Expounds on the concept of "this life" as preached by the early Christians, identifying it not as earthly existence but as the eternal life of God manifested in Jesus Christ. It details how this life is historical, pre-existent, and personally received through faith, offering peace, joy, and assurance. The message emphasizes that this life is experimental, growing, and meant to be shown, flowing, and glowing through believers, enabling them to face persecution with rejoicing and even death without fear.
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Acts chapter four, and I'm going to read the same text we read this morning, these remarkable things that caused the bitter persecution in the beginning of the church age. Verse seventeen of the fourth chapter spread no further among the people that are straightly threatened them that they speak henceforth to no man in disname. I want to underline this name. Now over to chapter five and verse ninety might begin at verse seventy. Then the high priest rose up and all they that were with him, which is the sect of the Sadducees, and were filled with indignation, and laid their hands on the apostles and put them in their common prison.
But the angel of the Lord by night opened the prison doors and brought them forth and said, go stand and speak in the temple to the people all the words of this life that'll what we'll be speaking on tonight but let's turn now to the third notice that this life the other one we read this name now this life in verse twenty seven of the same chapter and when they had brought them they set them before the council and the high priest passed them saying, Did not we straightly command you that ye should not teach in this name, and behold, ye have filled Jerusalem with your doctrine, and intend to bring this man's blood upon us, this man's blood.
Verse thirty-eight. And now I say unto you, refrain from these men, and let them alone. For if this counsel or this work be of men, it will come to naught. That was the mighty work of the Holy Spirit. There you have this work. And the last is in verse nine, chapter nine, and verse two. Let me read the first verse. And Saul, yet breathing out breastlings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord, went unto the high priest, and desired of him letters. to Damascus, to the synagogue, that if he found any of this way, whether they were men or women, he might bring them bound unto Jerusalem.
So you have these five expressions. As we noticed this morning, how much was involved and entailed in this name. You can understand the persecution that arose. They were familiar with and Love to hear the name of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. But this name, the name of Jesus of Nazareth, is what caused their bitter persecution of those who claim this name. And the same thing is true with all of these things. Tonight we'll notice what is entailed in this life, this life. And the same with this man's blood and this work and this way, Lord willing, next Sunday.
I had an sequel to the message we concluded with this morning. He didn't have time to give it, but I'll give it now. We were speaking about the doctor who was speaking, Dr. Rainsburg was speaking to the young doctor, Bailey, and he had been a wicked young man dying with TV, and how Dr. Rainsburg read to him the story of the prodigal, and he stopped at that place. where when he came to himself, and he didn't read any further, and he asked the young doctor the question, what did the particle do at that point? And the young doctor gave various answers.
He stumbled away, trying to say, well, maybe he was tired of a tusk, or maybe he was just one of the bad ones. And so Dr. Rainsford read it again. The young doctor asked to have the story read again, and once again, three times over, the doctor stopped when he came to himself. What did the young man do, the doctor do, when he came to that point? And finally, he said, as his face beamed with joy because he was dying with cancer, dying with TB, he says he remembered the father. He remembered the father, and that was it. And that's when the dawn broke in upon his darkened soul.
But I didn't mention this morning that, at the day of his death, a young lawyer visited him. They had been companions in their very field, knew each other well, and this young lawyer came to see his buddy, Dr. Bailey, knowing how ill he was. And when he saw Dr. Rainsford coming in, he tried to slip out. He knew his the preacher, but Dr. Rainsford called him back. And he said, calling him by his name, You know, he says one is not afraid to die when they know where they're going. And he says, Bailey knows where he's going. Ask him. And so the lawyer looked at his friend.
He says, Bailey, where are you going? And a smile lit up on his face as he looked at his old friend, companion in sin. He says, I am going to be with my father. And the lawyer came back and said, How do you know you're going to be with your father? He says, my father never lied. He never lied. And with a sob the young lawyer broke down. That is not said in the story whether he accepted Christ or not. And that's the point. Our father never lied. And if we only accept that truth relative to God's salvation, we shall be saved.
To do otherwise is to make God a liar. make God alive. If we believe of not the record God had made of his Son, we make him a liar, for though to believe what God says and thus enter into peace. Now this morning we were concluding on that text, we're dwelling on it considerably. Concerning this name, there is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved. How dogmatic! How empathic, how intolerable an intolerant Peter was. And with one statement, one text, he sweeps aside every other name, every system, every scheme for salvation and for congregation.
With that one text there's none other name given among men whereby we must be saved. That's the name we're saved by, no other name under heaven. No second or third. That name and that name only. That name is the name to which God's people are to gather, and there is no substitute. And so Peter makes it very plain. He's not going to be tolerant. He's intolerable with anybody who would suggest any other name, or any other way of salvation, or any other way of gathering. So tonight we come to the second point, this life.
All the words of this life. Here are these happy early Christians. They've been put in jail because of this name. And as we mentioned this morning, nine times relative to the healing of the lame man, you have this name, this name, the name of Jesus Christ of man. But how? The daily act, why they were happy, as you'll notice a little later on, to suffer shame for his name. And so we come to this life. They were to go and to tell others all the words of this life.
Now what were they talking about? Were they talking about this literal life and existence on this earth? No, they were not talking about this life. This life and the flesh, this life had reference to the life of God. This life that was so manifested in these early Christians, this life, the very life of God himself. It was this life that they preached. And it was this life so manifested in those early Christians, not only the name they gathered to, not only the name they preached, but the very life that they lived.
brought further bitter perfectly and so it is today all the words of this night how can you explain this human language all the words of this life struck me this afternoon as i was speaking on how could they with their limited capability and knowledge in the vocabulary Tell the folks all the words of this life. You can't explain here. Why, you read similar language over in John twenty and verse thirty and thirty one and many other signs truly that Jesus is the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book.
But these are written that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing he might have life through his name. In other words, the whole world couldn't contain the book. Necessary to explain all this to know and enjoy about this life, this life. We are only touching the hem of the garment of the glory of this life in Jesus Christ. Why what a message the early Christians had from what a message we have today. This life, the very life of God. And you have that over in First John. One and two, that which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled of the word of life.
For the life was manifested, and we have seen it. And bear witness and show unto you that eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto God. This is the message, they preach. All the words of... This life, this life is eternal life. Think of this life in the past. It's eternal. The very life of God. Why, Christ says, before Abraham was, I am. That stumped the Jew. Before Abraham was, I am. Why, you're not yet fifty years old.
You may tell us you live before Abraham yet. before Abraham was, I am. And so this life is eternal. This life is the very life of God. The very life of God, and tells you in that text that I just read in verse John, for this life was manifested and we have seen it, and bear witness and show unto you that eternal life which was with the Father and was manifested unto us. This life eternal life. This life, yes, eternal, it always has been. Everlasting life, it always will be. John three, fifteen, uses the expression eternal life.
John three, sixteen, uses the word, everlasting life. This life always has been. And this life always will be. That's this life that we have in Jesus Christ. Remember what the Apostle said by the Spirit in Second Corinthians, eight and nine, is it? He know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ that though he was rich, he when was he rich. He never was rich down here. He was born in the circumstances of poverty. When he wanted to illustrate a point, he says, show me a penny.
When he wanted to cross the lake, he had to borrow a boat, and finally he was buried in a borrowed tomb where, if he were rich, when was not in this life. Though he were poor, poor in this life, he was rich in eternity past, and though he were rich he became poor, and oh the poverty of that blessed one, and the poverty when he was stripped of everything at the cost, a nail to the accursed tree. Through his poverty we have become free. So we see this life as eternal.
He was with the Father. He tells us that in John, seventeen. He speaks of bread. He was with the Father. And here are these early Christians and they're talking about this life, this everlasting life. It's historical, this life. not theoretical it's historical that pre-existent life did appear on the stage of human history as evident in that verse two I read to you for the life was manifested and we have seen it or bear witness that true unto you that eternal life which was with the Father but has been manifested unto us how wonderful to think that this life actually appeared nineteen hundred years ago the eternal life of God, deity, inhumanity, and that's true.
We have seen it. Here John goes into the fact that he saw it. He handled it. He heard it. That light, it was masculine. It was an adult light. It was a mature light. He saw it. John leads upon the movement of eternal life. John heard eternal life speak. John saw it in action, eternal life. He saw the maturity of it. There is some of it. Just look for the knowledge of it. Yet John says, I saw the personification of eternal life.
Is it wonderful to know that when you're saved, you get that life? I give unto my feet eternal life. and they shall never hurt. Even historians have to bear witness to this life. BC, before Christ, AD after Christ. And here stands the Lord Jesus Christ in the think the very life of the eternal God. In the person of Jesus Christ walked here in the sea. He was heard. He was thankful. This life would manifest. They sought.
They sought. So friend, this eternal life. With what they preach, this life. Go and tell them all the words of this life. In other words, preach Christ. That everything concerning this life is in him, in him, was life. The Bible says, Christ is the very source of this life. In other words, you have the personal nature of this life. Christ was eternal life personified. In what life? When they preached all the words of this life, they picked the person of Jesus Christ.
He said, I am the good shepherd. He said, I am the vine. I am the door. I am the bread from heaven. I am the life of this world. Yes, but he was something else. He said, I am the way. I am the truth. I am the light. The definite article of D. I am delight. I am light eternal. I am life everlasting. The same yesterday, the day and forever. I am the personification of life unending. Our wonderful...
are all the words of this life is. Just before I came to the meeting tonight, I read something that I noticed during the week. And it was foretold of what people say. First of all, what the Bible says about that text. I am the way Jesus Christ is speaking. I am the way, the truth, and the life. But here's a great philosopher, and he says, I am sure Jesus must have said, You will find the way if you tell the truth and live a life of temptation. Another one says, One of the ways to find the truth is to live a life of St.
An other one says, The rank modernist says, I think there are many ways to the truth, which is what we think all as God. It just depends on how you live your life, I say. Garbage. And you can get around all that attempt on the part of man to explain the word of God and there it stands, definite, emphatic, and final. And finally, I am the way. I am the truth. I am the light. I am all the way. I am all the truth.
I am all the life. He is. He's the personification of all these things. They preached in those early days all the words of this life. You can understand then why they aroused such bitterness on the part of the parishes and scribes and lawyers of that day. All the words of this life. You know this. life is personal another effect you've got to receive this life personally it's something you have to do yourself no one else can do it for you and we have the word of god i give unto them eternal life i'm very playing in the scripture this is a personal reception of eternal life He gives this life to individuals.
He doesn't give this life to nations. He doesn't give this life to families. He gives this life to individuals. As Christ is the personification of life, I the person that got to receive him as my life. For he that has the Son has life, and he that has not the Son of God has not. No, we can't do what John did. Handle him. Hear him. No, we can't do that. By faith we believe these things. By faith we believe that Jesus Christ would be eternal Son of God.
By faith we believe he died upon the cross for our sins. By faith we believe he's at God's right hand at this moment. By faith we believe that if I am a foolish sinner which the Word of God declares, that there is sufficient in Christ to save and satisfy me for time and for eternity, yes, this is he like it, and he must be personally to receive. And I have heard our broken heart as Mother Shea concerning her son. He died in it that, oh, out of gladly, accept in Christ for them.
I'd be glad to exchange places with them for all the unparalleled death of a mother's love. A state shooter's willing to take his place in airlock. He'll keep it only he that's heaven, but that can't be seen. There's something you've got to do as an individual. You've got to accept Christ as a partner. Or you never will be saved. He that has the Son has life. This life is not only historical, not only eternal, everlasting, it's experimental. It's all that's handled. The hell it was, he said. Although we don't play out feelings in reference to people being saved, of course there are feelings.
The peace, the joy that comes into your heart. Tonight, this morning, The young fellow sat down and confessed Christ. Now something must have happened, for he wouldn't have left his seat. When he said, when they got up here, what happened? He wrote the spell. The spell of sin and Satan that held them. Ah, yes, he wrote the spell. Jesus Christ saved them. That's it. Something takes place inside. And man with the heart believeth unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. Certainly this life is experimental.
Some people say, well, can't you be saved? I had one lady ask me one time, well, can't you be saved and not know it? Well, I said, if that's the case, you could lose it and not know it. So you're not very well off. You know when you get this life. You know when a baby comes into your house, not long until you're notified that a new life is under that roof, especially during a cold night. You know a new life has entered that dwelling, a life that's beginning to express itself. So it's lit. Yes, and then it wants something deep. And that's true when a person is born again, they've got to let it out.
This life must manifest itself as in reference to the Lord Jesus Christ. And as John says, he manifested himself unto us. And that's true with a Christian, a born-again Christian. If Christ is in his heart, he's got to manifest it in his life. It's experimental life. See that hath the Son hath life. It says over in first John, to as many as receive him, Then gave He the power or the authority to become the sons of God. Now here is a new nature in John chapter three. Why do we need this life?
Because we're dead in trespasses and in sins. That's why we need this life. We're dead. When you receive Jesus Christ, as we have in John chapter three, we're born again. There we have this new nature. This is life in its inception. Life in its inception. Then in John chapter four you have a new power. Here is life in its satisfaction. The Lord Jesus said, Whosoever thinks of these waters shall thirst again, or this water shall thirst again, but whosoever thinks of the waters of I shall give them, it shall be in the well of living water springing up into everlasting.
Where is life, that new life that came in when you trusted Christ, the inception of that life? Now the satisfaction of that life. Oh, now the satisfaction. A well of living water springing up into everlasting life. Then in chapter five of John, and those chapters are lovely, a new walk is a man at the pool of the desert. Remember how the Lord Jesus singled them out? So take up thy bed and walk. Here's a new walk, a new walk. Because he had believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, here is life in its manifestation.
Chapter three, life in its inception. Chapter four, life in its satisfaction. I'm satisfied when I have Christ. Satisfied with Jesus, I am blessed. Peace that passeth understanding in my breath. That's it. Satisfaction. And now life in its manifestation the man took up his bed and walked. Then you have in chapter six a new food. The Lord Jesus says, He that eat of me, even he shall live by me. I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If any man eat of this bread, he shall live forever.
Here is life as a food. You have here a new food, life in its communion. This new life in Christ enables me to have communion with God as I feed upon him. Feed upon his word. He that eats of me. And even he shall live by me. How wonderful. From day to day we can feed upon the Lord Jesus Christ. That source of all life and energy for the Christian. That here we have our communion. And as only as Christ is in me, I can live that life. Otherwise, it's an absolute impossibility.
The apostle says, I am crucified with Christ. Nevertheless, I live. But not I. Christ liveth in me in the life which I now live in the flesh. I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself up. Then you have a new joy in chapter seven. On that last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, If any man first let him come unto me, and drink. He that believeth on me, as the Scripture has said, Out of his inward pot shall flow rivers or living water. Oh, yes, here is this light, and the light is overflowing. The overflowing life, I am come that they might have life, that they might have it more abundantly.
Life is overflowing. Remember what David said in Psalm twenty three, my cup runeth over. What's in the cup is for you and your personal enjoyment. What runs over is for others. I wonder if others are receiving blessings through the overflow of divine light as seen and manifested by you and by me. Here is this light in its overflow. Zubra. And you know that was true here in connection with these disciples. When they were in jail because they had seen this lame man healed, and they took their stand with him, Peter and John, and he took his stand with Peter and John himself.
It's wonderful how when they appeared before the judge, this man sang right between. It's nice to see this young convert. And he's with Peter and John. He took his stand right away, and they're brought to court. The young convert miner said, well, I didn't know it was going to get into this mess, put in jail. How did they react? How would the human heart react? The human heart would begin to complain. Well, I didn't think the Lord would permit this. I didn't expect that he allowed these men to apprehend me and put me in jail. Is that the way they acted?
No, if you read concerning them in verse forty-one of chapter five, you'll see what happened. Verse forty-one of chapter five, and they departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counterworthy to suffer shame for his name. That's what characterized those early Christians. That was one of the things the authorities couldn't understand. The more you persecute these people, the more they rejoice. Where is that New Testament Christianity? The more they're persecuted, the more they suffer, the more they rejoice. Here you have the life of joy, the life which has joy, or the joyful life.
We know something of this joyful life. They state all the words of this light. And they lived this life. They expressed the joy of this life. And the Lord Jesus Christ himself said, My joy give I unto you. Oh, how wonderful is this life. It's inexhaustible. It's unchangeable. It's pure. There's no sin in this life, the very life of God. And this life, and the joy associated with this life, sustained us. Yes, I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me, and the joy of the Lord is your strength.
You know, a happy Christian is a hard customer to have to do with. And the devil doesn't like to see a happy Christian. He doesn't. And yet, this is one of the evidences of this new life, this new joy. I think you mentioned one time about the young Christian that after he was saved, he said, why? He says, I'm happier now and I'm sad than I used to be when I was glad. And that is it. That's the joy of this life. Do you know something of this joy? As a little chorus used to read, My cup runneth over with joy.
I wonder if it does. Is my cup run over with joy? There's a chorus used to sing along that line, but our cup running over with joy. I wonder if, Lord, it is mine. Or is it running over with murmuring, complaining, fault-timing, self-pity? I wonder. This life. cannot be destroyed, but the joy of this life can be unexperienced by a sinning Christian. If you can't lose your life, you can lose the joy of it.
David says, Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation. There is a joy associated with this life. It's part and parcel of this life. joys the expression of his life when a Christian gets into sin. He says, uncontested, this little songbird is silent. And there's no singing now. David says, I kept silent. My bones wax old through my roaring all the night long. David was silent to God. There was no praise or no singing and making melody in his heart, the Lord.
David was silent to other believers, and he wanted to be alone. David was silent not only for God and to others. No testimony. He was silent himself. I wonder, Christian, if you know something of this silence that's brought about by sin in your life and joy. is not experienced when a Christian is out of fellowship with God. But it's wonderful to know that that joy can be reinstated. Once again, by confession of sin, that fellowship with God recurs, that David says, restore unto me the joy of thy salvation.
Sin deprives us of this joy that it can be replaced. And this joy sustains in death. A Christian can taste death, like the young doctor, Dr. Bailey, we're talking about this morning. The smile was on his face. He wasn't afraid to die. Death, or this joy sustains in death. Paul speaks of that I may finish my course with joy. I kept the diary always do. Every day I fill out that day's important events.
When I was home to see or attend the funeral of my mother many years ago, I left Albany. I think it was sixteen years ago. The first time I went up thinking she was going to die, she didn't. I stayed with her for two weeks, I think it was, and then returned. I was only here a few days, and she did, but I went back. But I jotted down some of the things in my diary that when I set up half the night, my other sister Doris, she set up the other half. Many a time sitting there, mother would rally. She was suffering great pain. Some of the things that I jotted down with this, she says when she rallied, oh, she said I was so near home.
I was so near home. Why did I rally? Why did I run? Then the doctor would come along and she was suffering, wanting to go home. The doctor would give her a shot. And of course this would revive her. And she flushed with the doctor. She said, why are you giving me those shots? I want to go home. I want to. But I said to mother one time, I said, mother, we don't want to lose you she says well you can't hold me when Jesus called and I was holding her hand with her and she said would you rather see me suffer here than go home to heaven another time she said when she rose rallied and opened her eyes she said I was so near glory why did I come back this was the language of one who are just about to step into the presence of the Lord.
So this is the joy of God's wonderful salvation. And you know, if ever there's a time when God's salvation pays off, it's when we come to die. Okay, let's work it off. Unafraid, I'm saved. David says, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, thou teardw evil, for thou art with me. unafraid as one who mows the way a steady pace, though I walk through the valley of shadows. I'll hear no evil, for thou art with me. So the Christian has this light, with a surpendant joy and confidence, knowing that I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.
So this is the light they preach. Go and tell them all the words of this life, this spiritual life, this life in Christ. This life is from the yours. Is it any wonder that they persecuted the early Christians, and is it any wonder that Christendom is a great part of it today, as well as all these other religions, modernists, persecute those who preach all the words of this life? As we notice this morning, all that's embodied in this name, you can understand why they persevere. And if you preach all the words of this life, admit it, you'll be a marked man, a marked woman, all the words of this life.
Or a full complete presentation and manifestation of the life that's in Christ Jesus. You know, this is the life that knows. The life that knows. That text we've already quoted over in I John five and eleven, is it? These things have I written unto you. Five and thirteen. These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God. That ye may know. And I think five times in that passage it was read this morning. Know. You may know. You may know. You may know. even though this light knows.
What do I know? This light knows my sins are forgiven. This light knows I have peace with God. This light knows I have everlasting life. This light knows where I'm going or where it's going. Like the young doctor, I'm going with the Father. That's what this light knows. It's a knowing life. It's an intelligent life. We know what we've got. We know it. And this life is also the life that grows. Not only the life that knows, but the life that grows as newborn days who desire the sincere milk of the word that we may grow thereby.
This life grows. If it's fed, if it's nourished, And if you don't feed that new life in Christ, you remain a dwarf. What parent would love to have a child a dwarf? I've seen some sad sights in my life. I was in one home when I hardly knew how to behave around a child. I thought of a child. Thirty-two years old and still on his mother's knee. What a heartache. What heartaches God must have when he sees some of his children.
Save so long, yet know so little. Not reading the Word. Not witnessing for Christ. Not spending time in his presence and fellowship with him. Ah, this is a life that grows. It grows. As no more born, they desire the sincere milk of the word that ye may grow. Do you desire this book? And this is a life that shows. Go home to thy friends, said the Lord Jesus, the man in Luke eight, I think it is. Go home to thy friends and tell them, show them the great things the Lord hath done for thee.
This life shows. It shows through this body my hands, my feet, my lips. It manifests itself. Has the life of God manifested itself through Jesus Christ? So that same life should manifest itself through the members of his body, Christian. This life shows. And this life flows. It's active. It flows out of its inward parts of low living. all living water. And this life glows. They looked unto him and were radiant, and their faces were not ashamed.
This life glows. I wonder if it is that heavenly glow on your countenance as one who knows Christ. Because of this light, this abundant light, oh, it's a wonderful light. You know that which is essential that takes you to heaven. You know Christ. You know what you have in him. All this life knows so much. And this life also grows. It shows. It flows. And it flows. Is it any wonder the early Christians were persecuted when they went forth from the Christians, rejoicing that they were called worthy, counted worthy to suffer for his name, this life grew.
But all the plains of persecution, when they were burned to the stake and flown to the wild beasts, they couldn't put out the glow, the heavenly divine glow that radiated from their countenances and visions of those early Christians. Sometimes I wonder, am I saved? by comparison. Yes, I am saved. All to the grace of God. But what do I know about manifesting this life, this wonderful life, this full life, this eternal everlasting life?
What do I know about this life? Our Christ, the whole Christ, the full Christ, is mine. And you can walk and look at the sun on a sunny day, and although that sun is warming the body of millions of people that are inside in heaven, yet, friend, you can sit down and look up at that sun, and say that sun is out there shining ninety-three million miles away from me, as if I were the only one on earth. Yes, there it is for me. And you can look up to the Lord Jesus Christ tonight, the Son of the living God, the source of all life, light and energy.
And you can say he's sitting there for me. And you can say, I have a shepherd, and he has one little sheep, and that sheep is deep. He gives me all the time and attention I want. He's never too busy to listen. for my little travel.