“THIS Is Eternal Life …”
“In the beginning God created …” (Genesis 1:1). From the beginning of time God has revealed Himself to mankind, beginning with Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. Yet from the beginning mankind has rebelled against our Creator and designed gods of our own making. Even the people of the nation God created for Himself rejected God’s revelation of Himself through Moses and the Prophets, so that God would declare, “The ox knows its owner; and the donkey its master’s crib, but Israel does not know, my people do not understand” (Isaiah 1:2). Speaking through the Prophet Jeremiah, God says, “Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches, but let him who boasts boast in this: that he understands and knows ME, that I am the LORD who practices steadfast love, justice and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight” (Jeremiah 9:23-24).
Still, the people in the following generations turned away from the one true God, their Creator, and worshiped idols. It was into a world that had rejected the testimony of God that Jesus came to reveal the one true God and His plan to save some from the just consequences of our sinful rebellion. Shortly before He went to the cross to offer the perfect sacrifice for sin for those who would believe, Jesus prayed to the Father, beginning with these words: “Father, the hour has come; glorify Your Son that the Son may glorify You, since You have given Him authority over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom You have given Him. And THIS is eternal life: that they know YOU, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent” (John 17:1-3).
As the disciples of Jesus were sent into the world, their mission was to proclaim the truth concerning the one true God and the message of the Gospel, the way of LIFE through faith in Jesus, the Christ, God’s promised Messiah, the Savior of all who believe! When the Apostle Paul came to the city of Athens he found an altar with this inscription: “To the Unknown God.” Paul said to the men of Athens, “What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you. The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, nor is He served by human hands, as though He needed anything, since He Himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything” (Acts 17:23-25). Paul goes on to explain God’s work among the nations and then declares, “ … now He commands all people everywhere to repent, because He has fixed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom He has appointed; and of this He has given assurance to all by raising Him from the dead!” (Acts 17:30-31).
JESUS CHRIST is that “man,” God in human flesh, who entered this world to give LIFE … ETERNAL life, to all whom the Father would draw to Himself by His Spirit and Word, to all who would believe in Jesus Christ, trusting in Him as Savior and confessing Him as Lord. To know THIS God, the only true God, our Creator, and to love Him because He first loved YOU, is to have eternal life! The Apostle John would write to believers in the first century, “That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands, concerning the Word of life (see John 1:1-18) … 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 … that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you, too, may have fellowship with us; and indeed, our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ” (I John 1:1-3).
The Apostle Peter wrote, “His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us to His own glory and excellence, by which He has granted to us His precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature …” (II Peter 1:3-4). The knowledge of THIS God, the one and only TRUE God, our Creator, IS eternal life because through the knowledge of God we become “one” with God as His Spirit lives and works within us to produce holiness, “God-likeness,” within us. And the sovereign God who began this work WILL bring it to completion, as John explains in I John 3:2-3: “Beloved, we are God’s children now (true believers who have been born again by God’s Spirit and made “new creations” in Christ) … and what we WILL be has not yet appeared; but we know that when HE appears we shall be like Him, because we shall see Him as He is. And everyone who thus hopes in Him purifies himself as He is pure.”
It is for this reason that we begin a new sermon series on January 6th that will take us through the entire Bible in the year 2019, from Genesis through Revelation. Each week you are encouraged to go to our website, “lighthouse-ministries.org,” click on “Resources” and then to “Bible Reading Plan” and scroll down to “click here” … this will reveal a chart of Bible readings that you can click on and go to that day’s reading. The messages each week will be taken from one or more of the daily Scripture readings and will be focused on what God reveals about Himself, about mankind and about His plan to save those who believe through the Savior, Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of God in the flesh.
The new sermon series is entitled, “THIS Is Eternal Life!” and will go through the entire Bible from January through December, 2019. We invite you to join us in worship and in seeking God through His Word. Jesus said, “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened” (Matthew 7:7-8). God has revealed Himself in His Word and those in whom the Spirit is at work will ask and receive, will seek and will find, and will knock and enter into a relationship with God through faith in Jesus Christ that the Bible says is ETERNAL LIFE!! We pray that God will move YOU to join us as we rejoice in the God who created us, who saved us and who is with us. To HIM be glory, honor and praise!!