“And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.” – John 17:3
WHAT IS LIFE ETERNAL? Is it to follow Christ as one’s “Lord” and submit oneself entirely to His commandments? Is it to turn from past sins and lead a new life of piety and self-denial? Is it to join a religion, attend a church, and perform righteous deeds? Not so, saith the Scriptures. Rather, it is to know the only true God – not merely any god, but the only true God, and Jesus Christ His Son. But what does it mean to know God? How can a man know God? And what are the consequences if he does not know God? I aim now, by the power of the Holy Spirit, to answer these inquiries directly.
In the first place, what does it mean to know God? Most religious people will claim to have the answer. “Oh, I know God,” one says, “I read the Bible on a regular basis, attend church faithfully, and tithe.” “I know God as well,” declares another, “for I have been baptized and confess my sins on a regular basis.” “I also know God,” yet another adds, “for I have surrendered my life to Him, committed to following Jesus as the ‘Lord’ of my life, and do many good works.” Yet is not only unsaved professing “Christians” which mistakenly equate knowing Christ with pious devotion. Pagans will flagellate themselves, starve themselves, embark on arduous pilgrimages, all with the aim of “knowing God.” Perhaps it is inherent within the breast of man to suppose human effort is necessary to please God and merit His favor. After all, does it not seem reasonable to suppose how a man lives will determine where he spends eternity?
Alas, this does not do, for though no man can ever merit the Almighty’s favor, He can be pleased through faith, without which it is impossible to please him (Hebrews 11:6). To know God is to have faith in His Son – faith that Christ shed his blood to pay for your sins, faith that he was buried, faith that he rose from the dead three days later unto your justification. That is the knowledge of which Immanuel speaks, for this knowledge leads to eternal life. All the human effort in the world cannot help a man “know God”, because the only way to know God is through the blood of His Son’s cross (Colossians 1:20).
But many are unsatisfied with this definition. They have been convinced, either by the sons of Belial they revere as “pastors”, or the devilish perversions of Scripture they adore as “Bibles”, that simply believing on Jesus is not sufficient to know God. They insist that more is required, that a man must surrender himself to Christ’s Lordship, faithfully follow Jesus as a disciple, deny himself the pleasures of sin for a season, so that he might then be accepted in Jehovah’s sight. But they do err, not knowing the Scriptures, nor the power of God (Matthew 22:29). However natural it may seem to believe man must contribute something to his salvation, and that he will only go to heaven if his good deeds outweigh his bad deeds, it is false. All our righteousnesses are as filthy rags (Isaiah 64:6); how on earth can those filthy rags justify a man before God, make a man holy, wash a man of his sins? They cannot. They never have. They never will. How does a man know God? By coming to Him as a guilty sinner, acknowledging he is condemned by the law of God to burn in Hell forever, and trusting Jesus Christ as his Savior.
Insisting that man can know God through his merits belies the oft-neglected truth that man, since Adam’s fall, is by nature sinful, carnal, and unrighteous. He is at enmity with God, for God’s wrath abides upon him. He may know God exists, but knowing God exists and knowing God are two completely different things. True, the apostle Paul longed “that I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death;” (Philippians 3:10). Yet, this is not the knowledge of which Christ speaks in my text – that knowledge would be what the apostle termed “the simplicity that is in Christ” (2 Corinthians 11:3-4). There is knowing God for salvation, and knowing God through service, and we must never speak of the two as synonyms, for they are nothing of the kind. Sonship, bestowed on a man the moment he receives Christ as his Savior, and discipleship, the lifelong endeavor of following Christ faithfully, must never be confused with each other, lest the false gospel of “Lordship Salvation”, or a perverted definition of “repentance”, be preached.
Receiving eternal life, and following Jesus Christ as His disciple, are two completely different acts, the former being instantaneous the moment a man believes on Christ for salvation, and the latter encompassing a lifetime. No effort is required to be saved, which is well, for no man could ever make himself holy, or just, or worthy of eternal life. But much effort is required to be Christ’s disciple, whereby the man takes up his cross, denies himself, and declares with the apostle Paul, “I die daily” (1 Corinthians 15:31). Salvation is a FREE GIFT – not a reward, not an award, an exchange, but a FREE GIFT. Serving God is something different entirely.
What you trust for salvation determines whether or not you have eternal life, because a man’s faith in Christ – not his good deeds, or discipleship, or devout obedience of doctrines – is counted for righteousness (Romans 4:5). Place your faith in Jesus Christ, and you will be saved and have eternal life. Place your faith in anything else – your church membership, your baptism, your devotion to religious causes, your following Jesus as the “Lord” of your life, how good a person you are, how often you go to church, how much you pray, or some unholy combination of faith in Christ plus good works, and you will go to Hell. “He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him” (John 3:36).
What are the consequences of not knowing God – that is, of dying without having trusted Christ? They are almost too horrible to be described. I warn you of a place of torment, a lake which burneth with fire and brimstone, whose inhabitants have no rest day nor night from the flames. The smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever. Their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched. They shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation. To burn forever without hope – this is the dreadful fate of those who do not know God. When Christ tells the self-righteous religious people in Matthew 7:21-23 “I never knew you”, He follows with, “Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire” (Matthew 25:41). Of this unsuspected doom, the Savior said, “There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when ye shall see Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and all the prophets, in the kingdom of God, and you yourselves thrust out” (Luke 13:28).
But this does not need to be your fate, dear reader. Christ likewise said, “He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life” (John 5:24). He gave Himself for your sins in His own body on the tree, and asks only that you believe He died for your sins, was buried, and bodily resurrected three days later unto your justification. Mind not what you do, or ought do, or will do; mind rather Him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood. And if you will simply believe the Gospel as your only hope for heaven, your faith will be counted for righteousness, you will be washed of all your sins, your name will be written in Heaven, you will be justified before God, you will be indwelt by the Holy Spirit, and you will be ransomed from eternal damnation. You will have eternal life, which is to know the only true God, and Jesus Christ, Whom he hath sent. I pray that you do so immediately, for “he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.” (John 3:18).