I invite you to take your Bibles
and turn with me to John chapter 5. I titled the message this morning,
Passing from Death unto Life. There is a passage. A passage. All men are dead. That is what
Ephesians chapter 2 said. And you hath equipped them who
were dead. Dead in trespasses and sins.
born spiritually dead, depraved before God. Dead men. Dead under
the condemnation of God. God judged us as dead men. You go down here to Angola Prison
and you'll find a section down there where there's men who are
dead. They call it death row. Dead. They've got no promise of life.
They've got no hope. Only hope they have is of a sovereign
pardon. Sovereign pardon if the governor
calls, gives him pardon. Pardon. Passing. There's a passage from
death unto life. There's spiritual death, spiritual
life. How does a man get from one to
the other? How did he get from where he
is? How did Israel get from where they were to where God promised
them and purpose for them to be? There's a passage from death
unto life. Now let's read together the text
beginning in John 5 verse 19. Then answered Jesus and said
unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, The son can do nothing
of himself but what he seeth the father do. For what thing
soever he doeth, these also doeth the son likewise. For the father
loveth the son, and showeth him all things that himself doeth. And he'll show him greater works
than these that you may marvel. For as the father raiseth up
the dead, and quickeneth them, even so the Son quickeneth whom
He will. For the Father judgeth no man,
but hath committed all judgment unto the Son, that all men should
honor the Son, even as they honor the Father. He that honoreth
not the Son honoreth not the Father which hath sent him."
Now here's my text. 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." Ain't that what that says? He, by the grace of God, has
made a passage from spiritual death to spiritual life. There's not a more serious or
necessary thing for you to hear than what I have prepared for
you this morning. The subject is everlasting life. That's what we're talking about.
everlasting life, resurrection out of death, deliverance from
the judgment of God. They shall not, shall not enter
into condemnation. What a promise! Now, we might be wrong about
a lot of things and suffer no real harm. We'll suffer some
harm. Don't ever get it in your head
that being wrong, well, if I'm wrong about that, it won't matter.
Oh yeah, it'll matter. It'll matter. It'll have an effect
on your life. It will. No blessing in error. No blessing in error. But we
might be wrong about a lot of things and suffer no real harm.
No real harm. But I tell you, if we're wrong
here, we lose our soul. We lose our soul. That's just
how serious it is. As your pastor and one who's
assigned to watch for your souls, I beg you this morning to listen
to what I have to say. Speaking and hearing is how sinners
are called to repentance and faith. That's how they're called. Faith cometh by hearing. By hearing. You have to hear.
If thou be the Christ, I read it to you awhile ago. Tell us
plainly. Tell us plainly. He said, I told
you. What happened? They didn't hear.
Faith cometh by hearing. Hearing by the Word of God. And
speaking and hearing is how men are called to faith and repentance.
What the Lord is doing in this passage is preaching to men.
Preaching is a declaration. To preach is to take the Word
of God and say, this is what this means. That's what preaching
is. It's to take the Word of God
and say, this is what election is. This is what redemption is. This is what sanctification is. This is who Christ is. It's to
make assertions. It's to assert the meaning of
the Word of God, the message. To preach is to take the Word
of God and declare its meaning and message to men. It's to declare
the Gospel of Christ dogmatically. What's that mean? That means
don't back up. That's what that means. Don't
turn aside. Don't back up. This is it. This is it. Yeah, but what about
it? No what abouts. This is it. This
is it. It's to declare the gospel of
Christ dogmatically and without reservation to all those who
are gathered by the sovereign providence of God to hear your
voice. That's what it means to preach.
I never know who I'm going to preach to in here. I know I've
had faces that's been here ever since the day I walked through
the door. I have other faces that came at other times. I have
some that come periodically because they live a long ways away. I
have some that show up here and never come back. Just show up
for no real reason. I mean, just way down the road,
three or four things happened and they came and they listened
and they left. And we've had that so many times. Preaching is about God's sovereign
gift of grace to chosen sinners. He said, it's given unto you
to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God. How'd you get
it? It's given to you. Given to you. Why won't they
believe me? Why won't they believe what I
tell them? Why won't my own sisters and brothers believe me when
I sit down and tell them the truth? Why don't they believe
me? I don't offer any harm. I'm not offering any threats.
I'm not offering any danger. All that I have to say to you
concerns the blessings of God. You're already cursed. Things
are not going to get any worse. They're already as bad as they
can get. You're on your way to hell. I don't come to bring threatenings.
Christ said, I didn't come to bring judgment. You're already
judged. I come to give life. I come to
point you to the Savior. I come to talk to you about the
grace of God. Why do they get so angry? What's
upsetting them? He told His disciples, it's given
unto you, but it's not given to them. That's why. That's why. Preaching is about God's sovereign
gift of grace to chosen. It's given unto you to know the
mysteries of the kingdom. I give unto them eternal life. That's what I read to you from
John chapter 10. The gift of God is eternal life. To preach is to declare Christ
and His sovereign appointments. To preach is to set him forth
before men as the one mediator between God and men. To preach
is to declare Christ in his offices of prophet, priest, and king.
To preach is to tell sinners that Christ is the way, the truth,
the life, the shepherd, the bread, the true vine, the firstborn
from the dead. To believe on Christ. That's
what it is to preach. Then a man hears what you preach,
and God will or will not give him an understanding. He will
or he will not. But I tell you this, he'll never
believe anything until he understands. And you can explain yourself
to death, and you can't make him understand one simple truth.
It's a revelation of God. But when that revelation comes,
you understand. You understand why it must be
by grace and not work. You understand why salvation
must be the gift of God, because you can't produce it. To believe on Christ is to find
in Him all that your guilty, wretched, sinful soul needs. It's to trust Him and Him alone. It's to bow down to God's authority
in Him alone. It's to look to Him alone. And it's to rejoice in God our
Savior. That's what it means. So when
we're reading these passages, I'm going to preach to you from
the 24th verse of John chapter 5. He that heareth my word, and
believeth on him that sent me. You understand what I'm trying
to say. This is what it means to preach. This is what His Word
is. And then there's a believing
that word. There's an understanding. There's a perceiving. There's
a revelation of God. And then there's obedience to
it. A divine obedience. That word came not. Paul said,
when I preached to you, you didn't receive it as the word of men.
Well, that's just your opinion. Paul said, that ain't the way
you received it. Huh? That's the way about 99% of them
received it. But he told those Thessalonians,
he said, I know your election of God. And he said, when I preached
to you, my Word came in power. My Word was accompanied by the
revelation of God. And what I preached, what I stood
and held the Word of God and said, this is what this Word
means. This is what this Word teaches. He said, you received it as it
was indeed the Word of God. And when Christ is talking about
in this 24th verse receiving His Word, Brethren, this is His
Word. This is His story right here. His story. And I said all that to say this,
He that heareth My Word. The Word of God is the message
of God to chosen sinners. And He begins with this declaration,
Whosoever believeth. In 1 John chapter 5, He begins
with this. Now I want you to listen to what
He says. Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born
of God. He is born of God. He said this is the record. He
goes on in chapter 5 of 1 John and he said this is the record
of the Holy Trinity in heaven. This is the witness of God in
the earth. This is what the whole thing
is all about. that Jesus is the Christ. He's
the Savior. He's the appointed one. He's
the sent one of the Father. That's what this Gospel declares.
In 1 John 5, verse 9, He said, If we receive the witness of
men, the witness of God is greater. For this is the witness of God,
which He hath testified of His Son. It's not a man's opinion. It's not just a man's declaration. This is the testimony of God. It's the very record of the Trinity
in heaven. It's the very manifestation of
the message to men in Christ who appeared, brought life and
immortality to light through the gospel. He that believeth
on the Son of God hath the witness in himself. He knows the message.
He understands it. You don't have to carry around
a little card and somebody says, well, what do you believe? You
say, well, wait a minute. He says, well, number one, we
believe. No, he's going to tell you what he believes. He knows
what he believes. He knows what he believes. He
that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself.
He that believeth not God hath made him a liar, because he believeth
not the record that God gave of his Son. That's what this
is, God's record. And this is the record that God
hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in His Son.
That's the message of the book. That's what it says. It doesn't say that God has a
wonderful plan for your life, that's not what it says. It says
God has given to us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He that hath the Son hath life,
he that hath not the Son of God hath not life. These things have
I written unto you, that believe on the name of the Son of God,
that you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may
believe on the name of the Son of God. He that heareth my word. That's what Christ says over
in that 24th verse. Not going to be a believer until
there's a hearing. You have to hear it. And then he says secondly, and
believeth on him that sent me. Listen to how the Apostle John
concludes that fifth chapter that I just quoted to you. He said in verse 20, And we know
that the Son of God hath come, and 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. This is the true God. Why I want
to hear any more about Christ, I want to hear about God. We
need to talk about God. Well, you can't talk about God
apart from Christ. No man has seen God at any time.
No man has the slightest idea who God is apart from Christ.
Christ came forth from the bosom of the Father. I and the Father are one. The only thing we know about
God is what we see in Christ, what we know in Christ. Believers read and hear the Gospel
of Christ, and in hearing and reading, they discover the true
and living God. They see in this man, Jesus Christ,
a divine mediator, one who represents both God and me. In Christ, they
see the redemptive will of God accomplished and fulfilled. They
understand that Christ wasn't just another man rising up out
of the depravity of men, but a man who came down from heaven,
sent, sent of God. He's the God-man. He's God and
man in one person, declaring, revealing, manifesting God. We
see the redemptive will of God accomplished and fulfilled in
Him. In Christ, we learn about a reconciliation
that in no way compromises the holy character of God. God remains
God, perfectly holy, perfectly just, yet able to show mercy
to the chief of sinners. His love, His mercy, His grace
and justice all maintain a righteous harmony in the salvation of His
elect. And they see in Christ, they
see Him the Sent One. Sent of the Father to save a
people for the glory of His own name. Isn't that what Ephesians
1 declares? Chosen of the Father before the
foundation of the world. Given to His Son, the Lord Jesus
Christ. Accepted in the Beloved. Sent
by the Father to accomplish His eternal purpose of grace. And
to see Him is to see the Father. Who was it? Was it Philip that
said, show us the Father? Just show us the Father. Show
us Him, and we'll be satisfied. He said, have you been so long
time with me, have you not seen the Father? The Father sent Him. Hebrews chapter 1 said He is
the express image of the Father. The brightness of the Father's
glory and the express image of His person. To see Him is to see the Father.
To know Him is to know the Father. To love Him is to love the Father. Paul said God was in Christ reconciling
the world unto Himself, not charging their trespasses unto them. Jesus
Christ came into this world to save sinners. That's what Paul
said. Sinners, vile, putrid, filthy sinners. Rebels, enemies
of God. And Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians
6 that the unrighteous... Listen to this. What a statement.
The unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God. Who's he
talking about? What's he talking about, the
unrighteous? Well, he tells you. Listen to this. Who are the unrighteous,
fornicators, idolaters, adulterers, effeminate, abusers of themselves
with mankind, thieves, covetous, drunkards, revilers, and extortioners? And such were some of you. Such were some of you. But He
said, you're washed. It won't take a lot of washing
to wash them things away. Huh? Take a lot of washing. Such were
some of you, but you're washed. You are sanctified. And you are
justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit
of our God. washed in the precious blood
of the Lamb, washed by spiritual regeneration, and washed by the
revelation of God in Christ. Christ is the sent one. He's
the sent one. Sent of God to do for us what
none could do for themselves. And then here's the good news
of the Gospel. The Lord hath laid on him. Who
did? The Lord did. Laid on him the
iniquity. What a word! Didn't say laid
our faults, that's a lesser term. The Lord has laid on Him the
iniquity of us all. Every idle thought, every wicked
imagination, every foul deed charged to His account and paid
in full on Calvary's cross. Scripture said it's God with
whom we have to do. All-seeing, all-knowing, everywhere
present, God before which all things are naked and open and
known. Now, if God did not sin, the
Lord Jesus Christ, if Jesus of Nazareth is not the Christ of
this book, and if He's not sin of God, it's God with whom we
have to do, then everything He did was of no importance at all.
You see what he is saying there? He that heareth my word, and
believeth on him that sent me. Are you with me so far? He that
heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me. Now listen,
hath everlasting life. He has it. He has it. It is in his possession. It belongs
to him. How did he get it? God gave it
to him. How did he give it to him? Through hearing, through
believing, through a divine regeneration, through the calling of God, through
His Spirit and the preaching of the gospel. He has it. Now, to have everlasting life
means to be a present possessor of it. That's what it means.
It means it's mine. or yours by the God-given right
of grace. It means that they've been given
the right and privilege to become the sons of God. They'd heard
of the sons of God. They'd heard about it. I've been
hearing those promises since I was just a little fellow. One day God called me to hear
it in my heart. And God gives me the right and
privilege to become a son of God. It means they've been born, not
of blood, nor the will of the flesh, nor the will of man, but
of God. It means that they're risen with
Him through the faith of the operation of God who hath raised
Him from the dead. It means that he is an heir of
God and joint heir with Christ and has the title to the full
blessings of the Father. But that's not all. That would
be enough, wouldn't it? That's not all. He said, furthermore,
they shall not come into condemnation. What about if they stray down
into Sodom? Huh? What about if they vex their
conversation, vex their daily walk with the filthy conversation
of the wicked? What about if they choose the
wrong direction and go down into a vile place like Sodom and there
raise their children and expose their wife to all that? What
about that? You know what he called Lot?
That righteous man. That righteous man. Lot was a believer. And as a
believer, he shall not come into condemnation. Yeah, but what about if he gets
to be king and his head gets swollen and he thinks he can
have anything he wants? And he goes up on the rooftop
and looks down there on his best friend's house and sees his wife
taking a shower. He says, I want her. And I'm
willing to kill him. I'll put him to death. I'll plan
his murder and send him out. He shall not come into condemnation. Ain't that what it says? That's
what it says. And you can go on and on and
on with your water bath. Well, I tell you, we take people's
name out of the kingdom of God like it's nothing. Why? Because we've seen Him here or
seen Him there or seen this or seen that. But that's not how
the believer, that's not where his hope is. My hope is not in
what I do. My hope is in Christ. I hope
God will restrain me from doing what I know I will do if He don't.
But that's not my salvation. My salvation is in Christ. My
righteousness is in Christ. My hope of forgiveness is in
Christ. My hope of sonship is in Christ. John 10, 28, I give unto them
eternal life, and they shall never perish, neither shall any
man pluck them out of My hand. My Father which gave them Me
is greater than all, and no man is able to pluck them out of
My Father's hand. If you've been plucked, You've
been plucked out of your own hand. You haven't been plucked
out of His. That's right. Listen to this. There is therefore
now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk
not after the flesh, but after the Spirit, who walk with the
mind of Christ. No condemnation. None. And then David said this, and
this was the man I was talking to you about. So he knew what
he was saying when he wrote this down. Inspired by the Spirit
of God, looking back over his own past, he said, blessed, blessed
is the man to whom God will not charge sin. He won't do it. He can't do it. Because that
man's sins have been charged to Christ. They've been charged
to Christ. Oh, but you say, everything would
be well if I could just know whether or not I'm a believer.
That's what I want to know. That's what's giving me trouble.
Everything would be good if I could just decide this thing of whether
or not I'm a believer. I can see what you're preaching.
I can see what you're teaching. I can see the promises of God
plainly declared in the Word of God. The gray area is whether
or not I'm a believer. Let me see if I can give you
some help. What is the basis of this wonderful
state of blessedness? I just declared to you the blessing.
What a blessing. Heirs of God join heirs of Christ. No condemnation. But what's the
basis? What's the basis? Well, first
of all, he begins with a double barely. That word means surely. He doesn't say it once. Russell
says it twice. Barely, barely. Yeah, but what's the basis of
that? I say unto you. Well, that's it. That's the basis. I say unto you, will you take
the Lord Jesus Christ at His Word or not? That's where it's at. That's where it's at. Will you
take Him at His Word or not? Surely, surely, I say unto you,
That's the basis. Is the word of the Son of God
sufficient to satisfy our doubts and fears? Huh? He tells us in Hebrews,
God said, because I could swear by no greater, I swore by myself. Is that good enough? Is that good enough? To believe
on Christ is to hear the gospel and believe on Him who sent it.
It's not how strongly you believe. Abraham was strong in faith,
giving glory to God. Lot wasn't. Peter wasn't. And I could show you a hundred
others in there who wasn't. Strong in faith. It's not how
strongly you believe. It's not how much you believe.
Well, I believe this, I believe that, and I believe the other.
So did the Sadducees, so did the Scribes, so did the Pharisees.
Not how much you believe. It's not how much you believe
you believe. And that's where most of our
trouble is, isn't it? It's not how much you believe that you
believe. It's an understanding of what
you heard and obedience to it. That's what it is. The text has
nothing to say about anything else but faith. Can't find anything
else there, can you? Nothing about baptism, nothing
about church confirmations, nothing about sacraments, nothing about
moral reform. He that heareth my word, and
believeth. Believe. Now let me ask you some
questions. Do you believe that Jesus Christ
was sent into this world by God? Do you believe God sent Him here
on purpose? Where did He come from? How come
Him to appear at this certain time? How come all these ancient
prophecies about Him? Do you believe God sent Him? You believe He sent Him as a
representative, as a substitute, as a preacher, as a prophet,
sent as a propitiation, sent as the Savior of sinners. Do
you believe that? Did He do what God sent Him to
do? That's the real question. Did
he do what God sent him to do? God sent him to save, did he
save? God sent him to redeem, did he redeem? God sent him to
reveal, has he revealed himself to you? Did he do what God sent
him to do? Did he put away sin by the sacrifice
of himself or did he just make it down payment? Did He rise from the dead and
ascend to the Father? Did He send the Holy Ghost unto
the redeemed? Does He sit even now ruling and
reigning for His elect at the right hand of God? Do you believe
that He can save to the uttermost those who come unto God by Him?
Do you believe that? The man or the woman who believes
on Christ according to the promise of the Son of God is passed,
passed from death unto life. Because a natural man won't have
it. He won't receive the thing. He won't receive the testimony
of the Spirit of God. The whole of antichrist religion
would have you to believe that salvation is upon your shoulders. according to what you do, according
to what you say, according to what you think. That salvation,
though it be began by God, is all up to you. But the Scripture said salvation
is of the Lord. It's not our work and fickle
faith that saves, but the object of our faith and the Savior of
our soul. In fact, it's in our weakness
that God's power and glory sings. He chose the weak things of the
world to confound the things which are mighty. He chose the
weak things on purpose. You know, the prophet came down
to David's house and they looked at all the sons, every one of
them, big, strong, mighty, wise, all these sons of Jesse. And
the prophet said, it ain't none of these. Well, I got this one
little ruddy boy. He wasn't even considered in
the running. He said, go fetch him. Yup, that's the man. That's the
man. Paul said, when I'm weak, then
am I strong. I cannot imagine a more pitiful
man than the blind man in John chapter 9. He didn't He didn't
even know. He said, I don't know who that
man was. I don't know. I don't know who he was. He said
he was a prophet. I took him at his word. He told
me where to go, what to do. He said, here's what I know.
Now I'm going to tell you what I know. Are you ready? I was
blind and now I see. That's what I know. What do you
know? You don't have to be a theologian
to be saved. A man need know only enough to
trust and obey the Son of God, to hear His words and believe
on Him that sent Him. The man or woman who hears the
gospel of Christ and finds in Him the strength, the ability,
the wisdom, and the righteousness of God and says, sink or swim,
heaven or hell, come what may, He's my only hope. That man's
passed from death unto life. He's passed. He's made the passage. Why do I believe that Jesus Christ
is my Savior? Because the Father has sent His
Spirit into my heart, convincing me of my sin, of His righteousness,
and of judgment satisfied. Because of a regenerating grafting
into that true vine. Bringing forth the fruit of the
Spirit, love, joy, peace, faith. Listen to this. Paul said, examine
yourselves, whether you be in the faith. Prove your own selves. Know you not your own selves,
how that Jesus Christ is in you, except you be reprobate? Those
are strong words, ain't they? Can a man trust and not know
it? Boy, not very many times in my
life, but a few times I've had to trust somebody. I mean trust
them. I mean trust them. I didn't like
it. I didn't like it. I didn't have
any part of it. It was all on them. All on them. And I know, I can tell you the
times, I knew when I trusted. Do you know? Can a man trust and not know
it? Can a man find satisfaction and not be aware of it? Can a man come out of darkness
into light and not see the difference? Can a man be raised from the
dead and still have the character of a corpse? I'm telling you
there's a difference between believing and not believing.
There's a difference. There's all the difference in
the world. What's my hope? Is Christ my hope? Is that my
hope? Do I go off on some big spiel?
Somebody says, well, what do y'all believe? Do I go off on
some big spiel? No. I'll tell you what I preach. I preach Christ. What do you
believe? I believe Christ. I'm like that. He was a vagrant, a young vagrant
boy, one of the old preachers talked about. And every time
they'd ask him, he said, I'm just a poor sinner and nothing
at all, and Jesus Christ is my all in all. Yeah, but what do
you believe? He said, I'm just a poor sinner and nothing at
all. Jesus Christ is my all in all. Yeah, but what's the basis of
your hope? I'm just a poor sinner and nothing
at all. Jesus Christ is my all in all. That's my theology. That's the
foundation of my hope. Christ is my hope. And if Christ
is my hope, then I pass from death unto life. And they shall
not come into condemnation. Oh, I tell you, when God gathers,
raises the dead, gathers all that's had a life in this world,
all from Adam to that day, and gathers them all before His great
white throne of judgment, I tell you, if you don't rejoice now,
you'll rejoice then. If you think about it, you'll
rejoice now. They shall not come into condemnation. Jesus Christ, the Judge of the
quick and the dead, will stand in that day and justify every
saved soul by His own blood and righteousness. Shall not. Oh my, what hope we have. But
I tell you, sometimes I think we make it so difficult, men
can't, they don't know what you're talking about. I'm talking about
Christ. He is all. He is all. But there's
some understanding that goes with that. That's what the gospel's
for. That's why we preach it. So that you can understand what's
going on. And when you do, you'll believe
on Him. You'll believe on Him. And you
won't have any trouble telling somebody what you believe. You
can tell. Our Father, we thank You for
the message of Your sovereign grace in Christ. We pray that You'll press it
onto our hearts. And in seeing Him, perceiving
Him, rejoicing in Him, that we'll be thankful, that we'll seek
to be like Him. Live like we expect to be like
Him. Purify our souls through the
hope of Christ. We ask it for Christ's sake. Amen.