nd shall not
come into condemnation, but is passed from death unto life."--John
5:24. That God's word does not mean that the believer on Christ has
simply the _promise_ of everlasting life, but that he really has the
everlasting life, notice John 5:24, "_Hath_ everlasting life and shall
not come into condemnation, but _is passed_ [here and now] from death
unto life." The Revised Version (the more exact translation) makes it
much stronger,--"_hath passed_ out of death _into life_." What life,
if not eternal life? Before this plain, positive statement of God's
word, the mere promise of eternal life theory cannot stand. But the
fact that the believer on Christ really has now eternal life, is made
plain by other Scriptures. "Whosoever hateth his brother is a
murderer; and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life _abiding in
him_."--1 John 3:15. Here we are shown that when one "hath eternal
life" it is "eternal life _abiding in him_"; for there would be no
meaning to the language if no one has eternal life abiding in him.
Again, "Verily, verily, I say unto you, except ye eat the flesh of the
Son of man and drink his blood, ye have no life in you. Whoso eateth
my flesh and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life."--John 6:53, 54.
The Saviour had just taught in verse 35 what eating His flesh and
drinking His blood meant: "I am the bread of life; he that cometh to
me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never
thirst." Here in verses 53, 54, the Saviour shows clearly that the
eternal life that the believer on Him "_hath_" is "_in_" you--here and
now.

Let the unredeemed reader pause: in a moment, here and now, he can
have _everlasting life_ with God's assurance that he "shall never
perish" ("I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never
perish."--John 10:28). It is a tremendous decision, and it may prove
to be a fatal one, to turn away and not believe on Christ and have as
a present possession eternal life. "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 5:24.

_FOR FURTHER STUDY_:--Some who believe that the redeemed have only the
_promise_ of eternal life, but that they have not eternal life, as a
real present possession, base this belief on such Scriptures as, "In
hope of eternal life, which God, who cannot lie, promised before the
world began" (Titus 1: