“Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth My word, and believeth on Him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life” (John 5:2424Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life. (John 5:24)).
In this verse we have five precious things. Please take particular notice of them.
The Lord puts HEARING first;
then BELIEVING;
then HATH;
then SHALL NOT;
then IS.
Let Us Look at the Verse Closely.
“Have you ‘heard’ the Word?”
“Yes, I have.”
“And believed on Him that sent Him?”
“Yes, I do believe.”
“What do you believe?”
“I believe that God sent Jesus to take my place, and He died for me, and I accept Him as my own personal Saviour.”
“What is the third thing?”
“HATH everlasting life.”
“Then, do you have everlasting life?”
“Ah! Well, but you see that’s just what I cannot say. If I could only feel sure about that point I should be all right.”
“Look here, supposing you owed the rent of a house and couldn’t pay it, and I go and pay every cent of it, and bring you the receipt. What would make you sure as to the rent being paid?”
“Well, the receipt, of course.”
“Quite so, and you would FEEL happy because you KNEW your rent was paid, and should the landlord again demand the rent, you would not speak to him of your feelings, but produce the receipt. God is holding out His receipt to you, and you are shutting your eyes to it, and wanting to FEEL it, instead of reading and believing it.”
“Oh! It is simply believing. I surely do.”
“Then God says, you HAVE, not you HOPE to get. ‘HATH everlasting life’ is His word, and that is not all; you ‘SHALL NOT come into condemnation’ or judgment. That has all fallen on Jesus, and the believer is in Him, and ‘there is therefore NOW NO CONDEMNATION to them which are IN Christ Jesus.’ ” — “You will never stand before The Great White Throne to be judged for your sins; all your judgment was borne by Jesus on the Cross, and He has so settled that question, that God has raised Him from the dead. This is the good news to the sinner.
“The Lord Jesus in the glory is the proof that the debt is paid, and thus you can never come into judgment, for your sins are all gone.
“But that is not all, for we get another thing: ‘IS passed from death unto life.’ You were in a state of death, ‘dead in trespasses and sins’ (Ephesians 2:11And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins; (Ephesians 2:1)). Now you ARE passed from death unto life; it is not WILL pass but, ‘IS passed.’ How glorious! Quickened together, raised up together, made to ‘sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus’ (Ephesians 2:5-65Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) 6And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus: (Ephesians 2:5‑6)). What a bundle of blessings!”