There’s something powerful about the love of a father for his child that is beautiful. It taps into that something down deep in all of our souls and it really is the essence of what we are talking about during this final week of this 6-week journey through the G.O.S.P.E.L. As a way of review, let’s walk through these and say these together. I encourage you to memorize these as well…such an effective tool for being able to communicate the Good News of Jesus to others CLEARLY, and tell the story of the Bible in 6 sentences…Life in 6 words.

G – God Created us to be with him. (Genesis 1-2)

O – Our sins separate us from God. (Genesis 3)

S – Sins cannot be removed by good deeds. (Genesis 4 – Malachi 4)

P – Paying the price for sin Jesus died and rose again. (Matthew – Luke)

E – Everyone who trusts in him alone has eternal life. (John)

L – Life with Jesus starts now and lasts forever (Acts – Revelation).

“Life with Jesus starts now and lasts forever!”

· How many teenagers are longing for this depth of relationship with someone, down deep inside?

· What an amazing gift, to receive eternal life, and what a joy to know that you have LIFE with Jesus. This is not a hope-so, think-so salvation. You can know that you have eternal life, and God wants you to know!

“And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life. I

write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life.” 1 John 5: 11-13

· Let’s break down the beauty of this true statement, that “life with Jesus starts now and lasts forever.”

1. Eternal life STARTS NOW.

Our old GOSPEL acrostic…Life eternal can never be lost…Zane… “bro, what about life now, not just after we die.”

Here’s what Jesus has to say about this…

“I tell you the truth, he who believes has everlasting life.” John 6:47

“…has everlasting life.”

You don’t get eternal life after you die. You get it as soon as you believe inJesus.

“Very truly I tell you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be judged but has crossed over from death to life.” John 5:24

· Again, Jesus says here that when someone puts their trust in him, he or she has eternal life, not will have. And in past tense, “has crossed over from death to life.” WOW! What an amazing truth and promise! You know, eternal life does not start when we go to heaven. It starts the moment you reach out to Jesus. He never turns His back on anyone. And He is waiting for you. – Corrie Ten Boom

Now let’s take a look at the quality of this life. This is the kind of life that doesn’t just survive, it thrives!

“The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” – John 10:10

That’s why I love wearing my buddy, Zane Black’s T-shirts. Lovin Life! We are not just living life, we are loving life because that life is in Christ!

· 3 words for life in NT: bios (biology), psuche (psychology), zoe

· Zoe – divine life uniquely possessed by God, eternal life, spiritual life, the intimately woven indwelling of God’s life. “Zoe is used most often in connection with ‘eternal life.’ This life is the very life of God of which believers are made partakers.”

· There’s a point in our Christian lives where we realize that salvation is more than getting your ticket punched to heaven, it’s experiencing the very life flow of God himself.

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

Louis Sperry Chafer 8 Volume set…when I was fifteen. Read it and wept.

I remember when I first read the book Knowing God by J.I. Packer. It was one of those game changing books for me. It’s when I was in college at Colorado Christian University. I remember sitting in a Perkins Restaurant, drinking coffee and shedding tears as I went through this book and really began to know God.

“What were we made for? To know God. What aim should we have in life? To know God. What is the eternal life that Jesus gives? To know God. What is the best thing in life? To know God. What in humans gives God most pleasure? Knowledge of himself.” J. I. Packer (passed away July of 2020)

· The core of eternal life is a relationship, not a set of theological propositions. But those theological propositions can help us deepen our relationship with God when we understand and apply them.

· When someone trusts Christ, it is only the beginning. It is the beginning of a relationship with God that is real and personal. The very Spirit and Life of God indwells us.

· Let’s think about this amazing gift, eternal life. We have been rescued from our destination of doom – a horrible place known as hell. We have been promised a glorious home in heaven! But eternal life is even more than an eternal destination change, it is an ETERNAL RELATIONSHIP with God himself!

· And it starts NOW. The moment you trusted Christ as your Savior, the relationship began then. And there is so much growth, adventure, and joy involved in this relationship with the God of the universe. He wants us go deeper in our love relationship with him, and through that relationship he wants to work through our lives to advance his Kingdom here on earth, and to spread the good news of the gospel to as many as we can.

· Eternal life has an intimate, immediate and ongoing impact in our lives. When we are confronted with the truth of Who our Holy and Righteous God is that truth demands change in us. We cannot stay the way we were before encountering that truth. Life as a believer is a beautiful and joy-filled journey of constantly surrendering who I am to Who He is.

· God loves you so much He will meet you where you’re at. But God loves you too much to leave you where He finds you.

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

Atheist…Doesn’t believe in God

Agnostic…Doesn’t’ know if there is a God

Deist…God wound up the watch of creation and then left the building

Theist…belief in a God but not necessarily the God of the Bible…a God that must be pleased and appeased by our actions.

Christian…belief in the God of the Bible and faith in his Son for salvation…only Christianity, true Christianity, has intimacy with God in a Father/child relationship.

· What makes this intimacy with God so powerful is that God is so powerful. He is the Creator, Sustainer and Ruler. Jesus is the One who will Judge the Living and the Dead. He is the one who appeared to John, his best friend in Revelation chapter one in his glorified form, and passed out.

· God the Father is our Father. Jesus according to Hebrews 2, is our Big Brother and the Holy Spirit, according to John 14:26 is our Helper, Teacher and Guide.

2. Eternal life LASTS FOREVER.

Thanks to Jesus, we have a personal, permanent relationship with the God of the universe!

So this give of eternal life starts now and stretches into eternity. It’s not just about the quality of eternal life. It’s also about the quantity of it.

I’m so sure I’m going to heaven when I die that I would trapeze over the Lake of Fire blindfolded singing Amazing grace. I’m not sure of this because of my life but because of Christ’s life, death and resurrection. I’m not sure of this because of anything I do, but because of what Christ has done. I’m not sure of this because of my ability to keep my promises to God but because of God’s ability to keep his promises to me.

10 Reasons a true Christian could never go to hell:

1. Jesus promised it (John 6:37.) All those the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away.

2. We are in his hands and he will never let us go (John 10:28.)

“I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.” John 10:28-30

Crossing an Icy log bridge in the mountains when Jeremy fell off but I caught him.

To take something out of my hand you have to be stronger than me. But nobody is stronger than God, not even Satan, so no one can snatch you out of his hand…including yourself

3. The Father’s won’t lose one of us (John 6:39-40) …I lost Kailey once at Disneyland…God will lose none of them but raise them up at the last day

He will not lose one of his children.

4. We can’t be spiritually unborn (John 3:3-8.)

There’s no record of anyone in Scripture who was ever spiritually unborn. Once you’re born again, there’s no going back.

5. We can’t be unchosen by God (Ephesians 1:4.)

Why would he chose us before the foundation of the world if we could be unchosen?

6. We can’t be unadopted from his family (Galatians 4:4-7.)

“But when the set time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, 5 to redeem those under the law, that we might receive adoption to sonship.[b] 6 Because you are his sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, “Abba,[c] Father.” 7 So you are no longer a slave, but God’s child; and since you are his child, God has made you also an heir.”

In an article by Ellen Mady on Adoption in the ancient Roman culture, she helps us understand the power and permanence of being adopted.

In ancient Rome, adoption had a powerful meaning. When a child was born biologically, the parents had the option of disowning the child for a variety of reasons. The relationship, therefore, was not necessarily desired by the parent, nor permanent. Not so, however, if a child was adopted. In Rome, adopting a child meant: That child was freely chosen by the parents, desired by the parents.

That child would be a permanent part of the family; parents couldn’t disown a child they adopted.An adopted child received a new identity. Any prior commitments, responsibilities and debts were erased. New rights and responsibilities were taken on. Also, in ancient Rome, the concept of inheritance was part of life, not something that began at death. Being adopted made someone an heir to their father, joint-sharers in all his possessions and fully united to him

This was a permanent adoption in the Roman culture of the day. Could not be reversed.

7. You’ve been sealed by the Holy Spirit until the day of redemption (Ephesians 1:13-14)

And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, 14 who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory.

Fed ex explanation at Lead THE Cause.

8. God says we can “Know that we have eternal life” (1 John 5:13)

Wants us to walk in assurance, not fear.

9. A true Christian can never commit the unpardonable sin, because they’ve already believed in Jesus (Mark 3:22-30)

10. Nothing can separate us from the love of God (Romans 8:31-39.)

“What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written: “For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.” No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 8:31-39

Talked to JJ and Adrian this week about Jesus…both had put their faith in Jesus but didn’t have this assurance.

Do you have salvation? Give the Gospel

Do you have assurance? Seize it.

Now, it’s at this point that a lot of people ask? What about people that abuse that grace? What if someone trusts in Jesus but there is no change whatsoever in their lives?

There is one of two options: either they were never saved to begin with or God will discipline them…the ultimate discipline is being ushered into the presence of God himself early…1 Corinthians 11:30…the sin unto death according to 1 John 5…

Eternal life is not a license to sin but a reason to serve.

Going door to door and meeting a guy named Randy who went off on me for believing in eternal life