Happy New Year. It's been quite a year. I won't do a whole lot of commentary on that. We've all been through it. But the Lord has brought us through another year and he has protected us and he has blessed us. And I thank you all for the prayers that you had for me this last year. And just to give small testimony, he has helped to heal me greatly from what I was. And I have a little bit to go, but feeling pretty good. So I thank you all for your prayers and for caring for me. Okay, open your Bibles to First John chapter five. First John chapter five, and we're gonna start at verse 11. And this is the testimony. God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his son. Whoever has the son has life. Whoever does not have the son does not have life. I've written these things to you who believe in the name of the son of God that you may know that you have eternal life. And at verse 13, is the one that we're mainly concerned about today. I have written these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life. Lord, I do ask that you would bless your word that you would protect it from treacherous hands and from poor study habits, and that you would, Lord, somehow bring through your word preached today some blessing, some way that it will not return to you void. I thank you for your great mercy. I thank you, Lord, for your great grace. And I ask, Lord, that you would help us to know and to enjoy this very fact, that we may know that we have eternal life. Amen. So I guess the first question I have to ask you is, do you know that you have eternal life? That's not an elementary question. There's a lot of people who do not know. for sure, that they have eternal life. I know back when Rick was still witnessing to me back in 1990, the one question he asked me was, if you were to die today, do you know if you'd go to heaven? And from the background that I came from, I was a former Roman Catholic, you couldn't know. that you had eternal life. And for you to say that you knew you were going to heaven when you died, to say that you knew that you had eternal life was seen as arrogant or proud, because what they hear you saying is, I'm good enough to go to heaven, because that's the system. The system is, you behave, if you're good enough, well, God will accept you into his heaven. quite a while working with me in the scriptures to get that out of my head and to actually see what the Bible says about salvation and heaven and how God accepts us. Well, many people hope so. Some think that their good will outweigh the bad. A lot of people fear that they won't make it. It's a fear they have their whole lives. On their deathbed, they're terrified. But you, do you, here at World Life Baptist, do you know that you have eternal life? Or are you on a treadmill, a hamster wheel, working real hard, but not really getting anywhere? The Apostle John was very mindful of the doubts and fears that people could have as he was writing these things. And John wanted people to have full faith in Jesus and to enjoy that faith and the outcome of that faith, eternal life. Don't you enjoy your salvation, knowing that you have eternal life? Part one says, I have written these things. I, of course, being the Apostle John. But it's not just the Apostle John. John is writing for the Holy Spirit. He's inspired by the Holy Spirit. So therefore, we can understand here, right now in this place, that God wants us to know. He wants us to feel secure in his word. He wants us to know if we have eternal life. This isn't a game, this isn't a, well guess, this is something he wants us to know. And John is writing these things, I write these things. What things? What things is John writing? Well, in the immediate context, the previous verses, and this is the testimony, God has given us eternal life. and this life is in his son. Whoever has the son has life. Whoever does not have the son of God does not have life. This is the testimony. This is the promise. It is God's word. It's what God has to say about it. God testified about his son. through the Apostle John. It is true because it's God who testifies. It is true because God said so. That should be enough for us. God is testifying through the Apostle John as he writes this epistle. Life as opposed to death. Life is associated with salvation. and death is associated with damnation. We're talking about being born again. Being born again is the beginning of that life that we're talking about here. And this life is a gift from God, it's not from our own works. And the life that we find is in Christ, Jesus. We become in Christ. by believing into him, trusting into him. He who has the son, we received him. He has been given to us. And notice it's eternal life. Life without end. It lasts forever. But get this. And this is the part that I think a lot of us, including myself, tend to forget. It says he has life, present tense, not will have, not someday will have, it's present. We now, if we are believing in Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, we have life. It's a done deal for the future too, yes. But there is a change in us already since we've been born again. If you believe in the Lord Jesus as Savior, you already have eternal life. It's already yours, it's ours. John 3, 16 through 18 says, for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life. For God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already because he has not believed in the name of the only son of God. Again, if you believe in him, you have eternal life. But how do you know that you are believing? How do you know that you really are a believer? Well, that's the context of the Holy Epistle. He wrote these things that you may know. And in the context of the Holy Epistle, it's the testimony of the apostle in chapter one. These are evidences in this book and proofs of salvation and life. This list is about earmarks of a true Christian. These are true if you are saved. They're not written to tell you how to get saved. The person who does these things below is saved already. And it is how to live the Christian life. He says that in chapter one, we should be walking in the light. We should be confessing our sin. We should tell the truth and not lie. Keeping commandments and abiding in him, in chapter two. If we sin, we do have an advocate with the father. Chapter two says we should love the brethren. Know him, grow in him and overcome Satan. and not love the world. Confessing the son, if we confess the son, we have the father too. Abiding in the father and the son, he promised eternal life in chapter two. Verse 29, if you know that he is righteous, you may be sure that everyone who practices righteousness has been born of him. Beloved, we are God's children now, chapter three. Purify oneself as he is pure. Practice his righteousness, stops sinning, does not sin, and continue on in habitual sins. Chapter three, verse 14 says, we know we have passed from death into life because we love the brothers. Chapter three, 23. And this is his commandment, that we believe in the name of his son, Jesus Christ, and love one another, just as he commanded us. We have the Holy Spirit, chapter three. Chapter four, we have discernment of truth. And God loved us first, so we love the brothers. God sent Jesus as our propitiation to make satisfaction for our sins. We love like God loves. Believing Jesus is the son of God in chapter four. And the Holy Spirit teaches us Jesus is our savior. Again, in chapter four, love for brothers and sisters. believing that Jesus is the Christ in chapter five. Obeying God's commands, and that is love for the brethren. Overcoming the world by faith, and that faith is in Jesus. Love for one another. Whoever loves the creator, loves he whom he created. and believing the testimony of God about his son. Notice how important it is that you love one another. It's mentioned several times in the book. And love the brethren. Jesus and the apostles emphasize this over and over again. It's the second greatest commandment. It's not easy to love one another. We're not talking about a feeling of love here, we're talking about a will to love one another. We are still sinners and we get on each other's nerves and in the present we can be hard to love. Some of us are even hard to like. There are disagreements and frictions but we must keep in mind that God loves our brothers and sisters so much that he gave Jesus to die for them. Therefore we must love them all the more because he laid down his life for us all. The commandment is given over and over because God knew we needed to hear it over and over and over because it isn't easy and we tend to not do that type of thing. To rightly live the Christian life If we have the Christian life, we must love each other. Now concerning this list that we just read from 1 John, the nonsaved cannot do these things, not all of them, they will not. There is love for friends and family and such, But that love is not because they recognize they are brothers and sisters in Christ. It's not the same. Go anywhere. And when you see a true Christian, fellow believer, you feel the affection right away. You think, ah, there's a brother. A non-believer doesn't do this. Ephesians chapter two, it says, for by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing. It's a gift of God, not of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared for beforehand that we should walk in them. In other words, if you're alive, act like it. That's pretty much the summary of 1 John. Act like a Christian. Do what the Lord wants you to do. And if you do, it shows that your faith is real. And if your faith is real, you have eternal life. Number two says, to you who believe in the name of the Son of God. This is written to Christians. The people who are reading this already Believe. By grace you have been saved through faith, it says in Ephesians 2. What is believe? I believe he existed. I believe certain things. It's trust. It's hope. It's to put one's faith in. Believing has the idea of accepting certain facts about Jesus, but not just that. More, it's putting your entire trust and care in his hands. Put your soul in his hands, knowing that he can be trusted. He'll keep his word. You can rely on him with your life and soul and eternity. but you're believing in the name of the son of God. That's Jesus Christ, the son of God. That's his name. Jesus is the name that is named. He is Lord, he is savior, he is God. We must believe into him. We must believe in him. Acts four. 11 through 12 says, this Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone. And there is salvation in no one else for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which you must be saved. It is that name, Jesus Christ. Number three says, so that you may know. You who believe, you who are a Christian, this is not about wishing, oh, if only, it's not that. You ask if you have eternal life, well, I hope so. It's not about that type of a hope, but it's a certain hope. It's an anticipation of things to come. It's an appreciation of what you have. We're talking here about the helmet of salvation so that we live our lives with our heads covered with that knowledge that we have this eternal life and that we have this future and we have right now in us this life. There's no fear in death. There's no fear of judgment. It's a firm assurance. It's a certainty. And really, there is no reason to doubt if you are believing and if you're believing is real. It's a fact. And you can know for sure. It is the apostle's desire that we know. It's the apostle's desire because it's God's desire. God keeps his promises. It's not based on human works. Again, as I said, there's no treadmill to run on. There's no hamster wheel for us to continuously run and not get anywhere. It's not based on law keeping. It's not based on merit. It isn't because, as I heard one person on their deathbed say, oh, I've been good. Will the good outweigh the bad? No, not really. I know myself, the good doesn't outweigh the bad. Have you done enough good works? I'm guessing no. How can you know if you have lived a life pleasing enough for God to accept you into heaven? If you're basing it on that, you can't know. You can never know if it's based on your performance. Yet people everywhere, and in all other religions, are running the treadmill, if they are really trying at all, or really wearing themselves out and getting nowhere, never really knowing if they have done enough, or even caring if they have. We're always fearing that they haven't, and in the end, They're lost. But God wants us to know. It's part of the saving faith that we believe. It's part of his word. It's a blessing that God loves us enough to tell us for sure. You can know. And if you don't know, You need to look at this and figure out why. Is sin causing you to doubt? Do you know God's word? Have you read God's word if you doubt? Has there been some poisoning going on in your faith where the idea of works or religion or Rituals have come in and made you doubt and wonder if it's true. Many things that can possibly get you distracted away from your knowledge for certain, but you have eternal life and these things have to be put out. You really, really should enjoy your salvation with full assurance. that you know you presently right now have eternal life. And of course, maybe one of the reasons you don't know you have eternal life is that you don't yet have it. And it doesn't hurt once in a while to check back to square one and see, do I really trust the Lord Jesus, my Lord and Savior? Have I repented of my sins? Number four says that you have eternal life. Eternal life. What is eternal life? Well, I can't tell you all that it is. I can take some things here that I've learned from the word, but I can't, delve into all that it is. Some of it we have to trust and understand and believe. What is eternal life? It is life that never ends. It's everlasting, it's forever. Alive forevermore. Like the song says, when we've been here 10,000 years, it goes on to say we've got no less days. But not only is it the length of time, it also speaks of the quality of that existence. It is life, it's abundant life, it's life with the Lord. It's peace with God. No more curse, no more death, no more sorrow or sickness or weakness. And we have a close relationship with God. There's a new heaven and a new earth to come. Grace and gifts and inheritance. A place prepared for us in the Father's house. Glorified bodies in the presence of Jesus, but again, when do you have this? I seem to remember something in Ephesians where it says that the Holy Spirit is given to us as the earnest, as a down payment. We have it and we will have it because God's promised. John chapter five says, truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes in him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life. It's a done deal. It's already happened. It's past tense. Again, if you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, you have eternal life and have passed from death to life. Do you ever really think about this? Your daily lives, you think about, I'm alive forevermore. My body may die, I'll get it back someday, but I won't die. I'm alive. Can this change your life? Your attitude, your mood, your values? Do you ever think to yourself, I have eternal life? How can this be? Jesus, he said to him, I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me, in John 14. From the time you're born again, and you must be born again. You have no control over this. You can't make yourself born again. You can't rebirth yourself. You can't give yourself life. The Holy Spirit does as he pleases, when, where, how, who he pleases. It's the Holy Spirit's work of regeneration, we call it. The soul, once born again, now has eternal life. At the present, that life that you get when you're born again stays. Jesus answered him, truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. John chapter three. Also in John chapter three, he says, do not marvel, I said, you must be born again. The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit." How many times have you found somebody who's become a Christian, and you think to yourself, wow, that's really cool. I never thought he'd believe or she'd believe. I understand I'm one of those people. After I've been saved a few years, Rick told me, I never thought you were coming. Thanks. But seriously, you don't know who's next. You don't know if you're next. All of a sudden you find yourself loving the Lord. You find yourself believing something you wouldn't have believed yesterday. Something you fought against maybe. but God has his way of persuading. God has his way of changing a heart and a soul and making you alive. John chapter five says, truly, truly I say to you an hour is coming and is now here when the dead will hear the voice of the son of God and those who hear will live. We're talking about a spiritual resurrection in this particular verse. The dead are people walking around without the Lord, lost, unsaved, and dead in trespasses and sins, it says in another place. You're separated from God, and there is a sense in which you're dead. But the voice of the Son of God is heard, and that soul rises and is resurrected, that soul is alive. Ephesians chapter 2 says but God being rich in mercy because of the great love with which he loved us Even when we were dead in our trespasses made us alive together with Christ for by grace you have been saved and Raised us up with him and seated us with him in heavenly places in Christ Jesus so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. That's that everlasting life, that's that eternal life in the coming ages. And notice, he's gonna show riches and grace and kindness toward us in Jesus throughout the ages. I don't have the slightest idea what all that means. My mind can't enter onto that. But I know it's awesome. And I know in some respect, it's a done deal, it's right now. It says those that hear the voice of the Son of God, again, we're talking about a spiritual resurrection, that's where life begins, it's where we're born again. Jesus says, for as the father has life in himself, so he has granted the son also to have life in himself. This is how we get it from our Lord Jesus. Jesus said to her, I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live. Again in John chapter five, do not marvel at this for an hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice and come out. Those who have done good to a resurrection of life. Those who have done evil to resurrection of judgment. So we're talking about not just the resurrection of the soul, but the resurrection of the body in John chapter five. We have to look forward to not just our hearts and souls, not just our souls being resurrected, but also all of us, our bodies too, have eternal life. But most of us will die physically. It happens to all of us. Some of our congregation that we knew and loved is gone. If we are alive when the Lord returns, we won't die. We'll be changed and raptured. And those that are dead will be resurrected at that time. This is the exception to the rule, though. But that physical death, is not permanent. Our born again souls will be joined with our resurrected bodies never to die again. The graves will be empty. Just like Jesus grave is empty. I've been talking to a couple of people lately, one in particular, brought up in a Catholic family and does not believe in the resurrection of a dead body. You die, your body goes into the ground, your soul goes to heaven, and that's the way you're always gonna be. And that's missing an awful lot of the great hope and the wonderful stuff that we have to look forward to. But the grave is gonna be empty. No more dust in the coffins. No longer gonna be worm food. Go ahead, dig it up. I'll be gone. Our same bodies, yet very different. Powerful, healthy, young, glorious. No more fat. I thought you'd like that. No more diabetes or blood pressure issues. No more passing out and fainting. No more blood clots and all the things that attack us because it's part of a curse. And we're redeemed from the curse. Our bodies will be back without that stuff. No more sickness. Oh, everybody's terrified of COVID. There's nothing like that. There's nothing like that. We won't be dealing with that. But doesn't that sound great, not having to worry about sicknesses and deaths and all that? No more weakness. And that's eternal, never ending. Not just for a little while. Jesus even said at one point, something that kind of got my attention, and then he didn't say much more about it. In some way, we're gonna be like the angels. I don't know how that is. I don't know what that is. Well, is it conditional life? Is it temporary life? I mean, what's the catch, really? Until the next time I mess it up? Will I sin my way out of this life? Will Satan steal this from me? Jesus said, my sheep hear my voice and I know them and they follow me. I give them eternal life and they will never perish and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My father who has given them to me is greater than all, that's including yourselves by the way, he's greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of my Father's hand. I and the Father are one. Oh, but surely I can exercise my free will and lose my salvation, right? No. A born-again person will not and won't walk away freely. Look at this verse again. The Father gave us to Jesus. We don't change his mind by saying, you know what? You might've given me to Jesus, but I think I'll just walk away. That ain't gonna happen. He's not losing any of his, so it says right here. If you find that you have walked away, and there are people who have walked away, you didn't lose your salvation. You probably never had it yet. There's still hope. Repent, come back. It is eternal life. It's not probation. It's based on God's will, not ours. Says, for as the father raises the dead and gives them life, so the son gives life to whom he will. It's Jesus' will, it's God's will, not our will. And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day, John chapter six. That's another story. It's another sermon on the five points. Number five, the flip side. What if I don't have eternal life? Again, John chapter five, do not marvel at this for the hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice and come out, those who have done good to a resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to a resurrection of judgment. Resurrection of judgment. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. You will still exist. The opposite of eternal life is eternal death. Separated from all that is good. An existence of suffering and agony. A physical death that lands you in a prison called Sheol, hell. Worms and fire to torment your soul. And there's a resurrection at the end. No graves will be occupied at the end. Whether you're saved or not, all the graves will be empty. Hell will be emptied. And you'll stand in judgment. The books will be opened. The sin discovered. and your name will be found not to be written in the Lamb's book of life. And at the end, being cast into the lake of fire, experiencing the wrath of God. An eternal existence, suffering and tormented. It says the smoke from your torment goes up forever. You'll still exist, you're still aware, but it's death, it's separation from God and from everything that's of any type of comfort or any type of blessing or good. I guess I don't have to tell you you don't want that. So therefore, do you have eternal life? It doesn't have to be a miserable life. You can live this life with joy and purpose with this in mind that you have eternal life. You can know that you are God's child. You can know that God is your friend. You can know that God has your best interests. You can know that every good gift comes down from him. You can know that your sins are gone. You can know that you will live forever. You can know the joy of your salvation. It doesn't have to end in a miserable eternity. You can know that you will live forever, and you can know that you will be part of God's kingdom. You can know that you will live in peace with God, You can know that your resurrected body will not betray you in weakness, sickness, and death. You can know that you will have closeness to God, that you will be his friend, his child. And you can know that you will be with Jesus in his glory. You can know. Call on the Lord to have mercy on you. Listen, it's not beneath you to do that. Confess your sins to Jesus. Ask him to accept you to save you. Turn from your sins and live for him. Believe in the name of the Son of God. He will by no means cast you away. You're welcome to come to him. As a matter of fact, you are commanded to come to him. A lot of people talk about choice. Well, it's my choice whether I want to come or not. You don't have a choice. Understand that. You don't have a choice. It's a commandment that you come and repent and come to the Lord Jesus. And it's not choice, it's disobedience if you don't. Let's start looking at things the way they are and stop this modern stuff. Oh, I have a free choice. Do what you're told. Repent. Come to the Lord Jesus as your Lord and Savior. God commands all men everywhere to repent. And once you do come to him and believe on his name, Jesus Christ, act like it. Love the brethren. Quit sinning. Do what John says in his epistle. to prove to yourself and others that your faith really is true. In that way, it is the way that eternal life lives. Don't know? Find out. You can know. You can have it now. Lord, I thank you for this day, for your word that assures us that we can know that we have eternal life, and we thank you for that eternal life that comes in our Lord Jesus Christ. We praise you, Father, for being so good to us, and for wanting us to know these things, and to comforting us with these things, and to giving us assurance of these things, because they're in Jesus. They're in your word. They are your promises. and you are trustworthy, your word is true, and therefore we can know without fear, without arrogance, we can know, because it's Jesus who has done this for us, and you have done this for us in Jesus. And we praise you and thank you in his name, amen.