Eternal Life: Do You Want It? – Dr. Charles Stanley

The pursuit of a better life dominates our culture. While that goal isn’t inherently wrong, it does often lead us to neglect thinking about the life to come. Dr. Stanley shifts the focus from this fleeting existence we have here on earth to the eternal life God promises to those who believe in His Son, Jesus Christ.

In trusting Godwick today, the 365 day devotional from the teachings of Doctor Charles Stanley, we are encouraged to believe in god’s love and rest in his purpose for us.
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Next on in touch, eternal life.
Do you want There is an ever growing and very strong interest these days in longevity.
That is the duration of our life.
In fact, if you’ll think about all the emphasis we hear today on good health and, uh, you look around on the television, you see all these ads about things you can do to strengthen your life and maybe lengthen your life.
The same thing is true to the radio. All of the presses come book after book after book about health.
Magazine articles are filled with, uh, ideas about health.
It can prolong your life supposedly or at least make your life a higher quality.
And, of course, the environmentalists are always telling us things that are dangerous for us.
And, uh, probably, in fact, I’m sure There are more people buying nutritional supplements today than ever before in the history of our nation.
We have this awesome sense of interest in living law, which is natural, and living well.
I have a high quality of life. And so we are more concerned about the quality of our food.
We’re more concerned about our exercise. We’re more concerned now. We’ve added meditation to it.
We could have told him that long time ago. You spend time with the lord and being quiet with him.
Of course, a lot of this meditation today, has nothing to do with god, but it’s meditation.
And somewhere along the way, someone’s come up with the idea that this will help lengthen your life or at least make it a better quality.
One of the things that I’ve noticed about all of this, all of this emphasis on living, and there’s nothing wrong with that.
All this emphasis on living is in the here and now. It’s all sort of earthbound.
It’s, uh, how can I live better now? Live longer now?
Better quality of life now, which is certainly natural and normal.
But, you know, you don’t hear much about what about the next life?
Because you see, you’re going to die. That is absolutely inevitable.
The Bible says it is appointed to man once to die. And after this, the judgment.
But there doesn’t seem to be a whole lot of interest in a lot of people’s minds about that.
Most of their interest and their time and their reading and their studying and their discipline is taken up with a hearing now, living good now, living long now, living as best as you can.
But, you know, when I read the scriptures, The emphasis is certainly on living a godly life now, but there’s warning after warning, reminder after reminder that there’s a life beyond this.
There is a life beyond death. And the issue is, are we ready for that one?
Oh, do we have any real interest in eternal life? So I would just simply ask you this question.
Are you interested in eternal life? Do you know what it is?
Do you know how to possess it?
Do you realize that once you have it, you can absolutely be sure of it, that’s what I wanna talk about in this message.
Simply this, eternal life. Do you want it?
And I want you to turn, if you will, to 1st John chapter 5.
John makes it very, very clear as to how you and I can have eternal life.
If you’ll notice in verse 11. And the witness is this that god has given us eternal life.
The first thing I simply wanna say is this, that is eternal life is a gift of god.
Eternal life is a gift of god.
For example, he says it here, And then that passage that all of us know so well in Romans chapter 6, 23, when he says the wages of sin is death, but the gift of god is eternal life through Jesus Christ, our lord.
And it’s very clear all through the scriptures that eternal life is a gift of god.
It isn’t something we work for, something we pay for, something we worship for.
It is a gift of god from god.
When I think about the fact that it’s a gift, certainly ought to stir up somebody’s interest. This is listen.
Know when the Bible does it say If you work so many years, you will earn the gift of eternal life.
If you pay so much, you will be able to purchase eternal life. Now listen carefully.
Now being critical, I’m just saying this the way it is.
There’s so much go there’s so much supposedly truth that goes on out there.
That has a subtle mixture. Here’s the mixture. You’ll hear the messages saved by grace, not by works.
But then if you keep listening oftentimes, the next thing you hear is the fact, though it’s not said, but it’s implied, but in order to stay safe, is what you gotta do.
You must do the following things. You must give so much, or you must serve god.
You must do all these things. Listen. Serving god and giving and praying and worshiping are all part.
Of the Christian life and it’s what all of us who have sent which is what we want to do.
We love god. We wanna do that. But how does that listen. How does the person come to eternal life?
The Bible says it’s a gift. Now what’s this?
It cannot be it cannot be the result of what I did and a gift at the same time.
It’s either gonna be a gift or it’s gonna be wages.
That’s why the Bible says the wages of sin is death But the gift of god is eternal life. Listen.
No what does the Bible say that you get it by works?
Not by works of righteousness, which uh, which we’ve done, but according to his mercy, his mercy he saved us, he’s forgiven us.
And so person says, well, Should you mean to tell me that as wicked as I’ve been, that if I ask god that he’ll give me the gift of eternal life, well, let me ask you this.
What are you gonna do for it? You can’t answer that question. How long are you gonna do it?
How much could you pay? How much could you serve?
I think there are people who get into the ministry because they have such guilt over what has happened in their past life that somehow they’ve got to pay god back.
My friend, you can’t pay god back. Let me tell you how absolute that is.
God has made the statement so absolute that you can’t pay him back.
That’s the reason he sent his only begotten son who is god in human flesh walking among men, the only perfect man, he sent him as the substitute for you and me because you and I absolutely could not pay for our own sin, except we die and be eternally separated from god.
He said the soul that’s in it. It shall die. It is crystal clear.
There’s nothing foggy and hazy and cloudy about the scripture. It’s just crystal clear.
Pointed on the man wants to die for this, the judgment.
Except the man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of god.
Believe on the lord, Jesus Christ, and they all shall be saved. Absent from the body, present with the lord.
Crystal clear, very, very clear. It is man who does not want to believe the truth that tries to fog it up.
And make it fog in, make it hazy. Very clear. Internal life is a gift that do listen.
That endless duration of life in the present sovereign fellowship with an an intimacy with almighty god.
In a place, listen, finally, in a place called Heaven, because he turned life as a gift of god, When do you get it?
You get it now. When does it start? It begins right now.
Eternal life isn’t something I’m gonna get out to you after I die. Term life begins the moment.
That this experience on mount to a shell.
At the moment this experience takes place, you have it right then and how long does it last forever and ever and ever.
And listen, no one can tamper with your gift of eternal life.
Otherwise, it wouldn’t necessarily be eternal. Eaternal means it’s never ending.
Now the big question is, how? How can I possess eternal life?
Well, the 2 very simple, again, 2 absolutes. Bob was not hazy about this. 2 absolutes.
Number 1, in order to possess eternal life, I must agree with god about who his son is.
Listen, I must agree with god’s witness about who his son, Jesus is.
Now listen to these passages, if you will.
Verse 10, the one who believes in the son of god has the witness in himself.
I’m coming back to that now.
The one who does not believe god has made him a liar because he has not believed in the witness is that god has born concerning his son.
That is what did god sell by his son? And the witness is this?
That god has given us eternal life, and this life is in his son.
He who has the son has the life.
He who does not have the son of god does not have light. So what is the testimony?
What is the witness of almighty god about his son? He says, his son listen.
His son, Jesus Christ is the son of god.
Jesus said, if you’ve seen me, you’ve seen the fall behind the father 1.
Jesus is dead and even as god, the father is deity.
And so people who say to you, well, now wait a minute.
You know, I believe in god, you mean to tell me that if I believe in god, I don’t believe in Jesus that I don’t have eternal life.
Well, you listen to what he said.
He who has the son has life He who does not have the son of god does not have life.
That doesn’t leave any question. There can be no doubt about that whatsoever.
What what he’s saying here is this.
In order for me to have the gift of eternal life, I must agree with god about who he says his son is.
And he says his son, Jesus Christ is his son, his eternal son, the son of god, Jesus confessed to being the son of god.
Peter said, thou wot the Christ, the son of the living god.
And all through the gospels, He was identified as the son of god.
If you’ve seen me, he says you’ve seen the father, and the father won.
If you’ve seen him, you’ve seen the father. He and the father will want. He is deity.
And when a person says, well, I I I do believe in god, but I don’t believe in Jesus.
Then my friend, no matter what else you believe in life, if you do not believe that Jesus Christ is divine that he is deity.
If you do not believe that he is the eternal son of god, then let me ask you a question.
Why did he die?
Because if he were just the man, he had to be a sinner. Now listen to this.
You can’t have it the way the world wants it. You just can’t have it this way.
Let me show you why. You can’t have it that Jesus was a good man wonderful man, good teacher, great philosopher, healer, uh, a a great a great person in history, but He was not the son of god, and he certainly was not god.
Now it you you can’t have it that way. You say yes. I can’t. No. You can’t.
Because Jesus Christ could not be a good man. He could not be just a philosophy.
He couldn’t be all of that.
If he’s not the son of god, And if he is not god walking in human flesh, if he is not seated to follow this right hand making in a session, for us, then he was a liar, He was an imposter.
He was the counterfeit. He was a fraud. You can’t have a good Jesus unless he’s god.
The resurrection Listen, the father’s way of of putting value and absolute certainty before the whole world.
This is not just another religious leader.
Not just the philosopher, not just the teacher, not just the preacher, not just the theologian.
This is the living god coming.
And, listen, coming out of that tomb because death could not hold god the sun.
Valitating everything he said in giving you and me the assurance that we need that when we when the Bible says absent from the body present with the Lord, suppose he was still in the grave.
Suppose he’s like all other religious leaders. We have no assurance whatsoever. We have absolute assurance.
Rose from the grave, validated, gave us blessed assurance that he’s everything he says is.
Well, first of all, you gotta believe who he is.
He’s the son of god, the eternal son of god who came in the world that I’m across.
You know that your sins in mind may be able to forgive with us a second thing.
The second thing is you must be willing to accept him as your personal savior.
You must be willing to accept him as your personal savior.
Now when I think about, um, the whole idea of accepting him as your personal saving and what people think about that.
So I I I’m leaving Jesus. Well, I want you to think about something.
Eternal life is irretrievably irrevocably immutably linked to the person of Jesus.
You can’t have one without having the other. Listen to this.
He who has the son has the light, not just life but the the light. That’s eternal life.
He who does not have the son of god does not have the light.
Now you say, well, here’s what I believe. That has nothing to do with it.
God says that in order for you to have eternal life, you must have the son.
It’s not a matter of what I like.
It’s not a matter of what I I I could question all kinds of things.
He who has the son has the life.
He who does not have the son of god does not have the life. Period. That’s it.
So the reason I make this emphasis is because people say, well, now let me tell you something.
I believe in god. I live a good life, and I believe that when I die, I’m going to heaven because I live a good life.
Notice what they say. I believe, I believe, I believe, I believe.
If you ask me, here’s what I’m gonna tell you. Here’s what god says. Is is that just your interpretation?
Well, you welcome the reader. Here’s what it says.
He who has the son has life, he who does not have the son of god does not have life, period.
It’s not what I said. It’s what god said.
So what does it what what what are we talking about when we talk about this whole idea, uh, uh, uh, believing?
He says, to as many as believed in him, to them gave he the right, the authority of the power to become the sons of god.
As many as believed in him, receive him as many as received him.
By faith. Now what does it mean to receive Jesus? It mean watch this carefully.
It means that I accept the testimony of god the father god the son.
I accept the testimony of scripture about who he is, that he is man’s holy hope that he’s man’s savior, Now that’s the way forgiveness comes.
If I receive Jesus Christ as my personal and savior, that means I accept personally that his that who he is is Christ’s son, god, the father, Jesus, his his father’s son, Jesus Christ.
I accept who he is, I accept what he did in my behalf, that he died for my sins.
I accept that and apply that to my own life by faith.
I accept who he is, and I accept what he did.
And I accept the fact that god said, if I do so, if I believe him, I will be saved.
So let me define what believe means. To believe in Jesus means that I have a confident conviction.
It means that I have a confident conviction that Jesus is who he says he is.
Listen, I have a confident conviction that Jesus is who he says he is.
And upon placing my trust in him as my savior, I enter into a personal and eternal relationship with him.
It is a confident conviction that Jesus is who he says he is.
And upon placing my trust in him, I believe you, who you say you are.
Placing my trust in him, which would include that I believe what he did at Calvary, my behalf, I enter into by faith.
I enter into a personal eternal relationship with him.
Therefore, when a person says, oh, I believe about Jesus, that’s not believing in Jesus.
1 of these days, you’re gonna come to the end of life.
What you’ve believed all these years isn’t gonna make any difference whatsoever if you have rejected Jesus all these years.
You see, I understand this may be a little difficult for you because it may be somewhere you’ve come from in life or whatever your religion may be.
I have nothing personal in mind. I’m interested in one thing that you simply know the truth.
That when it comes to time when you close your eyes on this life and you open them on the next one, I just want you to be sure that it will not be a fearful time, a tragic time, a tormenting moment.
A moment.
When you become hysterically uncontrollable because, you know, when you take your last breath, you’re going into an endless, uncertain, unknown eternity.
That you know nothing about. There’s only one way to avoid that.
This is the way it is.
To accept what god the father said about his son, there’s only one Jesus.
He’s god the father’s only begotten son who came into this world and his sinless perfection for the purpose of dying for your sins.
So that the moment you ask him to forgive you of your sin, on the basis of who he is, the great, forgiver, The basis of what he did, he pages send that in full, placing your trust in him, you become a child of god, Your eternal future is secure forever.
He comes to live on the inside of you to enable you to live a very godly life.
That’s what this is all about.
The gift of eternal life is yours for the asking and yours for the believing. Do you want it?
If you’re wise, you’ll take it.
I’m simply gonna pray a short prayer, but it’ll be sufficient If you want to pray this prayer and many with all of your heart, no matter who you are, many with all of your heart, if you’re uncertain, you make certain just like that.
If you know in your heart, you’ve never received the gift of eternal life.
You can have it in these next few moments.
If you will accept the fact the truth that god’s son is who we’ve said he is.
He is indeed the son of god Jesus to Christ.
If you’re willing to believe the testimony of scripture about him in these next few moments, listen, your whole future, destiny can be changed.
The moment you say, yes.
I do believe that Jesus Christ is the son of god and died on the cross for my sin, and I accept him as my personal savior.
Let’s pray. Father, I pray the Holy Spirit has penetrated every single heart.
That has heard this message.
For those who have full of doubts, We wanna ask you to settle those doubts right now.
For those who know in their heart, there’s never been a time when they made this momentous decision that affects our whole destiny, grant them the courage and the simple faith to pray this prayer to you, Believing with all their heart because there’s no reason to doubt it, that you’ve heard and that you’ve answered even while They’re praying.
If you will pray this prayer, heavenly father. I know I’ve sinned against you.
I’m asking you to forgive me of my sin.
I do believe that Jesus Christ is your son.
I believe that when he went to the cross at Calvary, He paid my sin debt in full.
By faith, I receive Jesus as my personal savior.
Here and now, I accept your forgiveness and the gift of eternal life through Jesus Christ, the lord, and now my lord.
In his name, I pray, Amen.
If you pray that prayer, you can’t ever be the same.
And my friends, you don’t have to worry about death because when it hits you, things are gonna get better instantly.
Because you have the gift of eternal life.