TITLE: A Quality of Life Worth Living Forever

TITLE: A Quality of Life Worth Living Forever

TOPIC: The Easy Burden of Eternal Life TEXT: John 17:1-5THEME: Eternal life is a quality of life that starts with knowing God.

The song ponders the question, “who wants to live forever” if

your loved ones die and life is as it is now

What value would it be if we found the fountain of youth and only we could drink of it? Your

parents, you spouse, your children, your friends and other loved ones die while you simply

keep on living.

What value would it be if we found the fountain of youth and only we could drink of it? Your

parents, you spouse, your children, your friends and other loved ones die while you simply

keep on living.What a curse that would be.

She asked that Tithonus might never die; but she forgot to state

that he might remain for ever young. So Tithonus lived forever

growing older and older and more and more decrepit until life became a terrible and intolerable

curse.

John 17:1-5

After Jesus said this, he looked toward heaven and prayed: “Father, the hour has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you. 2 For you granted him authority over all people that he might give eternal life to all those you have given him..

John 17:1-5

3 Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. 4 I have brought you glory on earth by finishing the work you gave me to do. 5 And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began.

What is the eternal life and how do I experience it?

I. Eternal Life was used in Classical Greek

William Barclay

In classical Greek “eternal life” was a word of mystery, was the life of the gods, and was contrasted to what was created. “the essential point in this picture is that eternity is always the same and always indivisible; in it there is no being created and no becoming; there is no such thing as being older or being younger in eternity, there is no past, present or future.”


A. Eternal Life is beyond the scope of time.

William Barclay

There is no “was” or will be but only an eternal “is”. Obviously, we cannot have that state in a created world; therefore, the image of eternity is more than merely unending time. Not only as to continuance but also as to content it is different in essence from everything temporal. It is something other, something higher, therefore not only a "before" and an "after." Eternal is no bare notion of quantity, but above all of quality.



B. Eternal Life described the life of the gods.



B. Eternal Life described the life of the gods.

C. It is a life beyond the created world.

C.S. Lewis

“Remember that the dullest and most uninteresting person you talk to may one day be a creature which, if you saw it now, you would strongly be tempted to worship, or else a horror and a corruption such as you now meet, if at all, only in a nightmare. All day long we are, in some degree, helping each other to one or other of these destinations

C.S. Lewis

It is in the light of these overwhelming possibilities, it is with the awe and the circumspection proper to them, that we should conduct all our dealings with one another, all friendships, all loves, all play, all politics. There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal.” (The Weight of Glory)


II. Eternal Life is a major focus in the New Testament.

A. It is descriptive of the Life of God Himself.

Robert Cook

“The essence of the word “aionios” is that it is the Word of the eternal order as contrasted with the order of this world. It is the Word of deity as contrasted to humanity. Essentiality it is the Word which can be properly applied to no one other than God. Aionios is the world which describes nothing less and nothing other than God.”


• Eternal life is the goal of holiness and comes to those who patiently continue in well doing. (Rom. 2:7)



• It cannot come to the man who hates his brother, and who is therefore in his heart a murderer (I John 3:15)



• It cannot come to the man who hates his brother, and who is therefore in his heart a murderer. (I John 3:15)

• It comes to those who keep themselves in the love of God. (Jude 21)

Eternal life is not for the man who does as he likes; it is for the man

who does as Jesus Christ likes. It is not a case of demanding that we should be perfect; but it is a case of demanding that, however often

we fall and fail, we should still fasten our eyes on Jesus Christ.

Eternal Life is the reward of one who strives to live a life of holiness.


• Eternal life is the reward of surrender and loyalty.

l Tim. 6.12

Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses.”

John 10:27,28

Eternal life comes to the man who hears and follows Jesus. No man who goes his own way can enter into eternal life; eternal life is for the man who in complete loyalty takes the way of Jesus Christ.



• Eternal life is the reward of the labourer for Christ. (John 4:36)




• Eternal life is the reward of the adventurer of Christ (John 12:25)




• Eternal life is the reward of the adventurer of Christ. (John 12:25)

• Eternal life is the result of that righteousness which comes through the grace in Jesus Christ. (Rom. 5:21)



B. It incorporates both quality and quantity of life.

William Barclay

"We shall never enter into the full ideas of eternal until we rid ourselves of the almost instinctive assumption that eternal life means primarily life which goes on forever.”


A. It is descriptive of the Life of God Himself.B. It incorporates both quality and quantity of life.C. Internal life involves intimacy (knowing) with God.


A. It is descriptive of the Life of God Himself.B. It incorporates both quality and quantity of life.C. Internal life involves intimacy (knowing) with God.

Eternal life means 'to know the only true God' (John 17.3)

Man can only know God through three avenues.


• He must use his mind to think


• He must use his mind to think. • He must use his eyes to see and his heart to

love Jesus Christ.


• He must use his mind to think. • He must use his eyes to see and his heart to

love Jesus Christ.• He must use his ears to listen to what God is

seeking to say to him.

Internal life involves intimacy (knowing) with God.

(i) Eternal life demands knowledge of God


(i) Eternal life demands knowledge of God. (ii) Eternal life demands obedience to God. God's commandment is eternal life. (John 12:50)


(i) Eternal life demands knowledge of God. (ii) Eternal life demands obedience to God. God's commandment is eternal life. (John 12:50)(iii) Eternal life is the reward of strenuous loyalty. (l Tim. 6.12)


III. How do I experience it?

How do I experience it?

A. Eternal life is the promise of God (Titus 1:2, I John 2:25)

Titus 1:2

“in the hope of eternal life, which God, who does not lie, promised before the beginning of time.”

I John 2:25

“And this is what he promised us—eternal life.”


A. Eternal life is the promise of God (Titus 1:2, I John 2:25)B. It is the Gift of God (Romans 6:23, I John 5:11)

Romans 3:23

“the gift of God is eternal life.”

I John 5:11

“And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.”


A. Eternal life is the promise of God (Titus 1:2, I John 2:25)B. It is the Gift of God (Romans 6:23, I John 5:11 C. Eternal life is bound to Jesus

C. Eternal life is bound to Jesus

• He is the living water (John 4:14)


• He is the living water (John 4:14)• He is the food which brings men eternal life

(John 6:27, 54)



(John 6:27, 54)• His words are the words of eternal life

(John 6; 68)



(John 6:27, 54)• His words are the words of eternal life

(John 6; 68)• He IS eternal life (I John 5:20)



(John 6:27, 54)• His words are the words of eternal life (John 6;

68)• He IS eternal life (I John 5:20)• Through Jesus there is a relationship, an

intimacy, a unity with God which is possible in no other way.


A. Eternal life is the promise of God (Titus 1:2, I John 2:25)B. It is the Gift of God (Romans 6:23, I John 5:11 C. Eternal life is bound to Jesus D. Faith in Jesus Christ (John 3:15, 16, 36; 5:24, 6:40)

Belief involves three elements.

(i) It involves believing that God is the kind of God Jesus told men about.


(i) It involves believing that God is the kind of God Jesus told men about.(ii) It involves the certainty that Jesus is the Son of God, and therefore has the right to speak about God in a way that no one else ever could or ever will be able to speak


(i) It involves believing that God is the kind of God Jesus told men about.(ii) It involves the certainty that Jesus is the Son of God, and therefore has the right to speak about God in a way that no one else ever could or ever will be able to speak. (iii) It involves living all life on the assumption that these things are true. When we do that, we share nothing less than the life of God, the power and the peace which God alone can give.

APPLICATION:

• Live life from the perspective of eternity.

APPLICATION:

• Live life from the perspective of eternity.• Trust in Jesus alone as the means to eternal

life.

APPLICATION:


life.• Understand obedience to God does not

diminish the fulfillment of life but enhances.

APPLICATION:


life.• Understand obedience to God does not

diminish the fulfillment of life but enhances.• God wants you to share in His life and to

share it with others.

Atheist Penn

“How much do you have to hate somebody to believe that everlasting life is possible and not tell them that? I mean, if I believed beyond the shadow of a doubt that a truck was coming to hit you, and you didn't believe it, and that truck was bearing down on you, there's a certain point where I tackle you. And this is more important than that.”

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TITLE: A Quality of Life Worth Living Forever