BECAUSE HE LIVES
Last week we celebrated Easter, the death and resurrection of Jesus our Lord and Saviour.
We also shared the joy of seeing a baptism.
With both of those in mind tonight, I want to affirm the great truth of 1 John chapter 5 verses 11-12
For context listen to 1 John 5:6-12
Jesus Christ was revealed as God’s Son by His baptism in water and by shedding His blood on the cross - not by water only, but by water and blood. And the Spirit, who is truth, confirms it with His testimony. So we have these three witnesses - the Spirit, the water, and the blood - and all three agree. Since we believe human testimony, surely we can believe the greater testimony that comes from God. And God has testified about His Son. All who believe in the Son of God know in their hearts that this testimony is true. Those who don’t believe this are actually calling God a liar because they don’t believe what God has testified about His Son. And this is what God has testified: He has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have God’s Son does not have life.
Powerful words from the Apostle John.
The Resurrection of Jesus has happened.
Jesus is alive, and as the words of the old song says:
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.
Because He lives, this is a truth that we know changes our lives now, and affects our future destiny.
“He has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. ” (1 John 5:11).
God gives life. Life in Jesus, life in the Son.
In John 11:25–26, Jesus said, “I am the resurrection and the life. Anyone who believes in me will live, even after dying. 26 Everyone who lives in me and believes in me will never ever die”
The resurrection of Jesus assures us of eternal life and gives us victory over death.
The Apostle Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 15:55-57, “O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting? For sin is the sting that results in death, and the law gives sin its power. But thank God! He gives us victory over sin and death through our Lord Jesus Christ.”
For the believer in Christ, the death and resurrection of Jesus has changed the destination of death.
For the believer in Christ, physical death is not the end, death is the doorway to eternal life — life in the Son.
And, until God calls us home, we can experience a new quality of life right now.
The life God gives the believer in Christ, is more than living forever. God imparts a new quality of life in us now.
The words eternal life refer to the life of God at work within us now.
In John 10:10 Jesus said, “ I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.”
For the believer in Christ, an extraordinary quality of life is available.
But for those who have not accepted Jesus as Lord and Saviour, they are as Ephesians 2:1 says, “dead because of disobedience and many sins”
How pleased we should be at Jesus' promise in John 5:24 “I tell you the truth, those who listen to my message and believe in God who sent me have eternal life. They will never be condemned for their sins, but they have already passed from death into life.”
Have you responded to the message of the Gospel and trusted in Jesus as your Lord and Saviour?
Have you received the gift of eternal life?
Do you know that you have already passed from death into life?
Life in the Son is more than just living — it is life with the assurance of what God has already done for you.
As the old song says:
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.
Friend, do these words ring true in your heart and mind?
Can you face tomorrow because you know your redeemer is alive?
Do you live without fear knowing that God has a plan and purpose for your present and your future?
Do you have the gift of eternal life?
1 John 5:13, “I have written this to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know you have eternal life.”
The gift of eternal life comes to those who have the Son, and Jesus must be received through faith.
Faith was the essential element to which Jesus responded - for example, think about the account in the Gospel of Mark, when four men lowered a paralytic through the roof and into the house where Jesus was teaching.
“Seeing their faith, Jesus said to the paralyzed man, “My child, your sins are forgiven.” (Mark 2:5).
Faith is a common ingredient of daily existence, yet many claim they cannot have faith in Christ.
The writer and philosopher Aldous Huxley 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. What is a theory? It is something believed to be true but unproven. We believe in education, democracy, and ourselves. Belief is common; why not believe the best and have life in the Son?”
1 John 5:12 “Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have God’s Son does not have life.”
Eternal life comes to those who believe in Jesus, those who refuse to believe in Jesus are eternally lost.
Whoever does not have God’s Son does not have life.
Can a good person really be lost? Without faith in Christ, Yes.
Can a churchgoer be lost? Without faith in Christ, Yes.
Can your lovable, generous friend who has not repented and turned to Jesus be lost? Without faith in Christ, Yes.
Faith in Christ is the crucial requirement.
John 3:18 “There is no judgment against anyone who believes in Jesus. But anyone who does not believe in Jesus has already been judged for not believing in God’s one and only Son.”
Realizing that eternal life is only by repenting and believing in Jesus, by trusting the Son of God as Lord and Saviour, should motivate us to tell others about Him.
In one church I attended years ago, there was a very sociable lady, she had many people that she called her friends. Yet she never took the opportunity to tell any of them about Jesus or her faith.
She told me once that she ‘did not like to say anything about Jesus, in case her friends thought she was odd’
She cared more about what her friends thought of her than sharing Jesus with them.
Listen to Proverbs 24:11-12 from the Message paraphrase:
“Rescue the perishing; don't hesitate to step in and help. If you say, "Hey, that's none of my business," will that get you off the hook? God is watching you closely, you know – God is not impressed with weak excuses.”
I hope we never fail to tell others about Jesus and what He has done for us to be saved.
There is nothing more important for us to do than share Jesus with the lost, the unsaved.
Let me be candid, I shudder when I hear the phrase ‘not yet a believer’ – it is a phrase that dilutes the urgency of repenting and turning to Jesus.
The decision to follow Christ is an urgent one.
No one knows how long they have here, God is the one who numbers our days.
Now is the time for people to decide to follow Jesus or to deny Him.
To choose either,
Eternal Life forever with God or an eternity without God.
Eternal Life in Jesus is a permanent possession and God is the basis of this security.
Whoever believes in Jesus as Lord and Saviour is assured of Eternal Life.
As the apostle Paul confidently wrote a testimony of God’s keeping power to Timothy,
2 Timothy 1:12, “I know the one in whom I trust, and I am sure that He is able to guard what I have entrusted to Him until the day of His return”
In 2020 I nearly died 5 times. Yet in God’s plan He has kept me alive for a reason.
I have experienced the truth - God is able to guard – these words evoke the image of a host of heavenly troops protecting the individual.
Jesus Christ is able to keep us and present us one day at the throne of glory. Because He was able to defeat death, He is adequate for everything in this life and the next.
Friend, have you received the free gift of eternal life by repenting and trusting Jesus as your Lord and Saviour?
I know because I have repented and trusted Jesus as my Lord and Saviour there is a day coming when I will go to heaven and spend eternity with him.
Do you know for certain that if you were to die today, you would go to heaven?
You may say, “I need more time to decide to trust in Jesus.”
Friends, one thing Covid has taught us is while we may expect to have a long life - only God knows how many years, months, days or hours we actually have left.
Even at its longest, our earthly life is still short compared to eternity.
The truth is, God gives all of us enough time.
We may not be prepared for our last day on earth, but we need to get prepared for our first day in eternity.
All of us are moving toward the appointed time when we will stand before God at the Judgment Seat of Christ (see 2 Corinthians 5:10).
So, I ask again: Do you know for certain that if you were to die today, you would go to heaven?
Suppose you were to stand before God, (and all of us will) and He were to ask you, “Why should I let you into My heaven?”
What would you say?
Because I’ve lived a good life?
Because I’m a nice person?
Because I’m not as bad as other people?
Friend none of those answers will do.
Because of our sinful nature, we all fall short of God's standard for entry into heaven.
There is only one answer to the question Why should I let you into My heaven?
Only one answer will do: I believe Jesus died on the cross for my sins and He is my Lord and Saviour.
We must decide now. When we are dead it is too late.
Now is the time to make the choice to repent and accept Jesus as your Lord and Saviour and receive the gift of eternal life.
I encourage you, to decide today to commit your life to Jesus and accept His free gift of eternal life.
I will close with the words of an old hymn written by Daniel Whittle:
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.
But “I know Whom I have believed
And am persuaded that He is able
To keep that which I’ve committed
Unto Him against that day.
