When I was young, there was a
saying, God is my co-pilot. I don't want that. I want what
we just heard. Jesus, Savior, pilot me. I've entitled this message, Past From Death. to life. There's a passage from death to life. In 1 John 5.13, you don't need
to turn there, I just want to read this. 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. Now eternal life is not eternal
existence. Everybody has that. But that's
talking about the life of God in your soul. Past from death
to life. Now go back to our text in John
chapter 5 verse 24. I want to read it again, and
before I read it, let me remind you that this is a part of the
Lord's answer to the Jews. Verse 16, And therefore did the
Jews persecute Jesus, and sought to slay Him, because He had done
these things on the Sabbath day. In their mind, He broke the Sabbath. And they wanted him dead. And look at the Lord's answer.
But Jesus answered them, my father worketh hitherto. And I work. You think there's
no works on the Sabbath? You just don't understand the
Sabbath. My father is working here on the Sabbath and I'm doing
the same thing he does. Verse 18, therefore, the Jews sought
the Moor to kill him. Because not only had he broken
the Sabbath, but said also that God was his father, making himself
equal with God. Now they heard exactly what he
intended for them to hear. I am equal with God. And the only way one can be equal
with God is to be God. Now he's continuing his speech
to them. And in verse 24, I just want
to look at this one verse. It's made of seven parts. First, verily, verily. Second, I say unto you. Thirdly, he that heareth my word. Fourth, and believeth on him
that sent me. Fifth, hath everlasting life. Sixth, shall not come into condemnation. Seventh, but it's passed. A passage has been made. It's
passed from death to life. Verily, verily. I love it when the Lord says
that. You know, he's the only one that I know of who ever used
language like this. Verily, verily, truly, truly. Now, the Lord never employed
the use of hyperbole, nor did he use unnecessary words. Truly, truly, This is a statement
of paramount importance. This is absolute truth doubled
to make sure we're here. This is the Lord saying this
truly, truly, this is absolute truth. Is there such a thing? Absolutely. Verily, verily, I say unto you. This is not Todd saying this. I say unto you. When the Lord had concluded the
Sermon on the Mount, Matthew gives us this summary, and it
came to pass when Jesus had ended these sayings or words, the people
were astonished at his doctrine for he taught them as one having
authority. It's not like the scribes. Now when it speaks of the Lord
speaking as one having authority, it's not talking about his deep,
booming voice. I don't know what his voice sounded
like. It might have been high. I don't know. That's not talking
about speaking in an authoritative way. That says his very word
recommended itself as nothing less than God's word. He spake. as one having authority. The Lord never said, thus saith
the Lord. He said, I say unto you. In the Sermon on the Mount, on
at least six different occasions, he said, you've heard it being
said of them of old. And then he would actually quote
a scripture. This wasn't just men saying, thou shalt not kill. Thou shalt not commit adultery.
He quoted the scriptures. And he said, you've heard of
them said of old, saying, and then he said, but I say to you. He's saying, when he makes that
statement, I'm the only one who has the authority to tell you
what the Bible means. That's the authority he claims.
No one else can do this, only me. I'm the one who says what
this means. Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that heareth my word. He that heareth my word. Now, something I want to remind
you of. Faith cometh by hearing. Faith cometh by hearing. You know, you can't hear when
you're talking. Can't do it. You can't hear as
long as you've got something to say. You can't hear as long
as you have some way to vindicate yourself, or justify yourself,
or provide an excuse for yourself. You'll never hear. I think of
that scripture in Romans chapter three, verse 19. Now we know
that what thing soever the law saith, it saith to them who are
under the law, that every mouth may be stopped. You've got nothing to say. You've got nothing wherewith
you can justify yourself or vindicate yourself. You have no excuses. Your mouth has been stopped.
You're ready to hear. Not until then. He that heareth. Faith cometh by hearing. Hearing is the gift of God. It's
as impossible for you to hear by yourself as it is for me to
preach the gospel by myself. It's not gonna be done. God's
gotta bless it. And you can't hear any more than
I can preach except God give you hearing ears. The Lord said, he that hath ears
to hear. Not everybody does. He that hath
ears to hear, let him hear. He that heareth my word. His word is the word of God. Because He is the word of God. He that heareth my word. His word is the mind of God. In the beginning was the Word. The Word was with God as a distinct
person from God, and the Word WAS God. Listen to this scripture
from Revelation. John says, And I saw heaven opened,
and, behold, a white horse, and he that sat upon him was called
Faithful and True. And in righteousness doth he
judge and make war, His eyes were as a flame of fire, and
on His head were many crowns. And He had a name written that
no man knew but He Himself. And He was clothed with a vesture
dipped in blood, and His name is called the Word of God. Revelation 19, verses 11 through
13. His Word is the divine message. He that heareth my word. This is what Paul said to Timothy
to preach. He said, Timothy, preach, what? The word, the gospel message,
the divine logos, the mind of God, the gospel of Jesus Christ. Whatever the word declares, preach
it. Does the word declare that God is God, absolutely sovereign,
the first cause of all things? Preach it. Does the word declare
that men are dead in sins? Don't soften it up, preach it.
Whatever the word declares, preach. He that heareth my word, his
word is the divine message. Now, turn over to John chapter
six. Verse 59. These things said he in the synagogue
as he taught in Capernaum. We're going to look at that message
in weeks to come, a very glorious message. Many therefore of his disciples,
these were not heathens, they were people who claimed to be
his followers, when they had heard Notice this is in italics. It's
better off without it really. When they had heard, they heard
exactly what he said. They said, this, what we just
heard is an hard saying. Unsympathetic to humanity. That's how they interpreted it.
Dry, harsh. Yeah, I've heard that you preach
the truth, somebody says, that's harsh, that's dry. Well, it is to you. It is to
you, but it's not harsh. It's not dry. It's the word of
God. But this was their interpretation
of what they heard. This is a hard saying, harsh. Who can be expected to listen
to this? We don't like hard sayings. Verse 61, when Jesus knew in
Himself. You know, He knows everything.
He knew in Himself. When Jesus knew in himself the
disciples murmured at it, he could feel, he could hear this
low grade of dissatisfaction with what was said. Murmuring.
We don't like this. Who does he think he is? Why
is he saying these things? We find this offensive. We don't
like this. When Jesus knew in himself that
his disciples murmured at it, He said unto them, doth this
offend you? Are you offended by what I've
just now said? Now verse 62, I love this. What, and if you shall see the
Son of Man ascend up where he was before. Now you're seeing
me saying this, speaking from the earth, and you're offended.
When you see me speaking from the throne of God, you'll really
be offended then. Now understand this, the gospel
is offensive to the natural man. Everything Christ said is offensive
to the natural man. Where's the offense? Paul called
it the offense of the cross. Look what the Lord says in verse
63. It's the spirit. that quickeneth the flesh profiteth
nothing. You see, you're going to have
to be a spiritual man before you can hear spiritual words.
You're going to have to be a living man before you can hear living
words. Now look what he says about his
words. The words that you find harsh and disagreeable, the words
that I speak unto you, they are spirit and they are life, utterly
spiritual. A natural man can't receive them.
Life, a man dead in sins cannot receive them. For me to receive
his words, the spirit of God is going to have to give me life. Now, He that heareth my words. The word of the gospel. Now turn
back to our text in John chapter 524. Here's what happens when
you do here. There's not something subjective.
I'm not talking about some kind of feeling you need to feel in
order to know that you've heard the word of God. There's something
by which we can tell if we have heard. The Word of God. This
is what happens when somebody actually hears the Word of God. Look in verse 24. He that heareth
my word and believeth on him that sent me. Now, if I ever hear the Word
of God, this is what I will do every time I will believe. on him who sent the Lord Jesus
Christ. Now that is so important. He believes on him that sent
me. When the Lord defined faith in
John chapter six, verse 29, he says, this is the work of God,
that you believe on him whom he hath sent. I came down from heaven, the
Lord says in John 6 38. Not to do my own will, but the
will of him that sent me. John chapter 17, verse eight,
when the Lord is describing all of his people, he says, they
have believed that thou hast sent me. Now let's talk about
that for just a couple of minutes. Why did Christ come into the
world? Because the Father sent Him. Do you believe that? The Father sent Him. He was eternally the Son of God
before He came. The Father sent Him. Now it would be useless to even
consider that if we don't have some understanding of why the
Father sent Him. And we don't have to Speculate
about it. We don't have to give our guess.
Here's what I think. No, the word of God tells us exactly
why he was sent by the father. Look in John chapter four. Verse 34. Jesus saith unto them, my meat
is to do the will of him that sent me and finish his work. John chapter three, verse 17, for God sent not his son into
the world to condemn the world. The world was already condemned. You and I were already condemned.
God didn't send his son to condemn you, you already were. But that
the world through him might be saved. That's why he sent his
son into the world. Look at John chapter six, verse
38. For I came down from heaven.
not to do mine own will, but the will of Him that sent me. And this is the Father's will,
which has sent me, that of all which He hath given me, I should
lose nothing." But raise it up at the last day. Now there's
a people, there's a people given to him by the Father. All the
Father giveth me. This is the elect. Those that
God chose before the foundation of the world to be saved. The elect. I love the God of
election. I love election. Somebody says,
well I've had this criticism and I'm not ashamed of it. You
preach on election too much. No, I don't. You can't preach
on it enough. Now, if all I preached was election, didn't preach the
rest of the gospel, of course, there's a problem there. But
when the Lord talks about why the Father sent him, he says,
this is the will of him that sent me that of all which he
had given me, I should lose nothing. When Jesus Christ said, it is
finished, every one of those the Father gave him were saved. That's God's will for him to
save those the Father gave him. And if one of them is lost, He's
a failure, because he failed to do what the Father sent him
to do, but he said, this is the Father's will which sent me,
that of all which he hath given me, I should lose nothing. This
is the glory of his atonement when he died on Calvary's tree. It wasn't making a roll of the
dice, hoping somebody ended up believing on him. He atoned for
the sin of everybody he represented. When he said, it is finished, Even saying that takes the tension
out of my body. It's finished. It's finished. My salvation was accomplished
outside of anything I've ever done, thought, or intended to
do. He finished it. And then he says in verse 40
of John chapter six, and this is the will of him that sent
me. There's that word sent again. This is the will of Him that
sent me, that everyone which seeth the Son and believeth on
Him may have everlasting life, and I'll raise Him up at that
last day, the day of judgment, the resurrection day, I'll raise
Him up. Now, everyone understand this about faith. Faith is seeing
who He is. Do you see who He is? He's God. He's man. The God-man. Faith is knowing who He is. It's seeing who He is. Faith is not believing you're
saved. Let me repeat that. Faith is
not believing you're saved. Faith is believing who He is. He that seeth the Son, and here's
what everybody does who sees Him, you'll believe on Him. If
you ever see Him, you'll believe. There's never been anybody that
did see Him that did not believe. You see who He is, you will believe. I mean, you can't not believe
when you see who He is. That person who sees the Son
and believes on Him has everlasting life and shall not come into
condemnation. Now, back to our text. Verse 24, verily, verily, I say
unto you, he that heareth my word and believeth on him that
sent me, here's the fifth statement, hath. Hath. Means he's got it. Hath. everlasting life. And let me
say, that's not talking about the longevity of life. That's
not even talking about eternal existence. That's talking about
the very life of God in your soul. That's talking about being
born of the Spirit. Now, you don't believe and then
have life. You have life. and believe. You can't believe without life.
God gives you life and you believe. Now that doesn't mean there's
some kind of millisecond in time where you have life but you don't
believe. Life and faith come at the precise
same time. You live, you God says live and you believe. And you have everlasting life. You've been born of the Spirit.
You've been born of God. Peter calls it partakers of the
divine nature. Being made a new creature in
Christ Jesus. Faith is not the cause of life.
Life is the cause of faith. And the person described as living
says things like this, I live, yet not I. But Christ liveth
in me. And the life that I now live
in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me
and gave himself for me. That's the assurance of the believer.
He loved me. He gave himself for me. Paul went on to say in Galatians
2, 21, I do not frustrate the grace of God for righteousness
came by the law. Christ died in vain. This life was not there before,
but it is now. Back to our text in verse 24. Verily, verily, I say unto you,
he that heareth my word, the gospel, and believeth on him
that sent me hath everlasting life, and here's the sixth statement,
and shall not come into condemnation. No condemnation now, I dread. I am my Lord's and he is mine,
alive in him, my living head, and clothed in righteousness
divine. He's not going to come into condemnation. There's a reason for that. You
know why I'm not going to come into condemnation? And this is
true of every believer. Because there's nothing to condemn
me for. And do you hear that? If Christ doesn't condemn me,
there's a reason. There's nothing to condemn me for. I have no sin. Christ put it away. Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? It's God that justifieth. Who is he that can condemn? It's
Christ that died. Yea rather that's risen again.
Who's even at the right hand of God who also maketh intercession
for us. The reason that one shall not
be condemned is because there's nothing to condemn him for. Now
I love in this I am looking forward to preaching from it in John
chapter 8. We have the story of the woman
taken in adultery. She was taken. She was guilty. I mean there was no question
whatsoever of her guilt. Why were there? Turn to John
chapter 8. Verse 53 of chapter 7, and every
man went into his own house, and Jesus went into the Mount
of Olives. You know, everybody else had their house to go to.
He had to go out and sleep outside. He didn't have a home like everybody
else did. He had nowhere to lay his head. He would be what we
would call a street person. He didn't own an inch of ground,
humanly speaking. Had no armies. had no money,
yet the most glorious person to ever live. They went to their
own house. Jesus went into the Mount of
Olives, and early in the morning, he came again into the temple.
He'd been in the garden all night, and he comes back to the temple
early in the morning. And all the people came into
him, and he sat down and taught them. And the scribes and Pharisees, Me and you. Me and you. We fit in with these
people awful well, I'm afraid. The scribes and the Pharisees,
they're always good at spotting out other people's sins. They're experts at it. And they
spotted another person's sins. And the scribes and Pharisees
brought unto him a woman taken in adultery. And when they had
set her in the midst, they said unto him, master, this woman
was taken in adultery in the very act. There's no question
about her guilt. We caught her red handed. How? Were you looking in the window?
Peeping Tom's? Was this a set up? And another
question I have, where was the man? Both were to be stoned. But here
we have these men bringing this woman in. Can you imagine how
embarrassing that would have been to her? They drag her in,
in a church service, a public worship service, and throw her
down. I didn't know she had any clothes on. And said, this woman
was taken in adultery in the very act. Can you imagine her
humiliation? She's been exposed. She's embarrassed. She's scared. She doesn't know
what's gonna happen to her. She knows that the law does say
such should be stoned. This, verse six, said they, tempting
him, that they might have to accuse him. They thought we've
got him in an unwinnable situation. If he says stoner, we can say,
where's your mercy? Where's your grace? Where's forgiveness? If he says let her go, where's
your respect for the law? The law says stoner. They thought
they had him in a position where anything he said would condemn
him. How stupid. They're dealing with
him who is God. Him who is all powerful. Him who is all wise. But Jesus, verse six, stooped
down and with his finger wrote on the ground as though he heard
them not. What was he writing on the ground?
We don't know. Anything is a speculation. But I kind of think, this is
my speculation, I think he was writing, thou shalt not commit
adultery. Not she should not commit adultery,
but thou shalt not commit adultery. And I love the way it says he
was doing this as though he heard them not. Aren't you listening
to us? No, no. What you say has no weight. He wrote on the ground as though
he heard them not. But look what verse seven says. So when they continued asking
him, he lifted up himself and said unto them, he that is without sin among
you. And I don't think he's talking
about sin in the generic sense. I think he's talking about this
sin. This sin. Remember the Lord said
to look upon a woman, to lust after her in your heart is to
commit adultery already. Anybody that hadn't done that?
This sin. Let him first cast a stone at
her. Go ahead and pick it up and throw
it at her. Obey the law. And again, he stooped down and
rode on the ground. Now there's two times in the
scripture I'm stealing my thunder for when I preach on this and
whenever it is, but I hope you'll have forgotten it by then. But
there's two times in the scripture where the finger of God is said
to write. You remember what they are? Thou shalt not commit adultery. And the second time was in Daniel
chapter five, where he said to that heathen king, The writing
that was on the wall written by the finger of God, he was
trembling in fear. Belshazzar, thou art weighed
in the balances and found wanting. Thou shalt not commit adultery
and thou art weighed in the balances and found wanting. Verse 9, and they which heard,
being convicted by their own conscience. They weren't convicted by the
Holy Spirit, because if they were, they would come to Christ for
salvation. They would come to Christ for
mercy. And they wouldn't have been turned away if they came
to Christ. But they were convicted by their own conscience. They
went out by one, beginning at the eldest, even unto the last,
and Jesus was left alone and the woman standing in the midst.
Boy, there's a good place to be. Alone with the Lord Jesus
Christ. When Jesus had lifted up himself
and saw none but the woman, he said unto her, Woman, where are
those thine accusers? Hath no man condemned thee? Well,
she looks around, there's nobody there. Nobody there to condemn
her. Nobody there to accuse her. She
said, no man, Lord. And Jesus said unto her, neither
do I condemn thee. Now, wait a minute. Wasn't she
guilty? No. There was nothing to condemn
her for. Christ had put away her sin. It was expunged from the universe. There was nothing to condemn
her for. It's what the Bible calls justification. Go and sin no more. Back to John chapter five, verse
24. Here's the last thing. 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. Dead in sins. Dead, graveyard dead in sins. No ability to save yourself,
dead. He's passed from death to life. You now see the beauty of Jesus
Christ. You now see the gospel. You have passed from death to
life. You have a life now that when
you die, that life will never die. It will go on living, beholding
the face of the Lord Jesus Christ in righteousness. You've passed
from death to life. Let's pray. Lord, we ask in Christ's name that this would describe every
individual in this room by your spirit, by your power, for your
glory, that we might hear your word, believe on you who sent
your son, Lord, that we might have this everlasting life, that
we might not be condemned, but pass from death to life. Lord, take this word and bless
it for your glory. In Christ's name we pray.