Our second scripture reading and a text for today is found in Colossians chapter 3. You're reading Colossians chapter 3, verses 1 through 4. If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above, not on the things on the earth. For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. Let's pray once more. Father, we pray for the work and the power of the Holy Spirit upon your word that you'd speak to our hearts about our life in Christ. And we pray in Jesus' name, amen. This Sunday, this Lord's Day, we are dedicating to life and having in our afternoon service the Doreen Jansen, the director of Soundview Pregnancy Service Center, come and speak, share the ministry there because we are pro-life as a church. And all Christians are pro-life. True Christians should be, need to be pro-life. We need to value the life that God gives, all life, from beginning at conception, all throughout life, no matter what form that takes, handicapped or not. And in the end, even the older people who are at the end of life still have life that needs to be valued. It's because Christ is the one who gives that life, that we value the life. We were created in the image of God. And all life, all life has value, but especially the lives of human beings created in the image of God. And particularly the life that we're going to be looking at today is the eternal life, the spiritual life that comes in and through the Lord Jesus Christ and through him alone. Christ is the life giver. No one has, nothing has life. We didn't get it from Christ. He's the one, he's the one we read about in John 1.1. And John 1.1 says, beginning at the first verse, in the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God. He was in the beginning with God, and all things were made through him. And without Him, nothing was made that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. So you can see no one, nothing came into being apart from Christ. He created all things, and He is the life giver of all things. Nothing has life, nothing at all that has, no one who has life does not have it except through Christ. He's the life giver, but particularly, What we focus on as believers is our life, spiritual life, in Christ, the eternal life that Christ has given. We realize, as Brother Jonathan said in his testimony, and we've all come to see, that we were under God's condemnation. We were dead in trespasses and sins. The Bible makes that very clear when it says in Romans, the wages of sin is death. We had the sentence of death, physical death, of course, came into this world because of the fall, because of sin, but we had a condemnation upon us, a death sentence upon us. It's upon all mankind, apart from Christ. But most don't see it. Most don't realize it. It was only God's grace that showed us our sin and enabled us to feel that weight of God's wrath and condemnation on it, that we deserved the wages of our sin, which is eternal death, eternal punishment. It says the wages of sin is death, but, and we're really thankful as Christians for that word, but. Because it points us to the grace of God. It says, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus. You see, all true life comes from Christ. Not only physical life, but especially spiritual life, and especially that life that he gives to his sheep, his people. Again, back to Colossians, it says, for you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. A new nature has been given. We have now eternal life. And the moment we believe we get that eternal life, it's a present tense, not that we will have eternal life someday. We will be in heaven someday. But we have eternal life right now, the instant that we believe. We die with Christ to the condemnation of the law, to being slaves to sin and under Satan's dominion. We die and we're set free to newness of life through Christ. It says, when Christ, who is our life, appears, You see, all as believers, everything in that spiritual life is tied to Christ. And that's the most important thing. If you don't get anything else this morning in this briefer message, I hope you get that. That because we live with an eternal life, a new life in Christ, that everything is tied to Him. And he's the source for us. He's the one who gives us life, spiritual life, and keeps it up in us. And we need to continually, as it says in Colossians here, to be setting our minds on things above, not on the things of the earth. Seeking Christ where he is, at the right hand of God. In doing that, we'll do well. It's through his death that he gives us life. It seems like the contradiction, right? Death came upon the world and Christ came into this world not to live and reign as a king, but to die. Something that most who came to his own people didn't see it. They couldn't understand why the Messiah would die. They still, today, there are millions that can't understand. They stumble over that fact that the Messiah would have to die. But that's how Christ would give that life. He had to die. being united to Him, and that's a key understanding of the whole thing about our life in Christ, is that we're united to Him. We're in union with Him. That's why the baptism is such a beautiful picture of what is reality. We can't see these spiritual realities. We can read about them, we can believe them, right? But we can't see them. But the baptism pictures our death with Christ. That's why Paul writes, for you died. We die spiritually to these things, these things that keep us in bondage to Satan's power, to the condemnation of the law. We're no longer under condemnation. Romans 8, 1, right? It says, there is now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus. Why? Because we've died. We've died with him and we've been raised to newness of life. We have real, eternal, spiritual life in Christ. It's a reality. But it's a hidden thing. We all look like we look. Some of us don't look so good, others look better than others, but you would never know any difference, right? You can't see the eternal life like beaming out of us or anything like that. We look like normal people and yet we're not. We believe what the Bible says, what Paul wrote in Galatians and Jonathan quoted in his testimony. He says, I've been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me and the life which I now live which we're all living in the flesh, right? I live by faith in the Son of God, and this is the best part, who loved me. and gave Himself to me. Isn't it great to be able to say that? And know it's true. You can say, He loved me and gave Himself for me. That's the joy that faith gives. Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and in His work, His finished work for us. It's true. He's done that work. We're in union with Him. We've died and we have life now in Christ. In John, the Gospel of John, we already read John 1.1. and through 4, the Gospel of John is full of Christ, as the whole Bible is, but especially it shows us that it over and over again tells us this eternal life that we have in Christ. John 5 begins by saying, In 521, for as the Father raises the dead and gives life to them, even so the Son of Man gives life to whom He will. It's never our life, our spiritual life is never apart from Christ. It always comes by Christ. It's the work of the Spirit. You may be saying, well, what about the Holy Spirit and regeneration? Yes. The Holy Spirit regenerates us. He brings us to new birth. He makes us new creatures in Christ. He gives us that repentance and faith by which we lay hold of Christ and are justified fully in Him. No condemnation and we're united to Christ and we're made children of God, heirs, joint heirs with Christ. The Holy Spirit is the power behind that work, the one who works, the person who works that out. But it's through Christ. It's always through Christ. He goes on to say, from death to life. That's what the Bible teaches. It teaches we were dead, spiritually dead. We're walking around. We're looking good. We're doing our own thing. We're sitting left and right, rebelling against God. But we're really dead. We're doing that because we're dead spiritually. And Christ has given us, now Christ, has given us life, life from the dead, just like being raised, just like he raised Lazarus from the dead, from the tomb. He said, Lazarus, come forth. And what happened? Did Lazarus have any choice? No. He came out with his grave clothes. And that's what he did for us spiritually. He called us each by name and brought us life, eternal life. Jesus goes on to say in John 10, the thief does not come except to steal and to kill and to destroy. I have come, he says, that they may have life. and have it more abundantly. That's a precious, precious promise. Precious. It pictures true life. You see, the life we lead before Christ is not really life. We were pleading with some of the residents at the rescue mission on Friday night and trying desperately to convey the gospel. And you can tell that they just don't see at that point. God may be working, They think that they're doing what they have is life. Now you wonder, how could somebody who's in a rescue mission, a shelter with no bed, no home, can think that that's very good? But it's the way of sinners. We think we're having a good time with our sin. We think we're enjoying life. We want to enjoy life to the fullest. But that's not real life. Jesus' words are true. He says, I have come that they us, his sheep, may have life and have it more abundantly. It's something we can't even explain. Did you ever try to explain to somebody what this life is like? You know, he says, well, what's different? How do you know? Well, it's kind of hard to express, but we know it, because we know it by faith, right? We know we live in Christ by faith, and our life is true life. And it's going to only get better. That's the glory of the gospel, right? It only gets better. We become more and more like Christ, and one day we're in glory without the sin, without the struggles, without the sickness and the battles with sin, and we're in glory forever and ever, and with the Lord forever. And this life is through his death, he goes on to say, the good shepherd gives his life for the sheep. You see, we would have no life, none, if it wasn't for him laying down his life, giving his life for us. That's through his suffering, his shame, his bearing the wrath of God, on himself has enabled us to be forgiven and cleansed from all of our sin and have his righteousness, his perfect righteousness put upon us for all eternity. Jesus said it. He said in John 11, I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me, though he may die, he shall live. What does that mean? It means that we're going to die physically. But we're alive. We have eternal life. We will never really die. We'll just go to sleep. We'll be with the Lord in an instant. We'll be with the Lord. And he says, whoever lives, we live in him and believes in me. We continue to believe. It's not just like we believed, well, way back when, and now we don't have to believe. We continue to live in him and believe in him. Whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die." We'll never see the second death. We'll die physically, but we'll go right to be with the Lord. No condemnation, no sins to pay, no purgatory to work off our sins or suffer off our sins. Instantly with the Lord. It's a great truth, and it's a great gospel for sinners. If you don't know that in truth, then come to Him. Come to the Savior for that life. You don't have life now, and you need this eternal life from the one who is the resurrection and the life. And he ends it with, do you believe this? It's by faith, right? We can't see it. You can't see the eternal life. We weren't there when Christ died. We didn't see him on the cross. We didn't see him when he was buried. We didn't see him when he rose from the dead and appeared on the earth. And when he ascended into heaven, we didn't see it. But we have it here in the word of God. And we believe it. Do you believe it? Do you believe that you need this eternal life? And if you do have believed, if you are a believer, do you believe that you have it? You do. We're his sheep and we have life in him. Again, he says, Christ who is our life. And it's so important that we focus on Christ being our life and the life giver because we'll We'll easily stumble and fall and get discouraged and depressed unless we focus, as it says, if you've been raised, since you've been raised to Christ, seek those things that are above, where Christ is. We always got to be looking to Christ. He is the life giver now. He gave it to us at the beginning, right? When we believed on Him, He gave us eternal life, and He keeps it up too. Because we would fall away like that. our faith would fail. But not only does he give the life initially, he keeps that life going. He's the author of it, right? He's the author and finisher of our faith, he's the author of physical life and eternal life, that spiritual life, and he's the one who keeps it up. He ever lives now at the right hand, it says, he's sitting at the right hand of the throne on high, ever living to pray for you and me. And again, He's the source of the life. He's the one we need to focus on, Him and what He's done for us. We need to set our minds more and more to be able to die to self and live to Christ, mortifying the deeds of the flesh by His grace. And one day, one glorious day, that work will be complete, right? He says, He who has begun, and Christ is the one who began it, He who has begun a good work in you, no better work could he have done, will complete it in the day of Christ Jesus. There's no chance that he's going to leave off his work and not bring us to glory. We become discouraged. I don't know about you, but I have days that I struggle with, am I even a Christian? Has this really taken place? And we all Christians have that experience. We struggle with sin. We struggle with unbelief. We have doubts. We have fears. But the Bible is true, and what Christ has done is true. He's our life. And it doesn't depend on how we feel. So much of what we do is done by feelings and emotions, and they're an important part of who we are. But we can't be driven by them. Our faith is not in how we feel. It's not in what we do or how well we do it. It's one day we do well and the next day we do terrible. We're down, we're discouraged, we can't even see any light. But we're just as much saved on that day as we are when we feel so spiritual and have great times of fellowship with the Lord, but only by focusing on Him. that he's our life. We need to believe it, we need to trust it, we need to trust his word, that Christ is our life, and he's the source, he's the one who keeps it up, and we can't depend on anything but him. You need to look continually, looking back to him, not trusting in anything else. I dare not trust the sweetest frame, the hymn goes, but wholly lean on Jesus' name. It's a life of faith. We don't walk by sight. We walk by faith, faith in the word of God, the promises of God, the word of Christ. When he says in John 14, 6, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father but except through me. Thomas didn't know where he was going, and Jesus did. And he said, I go to prepare a place for you, that where I am, you will be also. That we believe by faith. And it's that faith that we live in, as we read again in Galatians. So we need to be more and more dependent on, more and more focused and tied into Christ, and less and less caught up in this world, having our minds, he says, the wise Apostle Paul, the wise Holy Spirit, through the Apostle Paul said, set your minds on things above, not on the things of the earth. The more we focus on these things that we see around us, the more we focus on our feelings and emotions, they'll betray us. Other people may let us down. Our circumstances are going to be difficult. One day, we'll be in good circumstances. The next day, we'll be struggling and have trials and tribulations. But we can never, never take our eyes, our minds, our hearts, our faith off of Christ. Again, that's our life. He is our life. Our life is hidden in Him. He's our all in all. And we need Him. And we need so much to do that, to depend on Him, to trust in him for you died and your life is hidden with god in christ when christ who is our life appears then you will also you will appear with him in glory it's a promise promise from the word of god a promise that will surely come true the life that's given by christ is a precious life all life is precious and we have to consider that those babies in the womb have life through Christ. They're created in the image of God. From the moment they're conceived, Christ became a real human being when he was conceived in the womb of the Virgin Mary, a miraculous conception that we can't even understand fully. But he was there in the womb, and every baby in their womb is a real life, has life from God and has value. And we must consider that life precious, consider the life of all human beings, Even the most wicked sinners, as precious, having value because they're created in the image of God. And even those who are supposedly handicapped and disabled, their life has value, their precious, precious lives. And on into old age, the ones that are barely, can't even think anymore and are in a nursing home. And what good is their life, you would say? Wouldn't they be better off dead? No, their life has value until the Lord takes them home. We need to value that life, right from the womb to the grave, and value it because it's life through Christ. And especially, we need to value spiritual life in Christ, and labor and pray for those to come, for others to come, and have that eternal life that we know, that abundant life, the life that's True life, abundant life. Jesus said that they may have life and that they may have it more abundantly. And if you've never come, if this is not your experience, then come. Come and experience this life from Christ. Don't go anywhere else. Don't depend on your good works. Anything you can do, you have to realize you have to just throw yourself on the mercy of God. There's nothing you can do to save yourself. The wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life. Receive that gift. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Turn from your wicked ways and turn and come to Christ. He will save you. He says, he who comes to me, I will never cast away. If you've come, if you want this life, this eternal life, come to the Savior. And us who have come, we need to day by day look to Him and to nothing else, because He is our life, right? Our life is hidden in Him. He is our life. Let's not, a life is not of feelings, a life is not of emotions, a life is not of good or bad circumstances, a life is nothing but Christ. And in Him, and in what He's done for us, He laid down His life that we may have eternal life in Him. Let's pray. Father, we thank You for Your Word. Thank You for the ministry of the Holy Spirit, for opening our eyes, for bringing us from death unto life. Father, we've passed from being dead spiritually and given eternal life as a gift. We thank you for your amazing grace. Father, we sang that hymn before. Amazing grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me, like us. And Father, we were lost and now we're found. We were blind and now we see. We praise and thank you. We pray that many more would find the Savior, even this morning, Father, even this day, that some would come, would see their need of Christ and flee to Him. He's the one who sacrificed His life on the cross, who bore your wrath. in his own body on the cross, who shed his precious, precious blood for sinners so that sinners could have life in him. Father, let not that be missed by those who are here. Open eyes and save, Father. And for us, who he has loved and given himself for, Father, we pray that we would ever be jealous of that fellowship and that communion between us and the Lord Jesus Christ that we would be less and less focused and drawn away in the things of the world. Father, such foolishness that grabs our heart on a daily basis. Help us to love and look to Christ and to be willing more and more to put aside our sins and to serve him wholeheartedly. Father, we pray for your glory. We thank you for your goodness and we pray now that as we Come to the Lord's table, that you would bless that. We want to focus our hearts and minds on the Lord Jesus Christ once again. Help us and bless our whole day, Father, as we have a full day in Christ and worship of you. We pray that you'd bless now in Jesus' name. Amen.