Scripture: "And this is the testimony, that God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He who has the Son has life; he who has not the Son of God has not life" (1 John 5:11-12, RSV).
Scripture Reading: 2 Timothy 1:12; 1 John 5:9-12
Introduction
1. The words of the well known hymn confidently express the basis of our Christian hope:
Because He lives, I can face tomorrow;
Because He lives, all fear is gone;
Because I know He holds the future,
And life is worth the living just because He lives.
2. After the spiritual high of Resurrection Sunday some might ask, "Where do we go from here?" Because Christ lives, we can be sure of some certainties which change our lives into a daily experience worth living. Paul indicated his confidence when he wrote, "I know whom I have believed." Today we will examine a gift every Christian possesses as a result of the living Christ.
This gift is described in the Epistle of 1 John. The key word in this brief document is know the word is found thirty times in 105 verses. John was certain of the gifts that came with Christ. The first gift of which we can be certain is life in the Son. - "God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son."
I. God gives life.
A. Life in the Son:
1. It is not God's will for anyone to perish; He wants each person to live. We will find fulfillment injesus, who said, "I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and whoever lives and believes in me shall never die" (John 11:25-26).
2. The resurrection of Jesus assures us of life. No "resurrection spirit" can give us victory over death. Paul asked, "O death, where is thy victory? . . . thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ" (1 Cor. 15:55, 57).
B. New quality of life:
1. The life God gives injesus is more than living forever. He imparts a new quality of life. The words eternal life refer to the life of the new age, the very life of God at work within us now. Jesus said, "I have come that men may have life, and may have it in all its fullness" (John 10:10 NEB).
2. An extraordinary quality of life is available injesus. It is possible to be dead while alive for all who are without Jesus Christ are "dead in trespasses and sins" (Eph. 2:1).
3. Jesus promised, "He who hears my word and believes him who sent me, has eternal life; . . . has passed from death to life." John 5:24. Life in the Son is more than just living it is life with quality.
C. Jesus has made provision:
"Jesus has loved men, and has made every provision that the blood-bought soul shall have a new birth, a new life derived from His own life....'He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life.' Those who believe in Christ derive their motive power and the texture of their characters from Him in whom they believe" (Ellen G. White, Sons and Daughters of God, p. 299).
II. Do you have life?
A. Received through faith:
1. The gift of life comes to one who "has the Son," and the Son must be received through faith. "I write this to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life" (1 John 5:13, RSV).
2. Faith was the essential element to which Jesus responded. Four men lowered a paralytic through the roof into the house where Jesus was teaching. "When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, 'My son, your sins are forgiven.'" Mark 2:5.
B. Faith is a common ingredient of daily existence, yet many claim they cannot have faith in Christ:
1. Huxley once wrote: "Theology claims the just shall live by faith. Science says the just shall live by verification." Yet the scientist believes in a logical universe. He believes in principles used to verify presumptions.
2. What is a theory? It is something believed to be right but unproven. We believe in education, democracy, ourselves. Belief is common; why not believe the best and have life in the Son?
C. Lost because of unbelief:
1. If this uncommon life comes to those who believe in Jesus, those who refuse to believe are lost "he who has not the Son of God has not life."
2. Can the good man be lost? Yes.
3. Can the church-going person be lost? Yes.
4. Can the lovable, generous neighbor who has simply delayed her commitment to Christ be lost? Yes.
5. Faith in Christ is the crucial test "he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God" (John 3:18).
"Brethren, see poor sinners round you
Slumbering on the brink of woe,
Death is coming, hell is moving,
Can you bear to let them go?
Tell them all about the Saviour,
Tell them that He will be found."
─George Arkins
Realizing life is only in the Son should motivate us to "rescue the perishing, care for the dying, snatch them in pity from sin and the grave."
III. Life - for Keeps!
A. Trust God's testimony:
1. Remember how as a child you responded to a person's gift by saying, "Is this mine, for keeps?"
2. Life in the Son is a present and permanent possession. God is the basis of this security.
3. A personal testimony about new life is great but "the testimony of God is greater. . . . He who believes in the Son of God has the testimony in himself" (1 John 5:9-10 RSV).
4. To doubt the certainty of life on the basis of the requirements set forth by God is to make God a liar. If you have done what God said to do, then trust His word and rejoice!
B. He keeps us:
1. Paul's confident word to Timothy included a testimony of God's keeping power. "I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day" (2 Tim. 1:12).
2. The word keep means "guard" and includes the image of a garrison of heavenly troops protecting the individual.
3. Alexander Whyte, the Scottish preacher, once asked a friend, "How are you keeping?" The friend answered, "Doctor, I'm not keeping; I'm being kept."
4. Christ is able to keep us and present us one day at the throne of glory. Because He was able to defeat death, I know He is adequate for everything in this life and the next.
IV. CONCLUSION
I share the sense of mystery about which Daniel Whittle wrote:
I know not why God's wondrous grace
To me He hath made known,
Nor why, unworthy,Christ in love
Redeemed me for His own.
I do know I believe Christ. Life in the Son is real. Life is worth the living because He lives.
Texts are taken from the King James Version of the Bible unless otherwise noted.
