Text: Titus 2:11-13
There is a lot of warfare involved at this juncture where we find ourselves, because we are at the brink of receiving the promise. There is a phase in the journey that pleasing God seems like a burden and we look for reasons to escape from Him and His commandments. But we can journey to the point, like the first disciples did, where our lives say “To whom do we turn to? You alone have the words of eternal life” (John 6:68).
The hopes we have are the reasons we can either forge forward or draw back. What God desires is to bring our hearts to the point where we would rather die than disbelief the hope of life before us, in a way that if all this were a dream, we would not desire to wake up from it. This is because a man can not live for something he cannot die for.
If we can still fit into the system of this world, then the hope of eternal life is not yet our hope and life. In this season, God wants to persuade us of eternal life. We must realise that the promise of eternal life was not a prayer we uttered or wish we desired; it is the will and purpose of God. It is not an afterthought of God; it is what He willed before the beginning of time.
The seeking of eternal life should be so ingrained in us such that even in our subconscious and our dreams, it is what we long for. Paul was a servant of God (Titus 1:1). This means that he served in the hope of God. The promise of eternal life was made by God before the beginning of time. Anywhere the preaching of Jesus is mentioned, it must be in view and purpose of eternal life.
Jesus is the apostle of eternal life. He came to open up eternal life, which God promised before time bean. “For God so loved the world….” (John 3:16). The present heavens are subject to time, because they will pass away. The fact that they wax old is proof that they are subject to time (Hebrews 1:11). Nevertheless, we should be thankful to God that the promise of eternal life made to us transcends time. This promise is a very important matter in the heart of God, because He who cannot lie also backed up the promise by an oath (Hebrews 6:17).
It is possible for fallen angels to sponsor messages that are against the promise. The promise of eternal life is older than Satan himself; it was made before he was formed. Satan can sponsor doctrines that dissuade the tangibility of the promise. Our consolation should therefore lie in the fact that God did not just promise us eternal life; He also swore by Himself that He would give this promise to mankind.
God backed up this promise by an oath, because an oath is the end of all strife and contradictions (Hebrews 6:16). There are promises men can make without releasing such promises with all of their hearts, but God, willing more abundantly to give this promise, confirmed it by an oath. Knowing that God cannot lie, we can be assured that this promise is as relevant as the time when He made it as it is now. There is only one message that God sponsors. It can be seen in the writings of paul; “one Lord, one message, one hope, one calling”. We must not mix the teaching, preaching and living of eternal life with any other thing.
This generation has been blessed by God to see the essence of everything. It is good to both settle it in our hearts and settle down with the fact that the message of eternal life is the only message. It is necessary to do this by much learning and much doing without putting a time limit to it. There is no next level until a man enters into the promise. Just like a student cannot determine the date of his convocation, so also can no time limit be put on the tutelage of eternal life. We have to wait for the time allocated by God.
Many seek the manifestations of the sons and get it wrong. Manifestation means unveiling. It is important to note that we cannot reveal ourselves. We also do not choose the season of our unveiling or the end of the learning of eternal life. We should settle down with learning, because we have not learnt enough. We must keep it in our hearts that the end of our conversation is eternal life. Therefore, until we inherit it, we are not through with the course of learning.
We need to consider the High Priest of our profession. Jesus was able to achieve the eternal purpose of God in the days of His flesh. This is why God has raised Him as the only model that we should emulate. Anyone that would lay hold of eternal life must follow that path called Christ Jesus. God has ordained it that the only path that would lead to eternal life is the tutelage of Christ.
Jesus clearly showed us in John 14:6 that the destination and the way to eternal life are Persons. It is both important to know where we are going and the way that leads there. When we enter into the administration of life, there are two entities we find: the Father and the Son. These entities must be learnt, but we begin by the learning of Christ. Christ is a learning that we must excel at. This is why Ephesians says “We have not so learned Christ”.
It is important that there is a great resolve in the heart to stay with the teaching of Christ, because it is Christ that would lead us to the destination called God. New Testament ministers have to be strong; they must possess the steadfastness to stay with the preaching of Christ. All other matters that affect the flock are temporary; the pressures around what to eat, what to wear and what to drink may come but they will expire by time. Also, it is possible to preach eternity and expire time.
Again, in this season we must be convinced to stay with the teaching of Christ. God brought a generation to the border of the promise in the Old Testament, but they could not enter because of the confessions of their hearts. This shows us that it is possible to come to the brink of the promise and still draw back. The hope of Christ is eternal life. Until we arrive at the stature of Christ, eternal life is not yet a hope to us.
Eternal life is a secret code in the spirit that cannot be accessed even by angels. The learning of eternal life is the learning of the Father and the Son. This code can only be opened by the Holyghost. At the learning of Christ, the secret code with which we would access Christ is righteousness. At the learning of God, the secret code is salvation. It can thus be summarised that the codes of eternal to be learnt and embodied are righteousness and salvation.
“For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ…” (Romans 1:16). When Christ is preached, the righteousness of God is revealed. This means that Christ is the revelation of the righteousness of God. No one can have the revelation of salvation except righteousness has been taught him. Righteousness is the gateway to salvation. Salvation is the immortality of Christ. It is only Christ that is entitled to salvation. The administration of salvation will not be done to everyone, it is only to those who have excelled in doing righteousness.
Righteousness is the content of the divine nature. This means that God wants men to possess this nature and live in the manner that God will live. This means that God wants to see men respond the way He would respond if He were clothed with a body on earth. God wants to see men respond as He would in an office, in a school environment and in all facets of life. It is righteousness to bless those who curse you and pray for them that despitefully use you.
We must not love our lives. Anytime we respond in jealousy or anger, there is a life we’re sponsoring. This life must be done away with and the life of Christ embraced. There is a frame of mind that makes us believe the way we naturally respond to things is our default person, but this is not so. Those responses are lies sold to us by the devil. Our true life is Christ. We would not be tired of learning and obeying Christ. We would do Christ until His nature is ingrained in us and it is our default personality.