"I give them eternal life…" ...What does that mean- "eternal life"? Is it a ticket you get so

that when you die, you show the angel your ticket and you’re ushered into Paradise? That’s nice, but what good is your ticket going to do you here in this world?

Eternal life is more than a ticket you cash in when you die.

Eternal life is a gift that brings about a big change in you…already, on this side of the grave.

One way to describe it, is to say it’s a robe of light you are given to put on…

You have been given eternal life as a robe of light, but you’ve got to put it on! You’ve got to wear it!

Remember Jesus’ story about the king who prepared a magnificent marriage feast for his son? He sent his servants to tell those who were invited, "The feast is ready. Come!" But they wouldn’t come.

Then he sent other servants to try again. "Behold, I have made ready my dinner. My oxen and fatted calves are killed. Everything’s ready! Come to the feast!" But they made light of it and went off; one to his farm, another to his business. They even took some of the king’s servant’s and beat them up…some were killed.

"Okay", says the king, "we’ll take care of them. Meanwhile, go out to the streets. Bring in as many as you can find. Anybody - bad or good. It doesn’t matter. Bring them!" Now the hall is filled with guests.

The king comes into the hall to see how it’s going and he notices a man who is not wearing a wedding garment. "How can you come in here without a wedding garment? The man is speechless. "Bind him hand and foot and cast him out into the outer darkness."

Now why would the king do a thing like that? Just because the man doesn’t have on a wedding garment?

Well, here’s the point. That man was given a wedding garment. Everybody invited to that feast was given a wedding garment and it was understood that this is what you wear when you come to the feast. But this guy chooses not to wear his. He likes his own clothes better.

Now he can do that if he likes, but not at the king’s banquet. He’ll wear his own clothes in the outer darkness.

The wedding garment stands for the same thing we see in Revelation 7.

"A great multitude which no man could number, from

Not one there that does not have on a white robe.

These people are no longer stained by: all the stupid things

all the evil things

all the pitiful and vain things they did and said in the past. They are covered with a robe of light. A robe washed in the blood of the Lamb. Without this robe to cover and cleanse them, they would burn to a crisp as close as they are now to the throne of God.

Clothed in these robes, they serve God.

"My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me; and I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand."

When you become a follower of Jesus, when you are born of the Spirit, you are given this new robe called eternal life. But it’s up to you to put it on.

It’s surprising how many people say, in effect, "I like what I’m wearing now. Why should I change? I’ve had this coat for years. It may be a little shaggy. It may have a few holes but, I like it - it’s me. Of course, I’ve noticed I have a lot of fleabites. And people are starting to back away from me when I come into the room wearing my favorite coat. I don’t mind the smell. Why should they?"

This "coat" may be comfortable, it may be "me", but, it’s full of fleas. It has an aroma.

This "coat" I like so much is my nature. It’s how I am, how I think, the way I use my time and it’s really not all that different from all the other coats around town.

My "coat" has fleas. Your "coat" has fleas. My "coat" has an aroma. So does yours. And as long as we are wearing these coats, we’re going to self-centered, easily hurt, anxious, and edgy.

But over here on the rack is this new coat I was given by the Spirit of God - Eternal Life. And this new coat is God’s nature. If I put on this new coat, there are no fleas, no smell. It’s clean - washed in the blood of the Lamb. If I put on this coat, I discover I can actually think differently, act differently, just by putting on this new coat.

Put off your old nature which belongs to your former

manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful lusts,

In other words, take off that old fleabag and put on the new coat. You can do it! You alone can do it. Nobody can do it for you.

Many a morning when I wake up and throw some water on my face, it’s like, "Wait a minute! What am I doing in this fleabag again?" The things I was stewing about through the night…the chip on my shoulder as I think about facing another day…why, I am in the old fleabag!

So now I have to take some time to change... "to put off the old nature which is corrupt through deceitful lusts and be renewed in the spirit of my mind"…put on the new nature…lift my heart to God…open my mind to him…clothe myself in the coat he gave me; his nature, his thoughts, to see people as he sees them. I can do that - and what a difference it makes! If I catch myself through the day wearing the fleabag, I can stop and change!

Our goal is to get to the point where we realize we don’t have to wear that fleabag anymore - where we can walk around clothed in a new coat all the time.

Satan could accuse Joshua, the high priest, as long as he was clothed in filthy garments and a dirty turban, but once he put on that new robe and clean turban (a sign of a renewed mind), Satan lost his power over Joshua.

If you at any point in you life, opened your heart to receive Christ:

- you already have a new coat

It’s a matter of constantly taking off the fleabag and putting on the new coat.

There are a lot of well-dressed people out there who are actually wearing a fleabag and there are some poorly dressed people walking around in a coat of dazzling light. It shows in the way they live, in what comes out of their mouths, in the things they consider important.

The fleabag always causes you to be sidetracked from God. You spend your life caught up in your own ego - in the trivial but, when you’re wearing that coat of light, you know what’s important - and you go for it.

Eternal life is a gift from the Lord himself. It’s a robe of light, but it’s up to us to put it on. The king has given you a wedding garment to wear. Don’t leave home without it, and for goodness sake, don’t leave this world without it!