Life in the Son of God
by Pastor Jim Feeney, Ph.D.

Sermon Summary: The Bible promises eternal life to believers. Every facet of that life is received through Jesus, the Son of God.

1 John 5:11-12 And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life.

•• Where is true life found? In the Son of God! Not in religious practices or in a system of belief — as good as those may be — but in the Son of God.

John 14:6 Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”

•• Jesus did not say, “I know the way, the truth, and the life.” He said, “I am those things ... I am the life!”

•• Eternal life is a personal issue, found in a Person — Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

•• The way, the only way to come to God the Father — a Person — is through Jesus the Son — also a Person.

John 3:16, 36 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.... [36] Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on him.

•• Eternal life is an expression of God’s love for you.

•• Eternal life is gained through faith in Jesus. God’s eternal wrath is incurred by rejecting Jesus.

• I always knew before my conversion that I was under the potential of God’s wrath. The change in my heart when I moved from judgment to life was incredible. I knew that through the Son of God I was delivered from the wrath of God against my sins. I could clearly sense the new life that had become mine in Christ.

John 6:35, 40 Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty.... For my Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.”

•• Note that eternal life through Jesus is something — actually, is Someone, Jesus — that we:

(1) look to...

(2) believe in ... and

(3) come to

• I floundered spiritually for the first 25 years of my life. Then I began to look to Jesus, and everything changed forever!

• I read His Word ... I came to believe deeply in Him.

• I came to Him in simple faith, and He came to me!

•• Come to the Son of God, and He will satisfy your inner hunger and quench your spiritual thirst.

Galatians 2:20 I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

Colossians 3:3 You died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God.

•• Coming to Jesus means dying to self. It means setting aside all our own agendas for our life and taking up His plans and purposes for us.

•• Our denying self (“dying” to self in a nonbiological sense) opens the door for Christ’s life to begin in us.

•• This is a profound thing — If you are to be alive in Christ, remember: “You died!” You were “crucified with Christ”.

Romans 6:3-4 Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with Him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.

•• That’s why water baptism is so important — “You died!”

•• Now that you are “dead” to the old self, be “buried with Him” in water baptism. The thing to do with a dead body is to bury it ... soon!

•• [4, KJV] You will then arise from the watery grave of baptism to “walk in newness of life”.

Matthew 3:11 ...He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.

Acts 1:5, 8 ...you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.... [8] you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you.

•• There is a dynamic life, a power-filled life, that begins in you when you receive the baptism with the Holy Spirit.

•• This life, too, is given by Jesus. He is the Baptizer with the Holy Spirit. Look to Him, believe in Him, and come to Him as your Baptizer in the Spirit.

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In sum, the Bible speaks of a multifaceted life to be found in Jesus Christ, the Son of God:

(1) Salvation-life is found in Jesus.

•• "God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son" (1 John 5:11).

(2) Water Baptism — Believers are “buried” with Jesus in baptism, then arise to walk in newness of life through Him. This newness of life includes a newfound freedom for the “new creation” that we are in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17) to find increasing victory over sin and the works of the flesh.

•• “...buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life” (Romans 6:4, KJV).

(3) The power to live a dynamic Christian life under the Holy Spirit anointing is given by Jesus in the baptism with the Holy Spirit.

•• "He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire" (Matthew 3:11).

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1 John 5:11b-12a God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has life.

•• Look to the Son of God. Believe in Him and come to Him. He will give you life now and forevermore!

Preached at Medford (Oregon) Christian Center, Sunday, February 2, 1997

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©1997, James H. Feeney, All rights reserved.
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