The Eternal Life - 1 John 1:..

Welcome to Cornerstone Reformed Baptist Church. Thank you for using and sharing our resources. What you're about to hear is God's Word from one of our teaching elders. We trust that God's Word will inspire, instruct, and bless you. For further teachings or information on our ministry, please visit us on our website at cornerstonerbc.

com. That's cornerstonerbc.com. Beloved of Jesus Christ, as I said to you, we're going to continue or better start with our study here on the book of the first letter of John. And what I want to share with you, my dear soul, is about the topic of eternal life.

Last week, I said to you that if we were going to summarize this book of first John, we could say that this is a practical exposition of John 17, verse three. The same apostle, the Apostle John in John 17 verse three says that this is eternal life, that we will know the only true God and Jesus Christ whom he has sent. That is that eternal life. It is a genuine spiritual knowledge of the father and of the son whom he has sent. Now, 1st John is only an exposition that is the practical manifestation of genuinely knowing the father and genuinely knowing the Lord Jesus Christ, the son of the father whom he has sent.

This letter, brothers and sisters, is a very confrontational letter, if that is a word and you allow me to use it, because this confronts the soul of the one that reads it and confronts the heart of the one that reads it with the reality of what the genuine believer should be. In other words, when we go through the book of First John, we are confronted with what genuine knowledge of God is not the one that happens in the mind, but the one that takes over the heart and the soul of the person who professes to be in union with the Lord Jesus Christ. And today, what I want to share with you, depending on how we progress with our energy and and how we progress through the things that we're saying, I just want to share with you about the topic of eternal life. That is the main topic of the whole book. And it's going to be the burden that the apostle is going to have in the first verses.

There are many things that the apostle says in the first three verses. But today I want to call your attention, I hope, by the spirit of the Lord Jesus Christ to this topic of eternal life. So what we're gonna be doing now is that we're going to be reading this whole chapter, chapter one together, 10 verses. And as we're going to read, I'm just going to call you to see the similarities between first John and the Gospel of John. You remember that in in the Gospel of John, the first section of that book, contains so much truth and like theological, big concepts and big doctrines in the beginning of the book that serve as the foundation of the narrative of the life of the Lord Jesus Christ.

The apostle who wrote the Gospel of John writing this first letter also is going to have the same approach. We're going to have in the first three verses lots of important theological, big theological truths. that are going to serve as the foundation for this practical exposition of genuine Christianity. And basically, those three verses are just an exaltation of the role of Jesus Christ in genuine salvation. So I'm going to invite you now by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, and I hope with the help and assistance and the intercession of the spirit as we read and as we hear these words to read these first 10 verses.

And what I want to do today is just to address you on the topic of eternal life as it is found in the first three verses of this first chapter. And that's as much as I can do to call your attention to this. So let us read together these first 10 verses, brothers and sisters. This is the word of the Lord, thou which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon in our and have touched with our hands concerning the word of life. The life was made manifest and we have seen it and testify to it and proclaim to you the eternal life.

which was with the Father and was made manifest to us. Thou which we have seen and heard, we proclaim also to you, so that you too might have fellowship with us. And indeed, our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. And we are writing these things so that your joy may be complete. Verse 5.

This is the message we have heard from him. And we proclaim to you that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his son, cleanses us from all sin. If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say we have no sin, we make him a liar and his word is not in us. This is the word of the Lord. Now, brother, sister, dear soul, as I said to you, my desire is to speak to your heart from this text here on the topic of eternal life. And here we have the apostle, the beloved of the Lord Jesus Christ, an apostle who has gone through so many difficulties and situations.

He has not only been with the Lord Jesus Christ in the ministry and during the time of the ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ, but also in his extended days, these apostles has seen the persecution, the tribulation, the difficulties of the early church. So many things that he has not only experienced himself, but also he has seen his brothers and sisters experiencing. We know from this letter that he's speaking about the last times in Chapter two. He seems to be with this burden that the last times had come and that the anti crisis already here. Why?

Because he has seen he has observed not only the tribulations, the difficulties, the persecutions that the church had been during the beginning off the church, but also even the apostasy on the falling away off the early church. If one was going to read the words of an apostle who has been through all of those things, would one expect that this apostle is going to give us information about big doctrines speaking about justification by faith alone on the process of sanctification or union with Christ or any of these big doctrines? Yet the beloved of the Savior, the very experienced apostle, the one who has seen his brothers and sisters going through tribulations and difficulties, and the one who he himself has experienced tribulations and difficulties, the one who has seen the falling away of many Christians, decides in the wisdom of the Holy Spirit to speak to the present church that is being persecuted by the government, that is being persecuted by the kingdom, that is being persecuted by even false Christians from the context of the church to speak to them about the genuineness of their salvation. Why? There's no other more important topic in the world than genuine salvation.

It is not about us knowing, going, having, not having, going to one place, going to another place, understanding this doctrine, belonging to a church, not belonging to a church, having done this during a particular period of time or not having done that during a particular period of time. Everything comes down to the most important question. that every single soul will have to answer. And that is, are you genuinely united to the person of Jesus Christ? That is, do you really have eternal life?

Have you come to the genuine knowledge of God, the father, the only true living God and Jesus Christ, whom he sent in a so mighty and powerful way that even as I speak, if the spirit of Jesus Christ is within you, is bearing witness that you are a child of God, as the Apostle Paul says in Romans chapter eight. no value in religion, no value in Cornerstone Reformed Baptist Church, no value in the chairs that we have in the place that we have in the things that we do as a church. Absolutely no value in any of that. If the heart of your body, of your soul, if your soul, as I speak those words, as I utter those words, is confronted with the reality that you do not have genuine eternal life. Time wasted, effort wasted, resources wasted, clothing wasted, all energy wasted.

If in the end the heart of the person who is within the sound of my voice, including myself, does not have the witness of the Holy Spirit within them, telling them by faith and by the grace of the Lord that they indeed belong to the Lord Jesus Christ. Such is the concern of the Apostle John that he aims not only to speak to them about the practical, real manifestations of genuine Christianity, but he is going to start this letter by pointing them to the heart of genuine Christianity. The testimony, he says, that I give to you together with my brothers, the apostles, the testimony of Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of God, who came to this world in the flesh and he made himself like one of us. That testimony is the most important thing for the core of your faith. The genuineness of your faith is established upon the witness and upon the testimony of the apostles who were with the Lord Jesus Christ, because Christ is the center.

Jesus Christ is meant to be the heart of genuine Christianity. It is the person of Christ, the substance of who he is, the one that is supposed to move whatever religion we have. any external work, any external deed, any external effort in word or deed or the lack of it that does not have the person of Jesus Christ at its core, living and producing life through you. Wow. Fearful reality, Matthew chapter 7.

I never knew you. Depart from me, you workers of inequity. The apostle, knowing the importance of all of that, is going to point these people who are going to receive this letter, and of course, the saints throughout the ages, to start with a person of Jesus Christ. And so many things, beloved of Jesus, that can be said about these first three verses that speak of our Lord, that speak about this son of God eternal, thou which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon in our hands and hand concerning the word of life. This Christ, eternal son of God, from the very beginning has come down to this world in the flesh, the word of life, the life, the eternal life, according to the apostle in verse two, that was with the father.

He came and He made Himself like one of us. He was in fellowship with the Father in eternity past. He has come to reveal Himself, to give us a message, to proclaim to the nations so that those who receive that message will enter in fellowship with Christ. All of these glorious things are pointed here in these first three verses. But as I said to you, my dear soul, I just want to point your heart and I hope your mind, I hope the whole being by the spirit only for us to meditate upon this very important topic of eternal life.

Why do I want to do so? Not only because it is the most important topic and is the most important court I don't know what the word is that goes through the whole letter until the end, eternal life. But also, beloved of Jesus Christ, because many times we can be distracted from the things that are truly important. Satan wants us to be distracted from the things that are really important. The problem of this world is a problem of sin and unrighteousness.

The problem of this world is that being in sin and fallen, God is going to judge them, everyone, according to their sinful deeds. The problem of this world is not the government. The problem of this world is not poverty. The problem of this world is not inequality. The problem of this world is not social or cultural, but the problem of this world is the presence of sin in the heart of men.

And not only that, but the reality that God is going to come to judge everyone according to their sinful deeds. Many times we can be so easily distracted and Satan takes much pleasure in that Christians will be easily distracted and change the power of the gospel because the scripture says that the gospel of Jesus Christ is the power of God unto salvation for everyone who believes. And the Christian changes the power of God given in the gospel to many times deviate the heart, the mind, and the whole being to things that are powerless in and of themselves, and many times calling them as Christian duties and Christian responsibilities when they know that they are doing them in the flesh, in darkness, and with a heart that is rooted in pure flesh. Oh, brother, sister, that you may have not been taken captive from things of religion and from things of the world and from things of the flesh, from the glorious gospel of Jesus Christ, the one that saves, the one that gives eternal life, the one that edifies the church. Because once the gospel and once the life of Jesus Christ is removed from your heart, Your soul is not going to be edified.

People are not going to be saved because people are not saved with the right of their understanding of what the government is doing. People are saved with the preaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ. That is the only thing that saves the soul of sinners. That's why we live in times in which the church is tainted with false believers, because we have deviated our attention from the Savior, what he has done and the promises of what he is going to do as he is publicly portrayed in the gospel of Jesus Christ to turn to our attention to the things of the world, to the things of religion, to the things of Christianity, sacrificing these glorious power. The apostle says the power of God unto salvation.

The power of God, the one who has created the heavens and the earth and everything that is in them, the one who knows all things, the one who holds the future, the past and the present in his hands. His power has been big even to the church in the gospel of Jesus Christ. Wow, so easily for us just simply to turn our attention and to forget that it starts in salvation in the Lord Jesus Christ and continues in salvation with the Lord Jesus Christ. Because this is the most important thing. Salvation is not something that happened when you prayed a prayer on when you made a decision to belong to a particular church.

Salvation is the divine encounter of your soul with Jesus Christ that is meant to be progressive and continuous, and that is meant to be like a seed that is within you, that is growing in might and in power, that you have been saved, that you are being saved, and that you will be saved. I am not ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation for everyone who believes, to the Jew first and then also to the Greek. For in the gospel, the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith, from faith given, to faith lived, to faith consummated, because that is the outcome of our faith, the salvation of our souls, from faith to faith. What is the church going to offer to this world? just a good understanding of the social things that are taking place or a good understanding of how the government should operate.

All of these things the scripture speaks about and we're to proclaim prophetically established upon the gospel of Jesus Christ. eternal life, important matter, the most important matter, not only in the scriptures, but here for the apostle as he starts. So I want to speak to you to your heart about this important matter of eternal life, that which can only be given by the preaching and the proclamation of the gospel. Now, I'm not sure how long am I going to have your attention, but now I just want to point you to a few things and we will see how many we're going to be able to go through. Perhaps a couple of things, characteristics that I want to speak to your soul of this eternal life.

My goal is that you will experience by the faith of the Lord Jesus Christ and his spirit through the scriptures, the power of that gospel by getting deeper understanding of what eternal life is. A couple of things. The first one, pay attention, my dear soul. The first thing is that I want to show you here from this text, the personal nature of eternal life. the personal nature of eternal life.

When you think about eternal life, you may rejoice in the fact that you were dead in your trespasses and that you have been given life and not only a life that is taking you from death to life, but rather that you have been given an eternal life. And perhaps you might rejoice in the fact that when you see yourself so feeble and weak and at times sick and in pain and in difficulty, and as you see yourself that you're growing older and weaker, and as you see how the day is approaching in which you're going to die and that you are experiencing death, You may rejoice in the fact that you have eternal life, that you have days that are to come, that once you die and when you are brought to the Lord, that your days are going to continue. And while the Bible calls us to rejoice in the fact that we will not die, but we will be powerfully resurrected, I want to call your heart to be very careful. not to derive satisfaction from eternal life because if it's temporal or time-related nature, but rather to derive satisfaction and joy and peace because it's personal nature. The personal nature of eternal life is called Jesus Christ.

The apostle says in verse two, the life was made manifest and we have seen it and testified to it and proclaim to you the eternal life, which or who was with the father, the eternal life that was with the father. the eternal life that had personality because he was a person, the son of God that was with the father. The source of your satisfaction, my dear brother or sister, is not supposed to be the fact that you're going to endure days and days and days and that your fear of death is taken captive just by the fact that you're going to continue to live and live and live. But rather, the satisfaction of and the joy that should produce that you have eternal life is that that life is Jesus Christ himself. Genuine God given life upon salvation is not only eternal, but is the life of Jesus Christ.

And now, brother, sister, the line is very thin. The line is very thin in which we can derive easily just satisfaction in thinking that I'm going to live and live and live and live and disconnect that from the person of Jesus Christ. You can see yourself in the weakness of your body and sometimes in a week and seek and even having pain and give yourself consolation just with the fact that this is going to pass. I'm going to have more days that are to come. And not only that, you may even give satisfaction and derive joy from the fact that this life that is to come is a life where there's no sin, where there is no death.

Even though the Bible calls us to rejoice because of all of those things that you're going to live in eternity, days are going to be given to you and there's not going to be end. And even that there is given to you this glorious promise that there will be no pain, that there will be no sin, that there will be no nothing in us that is going to remind us of this falling nature. None of those things are supposed to be the most important thing in this glorious concept of eternal life. But the Lord Jesus Christ, you can have joy, genuine joy in the fact that your days are going to endure until eternity. You can have genuine joy that there is going to come a time in which sin will be no more.

Tears will be no more. Death will be no more. You can have joy in those things and not have Christ. Next. Because brothers and sisters, the genuineness of eternal life is not found in the enduring and the eternity of the days that are given to a person, but the glory of eternal life is found in the person by whom and through whom and in whom will receive the eternity of those days and the righteousness that will remove the presence of sin and that will remove the presence of death and that will remove the presence of tears.

Let me just call your attention to Genesis chapter two and let me show you there something come with me to Genesis chapter two. Many times we reduce down our eternal life to come back. Can you still hear me in the back? Brothers and sisters, many times we can reduce down our eternal life just simply desiring to go back to a similar state to the one that Adam had in the garden. Adam was created upright.

There was seen Adam. No, there was no sin. As I was saying, Genesis chapter two, sometimes brothers and sisters, we see or we think of our eternal life as return, returning or going back to a similar state in which Adam was in the garden. He was made very well. You remember he was created very well and he was made upright.

There was no sin, no unrighteousness in Adam. Even he had the promise, or at least he had the guarantee that if he did not disobey, he was going to remain in life. Right. The day that you eat of the fruit of the know of the tree of knowledge of good and evil that day, you shall die. If you disobey, you're going to die.

You're going to remain alive. He had a life that was God given life and he had righteousness. That is what was says in Genesis chapter two. Pay attention in Genesis chapter two verse Seven. Speaking of the creation of Adam, then the Lord God formed the men off dust from the ground and breathe into his nostrils, the breath of life, and the men became a living creature.

Here we have, brother and sister, a being that is seamless, that is upright, given the life of God from the being of God. God breathed out into his nostrils and Adam became a living soul. If we knew that the life that we have in Jesus Christ is of so much more majestic glory than the life that Adam had in the garden, And many times we see our life as Christians, as just simply this eternal state in which we are not going to die, but be with the Lord, and just desiring to have sin removed from us so that we will dwell in righteousness, missing completely. the genuine source of joy, that it is that this life only guarantees that our days are going to be eternal and the unrighteousness will never take place in us because he's the life of Christ. Adam was made was made upright.

No sin. He was given life from the Lord. Very good. But He had the vulnerability to imperfection. And as we know, he indeed fell.

And as we know, he indeed disobeyed. And the life God given, God breathed out life that he received in his nostrils. This life was coming from God. My life, in a sense, is conceived in my mother in sin. But he received life from God, God given, breathed out life.

And yet that line was vulnerable to imperfection, as we know, as a fact that life came to an end because he indeed is spiritually died. Brother, sister, if you are genuinely in the person of Jesus Christ, the life that is in you is of greater glory and of greater majesty than the life that Adam had in the garden when he was initially made and he was initially created. That is the point of the apostle in first Corinthians chapter 15. If you come with me, come with me to first Corinthians chapter 15. the Apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians chapter 15, speaking of the resurrection that is to come and the consummation of all things.

Good. The Apostle Paul, brothers and sisters, is speaking in First Corinthians chapter 15 of the resurrection that is to come and the glory, the incorruptible glory that the believer is going to receive on the day of resurrection. He is going to make a very important present point about the glory that we have in the person of Jesus Christ. He's arguing that certain creatures or certain beings have greater glory than others that is given from God. And then from verse 42, he starts and says this.

Pay attention to what I'm just going to say here. I'm just going to try to guide you through the text. It says in verse 42. So is it with the resurrection of the dead what is sown? What is sown is perishable.

What is raised is imperishable. It is sown in dishonor. It is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness. It is raised in power.

It is sown a natural body and is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body. comparing here just simply the greatness of that which is spiritual compared to that which is natural. Now, just pay attention to what the apostle is going to do now from verse 45. Before we read, let me just make a statement here.

The apostle is going to now compare Adam No, after he has fallen the unrighteous Adam. But he is going to compare Adam as the men of dust when he was created, even quoting the text that we read in Genesis two. And he's going to compare the life that people have in that Adam before the fall compared to the life that the Christian has in the person of Jesus Christ, namely eternal life. Verse 45. Thus it is written, The first man, Adam, became a living being.

The last Adam became a life giving spirit. Here the apostle is comparing that which took place in the garden. That is, that Adam received the life, the breathe out life from God into his nostrils, and he became a living soul. He received natural life. But Jesus Christ, when he's in us, he's not a spirit that only has received life, but he's a life giving spirit.

It says there in verse forty five now verse forty six. But it is not the spiritual that is first, but the natural. And when this and then the spiritual, the first man was from the earth. Speaking of Adam, a man of dust, the second man is from heaven. Adam is has been created.

Jesus Christ has come from heaven. Jesus Christ is still a man, but he has come from heaven. Now pay attention to verse 48. Here it comes. The comparison of the apostle of Adam in the garden and Jesus Christ as the heavenly man, it says, as was the men of dust.

Who is the man of dust? Adam, as was the men of dust, so also are, not where or will be, so also are those who are of the dust. That is, the life that Adam had, even in the garden before the fall, is the life that those who are of dust can have now. And then it continues. And as is the men of heaven, so also are those who are of heaven.

Just as we have borne the image of the men of dust, we shall also bear the image of the men of heaven or the heavenly men. My dear brother, my dear sister, when you look back to the garden And when you see the glory of that which was created, and even when you see the uprightness in which Adam was created, and the life that came from God and was given to Adam. And when you compare the life of the men of dust, who by receiving the breathe out life of God into his nostrils became a life given way, I Living soul, when you compare that to the life that the Lord Jesus Christ gives, that is like death because Adam was under the vulnerability of imperfection. But those who are united to the person of Jesus Christ, they have something that Adam did not have. You see those two words in the end of verse forty nine, three words.

If you have these ESV men, of heaven. heavenly men. Adam was taken out of the dust, as you have been taken out of the dust. This Lord Jesus Christ of ours was not made out of dust. That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon and our hands have handled concerning the word of life, the light was manifest that we have seen and bear witness to you and declare to you the eternal life.

which was with the Father and was manifested to us. That which we have seen and heard we declare to you that you also may have fellowship with us and truly our fellowship is with the Father and Jesus Christ his Son. Heavenly heavenly man, the life of God in him and the life of men, not the life of men like the life of Adam, but rather the life of a man who completely obey the requirements of God. So then when a person is genuinely saved, that person receives the life of the son of God. That is the life of God and the life of the man who has obeyed perfectly the heavenly man in the soul of the sinner.

So it does no matter the unrighteousness of the world. It does no matter the unrighteousness of your heart. It does no matter the presence of sin. The life of Jesus Christ in the soul of the believer will always triumph. And in the end, That which is corruptible will be made incorruptible.

That which is mortal will be made immortal. That which is sin will be made righteousness. Why? Because of Him and His name is Christ, the heavenly man. Are you going to rejoice that you're going to have enduring days until the end?

Rejoice for that. Are you going to rejoice that your pains and your difficulties and your weakness and your frustrations and the sin that is in you is not going to be anymore when the time comes? Rejoice in that. But there is a better place where your soul can find joy and rejoicement. And that is the person of Jesus Christ, because for his life to be the life of the heavenly men, he had to become men.

He had to be manifested. He was with the father. And it was the divine willingness and desire for your soul of the father who saw you, chose you before the foundation of the world to send his only begotten son, the only way in which you could receive the life that endures. Because apart from union with Christ, not even God can give us the life that is in union with him. The life that he gave to Adam was a life vulnerable to imperfection as he perished there in the garden, pointing to the greatest life that is found in Jesus Christ.

A union, a consummation, a fellowship that even the angels will be amazed to see. You see that the Christian has in himself the life of God himself in Christ. That is union with Christ. That is to be partaker of the divine nature. That is to be in fellowship with the father, and that is to be in fellowship with the son.

We become divine. Of course, no, but there's nothing that can separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus. Why? Because we have been fully united to the life of God and the life of Jesus. Go through the first book of John yourself and you will see how many times the apostle says abiding him and him and you.

God is in you and you in God. And then he says in 1st John, Chapter three, verse nine and 10 that we who have been born of God have received the seed of God in us. And because of the seed that is the offspring of God in us, then we do not do unrighteousness, but walk in righteousness. What a glorious thing, at least it is for my soul, brothers and sisters, that it is not about religion. It is not about righteousness.

It's not even about days. Sometimes I see myself and I'm like, OK, I'm going to have eternity with the Lord. It's not about that. It is about Jesus Christ. And the best thing that can happen to your soul is that you give yourself to derive satisfaction from him and not from any of the blessings that are attached to him.

Because your soul can so easily get distracted and deviated with the blessings that are in Christ, forgetting that they are in Christ. He has blessed us with every spiritual blessing, praise, good to God, but it's in Jesus Christ. That's why someone very wise in one of the books of the Bible says, look to Christ, set your mind on things above and not on things of the earth. And the things that are above is Jesus Christ seated at the right hand of the father in throne. That is what is above.

What is above is not religion. What is above is not the Bible, just in written words. What is above is not just simply theology is not about behaviors. It's about Jesus Christ. And as I speak to you, your heart can testify of your personal relationship to him.

Because he's not a concept. He's not abstract things. He's a person. And just as your soul manifest emotions and desires and things towards another person, so is your heart to be in relation with the Savior that we call Christ Jesus. Brother, sister, dear soul, do not be deceived.

Truly, do not be deceived. It is not about Cornerstone Reform Baptist Church or us doing things in a particular way. It's about your soul being taken captive by the only one who can save you. And his name is Jesus Christ. And I think think about this is not only that he came down the heavenly man to give us his life is that the father was willing to gave up his son for the sake of your wicked and righteous soul.

He was willing the one that is going to judge the one that judge the one that is judging the world through the sun. He was willing to gave the object of his love in eternity past for God's love the world that he gave his only begotten son that whoever believed in him shall not perish, but half everlasting life. God so loved the world and more precisely, according to the words of Peter in first Peter, what our brother read there. Let's actually read together if you want. The purpose of the father giving up his son in 1 Peter 1.

Verse 20. Let us read. Let us read from verse 17. And if you call on him as father who judges impartially according to each one's deeds, conduct yourselves with fear throughout the time of your exile, knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers. Not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot.

And now pay attention to verse 20. He, Christ, right? His blood is the one that has washed us. He was foreknown before the foundation of the world that was made manifest in the last time for the sake of you. Coming down from heaven, the heavenly men with one mission, one purpose in mind.

And that is the sake of you. And who is you? That is the church for the sake of his bride coming down. the giving up or the given over or whatever preposition you use after given. The father gave his son in eternity past so that he will be manifested coming in the flesh to be witnessed by the apostles.

So by the witness and through the witness of these apostles, there would be a faith once for all delivered to the saints. that the manifestation, the physical manifestation of Jesus Christ to the apostles will be equivalent and equal in power than the manifestation of Jesus Christ when the gospel is preached. Count with me to Colossians chapter four. Colossians chapter four, verse two. Instructions of the apostle.

Continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it when thanksgiving. At the same time, pray also for us that God may open to us a door for the word to declare the mystery of Christ on account of which I am in prison. What is the preaching of the gospel, which is the power of God unto salvation? What is the preaching of the only message that can save this world? It is a revelation of the mystery of Christ, which the lost sinner is completely blind to it.

So those who come and proclaim the gospel in the power of the Spirit of God are revealing the son so that the apostle Peter can say with faith and with certainty in first on second Peter chapter one that the faith that we have is of equal value or equal standing than the faith of those who witness the majesty and the revelation and the testimony of the father for the son. Why? Because we have a word that is more fully confirmed. So then, when man puts in his mouth the message of the gospel, and when man comes before the Lord in weakness and humility to say, I can only carry your message, give me of your Holy Spirit. Once a man or a woman put the words of the gospel of Jesus Christ in his or her mouth, then that person is bringing the revelation of the Son, Jesus Christ, a mystery that is hidden and that is kept from the eyes of the lost sinner.

What? And why? For the salvation of those who hear. Because the one who hears with faith is entering now in a genuine encounter, just as the disciples had with the Lord Jesus Christ when they saw him, when they touched him, when they heard him, when they communed with him. The person who, by grace through faith, hears the gospel and comes in faith to the Lord Jesus Christ has an encounter with Christ of the same magnitude united to him.

You tell me that that is something that happens in the mind. That's why the church is what it is, because we have forgotten the power of the gospel. We have forgotten that the center of all of this is the Lord Jesus Christ, and we have forgotten that apart from him, we perished. We completely perish. We deviate so easily.

We change ways so easily. We give ourselves to our own passions, to our own flesh so easily. We can give ourselves to religion, to things of men, traditions of men so easily. It's everything about Him. So the apostle, with a desire of instructing the believers about sin, about unrighteousness, about the love of the world, about the love of fleshly spirituality, the only thing that he can do is to say that which was from the beginning, which we have testified, heard and seen with our hands contemplated.

That is what we declared to you so that you may also have fellowship with us. And truly our fellowship is with the father and with his son, Jesus Christ, your duty. Your only duty, my dear soul, is not to do religion, not to do things, is to come to the feet of the Savior, Jesus Christ, is to give yourself up entirely, continually, daily, every second. Take your mind captive to him every time, every second to him, because he's the only one who can uphold your soul. He's the only one who can take you through the wilderness of this world.

He's the only one who can take you through the darkness of this world, through the unrighteousness of your heart, through the uncertainty of times. He's the only one who can uphold your soul and take you to the other way. Not because only he's able, but because his life is in you. Don't you know what the Apostle Paul says in 1 Corinthians chapter 2? That we have the mind of Christ.

That we have the love of Christ. Ephesians chapter 3. That we have the spirit of Christ. Romans chapter 8. That we have the life of Christ in us.

Religion will be never, ever, ever, ever, ever able to duplicate or even imitate the power of the life of Christ in the soul of a lost sinner. So come to him, my dear brother, my dear sister, come to him. to him for strength and from encouragement, from consolation, for light, for forgiveness, for empowerment. My dear brother, sister, that is the only place where you can be. It is the one who was from the beginning and has come to manifest himself through the apostles and through your soul, through the power of the gospel and the scriptures.

Come to him in your mind, in your thoughts, in your being. Come to the Lord Jesus Christ. And my dear friend, you who are here, who know that are completely lost, dead in your trespasses. Once again, there's only one place where you can come, and that is the Lord Jesus Christ. There might not be tomorrow.

There might not be another day. There might not be another option for you to come to the Lord. So it is not about what is happening out there. It's not about what is happening here. It's only about our Lord Jesus Christ.

that you may have fellowship with Him and with the Father, whom loved you from the very beginning of creation. Amen.