For Reading and Meditation:      John 8:21-36We saw yesterday that the phenomenon of catharsis comes about not simply through telling someone else our troubles, but when that other person is a warm, accepting and understanding individual. Psychologists believe the explanation for this to be the fact that the warm, accepting manner of the helper is so directly opposite to the harsh, judgmental attitudes of those who caused the hurts that repressed feelings easily surface and are released. What has this law of the personality to do with the subject now under discussion? A great deal, I believe. In Jesus Christ we find Someone who not only yearns for our trust, but is worthy of our trust. To sit in His presence is to hear words similar to those He spoke to the woman caught in adultery: "Neither do I condemn you ' go now, and leave your life of sin" (John 8:11). Such acceptance, such compassion, such concern, cannot fail to produce within every heart a willingness to open up those hurts and fears which have been so deeply repressed. As I said yesterday, I have witnessed on countless occasions this strange and mysterious phenomenon of catharsis take place as, in the presence of love and acceptance, repressed hurts and ideas are discharged from the personality. But beautiful and wondrous as this natural phenomenon is, it is as nothing compared to the glory and radiance that a person shows when they stand in the presence of Jesus Christ, the Wonderful Counsellor, and experience a catharsis that reaches, not merely into the outer regions of the heart, but to its greatest depths. To have such an experience is not just to be free - it is to be free indeed. My Father and my God, slowly things are coming into focus. I am beginning to understand what You mean when You say: "If the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed." Purge me to the depths of my being. In Jesus' Name. Amen.<div class="tl-lightgrey mt20 pt20 flexbox-row-wrap jc-around"><div><div class="fs-17 fg-mustard bold center-it">AdditionalVerses</div><ul style="margin-top:0px"><li>John 3:1-18</li><li>John 5:24</li><li>Romans 8:1</li><li>Romans 8:34</li><li>Revelation 12:10</li></ul></div>

<div><div class="fs-17 fg-mustard bold center-it">Questions to Consider</div><ul style="margin-top:0px"><li>Who brings condemnation?</li><li>What is the promise to the believer?</li></ul></div></div>

Let a little light into your soul every day with this wonderful devotional from English pastor Selwyn Hughes.

Every Day Light with Selwyn Hughes

"So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed." (v. 36)

Here is an insight that has revolutionized and transformed many a life.The duplication of "verily" or "truly" at the outset alerts us to expect something momentous. We will not be disappointed."I say unto you." The "I" is the Lord Jesus; we know that from verse 19. What we must also know is that when He says something, it is absolutely and invariably true. He cannot lie. He cannot deceive. He cannot be deceived. Nothing can be more sure and dependable than what He says.To whom is He speaking? "I say unto you." The Eternal Son of God is speaking to you and to me. We never had anyone so illustrious speak to us before and never will. We ought to listen!"He that heareth my word." The "He" means "anyone." It has the same force as "whoever." To hear His word means not just to hear it with the ears, but to hear and believe, to hear and receive, to hear and obey."…and believeth on him that sent me." We know that it was God the Father who sent Him. But the important question is, "Why did He send Him?" I must believe that the Father sent His Son to die as my Substitute, to pay the penalty I deserved, to shed His blood for the remission of my sins.And now comes the threefold promise. First, "hath everlasting life." As soon as a person believes, he possesses eternal life. It's just as plain as that. Second, he "shall not come into condemnation." This means he will never be consigned to hell because of his sins, because Christ has paid the debt, and God will not demand payment twice. Third, he "is passed from death unto life." He passes from a condition in which he is spiritually dead as far as his relation to God is concerned, and is born again into a new life that will never end.If you have truly heard His Word and if you have believed on the Father who sent Him, then the Lord Jesus Christ assures you that you are saved.No wonder it is called "Good News".

With reverence, humor and skill, William MacDonald wove a daily devotional tapestry that challenges the reader to think deeply and Biblically, and apply God's Word to their lives.

Truths to Live By - One Day at a Time

"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)

Twice in John 5:1-47 the Lord Jesus says that He can do nothing of Himself. In verse 19, He says, "Verily, verily, I say unto you, the Son can do nothing of himself…" Then again in verse 30 He says, "I can of mine own self do nothing…"When we first read these verses, we are apt to feel disappointed. They seem to say that Jesus was limited in His power, just like ourselves. But if He is God, as He claimed to be, He must be omnipotent. How then could He say that He could do nothing of Himself? Indeed, the enemies of the Gospel have used these verses to show that Jesus was just a man with all the limitations of humanity.But look more closely! Our Lord was not speaking of His physical power. What He was insisting was that He was so devoted to the will of His Father that He could not do anything on His own initiative. He was so morally perfect that He could not act in self will. He wanted nothing apart from the will of God.You and I cannot say that we can do nothing of ourselves. Too often we act independently of the Lord. We make decisions without consulting Him. We yield to temptation with full knowledge that we are sinning. We choose our own will above His. The Lord Jesus could do none of these things.Therefore, instead of suggesting that Jesus Christ was weak and finite, the verses prove the very opposite - that He was divinely perfect. This is made clear by reading the verses in their entirety rather than stopping at midpoint. What Jesus said in verse 19 was, "The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do: for what things soever he doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise." In other words, the Son cannot act independently of the Father, but He can do whatever the Father does. It is a claim to equality with God.Then again in verse 30, Jesus said, "I can of my own self do nothing: as I hear, I judge: and my judgment is just; because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me." This means that He made decisions only on the basis of instructions that He received from His Father, and that His complete submission to God's will insured that these decisions were correct.J. S. Baxter points out that this passage contains seven distinct claims by Christ to be equal with God. Equal in working (v. 19); equal in knowing (v. 20); equal in resurrecting (w. 21,28, 29); equal in judging (vv. 22, 27); equal in honor (v. 23); equal in regenerating (vv. 24, 25); equal in self-existence (v. 26). Our Savior is not a weak, frail creature with limited power but omnipotent God manifest in the flesh.

"I can of mine own self do nothing." (John 5:30)

John 5:17-27The people were angry at Jesus because He had healed the helpless invalid on the Sabbath. They claimed that He had done wrong by the working on the seventh day. The answer of Jesus was, "My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I, too, am working." In the history of the creation, we read that God set the example of Sabbath-keeping. After six days of creating, He rested the seventh day. We are living now in God's Sabbath. But the words of Jesus here show us that there is a sense in which God keeps no Sabbath. He never ceases to be active. The worlds do not stop in their orbits to rest, when the Holy Day begins. The sun does not veil His face and cease His shining that day. The grass does not stop growing, the flowers do not cease to bloom, and the wheat does not pause in its ripening, when the day of rest comes. There is no Sabbath-keeping in God's providence. Nor does His care for His children pause, when the Sabbath dawns. It would be very sad for the world if it did.The people had found fault with Jesus for healing a man on the Sabbath. They said He had been working, and working was forbidden by the law. This was His answer, "My Father is always at his work to this very day" - has never ceased to work, is evermore blessing and helping His creatures. Then He added, "And I, too, am working." This was in answer to the charge that He had broken the Sabbath in healing the man. For one thing, He put Himself alongside the Father in power and authority. It was an assertion that He was divine. We get here a suggestion of the kind of works that are right for us to do on the Lord's Day. There is not in these words a shadow of defense for ordinary secular work on the Lord's Day - but works of mercy, of religion, of obedience, we may do on the day of rest.Jesus had claimed equality with His Father in the words, "My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I, too, am working." For Him as well as for His Father, there was no need of a Sabbath of rest. Rest is necessary for man. His strength has its limitations. He cannot go on forever - but must stop to renew His strength. Human energy flags and is exhausted, its source is finite and it must be continually renewed. But Christ was not like other men in this. He fainted not, neither was weary. Then He had coupled Himself with the Father in the words, "My Father is always at his work to this very day," through all the ages, "And I, too, am working." He and His Father work together. All divine power was in Him and had always been in Him. He could not grow weary.Then He added, "I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does." From beginning to the end of Christ's life - we find the same oneness with the Father asserted. He did the Father's will, never deviating from it in the smallest particular. We hear Him say continually such words as these: "I seek not my own will - but the will of him who sent Me." "I do always those things that please him." For one thing, these words show us the perfect oneness of the Father and Son. He took all His directions from His Father's lips. He waited at every step for His Father's bidding. The question with Him never was: "What would be pleasant for Me to do? What would further My own interests? How can I do the most good in the world? How can I win the greatest number of friends?" The one question always was, "What is My Father's will for Me today?"Jesus asserts the Father's love for Him and His complete trust in Him. "For the Father loves the Son and shows him all he does. Yes, to your amazement he will show him even greater things than these." Here we have a glimpse of true fatherhood. Love hides nothing. The Father's love for the Son is so perfect, that He withholds nothing from Him, has no secrets which He does not reveal to Him. The words tell of the most perfect oneness and unity, life flowing into life, heart opening into heart. It is a oneness of love. There are none of the "sons of God" who are so glorious in their privileges as the "only begotten Son." Yet there is a verse in one of the Psalms (25:14) which says, "The secret of the Lord is with those who fear him; and he will show them His covenant." This would seem to mean that in proportion to our love for God and our trust in Him - He reveals His inner thoughts, the secrets of His love and favor to us. Then Jesus said to His disciples, "I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master's business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you" (15:15). Thus Jesus reveals the secret things of His love - to those who trust Him.The works which only the Father can do, Jesus says He also does. "For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life - even so the Son gives life to whom he is pleased to give it." To Nicodemus, Jesus spoke of becoming a Christian as being born again - beginning life as if one had never lived before. Here Jesus represents the natural world as a great cemetery in which all men sleep in graves of death. The beginning of Christian life is spiritual resurrection - those who believe on Christ burst their graves and come into life. The picture is very striking. The natural man is really dead to God and to the things of God. He hears not the voice of the Spirit. He knows nothing of what is going on about him in the spiritual realm. It is just as when Jesus stood before the grave of Lazarus and called the young man's name. The dead heard His voice - and came out and began to live. So the spiritually dead who hear the voice of Christ and believe on Him are quickened into a new life.There is another strong assertion of divinity here, showing that Christ was conscious of being equal with the Father. To God alone belongs the prerogative of judgment. "Moreover, the Father judges no one, but has entrusted all judgment to the Son." If this power of judgment is given to Christ - He must be divine. It is a precious comfort to us, as we think of the judgment day, to know that the Judge on the throne will be Jesus - the same Jesus who died for us, who wears still and shall then wear our nature, and who therefore will understand us. We need not fear Him - who once died for love of us. If we are His friends now and here, confessing Him before all men, He will be our friend then, and will confess us before His Father and the angels. But we must not forget the other side of this truth. If we are ashamed of Him and do not confess Him here by love and obedience, we are assured that He will be ashamed of us and will deny us before His Father and the angels.We must remember, too, that He who is to be our Judge makes common cause with the lowliest of His people, and will say to them, "For I was hungry and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty and you gave Me something to drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in; I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you took care of Me; I was in prison and you visited Me." OR "I was hungry and you gave Me nothing to eat; I was thirsty and you gave Me nothing to drink; I was a stranger and you did not take Me in; I was naked and you did not clothe Me, sick and in prison and you did not take care of Me" (Matthew 25:35-40). We are continually on trial, and the Judge Himself is continually before us. We need to watch how we treat the lowliest of our fellow men.Hush! What if this friend should happen to be - God?Jesus tells us here how to be saved. "He who hears my word, and believes on him who sent me, has everlasting life." There are but two steps from the darkness of eternal death - into the brightness and blessedness of eternal life. The first thing is to hear Christ's word. The Bible says a great deal about hearing. "Hear, and your soul shall live" (Is. 55:3). But mere hearing is not enough. One may hear the gospel over and over - and yet be lost. Therefore Jesus said, "Take heed how you hear." We must hear with a willing spirit, a spirit of obedience. The second step is believing, "he who hears my word, and believes on him who sent me." Hearing must be followed by believing. What is it to believe? It is not merely the assent of the mind to the truth. It is believing with the heart, trusting, committing oneself to God. The Revised Version takes out the "on" between "believes" and "him" - there is not to be even a little preposition between the soul and God.These are the two steps from death's darkness into life's brightness - hearing, and believing. Then comes the blessing, "has eternal life." Each word burns with light. "Life" - -not merely physical life - but life in its largest, fullest, richest, truest sense - the life of Christ in the soul. We are made partakers of the divine nature, and the new life which enters into us makes us children of God, changes us into the image of Christ. "Everlasting life" - not this world's life only - but life in heaven and forever. "Has everlasting life." I like the present tenses of the Bible. The good things of God's love and grace - are not pushed off into the future - but are present possessions. Eternal life begins the moment one hears and believes!

A unique type of devotional from the writings of James Russell Miller, published between 1908 and 1913.

Devotional Hours Within the Bible

John 5:17-27

Christ's Divine Authority

He who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgement, but has passed from death to life. § I through the law died to the law that I might live to God. I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me. Because I live, you will live also. § I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father’s hand. I and My Father are one. If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God … For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.

Daily Light on the Daily Path or Daily Light is a Christian daily devotional scripture reading published by Bagster & Sons about 1875. It has been reprinted continually since then. It consists of brief groupings of scripture passages which speak to prominent Biblical themes—two themes (morning and evening) for each day of the year. It appends no commentary, but simply allows scripture to speak for itself.

Morning Daily Light

 Reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but  alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord. 

He who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life. § He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life. He who establishes us with you in Christ and has anointed us is God, who also has sealed us and given us the Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee. § By this we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before Him … Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence toward God. § We know that we are of God, and the whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one. You He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins. [He] made us alive together with Christ. § He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love.

 We know that we have passed from death to life. 

24 <woj>“Very truly I tell you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be judged but has crossed over from death to life. </woj>

<woj>“Very truly I tell you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me<cr>1</cr> has eternal life<cr>2</cr> and will not be judged<cr>3</cr> but has crossed over from death to life.<cr>4</cr> </woj>

John 5:24

 24 “Very truly I tell you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me   has eternal life   and will not be judged   but has crossed over from death to life.  

From Wikipedia: 

The New International Version (NIV) is an English translation of the Bible first published in 1978 by Biblica (formerly the International Bible Society). The NIV was published to meet the need for a modern translation done by Bible scholars using the earliest, highest quality manuscripts available. Of equal importance was that the Bible be expressed in broadly understood modern English.

The NIV is published by Zondervan in the United States and Hodder & Stoughton in the UK. The NIV was updated in 1984 and 2011 and has become one of the most popular and best-selling modern translations.

OT: Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia; additional sources;
NT: UBS Greek New Testament; Novum Testamentum Graece; additional sources;

New International Version

 “Very truly I tell you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be judged but has crossed over from death to life.

<woj>“Very truly I tell you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be judged but has crossed over from death to life. </woj>

 “Very truly I tell you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me   has eternal life   and will not be judged   but has crossed over from death to life.  

Bible Verse of the Day

January 27, 2026

John 5:24 NIV

Verse by Verse Bible Study

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