Lay Hold On Eternal Life

Greetings in the name of Jesus! This is Rob Haymes. This is 15 Minutes With Jesus. Wherever two or three are gathered together in My name, Jesus said, there am I in the midst of them. To those of you who love Him in truth: mercy unto you and peace and love be multiplied.

Father, we thank you; we praise you! We thank you for this program. Thank you Lord. We bless your Holy Name, in Jesus’ Name, thank you Lord! Thank you Father. Thank you for this day. Give us ears to hear what the Holy Spirit is saying I pray, in Jesus name. Today’s program is called, Lay Hold On Eternal Life. Let’s turn to 1 Tim 6:3, If anyone teaches otherwise and does not consent to wholesome words, even the Words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to the doctrine which accords with godliness, he is proud, knowing nothing, but is obsessed with disputes and arguments over words, from which come envy, strife, reviling, evil suspicions, useless wranglings of men of corrupt minds and destitute of the truth, who suppose that godliness is a means of gain. From such withdraw yourself. Now godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. I believe the Holy Spirit is prompting me to say to someone, If you are following a person; a preacher who supposes that godliness is a means of gain, you need to withdraw yourself from that person. There are many preachers like that; there are many so-called pastors. Pastors are supposed to be feeding God’s sheep, not stealing from them. Verse 8, And having food and clothing, with these we shall be content. But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and harmful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows. But you, O man of God, flee these things and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, gentleness. Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, to which you were also called and have confessed the good confession in the presence of many witnesses. I urge you in the sight of God who gives life to all things, and before Christ Jesus who witnessed the good confession before Pontius Pilate, that you keep this commandment without spot, blameless until our Lord Jesus Christ's appearing, which He will manifest in His own time, He who is the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone has immortality, dwelling in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen or can see, to whom be honor and everlasting power. Amen. 

What did Paul instruct Timothy to do? Let’s look in 1 Tim 4:12, Let no one despise your youth, but be an example to the believers in word, in conduct, in love, in spirit, in faith, in purity. Till I come, give attention to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine. Do not neglect the gift that is in you, which was given to you by prophecy with the laying on of the hands of the eldership. Meditate on these things; give yourself entirely to them, that your progress may be evident to all. Take heed to yourself and to the doctrine. Continue in them, for in doing this you will save both yourself and those who hear you. We need to give attention to reading; to exhortation, and to doctrine. You have to lay hold on eternal life; you have to hold on to it.  

Let’s turn to 1 John 5:11, And this is the testimony: that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. Notice: Eternal life is in Jesus. He is in you, and you are in Him, and you are continuing in Him. He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life. These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may continue to believe in the name of the Son of God. If you don’t continue to believe, you can lose your eternal life; you can end up being damned.  The Scripture says, That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness. 

You can take yourself away from the Lord; no one else can, but you can. And here’s how: John 15:1, Jesus said, I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit. You are already clean because of the Word which I have spoken to you. Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me. I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. One of the most foolish things that Christians do is to think that they can do something without Jesus.  If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned. If you abide in Me, and My Words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you. By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples. As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love. If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father's commandments and abide in His love. Jesus said, If you continue in My Word, then you will be My disciples indeed, and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free. Jesus’ Words are the doctrine. As you continue in His doctrine, the Holy Spirit will be guiding you in it and teaching you, and as you continue on believing in Him: believing His Words to do them, He will be setting you free from the things that would keep you from eternal life, namely sin. Jesus went on to say,  Most assuredly, I say to you, whoever commits sin, or practices sin,  is a slave of sin. And a slave does not abide in the house forever, but a son abides forever. Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed. So you must continue in the Son and lay hold, hold onto eternal life. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say we have fellowship with Him and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light: He is the light of the world, continuing in the Word of God and in His doctrine, we have fellowship with Jesus and the Father, and with one another, and the Blood of Jesus cleanses us from all sin. Let he that names the name of the Lord depart from sin. The Blood of Jesus purges our conscience from dead works to serve the Living God. Paul said he exercised himself daily to have a conscience void of offense toward God and man. That’s exercise; that’s labor: a labor of love. Jesus said, If you love Me keep My commandments and you shall abide in My love, even as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love. He was not talking about the Law of Moses. He was talking about a much greater righteousness: the righteousness which is by faith in Him; in His sacrifice upon the Cross and His resurrection from the dead, and being led by the Holy Spirit to keep His Words every day in every situation, denying ourselves and taking up our cross: the place where we suffer and die to our own desires; our own self-will, and following Him, being led by the Holy Spirit; yielding to Him as He leads us in following Jesus to do the Father’s will. 

It’s not easy. As I said in a previous program, love is hard. It was not easy for Jesus to go to the Cross for us, and it is not easy for us to bear our own cross for His name.  The Apostle Paul said, I die daily. You have to fight the good fight of faith to lay hold on eternal life; you have to give attendance to reading, to doctrine, to prayer and fasting, and continue in the faith, and not be moved away from the hope of the Gospel.  Satan is trying to move you away with lies and false prophets, distractions, cares of this life, trying to seduce you away from the truth. You have to love Jesus more than any person or anything in this life if you are going to lay hold on eternal life.  

Let’s turn to Luke 14:25, Now great multitudes went with Him. And He turned and said to them, If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple. And whoever does not bear his cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple. If we love any one of these, or anything else, more than  Jesus, we cannot be His disciples. This is the cost; this is the narrow gate that leads to eternal life. It is difficult; it is hard, but it is also glorious. For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not sit down first and count the cost, whether he has enough to finish it—lest, after he has laid the foundation, and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, saying, This man began to build and was not able to finish. Or what king, going to make war against another king, does not sit down first and consider whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand? Or else, while the other is still a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks conditions of peace. So likewise, whoever of you does not forsake all that he has cannot be My disciple. Salt is good; but if the salt has lost its flavor, how shall it be seasoned? It is neither fit for the land nor for the dunghill, but men throw it out. He who has ears to hear, let him hear! Heb 4:14, Seeing then that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. 

Prophecy: 

I Am God Almighty! Those of you who are listening to My servant Rob this day, consider My Word; consider My Son; consider His sacrifice for you on the Cross: I loved you and I sent Him to bear your sins in His own sinless body on the Cross. He bore them; He took your sins; He paid the price for your sins. Now come to Him! Look to Him!, and He will save you from your sins, and you will be free from them, and you will inherit eternal life with Me, says the Father. Look to Me now! Turn to My Son; look to Him! Call upon His name: His name is Jesus! 

Amen! Thank you Lord! Amen, thank you Lord! Amen, thank you Lord! Hallelujah, Father!

Thank you for reading this message from 15 Minutes With Jesus at roberthaymes.com . May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with all of you who love Him in truth, Amen.