Talk—Shawn Allan
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SAS Lords help.
I got it. And father.
Shall we say it reverently? Wow, that was just.
So uplifting to have him sing like this.
For many of us the first such like in a couple of years. And what a joy to think that Jesus loves me.
We do commit this little talk into like here. We pray that what is said will honor the Lord Jesus and then what is said will be as perhaps needs meets the needs of each are here and all we give thanks that we can be here tonight. We do ask for help in the name of the Lord Jesus, Amen.
Well, I just have to say it, that was absolutely out of this world. I just.
I didn't want that him saying to stop.
The subject I have here tonight is life.
And.
That may seem kind of broad, but I was thinking of it in connection with a song that my children sometimes sing and they'll forgive me for quoting a part of it says something like this. A father's love, a brand new life, a mother's prayer, shooting stars, ocean air. These are the times that make us realize life is beautiful.
I did ask that the Lord help me not be emotional in this talk because I have a tendency that way. Try hard to not be.
I just wrapped up what for Lynn and I will be our our last time as a family, just the four children and us, our oldest daughters getting married.
And.
Lots of beautiful moments.
Just walking on the sand.
Seeing some beautiful views today. Enjoying ice cream in Charleston.
And I was thinking, too, of a look back on my own life.
Coffee with my sister.
When I was a teenager.
Beautiful hymn sings like we just had. I'm so glad that our Father in Heaven at the tent work in Stellarton. So many beautiful moments at 1:30 McKay St. Beautiful hymn sings at the Thomas House in New Jersey.
Where we lived when we first started out in life.
And those are beautiful things to remember in life.
There are other times in life that are much more difficult.
And they constitute what you might say life as well.
And what I would really like to bring before you tonight quickly, because I know we don't have a lot of time, is really summed up in a verse in John chapter 17.
About what life really is.
The verse is verse ¬ John 17. This is life eternal that they might know the the only true God.
And Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.
This is what life is, life eternal to know the Lord Jesus Christ.
And this was the prayer of the Lord Jesus right before he went to the cross. It's been the prayer almost daily of mine own for my children over the last number of years.
That they would know the Lord Jesus.
Not intellectually.
But know him as a real person, active in their life, working in constant love and care in the good times and the bad.
And what has really gripped my soul in the last while is to consider John the Apostle, who was a young man.
At the time that the Lord Jesus walked in this earth.
And he was struck by the testimony of the word become flesh. And I really just want to read a few verses that we all are very familiar with with.
That speak of what John saw and heard and touched.
00:05:03
Experienced.
John chapter one and verse 14. The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory. The glory is of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.
I'd like to turn to a verse in John chapter 20.
And verse 30.
Many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book.
But these are written that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you might have life through his name.
I'd like to turn over to the next chapter, verse 20, chapter 21 and verse 24.
This is the disciple which testified of these things and wrote these things, and we know that his testimony is true. And there are also many other things which Jesus did, the which, if they should be written everyone, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written.
I'd like to read another verse in John chapter 19 in connection with what John saw.
Verse 34. One of the soldiers with a spear pierced his side.
And forthwith came their own blood and water, And he that saw it bear record, And his record is true, and he knoweth that he saith true, that ye might believe.
The apostle John wrote down those things and testified those things which he witnessed in his life, and they struck him so powerfully. He was a witness.
To the turning of the water into wine at Cana. He was a witness to the woman.
We don't know. I guess he wrote certainly of the of the experience, and he was there later that day when the Lord met that woman at the well and there told her of the water of life.
He spoke of the storm on the Sea of Galilee and the one who proclaimed peace bestial and caused the storm to come to an end. He wrote of this feeding of the 5000 and that one who could feed the hungry souls.
He wrote of Lazarus.
And of how the Lord Jesus could weep and sorrow with those who were sorrowing, and then raise the dead to life again.
He wrote of the man, the pool of Bethesda, who was helpless and acquired help from the Son of God.
He wrote of the nobleman's son who was sick and was healed. He was witness to the cross and what transpired there, and the soldier taking that spear and piercing the side of the Lord Jesus, and forthwith came their own blood and water, and he proclaimed.
That all the books in the world could not possibly contain the substance of the Word, who was made flesh, and came and dwelt among us, so that we could behold His glory.
He was the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.
And so I'd like to go over now to the Epistle of John and Justice, read a couple of verses.
First John, chapter one.
And it says.
There verse one, that which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon in our hands, have handled of the word of life. For the life was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and show unto you that eternal life which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us. There it is again.
John saying.
I've seen it. I bore witness to it.
I want to show unto you the eternal life which is with the Father and was manifested unto us.
And at the end of the Epistle of John.
It says.
In the last sorry in verse 20 of chapter 5, and I know I'm covering a lot of verses here.
John could write We know that the Son of God is come and has given us an understanding that we may know Him that is true and we are in him that is true even in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life. This is the true God.
00:10:21
And eternal life.
In John chapter 20, the gospel, it says these things were written that you may believe, and I trust that each one here there may be some who have not believed. You have believed, and therefore you've come into the good of that John verse. John 316 For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever should not believe in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
But this epistle was written to those.
Have eternal life.
And the point of the epistle is for them to understand and come into the knowledge.
Of what eternal life really is.
We may be possessors of it.
But are we enjoying it?
And the reason that I just want to bring this to you tonight.
Is that it's so important that we come to know.
Who the Lord Jesus is so that we can fully, you might say, enjoy that position that we are in. Our life is in the sun, but how much are we enjoying that life? And I say that to myself.
You know, I spoke earlier of those moments in life that are beautiful, and I believe God gives us these things, you might say, as a shadow.
Of what he wants us to come into in terms of.
The enjoyment and knowledge of all that he is. We have these glimpses these yearnings.
That we find in marriage.
One of the most beautiful moments of my life was the day that I married Lynn, that we enjoyed. When a child is born into the world, there are little glimpses, as it were, of what God intended us to enjoy in himself. Far greater, far greater is to fully come into the knowledge of life in the sun. And you know, there's a man in the in the assembly I grew up in. He stepped into eternity.
Just less than 48 hours ago and he has come into the full realization of the light.
Of the sun.
Can we enjoy a little of that here now? We can, we can, we can enjoy it in the hymn sing. But you know, I would like to also suggest that I spoke of those beautiful moments in life. Many of you have endured many difficult moments in life, especially in the last few years. I've enjoyed a few myself, Moments of loneliness, of pain.
Of perhaps abandonment, perhaps sorrow in the loss of somebody hurt.
From somebody who has wronged you.
In those moments, life, and I believe this, although I struggle sometimes to really grasp it, can be beautiful when we realize that those things have been brought into our lives by the Son of God who is molding us into His image. And He works tenderly and graciously with us in the dark moments as well as in the beautiful moments, as it were, because He loves us.
Because he loves us.
And, you know, I just like to close with a little bit of what John testified in the last book of the Bible in Revelation. We can just read a couple verses there.
It says in verse chapter one and verse two of Revelation who bear record.
John who bear record of the word of God and of the testimony of Jesus Christ and of all things that he saw. And if we go over to chapter 22.
What did John see?
He showed me in verse one a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb.
And it says a little bit further down, there shall be no night there, and they need no candle, neither light of the sun, for the Lord God gives them light, and they shall reign forever and ever. Verse eight I John saw these things and heard them.
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And when I had heard and seen them, I fell down to worship.
John saw the word of life.
He saw him at the cross, the blood flowing down from his side. He was witness at the end of his life in seclusion on the Isle of Patmos to the Great White Throne, that judgment seat for perhaps someone here who may not yet be in the possession of eternal life. He saw the throne in heaven around which the millions were gathered.
And the one there who was the Lamb, and a greater him sing than we could ever.
Imagine.
He saw these things and he recorded them in Scripture, and this is the substance of life.
This is what life is. I was challenged recently to think about. I was in New York last week, and the throngs of people milling around in that city and to step back for a moment and think beyond what they looked like. And to think that there were souls of men, multitudes of men, each one in this room, a living, eternal soul destined for the glory.
Or possibly for a lost eternity.
Yes, the Word was made flesh, and he lived among us.
And we are going to see him one day.
And we can enjoy His presence in our lives.
This is life.
And that's really what makes life beautiful.
I stand here is one not who is in the proper enjoyment of these things.
But in a world where?
Where Satan is trying to destroy our minds.
Trying to discourage us with a flow and tide of evil that sometimes looks like a tsunami.
We do not need to be hopeless.
Because we have the Lord Jesus by our side, and He is the one who can preserve us in all of that.
And so that is my desire, especially for the young people, it's my desire for my children that not only would you believe and have eternal life, but you would know the one who is eternal life.
And so I just want to say it's wonderful to be here tonight.
Wonderful to have this him sing Mark and Rhoda. It's just great to sing along again here and I just trust that these meetings will be such that would give us a glimpse of the Lord Jesus in all His beauty.
Let's just give thanks.
Our God and our Father.
We little understand.
All that has been determined for us.
In the love that has been shown to us.
We desire that the Lord Jesus might be made more real.
That we would.
Be occupied with His love, that we would walk in the light.
Because he is in the light.
That we would have fellowship one with another as we walk in that light.
We pray for a blessing on these meetings. We pray for our children. We pray for each other.
That we would be preserved. We sometimes sing that song, O Lamb of God still.
Keep us close to thy peers inside. It's only there in safety and peace we can abide.
We ask these things in Jesus name, Amen.