Grace Fellowship Church Pastor/Teacher Jim Rickard Tuesday, Oct. 18,

Doxology Praise God, from whom all blessings flow; Praise Him, all creatures here below; Praise Him above, ye heavenly host; Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.— Amen.

New Memory Verse New Memory Verse John 17:4, “I glorified You on the earth, having accomplished the work which You have given Me to do.”

John 17 The Great High Priestly Prayer of our Lord!

John 17:3 Experiential Eternal Life!

“Now this is (keeps on being) Eternal Life.”

God Has Eternal Life: 1. God the Father, John 5:26; 6:57; 1 Thes 1:9. 2. God the Son, John 1:4; 5:26; 6:35; Phil 2:16; 1 John 1: Holy Spirit, John 6:63; Rom 8:2.

Eternal life is given by Christ to the believer positionally, but there is more to it than just that.

“Namely, that they might keep on knowing You, the only true God.”

“They may know” - GINOSKO Pres. Act. Subj. 3 rd Sing. “Come to know, recognize, or perceive.” It has the sense of knowing experientially.

Principles: 1. Eternal life is a personal relationship with God gained by experiential knowledge of Him.

2. It is not the cause of eternal life nor the prelude to eternal life; this experiential knowing is the very eternal life itself.

3. The only way you can know the Father is by studying His Word, by learning Bible doctrine.

4. The knowledge of “the only true God” is through Jesus Christ, John 14:6-9.

5. If you study the Word of God, you will know the Father.

5. If you study the Word of God, you will know the Father. 6. If you do not study the Word of God, you will not know the Father.

7. If you do not know the Father, you will not know Eternal Life experientially here in time.

8. Those who know God possess experiential eternal life.

“It includes all the impressions on the mind and life which a just view of God and of the Savior is fitted to produce.” (Albert Barnes)

“The only true God”, is used in opposition to all false gods. It is in opposition to idols, not to Jesus Himself, who, in 1 John 5:20, is called “the true God and eternal life”.

“And Jesus Christ whom You (God the Father) sent.”

In this prayer Jesus makes six references to being sent by the Father, (vs. 3, 8, 18, 21, 23, 25). In each, the word “sent” refers to “being commissioned”.

IESOUS CHRISTOS The One “sent” is no mere creature, because only deity can reveal deity. Neither mere man nor any other created thing can fully relate who God is.

We must come to know His Son, Jesus Christ. He is the revealer of the Father. John 1:18; 6:46; 1 Tim 6:16; 1 John 4:12

“To know Him is to have a just, practical view of Him in all His perfections as God and man; as a mediator; as a prophet, a priest, and a king. And to yield our entire soul to Him.” (Albert Barnes)

John 17:3, “Now this is (keeps on being) Eternal Life. Namely, that they might keep on knowing You, the only true God and Jesus Christ (the Messiah) whom You (God the Father) sent.”

Principles: 1. Eternal life is the ongoing knowledge of the Father and the Son.

Principles: 1. Eternal life is the ongoing knowledge of the Father and the Son. 2. We must know the Father who is the author of the plan.

3. We must know the Son who is the revealer of the Father and the executor of the plan.

4. The Spirit’s job is to glorify the Son, John 16:14; 2 Peter 1:2-3.

5. Jesus came into the world to give eternal life to men so that they could enjoy and experience fellowship with God eternally. John 1:1-4; 1 John 1:1-3; 5:11-13, 20

1 Tim 6:12, “Fight the good fight of faith; take hold of the eternal life to which you were called, and you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.”

6. Eternal life is not simply endless existence. Everyone will exist somewhere forever (cf. Mat 25:46), but the question is, in what condition or in what relationship will they spend eternity?

Grace Fellowship Church Tuesday, October 18, 2011 Tape # Experiential Eternal Life Great High Priestly Prayer, Part 25 John 17:3, 2 Peter 1:2-3; 1 Tim 6:12; 1 John 1:1-3; 5:11-20 James H. Rickard Bible Ministries 2011