======================================================================== SHARING ON THE MATTER OF LIFE by Stephen Kaung ======================================================================== Summary: The sermon emphasizes the importance of focusing on the matter of life, which is central in the thought of God, and how Jesus gave his life to us through the cross. Duration: 1:00:20 Topics: "Eternal Life", "Salvation Through Faith" Scripture References: John 10:10, John 12:24-25, Revelation 1:17-18 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ DESCRIPTION ------------------------------------------------------------------------ In this sermon, the preacher emphasizes the hopeless situation of mankind due to sin and the inability to regain access to the tree of life. However, the preacher highlights that God's love for the world led him to send his only begotten son, Jesus, to bring life back to humanity. The Gospel of John is mentioned as a source that emphasizes the theme of life. Jesus offers himself as the source of living water, eternal life, light, abundant life, resurrection, and fruitfulness. The preacher emphasizes that the way to receive this life is through belief and being born again, as stated in John's Gospel. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ CONTENT ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ...that the Lord puts upon my heart for this time is on a subject that is very basic and yet it is most essential and central in the thought of God. And that is, we would like to share together this time on this matter of life. God willing, we'll begin with the issue of life this morning, and then we'll continue with the law of life, the battle for life, and the practicality of life. May we read a few scriptures first? Revelation 1, verses 17 and 18. And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead, and he laid his right hand upon me, saying, Fear not, I am the first and the last, and the living one. And I became dead, and behold, I am living to the ages of ages, and have the keys of death and of Hades. John chapter 10, verse 10, the second part. This is what the Lord Jesus said, I am come that they might have life, and might have it abundantly. The same gospel, chapter 12, verses 24 and 25. Verily, verily, I say unto you, except the grain of wheat falling into the ground die, it abides alone. But if it die, it bears much fruit. He that loves his life shall lose it, and he that hates his life in this world shall keep it to life eternal. And finally, the same book, John chapter 20, verse 31. John chapter 20, verse 31. But these are written that ye may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing ye might have life in his name. Shall we pray? Dear Heavenly Father, we do commit thy word back into thy hands, and trust thy Holy Spirit to quicken it into our hearts. We pray that thy word will be in us, life and spirit. And it is all for thy own glory, in thy precious name. Amen. There is one theme that runs through the whole Bible, from the book of Genesis to the book of Revelation, and that theme is life. God is a living God. He is the God of life. His very nature is life. Whatever is not of life is not of God. Whatever he touches always produces life. And whenever God deals with his people, the purpose is always life. The Lord Jesus said, I am come that they might have life and have it more abundantly. Therefore it is important for us who has any relationship with God, or who wants to have any dealing with God, that we focus our attention upon this matter of life. Unfortunately we find that it is very easy for us to be distracted from the central theme of life and into something other than life. Not only often times we are occupied with the things of this world, but even in our spiritual pursuit, we find sometimes we are pursuing after something other than life. Sometimes we are pursuing to have ourselves being the center, and sometimes we find we are occupied with God's works instead of life. Sometimes we are after success, popularity, and many other things that would draw us away from the attention upon life itself. We may produce many things that are not life. And I think it is very important therefore for us to go back to the very basic and consider together before the Lord on this matter of life. What is life? You know at the very beginning of the scripture we find that God puts before man this issue of life. God created man in his own image. Now brothers and sisters do you ever think that why does God create us in his own image? I think one of the reasons is that he may give his life to us. God used the red earth to form the body of man, and after God has formed that man, God breathed the breath of life into the nostril of that man. Now in the Hebrew we find that the breath of life actually is the breath of lives. It is plural in number. Now probably this is just a plurality of excellence, but if it does have any particular meaning. Now probably the breath of life means that when God breathed this breath into the nostril of man, this breath of life becomes the spirit of man. Then aside from the spirit of man you find that man becomes a living soul. So in other words in this breath of lives God has not only created in man a spirit, a human spirit, but God has also given to man an animated life, a soul life. God has made man a soul, a personality, a consciousness of one's own self, the ability to move, to speak, to act, to do things, a living soul. Now of course we must not mistake that this life, this animated life, that God has given to man so that man may become a soul, a living soul. We must not mistake this life as the very life of God. Why? Because this life that is given to man is a created life. It is an animated soul life. Or to put it in another way, the life of the soul. It is not the uncreated life of God himself. At the same time we find that the spirit that was created by the breath of God is not the spirit of God. It is the human spirit. It is an organ that is ready to receive the life of God. An organ that is ready to receive the spirit of God, who is the spirit of life. But thank God that he does create man as a tripartite. We have a spirit, we have a soul, and we have a body. Then God puts man in the garden of Eden. Now the garden of Eden is a garden of pleasure, because Eden means pleasure. And in this garden God has planted all kinds of trees, fruit trees, good for food. In other words, God provided for man food for the body. He has created us with a body, and now this body needs nourishment, needs food. So God created all these good trees, fruit trees, as food for man. How good is our God. And then in the center of the garden God planted the tree of life, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Now the tree of life, the life there, is not the soul life, the created life, the animated life that God has given to man. It is not. The tree of life, the life there, is another kind of life. It is the uncreated life of God himself. Somehow, mysteriously, God has put his life into the form of a tree. Now why is it so? Because God wants his life to be available to man. Not only available, but receivable. Just like you take a fruit, and you can take it, and you can eat it, and you can absorb it. So God put his life in a form of a tree, so that man can receive it into his spirit. Then we find by the side of the tree of life is the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Now if the tree of life is the fruit, the food of the spirit, then the tree of the knowledge of good and evil is the food of the soul. You know, our soul needs food too. And knowledge is the food of the soul. The knowledge of good and evil, that is the highest knowledge in the universe, apart from life. Why? Because sometimes we think that today we live in the twentieth century, technological age, and with all the scientific knowledge, we think that well that is the highest knowledge. No, scientific knowledge is not the highest knowledge in the world. Because scientific knowledge is the knowledge of the physical world. But the highest knowledge in the world is the knowledge of good and evil. Rational knowledge, reasoning, moral, ethics. Now this is the highest knowledge in the world. And this is the food of our soul. Now why does God put these two trees before man? On the one hand you'll find the tree of life, God's life, uncreated life, God offers to man. And on the other hand you'll find the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. God said there is a knowledge, the highest knowledge man can ever have. It will develop your soul to the highest degree. But you will live an independent life. On the one hand you'll find God said here is life, my life, life of your spirit. And if you take my life, you will live by my life. And you will live in the spirit. You will be a spiritual being. And you will be in constant communion with myself. Even to such an extent that you may know my will. You may be able to do my will. But you will live a dependent life upon me. A life together with me. On the other hand God said here is another kind of life. If you choose you may live. You may develop your own soul. You may get a knowledge of good and evil. You may feel yourself as if you are God yourself. You do not need anybody. But the end of that will be dead. So God put these two trees before man. And let man choose what kind of life he wants to live. Whether he wants to live by the life of God. Or whether he wants to live by a developed soul. Whether he wants to depend upon God. Or whether he wants to be independent of God. Make a God of himself. God said you may choose. The tree of the knowledge of good and evil is very attractive. You know when Eve looked at the tree she saw that the tree was very attractive. It was good for food. And it will give you knowledge. And Satan even suggested that you will be God. In other words knowledge is so attractive. It will make us feel great. That we are truly somebody. We know. We are God. But it leads to death. The tree of the knowledge. The tree of life. Life is not very attractive outwardly. Why? Because if you receive the life of God you have to depend, to be dependent upon God. You will be reduced to nothing, nobody. That God may be all and in all to you. And that is not very attractive to us. No wonder our forefathers choose the tree of the knowledge of good and evil instead of the tree of life. Now do not blame our forefathers because we choose the same thing. Throughout the centuries you will find human beings always choose knowledge that puffs us up. Make us feel great. Somebody. We do not want to choose life because it humbles us. It reduces us to be nothing. That God may be all things to us. And you'll find we as human beings, we do not like that. We do not choose life. We always choose something other than life. And that is the tragedy of mankind. Because our forefathers chose the wrong tree. And therefore you'll find they were driven out of the garden of Eden. And then God set the cherubim on the east side of the garden with flesh and soul to guard the way to the tree of life. In other words, God had offered his own life to man. But because man rejected that life, so the way to the tree of life was forever, as it were, blocked. Sin enter into this world. Sin ruled over man. And the wages of sin is death. So far as man is concerned, it is a hopeless situation. Man cannot get back into the garden to put the fruit of the tree of life. Because if they dare to do that, the cherubim with the flesh and soul will certainly cut him to pieces. So far as man is concerned, life, God's life, once offered but rejected, seem to be forever blocked from man. But thank God, God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son. In other words, you'll find that God never gave us up. He began to work. As our Lord Jesus said, my father worketh until now, and I work. God works unto. And the way he did was, he sent his only begotten son into this world. You know the book of John. The gospel of John is a gospel of life. I think it will be very helpful if we can go through the gospel of John and just look at life. You'll find that God has sent his son into this world. For what? In John chapter 1, verse 4, it says, in him was life, and the life was the light of man. In other words, when our Lord Jesus came into this world, the very life of God is in him. And he came to bring that life back into this world. He came to offer God's life again to mankind. In John chapter 1, verse 12, it says, whosoever received him, that is, believing in his name, he will give them the right to be the children of God, child of God. So here you'll find our Lord Jesus come, and he came to offer life again to mankind. God's own life. If you read John chapter 2, you'll find he turned the water into wine. In other words, our soul equal life, the life of the soul is flat as water. But the life that he comes to offer is like wine. It's full of flavor. It gladdens. It satisfies. And then in chapter 3, you'll find our Lord Jesus talk with Nicodemus on new birth. You must be born again. Born from above. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in him shall not perish, but have everlasting life. In chapter 4, you'll find he talked to the woman at the well, the Samaritan woman. And our Lord Jesus offered the living water to her. And that living water will become a fountain within her, springing up to eternity. She will never be thirsty again. In chapter 5, you'll find the Lord Jesus say, you search the scriptures. You think there is eternal life in it. But that scripture bears witness of me, and yet do not come to me to receive life. In chapter 6, the Lord Jesus say, I'm the bread of life. If you shall eat of me, you will be never hungry. If you shall drink of me, you shall never be thirsty. And in chapter 7, you'll find our Lord Jesus said, if anyone is thirsty, come to me. And if you believe in me, as the scripture says, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. Life abundant. In chapter 8, our Lord Jesus said, if you believe in me, you shall never die. Chapter 9, the Lord Jesus say, I'm the light of life. Chapter 10, the Lord said, I am come that you may have life and have it more abundantly. Chapter 11, the Lord Jesus say, I'm the resurrection and the life. And chapter 12, the Lord said, the grain of wheat falling into the ground and die, it shall bear much fruit. So here you'll find God sent his beloved son into this world for one purpose. And that one purpose is to bring his life to man. Once. Now, how did he give his life to us? Of course, we know that he gave his life to us through the cross. In 1 Peter chapter 2, verse 24, it says that our Lord Jesus came to bear in his body our sins on the tree, that we may die to sins and live unto righteousness. You know, the cross is a tree. Today, people may wear a cross around the neck, and it is maybe in gold or silver and quite polished, refined. But we must remember when our Lord Jesus was crucified on the cross, it was not a polished wood. Nobody would bother to do that, to crucify a criminal. They just cut a tree. So our Lord Jesus, he was crucified on a tree. He bore our sins in his body on the tree. In Galatians chapter 3, verse 13, it says, cursed is everyone hanged upon the tree. Now, when our Lord Jesus died on the cross, he was cursed. To him, that cross is like the tree of knowledge of good and evil. You know, we live by the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. And because we live by that knowledge, the result is death. And here you'll find our Lord Jesus took upon himself our sins, and he died for us on that tree. Because the tree of the knowledge of good and evil leads to death. And he died. But thank God, that cross not only represents the tree of the knowledge of good and evil that brings in death, but because our Lord Jesus died on the cross, to us it becomes the tree of life. There he released his life. He is like the grain of wheat that falls into the ground and dies. And by dying, he releases the life within him. And that life is given to all who believe in him. So to us, it is the tree of life. The Lord Jesus said, no one can take my life. I lay down my life, and I can take it up again. You know, it is very important to see that the life of our Lord Jesus while he was on earth, now what kind of life does he have? When he was born, he was called Emmanuel, God with us. In other words, he is God. And yet he came into this world to become a man. He is perfect God and perfect man. He has that eternal life, uncreated life of God in him. And yet, he came to become a man. He also received a created human life. So you find that divinity and humanity, divine life and human life join together in him. He is the God-man, Emmanuel. His life is a divine human life. And his soul life is always subject to his very life. There is no separation in him. Because he is sinless, holy, blameless. Now this is the life that our Lord Jesus has in him. Can God die? God cannot die. Now he being God, his life is eternal life. How can that life die? It cannot die. But man can die. And man does die. So here you find when our Lord Jesus laid down his life on the cross, that which died is that human life in him. Because his human life is perfect, sinless, therefore he can be our substitute. Now we are sinful, therefore if we die, we die for ourselves. That's our end. But he being sinless, he need not die, and yet he died for us. That is substitution. Because he is the son of God, therefore he, one man died, and we all died. If you read carefully the gospel according to John, you'll find that the same word life that we have in English, if you go through the Greek original, you'll find that the life mentioned in the gospel of John are in two different words. And these two different words apply to our Lord Jesus. For instance, in John chapter 10 verse 10, I am come that you may have life, and have it more abundantly, that life is zoe, eternal life. Zoe, life of the highest quality. Principle of life. God's uncreated life. A life that is in God. A life that is given to the son when the son is incarnated. A life that the son gives to all who believe in him. So the life that he gives to us is that uncreated God's own life. That you may have life, and have it more abundantly. But when you read the following verse, John chapter 10 verse 11, he laid down his life for his sheep. The life there is the soul life, the human life, the animated life. So you'll find that when our Lord laid down his life on the cross, he poured out his soul like water, as we find in Psalm 22. His soul life, his sinless life, human life, was poured out as a substitute for all of us. And then if you read, say, John chapter 12 verse 24, you'll find that a grain of wheat fall into the ground and die. It is alone, and if it dies, it bears much fruit. And the life there, if you read the context, is God's own life given to us. Why? Because if we read the following verse, 12 verse 25, the Lord Jesus said, He that loves his life shall lose it, and he that hates his life in this world shall keep it to life eternal. Now, he that loses his life, the life there is human life, soul life. But if you lose it in this world, shall keep it to life eternal, that is eternal life. In other words, in giving up the soul life, you can redeem, you can save your soul life even into eternity. So brothers and sisters, when our Lord Jesus died on the cross, his human life went into death as a substitute for our sins. But of course, the divine life and the human life are joined together in one in our Lord Jesus. So you see that when the Lord went into death, that eternal life can never die. It went through death, overcoming death, and coming out of death. And in coming out, of course, it brings that human life into life too. And that's victory. And this is the life that has been released and given. So brothers and sisters, we do thank the Lord that our Lord Jesus came to give mankind, as it were, a second chance. That flaming sword, that guard, that way to the tree of life, actually smoked our Lord Jesus. Because there he was slain on our behalf. The judgment, the righteousness of God. You'll find the judgment came upon him. In order that we may have life and have it more abundantly. This is the way that our Lord Jesus offers his life. Now how do we receive that life? Of course, if you read the gospel according to John, you'll find the way to receive the life is to believe. He that receives him, that is believed on his name. If we believe, whosoever believes shall not perish, but has everlasting life. If we hear his word, and believe in the Father that has sent him, then we will pass out of judgment, out of death, into life. If we come to the Lord Jesus, and receive him, we will have life. So to us today, it is the gift of God. Brothers and sisters, here you see the love of God, in giving his only begotten Son to us, that we may again. Now the important thing is, do we know what this life is? What is the difference between this life, and the life that we knew in the past? What is the difference between this spirit life, and the soul life that we live in the past? Now first of all, of course, we say this life is the eternal life. Now what is eternal life? We often think of eternal life in terms of time, and sometimes we even think of eternal life as something of the future. In other words, we say if we believe in the Lord Jesus, we have eternal life. But what is eternal life? Eternal life is something that we have, not for today, but for the day that we die. Then we'll go to heaven, and eternal life is a passport to heaven. Now oftentimes people think of eternal life in that way. People think of eternal life as an insurance policy, a life insurance policy. You cannot use it today. You have to have it, but you don't use it today. It becomes effective when you die, and then you can use that to go to heaven. And many people think eternal life as that way, but we know that it is not so, because life begins the moment you receive it. So when we receive the Lord Jesus, we have this life in us. This is eternal life, and eternal life begins in you the moment you receive the Lord Jesus. In other words, you can use that life, you can live by that life right away. You do not need to wait until you die to get the benefit of it. But eternal life, is it just a matter of time? No. Now sometimes I think, suppose you live to a thousand years old, but you are always in poor health. Do you think it's worth living a thousand years? You know if life is so long, and yet it is of so low quality, actually it's not worth living. So eternal life is not just eternal. In other words, timeless. Now if it is timeless, and you live a miserable life, you hope that better is terminated. It's not worth living. So you find eternal life is more than a matter of time, timelessness. It is timelessness, because God is without time, eternal. But eternal life is a life of the highest quality. It is undefiled, uncorrupted, unfading. As we find in 1 Peter chapter 1 verse 4. You know this life of ours, this soul life of ours, is defiled. It's already defiled, it's corrupted, and it's fading. But the life that God has given to us, that we receive in Christ Jesus, is an undefiled life. Look at our Lord Jesus, while he was on earth. He lived in a dirty earth. Everything around him is defiled, is corrupted, is transient, is passing away. But when our Lord Jesus lives upon this earth, you find that he can live such a pure undefiled life, in an environment of defilement and corruption. He is uncorrupted and incorruptible. Men try to corrupt him, even his disciples try to corrupt him. His enemies of course try to corrupt him, tempt him, offer him, persuade him from the will of God, to think of himself and of his own gain. But you find he is not only uncorrupted, he is incorruptible. And his life on earth is unfading, unfading. It's not transient, he lived in eternity, while he lived in time. Brothers and sisters, this life that is offered to us in Christ Jesus, this eternal life, is the life of the highest quality. It is love without pretense. Unfading. You know, sometimes we say we love, but that love is faint, is not true. But that love of that life is unfading. It is hope without fear. It is faith without doubt. You find the fruit of the Spirit is in that life. Love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, fidelity, meekness, self-control, everything is there. You find it is endurance without murmuring. It is strength in weakness, wisdom in adversity. Look at the life of our Lord Jesus, that is the life, that is the life that God has meant for man. That God has offered to man. And that life is now in each one of us. Isn't that marvelous, that wonderful? You know, sometimes we do not know what we have received. We do not know that God has offered to us a life, his own life, uncreated life. We do not know how glorious is that life, how powerful is that life. It is the life that overcomes death. And death is the strongest power in the world. It is a life that is holy. And that's the life that is in you. Now do you know this life? You know we know a life by its nature. And if you read 1 John, you know the gospel of John, John himself tells us that he wrote this in order that we may know that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God. And if we believe in him, we will have eternal life. That is the purpose of the gospel of John. Then he wrote the first epistle of John. And in the first epistle of John, in chapter 5, he tells us that he wrote this epistle for the sake that we who believe in the Lord Jesus may know that we have life. In other words, when we believe in the Lord Jesus, we have life. Eternal life. But we may not know it. So John wrote again and said, now I write you another letter, and in that letter I want you to know that you who believe in the Lord Jesus, you should know that you have life. Now how do you know you have life? You know you have life by its very nature. And briefly you'll find 1 John tells us that God is light. And in him there is no darkness. If we walk in the light as he is in the light, we are fellowshiped one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, cleanses us from all our sins. In other words, life is known by its light. You'll find that within you, after you believe in the Lord Jesus, you know, after you believe in the Lord Jesus, you'll find that there is a light that shines from within you upon your path. Oftentimes we wonder, now I believe in the Lord Jesus, I am the Lord. Now how do I know what is the will of God? How do I know that I will please God? Now thank God everyone who is born of God has a kind of inward conviction that now I'm a child of God, and I should live to please God. It's natural in us. But how are we going to please God? How do we know that this is what God loves, this is what God does not like? How can I live a life that is pleasing to God? Now thank God, as you believe in the Lord Jesus, you'll find that light will begin to work in you. The light within you will shed light upon your path. When you are going to do certain things, the light is on, a red light, say stop. When you are going to say things that you used to say, say you love to criticize people, you love to say dirty words, and after you believe in the Lord Jesus, you don't need to go to a school in order to reform your language. You'll find that after you believe in the Lord Jesus, when you begin to speak dirty words, the red light is on. Now, life is operating. Brothers and sisters, do you know life is operating in you? It is operating all the time. But unfortunately, you'll find that we neglect that light. Instead of watching that light, we go around and try to find light from outside. And that's where we get into trouble. We know light by the light within us. It is the light of life. Then we will not walk in darkness. We know light by righteousness. It's righteousness. God is righteous, and he that practices righteousness is of God. He that does not practice his righteousness is not of God. Brothers and sisters, after we believe in the Lord Jesus, how do we know this is right and this is wrong? Many things we think we thought were right, after we believe in the Lord Jesus, we discover they are wrong. And many things we think are wrong. After you believe in the Lord Jesus, you'll find they are right. Now, how do we know this? How does that come to you? God is righteous. And when you're doing something that is not right, your conscience begins to put a brake on it. Stop. Or if you're doing something that is pleasing to God, there is peace and life. God wants us to live a righteous life. A life that is right before God. A life that gives God the right. Give God his rights. And then, of course, God is love. His love within you will tell you what his life is. If we hate our brother, we are in darkness. If we do not love the brothers that we see, how can we love God whom we do not see? And there you'll find life within us begins to work in us. We know life by the operation of its nature. But what is life? You know, life is more than attributes. Life is a person. In other words, the life that you receive, not only has all kinds of qualities, attributes, love, righteousness, light, and so forth. But you'll find that the life you receive is a person. You know, attributes is impersonal, as it were. But a person has a personality there. So you'll find in 1 John it is said, he that has the Son has life. He that does not have the Son does not have life. In other words, the eternal life that God has given to us is not something that he gives apart from his Son. It is true that eternal life comes by his Son. But eternal life is not something apart from his Son. When you believe in the Lord Jesus, you believe in a personality, a living person. And so what you receive is a personality, a living person. Christ in you, the hope of glory. Christ is your life. So brothers and sisters, let us remember this. When we believe in the Lord Jesus, it is not just that we take from God an eternal life. As if we can live by that eternal life apart from God himself. Having that eternal life, now we can love, now we can be righteous, now we can live in the light, but apart from God, never. Why? Because the life you receive is nothing but the Son himself. It is Christ who is your life. And he lives in you and me. There is a personality there. You know, the life in you has a personality. And how we need to lay hold. The Apostle Paul, in his exhortation to Timothy, he says, lay hold on eternal life. To which you have been called. And you have confessed a good confession before many witnesses. Lay hold on eternal life. Brothers and sisters, we are called to eternal life. Now if eternal life is impersonal, how can you be called to eternal life? You are called to eternal life because eternal life is Christ. You are called to him. And you are to confess the good confession among many witnesses. Brothers and sisters, we are here to confess our Lord Jesus. We are not just here to tell people there is a better life that you can have. We are here to testify that there is a person that you can receive. And he will live in you and through you. Now this is our confession. So finally, God has put before us this issue of life. I believe, brothers and sisters, we have already chosen. But often times, we do not really know what we have got. And because we are ignorant, therefore, we do not enter into the fullness of the good of that eternal life. So may the Lord continue to guide and lead us that we may have life and have it more abundantly. Shall we pray? Dear Heavenly Father, we do thank thee for thy goodness to us that even before the foundation of the world, thou has willed to give thy own life to us. Lord, we do pray that we may know thy life. We may appreciate thy life. And we may enter into the fullness. And it is all for thy glory. ======================================================================== Audio: https://sermonindex1.b-cdn.net/2/SID2355.mp3 Source: https://sermonindex.net/speakers/stephen-kaung/sharing-on-the-matter-of-life/ ========================================================================