promise of better health or better wealth. It is not a promise of filial reformation, it is not a promise of having a better marriage or a better family. God is not making a promise of societal reformation.
Beloved, this is a promise of life from the dead, resurrection from the dead, union with the Triune God, friendship with the Triune God!
God is making a spiritual promise to us. He is making an other-worldly promise to us.
And He calls us to stake our life and our death upon His word, upon His promise.
Believe, and you have eternal life. Believe and live. Believe and enjoy.
Already – in this life. Eternal life begins the moment we savingly believe that Jesus is the Christ, and I mean savingly-believe-trust in Jesus as “our” Sin-Atoner Savior. (Jn.3:36, 6:40, 47, 17:3)
Listen to Christ.
John 17:1. Jesus spoke these things; and lifting up His eyes to heaven, He said, “Father, the hour has come; glorify Your Son, that the Son may glorify You, 2 even as You gave Him authority over all flesh, that to all whom You have given Him, He may give eternal life. 3 “This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.
Paul speaks of the same gift of eternal life, wrought by Christ, given to us in Christ.
Romans 6:23. For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
2 Timothy 1:1. Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, according to the promise of life in Christ Jesus, 2 To Timothy, my beloved son: Grace, mercy and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.
And as the word eternal implies, there is no end to this renewed spiritual life which we have in Christ.
Not yet – in the next life. Listen to Paul to pastor Timothy.
I Timothy 4:8. for bodily discipline is only of little profit, but godliness is profitable for all things, since it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come.
Christ spoke of this unending eternal life, unextinguishable eternal life to the converted thief on the cross.
Luke 23:42. And he was saying, “Jesus, remember me when You come in Your kingdom!”
43 And He said to him, “Truly I say to you, today you shall be with Me in Paradise.”
The Promisees. Beloved, let’s say a few words about the happy beneficiaries of this eternal life.
This eternal life is only for those in Christ Jesus by faith.
No eternal life in false gods. All of the other religions of the world that tell their sad adherents that for their obedience to their false god and his laws that they will merit eternal life – they lie.
There is NO life apart from Christ. There is no being in Christ apart from faith in Him.
No eternal life because of death. Another sad thing that many of us have witnessed is that many people, and I dare say most people think that people enter eternal life after they die, simply because they die.
The idea is that all people are basically good and therefore when they die, (almost) all people go to live with God in heaven.
This also is a lie beloved. There is only life in Christ. We are only in Christ by faith.
The conclusion. Beloved one of the reasons that God says in the Bible that it is better to go to the house of mourning rather than the house of feasting is because having to face death, by God’s grace, can be God’s means of bringing us to eternal life in Christ. (Eccl.7:2-4)
You see, God has placed eternity in the hearts of all human beings. (Eccl.3:11)
All people know that this life is not all that there is.
All people know that when they physically die that they will continue to exist, and that there is life after death. (Rom.1, 2)
Beloved, the time that God has given each of us to receive this eternal life in Christ is limited. And I would say very limited. And uncertain.
Jesus says this,
John 3:16. For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. (Jn.20:31)
John 3:36. He who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.
John 10:7. Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. 8 “All who came before Me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them. 9 “I am the door; if anyone enters through Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture. 10 “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. (Jn.10:28)
The apostle John later writes this.
I John 5:11. And the testimony is this, that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. 12 He who has the Son has the life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have the life. 13 These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life.
Beloved, I want to say that Jesus Christ constantly spoke about eternal life in the eternal estate. Jesus filled His discourses with promises of living in the eternal Promised Land.
In other words, Jesus often spoke about eternal life in HEAVEN. Oh, how we need to think more of heaven than we do. (Col.3:1-3)
Remember Jesus said this at funeral (as it were),
John 11:21. Martha then said to Jesus, “Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died. 22 “Even now I know that whatever You ask of God, God will give You.” 23 Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.” 24 Martha said to Him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.” 25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies, 26 and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this?” 27 She said to Him, “Yes, Lord; I have believed that You are the Christ, the Son of God, even He who comes into the world.” (Col.1:12-14)
Christ is to us that Believe – the tree of life. (Gen.2:15-17, Rev.22:1-7)
Christ is to us that Believe – the water of life. (Rev.22:1-2) Jesus is the fountain of living water. (Jer.2:11-13, Jn.7:37-39)
To us that believe Christ is all of these things to us: the breath of life (Gen.2:7), the spirit of life (Gen.7:22), the restorer of life (Ruth 4:15), the fountain of life (Ps.36:9), the paths of life (Ps.16:11), the resurrection of life (Jn.5:29), the bread of life (Jn.6:35), the Word of life. (I Jn.1:1) Glory to God!
In this life, as we walk through the valley of the shadow of death, we are alive in Christ. No more fearing life.
WSC 36. What are the benefits which in this life do accompany or flow from justification, adoption, and sanctification? A. The benefits which in this life do accompany or flow from justification, adoption, and sanctification, are, assurance of God’s love, peace of conscience,(1) joy in the Holy Ghost,(2) increase of grace,(3) and perseverance therein to the end.(4)
(1) Rom. 5:1,2,5 (2) Rom. 14:17 (3) Prov. 4:18 (4) 1 John 5:13; 1 Pet. 1:5
When we die, and our bodies are laid in our graves, we are alive in Christ. No more fearing death.
WSC 37. What benefits do believers receive from Christ at death? A The souls of believers are at their death made perfect in holiness,(1) and do immediately pass into glory;(2) and their bodies, being still united in Christ,(3) do rest in their graves,(4) till the resurrection.(5)
(1) Heb. 12:23 (2) 2 Cor. 5:1,6,8; Phil. 1:23; Luke 23:43 (3) 1 Thess. 4:14
(4) Isa. 57:2 (5) Job. 19:26,27
At the resurrection, we will experience life to its zenith, we are alive in Christ. Eternal joy in the presence of the Eternal One.
WSC 38. What benefits do believers receive from Christ at the resurrection? A. At the resurrection, believers being raised up in glory,(1) shall be openly acknowledged and acquitted in the day of judgment,(2) and made perfectly blessed in the full enjoying of God(3) to all eternity.(4)
(1) 1 Cor. 15:43 (2) Matt. 25:23; Matt. 10:32 (3) 1 John 3:2; 1 Cor. 13:12 (4) 1 Thess. 4:17,18
John Newton (1725-1807) wrote about this blessed eternal life in Christ.
Amazing grace! How sweet the sound
That saved a wretch like me!
I once was lost, but now am found;
Was blind, but now I see.
’Twas grace that taught my heart to fear,
And grace my fears relieved;
How precious did that grace appear
The hour I first believed.
Through many dangers, toils, and snares,
I have already come;
’Tis grace hath brought me safe thus far,
And grace will lead me home.
The Lord has promised good to me,
His Word my hope secures;
He will my Shield and Portion be,
As long as life endures.
Yea, when this flesh and heart shall fail,
And mortal life shall cease,
I shall possess, within the veil,
A life of joy and peace.
The earth shall soon dissolve like snow,
The sun forbear to shine;
But God, who called me here below,
Will be forever mine.
When we’ve been there ten thousand years,
Bright shining as the sun,
We’ve no less days to sing God’s praise
Than when we’d first begun.
This is Amazing Grace. This is Eternal Life. What a Christ! What a salvation.
Amen
Comments are closed