24 "I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life."
The Truth speaking the truth - holding out to us a transfusion of hope - gives us the following two commands for life both to experience presently and eternally: hear and live, believe and live. I am reminded of the words of the townspeople the woman at the well had witnessed to after they had heard Jesus’ Word themselves:
42 They said to the woman, "We no longer believe just because of what you said; now we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this man really is the Savior of the world." John 4:42 (NIV)
As Jesus came to presently give us life to the full and to overflow our cups believers experience a resurrection that now is – a resurrection from the death of sin to the life of righteousness. Jesus is the fountain of life and of all good.
“The kingdom of grace, and all the life in that kingdom, are as fully and absolutely in the hand of the Redeemer as the kingdom of providence is in the hand of the Creator.” Matthew Henry
Paul tells us in Ephesians that though we had nothing to offer – being spiritually dead and by nature objects of wrath and bond-slaves to sin and Satan – God made us alive in Christ. Christ provides our way to God who is our glorious peace and rest. Hence believers presently experience life from death. The act of God in giving life to the unregenerate demonstrates to us His unmerited love, mercy and grace:
1 As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, 2 in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. 3 All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath. 4 But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 5 made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions--it is by grace you have been saved. Eph 2:1-5 (NIV)
13 When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, 14 having canceled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross. 15 And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross. Col 2:13-15 (NIV)
Believers have also crossed over from death to life eternally as there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Paul tells us in Romans:
1 Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, 2 because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death. 3 For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in sinful man, 4 in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit. Romans 8:1-4 (NIV)
Believers are presently set free to live under the law of the Spirit of life – exuding the fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control - in preparation for eternity not choosing to live according to the sinful nature. What we believe will always show forth in our actions. Our freedom being not so much a right as a duty as Paul states again in Romans:
11 In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. 12 Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. 13 Do not offer the parts of your body to sin, as instruments of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God, as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer the parts of your body to him as instruments of righteousness. 14 For sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace. Romans 6:11-14 (NIV)
18 You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness. Romans 6:18 (NIV)
Freedom is not fun. It is not the same as individual happiness, nor is it security or peace or progress ... It is responsible choice. Freedom is not so much right as a duty. Real freedom is not freedom from something; that would be license. It is freedom to choose between doing or not doing something, to act one way or another, to hold one belief or the opposite. It is never a release and always, a responsibility. It is not “fun” but the heaviest burden laid on man; to decide his own individual conduct as well as the conduct of society and to be responsible for both decisions. The only basis of freedom is the Christian concept of man’s nature; imperfect, weak, a sinner, and dust destined into dust; yet made in God’s image and responsible for his actions. Peter Drucker 1942