What and Who Do You Believe?
Read John Chapter 5 and SOAP verse 24
24 “I tell you the solemn truth, the one who hears my message and believes the one who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned, but has crossed over from death to life.”
John 5:24
Always Amazed
How is it that I can read this as though I’ve never read it before? Jesus drew me in from the moment “He saw” the disabled man, (6). This phrase is recorded about Jesus many times throughout the Gospels and it always attracts me to Him and makes me want to be more like Him. Not only did He notice the man but, like with the woman at the well, He cared enough to engage the man in conversation. Perhaps the man did not know who Jesus was because unlike the official from chapter 4:43-54, who asked for his son to be healed, this man didn’t ask to be healed but immediately was.
There are so many other things to delve into concerning this passage but for the purpose of our study on ‘eternal security’ we will turn our focus to verse 24 where Jesus is in a conversation with the Jewish leaders who were persecuting Him because he healed the disabled man on the Sabbath and calling God His own Father (16-18).
In verse 24 Jesus zeros in on the Gospel message. He addresses them in a very serious way concerning the responsibility of each person who hears the “His message”. Those who believe Jesus’ message, and believe the One (God) who sent Him, will have eternal life and not be condemned but cross from death to life. He stresses the point about believing that God sent Him because that is where part of their problem with Jesus lay. No matter what they believed about Jesus they did not nor would not accept that He was truly the son of God. Jesus wanted them to understand the seriousness of their denial and went on explaining it for sometime
I encourage you to read the entirety of the story to see/hear the beauty of Jesus’ stance with His persecutors. Jesus spoke truth to the leaders and continually pointed them to the Father and the relationship they had with one another. You will read of His desire for even His persecutors to be saved, (34) – and why they truly didn’t accept Him for who He was and so much more. It’s truly one of the most beautiful and heart wrenching pleas of the Gospel I ever remember hearing.
What Then is Our Response to Be?
I sat looking at the page of words now highlighted, circled, underlined, and the columns filled with thoughts and words that flowed from my pen as I read – and the only response I could manage as I basked in the thought of His words that had left His heart on His sleeve – were these three bullet points … to the praise and glory of His name!
- I believe that Jesus is the Christ
- I believe that He was sent by God
- I have passed from death to life and am ETERNALLY SECURE
My Prayer
Father, how great you are! From the beginning in the garden You said You would send a Savior and You were true to Your word – beyond our wildest imaginations – sending not just a savior but Your only begotten Son. This I believed and was saved! Praise the name of Jesus and You, the One who sent Him because You so loved the world. Amen and Amen!
Me From the Inside Out –