What Is Eternal Life?

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Let's pray together.

Lord, our future, our past is forgiven, our future is secure.

And so the question of biblical Christianity is how do we live right now?

Holy Spirit, lead us into the truth today.

Because we're not here to ask for what's already ours.

We're here to bask in the juices of what you've already accomplished on our behalf, and yet for your glory.

Are we saying we declared what is true that you are king?

So you're not here to ask us for permission.

You're here to exercise dominion over every particle of being and every uh every spiritual entity.

Everybody and everything is gonna bow down and acknowledge that King Jesus is Lord.

So, Lord, I pray we prepare ourselves to have our mind engaged by the word of God because the Spirit of God is gonna illuminate things, it's gonna knock off unnecessary things off of people, break years of religious bondage that have been put on people by the church and by well-meaning preachers who did not preach the gospel.

The gospel is not behavior modification and more determination, it is life, life, and more life.

God, we want to understand the life of eternity.

It's the Holy Spirit lead us into this now.

We pray in Jesus' name.

And everyone said, Amen.

You can have a seat.

If you got a Bible, I invite you to take it, open it up to the epistle of 1 John.

First John, not the gospel of John, but first John.

It's kind of towards the back.

Go to Revelation, hang a left, you'll find it.

It's right there towards the back.

I want to talk to you this morning about this question.

What is eternal life?

We are beginning to preach through the through the this is our habit and custom.

We we do topical stuff every once in a while, like we just did a series called the M-Word, but right now it's our regular habit.

We preach through books of the Bible.

And so today we're starting the epistle of 1 John.

Now I want to give you some context.

And let me explain what I mean by context.

This cup right here, like if I ask you out there, what is in this cup, you would say you'd be wrong.

Thank you very much.

Uh what is in this cup is diet mountain dew.

Amen?

Yes, all the caffeine and none of the sugar.

Uh, but the cup is the context, okay?

What's in the cup is the contents.

Once again, the cup is the context.

What's in the cup is the contents.

The contents is first John, okay, the book of 1 John.

The context is what I want you to understand.

Otherwise, the content doesn't make any sense.

John is right, this letter was recorded under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, and it was circulated among churches because back then there's a bunch of false teaching going around.

And this false teaching was going around, and people were getting dysregulated by it.

So let me just give you the context of who John is writing to.

He's writing to a faith community that has been infiltrated by false teachers who taught an early form of what is known as Gnosticism.

Gnosticism.

Stay with me, okay?

Gnosticism comes from the Greek word for knowledge, which is gnosis, G-N-O-S-I-S, okay?

So Gnosticism, an early form of Gnosticism, and basically they emphasized two things, okay?

Number one, they emphasized that matter or flesh was impure, evil, bad, not good, okay?

And so that they they they would even say, we're not in the flesh, we're spiritual beings.

Uh and here's another thing they acknowledge that they they emphasize.

Secondly, that knowledge was supreme.

Gnosis, knowledge was supreme.

Matter of fact, they would say you can know so much that you become enlightened, and then all of a sudden, how you live doesn't matter.

Now it's easy to hear that and kind of go, what's that got to do with today?

That's got everything to do with today because there's a certain certain group of people, most of them live in Washington, D.C., that they think, hey, we're enlightened, we've got this knowledge.

You peasants down there in the South that cling to your guns and religion, just shut up and let us tell you what to do.

Because they've got this knowledge, okay?

And so Gnosticism is alive and well today.

And so this is what they emphasized.

Now, these teachers were known for three things.

If you're a note-taking person, write this down because you're gonna hear John speaking to these three things all through the five chapters of 1 John.

First of all, they did not believe in the incarnation.

The incarnation is the belief that Jesus, not just the belief that the truth that Jesus came in the flesh.

They did not believe in that.

Why?

Because flesh is evil.

Why would the Son of God come in the flesh?

They said that Jesus, when he's baptized, that God came upon him in the form of a dove, and then at the cross, God abandoned him because God would never undergo any of that.

And so they believed, hey, this is what they taught.

They didn't believe in the incarnation.

God would never take on flesh.

Secondly, they believe sin didn't matter because morality did not matter.

Sin did not matter.

So morality doesn't matter.

It doesn't matter how you live, as long as you have this knowledge, you're enlightened, you can be the most immoral person in the world.

That's why some of the people that our culture listens to today in 2022 are some of the most immoral people you'll ever know.

But they're enlightened.

They went to school on the East Coast or the West Coast.

They're enlightened, they're smarter than you.

So you should shut up and listen to them.

Put your mask on.

Oops, I did it again.

Yeah, that's what they think.

Now, by the way, this is not about masks, okay?

Don't send me emails because if you want to wear a mask, glory to God, wear a mask.

But it's about people that think, hey, listen, just shut up and do what we tell you to do, okay?

We'll tell you when to stop.

That's a subtle, contemporary form of Gnosticism.

We're smarter than you, just obey.

Here's the third thing that they did.

They were not loving, they were very dogmatic, they were harsh and divisive.

This is why over and over in 1 John he talks about love, love, love, love.

Because these people were not loving people, okay?

Now that you've got the context, I just want to read the first four verses of the contents and think about this thing of eternal life with what we're calling the life of eternity.

This is what the Bible says, 1 John chapter 1, verse 1.

1 John 1:1

That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon and have touched with our hands concerning the word of life.

The life was made manifest, and we have seen it and testified to it and proclaimed 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.

And we are writing these things so that our joy may be complete.

Here's that last sentence again.

We are writing these things so that our joy may be complete.

It's a Greek word plural, and it means to be full.

And we're writing this because unless we unless we wrote this and we spoke to these things, we would be lacking in joy.

Ask yourself this question: what could you do today that would add to and increase your joy?

Like yesterday, my wife is gone.

She went to Dallas on Thursday, gets back tonight to hang out with both our daughters.

They're there at a at a church event.

And so yesterday, what brought me joy?

We have a huge crate myrtle in our backyard.

I let me correct that.

It was huge, okay?

I got a ladder and some pruners yesterday.

I had music play on the back porch.

My neighbor looked at the fence and said, What are you doing?

I said, I'm pursuing my joy.

And he just did this.

He shook his head, stepped down off his ladder and walked away.

Yes.

I ruled over creation and subdued it.

Here's the best part.

My wife gets back tonight, it'll be dark.

I leave in the morning for a week.

I maimed that.

No, I didn't maim it.

No, no.

If you want to see maiming, look at the ones in front of the church.

They got maimed and knuckled back.

No, I just, that thing's like 20 feet tall.

I made it about 10.

Why?

Because I like crisp.

I like order.

I like my wife likes free-flowing.

She has a bunch of pots just in the flower bed with nothing in them.

I threw them all away.

Thank you.

You're welcome, ladies.

I can come and clean up your flower beds as well.

Because when things are in order, I feel joy.

So again, he writes, I wish I could see your face as you're going.

I tell you what, you come to my house, I'll shoot you.

She ain't gonna know nothing.

I'll be gone in the morning.

She'll call me tomorrow afternoon and go, Hey, uh, did you work in the yard?

No, I pursued my joy.

Uh, this is what brings them joy.

Now, I want you to see four things in the text, okay?

First thing I want you to see is this this has always been the gospel.

This has always been the gospel.

He says that with right there, verse one, that which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon and have touched with our hands concerning the word of life.

This is not a reference to Jesus, like in John chapter one, the gospel of John, it talks about the word became flesh and dwelled among us.

Word is capitalized there, referring to the person of Jesus.

This is not a reference to the person of Jesus.

This is a reference to the message, the life of eternity message, the gospel that was that that was incarnated, that was demonstrated by Jesus, okay?

It's very important that we understand this.

This has always been the gospel.

That which was from the beginning is a reference to the gospel.

I say that because I don't want you to think that I'm saying something new today, like I have some novel take on what Christianity is all about.

I don't.

I don't, okay?

I'm not that smart, I'm not that clever, okay?

I'm gonna contend for what the gospel has always been because we've made it into something it was never intended to be.

Let me say that part again.

I'm gonna contend for what the gospel has always been, like I said right there, that which has been from the beginning, because the American church and American preachers have made the gospel about something it was never intended to be.

And here's what I mean: we've made the gospel about the forgiveness of sins and not going to hell.

That's the two things we preach in the American church.

You should get your sins forgiven, and by the way, you do, and not going to hell, and not going to hell, which, okay, that's great.

Those are, I would submit to you, those are byproducts of the gospel, but those are not the essence of the gospel.

Here's why, because you got a lot of people, mainly your kids, your kids understand this more than you do, because adults are just like, yeah, I just settled in.

Okay, this is what we do.

Your kids are like, Yeah, yeah, I I I gave my heart to Jesus when I was nine.

They get to be about 16, they look around and go, hey, nothing's happening.

Mine's is I don't think the batteries in mine work, okay?

And they walk away.

And you're like, What happened to my kid?

And what happened to your kid is that they got tired of being told behavior modification, try harder, don't do that.

No one loved them enough to say, Hey, by the way, the gospel is not getting your sins forgiven or not going to hell.

It's about this living this life that Jesus came to demonstrate.

Because then your kids will be like, Well, what?

Matter of fact, I would submit to you since we're just in a fighting mood here.

I would submit to you if all you do is take your kids on vacation and buy them stuff, you have failed them miserably.

Now, what some of you just heard was Pastor Neil said, Don't go on vacation.

You're a liar.

Don't lie.

The Bible says in Revelation that liars go to hell.

You don't want to be that, do you?

Yeah.

So, no, go on vacation.

Buy your kids stuff, okay?

All that.

But if you fail to demonstrate, don't just talk about, but demonstrate this life of the gospel that it's always been that which was from the beginning, you have failed your kids.

If you teach your kids that, oh, it's about forgiveness of sins and not going to hell.

That's forgiveness and avoidance.

What do you teach them to engage?

I remember in the sixth grade I had a bi-vocational math teacher named Mr.

Rowland.

He was part-time math teacher, part-time preacher.

And I was a little bit disruptive in the sixth grade.

You might find that hard to believe.

But he looked at me one day and he said this, and I quote, not like I remember it verbatim, but he said, Neil McClendon, you foolish boy, you're gonna go to hell.

And when you do, the devil's gonna put you on the wheel and spin you around and around and around.

And when you try to get off, he's gonna spin you some more.

And I just thought, Memo self, don't go to hell.

That's all I knew.

This man was a preacher.

He was telling me that hell's a place for dizzy people.

I hate being dizzy, so I don't want to go there.

Let me just say something.

I became a Christian at 18 after I graduated high school, and it was even years after that before I understood the essence of the real gospel.

Because I went to churches, all they did was preach about forgiveness and not going to hell.

And what it produces is a church full of people who are forgiven who are not going to hell, but don't know what to do in the meantime.

You do not live lives that you find interesting, and nobody around you finds it interesting either.

And so, as a result of this truncated gospel, what we have is people who I described as saved and stuck.

They're just kind of waiting for heaven so they can finally start to live the life they've been promised.

And by the way, they're getting impatient.

Your kids are getting impatient because they're like, really, this is it?

This is this is all just kind of, hey, wait till you get to go to heaven, because then the party really starts.

No, no, no.

What if Christianity is not pie in the sky, sweet by and by, but it's stake on the plate while you wait?

Because I'm submitting to you that this is what biblical Christianity is.

It's not, hey, life is hard, but you get to go to heaven.

Yeah, life is hard, but it's not pie in the sky, sweep by and by.

It is stake on the plate while you wait.

This is the life that this is the gospel.

This is what Jesus came to demonstrate when he says there in verse one, talks about the word of life.

He said, We've seen it, we've heard it, we've seen it with our eyes, we've looked upon and touched with our hands concerning the word of life.

This is not a reference to the word capital W, like in John 1, where it refers to Jesus.

It is, it refers to the message that was embodied in Jesus, which is why they can say, Hey, we we we heard it, we we seen it, we touched it.

Jesus demonstrated this life of eternity in the way that he lived.

Here's the second thing the text tells us today.

Eternal life is not about quality, excuse me, eternal life is about quality of life, not quantity.

Eternal life is about quality of life, not quantity.

Because see, here's the thing.

If you talk to your kids about eternal life and they're in the eighth grade, I promise you, they may not word it like this, but what they're thinking is, please tell me I don't I don't have to live this life forever.

Remember, we I I enlightened a couple eighth graders in the lobby a few minutes ago.

I said, What grade you girls in?

They say eighth grade.

I said, I was on probation in the eighth grade, so cheer up, it gets better.

So if your idea of eternal life is the life you live right now just going on forever, you should run out of this building right now with your hair on fire.

That is not the gospel.

That is not what Christianity is about.

Eternal life is about quality of life, not quantity.

Eternal life, by the way, is not living forever in heaven.

You say, Well, how do you know that?

Because people in hell are there forever, too.

What's better about that?

It's not just eternal life, it's not just, I mean, yes, you go to heaven when you die, absolutely, but people that go to hell are there forever as well.

So you can't say the eternal life is life forever in heaven.

Everybody has eternal life.

Therefore, it cannot be talking about quantity, it has to be talking about quality of life.

And this is the message of the gospel.

Now, if I said the words or the phrase sword drill, how many of you would know what I was talking about?

Say amen.

Sword drill, they give you a little Bible, they call it verses and you gotta find them.

Uh I say that because I don't want you to think it's like sword drill, but I just started looking through the Bible because I've become convinced years ago that this is what Christianity really is.

It's it's not, I'm not minimizing forgiveness, I'm sure not minimizing the glory of heaven.

I cannot wait.

But I'm gonna enjoy the steak that's on my plate right now because this is the life.

Now, by the way, I went back to John's gospel and started looking, and it's all through the Bible.

So let me just read some verses from the Gospel of John, starting probably the most powerful, popular verse in the entire world, John 3.16.

For God so loved the world that he gave his only son.

Whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life.

Whoever believes in the Son, John 3.36, whoever believes in the Son has eternal life.

Whoever does not obey the Son shall not even see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.

John chapter 5, verse 39.

John 5:39

Jesus is talking to the Pharisees, very religious people.

He says, You search the scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life.

And it is they that bear witness about me, yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life.

Hear that again.

Some of you are so sick and tired of reading the Bible, but you would never say that out loud.

Some of you right now are just like, a trap door is going to open under you and you're gonna fall into hell for saying that.

Some of you read the Bible so much when your parents, especially you students, your parents say, read your Bible, you're like, Really?

That's all you got to say?

Jesus says to the Pharisees, you search the scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life.

You think that by your religious discipline, by the way, you can never be disciplined enough to enjoy this life the way you were created to enjoy it.

Now, I'm not saying be undisciplined, okay?

Don't be pendular in your thinking, oh, you said this, so what you must mean is this.

No, no, I'm all for discipline.

But they search the scriptures because they think that reading the Bible is gonna bring them life.

By the way, some of the meanest people in the free world go to church every Sunday and they read the Bible.

They read, they read out of the King Jimmy 16, 11, the real Bible.

Doesn't bring them life.

Look at what Jesus says.

Because, hey, it is they that bear witness about me, yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life.

Here's what Jesus is saying to the Pharisees.

You guys spend all your time reading the menu, but you never enjoy the meal.

And if you're not careful, you will go through life reading the menu over and over and over.

There's one of the things that's happening in our country right now, it's called deconstructionism or leaving the faith or blah, blah, blah.

I don't think any no one has really experienced biblical faith and left it.

Well, especially with with with the with our students and our younger generation.

They're just like, hey man, I did everything the church told me to do, and I am miserable.

You're gonna just give me more stuff to do?

No, thank you.

I'm gonna go out here in the world and see what you're not telling me.

And this is what happens with young people, day after day after day.

John chapter 10, verse 10.

John 10:10

Jesus said, I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.

John 17, 3, and this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.

Life, life, life, life.

And by the way, it's the same word every time in the Greek.

It's the Greek word Zoe.

We talked about this when we preached through the Gospel of John a couple years ago, but I brought the definition just to remind you.

Every time you in those verses I just read, when it says the word life, this is what it's referring to.

Zoe refers to the absolute fullness of life, both essential and ethical, which belongs to God, life real and genuine, a life active and vigorous, devoted to God, blessed in the portion, even in this world of those who put their trust in Christ, even in this world, it's not, oh, you gotta wait to get to heaven, then you get to be happy.

No, no, even in this world, those who put their trust in Christ, but after the resurrection, to be consummated by new accessions and to last forever.

Now, by the way, you may be thinking, well, yeah, it's just all in John.

John's all about that.

Let me show you one more verse.

You gain from one more verse, say amen.

This is 2 Timothy chapter 1, verse 1.

2 Timothy 1:1

Look at the way Paul describes himself.

He says, Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus, by the will of God, according to the promise of the life that is in Christ Jesus.

It's that last part of that verse that you should look at and go, Wow.

Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus, by the will of God.

By the way, if you're here, students, and you're thinking about this call to ministry, it better not just be your idea or your grandma's idea.

It better be because of the will of God.

If you can do anything else in life and be happy at it, you are not called to ministry because when God calls a man or woman, he ruins them for everything else.

That's just a little free commercial there for ministry.

Look at that.

According to the promise, Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus, by the will of God, here's the part I want you to see.

According to the promise of the life that is in Christ Jesus.

It's like God, look at me.

It's like God put his arm around Paul and said, Hey, by the way, now some of you think, oh, this sounds like the prosperity gospel.

No, no, no.

By the way, I my wife and I were laughing the other day because I said, Is it just me or are we just hemorrhaging money these days?

And she goes, Yeah, a lot of stuff is happening.

This breaks, that breaks, and then that nut job I'm married to said, you know what?

I think I want to get our kitchen cabinets painted.

I just remember thinking, we just five minutes ago said we're hemorrhaging money.

What kind of crack are you smoking?

But I didn't say that because I'm happily married.

Instead, I said, Well, do they not hold cups and plates?

Well, no, they still work, but I just think a rule will refresh.

I'm just thinking to myself, cancel HGTV.

And so I was like, Really?

I mean, it's free to get a bid, and we get a bid, we get a couple bids, and I'm just like, babe, we just kind of said, by the way, I'm driving down the road the other day in the middle of this, you know, whoo, God, I work for you.

Bad stuff shouldn't happen to me.

I'm on Highway 90, up there by the sugar mill.

And out of nowhere, somebody runs over something, flies up, hits my windshield, and cracks my windshield, and it's about that far from the top, and it kind of splits moving up.

I went to my guy that does windshield repair on the side of highway six.

That's not shady.

He gets out of a van.

I'm like, I could be dead right now.

Uh and he he says, Man, this thing's trying to spread on me, spreading right now.

And he goes, Hey, by the way, if this gets all the way to the top and it cracks the seal, you'll you'll you'll lose the seal, you'll have to replace this whole windshield.

I say, How much is that?

He goes, It's not gonna be cheap.

So, my wife, I think I want to get my kitchen cabinets painted.

I'm just thinking, like What?

Wha by the way, the painter's coming today to put the drawers back in.

That kids, don't clap for that.

That kids is how you stay happily married.

Yeah, we'll find a way.

I've been selling plasma on the weekends.

I'm better.

I'm good.

I'm good.

I'm good.

Here's my point.

I don't want you to think this life that we're talking about, this life of eternity, it's not, oh, this is awesome.

Every day is just another awesome experience.

Some days it is difficult.

Some days, ladies, you look at your husband and you think just the sound of your voice just gets on my last nerves.

Shut up.

I love you, but I am raw.

My ears are sunburned.

Stop talking.

My wife, before she left for Dallas, said go do herkeys with her kids or whatever they do.

I said, How you feel?

She left on Thursday.

I'm like, the thing doesn't start till Friday.

Well, I got I want to get some a long time.

I said, What are you looking forward to?

She said, Being alone.

Apparently, you women, you know, you got a lot of responsibilities.

She says, I just I just need to be somewhere where no one wants anything from me.

Oh, shut up.

Amen.

Amen.

I was like, what?

And I was just kind of sitting there and I said, She's I guess I made a face.

Imagine that.

She said, What?

I said, That sounds kind of selfish.

I was joking, that wasn't funny.

And she goes, see, you're making the case for me right now because I just want to be somewhere where no one asks me for anything or expects anything from me.

Still sounds selfish, but anyway, I'll allow it.

No, it's great.

She goes, does that bother you?

I'm like, no, it doesn't bother me at all.

Here's my thing.

You look in the Bible, when the Bible talks about life, this life of eternity, it's not happiness, it's more about joy.

You look at the apostle Paul, he's the one that said, Hey, according to the promise of the life that is in Jesus, hey, buddy, you see the life that's in Jesus, you're gonna get to experience that.

That's how you endure the hardship.

Paul was a day and night in the deep.

He was shipwrecked.

He's danger in the city, he's in danger in the country.

He gets shipwrecked, washes up on shore, thinks I'm gonna build a fire and drive my clothes out, reaches in a wood pile and a snake bites him, and he pulls his hand out, and the thing's still attached to him.

He's kind of like, I just got shipwrecked, okay?

Enough bad stuff has happened.

My window peating.

And I looked up, I go, Oh my gosh.

I just thought, really?

After the past three weeks we've had, now you got a snake biting me?

Can I tell you I worked for you?

I still have this life.

This is what puts it in perspective.

I was kind of complaining to my wife that night, and she put her hand on me and said, Hey, by the way, the boundary lines have fallen for us in pleasant places.

I'm like, whatever.

I said, I just want to kvetch a little bit.

She goes, I'm tired of you kvetching.

You know, what's covetching?

It's Yiddish.

Look it up.

I speak multiple languages.

So this here's my thing.

I don't want you to think, according, by the way, according to the promise of the life that is in Jesus, Jesus got crucified.

That was part of his life.

So let's don't act like, oh, prosperity gospel, not at all.

Biblical gospel.

See, here's the third thing.

Experiencing this life is what motivates us.

Experiencing this life is what motivates us.

The reason some of you cannot find sufficient motivation to do the things the Bible talks about is because you don't experience the life of eternity.

You just don't.

You I mean like, ha, fast?

Are you serious?

Tithe?

That's Old Testament.

I'll tell you what, blah, blah, blah.

You here's the thing.

We can't create, yeah.

Some people come, especially in the West, we come to church for us to motivate you.

It's not our job to motivate you, it is our job to equip you.

Motivation comes from you experiencing this life.

You say, What do you mean?

Look at verse three.

Look at what he says.

That which we have seen, we've heard and heard, we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us.

Look, he says, we've seen it and we've heard it and we proclaim this also to you.

They don't have to have a class on evangelism, they don't have to go to a proclaimer's class.

Oh, this is how you proclaim.

No, we have heard it, we've seen it, we couldn't keep our mouth shut.

I mean, we proclaim this to you.

And look, look at what he says.

It doesn't stop with them.

What we've seen and heard, we proclaim also to you, so that you two may have fellowship with us.

And indeed, our fellowship was with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ.

What am I saying?

First of all, you have to just ask yourself, am I experiencing the life that Jesus promised?

Is this as good as it gets?

I think it's a great prayer to pray.

Hey God, is am I experiencing the life, Jesus, that you promised in the gospel?

Because I don't know many people who experience it, to be frank with you.

But they said, hey, we we've seen and we've heard, and so this is enough to motivate us to proclaim for them eternal life was not about existence, but experience.

And notice that it doesn't stop with themselves, which is why many people, what many people in the American church do.

Again, let me just point to it in verse three.

What we have seen and heard, we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us.

Look at me.

And that's where it stops for most people.

You consume the church upon your lust because you come to church because you want to make friends, you want your friend, your kids to have friends.

Uh, and this is kind of where we stop.

Now, by the way, I'm not against that.

We say as a staff, hey, church is about socialization and transformation.

So listen, make friends.

Last week, one of you came up to me and said, Hey, the sermon today was kind of short.

What was up with that?

And I'm like, Can you Baptists find something else to complain about?

And I said, Hey, it was short, you should go out there and use your mouth to speak life to other people.

I'd rather listen to you preach.

No, no.

No.

Get out there, socialize, make friends.

I'm not against making friends, but here's what I'm against and what the gospel is against.

If it stops with there, if people have fellowship with you, but they don't go on to have fellowship with the Father and the Son, you are consuming people upon your lust.

And it happens every time we gather in community groups.

And you get together.

We don't get together just to chat and have queso and catch up on our friends and arrange a play date.

Because if you do that, then the fellowship stops with you.

You just want people to come in your home and experience you.

This is why somebody says, hey, hey, we're gonna get started, so go to the bathroom if you need to.

We're gonna dig in and start processing these questions.

Oh, can we just hang out?

No, no, that's not fellowship, okay?

That's socializing, but we don't want to just have fellowship with you.

We want us to be together and have fellowship with the son and the father.

Because here's the thing: if all you do is make friends and you fellowship with people, but those people don't enhance and increase your experience of fellowshiping with the father and the son, eventually those friends will lead you away from God and gospel.

Just a matter of time.

You turn into a supper club.

Hey, these questions, these questions are so hard.

I don't get that, I don't think like that.

Why don't we just go to dinner next week?

And pretty soon Jesus died for you to have two pours of Merlot and a nice salad.

And you wonder why you're 47 and you've never experienced this life.

Because the fellowship stopped at you.

There wasn't enough experience in this life to motivate you to say, hey, this is not why we're getting together.

We we can do this on Wednesday at lunch or whatever.

When we come together for community, we're gonna fellowship with each other, and and and us together are gonna experience the Father and the Son.

Here's the last thing the text tells us that eternal life reshapes our joy.

Eternal life reshapes our joy.

Look at verse 4.

He says, Are we writing and we are writing these things so that our joy may be complete?

And we are writing these things so that our joy may be complete.

Let me just ask you a couple of questions.

Does your definition of joy require the gospel?

Does the gospel said differently, does the gospel have to be true in order for you to be happy?

Or can you be happy whether or not Jesus ever existed at all?

Is church just another social pool for you to fish in to get followers for your little Bible study or your little cultic ideas?

Or does this have to be true?

Because if this is not true, joy is not complete.

Your joy is not complete apart from the gospel.

And here John gives, there's three reasons that he unpacks all through the gospel, where he just kind of says, This is why I'm writing.

This is why I'm writing.

This is the first one.

By the way, let me give this and we'll close today.

Who's for being done?

Say amen.

Uh somebody up there is really excited.

Uh it's a day tonight, 500.

Let's go.

He gives three reasons through the five chapters of 1 John, about why he's writing.

The first one is joy.

He says, right here, we write these things so that our joy may be complete.

The second reason is holiness.

I think it's in chapter 2.

He says we write these things so that you will not sin.

Because knowing things and understanding things in the Bible keep you from sinning.

We write these things so that you will not sin.

So you got joy, you got holiness, and then this slays our culture nowadays.

Certainty.

Certainty.

He says, I write for certainty.

It's in chapter 5, about verse 13.

He says, I write you, dear children, I write these things so that you may know that you have eternal life.

You may know that you have eternal life.

Look at me.

See, once you've settled that fact, you have eternal life, you're going to heaven, your sins are forgiven, which we're going to really plunge on next week.

So just get ready to come.

And some of you have been taught a system that says, I confess my sins, first John 1.9, I confess my sins, and in God's faithful and just forgive my sins and cleanse me from all unrighteousness.

And I'm going to say to you next week, that is a salvation text, not a forgiveness text.

Because if that's how you think you get forgiveness, let me ask this question.

How do you get forgiveness for all the sins you forget to confess?

Here's a deeper question we'll get into next week.

When the Bible says that we confess our sins, he's faithful and just forgives our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

How many times do you have to be cleansed of all unrighteousness?

See, look at me.

I'll give you something to think about going into the week.

You still with me?

Some of y'all look at your mother like, see what she's saying.

Here's what I'm saying.

I put all my cards on the table.

We've erected in the American church this system, this religious system by which you can live in sin your entire life and just keep confessing.

And you get to chapter three and it's gonna rock your world.

It says in chapter three of 1 John, anyone born of God does not keep on sinning.

And see, he says, hey, joy, I'm writing to make because it this makes our joy complete.

This is so revolutionized us, this gospel that has always been that Jesus came to make manifest.

I'm writing because of joy, I'm writing for holiness, and I'm writing for certainty, so that you may know that you have eternal life.

Again, the gospel is not just, hey, that your sins can be forgiven and you can go to heaven.

That's aspects of the gospel, but the essence of the gospel is the life that you and I get to live right now.

It happened for me about four days ago right here on Home Depot on Highway Six.

I'm back in the back getting some topsoil, and a guy comes around the corner and he's got a cart and he's barely moving, he's limping, and he gets crowds right up on me.

And I'm looking and out of the car, I'm like, hey, bro, back up.

I was here first.

I look up.

And the guy's like, hey, man, I am so sorry.

He goes, sorry.

I said, What happened to your foot?

He goes, it's my hip.

I've had this one replaced five times and this one replaced six times.

That was me.

I was just like, oh, oh, oh, oh.

And I said, Man, hey, let me help you with this.

And clear as a bell, the Holy Spirit said, pray for him.

And clear as a bell said, back, it's in the middle of Home Depot.

That's kind of creepy.

I don't know him.

And then the guy just kept talking.

And the whole time he's talking, this little voice just kept saying, Pray for him, pray for him, lay hands on him right now, pray for him.

And so I just said, Man, I hope your next surgery goes better.

And he walked off like this.

About 2.2 miles an hour.

And I'm just like, What am I thinking?

Why am I telling you that?

I don't want you to think that every time I get it right.

I went home and I didn't say to my wife, I said, Hey, I kind of missed it at Home Depot today.

And she's such a smart aleck.

She says, You missed it or you disobeyed?

I rehearsed that line when I was masquering her Craig Myrtle yesterday.

Take that.

And I said, and the only reason she said that, by the way, if you're visiting today, my wife is the sweetest person I know, okay?

Because I've said to her in the past, sometimes I missed it, and excuse me, sometimes I disobey, and I like to say I missed it.

I just disobeyed.

I didn't miss it.

How could I miss it if I had a frame of reference for it and didn't do it?

That's not missing it, that's disobedience.

And so my wife remembers that and pulls it out like a club.

You know, she said, did you miss it?

I said, I just disobeyed.

He says, What happened?

I said, Well, I was checking out, and you know, the one side they check you out over here in the garden area, and I said you self-serve, and I'm walking out, and I'm like, God, Lord, what is my deal?

I mean, that guy was like in agony.

I shouldn't pray.

And I'm loading the tops on the back of my truck, and I look over, and his truck's in the next row, and he's putting stuff in the bed of his truck very gently.

I walked over, I said, Hey man, let me get that for you.

Lord, I said, by the way, uh, I I pastor a church here in the city.

Can I pray for you?

And he said, he leaned back into the side of his truck.

He said, Oh, that'd be awesome.

Please pray.

And so I prayed for him.

And then he said, Hey, by the way, I want you to know I used to go to church, but I had a fallout with a preacher.

I said, Those preachers, they're the problem.

Uh and he said, Hey, hang on a second.

Uh, and he reached in his truck and got a receipt, wrote his phone number on the back of it.

And he said, Hey, uh, I'd like to talk to you some more.

I said, I'd love to talk to you.

He said, Well, would you call me?

Absolutely.

Got his phone number.

I called him the next day.

I said, You want to come by and have coffee?

He said, Yeah.

I said, How's your hip doing?

Well, my hip's not good because I'm overweight.

I'm overweight because I drink beer.

Sinner! And I said, back into the phone, what's your favorite kind of beer?

He said, I like Corona.

And I said, You should step your game up.

That's terrible.

Do you put a lime in it?

And he's like, How'd you know to put a lime in it?

I said, I've heard Wade call your testimony.

And then he got all jumpy and I said, Hey man, listen, I don't care if you drink beer, don't drink beer.

Drinking beer doesn't, this is free.

Drinking beer doesn't make you more free.

Not drinking beer doesn't make you more spiritual.

And he said, Uh, are you are you really the pastor?

And so I have a new resolution.

I made a I made a New Year's resolution three days ago.

And it's this I want to live so free that people more people ask me that question.

Because we've we here's what being a pastor in America has been reduced down to manners, politeness, inconsequential blather.

Now, I'm not saying go out and be a loudmouth and blame it on God.

I just said, hey man, stand in invitation, come by anytime for coffee.

Well, I don't know if I'm ready to get back in church.

I'm not trying to recruit you to get back in church.

I want you to experience the life Jesus died for you to have.

Well, I'm not sure what that is.

I am.

Now, by the way, look at me.

The reason John writes first John is for joy, holiness, and certainty.

And our city, Fort Bend County, the entire county is longing, longing to experience this life that Jesus came to make manifest.

Yes, your sins get forgiven.

Yes, you get to go to heaven.

But look at me.

What do you do in the meantime?

This is the privilege and joy of being a believer.

It's the life that you get to live.

So ask yourself this question: Is the life of Jesus being reproduced in me?

Am I living the life that Jesus came to manifest, to say, hello, this is it.

This is we say eternal life so much it's lost its meaning.

So I just flip it around and say, this is the life of eternity.

It's not just waiting to heaven when I die to get there and go, oh now the party started.

No, the party's already started.

Don't waste your life being like the older brother in Luke 15.

Going, I'm not coming to the party.

There's music and dancing in there.

No, there's life in there.

If you're here today and you're like, man, I'm not very religious, that's great.

Neither am I.

Jesus did not come to make us more religious people, He came to make dead people alive people.

And what makes you alive is the experience of this life.

This is the life of the gospel.

Let's pray together.

If you're our guest, just relax.

Nothing creepy is gonna happen.

I'm gonna pray a prayer.

Some questions come up on the screen, and we'll just spend some time just kind of thinking a little bit.

Christianity is not just emotion, it's intellect.

It engages head and heart.

So let me voice a prayer.

God, thank you for the truth of the Bible.

It's true, it's authoritative, it doesn't shuck and jive and tell us a bunch of nonsense.

It cuts right down to the very joints and marrow of our bones.

It gets down to the deepest parts of us.

Some of us were raised to read the Bible.

We love to read the Bible, but we're joyless people that no one wants to be around.

Because we're like the Pharisees.

We search the scriptures, but we don't come to Jesus for life.

We have information, but no intimacy.

That pray, Holy Spirit, that even now you're just whispering to someone's heart, that's you.

That's you.

And the response is not stop reading the Bible.

This the response is start experiencing the life that you've read about your whole life, but have never tasted.

That's intimacy.

That's what we were created for.

Let's think about these things for a moment.

Father, there's a uh there's a strength that we find in joy we don't find anywhere else.

This joy comes from experience in the life that you came to demonstrate, make available, and say, hear this, see this, touch it.

You say that all the doubting Thomas's, all the internet theologians of the world, put your hand here in my side.

Touch me.

I'm not afraid of your cynicism because if you scratch a cynic, you find an idealist who's been disillusioned.

Touch me.

This message is so tangible, this life is so demonstratable, you can hear it and see it and touch it, and none of you are gonna break it.

Thank you, God.

That's what Christianity is.

It's not a life of trying to be moral and be disciplined.

We are moral and disciplined because this is our joy, and we experience this and it propels us.

It's like Paul said in 2 Corinthians 5.

The love of God compels us because we're convinced that Christ died for all and therefore all died.

So, Holy Spirit, press the truth in on us.

I pray in Jesus' name.

And all God's people said, Amen, amen.

By the way, can we put the questions back up there for a second?

Because somebody came up to me after last service.

They asked me about number five.

Uh, and question number five says something about what's one thing you want people to know about God.

There it is.

What is one thing you want people to know about God right now?

And my response was, he's juicy.

And the person said, What do you mean?

I said, It's like that pork chop at Perry's on Friday.

Now, by the way, Leo's not here today because Leo's speaking at a disciple now, actually, at my daughter's church in Richardson.

Uh, and he's like, Hey man, do you?

I said, Leo, just yeah, go.

You can be gone.

It's you have fun, they're a great group to speak to.

Uh, but Leo lost a bet the other day.

Leo loves LeBron James, the crepit old broken down man that he is.

And so they were playing my team, the Warriors, and I said, Let's bet lunch.

He goes, Okay, you're on.

Is this gambling?

No, it's not, it's me stealing from you.

And so Leo, I don't know if you've seen Leo, but Leo likes to eat at Salada.

Yeah.

And he said, after he lost, he said, You want to go to Salada?

And I said, No, skinny minnie, I don't want to go to Salada.

I want to go to Perry's on Friday, get that pork chop special.

He said, How much is it?

I said, It doesn't matter.

You lost.

You didn't, you didn't define lunch, you just said, let's bet lunch.

And I said, Mm-mm, good.

And he said, Are you serious?

I said, Yeah, it's a porchop, it's a smaller portion.

It comes with a little thing of whipped potato, and I might throw a salad in there.

You got a credit card?

He goes, Yeah, I said, and dessert.

Man, you can't do that.

You shouldn't bet on LeBron James.

Now I saw him the day before he left, and I said, Hey, when you get back, tell me a Friday, you're gonna take me to lunch.

And he said, You're gonna make me pay.

You lost.

What am I making you do?

Nothing.

You bet on the wrong team.

Now, why am I telling you that?

Have you ever had the pork chop at Paris?

Oh yeah, they bring it out.

It's so big and beautiful, they have to carve it for you.

Table side is kind of like, oh, don't touch that part.

I'm taking that home.

Everybody you see at Perries.

This is why I'm telling you this.

Because God is so juicy, He's like the pork chop at Paris.

Everybody, you walk up, people are walking out and they got a little bag in their hand.

Have you noticed that?

And every time you see those people, you know, oh, they had the pork chop.

Why?

Because it's so big you can't finish it.

Look at me.

He's so big, he's so satisfying, so juicy, you can't finish it.

So take some out with you today.

Just take some home.

I recommend it.

Especially if you're reading late at night, like 11:30, and you go, Oh, I got a little pork chop left in the fridge.

So people say, Hey, well, what's one thing you want people to know about God?

Look at, I want you to know He's juicy.

Amen.

If you're our guest today, we're so glad you're here, okay?

You'll get some indication on the screen in just a minute, a number you can text to.

There it is, right there.

Uh, we're not gonna show up at your house unannounced or anything like that.

Well, you matter to God, and so you matter to us.

So when you're ready to let us know you were here, let us know you were here.

In the meantime, we want to make you aware of a couple things coming up in the life of our church.

So here they are by way of our video announcements.

Thank you for joining us today.

Here's some things we want you to know.

D Now is happening this week, and the deadline to register is today.

The deadline for helping with our mission partner, Nary's Promise, is also today.

Our next varsity gathering will take place on February 24th at 10.30 a.m.

in the Old Sanctuary.

Women's Weekend registration is open today.

For all these events, sign up at grandparkway.org or head to the lobby after the service.

We are looking for seasoned photographers that love to capture great moments at our church.

If you're interested in serving as a photographer, contact Clyde at grandparkway.org.

If you're new, text Welcome to 281-626-5707.

This way we can know you're here and get you connected with the life of our church.

If you have any questions about what you heard today or would like someone to pray for you, find one of our pastors at the front of the stage at the conclusion of our service.

By the way, two things you can register for the women's weekend.

Uh Alyssa Childers is going to be our speaker that weekend, uh, but you can register for that in the lobby.

And then secondly, the varsity, our varsity gatherings for people 60 and over.

It's in the old sanctuary.

We're playing high-stakes bingo, and then we'll have chicken pajitas, and then I'll speak a little bit about kind of where we are in the station in life and some tasks that are just germane to being over 60.

Uh, and then at our next one in May, Matt Barnehill, who's a counselor in our city, is gonna come and he's gonna talk about how to parent your adult children.

And our next one after that, Don Minton is gonna come all the way from Auburn, Alabama, and talking about staying spiritually connected after 60.

And so uh, won't you know what to look forward to?

If you haven't registered yet, go to the website and register.

We're love for you.

It's five bucks for chicken fajitas.

Uh, and we're gonna have a good time.

Wade Burgess is gonna be calling bingo, high speed, high-stakes bingo.

So come prepare, okay?

We'd like to conclude our service with a spoken blessing, so stand to your feet.

Hold your hands out.

And no, if you're under 60, you can't come.

Hold your hands out.

Your sins are already forgiven.

Heaven is secure.

So get busy living this life.

It's life, life, and more life.

In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

Amen.

Bless you.