Eternal Life

Hi! I’m glad you are taking the time to look further into this vital matter of eternal life. Life on earth is short, at best, so it is of utmost importance that we know where we are going when we die. That’s what I want to talk about here. So let’s just “jump in with all four feet” and get started.

We are told in the book of Romans that when Adam disobeyed God by taking the forbidden fruit, he became a sinner. “Wherefore as by one man sin entered the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned.” (Romans 5:12) and verse 19 adds, “For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners.” Since Adam’s sin has passed upon all, we are sinners from day one. It is further stated in Romans 3:10, “There is none righteous, no, not one.” (Righteous means in right standing with God; without sin.) This passage refers back to Psalms 14:1-3 where God says what He sees when He observes man and his doings. Also Romans 3:23 states, “All have sinned and come short of the glory of God.” In other words, even the very best we can do is just not good enough. When we consider the holiness and perfection of God, we quickly see that we fall short, (miss the mark), by an enormous distance. It is not a matter of what we think sin is or is not. The Word there says “ALL” (none excluded) have sinned. You see, we sin because we are sinners; we are not sinners because we sin. God says in Isaiah 64:6, “All our righteousnesses are as filthy rags.” In other words, all the good and right things we try to do to make ourselves pure and improve our standing with God is, in comparison, as the filthy bandages the poor leper removes from his bleeding, putrefying flesh. Well, at this point we have gotten ourselves down mighty low and in a very hopeless condition, especially when we also come to understand that we must be perfectly clean (righteous) to enter into heaven where God dwells and where we want to dwell also.

So, what now? Well to make matters worse, which at this point does not seem possible, there is a penalty to be paid for those sins, for according to Roman 3:23, “The wages of sin is death.” Let’s just take a “time-out” to say a few words about death. Now I know most people do not like to talk about death and dying, but it will come to all of us in time. However, if we have made the right preparation before hand, it is not a thing to be feared. Simply stated, death is separation. There is the physical death we are all so aware of, which is the separation of the soul and spirit from the body. Then there is spiritual death – total separation of body, soul and spirit from God forever. In order to avoid spiritual death, the “wages of sin” must be paid. God says that for us to pay that debt we would have to spend eternity in hell, a place He prepared for Satan and his angels. It is a place of darkness, wickedness, hopelessness and great torments. (Don’t go there.)

Before we start making excuses and trying to justify ourselves by saying, “I’m not so bad”, let us consider this also. We, like King Belshazzar, are “weighed in the balances, and art found wanting” (Daniel 5:24). We have already been judged, found guilty, and condemned for, “he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God ” (John 3:18b).

At this point we are bound to cry with Isaiah when he saw a demonstration of the holiness of God and exclaimed, “Woe is me! For I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips” (Isaiah 6:5). But do not despair or be dismayed for there is a “But God” in the Scriptures to rescue us out of this hopeless looking situation. It is found in Ephesians chapter 2. Verses 1 through 3 once again describe man’s sinfulness, but then in verse 4 we read, “But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith He loved us, even when we were dead in sins…”

How did God show this love? I remember another “But God” in the book of Romans chapter 5 verse 8 which states, “But God commendeth His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” (emphasis mine). Commendeth means He did and does openly show or demonstrate. You see, that is how He did it – Jesus Christ, God’s Son, died in our place. He took upon Himself our sin and bore our punishment. “For He (God) hath made Him (Christ) to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him.” (II Corinthians 5:21) Jesus Christ not only bore our sin for us, but He gives us His righteousness. With that gift we are then made righteous and therefore fit for Heaven. We can also exclaim as in Romans 8:1a, “There is therefore now NO condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus.”
Jesus Christ was God in the flesh – that is why He is called Emmanuel in Matthew 1:23. Since He was God, He was without sin, so He had no sin of His own to pay for.

Because He is God and therefore infinite, He was able to pay for an unlimited number of sins. When Christ died on the cross, He paid for all your sins, not just part. If He paid for all of them, then how many are left for you to pay for? NONE!
So we are beginning to see a way out of this mess. To our great benefit, God himself has provided the way through Jesus Christ. Jesus personally stated in John 14:6, “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” Just how does He accomplish this? You remember back when we said that by one man’s disobedience (speaking of Adam) sin entered the world and death by sin? In that same passage it says, “so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous.” (Romans 5:19b)

To understand how He accomplished this, we must begin with that time of celebration we call Christmas. We all know that story, though we often forget the significance of it. God the Son took on human form by being born of a woman through a very miraculous happening there in those humble surroundings in Bethlehem. Mary and Joseph were even told to name him “JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins”(Matthew 1:21). Then around age thirty He began a ministry among His people teaching them by word and miracles that He was indeed the Son sent by the Father to be the Savior of all mankind. His earthly ministry was ended by death on a cruel cross, and it seemed to so many, even His closest friends, that He had failed. But without doubt that was the greatest event of all time for mankind, for by those proceedings He was able to reverse the calamity brought upon man by Adam’s sin. He suffered immensely through beatings and scourging and mocking even before being nailed to the cross to die a slow agonizing death in humility and pain. He shed His precious, sinless blood that man’s sin might be forgiven. But more than the physical pain He suffered was the spiritual anguish when all the sin of mankind was placed upon Him and He bore our punishment for us. That is why for the first time in all His earthly existence His Father had to turn His back on Him and He cried from the cross, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” (Matthew 27:46) It was seemingly a dark hour of defeat, but in reality it was a tremendous hour of victory as He cried, “It is finished.” All that needed to be done to rescue man was now done! The payment required by God was now completed.

That is not the end of this significant story, for His resurrection from the dead is just as important and His death on the cross for our sin. His body was taken from the cross that day and placed in an unused, borrowed tomb. Three days later, as He had told them, He came forth out of the tomb.

The gospel then that we believe unto salvation is that “Christ died for our sins according to the scripture; and that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures.” (I Corinthians 15:3b-4)

Does this mean then that since Christ died for all, that all are saved? NO! God leaves the choice to us just as He left the choice to Adam – to obey or disobey. Consider this verse: Hebrews 5:9 (speaking of the Son) “And being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him;” But all have not obeyed as it says in Romans 10:16, “But they have not all obeyed the gospel.” So what about those who do not obey the gospel? “When the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power;”(II Thessalonians 1:7-9)

We sometime chafe under the fact that Adam’s decision got us into this mess, but we can just as easily get out of it as he got us into it. Adam received his instructions from God and made his choice. We, too, receive our instructions from God through His Word; then we make our choice. “I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live:” (Deuteronomy 30:19)

So let’s go over the instructions one more time:

1. God says in His Word that we are all sinners and therefore condemned.
2. God loved us and sent His Son to pay our sin debt in order that we might be reconciled unto God, saved from eternal punishment, and given “an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you,” (I Peter 1:4)
3. God will do this for us when we obey the gospel and by faith* receive the payment Jesus made for us. *(According to the example of Abraham in Romans 4:21, faith is being fully persuaded that what God promises, He is fully able to perform.) God has promised you eternal life when you believe on His Son, Jesus Christ. Eternal life is a gift from God (see John 10:28) that begins the moment you believe (see John 6:47) and since it is eternal, it never ends.

If you have understood this for the first time, I urge you to bow your heart right where you are and tell God you realize you are a sinner and can do nothing to save yourself. But you believe that Jesus Christ died on the cross for all your sins and rose from the dead. And right now, the best you know how, you receive Him as your Saviour – trusting Him completely for your salvation.
If you have confessed to God this heart-felt decision, He has honored your faith, however small it might be, and given to you the free gift of eternal life. You are also born into His family – you are a child of the Father by this spiritual birth. “For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.” (I Corinthians 15:22)

Let me share with you this verse, which has meant so much to me:
“These have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may KNOW that ye have eternal life.” (I John 5:13)