Thirty-Eighth Meeting
(March 7, 1964 P.M.)
We will
turn to the First Letter of John. And as this is the last
of our evenings together on this letter, we come to the
last chapter of this letter. Chapter five and verses nine
through thirteen.
"If
we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is
greater: for this is the witness of God which He hath
testified of His Son. He that believeth on the Son of God
hath the witness in himself: he that believeth not God
hath made Him a liar; because he believeth not the record
that God gave of His Son. And this is the record, that
God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in
His Son. He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath
not the Son of God hath not life. These things have I
written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of
God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that
ye may believe on the name of the Son of God."
THIS IS
THE WITNESS, or as we said last night this is the
evidence. In this last chapter, the apostle is gathering
up everything that he has written in the letter. As we
have said, John wrote this letter because the faith of
many Christians was being shaken. Their faith with regard
to God was being shaken. And their faith with regard to
Jesus Christ as the Son of God was being shaken. So John
wrote this letter to confirm the faith of the believers.
He says, then, finally this is the evidence. This is the
witness, firstly as to God, and then as to His Son Jesus
Christ. Then he says this witness or this evidence has
got to be inside the believer. And here he has these two
fragments, "This is the witness that ye may
know." That is what we read just now. This is the
witness that God hath borne concerning His Son, and these
things have I written that you may know. What is the
witness? What is it that we are to know? The answer is in
one word, and that word is "LIFE." "This
is the witness that God hath borne concerning His Son,
that He hath given to us eternal life, and this life is
in His Son. He that hath the Son hath the life, and he
that hath not the Son, hath not the life. And I have
written that you may know that you have eternal
life." So the evidence is in our possession of what
is called eternal life. We are going to spend our time
this evening looking into this word, "Life."
I expect
most of you who are believers, believe that you have
eternal life. You believe that when you came to receive
the Lord Jesus into your life, you were given something
called eternal life.
Well,
all true believers in the Lord Jesus believe that they
have eternal life. But, if I came to every one of you
believers and asked the question, "What is that life
that you have got?" I wonder what your answer would
be? If I say now, you believe that you have eternal life,
please describe to me what eternal life is. Well, that
would not be so easy. You might have some difficulties in
giving an answer. You would say, "Well, I believe I
have got eternal life, because the Bible says if I
believe on the Lord Jesus, I am given eternal life. But
if you ask me to explain what that life is, I am afraid I
cannot answer it." Or perhaps you just underline the
word, "eternal." And you would say,
"Well, I suppose eternal life means that life goes
on forever." Of course that life does go on forever,
but that is not just the meaning of eternal life that it
goes on after death. It means very much more than that.
It is not only the extent of life, IT IS THE NATURE OF
LIFE. THIS IS A SPECIAL KIND OF LIFE.
May I
just say here that I know that Saturday night is the
young people's night, and I see a large number of young
people here. While I am speaking to everybody, I am
having the young people very much in mind. So I want to
try and explain this matter quite simply. And we are
asking the question, "What is this life that God has
given to us in His Son Jesus Christ?" We begin to
answer that question by noting one word. John says,
"I have written these things that ye may know that
ye have eternal life." So we begin with that word
"KNOW." That you may know that you have eternal
life. Not only that you believe that you have eternal
life, not only that the Bible says that you have eternal
life, not only that the preacher preaches to you about
eternal life, but, "That ye know that ye have
eternal life." And this life is inside of you, you
know it is inside of you.
So this
life, this eternal life in the first place is a new
consciousness. You are really aware in yourself that you
have got eternal life. To you this is not a theory, it is
not a teaching, but it is an experience. First of all,
you are able to say, "I know that I have eternal
life." The explanation of what that life is comes
later on, but because we do not understand it, and
because we cannot explain it, that does not mean we have
not got it.
Now look
at a new born baby. If it is a healthy baby, one thing
about it at the beginning is that it is all alive. It
will let you know that it is alive by the noise it makes.
It will let you know it is alive by the way in which it
throws arms and legs about. Somehow it knows that it is
alive, and you know that it is alive. There are many
evidences that it is alive.
This is
the evidence - "Life." Now when we receive this
eternal life, we do not, any more than a little baby,
understand what we have got. We cannot explain it, but we
know we have got it. We are aware that something has come
into us, which was not there before. Some new strong
energy has entered into us. It has taken hold of our
consciousness. And if anybody asks us anything about it,
the only thing we can say is, "I cannot explain it,
but I know I have got it." That is the beginning of
the Christian life. It is a new consciousness, a new
awareness of something having come in that was not there
before. The evidence or the witness is in ourselves. John
says, "That ye may know." And the true believer
ought to be able to say, 'Yes, I do know that I have
eternal life.'
Then in
the next place, this Life gives us an altogether new
direction. First, it is a new consciousness, and then it
is a new direction. This power that has come into us in
this Life, sets us in a certain new direction. In the New
Testament, and in our common language, we use the word
"converted." We speak of someone who has been
saved as having been converted. Jesus spoke about being
converted. Well, what does converted mean? It just simply
means turning right around and going in the opposite
direction from that in which you were going before. If
you were going that way, now you turn right around and go
this way. And it is this Life that has done that. It just
turns you right around and gives you a new direction. The
old ways which you used to follow are now behind you. And
your ways which are before, are all new ways. That is the
second fact about eternal life. And if that is not true,
there is something wrong with our conversion. It is not
conversion at all. It is only profession.
I
remember when I was a young man newly saved. There was a
great Christian Society for young people. It still goes
on in England and America today. It was called, "The
Society of Christian Endeavor." And all the young
people who joined the Christian Endeavor were given a
badge to wear on their coat, or on their dress. It was a
little badge of two letters in English. C for Christian,
and E for Endeavor. These two letters were put together
in a silver badge. And these young people wore the badge.
Now one
day there was a young fellow wearing the badge. He went
along the road, and came to a theater, where there was
something quite worldly and not good going on. And he
stopped for a moment, and then he walked toward the door
to go into the theater. There was a big man in uniform
standing at the door. And he looked down at the young
man, and he pointed to the badge, he said, "Young
man, this is no place for you. If you want to go in
there, you had better take that badge off." You see,
it was a contradiction of his profession. And a man of
the world knew the difference. The man of the world knew
that there is a difference between a Christian and a kind
of people that went into that theater. That young man was
denying his testimony. On his coat he had a testimony in
metal. In his life he was contradicting the testimony on
his coat. And you know the world is very wise about these
things. The world knows that a Christian ought to be
different, that the Christian ought to be going a
different way from the world. Now that is a very simple
illustration, but you see, this Life that God gives in
Christ sets us in a certain direction.
I
intended to bring a compass here this evening, but I
forgot it. You all know what a compass is, you know it is
like a little watch, it has a magnetic needle. If you
want to know where North is, you put that compass down,
and the magnetic needle always moves in the direction of
the magnetic North. So that you can take your bearings
from your compass. The compass is quite true if there is
no interference with it. Now young people, note these two
things. If I had brought my compass with me this evening,
and I had put it down on this desk just in front of me, I
would be looking to see where the North is. I expect you
could tell me without a compass where the North is. You
see, I am not quite sure as to where the North is here,
but I would be looking at my compass to see where the
North is. But in this instance, my compass would tell me
lies, it would not speak the truth. Why was that? Because
I have put it in front of this piece of metal, and that
metal turns the needle away from the North. The compass
needle must be free from all outside interferences. If I
had lifted it away from these metal objects, it would
tell the truth.
Now this
is an illustration of eternal life within us. This Life
that we have received from Christ always points a certain
direction. It always moves like the magnetic needle in
one direction. And that direction is Christ. That
direction is heaven. It turns away from all that is not
Christ and all that is of the world. Those who have this
Life ought to know in their own hearts, what the Lord is
pleased with, and what He is not pleased with. The very
Life in them explains the right and the wrong. Of course,
you all understand this. If you are a true Christian, if
this Life is really in you, and you one day lose your
temper, you become impatient. And you say something that
is not kind. You are angry with somebody. How do you feel
after this? Do you feel happy? Do you feel it is quite
all right? You know quite well that you feel very bad
inside. And the needle inside you points to Jesus and
says, "Go and confess to Him what you have said, and
what you have done." And the Life inside is not
happy until we have gone to the Lord Jesus and asked for
His forgiveness. You see, we have the witness of Life in
us, and this witness of Life is a certain direction which
is always toward the Lord. It is a Life away from this
world toward Him. It is an upward Life and not a downward
Life. Well, the second thing about this Life is that it
brings into us a new direction.
Then
there is a third thing about this Life. It brings into us
a new power. It is a power which was not there before;
before, we could not stop doing certain things. We were
not able to do the right things before. We were always
doing the wrong things. We were always saying the wrong
things. And if anybody said, "You should not do
that," we simply had to say, "Well, I cannot
help it, that is the way in which I am made." But
when this Life comes in we can do what we were never able
to do before. Paul the Apostle said, "I can do all
things through Christ Who strengtheneth me." This
Life is a new power to do what we could never do before.
It is the power of victory. It is the power of a holy
life. It is a mighty power at work within us. You see,
this Life is not a theory, it is a real power.
I expect
you know what mushrooms are. Well, something happened in
England a few months ago. The government had decided to
make a new motor road. They spent many months in cutting
a way for this new road, and then the workmen got to work
and put the concrete on this road, to make it very strong
to carry all the motor traffic. The road was finished and
it was opened, and the traffic started on it. Not very
long afterward something happened. The road began to rise
up in bumps, and there were cracks in the road. All the
work seemed to be in vain. There was something breaking
up this strong concrete road. So they had an
investigation. And you know what they found? They found a
bed of mushrooms underneath. Now you would say,
"Mushrooms lifting a concrete road?" Perhaps
you think I am telling you a funny story. All that work,
all that concrete, and mushrooms spoiling it all.
But you
see, it was just the power of life in a very weak thing.
You could take a mushroom in your fingers and just break
it into pieces. You say, there is no strength in this.
Put it in the ground, and if there is life in it, in
cooperation with its other friends of the same kind, it
will lift anything. The power of life is a wonderful
thing. I have seen great rocks broken open by a tree
growing up from just a seed. This Life which is in Christ
Jesus destroyed the power of death, and tore open the
grave. DEATH AND THE GRAVE COULD NOT HOLD HIM, BECAUSE HE
HAD ETERNAL LIFE. So we have something very wonderful
when we have this Life. It is a power which can carry us
through any kind of opposition. It is a new power.
Then
John says another thing about it. If you look into this
letter, you will find that John has a lot to say about
fellowship. He says, "If we walk in the
light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with
another." And our fellowship is with the
Father and with His Son. Then he speaks about our
fellowship with one another. But what is it that makes
this fellowship? It is this very thing - this eternal
life. It is not a theory or a teaching of fellowship. We
may have all the teaching and yet, the fellowship may
break down. But, Life is a thing which draws all who have
it together. It ought to be possible for us to recognize
another Christian wherever we meet one without being
introduced. It ought not to be necessary for anybody to
say, 'You know, this is a Christian. I want to introduce
this person to you as another Christian.' That ought to
be quite unnecessary. We ought to know another Christian
immediately when we meet him or her without first being
introduced. There is something about Christians which
just speaks without words. And, you know, Life does speak
without words.
I think
in this country, the seasons are not so distinct as they
are in our country. That is, you do not notice a great
difference between spring and summer. I do not know
whether we are in spring or in summer today. But if you
went to Europe, you would find a very real difference.
When we left England, it was cold and windy, with ice and
snow. Letters are now telling us that spring is coming.
And if you were to go over there today, you would see all
the new flowers coming out through the ground. You would
see all the new buds on the trees, you would see life
showing itself in many, many new forms, the mighty
demonstration of resurrection life. You can see it almost
every day, but you cannot hear it. You go and put your
ear to the tree and you will not hear anything; you put
your ear to the ground, but you will not hear anything.
And yet life is shouting at you from everywhere. It is
speaking without words.
Now I am
not saying that we Christians are not supposed to speak
about life. I am not saying that we need not give a
testimony in words. We must do that. My complete release
in the Christian life came on the night when I stood out
in an open air meeting and gave my testimony for the
first time. I did not know what liberty in Christ meant
until I gave my testimony. So do not think that I am
saying you need not speak about Christ. But what I am
saying is this: That even when you are silent, Christ
ought to be manifested. The Life that is in us speaks for
itself. So John says, This is the witness, this is the
testimony, this is the evidence, even eternal life. IT IS
FELLOWSHIP.
Now you
know a living human body is constituted on the basis of
fellowship. Most of you know that. Especially the doctors
who may be here, they know all about that. But have you
thought about it? Our bodies are constituted on the
principle of fellowship. That is, all our members and all
our organs work together. They work on the principle of
fellowship. I could prove that to you, but I am not going
to. If I were to take this microphone, and if I were to
throw it at the head of that brother sitting there, and
he saw this microphone coming at his eyes, what would he
do? He would put his hands up. One member comes into
cooperation to protect the other, but something had
happened before that. His eyes saw the microphone coming,
and the eyes said to the hand, put yourself up in front.
Now you see, I could go right through the whole body like
that. Not one of the millions of cells in a body is an
independent unit. Every part of our body, to the smallest
part works together with all the other organs.
If one
little organ suffers, all the body feels it. Have you
ever had a toothache? Have you had a bad toothache? Well,
is it just located in the tooth? Does not all the body
feel it? Don't you altogether feel bad because of that
one little tooth? You see the body is one whole, and not
one little part is independent. It is all constituted on
the principle of fellowship. If it were dead, all the
teeth might be wrong and the body would not know it. The
arm might be wrong, the foot might be wrong, but the body
does not know anything about it, it is dead. But if it is
alive, it lives on the basis of fellowship.
Now
there is a lot about this in the New Testament. Paul says
about Christians, If one member suffers, all the members
suffer. The eye cannot say to the hand, I have no need of
you. The hand cannot say to the foot, I do not need you.
You know that those things are in the Bible. We, as
Christians, are not just independent units. The Life
which we all have makes us necessary to one another. Not
one organ in the human body can realize its life to the
full by itself. Separate any organ from the body, cut off
the hand or the arm or any other member or organ of the
body, separate it from the body as a whole, it can never
realize its life and the purpose of its creation when it
is separated from the body. It demands the uniting Life
to make it able to fulfill its function.
Now I
could give you many more illustrations of this, but with
only a few minutes left, I must come to an end. But this
is what I want to say to you all, and to the young
Christians particularly. Your fellowship with other
Christians is absolutely essential to the fullness of
your life in Christ. As an individual member, you only
have so much life. When you bring several members
together, you have got so much more Life. When you bring
all the members together, there is still much more Life.
If we separate ourselves from other children of God, we
limit God's Life in us. We limit our own spiritual Life,
and we limit our own spiritual usefulness. Fellowship is
essential to life, and the more true fellowship, the more
life. See, the Lord Jesus spoke about this when He said,
"two or three of you." He is Present where two
or three are gathered together. But how do we know that
He is Present? This is the witness, that we have Life. It
is a good thing to have real fellowship with other
believers. What a terrible thing it is to be isolated and
cut off from other believers. It is a matter of life to
have fellowship. And John says, "This is the
witness." LIFE IS THE BASIS OF EVERYTHING.
I
thought of saying a lot more things about this Life. But
you see, it is eternal life. It is God's Own Life, and it
would not matter if we would stay here for years talking
about it, we will never get to the end of it. That is the
wonderful thing about this Life. It is inexhaustible. You
will never get to the end of it. You will never fathom
its depth. Eternal life is a wonderful thing. We must
come back to where we started. This is the evidence that
God has given unto us eternal life, and these things are
written that you may know that you have eternal life. Now
do not take this as just so much more teaching, because
life is not teaching. Life is just life. You cannot
describe it. All the wise people in this world have never
yet been able to explain what life is. We will never
explain it, but we can experience it. We can know that we
have it! May that be true of all of us.
Amen.