Download... August 7, 2011. Sunday Morning Service. Bro. Dave Goble.
TEXT: JOHN 5:11-21
11 And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.
12 He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life.
13 These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God.
14 And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us:
15 And if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him.
16 If any man see his brother sin a sin which is not unto death, he shall ask, and he shall give him life for them that sin not unto death. There is a sin unto death: I do not say that he shall pray for it.
17 All unrighteousness is sin: and there is a sin not unto death.
18 We know that whosoever is born of God sinneth not; but he that is begotten of God keepeth himself, and that wicked one toucheth him not.
19 And we know that we are of God, and the whole world lieth in wickedness.
20 And we know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding, that we may know him that is true, and we are in him that is true, even in his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and eternal life.
21 Little children, keep yourselves from idols. Amen.
We sang a song this morning “I know My name Is There.” Do you know.. ‘Your’ name ..is there? “We know”... is repeated in this chapter. Our thought this morning, is “Eternal Life ..Begins Here!” Yes,..there is a dividing line of life and death of the human body. Yet, for our souls, eternal life does begin here on earth.
How can this be? Not to confuse heaven with life/flesh on earth, but the absence of temptation, trials, etc., ...that’s of heaven only. But to the redeemed there is eternal life now.. in Him. Life is created by belief, faith, and liberty in God. Death,.. constitutes the sins that rule life. “The wages of sin is death”... Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. That’s how the enemy of souls,.."pays" those souls!
The bible is full of opposites. Life..Death. Life is understood in the context of death, and Death in the context of life. Eternal life,..begins here! Again..verse 11 And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. If though, we turn back on God,....it negates our spiritual “contract” by our breach of it. God gives us all an opportunity to know God here,..personally! We can’t be born physically to eternal life. We can’t be trained to it. It requires a relationship personally,..while still on earth. Time really hinders our ability to understand God. Eternity is not comprehended naturally in this time bound world. So how can we on earth.. be a beneficiary of Eternity? Each of us are a time bound creature that upon Salvation, ..are no longer bound spiritually by time!
Young,..old,..sick,..healthy, etc., they are all subject to time. But eternity has no boundaries, ...no limits of time! Who is qualified to say,...”Here am I,..Send me?”.. (Exodus 3:13-14 13 And Moses said unto God, Behold when i come unto the children of Israel, and shall say unto them, The God of your fathers hath sent me unto you; and they shall say to me, What is his name? what shall I say unto them? 14 And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you) ...Only those who have had their eternal life begun, through spiritual birth from their Eternal Father. For it is only through the grace of God,... that this grace of eternal life has been bestowed.
The name is eternal... the name of God,.....God Is! God gives us in eternal life,..the IS! For God IS,..and when He becomes our Father,..we are given the IS of eternal life. “I used to be ‘this way’,..and now I am no longer ‘that’ way. Change. God’s children realize they are no longer part of the substance spiritually, of these earthly limitations. For,..God upon conviction tells us, that we must be converted from death,..to life! Will you began to follow that One who offers you Eternal Life?
But,..”before this,” you must discover the need to change from death to life. This is only a spiritual/biblical precept. Before, is to have lived under the sentence of “death.” Eternal life,.. God’s children are “plugged into it” ...right now! We might have many dreams, and expectations of all we know of those gone before us to heaven. Time,.. is. I do want to speak to all those gone on before,...but especially Jesus! We “wonder” how we will accomplish all our eternal expectations. Our minds cannot fathom what is beyond this. Yet we who are already redeemed,..are part of it! So many eternal wonderful things,..we know nothing about! You might not grasp this in a very lost and sinful condition..going from bad to worse. God can change this with His hope in Salvation!
Romans 11: 22-23 22 Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God: on them which fell, severity; but toward thee, goodness, if thou continue in his goodness: otherwise thou also shalt be cut off. 23 And they also, if they abide not still in unbelief, shall be graffed in: for God is able to graff them in again. God the author of eternal life is able give His life to any and all of mankind,..where ever they find themselves, if asking for it according to what He ask of us in His holy word. Even through the understanding of flesh,..we may be enduring or “feeling” things have gone from bad to worse,..God’s children will not be bound by that. IF they actually claim the promises that eternal life,.. which starts here on earth,.. affords. People have many earthly problems,..of pain, monetarily, grief, etc.,..making life difficult. But,..they can claim the promises! We’re not simply “waiting for it.” A promise though, is “only” a promise,..until it is claimed. One of the promises of Eternal life,..is that it begins here, ..it is a reality!
God is too often perceived as only something afar off. Off in the cosmos. etc., ..not acknowledging the relationship we can have. They somehow find fault as if the bible inaccurately describes the concept of a potential relationship. God to them is “that thing” that is too far above or far out, that we are only little teeny specks to Him. That there is this great gulf between us, and the Creator. “They” want to change the truth to their philosophies of a relationship even being possible. Some think, “I did not know that.” This is where the benefit of a God given pastor comes in,..it is his job to instruct us in the truth. The truth benevolently from Him, ..and for us. He is faithful! In spite of so much criticism of accepting His great existence, ..being so prevalent today.
This criticism of the “Greater God” is popular right now. This is how the generations following can so easily lose the importance of God’s truth and knowledge of His eternal life. It’s not a healthy thing. It will interfere with your understanding of Eternal life starting right here.
Acts 1: 9,10 9 And when he had spoken these things, while they beheld, he was taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight. 10 And while they looked stedfastly toward heaven as he went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel; Here is a wonderfully graphic illustration of God’s nature being above us spiritually of what we can comprehend humanly, based in the limitations of our flesh.
Genesis 1:1-3 1 In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. 2 And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. 3 And God said, Let there be light: and there was light. God,..as “illustrated” by these verses, is “outside” what "we see" and understand on this earth. He, ..here, ..is creating something, ..from nothing! He is creating order from chaos.
Matthew 17:1-5 1 And after six days Jesus taketh Peter, James, and John his brother, and bringeth them up into an high mountain apart, 2 And was transfigured before them: and his face did shine as the sun, and his raiment was white as the light. 3 And, behold, there appeared unto them Moses and Elias talking with him. 4 Then answered Peter, and said unto Jesus, Lord, it is good for us to be here: if thou wilt, let us make here three tabernacles; one for thee, and one for Moses, and one for Elias. 5 While he yet spake, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them: and behold a voice out of the cloud, which said, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye him.
So God is always above mankind,..and not in us at our fleshly birth. God does not reside in us automatically. He wants us to understand,..He is bigger, and beyond our mere fleshly existence,..and eternal. True religion is not “simply” in your casually “finding” God. God wishes you to know eternal life is here,....now upon the reception of Salvation From sin. In order for this to happen, you have to recognize He Is Eternal,..and He wishes to give you a nature like His! He wants you to understand you are bound by time and sin,...when you are born in the flesh.
God desires for all of us to know Him, through the free pardon of their sins. It is so they can have eternal life right here while on earth. God is so much bigger than we can imagine. The concept of God has no space, ..nor time. God simply is,..real,..and not to be confined to a space that we can only comprehend. It is in this concept beyond time and space, that we are grafted into eternal life,.. through God’s Salvation. The struggle men have to accept this, is in their being “bound” by the concepts of time and it’s many boundaries. Sometimes we need to think of a way “outside” of time,..right here!
Luke 17: 20,21 20 And when he was demanded of the Pharisees, when the kingdom of God should come, he answered them and said, The kingdom of God cometh not with observation: 21 Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you. Verse 20; Jesus said,..don’t look for a place,..don’t look for a time,..don’t depend on your “senses,”.. (observation) to “discover” the kingdom of God. This is he eternal God,..speaking to temporal people,..to help them understand how they will know, when they find the kingdom of God. Verse 21 It is within us because a God that is eternal, is also living within,.. in all that are yielded to Him through conversion.
God wants us to know not to attempt to find His kingdom through philosophies, mere religious ideas, your own personal regimented studies, etc. Those are all false concepts. Only your conversion from death to life, will help you find the kingdom of God.
God only can be found through His Spirit that convicts you of your sins, with you following through with repentance, ..and your completely forsaking them. We are the created,..He is the Creator,..always greater,...and we are always the lesser! “Splitting hairs” over the many diversions of understanding is only of confusion and not of God. Eternity demands there is a God. As the woman with the issue of blood, we can “touch” him as we studied last week, ...pressing with the determination, and coupled with pure faith, ..will bring the reception of His benevolent power and mercy. Jesus did not condemn this woman in her unclean condition, ..which was against wisdom for her to be pressing within a crowd. Her determination to touch the hem of His garment, brought her the healing touch of heaven,..in essence, ..of eternal life.
I John 5:14-18 14 And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us: 15 And if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him. 16 If any man see his brother sin a sin which is not unto death, he shall ask, and he shall give him life for them that sin not unto death. There is a sin unto death: I do not say that he shall pray for it. 17 All unrighteousness is sin: and there is a sin not unto death. 18 We know that whosoever is born of God sinneth not; but he that is begotten of God keepeth himself, and that wicked one toucheth him not. Verse 14, That’s a promise given upon conversion. An eternal promise! What’s God’s will? ...It’s that which affords us eternal life. We have had the fulfillment of promises given,..prayers answered. It is one of the reasons of our hope.
This whole book of I John, is a written apologist,.. because of people who were trying to take away from the gospel work,.. that which declared the truth of God. “Trying” with the heresies of gnosticism, to “reconstruct” God,..away from the truth. One dependable way we can truly know truth,.. is to accept and believe God’s promises. Verse 16 We can pray for that brother (promise),..so he will not be lost to sin,..but restored and supported. Verse 18 A promise. He that is begotten of God ..is kept from that wicked one! That also,..is how we know Eternal life starts here. Satan cannot touch us, (tempt?..yes).
God can keep us,.. when we become part of God’s Eternal life. We receive knowledge through conversion,. and the promises it brings. Gnosticism has a problem understanding Jesus being both human, and spiritual, which consequently leads to many heresies. Other man made philosophies also base their beliefs in “fleshly” thoughts of needing only fleshly knowledge. This chapter answers,..”that we Know of God,...because of the many promises God has given us.”
There are 3 who bear record in heaven,...I John 5:7 For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one. How can that be? Not hard to understand when you are saved from sin. The “un” known tongues (for example spoken of in the bible) in reality is talking of a life (unknown to the natural flesh) and all it’s “conversations.” It is unlike the popular unknown tongues that is only “gibberish,” and often also followed by many “unseemly” acts being “displayed.” So many find fault with God’s true way. This chapter is really a testimony of what the gospel cultivates. Through it, God opens a door for us to be able to “peer” into the Eternal word.
Are you able to enjoy the blessings of what God’s eternal word blesses with? Or,..are you bound,.. by this time bound world of sin? God’s children have the right to the glimpses of eternal benefits. For this time bound world is weighed down by fleshly ideas.
There is an open door, to eternal life. Don’t let your troubles rob you of God’s offerings through that door of eternal life. It can not be a mere temporal effort. It must be a full surrender to God’s salvation,.. from sin. It is more than a “method.” Eternal life, IS eternal,..and not something that last from 8 to 9. Trying to serve God eternally in a time bound way in the flesh, ..is sometimes difficult. But God can give us eternal hope in spite of that, while we are still here on earth. What are you convinced of? What do you know? You may have a “knowledge,” ...but what is it producing?
But,..we do know! We have been converted! We are not seeking knowledge of the flesh. God has given us His knowledge,....we only through Him,.. can 'know' something. What do you know? How, ..do you know? Eternal life begins here. As, also death begins here, in the absence of God in our physical life,..in essence eternal death. Thank God, we are partakers to enjoy of eternal life,..right here. The world needs more than “love,” ..they need eternal life! The politicians, teachers of children,etc., retirees, and again etc., they all need Eternal Life!
What are you convinced of this morning? There is a way you can be convinced! If not knowing,..ask God to reveal, cleanse, and give you eternal life. It is a decision you must make yourself, for God to graft you in. We can ‘know!’ Eternal Life,.. and not death for you,..can too begin here.
