Climate of Eternal Life
It is important, time after time, for us to always get back to the beginnings, to try to know if we have shifted from the foundation. It is possible for people to run with empty hands, thinking they are being smart.
Think of a runner in a relay race, being the first to reach the mark. But unfortunately, he forgot or lost the relay stick. Though he is the first to reach the mark, yet he cannot win the prize. Running without substance means, he never knows who he is or what the race is all about.
I intend to call our attention to the basic issues of Christian life. So that we can check up and make necessary balances.
It is possible for runners to miss their track and loose sight of the mark. It is possible for somebody to say he is a Christian and even be an active church member, but never know what Christianity is all about – this is a tragedy. I mean, just holding on to shadows without substance. Running with empty hands. People call you a runner, that’s right, and you are really running and sweating, but wait a moment, where is your relay stick? The prime thing, the thing that makes the difference, the taste, the sweetness, the substance, the reality. Listen to this:
Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art also called, and hast professed a good profession before many witnesses. (1 Timothy 6:12)
Here the apostle Paul points out that what we received when we made an open nocfession before many witnesses is eternal life. Every born-again received eternal life on nocfession of Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, confessing and repenting from every sin.
He says, lay hold on eternal life, hold on to it, hold fast, hold tight. Keep to it. Keep with all vigor. Set your eyes on eternal life, do not drift from it, and do not loose it. That is the prime thing. That is the runner’s relay stick.
More to that, he says ”fight”. Fight? Yes, fight! Fight to keep to eternal life. Why? Because there must come invaders, because there must come tides of religious doctrines that deny the life, that say your good works will send you to Heaven, that say humanism is the needed thing and not the life of God. Can you see how far many have drifted from this prime issue, running and sweating but without the relay stick? Possibly, doctrines and wrong teachings and religion have robbed you of your relay stick. Church and religious folks fight, but not the fight for eternal life. There are church wars everywhere. Positions for elder. Fight in the choir. Pastors and elders.
Instead of laying hold on eternal life, folks lay hold on new doctrines and memoirs of the bishop. Holy water, chaplets and candles. Lay hold on eternal life, this new kind of life, the life of God that is imparted to our spirits when we let Jesus into our hearts in honest deep repentance when we hear the Good News of the Gospel:
For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish BUT HAVE EVERLASTING LIFE.
Sir, this does not happen only when you die, as church folks think. They say, yes, when I die, I will have eternal life. No, sir, it is available now. You cannot be born-again when you die. To be born again is only possible here on Earth. Your spirit must be recreated now or never. It is our bodies that await immortality and life but our spirits are offered regeneration and eternal life now through Jesus Christ. Hear this:
... but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ, our Lord. (Romans 6:23)
Fight, lay hold on eternal life. These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know tha ye have eternal life. (1.John 5:13)
This is just like reminding somebody who he or she is, you know, often people act as though they forgot who they are.
Know that you have eternal life, not will have, but you have it NOW. Hallelujah to the Son of God.
This is the substance of Christianity. This is the prime thing; this is what it means to be born-again. It is receiving the life of God.
Know that you have it. Know it, be conscious of what you got, put your mind on this. Don’t stagger, don’t get drunk in the dirty wine of doctrines and rules, no, all you have to do, is to know that you have eternal life.
This type of knowledge will stir up the right attitude and cause us to put the first thing first: having the right identity. It seems the apostle John is addressing the man in James’ epistle:
But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass: For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was. (James 1:22-24)
Know that, remember that, and be conscious that what you have got is eternal life. Don’t forget what manner of man you are. Don’t forget the prime thing, the blessed act of Christ in the heart of a repented Sinner.
Hear the word, do the word, look into the glass and don’t forget what it is all about, don’t forget that what we have received is eternal life. That is Christianity, hallelujah.
Things will happen to draw away your attention. Conditions will arise to make you forget what manner of man you are, friends, and pressures of life, temptations and all manner of satanic waves. It is possible to forget, it is possible to be ignorant, it is possible to turn to something different.
That is why Paul says: Fight! Lay hold on eternal life. Keep it up. Hold tight. Project the life. Don’t turn to the left, nor to the right, don’t drop down to secondary, to mediocrity and lukewarmness. Keep to the life; grow in the life. Make way for the life. Know that you have eternal life! Glory to God!
Fight. Project the life. Live up the life.
In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness but shall have the light of life. (John 1:4, 8:12)
What does it mean to have the light of life?
”And the life was the light of men.” Any man that has this life and holds on to this life and progresses in this life, he has light.
The life is the light. As we daily live His life and lift up His life in our daily walk, we have light. His life illuminates our way and causes men who are in darkness to see and to come into the light of Jesus’ life.
If we hide His life, we step on errors and darkness. Hiding His life is like putting off the switch of the electric bulb. It is just inviting darkness.
Both you that hide it and the men that ought to be illuminated are all subjected to darkness and who is in darkness but demonic forces.
Life is a progressive thing; the air you breathed five minutes ago is not enough or cannot sustain you now. You need a continued inhaling of the air to keep you alive.
So it is with the eternal life, we need to flow continuously in the stream of life, having fresh supplies and tides time after time.
So who is a Christian? What is his identity? Simple: eternal life – the life of God. Doesn’t this agree with the statement of fact in 2 Corinthians 5:17?
Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature. Old things are passed away (old life – old creation); behold (see, understand), all things are become new.
Blessed be the name of the Lord. Hallelujah, Amen!
How does God see the born-again? He sees him as a new creature with eternal life, His very life. Then forgive me to shout a little. Having His very life, His very nature, then we become His very Children, His very Sons and Daughters. This is when and only when we can confidently say, I am a Child of God.
Do not drop the booklet! Hold on; follow me to Ephesians:
And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness. (Ephesians 4:24)
Listen, the new man, the new creature, and the new inner self, the hidden Man of the heart, the eternal man with the eternal life, yes, your recreated spirit, the real you, not your soul, not your body, no, but the spiritual new self which you have received of God as you gave your life to Jesus Christ is what? Created, fashioned, molded, patterned, borne in righteousness and perfect holiness, just like God.
Then blessed be Jesus Christ; Father God has succeeded; Satan is stripped and ruined. The dream of God is perfected.
Let us make man in our image after our likeness. (Genesis 1:26)
But still pay attention to this very verse of Scripture, it has yet more jewels. Can you see it shining, I mean really dazzling. It is not closed, it is not silent, it is crying out, and what is it?
Put on the new man!
Make way for this new inner self. There is a needed Climate. A much desired environment. The conditions necessary for his prosperity and existence.
Don’t suffocate him, don’t ignore him, don’t be reckless with him, nourish him, water him. Allow in ventilation. Yes, the Climate, the air of life. The fresh flowing watering.
Make good season for him. Lead him to the fresh flowing fountains of life.
Expose him to his fellows. Expose him to the environment of growth and conducive atmosphere. Allow the inner man to develop muscles. Give him chance to cry out, my Father, my Father! I adore Thee. I am like you! You are my source, my inspiration.
Listen to this melody in Colossians:
Put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of Him that created him. (Colossians 3:10)
Give him chance to gaze on God. To behold the wonder from which he emanates. Constant gaze is needed. The vision of God himself. Let him discover himself in the mirror, which is God himself. Knowledge here speaks of gaze. Reflections and fellowship, partnership and association. Swimming in the river of the life of God. O’ this blessed Climate, this healing Climate. The Climate of renewal and refreshment. Free from stresses and worldly cares, curiosities and nervousness. Calm, peaceful, full of inner rest, vigorous and pulsating, yet full of pomp and power. You cannot hold it back, it is electric, it is eternal life. Splashing rushing wave of glorious life of God flowing vigorously through the human heart. A new kind of molten magma.
Receive the Holy Spirit! Receive the Holy Spirit! Receive the Holy Spirit! In Jesus’ name.
Amen.
It is important, time after time, for us to always get back to the beginnings, to try to know if we have shifted from the foundation. It is possible for people to run with empty hands, thinking they are being smart.
Think of a runner in a relay race, being the first to reach the mark. But unfortunately, he forgot or lost the relay stick. Though he is the first to reach the mark, yet he cannot win the prize. Running without substance means, he never knows who he is or what the race is all about.
I intend to call our attention to the basic issues of Christian life. So that we can check up and make necessary balances.
It is possible for runners to miss their track and loose sight of the mark. It is possible for somebody to say he is a Christian and even be an active church member, but never know what Christianity is all about – this is a tragedy. I mean, just holding on to shadows without substance. Running with empty hands. People call you a runner, that’s right, and you are really running and sweating, but wait a moment, where is your relay stick? The prime thing, the thing that makes the difference, the taste, the sweetness, the substance, the reality. Listen to this:
Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art also called, and hast professed a good profession before many witnesses. (1 Timothy 6:12)
Here the apostle Paul points out that what we received when we made an open nocfession before many witnesses is eternal life. Every born-again received eternal life on nocfession of Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, confessing and repenting from every sin.
He says, lay hold on eternal life, hold on to it, hold fast, hold tight. Keep to it. Keep with all vigor. Set your eyes on eternal life, do not drift from it, and do not loose it. That is the prime thing. That is the runner’s relay stick.
More to that, he says ”fight”. Fight? Yes, fight! Fight to keep to eternal life. Why? Because there must come invaders, because there must come tides of religious doctrines that deny the life, that say your good works will send you to Heaven, that say humanism is the needed thing and not the life of God. Can you see how far many have drifted from this prime issue, running and sweating but without the relay stick? Possibly, doctrines and wrong teachings and religion have robbed you of your relay stick. Church and religious folks fight, but not the fight for eternal life. There are church wars everywhere. Positions for elder. Fight in the choir. Pastors and elders.
Instead of laying hold on eternal life, folks lay hold on new doctrines and memoirs of the bishop. Holy water, chaplets and candles. Lay hold on eternal life, this new kind of life, the life of God that is imparted to our spirits when we let Jesus into our hearts in honest deep repentance when we hear the Good News of the Gospel:
For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish BUT HAVE EVERLASTING LIFE.
Sir, this does not happen only when you die, as church folks think. They say, yes, when I die, I will have eternal life. No, sir, it is available now. You cannot be born-again when you die. To be born again is only possible here on Earth. Your spirit must be recreated now or never. It is our bodies that await immortality and life but our spirits are offered regeneration and eternal life now through Jesus Christ. Hear this:
... but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ, our Lord. (Romans 6:23)
Fight, lay hold on eternal life. These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know tha ye have eternal life. (1.John 5:13)
This is just like reminding somebody who he or she is, you know, often people act as though they forgot who they are.
Know that you have eternal life, not will have, but you have it NOW. Hallelujah to the Son of God.
This is the substance of Christianity. This is the prime thing; this is what it means to be born-again. It is receiving the life of God.
Know that you have it. Know it, be conscious of what you got, put your mind on this. Don’t stagger, don’t get drunk in the dirty wine of doctrines and rules, no, all you have to do, is to know that you have eternal life.
This type of knowledge will stir up the right attitude and cause us to put the first thing first: having the right identity. It seems the apostle John is addressing the man in James’ epistle:
But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass: For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was. (James 1:22-24)
Know that, remember that, and be conscious that what you have got is eternal life. Don’t forget what manner of man you are. Don’t forget the prime thing, the blessed act of Christ in the heart of a repented Sinner.
Hear the word, do the word, look into the glass and don’t forget what it is all about, don’t forget that what we have received is eternal life. That is Christianity, hallelujah.
Things will happen to draw away your attention. Conditions will arise to make you forget what manner of man you are, friends, and pressures of life, temptations and all manner of satanic waves. It is possible to forget, it is possible to be ignorant, it is possible to turn to something different.
That is why Paul says: Fight! Lay hold on eternal life. Keep it up. Hold tight. Project the life. Don’t turn to the left, nor to the right, don’t drop down to secondary, to mediocrity and lukewarmness. Keep to the life; grow in the life. Make way for the life. Know that you have eternal life! Glory to God!
Fight. Project the life. Live up the life.
In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness but shall have the light of life. (John 1:4, 8:12)
What does it mean to have the light of life?
”And the life was the light of men.” Any man that has this life and holds on to this life and progresses in this life, he has light.
The life is the light. As we daily live His life and lift up His life in our daily walk, we have light. His life illuminates our way and causes men who are in darkness to see and to come into the light of Jesus’ life.
If we hide His life, we step on errors and darkness. Hiding His life is like putting off the switch of the electric bulb. It is just inviting darkness.
Both you that hide it and the men that ought to be illuminated are all subjected to darkness and who is in darkness but demonic forces.
Life is a progressive thing; the air you breathed five minutes ago is not enough or cannot sustain you now. You need a continued inhaling of the air to keep you alive.
So it is with the eternal life, we need to flow continuously in the stream of life, having fresh supplies and tides time after time.
So who is a Christian? What is his identity? Simple: eternal life – the life of God. Doesn’t this agree with the statement of fact in 2 Corinthians 5:17?
Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature. Old things are passed away (old life – old creation); behold (see, understand), all things are become new.
Blessed be the name of the Lord. Hallelujah, Amen!
How does God see the born-again? He sees him as a new creature with eternal life, His very life. Then forgive me to shout a little. Having His very life, His very nature, then we become His very Children, His very Sons and Daughters. This is when and only when we can confidently say, I am a Child of God.
Do not drop the booklet! Hold on; follow me to Ephesians:
And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness. (Ephesians 4:24)
Listen, the new man, the new creature, and the new inner self, the hidden Man of the heart, the eternal man with the eternal life, yes, your recreated spirit, the real you, not your soul, not your body, no, but the spiritual new self which you have received of God as you gave your life to Jesus Christ is what? Created, fashioned, molded, patterned, borne in righteousness and perfect holiness, just like God.
Then blessed be Jesus Christ; Father God has succeeded; Satan is stripped and ruined. The dream of God is perfected.
Let us make man in our image after our likeness. (Genesis 1:26)
But still pay attention to this very verse of Scripture, it has yet more jewels. Can you see it shining, I mean really dazzling. It is not closed, it is not silent, it is crying out, and what is it?
Put on the new man!
Make way for this new inner self. There is a needed Climate. A much desired environment. The conditions necessary for his prosperity and existence.
Don’t suffocate him, don’t ignore him, don’t be reckless with him, nourish him, water him. Allow in ventilation. Yes, the Climate, the air of life. The fresh flowing watering.
Make good season for him. Lead him to the fresh flowing fountains of life.
Expose him to his fellows. Expose him to the environment of growth and conducive atmosphere. Allow the inner man to develop muscles. Give him chance to cry out, my Father, my Father! I adore Thee. I am like you! You are my source, my inspiration.
Listen to this melody in Colossians:
Put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of Him that created him. (Colossians 3:10)
Give him chance to gaze on God. To behold the wonder from which he emanates. Constant gaze is needed. The vision of God himself. Let him discover himself in the mirror, which is God himself. Knowledge here speaks of gaze. Reflections and fellowship, partnership and association. Swimming in the river of the life of God. O’ this blessed Climate, this healing Climate. The Climate of renewal and refreshment. Free from stresses and worldly cares, curiosities and nervousness. Calm, peaceful, full of inner rest, vigorous and pulsating, yet full of pomp and power. You cannot hold it back, it is electric, it is eternal life. Splashing rushing wave of glorious life of God flowing vigorously through the human heart. A new kind of molten magma.
Receive the Holy Spirit! Receive the Holy Spirit! Receive the Holy Spirit! In Jesus’ name.
Amen.